NovelAI

NovelAI is an online assistant that helps fiction writers craft consistent, imaginative prose with help from neural language models.

How to use NovelAI

1. Sign up at NovelAI and choose a subscription or the limited trial.
2. Open a fresh workspace and pick either “Storyteller” for guided prompts or the blank “Text Adventure” canvas.
3. Write a short setup paragraph; the tool works best when you give it clear direction and a sense of tone.
4. Click “Send” to generate the next passage, then edit or retry until the style matches your voice.
5. Create memory notes and author’s lore cards to preserve character traits and setting details for later chapters.
6. Export your session as Markdown, EPUB, or plain text when you’re happy with the result.

Our overall take on NovelAI

I’ve spent the past month drafting short stories with NovelAI and comparing it to Sudowrite. The difference is striking: while Sudowrite leans on structured modules, NovelAI hands over a flexible free-form canvas. That freedom matters when I’m knee-deep in world-building or need a lyrical paragraph on the fly. The interface stays minimal, so my focus remains on the narrative rather than fiddling with menus.

Advantages

• Deep continuity: The models remember earlier plot points for surprising spans of text. My detective remained left-handed three chapters later without extra reminders.
• Descriptive flair: Because the training leaned on literature, the prose arrives vivid and eloquent. I regularly keep large chunks verbatim.
• Clean workspace: A distraction-free editor, dark mode, and quick shortcuts help me slip into flow in minutes.
• Lore features: Memory slots and lorebooks lock in facts, giving long-form projects the staying power serial writers crave.
• Ownership focus: The service makes it clear that the text belongs to you, easing worries about rights when pitching to magazines.

Drawbacks

• Learning curve: Achieving the best output takes practice with prompt length, tags, and temperature settings.
• Limited extras: Unlike Sudowrite’s brainstorming widgets, NovelAI sticks mainly to generation; tasks such as mood boards or rewrite modes aren’t built in.
• Price tiers: The generous story memory lives behind the higher subscription, so longer epics can become costly.
• No native collaboration: Co-authoring means sharing login credentials or pasting text elsewhere, which feels clunky.

Should you try it?

If your priority is weaving intricate plots with steady character voices, NovelAI delivers. I’ve drafted novelettes faster than ever, and the software rarely injects out-of-place twists. The trade-off is fewer auxiliary bells and whistles, yet for pure storytelling, that stripped-back approach serves me well. Writers who value depth over hand-holding will likely find the subscription worthwhile.