> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://ghost.jurgenappelo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Let the AIs Do Everything But Write
- URL: https://ghost.jurgenappelo.com/let-the-ais-do-everything-but-write/
- Published: 2026-10-12T17:30:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T17:30:07.000Z
- Author: Jurgen Appelo

The Atlantic reported yesterday that [yet another literary prizewinner seems to be AI](https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/10/caine-prize-winning-short-story-seems-be-ai/688967/?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com). This time, the suspicion falls on the story *The Blue Fighter* by African writer Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza, who recently won the prestigious [Caine Prize](https://www.caineprize.com/?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com). Because AI-detection tool Pangram flagged almost the entire winning story as AI-generated. I'm not interested in the details. You can dig into this yourself.

Given that such accusations pop up [again](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/frances-prestigious-goncourt-prize-drops-novel-after-author-accused-using-ai-2026-09-25/?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com) and [again](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/publisher-pulls-horror-novel-shy-193027855.html?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com) and [again](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-award-winning-japanese-novel-was-written-partly-by-chatgpt-180983641/?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com), it's clear that **people care about stories not being written with or by AI**.

I care as well.

I care about *false accusations* by people who don't know if—and to what extent—I used AI in my writing. That's why I will share everything about my writing process here on this blog. The ideation, outlining, editing, reviewing—I will explain it all here.

I have nothing to hide.

***I* am the author. It's *my* name on my work. I use AI to write better, cheaper, and faster. But I use LLMs as teachers, coaches, editors, researchers, and administrative assistants. I *never* let them write for me. The creativity is all mine.**

For example, I asked Claude to evaluate my first novel, [*Glitches of Gods*](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50049703.Jurgen%5Fjojo%5FAppelo?ref=ghost.jurgenappelo.com). I gave it the entire manuscript and the reviews on GoodReads. Here's its summarized conclusion:

---

> **An AI's verdict on *Glitches of Gods***

> *Glitches of Gods* is a far more ambitious debut than most self-published science fiction, and its ambition mostly pays off. The book's great strength is voice: Orec, the fallacy-collecting virtual assistant, and Zha-Zhar, the swearing witch, are characters readers remember, and the humour lands often. The architecture is bold — three nested worlds, a day-by-day structure, and a central twist (rollbacks rather than parallel timelines, with one loophole the gods forgot) that has real mechanics in it rather than a vibe. The ending earns its melancholy: the reader knows exactly what Julien has lost, and he doesn't.

> Its weaknesses are the fixable kind. The hook arrives a quarter of the way in, after 36,000 words of office life that are on-subject but off-theme; the readers who stopped early were not wrong to be restless. At 153,000 words the book is a third longer than it needs to be. The similes, often excellent, come too thick. Six viewpoint characters share some verbal tics. The tone swings between satire, slapstick and existential dread without always managing the transitions. And the subtitle sells a technothriller, which this comic simulation-mystery is not.

> A talented writer with an economy problem — the best problem to have.

---

Claude's full analysis (running several pages) was accurate, honest and much better than anything I received from the various editors that I consulted (and paid for) while writing the book.

**When AI does a better job coaching you than the average paid professional, that's worth a subscription fee.**

So, do I use AI as a writer? Of course.

I use machines and algorithms for analysis, feedback, research, tracking progress, checking for consistency, detecting plot holes, generating character dossiers, cross-checking timelines, and much more.

**I just don't let them actually write.**

Jurgen

*P.S. I wrote this post without AI. But I have ProWritingAid installed, reading along as I write and telling me what to fix to make the text more readable. I apply most (though not all) of its suggestions.*