How to write a web novel with AI in 7 steps

Writing a web novel with AI doesn't mean one button spits out a chapter ready to post. The AI spreads an idea out wide, drafts to the lore you've settled on, and points out what needs fixing. What to keep, what to drop, and where chapter 1 ends are your calls.

This post breaks that process into seven steps. Each step splits what you decide from what the AI handles, with one real message and one screen from the app. The example is the record of They Say I'm a Dark Mage, but All I'm Good At Is Digging Dirt, a Korean web novel written in Korean with TypeTak, from ideation through revising chapter 1. The chats, manuscript, and screens below are translated from the Korean original. The full process, step by step, is in the course Write a Web Novel, Step by Step.

1. Turn a one-line idea into a concept

You decide — the tone and the chapter 1 twist · The AI handles — spreading the idea out wide

Your first request can be short. This story started from one line, “give me worldbuilding for an earth mage concept,” and the agent came back with a full set of serious fantasy worldbuilding. I didn't take it as is. I kept only two threads, “earth magic is looked down on” and “earth magic solves everyday problems,” and set the tone with my next message.

Here's the joke, if you don't read Korean. In Korean, “earth magic” (heuk-mabeop) and “dark magic” (heuk-mabeop) sound identical. Say it out loud and nobody can tell which one you meant.

One sentence about tone turned serious fantasy into a comedy of errors. What to look for in the AI's answer isn't the list of lore. It's the loop that keeps producing events. For this story: he solves an everyday problem with earth magic → it looks like dark magic → people get more scared of him → he's hailed as an even greater dark mage. A serial needs a new event every chapter, so pick a concept that has a loop like this.

2. Keep the worldbuilding you settle on in one place

You decide — which lore to keep · The AI handles — organizing the lore into entries

Lore you settle on in a chat gets buried in that chat. When you write the next chapter, you have to dig it up and explain it again, and when something changes, it's hard to tell what needs fixing. In TypeTak, say you like it, and the agent gets it ready to save to the World.

Click Update on the card, and the agent creates node types such as characters, places, and factions, then fills in each entry. After that, any new lore you settle on in conversation piles up in World backlog under the chat input. Click Organize and it goes into the World.

3. Ask where the gaps are, then place events

You decide — which options to use · The AI handles — finding the gaps, placing events

Sometimes you have plenty of lore but can't see what happens in the next chapter. Instead of adding more lore, ask what's missing.

The agent read the World itself and named six gaps: a short-term goal, who stands in the way, the cost of the misunderstanding, the limits of his power, changing relationships, and foreshadowing. Each one came with directions to choose from, and all I had to do was pick. The events I picked were laid out by arc on the Board.

Whatever your story, answer these four questions before you start your serial, and you won't get stuck on the next chapter.

1. What does the protagonist need to do right now?
2. Who is working hardest to stop it?
3. What does the protagonist lose if they fail?
4. How does this event lead into the next big one?

4. Check the plan, then hand off the draft

You decide — the length and the final scene · The AI handles — drafting to the plan

That's the whole request. The agent found and read the characters and events chapter 1 needed in the World, and instead of writing right away, it showed a Draft plan first. There are two things to check.

• Length — 5000–5500 characters. That's the usual length of one chapter in a Korean web novel serial, about 5,000 characters. Change the number in this field to what your own platform expects.
• The last beat — the cliffhanger that makes readers click through to the next chapter. This one was planned to cut off at the moment the underrated protagonist is mistaken for a dark mage.

If the plan looks right, click Write as is. The draft follows the writing style you've set for the manuscript, so the style holds as the chapters add up.

5. Start a finished draft with feedback

You decide — what to fix first · The AI handles — pointing out strengths, weaknesses, and lore contradictions

It's hard to see your own writing clearly right after you've written it. In the editor toolbar, open the menu next to Proofreading and click Feedback. It goes point by point through the writing's strengths and weaknesses, and also flags anything that contradicts the lore you've organized in the World. Look at this before you touch any sentences. If you polish sentences first and the feedback then changes the whole scene, that polishing goes to waste.

6. Read the reason before taking a revision note

You decide — which notes to apply · The AI handles — reasons for each change, replacement sentences

When the feedback is done, the sentences to fix are underlined, with revision notes attached. Each note comes with the reason for the change and a replacement sentence. This story's chapter 1 got five, and one of them was the scene where the judging stone announces Clay's attribute.

In a comedy of errors, the laughs come from what the reader knows and the characters don't. The replacement adds one line of clue to the protagonist's thoughts, so readers know the truth while everyone in the exam hall has still heard “dark magic.” Apply only the notes you agree with, and dismiss the rest with Close.

7. Polish sentences and proofread last

You decide — the final wording · The AI handles — candidate sentences, spelling and grammar checks

Even after the structure is fixed, some sentences still bug you. Put your cursor in a sentence and a speech bubble pops up at the end of it. Open Rephrase there, and you get candidates that say the same thing in different words.

To add description or dialogue, open Enhance in the same bubble and pick an action such as Imagery boost · Inner voice · Dialogue. Right before you post, use Proofreading in the toolbar to mark spelling, grammar, and awkward phrasing across the manuscript, then apply the fixes all at once. For details, see the proofreading and feedback guide.

What to watch for with a general AI chat

You can do all seven steps with a general AI chat like ChatGPT · Claude · Gemini. But your manuscript and lore live outside the chat, so these jobs fall to you.

• Keep your lore in one document. Write the lore you settle on into a document, add it to the conversation, and update that document yourself whenever something changes.
• Put the length, point of view, and final scene in your request. Instead of “write it like a web novel,” say how many characters, whose point of view, and which scene to end on. You'll get closer to the draft you want.
• Move the fixed sentences into your manuscript, and keep the original. The chat's answers don't go into your manuscript on their own, so keep the original to see what changed after you move them over.

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