I Wrote an AI-Collaborated Novel: Back to the Song Dynasty

If I time-traveled, what would my cheat code be?

In most time-travel novels, the protagonist's cheat is a system, martial arts, or future knowledge. I thought about myself — if I went back to ancient China, what would I most want to bring?

The answer: Claude Code.

Hence Code Decides the Song: college student Guo Dong (guess who — yes, me) time-travels to the early Southern Song with Claude Code wired into his brain. Others rely on fists and intrigue; I rely on an "AI cheat" — rising from a commoner to unify the world. Alternate history, freewheeling, but with logic.

How I "wrote" it: outline-driven + iterative expansion

I didn't let AI write blindly. I managed it like a project:

Step 1, outline. A detailed outline (characters, factions, main line, volume plan) — AI writes to it, not freeform.

Step 2, first draft. AI writes from the start per outline and style. Goal: 100k words, chapter by chapter.

Step 3, iterate. The first draft felt flat, so I demanded more:

"Add environment description, detail, psychology, inner monologue, side-story daily life; expand volumes 7-9 to 50k words; split chapters finer to get around length limits."

AI isn't one-shot — it's polished round by round per my requirements. Same as building with AI: direction is mine, execution is its.

Result: 60+ instructions, ~390k words

Two sessions, 60+ instructions, roughly 390k words of collaboration. What I did was directing: set tone, check logic, demand quality, accept delivery — the sentences themselves are the AI's.

One thought

I used to say "AI won't replace accountants, it will replace accountants who don't use AI." Writing a novel added another line: AI won't take creators' jobs either — it amplifies whoever can direct it.

Writing code: decompose requirements, verify results. Writing a novel: set the outline, make demands, approve the style. Same skill underneath: turn fuzzy wishes into clear instructions, and verify AI output into what you want.