AI story generators like Sudowrite can help fiction writers by crafting characters, building fantasy worlds, and even writing entire plots.
In my Sudowrite review, I will discuss key features of Sudowrite, along with examples of Sudowrite in action.
Sudowrite Review Summary
Sudowrite is an amazing AI story-writing tool with many helpful features like Rewrite, Describe, Brainstorm, and Character Generator.
Created by two writers themselves, it is a lot of fun to use and the generated stories feel surprisingly human. A minor drawback is that it lacks an in-built plagiarism checker.
But, you can use this free plagiarism checker if you need one.
Price: 19
Price Currency: USD
Operating System: Web App
Application Category: AI Writing Tool
4.5
Pros
- Brainstorm characters, plots, worlds, and more.
- Visual canvas to organize your plot and characters.
- Expand plot points.
- Rewrite to 'Show not Tell'
- Describe things for the 5 senses.
- Generate Twists.
- Get AI book blurbs, outlines, and hooks from your manuscript.
- AI gives beta feedback mimicking "human" readers.
- 4000-word free trial with all features included.
Cons
- Lacks in-built plagiarism checker.
P.S. You can get a one-time bonus of extra 10,000 AI words (added on buying a plan) by using my referral link. 🙂
Dear reader, I have included the 3 stories I generated with Sudowrite in this review:
Story 1: A writer takes help from a robot (exploring key features)
Story 2: A town where vampires & zombies co-exist (Using AI feedback feature)
Story 3: A love story between a vampire and an AI (mixing sci-fi and folklore)
If in a hurry, I suggest starting with story #1 as it also gives a pretty good walkthrough of Sudowrite.
Before we jump into the review, a few details about my criteria for a good AI story assistant…
A good AI story writing tool should help the writer to brainstorm and flesh out his/her initial drafts. Here are my criteria:
- The output should be coherent and original.
- Stay true to the writer’s personal style given as input.
- Emphasis on storytelling tools (like brainstorming, world-building, etc) vs generic AI writing.
- A large number of AI words for reasonable prices as we’d likely want to reiterate a story idea multiple times to get it just right.
- Distraction-free interface for writing.
Sudowrite checks all these boxes ✅ for me.
With all the news about AI around us, some fellow writers may get the impression AI writing tools can do the writing for us or even replace us.
But let’s remember that story writing is an art that requires creativity, emotion, and a unique perspective that only a human can bring. AI tools can help us with the technical aspects of writing, but they cannot replicate the human touch that makes our writing truly special.
Let’s embrace AI as a tool, but not forget the value of our unique voice and creativity.
Sincerely,
A fellow writer.
Detailed Sudowrite Review
I was able to write a fully coherent short story about a writer taking help from a robot to write – essentially starting from a single line about my character. 🤖
More importantly, it was fun imagining things with a never-tiring AI buddy!
Find out the key features of Sudowrite I used to generate the story below.
1. Brainstorm & Canvas
Sudowrite allows you to brainstorm about every aspect of story writing from a single sentence. I tested out the brainstorming features to see if they actually worked well. The results were impressive!
Story #1: A writer taking help from a robot to write.
Testing ‘Brainstorm’: I asked Sudowrite to brainstorm a character – “a writer who takes help from a robot to write.”
Canvas
By the way, you can also organize your thoughts, characters, and story points in Sudowrite Canvas. A very neat feature is that it allows you to visualize your characters, like I visualized an antagonist in a story below. (The blue hat guy with the pointed evil chin)
Sudowrite’s Canvas lets you add your own notes and create an outline using provided templates. You can use AI to populate and flesh out your notes.
While Canvas can feel a little disorganized, the outlining feature is cool and easy to use, generating an outline from your summary or allowing you to edit it step-by-step. It gives you a big-picture view of where your story is going.
You can access Canvas on the left sidebar.
2. Expanding Plots, Write & Rewrite Features
In the editor, I inserted our brainstormed ideas. It was one click. I re-ordered the sentences according to my preference and clicked expand on the last sentence.
Expand
I asked Sudowrite to ‘Expand’ on the brainstorming details we got. I got a story snippet as if written by a real writer!
My, oh, my what an amazing story snippet I got! In the below screenshot, everything written in blue is a story generated by an AI from a single line!
By the way, the above clean UI is called “focus mode”. You can eliminate all distractions from an already aesthetic interface.
Write/Rewrite Fine-Tuning
I did everything above with the default writing mode of Sudowrite. But, in case you want even greater control over the tone or direction the AI takes while expanding on your content, you can switch between auto, guided, and tone-shift writing modes.
- First Draft: Sudowrite’s First Draft feature generates up to 1000 words from a scene description, providing a good starting point for editing and adding your own touch.
- Guided and Auto Write: Use Guided Write to input a sentence or two about the next section and generate up to 250 words. Auto Write generates text without guidance.
- Tone Shift: This feature allows for easy adjustments to the tone of your story.
It also offers a rewrite option to help you rephrase or revise what you have already written. In the below screenshot, you can see Sudowrite offers you ability to be more descriptive, rephrase, shorten, add more conflict and intensity, etc while writing.
3. Describing Story Elements
Testing ‘Describe’: I asked Sudowrite to ‘Describe’ my robot character.
I got 5 descriptions – sound, sight, smell, touch, taste, and a possible metaphor as suggestions from Sudowrite. The word choice was good and the output was coherent.
4. Generating a Story Twist!
The final highlight: Using Sudowrite AI to generate a Twist for my story! 🤯
The Twist feature is still experimental but still I was able to get fun and interesting results. See the twist I got in the below screenshot.
My robot is apparently bent on world domination 🤖 and likes stealing my ideas.
Oh, wait. It wasn’t even real!
Isn’t this a perfect M. Night Shyamalan kind of twist?
5. Feedback on Your Writing by AI
Feedback is an experimental feature in which AI readers go through your story and tell you what they think about its theme, plot, etc.
Here’s my input story for which I asked Sudowrite for feedback:
Story #2: I tried to create a city where zombies, vampires, and humans exist but both vampires and zombies have managed to conceal their identities from humans.
Now a conflict is brewing between zombies and vampires. (By the way, this story was also ‘expanded’ using Sudowrite)
The below section is just the beginning of the story. I did not hint at what direction the story could take (do they finish each other off? do they form a cartel where vampires kill and zombies eat brains? 🤯). But it is enough to get feedback on the writing style (min 400 words).
Clicking feedback spawns 3 AI readers that “try” to read our story as a human reader would and share feedback. I am pasting excerpts from the feedback I got.
“Great story! I thought the theme was that of the power of human determination and resourcefulness in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
…
I think there are a few areas that merit further exploration:After introducing the conflict between vampires and zombies, it would be helpful to offer a bit more context and detail about the particular stakes involved in this battle.
What do the vampires and zombies hope to gain by controlling Eastland? What kind of power or resources are they seeking? What is the Zombie King’s plan, and how do the vampires plan to prevent it?”
“To me, the theme was one of struggle and determination…The part that resonated with me the most was the idea of the protagonist being a “seer of sorts.” It suggests that he has a special ability to understand people and situations.
…
I think there are a few areas that merit further exploration:1) Ryan has an “uncanny knack for understanding the motivations of those around him,” but what is the source of this power? Why is he so special?
2) Ryan’s allies in the police department should be further fleshed out and given more distinct personalities. This would help readers to become more invested in Ryan’s journey and understand what is at stake for him in his mission.”
“I thought the theme was about facing the darkness and rising above it.
…
I think there are a few areas which merit further exploration:1) The passage could use more detail about the motivations of the two ancient forces. How have their beliefs and motivations evolved over time?
2) It’s not clear why Ryan is the one chosen to take on the challenge of stopping these two powerful enemies. How is he uniquely equipped to do this?3) There is not enough focus on the buildup and escalation of the battle. How does the conflict between vampires and zombies unfold? Is there a climax? What are the implications of the outcome?”
Pretty decent, right? As per Sudowrite, AI readers get better at giving feedback as your story grows. Besides, it is experimental as of now and will continue to improve.
Shrinkray
Aside from getting feedback on your writing, you might also want to generate blurbs for your novels/books.
Sudowrite has a handy feature for that too called Shrinkray. You can upload your manuscript and get loglines, blurbs, synopsis, and full outlines automatically.
Sudowrite User Experience
Sudowrite has a very user-friendly onboarding process. It uses a sample story to give a tour of its features. I understood how to use the major features in under a minute.
It also has a focus mode and most features require only one or two clicks.
Sudowrite also gives you the option to talk to their support to set things up, if you need help!
My Video of Using SudoWrite
Story #3: Just as a fun experiment, I gave Sudowrite a story idea that I haven’t seen anywhere yet.
I asked Sudowrite to write a romance between a vampire and an AI robot!
It started fairly well but fumbled a bit towards the middle where it confused my AI with a human (Sudowrite was treating it as an AI initially). With a gentle nudge from me, the story got back on track. Then my word limit ran out!
Alas, I was not able to complete my vamp-AI fanfic. Perhaps you will be able to. Do share it with me in the comments, in case you do!
Sudowrite Pricing
The basic plan starts at $10 per month (paid annually at $120) and gives 30,000 words/per month. That’s more generous than most other AI writing tools (and other tools don’t even work as well as Sudowrite).
Heads up: The pricing and features are at the time of writing. Please consult the official Sudowrite website for accurate pricing.
You can also explore for free before buying as I did. Sudowrite has a fully featured free trial of 4000 words. I liked the fact that they did not ask for my credit card for the free trial.
You will get 10000 AI words extra if you choose to purchase a paid plan via my referral link.
As per Sudowrite’s official website, you can also upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time.
Who Created Sudowrite? Sci-Fi Writers & Techies.
Sudowrite was founded by Amit Gupta and James Yu, both of whom are writers themselves and come from tech backgrounds. Before starting work on Sudowrite, together they founded a sci-fi writing group called Sudowriters and a zoom book club called Short Story Club.
When the team behind a product understands and cares about its customer’s problems, it shows. The Sudowrite team has been quick at pushing out new features and earnestly responds to customer feedback they get.
Even while creating Sudowrite, Amit and James took feedback from other writers for the direction of the app. The vast catalog of brainstorming features or the experimental twist and AI sudoreader features speak to the vision of storytelling behind Sudowrite.
What Other Users Are Saying About Sudowrite
I have crosschecked my experience with the experience of other Sudowrite users based on reviews found online (Reddit, author blogs, etc).
Here’s what I found:
- Joanna Penn, a New York Times best-selling author, featured Sudowrite founder on her Podcast and spoke positively about her experience with the tool.
- A user compared his experience with Sudowrite and other AI story tools like Novel AI. They liked Sudowrite the best.
- Most positive reviewers like Sudowrite for its:
- Brainstorm and Describe features.
- Budding writers have found Describe feature particularly useful in writing sensory and visual descriptions.
- The founders regularly interact with users on Social media including Reddit. Often you can get direct replies from Amit (co-founder), even about tough questions.
- Some bloggers/reviewers are even complaining that a couple of features in Sudowrite are experimental!
- Personally, I feel giving users access to experimental features is a good thing. It means that the team is always working on new things and takes user feedback at every stage (even experimental). Twists, TweetStorm, and Canvas are all experimental but they amazed me the most.
- Some legit criticisms:
- Sudowrite is not mobile-friendly.
- Some users want lower pricing despite liking the features. The base price is $19/month, but it comes down to $10/month with the yearly plan. The exchange rate makes it costly for non-US users.
Here’s what Amit had to say about pricing:
All in all, Sudowrite is an AI writing tool made by writers for fellow writers and clearly, it is also well-loved by the writing community seeing how many people praise it online.
Can AI replace story writers?
Seeing the capabilities of tools like Sudowrite might have you questioning the extent of human creativity and the role of AI in storytelling in the coming future.
If you limit the definition of a story to a series of mechanical events, AI will reach and surpass that level. It seems to be there already. But, I feel stories are much more than a mere retelling of events.
A good story is a gateway to the experiences of the writer. Every page is imbued with the author’s own emotions and motivations. Great stories give the readers a chance to introspect and feel.
AI-written stories are just not there yet. And, I suspect they never will be. AIs almost always have decent plot development ideas and excellent word usage. But, with little scope for introspection.
Closing Thoughts: Sudowrite Review
The future I foresee for writing is where AI gives human authors a helping hand to bring their own ideas to the forefront i.e a future of co-creation by man and machine.
For now, I wholeheartedly recommend that you give Sudowrite a try and experience the joy of having a story-writing buddy by your side, 24/7! 🙂
Now I’d like to hear from you:
Have you tried Sudowrite before?
If so, what was your experience with it? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between?
Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below.
Sudowrite vs Jasper AI: Which is the better AI Storywriter?
Between Jasper and Sudowrite, I liked Sudowrite more for its superior story-writing features.
| Sudowrite | Jasper | |
|---|---|---|
| Good for | Storywriting | Copywriting |
| Best Features | Brainstorm, Describe, Metaphors, Generate Twist, AI Feedback, Tweetstorm, Wormhole | 50+ templates for blog posts, product descriptions, etc. |
| Evaluation of Fiction Writing | Better, allows more user creative control, output closer to my writing voice. | Procedural story telling, Jasper takes the lead, less creative control |
| Free Trial | Yes. No credit card is needed. | Yes. Credit card is required. |
| Plagiarism Checker | No plagiarism checker is integrated. Users can opt for any external plagiarism checker (free or paid) as per their needs. | Has integrated Grammarly. |
| Cost | Cheaper. Starts at 10 USD/mo. | Expensive. Starts at $40/mo. Cost increases further due to additional upsells/paid add-ons. |
Sudowrite helps to solve common challenges faced by writers through features like brainstorming, show-not-tell, twist, wormhole, sudoreader feedback, etc. Writer’s block is just one of the problems it solves. Sudowrite aims to make storytelling easy.
Sudowrite feels like software made by writers for writers. The founders are sci-fi writers themselves and Sudowrite has fine-tuned GPT-3 further by using high-quality narrative training data. The team seems to be in touch with the writing community and its needs.
On the other hand, Jasper AI, also based on GPT-3, is geared mainly toward AI copywriting and sales writing. Thus, it is good at the selling part of story writing – Jasper can generate catchy book blurbs, amazing cliffhangers, and story hooks. Jasper can also be used to write good author bios. But, it is very expensive in comparison to Sudowrite (Jasper’s starter plan begins at USD 40 per month).
Moreover, I have found Jasper AI to be very procedural in its story generation. Using Jasper felt like it was taking the lead and ignoring my writing voice. Sudowrite does a better job of assisting the writer in writing the story and feels more like an AI guide than an AI tool.
Sudowrite Vs ChatGPT
ChatGPT costs $20 per month. Sudowrite costs $10 or $19 per month depending on which plan you buy. Aside from the cost, which tool is better for story writing?
Simply put: I feel Sudowrite is better at story writing because it has a whole suite of features aimed at making writing easier. Canvas, Brainstorm, Describe, etc are tools writers can use and do use frequently.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a general purpose chatbot. Sure, it can write stories but it is not tailor built for it. Sudowrite uses fine-tuned Open AI models anyway so it is not like you will be getting an inferior product with Sudowrite.
My suggestion: Use ChatGPT free version and pay for Sudowrite if you write stories for a living. A hobbyist can probably make do with either.
More Sudowrite Alternatives
For song writing
MasterWriter
Master Writer offers both songwriting and creative writing software. And it is used by some famous singers like Rob Thomas (Grammy winner)
I recommend MasterWriter for its songwriting capabilities.
It can suggest rhymes, phrases, alliterations, metaphors, etc for including in your song.
Master Writer follows a do-it-yourself approach rather than generating full songs for you.
For screenwriters
Scrivener
Scrivener is a powerful writing software that eliminates writing hurdles by providing a well-thought-out set of writing tools.
Scrivener is useful when you want to organize your manuscripts better.
It has a corkboard, an outliner, drag-and-drop features to rearrange sections of your manuscript, etc.
You can also export your writing as Epub or Kindle books.
For script writing
Dramatron
Dramaton is an open-source AI that excels at script writing.
It uses large language models to generate human-sounding scripts. LLMs are the same technology that powers Sudowrite (and ChatGPT).
Unfortunately, in its current state, it is not very user-friendly to use. While it is an excellent tool for co-creation, only technically inclined people may be able to use it.
FAQs
What is Sudowrite? Explained simply.
Sudowrite is an AI writing assistant for fiction authors. Writers can use Sudowrite to create new stories or tweak their existing work. This can be done by feeding the model a “seed” text, such as a few words or a sentence, and then allowing the model to generate the next word or phrase based on the previous words.
Readers also ask
How long is Sudowrite free trial?
Sudowrite offers a free trial of 4000 generated words to explore its key features like brainstorming, describing, and rewriting. Users need to sign up using email to try Sudowrite. However, the free trial does not require a credit card.
Are AI-generated stories plagiarism free?
AI-generated content is created through the use of machine learning algorithms that analyze patterns in text data, rather than copying and pasting of text. The AI system generates new text, word by word, based on the patterns it has identified in the training data. In such a case, the likelihood of generating is plagiarized content is very low.
Can Sudowrite generate plagiarized content?
Sudowrite AI has been trained on a large corpus of narrative text and generates the next word(s) based on previous input. If you’re using original text as your input, you will get original content out of Sudowrite. However, Sudowrite can be forced to output content that is not original by giving it verbatim input text from famous sources like Harry Potter. It is recommended to use Sudowrite with original writing for original output and to double check the final result with plagiarism checkers.
Is writing stories with AI ethical?
On one hand, AI-generated stories can be seen as a tool for writers to generate new ideas and inspiration, and can help with writer’s block. On the other hand. the use of AI to write stories raises ethical concerns about authorship, originality, authenticity, copyright infringement and the role of human creativity. A middleground is to use AI as a helping hand rather than using AI content as is. It might also be more ethical to mention the use of AI in your content generation process or use a separate pseudonym.
Can AI write believable stories?
There exist several AI writing tools that are specialized for believable story generation. For example, Sudowrite, Deep Story AI, Novel AI, and Sassbook AI Story Writer.
How do I create an AI story?
AI story generators can be used to create create coherent stories based on prompts. I suggest using AI writing tools specifically trained on story and fiction datasets to create AI stories. General-purpose AI writing tools or AI copywriting tools might not work very well for creating AI stories. Try to think of one-line prompts if you are finding it hard to get started and let AI throw some ideas at you. You can use Sudowrites’ brainstorm feature for this.
What kind of stories I can create with AI?
AI story generators can create short stories and even help you write a novel. You can ask the AI to create any genre of story as it is trained on millions of stories of different genres. You can create AI-generated horror stories or funny stories, for example.
What is an AI story generator? How does it work?
An AI story generator is a program that can write stories using artifical intelligence and machine learning technqiues. It is a mathematical model that mimics the structure of a human brain (neural networks). AI story generators are trained on millions of rows of data, telling the ‘program’ what a story looks like. Then the AI learns from this data and is able to create new stories as a human would.
Is there a free AI story generator?
Plot Generator and Sassbook AI story writer are free AI story generators. Sudowrite offers a fully featured trial with 4000 words. Sassbook is the best free ai story generator in my opinion.
Are there AI story-generator games?
AI story generator games are video games that use artificial intelligence to generate unique and dynamic narratives within the game. These games use natural language processing and machine learning techniques to create new storylines, characters, and events based on the player’s choices and actions. The AI adapts the game’s story in real-time, making each playthrough unique and different. Dungeon AI is a popular AI story generator game.
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