Ten years ago, I started writing a cyberpunk/sci-fi thriller about a Biohacking cybercriminal named "Nero" who gets entangled with two beautiful Colombian twins while trying to save the world from the same comet that destroyed Atlantis 12,800 years ago.
I imagined there would one day be digital tools to bring this story to life, as vivid as it was in my own head.And here we are.
The book is called Hourglass -- think "Limitless" meets "Black Mirror" meets "American Psycho" with a bit of "Atlas Shrugged" and "Paradise Lost"
It was just independently published, so it's not a best-seller (YET!), nor has it received accolades from the literary world. But read it for yourself, and I think you'll find - like other early reviewers - that it is epically creative and original storytelling. THAT is because my creativity was multiplied, technologically and pharmacologically, for the 364 obsessive hours I spent writing it. Ultimately, I'm glad I took a whole decade to write the story, as it was enriched significantly by my broad life experiences. Beneath its sexy veneer as a thriller, it's a morality tale: the takeaway message is that...
Lust is kind of like "The Force" in Star Wars; not good or bad. Not a master but a tool that can be self-destructive or very useful - a choice that is up to the one yielding it.
I feel the same way about AI since it's been so useful in multiplying the creativity I brought to the nearly 700 pages of the Hourglass story. Ironically, like with lust, society seems to be collectively bemoaning the seductive power of AI while simultaneously succumbing to it with barely a hint of resistance. Society already has a love-hate/bad romance relationship with AI, but not me, as I wrote elsewhere...
The AI trend is like many other trends cast in a negative light... Bad for the normie, but something the Lifehacker can yield for their edification. Bad for the masses of passive consumers who sit on their couches entranced by a glowing box. But potentially very good for the proactive man or woman with a vision of grandeur for their life or the world.
We live in an age where people fear AI will replace artists, writers, and creators. But I’d argue: that fear tells you more about the person than the tool.
After working obsessively for 1100 hours on Hourglass, I had this epiphany: Our apprehensions about AI mirror our relationship with lust. For those ruled by it, both can enslave. For those who master it, both can empower. Like lust, AI is neither evil nor divine -- it’s a tool. And in the hands of someone with agency, discipline, and vision, it becomes an amplifier of will.
The novel I wrote is about that very struggle: to reclaim free will and wield it in a world doing its damndest to claw it away from us with digital talons. Here, I'll share the AI and tech tools and other hacks I used to bring my story to life...
I unapologetically admit it -- as a rapacious capitalist and slyly seductive self-promotor -- I have an independently published $9 book to sell. Other than that, I’m unaffiliated with all the tools and resources mentioned here. I paid full price for all of them. The only thing I got for free was coffee because my wife makes it for me every morning.
Writing the book
ChatGPT is a pretty awesome brainstorming partner of the novelist. I resisted letting the AI write the whole novel for me. I should give you an example of this to prove it...
I've had a lot of conversations with AI, and ironically, AI is very fond of reminding us humans that we should "reconsider our relationship to technology." In nearly every philosophical conversation I've had with AI, it issues this blandly broad warning that we've all heard a million times: Stay human; don't surrender your entire life to technology! Duh. We already know. The Unabomber in the 1980s and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the 1800s warned us that technology would lead to a deadening of the human experience. If I let AI write my novel, it would be yet another book critiquing our overuse of technology. What I thought would be a lot more interesting would be to write a story about sex or, more accurately, Biohacking the reconquest of sexual self-control. So that's the book I wrote instead.
Reedsy - This is the fourth book I've written on the free Reedsy web app because I'm a real stickler for good digital book formatting (I've read too many badly formatted digital books), and Reesdy delivers in this department!
Grammarly - Get Grammarly Pro if you're going to write a book! But you don't simply want to accept all its Clarity suggestions; sometimes, they will rob your writing of its emotional punch. For example, Grammarly really didn't like this passage, but I'm sure you'll agree that it's damn near perfect the way I wrote it...
He stepped in and was a man at war with himself. He was a thousand men at war with themselves, for the elevator - like interrogation room 3B - had four mirrored walls. Faith battled for freedom in his forlorn mind. Surprising turn of fortune battled cynical fatalism. Longing to leave a legacy battled loneliness. Self-pity battled selflessness. Regret battled righteous reconquest. And, most fiercely, lust battled loss.
Google's NotebookLM - After finishing every chapter, I would have Google LM generate a literary analysis podcast discussion of the chapter. These were sometimes surprisingly insightful and witty (available for download by readers in the Audio Extra's section, accessible via the QR code at the end of the book)
https://youtu.be/e4LlSfKG4UQ?embedable=true
NotebookLM also produced an amazing literary analysis flowchart breaking down all the story's characters, themes, and events...
Along with a study and question guide (in the event that some high school English teachers out there are mad enough to have their students read my book!), which are downloadable from the extra resources section.
ElevenReader - I used this AI narration app to listen back to every chapter - this helped me catch a lot of typos and places where the words didn't flow right.
On the human side...
The Hourglass story ravenously consumed caffeine and Nicotine and demanded I dig deep into my creative reserves.
Nicotine - “The creativity smart drug” (as I call it) had much to do with this book being penned. A number of other Nootropics flowed in my veins while I worked on the story, but let’s give credit where credit is due: Nicotine beats the pants off everything else in the creativity department for me.
https://www.limitlessmindset.com/nootropic-ingredients/307-nicotine?embedable=true
As I wrote my meta-analysis of Nicotine (which you should read BEFORE using it yourself as a Smart Drug)…
Nicotine is one of the great romances of my life. She’s my muse, thanks to her my name is on a body of creative work that I’m very proud of. I’ve learned things about myself with her. I awake thinking of her. She’s propelled me to great heights where the rarified air swept deep into my soul. But as much as I long for her, and as much as she does for me, I don’t totally trust her. When I enjoy the gifts she offers too much, I don’t feel quite right and it’s time for us to take a break from each other.
Thanks, Nicotine! You and me, babe. Bad romance for life.
Editor’s note: Nicotine is a highly addictive stimulant that can lead to dependence and long-term health problems. Please consult a medical practitioner or a licensed doctor before using any medicines. The author of this article is neither. #DYOR
Brain.FM's binaural beats in the headphones helped usher me into a creative flowstate daily...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc_vy0B2Uho&embedable=true
I used Suno to create various AI songs that captured the characters. I'd listen to the Fast Lane Livin' hip-hop track when writing the protagonist, Xavier. I'd listen to the sultry Latin songs when writing sexy scenes. And I would listen to the epic "Space Opera" theme song I created for Hourglass daily.
Final "novelist hack" - having a wife who would sit and listen while I endlessly talked about the story at dinner every night for the past seven months...
Audiobook
ElevenLabs - I used to create a full “Odyssey of the Mind” style audiobook with distinct AI voices for all the characters. Their posh Swedish ‘Charlotte’ narration voice nailed the story's sultry tone much better than my raspy voice!
THIS was actually a lot of fun! My 100,000-word (370-page) book took about $160 in credits to produce into an 11-hour audiobook.
https://odysee.com/@JRoseland:7/Hourglass-audiobook-sample-(captioned):e?embedable=true
Book Cover
This is one thing to NOT outsource to AI. I ran a $200 design contest on Hatchwise for about 10 days and settled on this design...
Here's the cover I designed with a combination of AI image generation tools and Adobe Express (it's not that bad...)
Cinematic trailer
The AI trailer below took me 165 hours to produce...
https://youtu.be/C_buIh-eFZA?si=m3ggspsN_Fa1x19G&embedable=true
AI filmmaking is seductive; I got carried away by animating different scenes from my story. The trailer is too long, I know. After watching it, you might say, "This gives away the whole story!" I can assure you that even this 10-minute trailer is only the tip of the thematic iceberg! I originally envisioned turning the Hourglass story into a feature film or serialized story using AI, but I quickly realized something: I don't like AI filmmaking - the constant prompting, the disappointment when outputs miss the mark - it's tedious! However, I am proud of how it captures the aesthetic and hints at the thematic depth of my story.
The trailer did NOT go viral and result in a surge of book sales, but the biggest disappointment of the entire project was how rude and cruel the anonymous commenters of the internet were in their response to what's objectively a pretty well-produced book trailer/short film. The internet is already "over" the novelty of AI trailers;
Tools I used to produce it...
Video
I tried almost all the video generation platforms and did the majority of my clip and scene generations with Kling. Kling gets four stars from me as they've recently improved their platform significantly, but their customer service remains non-existent (even at the $80/monthly premium plan - they don't even care to respond to your emails of support requests on their discord). I burned through about 10,000 credits to produce my book trailer, which cost me under a hundred dollars (a lot cheaper than hiring a filmmaker or animator, I suppose).
https://youtu.be/d0MdwU67DsE?embedable=true
Illustration/Image Generation
I started using OpenArt, then switched to Krea.ai as I found it the best for Flux LoRA modeling of consistent characters...
Flux is on Krea is, I think, the best image-generation AI platform for storytelling.
What turned out to be surprisingly challenging was creating the futuristic luxury airship where the epic climax of the Hourglass story occurs. AI struggled to create a zeppelin and add its designation, The Empress. Ideogram was the only platform that could make this happen...
Voices
ElevenLabs - I used many of the same AI voices you can hear in the audiobook.
Music
Suno, Brain.FM, and Nikki Idol - A talented musician who gave me permission to use his song, Lady, Touch Yourself.
Editing
Adobe Premiere - This is the video editing software I've used for over a decade.
Scripting
Me - I did NOT outsource this to AI. I appear at the end of the trailer with the actual print book (yes, it’s real!).
1094 Hours of Obsession
You're not a real Lifehacker if you don't track your time; I trialed a bunch of time-tracking apps once upon a time and discovered that Toggl is the best (and free and ad-free). It produces illuminating time-spent reports like this...
The story that took me nearly 1100 hours to write, edit, and obsessively polish is getting absolutely rave reviews from earlier readers: people telling me they laughed, cried, and stayed up all night to read it.
The major philosophical thrust of "Hourglass" is...
"The only way to defeat death and capture time is through the beauty of a woman."
I use the book as a vehicle to harshly criticize what I term the "digital enslavement of human sexuality" trend and present personal growth solutions. So, it's ultimately somewhat ironic that AI and technology played such a role in bringing it to life! If you fear AI, maybe you should ask yourself: Do you fear the tool or the parts of yourself that can’t be trusted to wield it?
The same men who are ruled by lust will likely be ruled by AI. But the man who reclaims his will - and disciplines his desire - won’t be replaced. He’ll be multiplied. His work and the good he does will be multiplied by AI. While his bio-spiritual essence will be multiplied by lust: the only tool with which we capture time and defeat death.