AI is ramping up at a breakneck pace, and whether you like it or not, the authors who learn how to use these tools early are the ones who stand to benefit the most.

With that in mind, I want to take a closer look at one of the most powerful large language models (LLMs) available right now: Anthropic’s Claude.

Most people reading this are already familiar with ChatGPT, since it’s the most well-known AI writing tool. But Claude has quietly become just as useful and, in some cases, even better when it comes to working with longer pieces of writing.

At its core, Claude is an AI system trained by Anthropic with a strong emphasis on safety and alignment with human values… at least, that’s the goal.

In practice, it works a lot like other large language models. You can use it to write on a given topic, answer questions, brainstorm ideas, summarize content, translate text, and more. If you’ve used ChatGPT before, the overall experience will feel familiar, but there are some important differences that we’ll get into later.

One thing worth noting right away is that Claude isn’t just a standalone chatbot anymore. It can connect with tools like Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Calendar, which makes it easier to work directly with your files and ongoing projects instead of constantly copying and pasting everything back and forth.

Claude also comes in several different models (including Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus), each designed to balance speed, cost, and capability depending on what you need.

In terms of pricing, Claude offers a free version along with a paid plan called Claude Pro, which costs $20 per month (or $200 per year if you pay annually). That plan gives you expanded usage, but it still comes with limits that reset periodically, usually every few hours, and how much you can use it depends on things like how long your prompts are and how much context you’re working with.

If you find yourself hitting those limits often, there are higher-tier options available (such as Claude Max) that provide more usage. And if you prefer more flexibility, you can also access Claude through services like Anthropic’s API or platforms like OpenRouter, where you pay based on usage instead of working within a fixed plan.

What Makes Claude Unique (Compared to ChatGPT)?

While AI assistants like ChatGPT also create content, Claude differs in a few key ways:

Claude is Much Better at Natural Language

Claude tends to sound a lot better in its natural language than the GPT models (for the most part). This makes it better suited for writing and content creation compared to ChatGPT's generalist approach.

In my experience, Claude writes more naturally and conversationally. Its casual tone and vocabulary mirror human speech much more effectively.

Claude Has a Massive Context Window

Depending on the model, Claude can reference up to 200,000 tokens — and in some cases up to 1 million tokens — allowing it to handle extremely long documents and conversations. While this isn't as big of an advantage as it used to be, it's still a giant context window.

With more context, Claude is able to do a number of things that are useful for authors, including summarizing a book or what happens to a character in a book (good for developing a story bible), develop marketing material from your book, and remember past chapters as you are writing.

Claude Can Reference External Documents

Like many other chatbots, Claude allows you to upload files and use them as context, and can also generate and export files (like documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs). For instance, share your entire book outline so the AI will know where you are going with your story.

You can also provide supporting documents like:

• Background research materials
• Character info
• Sample chapters
• Transcripts of interviews or conversations
• A more extensive style guide

Claude can also read and summarize long PDFs so you don't have to, which is a useful feature.

How to Write a Book in Claude

My steps for how to write a book in Claude are similar to how you would do so in other AI programs, especially ChatGPT and the OpenAI Playground.

The only major difference is the type of output with Claude, which tends to write more legible prose, especially dialogue and humor. At least by comparison to ChatGPT.

That said, here is my 7-step system for writing with Claude. As always, you can use the AI for just one of these steps, or for all of them. Just pick where you have the most pain associated with the step, and use it for that.

For instance, I love doing the outlining, so I don’t use AI for that. But I’ve found it to be a great help in other areas.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Brainstorming is the creative groundwork for your novel. Here, you'll gather ideas, themes, and concepts that resonate with your story. 

It's all about letting your imagination run wild and capturing the sparks of creativity.

Personally, I always start by brainstorming my premise and my ending, if I don’t know what they should be already.

Here are some prompt I’ve used:

Give me [NUMBER] high-concept pitches for a bestselling [GENRE] story with a unique twist, intriguing characters, and gripping emotional stakes.

Given the following premise and story information, give me [NUMBER] possible endings to this [GENRE] novel.

Step 2: Synopsis

The synopsis is a concise summary that encapsulates the main plot points of your novel. It helps you understand the flow of your story and ensures that the critical elements align cohesively.

You can expand upon your brainstormed premise and ending using a prompt like the following:

Given the following premise and story information, give me a highly detailed synopsis for a [GENRE] story in the traditional three act structure. Each act should be clearly labeled and should build toward the ending I've described.

Premise:

Ending:

Other Information:

Step 3: Characters and Worldbuilding

Characters are the heart of your story, and worldbuilding sets the stage on which they perform. There are many prompts you could use here, but here is a sample prompt for developing a character profile:

Write a character profile about the protagonist/antagonist/mentor of this novel:

[INSERT SYNOPSIS] 

Here is what we know so far about this character: [INSERT CURRENT SUMMARY OF CHARACTER] 

Include the following elements: [INSERT DESIRED ELEMENTS HERE]

Step 4: Outline

Outlining offers a structured view of your novel's framework. It can be as detailed or as broad as you need it to be, providing a plan that you can follow as you write.

From your synopsis, you can expand it further into a fully fleshed out outline:

Using the following synopsis, create a detailed summary of the story, fleshing out additional details, and breaking it into parts using the [OUTLINE METHOD OF CHOICE]: [INSERT SYNOPSIS HERE]

Step 5: Story Beats

When creating a story with AI, it helps to have an intermediate step between the outline and the actual writing. So fleshing out the outline into individual story beats (essentially a highly-detailed outline), can look something like this:

Take the following chapter summary, and generate a list of 12 highly detailed action beats for a script with additional STORY INFORMATION to fully flesh out the chapter. Make sure to always use proper nouns instead of pronouns.

[INSERT CHAPTER SUMMARY HERE]

Step 6: Style

A style prompt is possibly the most important prompt on this list, as it will affect how the prose sounds when you use AI to generate prose. 

Style prompts can be lengthy, depending on how you use them. I've seen some that go on for hundreds of words, but here is one example of a shorter one that could work:

First person past point of view of [MAIN CHARACTER], show don't tell, deep point of view.  Realistic dialogue. Stronger verbs. Lots of conflict, drama, and description. Avoid mushy descriptions/dialogue.

Step 7: Prose

Last but not least, it's time to create the prose prompt. Now many, if not most, authors will not be using AI for this step, and that's okay. In fact, I would say that AI is best used as a brainstorming tool.

However, there are many who DO want to write prose with AI, and I would do it something like this, using 2-3 story beats at a time.

Write 600 words of a chapter using the following details:

Genre: [ENTER GENRE HERE]

Tone: [ENTER TONE HERE]

Point of View: [ENTER POV/TENSE HERE]

Setting: [ENTER SETTING HERE]

Key Characters in This Scene: [ENTER CHARACTER DETAILS HERE]

Style: [ENTER STYLE HERE]

Story Beats to Cover: [INSERT STORY BEATS]

Additionally, I like to add some additional instruction that I wouldn’t normally use with ChatGPT, but is kind of necessary with Claude, since Claude isn’t as great at following directions. That prompt looks something like this:

All paragraphs should take place during the timeframe of the summary instead of adding new events. Focus on fully developing the given story beats rather than rushing to new plot points. End the scenes at the specified story beat rather than continuing further.

Other Resources

AI is an ever-shifting resource, and so there are a few additional resources that I would recommend if you want to stay on top of it.

The first, is my own YouTube channel, The Nerdy Novelist (a personal project, not associated with Kindlepreneur) where I provide almost daily videos about the goings on in AI.

The second is my membership, Story Hackers, where you can learn everything you need to know not just about writing with AI, but a more well-rounded overview of how to publish a book and the basic principles of good storytelling.

We have multiple classes each week where you can get tailored advice for your specific situation.

So, is Claude the Best Way to Write with AI?

Claude is a powerful tool, but it does have its limitations.

For one, it wasn’t originally built with authors in mind. That said, it’s clearly moving in that direction, and more people are starting to use it for long-form writing and creative work. Personally, I still wouldn’t rely on it for anything that’s specifically tailored to the author experience, but it is incredibly versatile, and the natural-sounding output is one of its biggest strengths.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Claude really shines when you know how to use it. Getting the most out of it usually takes some level of prompt engineering. The prompts in this article will give you a starting point, but there’s definitely a learning curve if you want consistent results.

Because of that, a lot of writers end up using tools that build on top of models like Claude and shape them into something more author-focused.

One of those tools is Sudowrite, and it’s the one I usually recommend for fiction authors who are just getting started with AI. It’s simple to use, and it’s designed around the kinds of tasks authors actually care about, like brainstorming ideas, building characters, and working through edits.

I’ve put together a full roundup of the best AI writing tools, but Sudowrite stands out because it’s built specifically for this use case, rather than being a general-purpose tool.

There’s a lot packed into it, and most writers will be able to find at least a few features that fit their workflow. It’s also a good way to start experimenting with AI if you’re still a bit unsure about it and want something that feels more guided.

If you want to try it out, you can use the link below to get 10,000 words for free when you sign up, which gives you a chance to experiment before committing to anything.

Check Out Sudowrite Here