When writing web novels with AI, we rely on a system to keep the writing process stable and easy to monitor.

In AI web novel writing, a good system guarantees a floor for the quality of the text. A novel produced by following the Seedraft system all the way through usually has very few contradictions in logic or facts from one part to the next. That's already a pretty respectable result.

So I'd say the hard question in AI web novel writing has shifted from "How do I write it?" to "What do I write?"

How to write: in the early days of AI short dramas and web novels, creators were all still exploring how to write with AI. Nobody knew yet how to use AI to create a complete story. After a while, full-scale systematic platforms like Xingyue Writing and Wawa Writing appeared. By then, how to write web novels with AI was no longer a hard problem. As models got better and AI agents got stronger, we're past the point of being lost about "how do I actually write web novels with AI." What we really should be thinking about is how to write good content with AI.

So the question of "What do I write?" follows. Once we have a good system and a good AI agent, how should we create together with AI to produce good stories?

In this post, I'll share my view.

First, I'd like you to read "How I Pick Topics for Women's Web Fiction," which I wrote in the knowledge base.

The Hook

Let's start with one thing: the hook.

To me, the hook is the point that first draws people into a story. Before readers even start the text, that point makes them think your story sounds fun and want to click in.

A good hook needs to be fresh, and it needs to be easy to understand.

My test is simple: can you explain your hook in one sentence, and will people find it fun as soon as they hear that sentence?

If you need to explain a pile of worldbuilding, character backstory, and power rules before people understand what's fun about it, then think about whether the hook isn't fully worked out yet, or whether you haven't found the part most worth telling.

Fresh doesn't have to mean inventing something out of thin air that nobody's ever seen. Putting familiar things together so they form a new relationship can make a good hook too.

For example: a timid minor official who only wants to quietly enjoy the gossip at court every morning, not knowing that the stone-faced female chancellor can hear every thought in his head.

Timid, enjoying the gossip, someone hearing your thoughts: none of these are hard to understand. But put them together and people want to read on. He thinks he's hiding it well, but the chancellor knows everything. What kind of chaos will follow?

That's what makes people want to keep reading.

So when you design a hook, try combining different genres and premises, but don't just pile on tags. If you add five or six tags and in the end still can't say what's fun about it, readers won't have the patience to hear you explain them one by one.

Next, we also need to think: what kind of character should carry this hook to bring out its fun?

Take the same premise of someone else hearing your thoughts. A person who says whatever comes to mind right to your face makes a very different story from someone who seems cautious on the outside but dares to think anything inside. The harder the second one tries to hide, the better it gets when they can't.

The hook pulls readers in, and the character carries the hook. You can think of a fun hook first and then design a character to fit it. Once the character is set, the rest of the story has to ask: with her personality, what would she do when these things happen to her?

The hook gets readers interested in the story. After that, it's up to the character to act the story out.

Character

I have to stress this. Character is the soul of a story. The story exists because the character exists. If you want to write a good story, you have to create a good character.

1. In a 500,000-character women's web novel with a single heroine, you only need to focus on building that one heroine. If there's a male lead or two heroines, build two core characters.
2. However many core characters you have, the story design of the whole book has to revolve around those one or two characters.
3. What does it mean to design the story around the characters? It means the story's development can't be separated from what happens to the core characters and how they grow. What happens to them, or how they grow, drives the whole story forward.
4. When writing villains, never write gray villains, the kind who are half good and half bad. That kind of character doesn't sell in the mass market. What we want is villains who are rotten through and through, the kind you'd want to slap yourself.
5. Apart from the novel's true core characters, every other character exists to give the core characters resources, or to get put in their place by the core characters and give readers that satisfying payoff. Don't write characters who serve no purpose.
6. Characters with no purpose don't need names. Only the ones who play a role get names.
7. My personal advice: two core characters per book at most.

So what makes a good character?

1. A distinct personality. They have to have a distinct personality: timid, greedy, money-obsessed, righteous, and so on.
2. A full, rounded image. If a character has only one distinct trait, they become a stock character. If they're timid, you also have to learn to show their courage. If they're greedy, you also have to show a bit of generosity. That way the character has balance, firmness and softness together, and people relate to them.
3. Growth and transformation. As the story develops, the character must go through one major turn. A fragile character becomes brave, for example, or a fierce one finally shows a fragile side. With a main character, readers have to see her change as the story unfolds, and the change has to be positive, making the character fuller.

So when we get to the volume outline step, we have to be clear on a few things.

1. What kind of character am I writing?
2. What is this character's personality like?
3. What will become of this character later in the story?
4. How does this character end up?

Once you're clear on these questions, the story actually changes along with them.

If you want a fragile protagonist to become brave, you'll naturally set up events that transform her. The reverse works the same way. If you want a fierce character to show a fragile side, you can dig into a heartbreaking past in the story.

Designing the Story

Once we understand how important character is to the story, we can look at the story as a whole.

Let's use five volumes as an example.

First, I recommend everyone think this way:

First, every book needs a main storyline that runs through the whole thing. That's one story.

Second, every volume has to tell a standalone story and pick up clues that push the main storyline forward. So the whole book has five big stories.

Third, every arc can also be a standalone story. Stories at this level are where the protagonist grows in a real, qualitative way.

Arcs deserve their own discussion. Why is the arc outline a special and necessary level?

This is where the "30,000-character principle" comes in. You can think of every novel as an endless series of 30,000-character blocks.

At 2,000 characters a chapter, every 15 chapters is exactly 30,000 characters. And every volume is made up of exactly four of those 30,000-character blocks.

That means once we run through four arcs, the volume's story is told, and over those four arcs the protagonist grows four times in ways that can't be undone.

This design doesn't just suit AI writing structurally. It also fits perfectly with sixty chapters per volume.

So here we can see that each volume has four standalone stories. The whole book is 20 smaller stories.

Fourth, each arc has three units. You can simply think of these three units as subdivisions of the arc's story.

Each unit pushes things forward, building layer on layer, until the arc's story is told.

Repeat this cycle through 20 arcs, and the whole book is done.

Next, we need to talk about how to design these stories.

First, the main storyline running through the whole book. This is actually the simplest. It's the character's most central desire, like Xiao Yan's three-year promise. You give the character the most central thing right at the start, and then the story moves forward around that core desire.

Then come the smaller stories in each volume. We all know that before Xiao Yan fought Nalan Yanran at the Misty Cloud Sect, he went through a lot.

First he went to the Magic Beast Mountain Range to train, then to the Tagore Desert to find the Ice Emperor Poseidon, and then to the Jia Ma Empire for the alchemists' convention.

Everything in between is a standalone story, and each is great on its own. But they're also all connected, pointing at the line that leads to the final three-year promise.

In other words, Xiao Yan went to the Magic Beast Mountain Range, the Tagore Desert, and the Jia Ma Empire all to get stronger and fulfill the three-year promise.

So when we think about the volume outlines, what we're really checking is this: the story is told in separate parts, sure, but is there something at the end that ties all five volumes into one story?

As long as one line ties the five volumes together, what each volume covers doesn't matter much. The core is that it has to be tense, exciting, and satisfying. Generally, plots written by AI won't be too bad. Go through it yourself, and if there's no problem, you can start writing.

Note: as long as the hook and characters are likable, it's perfectly fine for the plot and set pieces to fall back on the ordinary and the classic.

What matters most? The plot can't drag. It has to flow, and you can't stuff in pointless set pieces.

Before reading a stretch of plot, ask yourself: what does this do to move the story forward?

If nothing, delete it right away.

Romance

If you have a decent handle on writing romance, you can design an emotional entanglement between two people, but you have to control the quality yourself the whole way through.

If you're like me and not good at romance scenes, be smart. Don't write any romance at all. Stick to strong solo heroine stories with a single lead: building a career, farming life, lying flat, that kind of plot.

Content without romance is the easiest to write, and there's nothing to worry about.

The hardest thing to control about romance is that if you write it badly, it's cringe, and if it doesn't go the way readers want, you'll get torn apart.

Angst

Personally, I never write angst stories. I won't even let the protagonist get seriously hurt. Women's and men's web fiction have different tones, but seriously hurting the protagonist is a high-risk choice either way. Overall, the focus should still be on winning.

The protagonist can be in danger and then turn the tables, but she can't take real damage.

Summary

Back to the question at the start: how should we create together with AI to produce a good story?

My view is: first figure out what kind of person you're writing, then think about what she'll go through.

Because character decides story. What she wants decides why she sets out. Her personality decides what she does when things happen. And the results of those choices change her and shape the story that follows.

For example, if you want to write a timid person slowly becoming brave, you can't just write "she becomes brave in the end" in her character sheet. You need to give her something she's clearly scared of losing but can't bear to give up, then set up events that take her from avoiding and hesitating to finally being willing to stand up.

Only when readers see these experiences will they believe her change, and be happy for her when she finally wins.

So later, when you design the volume outlines, I suggest you first get the core character clear, then check the story around her:

1. What does she want most right now? Why does it matter so much to her?
2. What happens in this volume that forces her to face the problem and make a choice?
3. With her current personality, would she really do this?
4. After this volume, what has she gained, and how has she changed?
5. How will these results shape what she does in the next volume?

Once these are clear, the volumes connect. What happens in one volume affects the choices in the next, and the character walks the whole way until she reaches the ending you planned for her.

You don't need her personality to change dramatically in every volume either. Sometimes she just finds the nerve to say no to people, learns to trust someone, or finally has the strength to protect what she cares about. All of that is growth. The key is letting readers see that what came before wasn't for nothing.

The hook makes readers want to click in. The character makes them start to care. And the story has to answer that care.

So when you get a volume outline from AI, don't rush to check whether there are enough events or the scenes are big enough. First look at the protagonist: why does she do this? How will she do it? And once it's done, what does it do to her?

If you can't answer these clearly, go back and develop the character, then adjust the story.

The system can help us organize the content and keep it consistent. What we have to hold on to is why this character is worth writing, and why her journey is worth reading.