From Pen to Prompt: How Creative Writers Integrate AI into their Writing Practice

Creative writers have a love for their craft, yet AI systems using large language models (LLMs) offer the automation of significant parts of the writing process. So why do some creative writers choose to integrate AI into their workflows? To explore this, we interview and observe a writing session with 18 creative writers who already use AI regularly in their writing practice. Our findings reveal that creative writers are intentional about how they incorporate AI, making many deliberate decisions about when and how to engage AI based on the core values they hold about writing. These values, such as authenticity and craftsmanship, alongside writers' relationships with and use of AI influence the parts of writing over which they wish to maintain control. Through our analysis, we contribute a taxonomy of writer values, writer relationships with AI, and integration strategies, and discuss how these three elements interrelate.