You do you, boo.

Great and thoughtful answer. And AI is a personal choice, like using Grammarly (only AI is like the Mega Evil version to be handled with serious care). Does this list of questions help act as a litmus?

To answer your questions:

Q- What choice in your story scares you to make, and why?

I’m not sure at present, but there was a time that I was scared to make a main character (in a fanfiction novel) do anything to get his love interest. I think I was hampered by the source material, and by my own inability to act in my own life. And I projected this onto my characters, then wondered why I was stuck.

Q- Where in your current project is your character avoiding the hardest decision, even though it’s the one that would change everything?

I don’t know, but this might be an example. My sorcerer main character is in love with a foreign princess that has come to the legendary King Arthur for help keeping Brittany free from King Henry II. But the sorcerer (Merlin) advises King Henry II as well as King Arthur. The princess’ brother then goes and has a tryst with Morgana, leading to a son. The sorcerer must prevent both that brother and the son from reaching the throne before their father dies, and his solution is to make Brittany accept Henry II as overlord; the dying king and his two children will therefore lose sole control of their throne.

That’s what I came up with thus far, and I’m open to advice on any unclear parts, or if the choice isn’t stark enough.

Q- Have you ever realized mid-draft that your character had no real agency—just motion? If so, what did you change to fix it?

I didn’t realise it. Someone else had to tell me. To fix it, I had to ditch loads of chapters and rebuild my main character from scratch.

Q- What’s the messiest, least satisfying choice you’ve forced a character to make, and how did it affect the story?

I don’t know yet.

Q- Have you ever used AI to brainstorm story decisions or turning points? Did it help you uncover a less obvious option you hadn’t considered?

No, I haven’t, and I am not likely to. Even though I have relied heavily upon AI translation when learning Russian in particular, and even though I acknowledge that several AI tools are handy, I still see AI in writing as a tool of mass control, designed to keep us hooked to screens and weaken our capacity for independent thought. That being said, I am weak at devising story decisions and turning points, and this is a fault I am addressing at the moment.

We gonna have to beat the machines. Thanks for the comment and love that you enjoy my posts. I have read your fiction, so that means a lot.

Oh I HAVE MISSED Y’ALL SOOOO MUCH! AI didn’t seem like something that I could DIY if I really wanted to actually help writers. 2025 was a tough year. Learning to program, code, build LLMs NOT easy, but I am proud of myself for finishing (with a 4.0). I feel a LOT more confident giving advice on this next leg of our adventure!

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It means so much and is so encouraging.

Generating this sort of investment is how we write instead of merely produce.

I love this post about choices. And I definitely think we should never let our characters make the easy one unless there are unexpected consequences hiding behind that door.

But, the choice, however far down the alphabet it comes, needs to make sense. The character needs a reason that I will BUY for making that choice. It can’t be random. Otherwise, I might not just bookmark that baby, I might close it and check out the next one on my KU reading list.

Also, I think AI is a great brainstorming partner. I especially LOVE when Claude tells me, “You’re right. If you use (that idea I recommended) it won’t make sense with what has gone before.”

Thanks for studying AI so I don’t have to. I love your Cliffs Notes version.