How I wrote 100 novels in 3 weeks and became the first in history to win the Hoshi Shinichi Award with an AI-assisted novel

My name is Kamome Ashizawa, and I have been honored with the General Category Excellence Award (Book Card Prize) at the 9th Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Award. Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved.

At the time of the winner announcement, it was also announced that this was the first time a work utilizing AI had been selected. I knew that the Hoshi Shinichi Award selection process is conducted without applicant information, so it is a great honor to have been judged on the same stage as novels written solely by humans and to have received this award.

Also, in my author's comment, I revealed that for this Hoshi Shinichi Award, I wrote and submitted 100 pieces in 3 weeks together with AI. If I managed to surprise you, I am more than happy as an author.

In this article, I would like to explain the process of creating the submitted work. I feel like the impact has taken precedence and the bar has been raised quite high, but I believe this is my own doing. I am prepared to accept any criticism.

Overall Plan

Let's try sending a large number of novels written using AI to the Hoshi Shinichi Award.

It was September 9, 2021, when I started working on this with a somewhat lighthearted feeling. There were three weeks left until the deadline for the Hoshi Shinichi Award.

The reason I remember it so clearly is that I initially thought about submitting a record of my mass submission using AI as a work itself, and I had actually started writing it.

The reason I thought about submitting a large number of entries was because, as depicted in the 3rd Hoshi Shinichi Award General Category Excellence Award winner, "The 37th Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Award Final Selection - Or, How to Create the Ultimate Novel -" (by Keita Aikawa), I wanted the Hoshi Shinichi Award to adopt a system where AI submits a large number of novels and AI evaluates them to decide the winning work.

That was the official excuse, but I had about 120% mischief in mind. I had a lighthearted feeling that it wouldn't win anyway, and it would be a funny story later. I am reflecting on this.

According to my notes from that time, I seem to have been thinking about things like this.

Mass submission by one person
30 minutes per piece, 48 pieces a day, 2-machine system, can write 960 pieces in 10 days!
First, send the ones humans wrote properly, then send as many as possible
Keep quality high even at around 1000 characters
Low quality at around 5000 characters

"960 pieces in 10 days" was because I was conscious of Shinichi Hoshi's 1001 works.

I was worried that I might be blocked midway if I submitted a large number, so the plan was to submit the main work written under human leadership—at this time I was still thinking of making it a submission record—first, and then submit works with a high ratio of AI responsibility.

The number of characters in the work was a big problem. Even if I submitted a large number, I believed that it was the minimum courtesy for me to check the content. Someone might imitate me in the future, but I will say in advance that mass production is not necessarily a good thing.

If I were to write 1000 pieces, even at 1000 characters each, it would be a total of 1 million characters, and at 5000 characters, it would be a total of 5 million characters. In terms of books, that would be about 10 to 50 volumes. With three weeks until the deadline, while working, it was physically almost impossible to write and read that much.

As a result, I revised the goal to 100 short stories of 1000 characters each, for a total of 100,000 characters. Even though there was Silver Week, it was not easy to do this in parallel with writing the main work.

"Are You There?" Production Process

First, I will trace the progress from the main work. As I wrote earlier, I was trying to submit the mass submission record as a work, but I gradually began to feel doubts.

And on September 23, I decided to rewrite it from scratch. This became the winning work, "Are You There?".

Since I also had the task of writing 100 novels, I finished writing it on September 26th. I wrote it in three days (I don't remember it very well).

I wrote most of "Are You There?" myself, but I used AI for a portion of it. I used a method called GPT-2.

At the time, I already knew about the writing support tool "AI BunCho," and I had even written works using it. However, there was a bit of risk in using it when I was short on time.

So, I decided to generate it locally using my own computer. This way, I could keep the generation looping with the same settings while I was sleeping or working.

I just had to check the text I created when I had time and pick out what I could use. As a result, I generated quite a lot of text, but I hardly used any of it.

There are two main places where I used it.

One is the text that "Mendel" is said to have written in the story. It's the Santa letter and the reply to "Are You There?"

The other is just before the end. It's the scene where Kotonoha returns home and thinks on her bed. I had originally intended to use AI-generated text throughout, but as those who have read this far know, I didn't have the time. When I thought about where to use it if I were to use it in only one place, this was the first place that came to mind.

As for the method, I fed the AI the text I had written in advance, had it fill in the gaps, and then edited and adopted the good sentences.

First, here is the text I provided.

"Like the infinite monkey theorem, if you try every sequence of words, it can become a novel. However, I don't find any significance in a novel born that way. For an AI to call itself a writer, it surely needs consciousness. Isn't the will to create the novel one desires the root of creativity? That is what I felt. It is not about covering every possibility, nor is it about stringing together words that are statistically likely to appear. I feel that art is born from the decision to prune the branches of possibility and ignore words that are easy to grow."

Among the text generated based on this, I adopted the following three.

(1) Before editing "... (omitted) ... However, I don't find any significance in a novel born that way. Rather, I think it's more interesting to try to express that meaning in my own words. That is more interesting. I want to take the easy way out, no matter what. I think that is an excuse for my creative activities. I felt once again that 'No, novels are interesting,' and that I was not saying what you were saying. ... (omitted) ..."

(1) After editing "I want to take the easy way out, no matter what. I think that is a lack of mindset toward creative activities."

(2) Before editing "... (omitted) ... It is not about covering every possibility, nor is it about stringing together words that are statistically likely to appear. It was an idea to extract only the possibilities necessary for one's own writing, and an attempt to derive a creator from within that. In other words, what I mean is that I didn't think such things were expressions in a novel. We writers are not 'expressing' the reader, but are the 'receiving side.' ... (omitted) ..."

(2) After editing "Such things are not expressions in a novel."

(3) Before editing "... (omitted) ... I feel that art is born from the decision to prune the branches of possibility and ignore words that are easy to grow. If you string together words that are easy to line up, they sometimes line up, and sometimes you write down words that are hard to grow. That is what it means to be human. So, I thought that the surprise and freshness of coming up with such a 'way of reading' might surely be something that truly moves people. ... (omitted) ..."

(3) After editing "I thought that humans might surely be truly moved by that surprise and freshness."

The above is the full picture of the novel I wrote using AI in part. In terms of a simple text ratio, it is about 10%. Whether you think this is a lot or a little is something I have to leave to your judgment.

However, I want to say with confidence that this is the result of the activities I have been working on until now.

In my early work, "Gene on the Water Surface," I used text written by AI as a plot outline. I even used the bold technique of including AI-generated text directly in the main body. This approach is similar to the first method I used this time. By the way, this was my first commercial work.

From there, I went through trial and error to increase the ratio of AI-generated text. In works like "In a Dream Walking Through the Forest," I used AI text from beginning to end. However, because AI text is erratic, it had the drawback of making the story difficult to control.

In "You Are More Beautiful Than Anything," I kept human-written text to a minimum and designed it so that the AI-generated text would create a chaotic worldview. I believe I did everything I could, but it wasn't highly rated, so I temporarily gave up on increasing the ratio of AI-generated text.

On the other hand, in "The Broken Janitor Dreams of Silicon Bastards Exploding," a finalist in the first Kaguya SF Contest, and "The Blue Bottle Is Always There," an honorable mention in the second, I used text written with AI as ideas. There was no AI-generated text in the main body.

Based on these results, I switched my strategy to first create something that would be evaluated as a work by me, and then gradually increase the ratio of AI-generated text from there.

That led to this current work, "Are You There?"

The production process of 99 short stories

Next, I will explain the production process of the 99 stories.

As mentioned above, I used GPT-2 locally here as well. Actually, I generated the text using a two-machine setup. I originally had a desktop, but since I happened to want a Windows laptop, I bought a new gaming laptop. I think it was about 100,000 yen. As a result, I'm glad I made a purchase worth more than the price.

In the first stage of generation, I first set the keywords. To ensure the work was "scientific," which is the theme of the award, I adopted words related to space and computers.

Also, as the initial seed text for generation, I used about 600 Twitter novels I had written in the past. This text is not included in the final work.

Even though it is being generated automatically, since my writing is the starting point, I think my personality has been inherited.

In this way, as a primary generation, I had the AI write text that served as ideas of about 200 characters. This method utilizes the know-how gained from my efforts to automatically generate Twitter novels.

Reference) Novel Writing AI 'Rozorus' Tried Writing Twitter Novels

For example, one of the ideas I used this time is like this.

*********
It was not a coincidence, but an inevitability, that there was a duck in the wreckage of the spaceship.
When I was looking at that duck while riding in the pool, I accidentally dropped a duck I found nearby into the pool.
My friend and I approached the duck in a hurry, thinking we shouldn't scream at the top of our lungs.
I let the head of the mechanical doll pop out from its shoulder and looked up at the ceiling to catch my breath.
Even though the duck noticed me, it wouldn't move from that spot. That makes me feel unbearably disgusted. I don't think there's any reason why I might look like the duck's favorite, either.
*********

I eventually generated 9,000 such pieces of text.

Next is the primary check. I select the ones I find interesting from the large amount of ideas and edit them so that they feel somewhat like a story. At first, I carefully edited the original idea text to make it readable as a plot outline. However, I ran out of time, so it became sloppy halfway through.

In the previous example, it became like this. I'm bringing out the flavor of the ingredients (?). I also used this for the plot outline at the time of submission.

*********
It was not a coincidence, but an inevitability, that there was a duck in the wreckage of the spaceship.
When I was looking at the duck while sinking my feet into the pool water, the duck accidentally fell into the pool nearby.
My friend and I approached the duck slowly, being careful not to scream.
Even though the duck noticed me, it wouldn't move from that spot. That makes me feel unbearably disgusted. I don't think there's any reason why I might look like the duck's favorite, either.
*********

After that, I had the AI fill in the gaps in the text again as a secondary generation, and then I completed it by editing it myself in a secondary check.

The example above turned out like this. By the way, the title was also created using a simple title generation program I made personally (I remember editing some of it).

*********
"Me Approaching the Duck"

　It was not a coincidence, but an inevitability, that a duck was in the wreckage of the spaceship.
　When I was watching the duck while dipping my feet in the pool water, the duck accidentally fell into the pool nearby.
　I was thinking while watching the duck play in its favorite pool.
　I thought so when our eyes met as the duck fell into the pool.
　"Can I fall in too?" "Of course." I jump into the duck's pool. I grabbed the duck's neck and pulled it up from underwater.
　When the duck surfaced, it flapped its feet like it did when it entered the pool, and climbed out of the pool while dragging its feet.
　I placed the duck on the poolside.
　The duck was at the bottom of the pool where I had dipped my feet.
　When I realized it, I had submerged the duck at the bottom of the pool.
　I swam to catch the duck that could dive into the water.
　The robot was chasing me.
　The duck came up. It was at the edge of the pool. I chased the duck. The duck swims chasing me. I swim.
　The duck went far away. I was nearby. I was at the edge of the pool. I wasn't breathing.
　The poolside approached. I brought my face close to the edge of the pool to make myself eat. The duck's breath in the pool hit me. I inhaled, inhaled, and submerged the duck in the pool.
　When I caught the duck, my heart became calm.
　I wanted to eat the duck, but I didn't try to eat it.
　My heart was clear.
　Around that time, I felt like I could catch the duck.
　My friend and I approached the duck slowly, warning each other not to scream.
　Without looking at the computer screen, I looked at the straight road, and my feet, my feet were moving.
　My friend and I each caught a duck.
　I wanted the duck to eat me, so I tried to catch the duck, but I couldn't do it well, so I decided to run away as it was. Then my friend said, "Hey, stop there. Let's go, we'll be eaten by the duck. What should we do?" But I said nothing and approached the duck.
　I was afraid of being eaten by the duck.
　Even though the duck noticed me, it didn't move from that spot.
　I was impressed that there are people like this on Mars, and I felt somewhat sorry.
　"If the duck hates me, I will abandon the duck. Please. Find me and save them. I will definitely catch them before they fall into their hands."
　My eyes widen.
　"Huh?!"
　Suddenly, the duck's voice cracked. I couldn't hear it well, but the duck looked surprised at me for raising my voice.
　"Oh, I'm sorry. For surprising you."
　"Thank you."
　I thanked it, and finally the distance between me and the duck closed.
　Wearing matching cutter shirts, we laughed at each other and parted ways at a place a little further away.
　Just share your feelings with us.
　The next post is something like that.
　On the way home, the time with the duck felt a little clearer than before.
　Even if I say we've been together for years, I felt a strange feeling from the moment we met.
　I hate that unbearably.
　I don't really want to say what the duck found in the cyber world either. I had no choice but to hear it here now.
　In the end, the conversation with the duck ended in vain that day, and the two of us decided to go home.
　When I got home, unlike usual, the duck's house was a little quiet.
　When I turned on the light and went inside, the duck's mother, who was drinking some tea, said.
　"Did the duck come now? You were a little late."
　"Work is over for today. It seemed like the duck had returned too."
　Maybe there is no reason why I look like the duck's favorite.
　For now, I hope that we can live together like this forever without being blamed by anyone.
　Even though there is a time machine, it is certain that some family circumstances are affecting it, and because of that, I actually think it would be fine if both of them came to my house just like me.
　But I don't know why that is the reason.
　Why has my chest disappeared so much?
　Back then, I was still able to "exist" in "myself" from the bottom of my heart, so I could have stayed without lying to myself.
　However, what should I do?
　I don't feel like I'm thinking anything about whether those two will come back.
　Will she leave me and live truly freely just like that?
　Any reason is fine.
　I'm talking to those two.
　If I could say that, how easy it would be.
　Even someone like me doesn't have to be separated from them.
　Are they planning to betray me?
　Don't I care?
　Time is coming soon.
　"From now on, let's go home and talk about everything, shall we? It's going to be a very, very long time for you."
　He said that and gently touched my shoulder.
　If she comes back, can I live with her and go to her place again?
　
<End>
*********

I wrote 100 pieces in this manner. I applied via the internet, but since I had to apply one by one, I did it in two sessions, which took a total of over 2 hours.

Looking at it this way, you might think that writing a novel is easy. However, the work is harder than you can imagine.

Just looking through a massive amount of AI text and choosing (if possible, easily) what might become a work is exhausting. It's similar to drawing a picture based on a child's drawing. It's a task that tests the human's imagination.

I'm used to doing similar things, so I'm accustomed to it, but I wouldn't really recommend it to beginners.

In fact, I feel like the sentences I write normally are also buggy because I read so much AI text.

I think AI text is a kind of lowest common denominator. If you get soaked in it, a sense of "the AI would probably write this kind of sentence next" starts to sprout.

When I look at my Twitter timeline, there are often times when I think, "Is this a bot's tweet?" and when I look closely, it's a human's writing.

Then, I start thinking that since the AI would write it this way, I should write a different kind of sentence. That's how I went off the rails.

Finally

Thank you for staying with me for so long. I intended to summarize it simply, but I didn't think it would get this long either.

I will refrain from talking in detail about the content of the work "Are You There?" because it would be tactless. Everything you felt after reading it is all there is.

On top of that, I'll be bold and show my ulterior motives, but I have previously written a book review of a novel written about an "AI that writes novels."

I wasn't very conscious of it, but there are many parts that I feel are connected to "Are You There?". If you have time, please read it.

In particular, I would like to note here that I was greatly influenced by "Cultivated Text," one of the pieces in Chohei Kambayashi's "Kototsubo."

Well, that's the end of my reveal.

Now that I've shown all the behind-the-scenes, some people might say, "I could have done this much myself."

So, I will say this intentionally.

It is like Columbus's egg. It is only possible because I showed that it could be done. Anyone could have done it before I did. However, they did not realize it was possible. Even if they had realized it, they did not put it into action.

That is all there is to it.

If you think it is easy to do, I would love for you to try writing a novel using AI from now on.

If you search for keywords like "AI novel" on Twitter, you will quickly see that many people are already writing novels using AI writing support tools.

I would be happy if this could serve as a catalyst for AI-assisted novel writing to become the norm.

For now, I feel like I am being looked at like some kind of rare beast.

As I mentioned at the awards ceremony, my dream is to continue my creative activities even after this physical body is gone. That is why I use AI, and why I appeared at the awards ceremony as an avatar rather than showing my real face.

If I can continue writing novels semi-permanently, I feel that someday I will be able to write a work that I can be satisfied with myself.

I will continue to devote myself to becoming a "writer who can compete based on the content of their work," rather than just "some weird guy."

February 23, 2023 update:
I had announced the number of submitted works as "101," but I actually miscounted and it was "100." I realized this a while ago, but I lost the timing to correct it. I apologize for the correction. If there are no issues, I intend to submit even more works in the future.