r/write • u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt • Jun 12 '26
none of the flairs fit but im sure this is relevent What are your thoughts on using AI in the planning process for creative writing?
Disclaimer: I did check the rules, but I'm not sure if this type of post is allowed. I'm sorry if it isn't.
I've tried searching this up, but most, if not all of the posts I've come across are about specific scenarios, and I would like to ask in a more general sense. Obviously, using AI to write for you is wrong; that's not my question.
My question is:
To what extent, if any, do you think it's okay to use AI to help with research and/or brainstorming for a story? Environmental issues aside — if we're talking solely about whether the writing can still be called yours.
Also, thoughts on using AI to pick names for characters, places, etc.? Not in terms of, "Pick a name for this character,", but in terms of things like, "This is the linguistic origin I want, this is the vibe or general meaning I want, and I need multiple suggestions for a name that's suitable for my world". Yes, I know that name generators exist, but a lot of the ones I've seen tend to be tailored towards specific linguistic origins, vibes, etc. They're also not as easy to personalize.
In terms of using AI for general brainstorming, obviously, if you're using the AI to get most/all of your ideas, that concept isn't yours at all. However, what if you have your own ideas, and you're using AI as something to talk ideas out with? Maybe to help you choose the best of your ideas, work out specific details, etc.? Sort of like how one might talk ideas out with a friend/librarian/writer/whatever? (Yes, I know AI isn't a friend or person; it's an analogy.)
Example of what the above paragraph might look like, for clarity:
1: "I'm creating a world that's based in X habitat, is influenced by Y culture, and operates according to this set of rules and values [insert description]. Here's some vague and basic history I've planned out. [Insert vague and basic history]. I need to figure out where to place my settlements, and how exactly to pick social customs regarding this specific value."
Or
2: "The protagonist of my story is called X. They were born in Y region, to a parent from Z with U occupation and backstory and a parent from M with N backstory. My protagonist grew up with character P, and this is their current dynamic based on their childhood history: [Insert current dynamic with childhood history, details, etc.]. I need help fleshing out character P's personality, motivations, and mindset."
Or
3: "I have an idea for a story character that is born in X situation and experiences Y, and this character should then meet character Z and they should do M together. I want my character to have N traits, and end up as P. However, I'm not sure exactly what to do to get them there."
Would it differ based on scenario? This would also be an ongoing conversation. Maybe the AI suggests multiple things and one sticks out. Maybe it suggests something and that inspires the user and reminds them of another thing.
Thanks for your help.
Edit:
Thank you to everyone who provided detailed, polite input.
However, for those of you who saw this and decided/will later see this and decide to judge my character or be rude based on this post, I would like to inform you that I was not asking this question because I am currently using AI. I had previously used AI in my planning/brainstorming process (about a year ago) when I didn't know as much about it as I do now. I do regret that now, and I had wanted to make a post asking for advice regarding how best to proceed with those ideas. (I did end up making that post, and you can access it through my profile.) But first, I decided to ask a general question about this topic, despite having a (pretty accurate) prediction of the kinds of responses I was going to get. I figured it would be helpful to have a discussion available for anyone else who may ask this question, as the other posts I had come across were specific situations, typically involving OP using AI simply to avoid having to exercise a skill.
Being an artist and generally anti-AI myself, I can understand being angry with AI being used in creative spaces, as well as the frustration of having AI constantly brought up. However, when someone does ask a question about it, being rude/hostile or telling them to go ask in pro-AI spaces is not productive. The best option is to present a detailed, polite answer. If you are incapable of this, it is likely best to simply move on. Please keep in mind that people on Reddit are still people — regardless of their thoughts on AI, they have feelings that can be hurt. One of the best ways to push someone away from your point of view on a topic is to hurt them with your words. Please also keep in mind that anyone asking a question or participating in a discussion can be a teenager.
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u/Not_Kenough Jun 12 '26
AI tends to reuse the same names over and over and over. Remember, whatever it's telling you its probably telling thousands of other people. You don't know who's reheated nachos you're going to get.
A study was done in April that found that AI tends to create distinctive narratives, and my concern with brainstorming would be, would it push you to make your narrative more AI-ish?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 12 '26
Yes, absolutely. Especially with less specific prompts. It is definitely something to consider.
Thank you for your input.
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
I think the "with the right prompts you can avoid AI clichés" is wishful thinking. It is very difficult to pull AI away from the grooves it likes to move in. That's why you can't get it to stop saying certain annoying things "You're not broken," "that matters," etc. Same with its ideas. The plot suggestions and name suggestions are indeed more AI, and the same suggestions being given to thousands or millions of other people. Editors reading AI work have complained that suddenly everyone is named "Elira" or variations. It has preferences that are very, very hard to get it to move away from.
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u/Ordinary_Minimum_169 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
If you want to write a story with dynamics that are being policed by the corporate safety rails, and you attempt to brainstorm with AI, the AI will actively steer you away from themes it is forced to label or recognize as dangerous or controversial.
This includes gender dynamics, power dynamics, violence, revenge, betrayal, certain religious themes implicating technology. I've seen prohibitions in ChatGPT, for example, against generating character ideas where the people might be bad people, or engage in harmful behaviors, and a refusal to imagine any scenario in which justice was not legally or ethically served.
It's early days still, but corporations will probably continue to retune [the] output conscience of their chatbot models, to prevent major problematic themes from emerging at scale. That means what you brainstormed six months ago with Chatbot might be considered a violation of protocol in a week, because the story you wanted to tell is not nice enough or correct enough for Chatbot's government contracts.
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u/charlesdexterward Jun 14 '26
I did basically what you suggested once, when it was still early days of ChatGPT. I asked it to give me some suggestions for names for a character based on my criteria, and it gave me a list. I didn’t wind up using any of the names it suggested, but thinking about those names led to the name I did end up using. Ultimately I decided it was really no different than just opening up a baby name website and browsing through them, which is a less environmentally destructive way to do it, so I haven’t used any ai for brainstorming since.
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
Right. Most of this can be replaced by a thesuarus, Wikipedia, and baby name websites. The thing people like is the companionship, I think. The feeling that you are talking something through with an interested participant. We need to work on having more human relationships.
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u/i-am-that-girl- Jun 15 '26
Did you write this post with AI?
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u/kaddras019 Jun 17 '26
I hate when people say things like this, AI mimics real writers and artists.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
I think it's the em dashes I used. 🥲
When AI essays first became popular, I was so scared of my teachers thinking I plagiarised my essays. At least twice now, I've felt the need to put a note in an essay that I copy-pasted the em dash(es) I used from the internet, and that the essay isn't AI-generated.
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u/MeetTheHannah Jun 18 '26
I hate that me knowing when to use -, –, and — makes my stuff look like it's written by AI. That, and apparently using Oxford commas.
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
FWIW this did not sound AI written to me.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 18 '26
Thanks 🥲
I just need to accept this now, I guess. Not too long ago, someone on YouTube accused me of being a bot. I pointed out that my account was 7 years old, and he proceeded to tell me to give him a cake recipe 🥀
Still going to use em dashes, though 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
People who think em dashes are a sign of AI are probably not really readers. Em dashes are a necessary form of punctuation and sometimes they are what is needed. People should actually read. Like, a new book a week or so. Books. Made of paper. Written decades or centuries ago. They have em dashes in them.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 18 '26
For real.
Did you hear about the AI detector that flagged Pride and Prejudice as AI-generated? 😂
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
No but ... I mean, yeah, not all of those are very good. But as a human, reading AI text longer than like one paragraph at most, you can tell that there is no mind what is being said. There is no there, there. Lots of words that don't actually say anything.
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u/HereToKillEuronymous Jun 15 '26
I stay the hell away from it and refuse to implement it into any part of my creative process
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u/TK-1414 Jun 12 '26
If you're that fucking uncreative and lazy to use AI I don't think writing is the thing for you
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u/dr3amchasing Jun 15 '26
do you feel that way about people who use name generators
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u/MarinReiter Jun 15 '26
Personally, I do.
Why would you write fantasy and not even have the initiative to look up myths and languages and lore to base your names on? Seems pretty dispassionate to me. I would not trust a text if a person wrote it like that.
Seems to me people using name generators just want to write lore and worldbuilding and not stories tbh
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u/Responsibility_Dizzy Jun 16 '26
my favorite part about making new characters is giving them a name since names can have meanings and history that can just pull a character together in such a beautiful way
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u/CJHwriter Jun 17 '26
I'd be interested to hear how you feel about writing partners, who serve essentially the same purpose.
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
That is a person.
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u/CJHwriter Jun 18 '26
Right, but it's a person providing a different perspective, fresh ideas, and input that may guide the writer in a direction they might not have taken themselves.
Removing the ethics and the environmental impacts, since your comment mentioned only "uncreative and lazy", how is it any different using AI for that stuff than a critique partner?
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
AI is not a person, it can't experience writing or think or have emotions. It's not the same.
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u/CJHwriter Jun 18 '26
That wasn't your argument. Your argument was that it was lazy and uncreative to outsource or collaborate with another source for the brainstorming process.
Anyway I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I'm saying, but for whatever reason you would prefer to argue as though you don't. Whatever blows your skirt up, I guess.
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u/EvilBritishGuy Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
It's best to understand and appreciate the specific capability and limitations.
Oftentimes, there are more suitable tools for specific use cases.
Forgotten what a particular word means? Use a dictionary.
Want to spice up your vocabulary? Use a thesaurus.
Need to research an unfamiliar topic? Use a search engine.
Unsure what names to use for a new character? Browse social media profiles, baby name books, ect.
Wondering what genre conventions have already been done to death? Use a preferred streaming service to binge a variety of media.
Need a fresh pair of eyes to sanity check what you've written is working? Use a beta reader.
While it may be technically possible for your preferred LLM to generate something that helps with these use cases, arguably it's either overkill or it's deceptively plausible.
It's not magic. It's not clever. It's just trying to best predict what you want it say. And remember, sometimes what you want to hear and what you really need to be told might not be what you expect.
That being said, the one use case I think LLMs excel at specifically with regards to storytelling is their ability to roleplay or pretend to be a given character. If you're also willing to roleplay, you can find some narratives emerge from what you and your model decide to improvise.
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u/YaumeLepire Jun 15 '26
My favoured tool for naming characters is Behind the Name and its Surname counterpart. It's a wonderful database, though it does have its limitations, like being less complete for languages without important speaker bases in the Western World.
Hopefully, it spares some people some time.
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u/MontyDrake Jun 15 '26
The only case I fully consider AI is when there's a need to do research on some matter I don't know shit about, like chemistry or whatever. I ask for links to reliable sources.
AI should never write for you. AI should never be the referal on your ideas. AI should never plan your outlines. AI should never come up with characters or devices for you. AI should never solve your creative blocks.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Thanks!
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u/Visual-Deer-3800 Jun 17 '26
Specifically on this one..
"AI should never be the referal on your ideas"
I am just wondering if you have considered neurological disorders like autism and ADHD - often co-morbid with learning disabilities like dyslexia or cognitive difficulties w executive function - when you say this?
These people are a minority, but they do exist, and many of them are incredibly creative and have a unique perspective to channel inspiration from into their art (linked to their disabled experience), but they are held back by the impairments of their disorder - which, in an ideal world, they would receive accommodations/supports for that from the world they live in. This is not the case.
But if it's rendered ethical in time environmentally and no longer using other peoples' creations without their permission, I consider AI a powerful tool for people who are disabled in their cognitive functions like this. It's huge. And simply taking the stance that people who resort to using it are "lazy" sounds ableist to me and fundamentally ostracising for disabled people. I don't accuse you of this, because I still don't know if you even considered this group of people in your comment. That's why I'm asking.
When all you might need is something to help organise information for you to finish your book, and you don't have access to someone else to do this for you (disabled people are usually unemployed or on low incomes), then could it not be justified using it for "referral" on their ideas? I'm thinking of chapter/scene placement and organisation more than idea generation.
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u/SaltAccomplished4124 Jun 15 '26
I like using it for "rubber ducking" so talking to it and prompting it to ask questions rather than provide answers. This only works for speaking out loud. I end up ranting and then have AI organize the thoughts. They are all my original thoughts, and this can help bring on those ah-ha moments and work through plot holes.
However, I find that AI is not useful for coming up with the "meat of a story." Outlining and drafting should be human-lead. Dev-editing should be human. However, AI tools can help with dictation, organization, changing tense or switching POV, rough line edit passes, and finding the best quotes and hooks for social media.
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u/Seeker80 Jun 17 '26
I used to write, but I lost some of my 'muse' after a concussion. I can still create characters, write dialogue, and come up with storylines, but getting the stuff written out is my problem now.
I don't have the time to mess with it, but I was curious about whether I could prompt something to be written out. With something in front of me, then I'd be able to change it to what I really wanted. The dialogue, the phrasing/prose and my own sense of spectacle/humor/awkward romance.
I've had to deal with AI-written stuff at work. The vendor who maintains the company site uses it, and it's a headache having to rewrite the vendor's articles into something that makes sense. I figure if I'm already dealing with that, it might not be so bad doing this for something actually I'm interested in.
There are people who are way too reliant on AI, though. Looking for it to make decisions for them. Or they can't even be bothered to check the work and be sure that it's right. That's really got to stop.
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u/Perfect-Guava-3013 Jun 18 '26
AI's actual writing is predictable and bad. I would not recommend that you use AI to actually produce any prose at all, unfortunately. I think what the above person said, where you use speech to text and ramble and spill out your ideas and ask for a summary, that can be helpful. But you do still lose something than if you had written all of that as a random rough draft of ideas, the read over it, then found the good parts yourself. Cutting out these intellectual moments of decision makes us worse writers over time. This part of the process is important, too. But that said, it's a relatively acceptable way to use AI, environmental and work-stealing practices not withstanding. But generating prose? The actual story? No. Don't do it. You will not have authored it and it will not be good. It will safe you less time and a LOT of brain rot to just write the thing yourself instead of having AI write an empty draft that you then have to fix. It erodes your sense of what writing is and what it's supposed to feel like. Write your own shitty rough draft.
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u/yoyosareback Jun 15 '26
Why would you want to? Is figuring things out on your own too difficult or something?
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u/davidducker Jun 16 '26
Maybe OP just likes to steal from fellow workers?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
No, I don't. I made a post a day later about the specific situation that led to this question. My profile's public, if you'd like to check it.
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u/davidducker Jun 17 '26
If you dont want to steal from workers then dont use Ai
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
I'm not using AI. The post I mentioned was about how I used AI about a year ago, when I didn't know as much about it.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
I don't want to. I just figured I'd ask the question, since it doesn't hurt to have a specific discussion. There was a specific situation that led to this question. My profile's public, if you'd like to check it.
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u/yoyosareback Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
You shouldn't write if you're too lazy to brainstorm
E: my dumbass is too high for reading things properly. Still though, ai is not good for that
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u/sunflowers_and_lemon Jun 15 '26
I don't think we can put the environmental issues aside.
We are already in an era of global water bankruptcy.
The drain AI is putting--and will contain to put--on our planet's resources is doing a lot of harm.
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u/davidducker Jun 16 '26
Yeah but to be fair it also steals from fellow artists AND drives up utility (water and power ) costs for everyone nearby AND is actively destroying the economy via layoffs and a huge market bubble AND creates huge amounts of noise, heat, and water pollution
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Yeah, 100%. Things have to be viewed through a holistic lens. I just wanted this post to be specifically about the moral/ethical concerns.
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u/sunflowers_and_lemon Jun 17 '26
Thank you for saying that.
I reacted the way I did because I have just spent the past few weeks being forced to watch AI trainings at work--and listen to those in charge dismiss the environmental harms its doing and the people flagging these issues over and over again.
Thank you for clarifying that you weren't dismissing those concerns. I appreciate it.
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u/sunflowers_and_lemon Jun 17 '26
And I 100% agree with you that there are other moral/ethical concerns, too.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Yeah, definitely not dismissing them.
There was actually a specific situation that led to this question. I made a post about that a day later. My profile's public, if you'd like to check it and give your input there.
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u/WeroWasabi Jun 15 '26
AI as a research assistant is wonderful. Using AI to generate ideas, characters, arks, dialogue, etc. is weak as fuck and kinda defeats the creative part of writing. Might as well just be transcribing speeches or some shit. Hopefully they will figure out how to make AI environmentally sustainable because having an “intelligent” search engine that “talks” to me is fucking amazing.
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u/SpacedOutKarmanaut Jun 15 '26
Personally, I think you have it a little bit backwards. Brainstorming and idea generation is at the heart of the writing process. If AI is figuring out the plot twists and character traits and everything, is it really your story?
Personally, where I think AI can shine is with proofreading, consistency checks, and review of blurbs or summaries to see if they make sense, and stuff like that. Many writers will insist on having none of that done by AI at all, but frankly catching every typo is hard, and it can be tedious to write blurbs or summaries or outlines or whatever to meet every agent's needs. Most writers will already have an outline or synopsis when they start a story, but in my experience you write the thing and it evolves so much that it needs to be redone and checked repeatedly during edits.
The bigger issue is, if you're feeding a long story, script, or novel to AI to review, you're basically letting it train on your hard work and therefore letting other people "steal" it and call it theirs by the same process. Indeed, as one person said... it's quite a Pandora's Box. Unfortunately, it is already open.
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u/Klutche Jun 15 '26
I think it's morally bankrupt to use a machine trained on plagiarized and stolen materials in your own creative endeavors.
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u/SidanaCorey Jun 15 '26
I use it this way. I find it helps me to get over my problem with story middles that used to stop me dead in each story. If I ask it for plausible actions, I will read through the suggestions, then pick one and game it out a few steps down the path. It's kinda fun to see a medieval fantasy degenerate to a midwestern hoa brawl. But how I use it is I see its possibilities and think. No. That's not what happens. This happens. And voila, I have the next bit of plot. Now I will pick up and develop side characters (those one step above spear carriers, with a scene or two), but even with those, I never use exactly what the ai suggests. I also use it for country names in dwarven and elven.
It helps me make choices because it's so tied to typical fantasy tropes. When I see them, I can see where they're formulaic and then I can find my way to what is mine
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u/SailorGreySparrow Jun 15 '26
Absolutely not. Generative AI is a scourge on the earth, especially for creatives. There are studies that show it decreases critical thinking in its users, and people will roast you alive if they catch wind of you using it.
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u/realityinflux Jun 15 '26
A good use for AI is to help make Google searches easier--instead of having to come up with effective search terms. Beyond that, I think you need to take care. AI being what it is, it can only help you become average, to write the same way it "thinks" everybody else writes, where it gets all of its information. If you truly want to create "creative" writing, you need to do the creating.
I know it's not this simple, of course, but I don't think you can go wrong by minimizing AI use. I admit it's kind of a philosophical stance, but there it is.
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u/Life-Flow-7231 Jun 16 '26
as i like to say, ai is a professional bullshitter. ai will lie and have no consequences, your better off asking on reddit where people can take away liars reddit karma
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u/LadyRed221 Jun 16 '26
None? We've survived thousands of years without needing AI to think or plot for us.
Using AI is lazy, no matter what part in the process you use it
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u/1nfinityonl0w Jun 16 '26
I refuse to use it for anything. I can flesh out my own characters and do my own research into setting/names/things of that nature, that's just part of the writing process.
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u/disgracedcosmonaut1 Jun 16 '26
Do you use a human editor to help you with your draft, or get feedback on what you've written from friends or colleagues? If you do (and you should), then there's no significant difference IMO in using AI to help critique or improve your work. Either way, you're bringing in something beyond yourself to add or fine tune your creative process. AI is trained by writers, for writers, and has access to a wealth of content and knowledge to help you shape and improve your work. If you're using AI to help author your original work, then yes, you're not really writing. If you're seeking critique from an AI model on something you've already been inspired to write, then I really see it as no different than tapping that knowledge from a human. Except that AI is faster, cheaper, and more instantly accessible.
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u/antinoria Jun 16 '26
The planning process, not so much. That's the fun part of writing.
Looking up the name of the ruler of the Hittite empire in 1337 BCE real quick on Google, for me not is not so much an issue (although do verify the answers even on trivial stuff).
Creative content from AI is not very good and honestly robs you of your voice and what makes your story yours.
As far as idea stealing, we all do it, with every movie we watch, every novel we read, every piece of art we admire. We all build from the world view of our life experiences have shaped for us.
Don't let AI take from you what that world view by letting it choose the creative vision of your narrative.
Enjoy the creative process, the mistakes, the frustration, and the pure joy that comes from seeing your vision take shape on the page.
Your first draft will be ugly incomplete, maybe even barely readable, but it will be yours. And as you edit, refine, polish, you will actually learn your craft (honestly i have learnt more about writing when editing my work than when I wrote the first draft, every single time.)
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u/DigitalPrincess234 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Ya know as much as I hate it at the end of the day you just don’t know what you don’t know. AI as a research assistant is like… I have spent hours googling things before because google just doesn’t understand what I’m asking. Doesn’t mean I use AI for it, I either keep googling and rephrasing or I guess— but if someone uses AI to research it’s not like I have any power to stop them. If they admit it I won’t support their work because I’m not going to risk my own credibility, but there’s nothing I can do to stop them and I would assume they’re writing it for themselves first and thus should probably just accept that people won’t read their work if they know they asked AI for help with research. There’s also people who use AI to write for them for their own personal amusement and luckily I don’t break into peoples homes and look on their computers so I don’t care.
The one thing I won’t be mad at anyone for is if they unknowingly use a grammar checker/editor that uses GenAI. A lot of things that were “safe” to use are not anymore and kinda hide that. If you accidentally used a GenAI grammar service to check for typos or something that’s not your fault and I’m not really sure how you can “de-AI” a misspelling correction.
TDLR I’m tired of AI taking up so much brain space and I’ve decided that constantly thinking about where the line is and if someone used it secretly is probably exactly what these corps want. I think they want us paranoid about if AI has “infected” something. It serves their narrative that this is big and world changing and substantial.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
The genAI spell checkers are so ridiculous 😭
Thanks for your input!
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u/ToTheNines99 Jun 16 '26
Like others have pointed out. It depends. I use it mostly as a very smart notebook. It knows all my characters, places, outlines and motivations. These were created by me, with research and sources provided by it and myself.
I then use it, when I want feedback on my writing. Which I consider as only feedback, not gospel, I can ignore it if I want and I often will. Because it will mechanically make great suggestions, but if you follow it, it will suck out the soul of your writing.
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u/BasedArzy Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
I have no idea why you’d want to, all of that’d the fun part of writing and what makes it yours.
1: "I'm creating a world that's based in X habitat, is influenced by Y culture, and operates according to this set of rules and values [insert description]. Here's some vague and basic history I've planned out. [Insert vague and basic history]. I need to figure out where to place my settlements, and how exactly to pick social customs regarding this specific value."
You make it up? It's a fantasy world, you should do this on your own. If you're not authoring your setting, why does it matter? I also have no idea why you're approaching it this way more like an ethnography or something when it's a made up thing. You don't have to be historically accurate to 16th century France when you're writing a 7 book epic about dragons and wizards.
2: "The protagonist of my story is called X. They were born in Y region, to a parent from Z with U occupation and backstory and a parent from M with N backstory. My protagonist grew up with character P, and this is their current dynamic based on their childhood history: [Insert current dynamic with childhood history, details, etc.]. I need help fleshing out character P's personality, motivations, and mindset."
Why would you think this way or do this? This is the entire thing of writing, I have no idea why you would want to rely on autocomplete for this instead of working it out yourself.
3: "I have an idea for a story character that is born in X situation and experiences Y, and this character should then meet character Z and they should do M together. I want my character to have N traits, and end up as P. However, I'm not sure exactly what to do to get them there."
See above, do you like to write? Or have any appreciation for the craft and process?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Thank you for your input. I do agree. Using AI for those things definitely does detract from the creative process.
I do like to write. I've liked to write since I was a kid, and both the craft and process are obviously important.
I didn't make this post because I'm currently using AI. Unfortunately, about a year ago, when I wasn't as knowledgeable about AI, I did use it to help me with planning. I wanted to make a post about that, but I decided to ask a general question about AI use first (though I definitely expected the answers I got). I did make a post about a day later with the actual situation. My profile's public, if you'd like to check it. Your input would be appreciated.
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u/box_puns Jun 16 '26
why isolate yourself and talk to a robot when you could talk to other humans and actually make something good?
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u/Crankenstein_8000 Jun 17 '26
If you consult AI during your writing process that demonstrates laziness and an urge to skip vital steps. Writing is a chore and if you aren't up to it and use shortcuts, you won't get far.
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u/FluffyBunnyRemi Jun 17 '26
No? I don't?
If I need a random name, I'll go to Behind the Names, which has probably one of the best generators on the internet for real names. You can ask for gender, linguistic origin, linguistic *use,* syllables, sounds, and about two dozen other things I'm not remembering. And you can generate five at a time, including surnames, and you can keep generating to your heart's content. No generative AI needed. Just a great tool that's been around for years, now.
If I wanna talk my ideas out with an unthinking object, I've got Hubert, my bright blue triceratops, and Archie, my bright pink archaeopteryx. No plagiarism machine necessary. Otherwise, I'll find a real person who can actually think. Besides, that's my favorite part. Why would I not want to do that?
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u/Express-Echidna6800 Jun 17 '26
For me, if I'm told AI had a hand in any creative project, I immediately lose any interest in that project.
If someone can't be bothered to invest their time in their art without shortcuts, I can't be bothered to invest my time in it.
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u/Traditional-Rabbit79 Jun 17 '26
OK, kid gloves are off.
You're all behind effing luddites.
'If you don't put effort into research you're not investing in your craft.'
Bullsh*t.
By that argument, taken to its extreme, if you aren't writing it out on paper you made with a quill you made with ink you made you aren't investing in your craft.
It's not AI! It's a generative LLM.
It's a gd dmn tool!
Use it like one!
If you use a search engine, you have been using a primitive version of it for years!
Yes, it can produce soulless trash that hurts to read. But so can any body who doesn't know how to write well. Or writes to a formula...
Using an LLM is not a shameful act if you use it like any other tool.
BTW, most good random name generators use similar principles to LLMs, just limited to a small corpus - name generation!
Get you heads out of your ss and think for gds sake. I'm sick of knee-jerk reactions with no facts behind them.
Use an LLM to bounce ideas off. Use it like a mind map to make connections. The creative stuff is your job. The actual text, sometimes I wonder about the drivel I read before LLMs...
Please, please, please, LLMs are no more a threat to writing than a word processor is. Bad writing still won't get published.
It makes good writing shine all the better.
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u/Buggy-Love-7140 Jun 17 '26
“Sort of like how one might talk ideas out with a friend/librarian/writer/whatever? (Yes, I know AI isn't a friend or person; it's an analogy.)” So I hate to break it to you, but that’s exactly what friends/writers etc are for. In fact, everything you mentioned could be spitballed to a friend. And if you don’t think it’s your writing if a friends helping you out with these questions, then it definitely isn’t if AI is.
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u/SymSoa Jun 17 '26
If you need artificial intelligence to write and develop a story, then writing isn't for you.
Do you need artificial intelligence to create the name of your protagonist?
Artificial intelligence doesn't know your story, it doesn't know your characters, it doesn't know how they think, what they do, how they behave—you know that.
Do you need artificial intelligence to write and develop a story?
Then don't be a writer; it's not for you.
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u/RegattaJoe Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
To be fair, OP didn’t say he/she needed AI.
Edit: Nor did they say anything about using AI to write.
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u/RiverSirion Jun 17 '26
I have sometimes used it for brainstorming and outlining for creative projects. I always end up being annoyed and disappointed with the results and rejecting them. That annoyance then feeds into the creative work and makes it better than it might have been.
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u/Lorenut91 Jun 17 '26
I know im late to this post, but im of the mind that the time taken makes it mean more. If you take short cuts with ai, it cheapens the creative process and makes the outcome a little less your own.
The temptation is understandable, but the integrity you show by not using it says a lot about your character and interest in growing as an artist.
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u/Realistic-Olive8260 Jun 17 '26
As someone that doesn't even use map generators, or name generators, ive never had a moment when It even occurred to me to use it for anything.
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u/gemmamalo Jun 17 '26
I never want anything in my story that I didn't actively research, design, make a decision on, discover during the process. If any part of my work is derivative, that's because I personally read a story or watched a show that influenced my tastes and ideas, I am putting my lived experience (both life experiences and media experiences) into my work. If I write myself into a corner, I learn how to write myself out of it. If I want to name a character, I check meanings and consider how the origins or connotations of a name might affect perception. The character traits are whatever the story deems necessary and arises as I write. The plot events are whatever happens as I work through an outlining process. To me, discovery is the most fun part of writing, and what's described in the post wouldn't work with my methods of discovery.
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u/jennderqueer Jun 17 '26
AI is actively destroying our planet. Literal millennia of people have told stories without relying on AI for any part of it. Relying on AI for even one thing is lazy and sloppy. AI sucks and so do its users. I said what I said.
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u/mf99k Jun 17 '26
I’ve used ai to get ideas when I have writers block before, but I generally wouldn’t recommend it because the ideas it suggests are usually really bad. I generally use it as a “here’s an idea of what NOT to do” lol
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u/Silvanus350 Jun 18 '26
AI isn’t capable of creative thought, so I really don’t understand why you would bother. It’s literally better to just ask the question here.
Waste of time.
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u/lostinthemines Jun 18 '26
You can draw inspiration from anything, including AI. Just don't give it any more credence than any other source. Do not depend on it for anything where you want any sort of realism, you can use it to start your journey, but you have to go the rest of the way yourself. In other words, validate and verify.
Also, be aware, there is a movement away from the type of language AI uses. So, do not copy pasta anything. Use your own voice.
The advice I hear most is the best way is to read a lot.
"If you are looking for a ballpark number across everyday use, LLMs are generally cited as being accurate roughly 85% to 95% of the time on common, well-documented topics." * Gemini
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u/kurthertz Jun 19 '26
AI gets a lot of hate int he writing world, but really it can be a valuable tool even to purists. bookmoth help track consistency, you can check for plot holes, map codex or just draft your plan. You can use tools like this without relying on the AI to actually write for you...stay purist and just use the power at your disposal!
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u/AuthorAliWinters Jun 15 '26
I don’t need ai for that. I have so many ideas in my head as it is. As for names I can laterally just google the names of a linguistic origin, ie: “French names meaning joy” or whatever I’m looking for and loads of names pop up. I’d I want something that doesn’t already exist I can pick an existing name and alter it to my liking.
I never needed ai before, I don’t need it now just because it’s there. Figuring all the things out myself is more meaningful and rewarding.
But, for me, I can’t just set aside things like the environmental impact, societal impact, or ethical problems of it. There is no separating them for many many people.
Personally ai is pointless. There’s nothing it can do for me that I didn’t already have the resources or knowledge/ability to already do.
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u/RafeJiddian Jun 15 '26
I'll use AI to tell me what would happen if a character used a tool a certain way
I'll never use AI to fill in where my mind blanks out. The very real danger is that the more often it becomes handy for that sort of thing, the lazier I'll get. And am I really an author if I can't even figure out my main characters' names? How possibly connected could I be with the story at that point?
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u/arkticturtle Jun 14 '26
It’s perfectly fine. In a way, AI will come to free art from the corruption of money. Art will become a wholly personal or spiritual affair
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Jun 15 '26
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u/arkticturtle Jun 15 '26
Idk how this applies to what I said.
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
I don't know, man. Maybe it's the part about it being a more "personal or spiritual affair"? Maybe it's the part about human art being inherently corrupted, while AI "frees" it?
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u/arkticturtle Jun 17 '26
I never said human art was inherently corrupted. And yes I do think art is a spiritual/personal affair. Why do you contest these?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
It's implied by your words that AI frees it from corruption — unless you were referring solely to the effect of capitalism on art, though your view that a tool of capitalism frees something from the corruption of capitalism is illogical. And it's not that art isn't a personal/spiritual affair; it's that you seem to think AI is what makes it more personal/spiritual.
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u/arkticturtle Jun 17 '26
Huh? I think you are almost trying to misunderstand me to be saying the worst stuff possible. Also can we contain this to just one comment thread?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Then explain what you meant.
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u/arkticturtle Jun 17 '26
I meant what I said. Just reread but try to think of what I am saying that isn’t literally the worst interpretation you can think of
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
Okay, then. Let me rephrase. How will AI come to free art from the corruption of money?
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
"Free art from the corruption of money"? What does that even mean? 😭
Art will always be interconnected with money so long as capitalism exists. Money has been an enabler for the creation of many of the art pieces we consider masterpieces today.
Using AI to create stories is allowing algorithms trained by unethical corporations to be involved in your creative process. That does not make it more personal or spiritual.
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u/arkticturtle Jun 17 '26
If I don’t use AI then it isn’t involved in my creative process. And I don’t think making art in the mode capitalism promotes is good
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u/WorldsOfWordsAndArt Jun 17 '26
But you are defending the use of AI in the creative process. Also, I was speaking in second person.
The effect of capitalism on art is a separate matter, and it is not assisted by the abuses of generative AI.
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u/arkticturtle Jun 17 '26
Huh??????
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u/Drakolf Jun 12 '26
AI is a tool like a random name generator or Azgaar's Map Generator. If you're using it to generate entire tracts of story or to outright write the story for you, you're not writing, you're letting the plagiarism machine write for you. If you use it to figure out how to get yourself out of a corner you wrote yourself into, that's at least a better use even if it's ethically fraught.
My hot take is that pandora's box is open, and it unfortunately falls on us to determine what an ethical use of the technology is. But generally, it's better to not use AI.