CREATING A WORLD (The Writer’s Process, Part 13)
AI showed me a world I didn't know existed
Years ago, I took Robert McKee’s Story class in New York. It was a great long weekend, culminating in a minute-by-minute breakdown of Casablanca that not only dissected every moment of the screenplay but even took time to admire the lighting and set design.
But that’s not why I’m bringing this up.
At one point, McKee hammered home the importance of knowing every detail of your story’s world. His prime example? That unforgettable moment in Alien when the monster drools—and the acid burns through three levels of the ship.
“That’s knowing your world,” he said.
That’s what we all need to do. And today, AI gives us world-building tools that can get us “drool deep” into our fictional settings—faster than ever before.
How AI Transformed My Entire Story Concept
What began as a simple image in my mind became something vastly different—and far more compelling—through my conversations with AI.
The Original Concept
I started with nothing more than a funny image: the Arctic Circle Data Center.
I imagined that, 30 years from now, we’d have enormous data centers in the Arctic, where processors could be kept naturally cold, operating outside government regulation, staffed by technicians, visited by corporate types who didn’t have a clue what was really going on there.
It was interesting. But not particularly original. I needed more.
The Research Catalyst
Then, while writing this very post, I came across three seemingly unrelated articles in The Wall Street Journal:
• A piece on mineral extraction in Greenland, with photos of encampments eerily similar to my imagined Arctic Circle Data Center.
• A report on U.S. investment in chip manufacturing by companies like Apple and TSMC.
• A feature on towns abandoned by the manufacturing industry—describing communities caught in a boom-bust cycle.
🚀 Comment: Has a real-world article or piece of news ever completely changed your story? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear it!
This research got me thinking: What if the same tech investments that “revived” these towns ended up dooming them again? That led me to AI.
A New Writer in the Room: Perplexity AI
I decided to bring in an AI research assistant: Perplexity AI. It makes sense -- Perplexity’s strong suit is research, DEEP research.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
I asked:
1. “What happens to a town when a huge data center gets built there?”
2. “How large is the trend toward cloud computing today?”
3. “What could go wrong with companies moving everything to the cloud?”
4. “What would cause a big tech company to abandon a data center, maybe 20 years from now?”
One term kept coming up: “Cloud Repatriation.”
It turns out, companies are already realizing that total cloud dependency is risky. AI suggested a schism between Centralized Data Clouds and Edge Computing. That single idea transformed my setting.
🚀 Comment: What’s the most surprising AI-generated idea you’ve ever gotten? Let’s compare notes in the comments!
From Single Setting to Tale of Two Cities
Instead of just one abandoned data center, I now had a dramatic contrast between two communities—one thriving, one failing:
Suddenly, my world had built-in tension, economic stakes, and social themes.
🚀 Comment : Have you used AI to explore new world-building possibilities? If so, what worked best?
Using Multiple AI “Personalities” in Your Writers’ Room
I didn’t stop at Perplexity. I pulled in other AI tools to refine my world:
• Claude: Identified structural strengths and weaknesses in the Tale of Two Cities setup.
• ChatGPT: Acted as a “curious collaborator,” asking me to clarify motivations and stakes.
Each AI provided a different lens to refine my world-building.
How to Use AI for World-Building (A Quick Guide)
If you want to use AI to deepen your fictional worlds, here’s how to start:
1. Seed Your Concept → Start with a basic world idea (ex: a data center in the Arctic).
2. Ask Expansive Questions → Use AI to generate unexpected angles and conflicts.
3. Look for Connections → Combine AI insights with real-world research.
4. Consult Multiple AIs → Use different AI tools to stress-test your world.
5. Refine & Expand → Develop contrasts, power structures, and cultural elements.]
🚀 Comment: Which step in this process excites you the most? Or do you have a different method for world-building? Let’s discuss!
Breaking Through Writer’s Isolation
Every time I do this, I realize: writing with AI isn’t about outsourcing creativity—it’s about expanding your ideas.
Just typing out my thoughts and testing them against different AI “collaborators” makes me crystallize what I really want my world to be.
🚀 Your Turn:
• Try feeding an AI tool one world-building question you’ve been stuck on.
• See what insights it gives you.
• Drop your results in the comments!
📢 NEXT: Now that we’ve built a world, how do we set the “rules”? In my next post, I’ll show you how AI can help define the logic of your world—magic systems, political structures, and more.
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