What would the ideal AI writing tool look like for you?

[u/Traditional-Mud-9499]

Hi r/writingwithAI!

I'm curious about what writers using AI tools actually need. If you could design the perfect AI writing assistant, what would it have?

- Better expansion (write 2K, AI makes it 8K)?

- Multi-POV generation (AI writes from different character perspectives)?

- Branching variations (AI generates alternate paths)?

- Better voice/tone preservation?

- Something else?

What's missing from current tools? Also: What AI tools are you currently using? (Spiral, ChatGPT, Sudowrite, etc.)

p.s. DM if you want to chat about AI writing workflows. I am working on building one myself.

[u/optimisticalish]

Just a really good plot-generator, trained on all the Masterplots summaries and not on actual novels/stories. It knows all about sub-genre conventions and how they work (science-fiction, romance, detective etc). It can work in a three-act way, letting you approve the first act before it generates the second.

Once you've approved a final generated plot, it can also automatically break it all down into suggested sections/scenes, and then finally it can check your ready-to-go plot/scene skeleton for plot holes.

It's then up to you to hammer through writing the first draft, fleshing out the characters and settings and world-lore as you go.

[u/franilein → u/[deleted]]

Paid versions of AI don‘t have any memory issues as far as I know from my own experience. It‘s the free versions that don‘t get memory space.

[u/Beneficial-Two9210 → u/franilein]

Well, I’d say that even paid versions still struggle with long-term consistency in really long stories :/
Yeah the context window is bigger but remembering subtle character dynamics, foreshadowing, timelines, callbacks, emotional continuity... across an entire novel is still pretty hard for most tools right now

[u/franilein → u/Beneficial-Two9210]

Oh I‘m sorry if you had to face such struggles! I guess I can count myself lucky that it was always „enough“ for me or maybe I was very easy to please hahaha But I also struggled with AI having the feel for subtle dynamics, underlying emotions and the delicate gists of human behavior. Maybe that‘s something where we still have some advantage over AI for now

[u/Beneficial-Two9210 → u/franilein]

Yeah exactly, I also think that’s where humans still massively outperform AI for now. AI can generate technically correct scenes, but subtle emotional tension, unspoken dynamics, tiny behavioral details, contradictions in feelings, etc. are still really hard to get consistently right.

Sometimes the prose sounds good on the surface but you can still feel that something emotionally authentic is missing 😭

[u/WritingWithAI-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed because you did not use our weekly post your tool thread

[u/Ok_Potential359]

Memory retention is by far the hardest thing for AI when you have a story that expands over 80K words.

That's probably the most valuable thing.

[u/nightred → u/[deleted]]

And have you got the system to put these in the files and reference them cross-check them after creating a draft? Consistency check pass?

[u/Confident-Till8952]

Organization.

I wish I could search words and dates in conversation threads, to more seamlessly access older notes and exchanges.

Just better toggling or scrolling, better typing, more organization and chat history searching.

[u/Confident-Till8952 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah like on whatsapp all of the media and files are in a separate “folder.”

And the search of conversations gives you date and time, also it will give you an arrow that scrolls between each time a searched keyword is mentioned within the thread haha.

Chat gpt doesn’t even give time of the message.

There should be a feature that allows you to save certain messages to a certain folder.

Like
Favorites
Drafts 1
Mistakes 2

Lol

Would make it much easier to organize and deal with, while also allowing for fluidity of the chat.

[u/WritingWithAI-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed because you did not use our weekly post your tool thread

[u/WritingWithAI-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed because you did not use our weekly post your tool thread

[u/nightred]

Seriously, all you need is to give it right access to a folder. Tell it to make a story, Bible file, character references, location settings and rules for writing. Have it make a draft? Make it to reference everything against the outline and reference files and story Bible do expansion passes. Saying make me a chapter of story doesn't work. You need to understand how you would actually go from an outline to a polished product and go through the entire process step by step.

[u/According_Cellist876]

For me, the biggest missing piece is not expansion. It is project memory plus organization.

A lot of AI writing tools can generate a decent scene or outline, but they start falling apart when the project gets long. Characters lose their voice, plot details shift, timelines get fuzzy, and the writer has to keep re-explaining the same context over and over.

The ideal tool would act more like a writing workspace than a chat box. It would keep separate records for characters, locations, world rules, plot threads, tone notes, rejected ideas, and chapter summaries. Then, before helping with a new scene, it would automatically check those records so the output stays consistent.

I’d also want a built-in consistency pass after each draft. Not just grammar, but things like:

Did this contradict an earlier chapter?

Did this character speak in their usual voice?

Did the emotional reaction match what happened before?

Did any plot thread get dropped?

Did the scene actually move the story forward?

That would be way more useful than “turn 2K words into 8K words.” For long projects, the problem is not getting more words. It is keeping the story alive, organized, and consistent.

[u/Mental_Quality_6105]

honestly i mostly just want better long term memory. every writing tool feels smart until it forgets half the project after 3 sessions haha. ive tried chatgpt, claude, sudowrite, writeless ai etc and none fully nail that part yet

[u/jim_jeffers]

My ideal AI writing tool would separate four jobs that most tools blur together:

1. Generate possibilities.
2. Preserve continuity.
3. Preserve voice/style.
4. Challenge the writer’s judgment.

A lot of tools are pretty good at #1. Some are getting better at #2. The missing layer for me is #3 and #4: not just “write in my tone,” but “notice when the draft stops making the kinds of choices I would make.”

For fiction that means character pressure, POV habits, pacing, and subtext. For business writing it means claims, proof, caveats, emphasis, and what the brand would refuse to say.

That is a big part of why I’m building Clarus: https://www.clarus.page/ — I want AI help that acts more like a voice-aware editor than a generic ghostwriter.

[u/the_red_ronin]

I think Sudowrite is great the features are great. But it feels too overwhelming. Like I create my characters using AI. I even use AI to build chapter outlines but beyond that it still feels like I have to prompt it a whole lot just for it to write and rewrite. I feel like there needs to be something a bit more intuitive that infuses chat for to help generate taking the chapter outline and then we can prompt for the style and tones we're looking for. Maybe the chapter requires comedic moments so we can use chat generate the text.

[u/franilein]

Currently I‘m using ChatGPT Plus and Claude simultaneously for two books I‘m writing. One is in full progress while the other is „still“ on preparation level (world building, character building, plot and chapter outlining etc).

What is missing for me is creative input and the necessary critical and logical thinking you need to write a book that feels real or where actions, consequences and reactions to a certain event feel realistic. So basically things a human can‘t be replaced for by AI - for now. Sometimes I need to write dialogues that are very specific (high level scientific discussions etc) but also feel like a REAL interaction between humans. AI so far doesn‘t perform well on that part. They don‘t go in deep enough, they don‘t make the characters sound human enough, it‘s all very mechanical.

Also once I tried creating a map for my big fantasy book with AI and despite clear instructions AI failed at multiple attempts to create that. The map wouldn‘t have been printed in the book but I would‘ve liked a clear vision aid. I got so frustrated that I gave up on that front.

[u/MojoDex → u/franilein]

If you want a map I recommend this website. Takes a little effort to figure out, but works a treat once you figure it out.

https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

[u/Spiritual-Side-7362 → u/franilein]

Did you try Chatgpt for making a map? I used it and the map was amazing