The first "computer-assisted" novel is due to be released in Japan by the end of the month.

Titled "I Can't Write a Novel," the book was prepared with computer software that can be used to create the plot and characters.

The book is the work of authors Ko Nakamura and Eiichi Nakata, who wondered if it would be possible to design a computer program to help its users write fiction. In early 2012, Nakamura proposed a joint software development project to the Shibaura Institute of Technology, his alma mater.

Students at the institute designed the software in accordance with Nakamura and Nakata's ideas. The users answer 11 questions — including "What event sets the story in motion?" and "What challenge is created by that event?" — and then the software drafts a plot.

Answer another 30 questions about each of the protagonists, and the software will create the characters.

Still stuck? The program also has a help function that will display various phrases, such as "One day, all of a sudden," to help users start writing.

Nakamura and Nakata's novel is a story about a high school student who has a troubled relationship with his stepfather and finds a place for himself by learning how to write a novel through his school's literature club.

The software is in development and is not yet scheduled to be made public.

"The program is still not at a stage where it can completely facilitate the writing process," Nakamura said. "But it meant a lot for me to realize that I can make a novel more interesting if I consciously do what I used to do unconsciously before." â–¡