That Book You Read During the Power Outage? It Wasn’t All Human

There’s something about winter in Alaska that makes you reach for a story. Maybe it’s the silence, or the way the snow piles up against your window like it’s trying to remind you to slow down. You curl up, read a chapter, and then maybe two more. And if it’s good, you forget about the wind outside and lose yourself in the words.

Now imagine that book you just finished? The one that made you cry on page 112 and laugh out loud at something that hit too close? Parts of it may have been written by AI.

It’s a strange idea, sure. But not as strange as it sounds. I mean, if we can live half our lives communicating by satellite and hauling groceries across frozen roads, maybe letting a machine help us tell a story isn’t the weirdest thing we’ve done this week.

Writing in Alaska Has Always Meant Doing Things Differently

People here don’t exactly have a writer’s retreat waiting for them. Some are typing in the front seat of a parked truck with the heater on blast. Others are writing late at night while the generator hums, hoping the internet doesn’t cut out before they can save. We make do.

And lately, some of us have been turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Sudowrite to get the words flowing when our brains feel as frozen as the pipes. It’s not about cheating or letting the machine take over. It’s more like, “Hey, I’ve got a story in here—I just need a push.”

Because sometimes the hardest part isn’t living the story. It’s getting it out in a way that makes sense.

Not Everyone’s on Board and That’s Fair

This is Alaska. People are proud, stubborn, and thoughtful. So yeah, you’ll hear plenty of opinions about this kind of thing.

Some folks think AI in publishing is a shortcut, or maybe just a gimmick. But for others? It’s become a tool that makes a dream feel a little more doable. Especially for people who don’t have time to wrestle with every word when they’re already juggling a dozen other things.

It’s easy to judge until you’ve been there—sitting in front of a blank screen with a real story in your heart and zero clue how to start.

What AI Is Actually Doing for Alaskan Writers

Here’s how writers up here are really using AI—not in some sci-fi way, but in a boots-on-the-ground kind of way:

• Helping outline messy plot ideas that have been sitting in notebooks for years
• Fixing awkward sentences when the words just don’t land right
• Brainstorming endings when the middle of the story already drained them
• Speeding up edits after juggling two jobs and four feet of snow
• Prepping for self-publishing because finding a literary agent from Fairbanks? Good luck

It’s not glamorous. But then again, neither is writing with mittens on.

The Feeling Still Has to Come from Us

AI doesn’t know what it’s like to walk across a frozen lake in silence, feeling like the only person left on Earth. It doesn’t know what grief tastes like when the bush plane can’t fly and your people are too far to hold you. It can’t feel the weight of those things.

But we can.

The feeling behind the words? That’s not programmable. That’s lived-in. And it’s ours. AI-written books might help get the words down, but we’re still the ones who carry the meaning.

Alaska’s Always Done Things Its Own Way

We’ve always adapted. We’ve always blended old and new—snowshoes and snowmobiles, handwritten letters and satellite Wi-Fi. Maybe this is just one more version of that.

So if authors using AI tools means more stories from the people who live at the edge of everything—stories that might otherwise stay locked inside—we say go for it.

Because here, storytelling isn’t about doing it the fancy way. It’s about doing it at all. Even if it means getting a little creative about how you light the path.