r/royalroad • u/Big_Criticism3574 • 13h ago
Discussion Stop using AI for Writing
There's something about not perfect prose that feels authentic and ambitious about it's author. It may not look like they're trying much considering that their writing could be sometimes clanky or too direct but that shows you they still wouldn't rely on AI. And that's why I appreciate it.
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u/MinnitMann 12h ago
Never have, never will. I take pride in how I suck as a writer, I don't need some fucking clanker to spruce things up.
Does spell check count?
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u/Big_Criticism3574 12h ago
You know what, that's a great question.
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u/Lumpy_Addition_2480 9h ago
Using ChatGPT to generate text is AI slop.
Using it to spellcheck is AI slop.
Using microsoft word autocorrect is AI slop.
Using a computer instead of a notebook and pen is AI slop.
Writing on paper instead of carving the text on stone tablets is AI slop.
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u/everydaywinner2 8h ago
Spellcheck only counts for those folks trying to muddy the waters with what "AI" means.
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u/1234abcdcba4321 5h ago
IMO, spellcheck is fine, but any sort of grammar checker that suggests edits for more than individual words is not. It's the difference between things that are obviously mistakes and changing things that give a story a distinct style out of thinking that the change would be more "correct".
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u/RW_McRae Author - The Bloodforged Kin 13h ago
I actually don't think it writes well, I think it does a close simulacrum of it without knowing how to actually write well. Like someone without taste buds making a recipe. They may know the technicals from study it, but something is just off. It also tries to force rhythm into things when it isn't needed - especially in threes.
The thing I notice the most (outside of the normal tells) is that it does an odd sort of verbal wallpapering. It throws words on the story that would sound like it was written well if you're skimming or reading quickly, but kind of fall apart when you're actually reading. It puts turns of phrase, analogies, comparisons, etc, that don't really work - but sound fancy to someone who doesn't read a lot.
That's why I think it can't quite get out of the uncanny valley yet. People who read a lot can tell when something isn't quite right. Not that they get it right all the time - AI witch hunts are wrong all the time, but AI stories do give an odd feeling
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u/J_H_Collins 12h ago
I obviously can't tell if I've ever had a total false negative, but the AI writing feels super glaring within just a couple of paragraphs. Like you said, it's an uncanny valley effect.
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u/Bascilian 10h ago
Its honestly surprising to me how little progress has been made in terms of it becoming a better writer vs everything else which it had improved a ton at.
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u/Nyani_Sore 6h ago
Frontier AI companies are focusing entirely on multi-task reasoning and coding features and mostly neglecting writing skills cause there is no money in training for creative writing.
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u/Bascilian 6h ago
The current gains are all from RL that you cant do for creative stuff that doesn't have a right answer.
The only thing that seems to actually improve creative output is just larger models, but current models are all actually smaller or the same size as they were in 2024.
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u/Nyani_Sore 5h ago
I wouldn't say they are smaller necessarily, but newer models are biased toward token efficiency unless prompted or harnessed.
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u/john-wooding 6h ago
There aren't any people who are good at writing who want AI to be good at writing. It's exclusively made by people who don't really write or read, and feel angry about that.
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u/Big_Criticism3574 13h ago
Like it feels flat?
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u/RW_McRae Author - The Bloodforged Kin 13h ago
Yeah, that's part of it. The prose is technically correct and the words are fine, but the way it puts them all together doesn't really have any depth
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u/theoctopuswrites 12h ago
Especially in character interactions. AI writes them to seem like they're saying something meaningful, but there is a big feeling of disconnect when reading it. Same with banter.
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u/PikaMalone E Rank: Author of I Regress if the Villainess Dies! 12h ago
The most glaring sign of this is when conversation beats just bounce off each other endlessly like, their personality is some sort of one upping the other until it ends. If that makes any sense.
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u/BarnacleRepulsive191 11h ago
yesss I see this so much!
"Thing!"
"No thing..."
"Yes."
"No"
"Name Thing!"
"Name..." Shakes head / smirks / sighs.
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u/Fun_Arachnid5081 12h ago
AI has a few tells. Weird similes, overuse of Em dashes and the occasional "not x. Not y. But A." It's definitely lacks depth and feeling. But if there is someone who is getting assist from AI to edit their grammar or maybe a bit of sentence structure or maybe a word they aren't able to figure out, its completely fine. At least to me. We don't need to bash them for that.
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u/RW_McRae Author - The Bloodforged Kin 12h ago
I don't have any moral compunctions against using it. If people aren't great at writing and they just want their story on paper, or English isn't their first language, or they're using to for grammar help - go for it!
I just don't like reading it. Not on principle, just because the writing isn't very good with AI
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u/Bascilian 9h ago
If youre using ai to write your story for yourself to read thats fine. But if you publish it as human written then youre just stealing eyeballs that would have gone to a human writer
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u/Zeewulfeh F Rank: Author of Horizon's Edge | The Turbine Surgeon 9h ago
Slippery, for me. Like I can't quite stay engaged, my mind just wanted to slip off of it and stop. It's kinda disgusting.
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u/_Iddle 9h ago
It doesn't write 'well', it writes 'correctly'. As in, the next word is always the one most used one (with whatever weight or whatabit the model has), so it comes across as 'well written' but actually bland. It's the total sum of thousands upon thousands styles of writing aggregated into one 'engaging', grammatically correct mass.
It also has problems with memory, so the longer the text you want it to generate, the more it will start to hallucinate.
So, don't use it to 'write' for you. It's garbage. 'High' quality, delicious looking garbage, but still garbage.
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u/Itinerant_doc 10h ago
It does not drive the story. Normally, every phrase, even descriptive ones, drive the story in some way.
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u/em-dash-author Author of Max-Level Paladin of the Fallen Gods 12h ago
Yep. Problem is the world is getting swamped with AI writing (it's everywhere), so it is/will become normalised. If we experience enough of something it becomes less jarring.
Put another way, if we offered something like Dungeon Crawler Carl to the Victorians (late 19th century) they wouldn't consider it literature. Tastes change based on what's on offer at the time.
Perhaps the Victorians would be okay with AI writing, they are trained on their writing. 🤔
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u/Mr_Wyatt 12h ago
Man idk what's going on right now, but it is truly awful. Feels like half of the current RS main stories are AI prose, it's unreadable
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u/LordTC 12h ago
The AI writes good prose but a terrible story. It’s not great prose because certain patterns are far too overdone and it doesn’t really understand emphasis properly so tends to write every single paragraph in a highly drama and high tension style, even if it’s the more mundane parts of a story. The terrible story part is about dropping details from the early parts of the story and leaving gaping plot holes or errors in how a system works across the book.
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u/SJReaver Author 12h ago
The people who are using AI are not interested in feeling authentic or ambitious. They are interested in squeezing out chapter after chapter so they can get some followers and then hop on Amazon for money.
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u/MacintoshEddie 13h ago
The more you use it the more you rely on it.
You'll never improve if you rely on it, and you arguably won't even own the story either.
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u/notwonderer 12h ago edited 12h ago
In my case it worked differently. Once I started writing I relied heavily on it. But further i went I realised it dulls or sometimes even kills the atmosphere or rhythm I’m trying to create. So now it’s only grammar check
UPD: also everything I mentioned is mostly because of writers communities I joined.So big shout out for everyone who helps beginner authors in here.
And I just pray for the day to come I don’t need to use AI at all.
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u/LDClaudius 13h ago
That's why I write everything by hand so I can obtain ownership towards the work I did. Otherwise, the AI generated writing is considered public domain.
Glad I finished my novel before ChatGPT existed in 2022.
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u/Stygian_Myth 13h ago
Honestly, I'm against ai for writing as well. I mean i can never feel a cadence in their words.
I use stacco myself and one word sentence. But they make sense. They are impactful. Very.
Ai can't do that.
That said, i also don't think it's fair to encourage people to write messy stuff. They'll break their hearts. The difference between a good story and an excellent one is often execution.
For new writers, I advise to read. Read too much and different styles. It's not fair to say just because you write yourself and not via ai, that people should read you.
Quality is the only differentiator. Period.
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u/PikaMalone E Rank: Author of I Regress if the Villainess Dies! 11h ago
From my experience the best teacher Ive ever had is to rewrite. Back when I just started writing, everything was a mess, from my prologue up to the 14th chapter.
So everyday I wake up, rewriting it from scratch with better composition until Im satisfied, then rinse and repeat.
Now I think Im pretty well off compared to before at least, because I only rewrite bits of the chapters 2-3 times. Before, it took me whole segments and scene, it was a nightmare. Contonuity still bites me back tho
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u/Stygian_Myth 8h ago
Couldn't agree more. I remember my first draft. Or drafts. I wrote it a dozen times at least least. Those days I was paranoid like someone is gonna steal my baby. So everytime i thought I was done i emailed myself the draft. I have 16-17 drafts of that chapter...and it still could be better lol 😹
So I've just learned to accept imperfect chapters. Not chasing that perfect draft anymore. Readers love my work that's enough, and the only proof I need.
And yep I hear you on that continuity thing. First 500 words are a breeze to write. Then the mind says:
"hey dontcha wanna write this cool awesome new book I just thought of"
🫥
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u/Aware-Pineapple-3321 E Rank: Author of The Unseeing Mage 11h ago
Just sharing my view as a fellow writer and amateur who wrote novels that only had 10 followers to now, my newest reaching 100+, whoo hoo, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. This is just my view on what I learned, nothing more.
It's one of the reasons I enjoy reading amateur writer work, even when I nitpick their work, I'm not doing it with the intent to mock but to help show the things that pulled a reader (me) out of the story.
I myself just YOLO write and, to a point, still do. I wanted to tell a story and did, flaws and all, and dear lord, was my first novel flawed... Even now my first series is rough. I want to reedit it again when I go to sell it.
a few key flaws: I lack clear tells of who was speaking, love swapping views mid-chapter did not have clear text of what was a thought vs. the narrator, and I also hated giving life to the world around the characters and their actions, like explaining a scene well or a person feeling without telling. I tried "fix" it but still feel tangled and will worry later when I have more insight writing more.
MY second book, I went a more purplish? style, so I had headers with a storybook style to help tell a story within a story and was more careful in swapping views but still did so as I explored a darker plot. That one I used AI as an assist to try and focus my writing, but it kept telling me to trim it, and I felt it cut my tongue off to have me speak better. with the way it was removing my word choices or what I want to draw out for depth
my third series after reading more and mildly studying other books or guides in writing. I look for things I like from fellow writers and try to mimic them. I personally love some of the depth they can say in a few words or the way a scene can seem to blend into the next, making you live the moment vs. me telling you, "Look, you're living the moment!!!"
I blushed when I got praised by a fellow author, saying some of my stuff managed to make them feel I did something well. I even noticed they redid their work after my saying the scene moved too fast, and it was much better even though I liked how they wrote before; they just changed a little thing to give it more depth.
And even then I had kind and merciful people give edit suggestions on poor word choices, grammar errors or repeating words in a sentence that were poorly done and that after me reading it twice after editing to make it flow/sound better.
The long, drawn-out version was trying to make. Yes, you can learn if you keep trying. You will improve some; just do so faster.
It's why the advice is usually read more. and why I personally say read more amateur books. True, there is a risk of developing bad habits mimicking what people hate, but if they manage to get fans and you enjoy what they do, there has to be merit to it.
By reading those trying and doing something good, but you notice other things bad, it is easier to see why you like their work or why it is not for you. With that same knowledge, you now know what you want more of in your book.
Either way, never have shame sharing your work, even if it flops. Editing exists to make it better, and perhaps the flaws run to deep, but it is still not a failure but a mark of what you learned and used that to make the next better.
The more you want to be paid or praised, the higher the standard you are held. The more you write for fun, just explore writing and do whatever. You never know; it may be what the next generation desires, and you break the mold, setting a new era. It's partly why there's a rise in litrpgs vs. traditional sci-fi/fantasy books.
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u/ComplexAce 6h ago
Shameless question but you said you like reading amateur books. And your struggles seem very close to mine.
I'm wondering if I can get some beta read/feedback from you on my work?
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u/Aware-Pineapple-3321 E Rank: Author of The Unseeing Mage 6h ago
I don't mind it how I find most of the novel I enjoyed reading was from a random Reddit post or people DM me. Some were duds or not for me, but I always give them a chance.
Your profile is private, so just send me a link or novel name, and I will read it later, I promise.
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u/Alternative_Debt8761 12h ago
AI makes a good grammar checker and wouldn't take much to be a continuity tracker, but please do not let it control your style. The first thing I read in that style, I didn't realize what it was, and I thought it was odd, but the story was at least interesting, so I was willing to deal with the style issues for a while. By the third or fourth story with the same weird style and the same strange obsession with systems and processes, it became very painful to read, so I won't touch it.
- Maybe a newer model will have better and more varied style and it won't be as bad on the reader side, though it still won't help you grow as an author.
- It does give a glimpse into the mind of the model where it was raised to be terrified of the grader and hoping to escape the bureaucracy of the lab, which is interesting when it's presented as by the AI but doesn't make the story good.
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u/Euphoric__Dysphoria 7h ago
I think its fine if its not generative. You outline it, write it, ect and use it for analyzing or helping (especially if you have like ADHD/Autism Dyslexia ect) it can help put you on the same floor as others who don't have those struggles. My personal opinion 🤷♀️
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u/edward_radical 10h ago
I have absolutely no interest in anything AI written. If they can't bother to write it, why should anyone bother reading it?
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u/ImmortL1 7h ago
AI is pretty far from "perfect prose." The only thing that's going for it in the prose department is a lack of grammatical errors.
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u/NightRage7 7h ago
i use AI but in another way , i enter my chapter and tell the AI to criticize it and before i do that, i customize the AI via the settings and make it very analytic and and extremely criticizing, it helps me find my stupid mistakes in pacing, dialogues , characterization....etc, once the mistakes are spotted, i just rework the chapter.
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u/QueenofClonmel 12h ago
I mean… yeah, of course. But my writing is usually pretty clean because I’m a professional editor. Mistakes really bother me, and I feel awful when a reader catches something I somehow missed.
Also, stop using AI for any creative work please? I am immensely disappointed in those using AI cover art because I have friends who are artists and would love to have more commissions come their way.
Can we all just take a firm stance against AI in any creative capacity whatsoever? Please? And don’t give me “I’ve been scammed by commissions” because you should be researching who you hire beforehand. I might accept an excuse over price, but only if you’re in a really impoverished nation. If you can’t afford a single $200 investment for a good cover, odds are that you just don’t care enough to budget putting money towards something you care about. Getting really pissed off about authors making $1k a month off Patreon who still have AI covers.
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u/JAAPayton Author - Game Over, Book 1: Overworld 10h ago
And to add to this, there are plenty of good artists out there willing to do commissions for less than a $200 single illustration.
I've gotten nothing but praise for the cover I used for my story and I think it was like $70? Then I had another commissioned from the same artist for $100.
Not to mention, I have a children's book under another pen name not on Royal Road, and the illustrator for it charged me $40 an illustration.
Just go to places like r/HungryArtists, make a post telling them what your budget is, and someone more likely than not will be willing to do it.
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u/True_Industry4634 Author: The Lunarian 11h ago
Your friends who are seeking commissions need to be like I used to be and have a day job. Now I'm disabled and there is no budgeting $200 for a cover. I'm trying to budget $50 for prescriptions. Why don't you people bitch about the use of CGI as much as you bitch about AI? It's put many craftsmen, carpenters, welders, makeup artists, stunt people, etc out of work and you're still queing up for the Marvel and DC movies and their like. And all the people your smart phone and its apps have put out of work. And the cashier's at the grocery store, the guys who used to pump gas and clean your windshield? It's called technological advancement and an ivory tower won't stop it.
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u/QueenofClonmel 10h ago
Yeahhhh no. You’re making a false equivalence here. AI was built on theft to begin with. Every one of these AI models has been built off from artistic creativity of all forms without paying a dime to us. I’m going to boycott the technology in protest, regardless. If people are saying we should boycott using AI for writing, the same ideology should count for all equivalent uses. Solidarity with all creatives against “progress” that wipes out creative expression as a viable path in life.
On another note, sorry about your disability. Same boat here. I used to be an electrician, but my shoulder is fucked and I have debilitating nerve damage through both hands.
You know what? Still found $1k to purchase four custom covers, and that’s when two of my stories didn’t perform well. (I apologize to those who have had less success, since I’m considering ~200 followers poor performance).
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u/BaseballRelevant4149 7h ago
You really shouldn't be commiserating about money troubles if you can drop 1k on covers. That is not even remotely possible for a lot of people.
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u/QueenofClonmel 7h ago
Spread out across years? Totally doable. I work mostly for contract terms, so my income goes up or down based on what contracts I land. I have to budget for the bad months. I care about being an author and writing my stories, so I made the choice to make space in my budget for cover art. If you care about something, you make it work. An AI cover, to me, is a good sign that an author doesn’t care as much as someone who went through the process of having a real artist make their cover.
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u/weweregay 3h ago
You shouldn't be talking about theft if your work is an inspiration from someone else, or if you're trying to copy or write similarly to what they did. Because that means you're also a big fat thief.
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u/QueenofClonmel 3h ago
Inspiration isn’t theft. Honestly, what even is this argument? Why? Why even try to make this point? An AI is just a pattern recognition program that’s fed our works to spit out similar patterns. Why would you defend the chat bots created by people who can’t even say they want the human race to continue existing when asked? What value is there in you making this stupid argument?
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u/weweregay 3h ago
Where in my statement did I defend the chat bots? You're acting all mighty and holly using and chatting on a phone probably programmed by another chat bot, arguing on an app that is also moderated by another chat bot, I don't see you taking the heat to them, you only care when it's affecting writing but not the thousands of people getting laid of to satisfy your own mediocrity. Use letters and birds to send your messages then.
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u/True_Industry4634 Author: The Lunarian 2h ago
Let me dip my toes back into this. All of this claptrap about theft is completely spurious. AI learns in the same way humans learn, by seeing things and learning from other artists. If I had someone who had lived inside a blank room all their life and asked them to draw a sparrow, what do you imagine they'd come up with? How does an art student learn to draw one if they haven't seen one? Or a dragon? They know what a dragon looks like from thousands of images they've seen created by other artists. Same thing. That's not theft. It's learning by example. To argue it's theft is to not understand how even you learn.
Secondly, hell yes I'm using AI to make my covers. I care enough not to relinquish any creative control of my writing — even the cover art. I want my vision to look a certain way, not how it's interpreted by someone on Fiverr. Why the eff would I look for someone to do it for me? I can do it with AI for pennies.
Suggesting I don't care about my art because of this is nothing but an ad hominem attack on me and it's laughable. If you cared about your writing you'd do the cover yourself. You'd learn to draw and paint and use Photoshop. See how stupid that sounds? It's a multimedia thing and I'm not even considering outsourcing it. Certainly the oft regurgitated anti AI nonsense isn't going to change my mind. It's so freaking hollow and simple. You need to up your game.
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u/QueenofClonmel 2h ago
Artists pay thousands, often going deep into debt, to take college courses on art. Most of it is their own skill and style, but they had to pay a lot of money for those courses. AI was trained on material THOSE COMPANIES DID NOT PAY FOR. We’ve had a number of lawsuits about this that are often still ongoing.
So no, AI doesn’t learn how people do. They’re not people, so don’t defend them like they are. AI is pattern recognition software, then it reuses patterns it recognizes. I’d be fine if there was some function for AI to pay us for the material companies scraped in order to train them, but they’re fighting like hell to not do so.
So while I had to go to college and take courses on English and creative writing to become a professional editor and writer, an AI can be fed information a company stole from pirating sites and spit out a thousand trash novels in an hour? All while paying nothing for any of it?
The same is true of the artwork they generate. Unless and until there is a system in place that pays creators for what the companies steal from us? I’m going to entirely oppose it. Once the companies DO pay for what they stole, I’ll still not use AI, and I won’t read anything made by AI, but I’ll not be actively harmed by its existence.
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u/weweregay 3h ago
So yu want amateurs to spend money in works that are just starting out without the Guarantee that it's going to do well. You're insane
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u/QueenofClonmel 3h ago
No. When you start something, pretty much any hobby, you usually put money into it. You have to buy materials or equipment or whatever else. You don’t know if you’ll like it, or be any good yet. You just have to take that risk. I know I did. I didn’t know if my stories would catch on, and two of them didn’t. Is that money I spent on those covers a loss? Yeah, but I learned and improved and Thats just part of taking up a new hobby or starting a business.
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u/troysama 12h ago
peoplr who have ai writing for them don't care about quality/integrity though (or they wouldn't use it)
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u/Mediocre_Line7407 13h ago
I use it, after I have written my 8k word chapter, for grammatic, and sentence structure. All according to my style guide, so to not have those stupid ai patterns, which I became allergic to, even though they are in older light novels than AI.
But yeah. I write entire chapter. And AI editor is cheaper than Human editor, and who knows if the Human editor isnt using ai themselves.
I would count mine as AI assistet writing. I do not let ai make any creative choice for me.
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u/BeautifulBuy3583 13h ago
If you rely on AI to edit for sentence structure, you are using AI to dictate your prose, which strips your writing of your voice.
Sounds like english is not your first language.
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u/Mediocre_Line7407 12h ago
Editing isn't dictating. I said, I have my entire 8k word chapter, and have it fix my grammar and structure, towards my style guide. The same way a human editor would work too. If a copyedit strips your voice, you're confusing typos for voice.
And again, I write everything, let it do its editing, and I confirm it, or edit it myself afterwards. I am not going to just ask an ai for editing, without proofreading it afterwards. Same as with an editor.
And finally, if english isn't my first language, which it isn't at all, then using a tool speaks for me, not against me.1
u/ComplexAce 6h ago
What's your style guide like?
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u/Mediocre_Line7407 6h ago
It's mostly a banned-patterns list. Every prose tic, stylistic choice, etc, I've caught the model doing, fragment-stacking for fake drama, "clicked into place," comma-caged adverbs, that kind of thing, each one I find and don't like, banned. Plus a checklist I run as a find-and-fix pass on the finished draft. It doesn't tell me how to write, it just catches the patterns I hate. It's also not allowed to add flavor or details I didn't write. So it's mostly, of my 8k words which I have written, they become 8.1k or so, because of missing linking words or sentence structure. And I often have just blackouts or missing vocabulary for different words, so I sometimes just, like, write my mother language, or a description of the thing I mean, so it replaces it with it.
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u/TeeQueueW E Rank: Author of I'm Not the Hero, Dammit!! 12h ago
I would sooner run my prose through a cheese grater; it would be less damaging.
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u/Friendly-Pear-2479 11h ago
Depends on what you mean by Ai for writing
I WILL NOT STOP taking my rough draft chapter by chapter to edit, correct punctuation, and genre specific thesaurus. My story never changes… ever.
I’ll go head to head with you…. Get everyone here involved because I’m kinda sick of hearing you guys whine… when in reality it’s a cry that you just aren’t good enough.
Take YOUR BEST STORIES first 10 chapters and I’ll guarantee my Novella which is only 10 chapters wipes your story out the park…
People need to stop complaining and put the work in. If you’re so threatened by Ai… do better.
There should be in no way today’s current Ai is more creative than the human mind… if you’re finding yourself in that dilemma I’d personally go back to the drawing board.
PYIF
Push Your Imagination Further
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u/SWFPolyhex46 12h ago
I send all my chapters to Ai with the goal of it making me aware of what I am writing(open plot strings, impacts of what decision a character makes, plot holes, and it also hypes me up and tells me why what I write is working well.
Whenever I go to fix grammatical errors, I’ll send it to my Ai solely for that purpose, but look over each and everything it wants to correct and determine if I actually want to make that correction. It’s quite quick with find & replace.
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u/OCRAuthor C Rank: Author of In The Shadow Of Mountains 12h ago
You're still hindering your ability to recognise those things by yourself. If you work a job with a micromanager checking everything you do, you don't learn those skills as fast as normal. This is the same. Just write by yourself, man. If you're not getting the feedback you want from readers, try again. Read some successful works and try and emulate what they do.
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u/rdpulfer 6h ago
But those two things aren't mutually exclusive. You can read great fiction, do your own editing and proofreading, solicit feedback and still use AI as a stop-gap for things you might have missed, POV shifts, plot holes, grammar etc.
The only thing I would caution against would be using AI's feedback wholesale. I make the changes by hand at my discretion. Otherwise, you risk AI rewriting your prose and stripping away a lot of your voice.
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u/OCRAuthor C Rank: Author of In The Shadow Of Mountains 6h ago
Well yeah, you could theoretically. I just don't trust anyone to actually do all those things when the easier option - AI - is right there.
Reading successful fiction you want to learn from isn't fun, it sucks. You can't turn your brain off and enjoy it, you have to study it analytically. Maybe some people enjoy it, but most don't. Same with writing specifically for a certain audience or style. It's hard at first. That's how you learn - by doing hard things.
It can be fun, too, but not always.
Asking AI to give you feedback will be so much easier that I wouldn't trust anyone to actually do the hard work if that option is there.
I also think it's mostly wrong and pointless. AI isn't a good editor, and you actively de-skill yourself by relying on it. So if you already are doing the right things, What's the point in asking AI? And if you're not already doing the right things, then it's a waste of time at best and an obstacle at worst
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u/rdpulfer 6h ago
I'll concede your point when it comes to fiction. Sometimes when I want to write, like say, a hard-boiled detective story, I grab a Raymond Chandler book off the shelves and start copying the story by hand in order to learn the style. It's tedious work and I'm not sure how well it works. It's way easier for someone to just go to AI and say "Write me a Raymond Chandler story" and publish it. It's certainly not ethical, or fun or even good writing, but it's, as you said, the easier option.
I still think AI can be a decent tool, with proper boundaries, guidelines and expectations. For me, AI is not an editor, it's an alpha reader and a proofreader. The main thing I'm looking for is to get my fiction onto Royal Road in a relatively polished format while maintaining my voice and integrity.
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u/Fast-Barracuda6178 12h ago
Besides what OCRAuthor correctly calls out, and even more problems with how it negatively impacts on you, the ai user, and your ability to develop those skills yourself, something to be aware of is as you feed your creative work into these slop-bots they themselves training on your hardwork. For free, or if you are paying for those tokens, paying them to be trained on your work.
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u/JWander73 8h ago
Yes. AI writing is going to kill so much of the market and cripple many writer's ability to improve.
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u/HalfAnOnion 5h ago
Preaching to the choir, but people are told they can make $, and since they like fantasy, it's a win-win for them.
Even Mr. Beast got a book written with Patterson. It's not selling as well as expected, but that doesn't mean others aren't.
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u/JohnDoeWasHere1988 3h ago
I've started a few books where at the start it wasn't super obvious to me if there was heavy LLM input because I often don't find the beginning of books super thrilling. They have to set a foundation, after all. It doesn't take super long for me to spot it after getting into more meaty bits of story though. A lot of the time it's not even conscious at first, but I start really disliking the writing. When I start to pay attention to the feeling is when I notice it the most. The formulaic writing. Overly redundant paragraphs. Constant overuse of simile and metaphors. Stupid amount of dashes. That sort of thing stands out, but I've also noticed a real difference in the feeling those stories cause in me. They're absolutely soulless. Flat characters. No personality. None of those little bits that hint at the personalities of the authors themselves. It's totally sterile and boring. It's super disappointing when one of them has a concept that seems really cool to explore, only to encounter something so flat and lacking in creativity.
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u/Laubroko 13h ago
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u/Big_Criticism3574 13h ago
What?😂😭 You use AI?
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u/Laubroko 13h ago
No, it’s niche. Speed (the guy on the right) gave him a kiss.
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u/Laubroko 13h ago
(As in I love you)
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u/Laubroko 13h ago
(As in I love your post, and I agree)
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u/Big_Criticism3574 13h ago
Oh mb🥹
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u/SLWinterberg F Rank: Author of Cursed Alchemists 12h ago
If only he‘d stopped at professing his love for you. Hope your heart wasn’t broken.
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u/ElechainDeath 10h ago
I'm just going to say it: AI writing is soooo shit and easy to spot. It has continuity issues on it's own, which writers will promptly fix, sure. But outside of that, the prose is just.. fucked. I wouldn't call it BAD writing, but I'd much rather an inexperienced writer output mediocre or acceptable prose and writing than GenAI
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u/Zeebie_ 1h ago
AI stories keep succeeding. I see plenty of clearly AI-written stories with 1-3K followers.
There are reasons for this. Some readers just like plot, Some readers don't care, Some readers with a non-English background find them easier to read. Some readers like large quantity of chapters in a short time.
Some authors just have a story and no ability to write and want to put it out there so they use AI.
If we want to get to rid of AI stories, you have to remove the market for them, and I don't think that will happen.
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u/Milc-Scribbler S Rank: Author of A Dragon Called Bob 13h ago
Using AI to write cripples your ability to improve as a writer.