Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
For the past couple months, I've had vivid dreams that linger into the following day about a mashup of various things -- ranging from characters to dream destinations to animals that aren't fully animalistic. (Though there's always a tinge of curious, youthful romance involved.) I wake up trying to navigate reality vs. my dream world.
Since I'm not a dream interpreter, I decided to take my curiosity to the form of a short story to see how I could bring my world to life -- and embellish it. That's where I found Sudowrite, an AI-powered writing assistant to help fiction writers brainstorm, draft and define their work.
Founded in 2020 by Amit Gupta and James Yu in response to their own writer's block, Sudowrite's focus is on narrative and creative storytelling, which makes it practical for those who need help in the writing process, whether to also beat writer's block or create new scenes and characters to add to an already-existing plot.
Sudowrite is geared toward English-language writing, even though you can input other languages. (It doesn't currently have a translation feature.) But with its ability to build out every aspect of the creative writing process, it would be simple to externally translate material.
Additionally, the company emphasizes that it was not created to replace creativity but rather to enhance the creative process. While it can't replicate imagination, Sudowrite can be useful for compiling new story additions or enhancing an existing idea. This is helpful in a world where as of 2024, 70,000 artificial intelligence companies exist. To be fair, it's hard to separate a truthworthy AI tool from a gimmicky creative endeavor.
Working with Sudowrite is pretty easy to follow, and the layout helps navigate through each of its steps.
First, head to Sudowrite to create an account. You can also log in with a Google email for free access. Once you're logged in, you'll see the Sudowrite dashboard. Before creating, I'd recommend heading to the upper righthand corner and navigating to Settings to change your background under Theme. (I found the Amber color both stimulating and soothing on the eyes when drafting a story.)
Additionally, if you want support throughout the entire writing process, Sudowrite offers Story Bible, which guides you through ideas to outline and then generates thousands of words inspired by your tone of voice. For more information, you can attend a class or watch a video about how to use this feature best.
If you're a novelist, essayist, emerging author -- or simply someone with that writer's block many of us know all too well -- Sudowrite functions and is designed as a smart tool between draft and final product.
Since it has a free option to try out, Sudowrite will cost you nothing to explore and tinker around with for a couple hours. The Brainstorm function is where you'll find the most creative generation and collaboration throughout the site, so I'd start there. For fun, navigate to Twist under the Plugins button after you have your story laid out.
For longer text, a subscription is necessary and will run you an extra $10-$44/month. While you can navigate the free trial with ease, upgrading will provide you with the ability to import lengthy amounts of text (think chapters) vs. shorter snippets or scenes. The most expensive tier also provides unused credits that roll over for 12 months, a better option for authors who publish multiple times a year.
Now, if you're wondering if there are any copyright or profit-sharing challenges that come from writing on the platform, we had the same question. When we reached out to Sudowrite, they shared that anything created or written from your account belongs to you, including the copyright. Sudowrite does not take ownership or claim your data.
Additionally, all inputs from your account remain private and in your account -- meaning, they cannot be trained for AI. (Sudowrite has their own dataset used to train AI.) This is good news, since Sudowrite was built by creative writers for creative writers, which makes for specific, yet simple, functionality. (And hopefully, integrity to match.)
While Sudowrite uses AI as a tool to speed up the generation and creation process, its core function is solely to provide support for those who use it. Yes, other AI-powered tools are built to ease human functionality, but I can't help but wonder what technology would look like if it was built in response to specific industries' problems instead of as a bright and shiny innovation.
So if you are a creative writer looking for a collaborator to generate ideas -- or balm for sticky writer's block -- when imagination needs a nudge, Sudowrite can provide relief and excitement throughout the narrative storytelling process for novice or established writers alike.
