How to Write a Novel Using AI (Step by Step)

About this video

In part two of a six-part series on writing and publishing a book with AI, Dale walks through writing a novel in Dibbly Create (the video’s sponsor). He argues the creativity is in what the author does with AI output, not the raw generation. Dibbly runs on tokens: the free plan includes 20,000 tokens per month, while the pro plan includes 1 million tokens that roll over month to month. He demos the prompt library (fiction prompts such as a fantasy/sci-fi city generator and character building, saved as favorites and usable on both plans), then the title generator for his horror novel about a shoe shop in a small town where people disappear, using the built-in assistant Kip to narrow title options and review category keyword research (the tool reported an average book price of $5.30 for the category). He then builds an outline for an 80,000–100,000-word novel — noting the outline can target 25–30 chapters but the content writer caps generation at 20 chapters — reviews and edits the generated plots, characters and locations rather than accepting them at face value, and generates chapters with Continue Writing or the content generator, a copy-paste-and-generate process that took him a little over 23 minutes. He closes by stressing the output is only a draft that needs editing, and notes the 7-day free pro trial and Dibbly’s integrated freelance marketplace for editors and designers.

Key takeaways

• Dibbly Create runs on tokens: 20,000/month on the free plan versus 1 million on pro, with unused pro tokens rolling over — monitor usage in the dashboard
• Use the prompt library and favorites to get structured fiction prompts (characters, settings) instead of wrestling with vague prompting
• Treat AI titles and outlines as raw material: generate options, narrow them with the assistant, and check for plot holes and pacing before generating chapters
• The content writer caps at 20 chapters even if the outline has more, and full-book generation is a slow, token-heavy copy-paste process — budget time and tokens
• Generated chapters are a first draft only; nothing should go to print without the author’s own review and editing

Episode details: published April 27, 2025 · 25:03 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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