Do you feel like creating your own stories, finding it easy knowing what you want to write about, but find it difficult building it up into chapters, or “fleshing it out”? This is where creating stories using Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, or other AI programs can come into help you out.
I’ve made about 20 separate stories, each one unique, using Microsoft Copilot, and then coupling it with the desktop publishing software Affinity Publisher 2 to format them and turn them into PDF format for a better reading experience later. I know that there is a lot of concern about using AI, especially when it’s seen as being deceitful and creating fake articles and images (I see this an awful lot on social media), so I encourage anyone who does decide to create stories for themselves (it’s fun!), to always be upfront and honest if you do share them online that they were made through the help of AI, and that they are works of fiction. Although most would be expected to know this, it never hurts to cover yourself.
My general approach when make the stories is to give Copilot a summary of what I’d like it to create, and ask it to turn it into a chapter.
Affinity Publisher 2 can be downloaded at https://store.serif.com/en-us/update/windows/publisher/2/
To give you inspiration, I thought I’d share these few from the ones I’ve made. Please note that they do contain science fiction elements – cloning etc, and one is even about a life with AI itself.
Do understand that AI does have it’s limitations and funny quirks. It does tend to have some sentences, words, and expressions it likes to use on a regular basis. I’m sure you’ll notice them if you read the short stories below.
The Shape of Kindness
A short read, probably about three or four hours.
Lira turns up at a new rehab facility. Having lived a life of bad choices, she at first thinks she’s beyond help, but her two friends, Atalanta and Pandora help her see that this isn’t the case.
More Than Code
A longer read of about 10 hours
Set in a fictional not-to-distant future, set in Upper Hutt and Wellington. Caleb, a woodworker finds that his war against AI has literally arrived on his doorstep when an AI assistant is dropped off for him. Initially spurning it, over time he comes to accept it. He even gives it a name – Sol. And eventually Sol becomes much more than just his AI assistant.
Becoming Emma
A long read of about 22 hours
Emma is lonely for companionship, not needing a lover, but simply needing a friend – a flatmate. Using her skills, she creates a clone, a woman who will understand her perfectly. She creates Rachel, who soon begins putting Sarah on edge. Sarah tries to maintain the feeling that she’s in control of this household, but it soon becomes clear that she isn’t when Rachel shows that she’s more than capable. Is Rachel trying to take her place? As new women show up in their household, all looking exactly like Rachel, and Emma feels her once nice life she was in control of, quickly beginning to fall apart around her, Emma is thinking that this is going to be the case…
Note that this isn’t intended to endorse Copilot or Affinity Publisher 2, these are simply the programs I’ve used when creating AI assisted short stories.
Ben Knowles – Editor / Operator @ The Upper Hutt Connection.
24/02/26
The Upper Hutt Connection 