🍂 First Day of Fall 🍂

Happy Autumnal Equinox. The time of pumpkin spice and of changing colors. Whenever it arrives, I always declare it as my favorite season. That is, until Spring arrives and says Hello. Then I flush and declare my love for the emergence of nature from her slumber.   

I have to announce a moment of synchronicity. I released the book Michaelmas years ago, and this will be the first time I have talked about the novella in relation to the day celebrating the archangel Michael casting Satan out of heaven since its release. By pure coincidence, I was thinking about Michaelmas, the book, because a few years back, I added several AI-generated images that I generated with Dall-e 3 and re-released the book. It was my first project where I merged AI with a story that I had previously written. That project marked my entry into a new era, so I often drift back to it when thinking about AI. Then I realized that the day I had planned to release the 1st Draft App just so happens to be the day Michaelmas is celebrated. What are the odds?

Anyway, I think it is a great way to draw parallels and also give people a unique chance to celebrate the day. Michaelmas is often thought of in relation to the end of the harvest season, a quarter day. The novella is part of a larger novel series I wrote years ago and never released. Michaelmas is at the heart of the novel series. It is a flashback story told to characters in the middle of the novel series. I felt it was a strong enough story that it could stand on its own. So, instead of focusing on completing the novel series, I focused on the novella. I'll release the novel series at some point. For the moment, I am focused on building AI infrastructure for a media company that will build some cool tools for others to use, but I will also focus more time on creating my own content once I complete the full release of the 1st Draft App.   

Those who were watching the AI space last year knew this would be the year of the (rise of the) agent. So, the idea of everyone creating AI agents that are hired for "x" amount of time is something that seems more and more likely on a large scale. In fact, some are already creating a workforce of specialized AI agents to carry out tasks and deliver value.

To personalize things a little bit, this actually jives with a plan I created for myself at the beginning of the year. 

When I made the aforementioned plan, the idea was and still is to create and release three Apps. For the first App, I wanted to build it in such a way that I would learn something meaningful in the process that would help me create the other two better and faster than the first App. I also wanted the application to help me with my own writing process. The 1st Draft App is based on a Custom GPT I made last year. Yes, those things we were all making in 2024. It did almost all that I needed. LLMs are very good at assisting you with your writing. And in that regard, I was not trying to remake the wheel with the 1st Draft App. My objective was to learn about App creation while creating something personalized to how I like to write. It's been an evolution. 

I am a notebook-in-the-pocket kind of guy whose whole life can change on a walk if a great idea comes to mind. They say ideas are a dime a dozen, and I have notebooks of ideas that I never turned into stories that prove that to be true. Phone voice recorders became my walking notebook a few years ago, in large part because my awful handwriting is made worse when trying to walk and write at the same time. However, with an App like 1st Draft, you can talk about your idea to an assistant and flesh it out to see if it is worth writing or not. And if you have a story that you really want to tell, the assistant will help you write that story. 

I realized in 2023 that I could do so much more writing-related work with an intelligent tool like ChatGPT-4, even though it was not designed specifically to help me with my writing projects. But then it dawned on me: I could use my decades of writing experience and desire to learn about AI to help others do the same, by creating a tool that's designed to help you with your writing projects. That way, even if only a handful of people actually use the App, it's still perfect for me. And since I created it, I have the code and the experience from having built it. With a lot of help from AI, of course.

Last week, it dawned on me after watching a podcast or reading a tweet: the future economy will be filled with AI Agents. Yes, but not the kind I was thinking of earlier this year. When I set out, I was thinking of agents as something that would work for me on projects I am working on. While that is true, I can now see how I may have just taken the first step in creating my own AI agent. Will I be selling an agent to people at some point? I would have said no in March because I wouldn't have understood what that meant, but now it seems possible and definitely worth further research.

The 1st Draft App is not an autonomous Agent. It is an AI wrapper trained to help you write your stories. I did not imbue it with all of my creative experience so that it could go off on its own to create you a series of books or build you a video game. Agents that could be hired to do work had not been on my radar until two weeks ago. But, the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that specialized AI agents are being built to create massive amounts of value, where people are hiring agents to do things instead of us.

LLMs behave the way they are trained. If we then train them to offer services to others beyond the individual app-like usage, then you are potentially serving a massive swath of people. An agent created based on an app you built. An agent for doing your taxes, for organizing your business, or for how food is grown and harvested. So, instead of going to work for someone, you toil in creating an agent that is based on your area of expertise, and your agent is the one who is hired. And you manage the agent(s) you created. It's a new take on the old Hollywood line, "Have your agent call my agent."  

Once I completed the first app, the idea was always to turn to agents for help in building the second and third apps, as well as other parts of the company. The more I thought about STORiCORE and what I wanted it to become, the more I realized that this was not really a new company. Nope. It is a repackaging of myself as a creator. Having gone from actor to writer to director to author and now to an AI-assisted APP developer. I can't wait to see how others adapt along with AI as well. 

My goal with the apps is to help others on their own storytelling path. That wouldn't be possible without having learned a few things as a storyteller over the past 30 years. Not to mention how obsessed I became with AI in 2023, learning all I could about how it can help me create not only various ways in which I could tell my stories, but also how I could help others. That meant starting a business whose core purpose is my own creative endeavors. To take my writing experience and my growing interest in AI as a key part of my new enhanced workflow, as a way to help others. All of these apps I am creating, I intend to use myself, especially 1st Draft. I have already been wearing out the servers, not only as I have built and tested the app while sitting at my computer or sitting in my car, but I have also used it a lot when out walking and hiking.  

In seven days, you can try out the 1st Draft App for free. I am releasing it as a beta web app with a limited number of users. So, know that space will be limited. 

So, not only are we making the app available for free, with limits, of course, but I am also going to make my novella, Michaelmas, available for free as well. 

It's been a lot of fun building the app, and I have a list of updates that I will roll out once we start taking on subscribers. One idea I've been kicking around is that those who try out the app during beta will have an opportunity to sign up for an all-apps pass to all three apps once they are released, and a deeply discounted rate out of appreciation. 

My objective is to keep the cost of 1st Draft low. I see it as a basic tool that all people who want to write their stories can benefit from using. For those who have a story they have been wanting to tell but don't know how to go about it, and those who wouldn't have the time to write it otherwise. I put myself in this category. Gathering all my thoughts in one place and discussing them with a smart and helpful AI assistant is something I would have loved a few decades ago. 

We are a species that has been passing on tales since we have had the ability to do so. These tales shaped lives, shaped civilization. And now we have the chance for everyone to tell their stories. I love that. That very idea made me think beyond all the amazing stories that I could tell with such a tool. It made me realize I might be able to help others tell their stories. And by others, I mean everyone. I have tried to make it just that, a tool to help anyone tell their stories. Simple but effective. While the updates I have planned will make the whole experience even better. 

This is not a tool designed specifically for writers to help them finish their story. It is a tool to help those who have a tale to tell get started with telling their story. My objective was to deliver an App that could help me do what I like to do with my Custom GPT, and that is to talk to the AI about a story I have in mind, flesh it out, generate new ideas while going back and forth, and then create something together. While I like to take what is given and make it my own, some will want to have a first draft of an idea they have been sitting on for years. And I wanted it to be as simple as possible, so as to avoid confusion and frustration. 

The only part that may be confusing is the settings. By default, the App will be set to respond quickly in an agentic way. Latency is an issue with AI models, the speed from when a user finishes speaking to when the user hears the assistant's response, in the case of the App. Because that was top of mind, the default setting may cause the App to clip what it is saying, requiring the user to ask it to continue. It may also cause the assistant to cut off the user if there is a significant enough pause in what the user is saying. However, the user can choose to have longer responses from the assistant and more time for you to talk as well. With the ability to also choose from two AI models. 

I wanted people to have some options; I didn't want to make things too narrow. This also follows my own way of using the App. My old custom GPT would cut me off if I paused, and I wanted to be able to control that more. So, not only did I build the settings to modulate how the conversation flows, but I also included a pause button that allows you to collect your thoughts before continuing where you left off. I often use this when I don't want to listen to the assistant and want to continue talking. 

Once I have processed the feedback from the beta period, my goal is to create a video and a guide to help make things easy to understand. That has been a goal with the App. Make it simple and then iterate with updates that improve the experience. I started work on several features before realizing that for the initial release, I had to make it a simple yet helpful tool, without too many bells and whistles.

The default settings are great to start off with as you casually discuss your project with the assistant. Then, I like to add more creativity by turning off the Agentic toggle and cranking up the responses (conversational and AI token output) sliders. This way, we can start discussing more details and brainstorm without being cut off. The outputs are then longer, and you can have the AI whip up a scene or outline based on your conversation. 

The ability to transcribe and type in text is key as well. Sometimes you may not be able to talk to the assistant, or maybe you just need to add more context. Whether it is having a back-and-forth exchange or pasting a large chunk of text. Maybe it is the content from a previous chat, or something I like to do, which is to paste scenes or actual scripts. The other day, I pasted an entire script for a fictional podcast into the context window. We worked on another podcast based on that first one. By entering content this way, you can have the assistant review your content or even use the content to create something new.

I am sticking with basic copying and pasting right now because I have a feature that I plan to release in the new year that will help all writers who want to take their written work more seriously. It is one of the first features I thought of, but it will take some collaboration to pull it off. 

If you have communicated with an AI via voice-to-voice, it will not seem new. To those who have never spoken to an AI before, I think you will find the experience both pleasant and productive. 

Whenever you are ready to start writing, you can switch over and start a document in the App. This is a nuts-and-bolts writing space without any bells or whistles. 1st Draft's most important tools are the voice-to-voice assistant and the text-to-text exchange, where you work directly with the assistant. I find it difficult to truly write on a phone, even though a few generations have grown up doing it. Since this App is meant mainly for users to be on their phone chatting with the AI assistant about their story, the idea of having an elaborate writing editing tool right off the bat doesn't make sense. A 1st Draft is about getting it out of you and onto the page. 

For me, the 1st Draft is the most enjoyable part of the writing process. They are usually terribly flawed upon review and in need of an overhaul. But so are most adventures. Very few adventures go as expected or as planned. Some things will work while others will be thrown into the bin. I often take portions of a 1st Draft that won't work with what I am currently working on and use them as parts of another story. During the 1st Draft, your imagination should be doing cartwheels. 

My process with the App has been to chat with the App, flesh out ideas, copy those ideas to a document, do some writing and editing, and then save the document so I can then work on it on my computer. Because I personally can't do any real writing on my phone. This is a main reason why we are doing the Web App first. That way, a user can access the App on their phone and on their computer. 

At home, I have a microphone and love using the voice and transcribe to text features on my computer. I like pasting stories I am working on into the text window and discussing the stories in voice mode. Since it is a Web App, I like to open windows side by side. One with the Voice or Chat Page and the other with the Document Page. Asking questions, getting feedback, pasting chunks into the document, editing it, and so on. Again, for someone like me, this is ideal. Not only can the App help me brainstorm, edit, and write, but it does so in a way that feels natural. You don't have to be an expert with AI or with writing, but just having a general understanding of the App can open up what you can do with your story ideas. 

The 1st Draft App is built to be simple to use so that anyone with a desire to tell a story and a minimal understanding of technology can get great value out of using it. I hope you'll sign up once I make it available on the 29th. As an acknowledgement of the coincidence that the release date is the same day as the holiday shared with the title of my book, Michaelmas, I will be giving away copies of the book. 

That's right. Not only am I giving you the chance to use the 1st Draft writing App for Free, but I am also making the eBook version of Michaelmas available for free because the release date just happens to fall on the holiday. I believe they call that a win-win situation. 

Happy Fall Y'all!