1. andy smith

    andy smith New Member

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    How Do You Use AI Tools in Your Writing Process?

    Discussion in 'AI Writing Tools' started by andy smith, Nov 27, 2024.

    Hi everyone!

    I’ve been exploring how AI can help with the creative process, especially in novel writing. Recently, I’ve come across tools that assist with outlining stories, developing characters, and brainstorming ideas. Some are super handy, while others feel a bit gimmicky.

    For me, the game-changer has been using an AI tool to structure my story ideas when I feel stuck. It’s like having a brainstorming partner who keeps me on track.

    What about you? Have you tried using AI for writing? Do you think it enhances creativity or takes away from the creative process? Let’s share experiences and recommendations—curious to hear what’s worked (or hasn’t) for you!

    Looking forward to the discussion!
     
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  2. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    I'll give you an answer I gave to a similar question elsewhere:

    AI Do's:
    • DO use it to help you refine your ideas.
    • DO use it to help you with research.
    • DO use it to get an overview and summary of your story. The AI can sometimes spot things you might have missed when writing.

    AI Don'ts:
    • DON'T trust any research results it comes back with. Always independently confirm.
    • DON'T use it to write prose, ESPECIALLY dialogue. The AI will not be able to capture your character's personality and voice in the way you envisage it.
    • DON'T use it to develop your own voice and style. The AI will tell you to write how the collective wisdom of the internet thinks it should be written. If you're aiming to develop something unique and personal, the AI will not help, and in fact, can damage your development.
    • DON'T use it to come up with plot ideas and plot points. The suggestions it gives you will be very generic. Instead, use it to help YOU come up with ideas.
    • DON'T rely on it for critique. It can sometimes provide useful feedback, but be aware that it will tend to agree with you, regardless of what statement you're making. If you ask it "does this piece of humour work", it will almost always say yes, and then may suggest "improvements".
    • DON'T blindly follow every suggestion it makes. Like any critique, evaluate whether it meets YOUR goals and is suitable.

    Used correctly, it can be a very useful tool.
     
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  3. KDG

    KDG Member

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    Naomasa298 makes excellent points! I have used AI, particularly regarding the third bullet - especially cleaning up some overly flowery sentences and paragraphs I was stuck on.

    I also have been tapping into AI more for word descriptor options. Frequently, I have difficulty coming up with a word/words that convey(s) a particular emotion, and AI will sometimes provide various options. I don't necessarily use any of them all of the time, but they often prompt me to think differently.

    Something that I found interesting: I was curious how one AI platform I was using at the time would contribute to a story I was writing. I began writing the story along with the AI (so through the platform). I could prompt it when I needed help or wanted to be involved with the story. As I was writing (this would have been over a 30-40 min period), I noticed that its "contributions" were becoming more sophisticated in the way that it was using more words expressing emotions and "feelings" the longer I wrote. Although I directed the story and took the lead, it was an interesting experience to observe. In the end, the story wasn't very good (at least, I didn't think so), so I abandoned it entirely.
     
  4. Hideoshi

    Hideoshi Active Member

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    I'm very against AI even in refining or assisting in any minor way... really because it takes away the learning you need to 'feel' the words and emotions when writing a scene.

    AI removes the need to ask readers to help spot mistakes because software can smooth out transitions to make everything clearer but often it is the ruggedness and rawness of a piece that makes a story stand out. Refinement, I believe, comes from listening and considering the points of a reader. There are many who have leant me their thoughts about how to rewrite certain passages in my stories and I always consider.

    This process of consideration is needed to learn as do you heed to a reader's reaction or keep the imperfections of your writing? AI removes all these inner discussions and it is that vulnerability that I feel a reader must have in order to share a story that is worthwhile to read.

    AI will be prevalent in all writers of a certain level and yes they do brush up your SPaG and reading much smoother, but AI takes away all the individuality of what makes a story personal and special. There are stories we have read and think, wow great piece of writing but they don't stick... it is just good writing. Then there are those stories that are powerful and gripping that maybe too much.

    What I see as being the most important aspect to writing is what does story mean to you? I was told many years ago, that you write a story because you have something to share with the world. Stories encapsulate everything about you, as a person in how you see the world. To have my views directed by AI is not something I will compromise. You build your character from the painful falls and the getting up. AI limits or even takes away this pain.

    We love stories because we venture with the MC and see how they overcome and defeat the problems they have in front of them, not have them resolved by some not.

    Sorry just my thoughts.
     
  5. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    If that is in reply to my post, you are misunderstanding what I am suggesting.
     
  6. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    The third do, or the third don't?
     
  7. KDG

    KDG Member

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    Sorry! Third Do ;)
     
  8. Hideoshi

    Hideoshi Active Member

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    No... this is just my view towards AI and not targeted to anyone. The OP asked what people use AI tools people use and besides the automatic spell checked, I don't use anything. For me, I build bonds with writers, and then share stories with them for views and having good relationships with writers is very important to me, as their reactions is how I can learn and better my writing and story telling.
     
  9. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Yes, but I specifically said you shouldn't use AI to help you with your prose (point 3 of don't). It will end up making you write like an AI, and you won't develop your own voice. Don't write how the AI thinks you should write - do it yourself, and you will internalise it and begin to write the way you want naturally.

    Read through what you've written, and if you think, for example, something is too wordy, edit it how you want, so the words remain yours. An AI will often cut out or embellish things that changes their emphasis, thereby changing the meaning and focus of the sentence.
     
  10. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Using an AI effectively doesn't mean losing any of that.
     
  11. KDG

    KDG Member

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    Ah, understood. While I have used AI to cut out to help simplify my writing (which I guess I was seeing as more of a "cleaning up" for my work), I understand your point of preserving, in this case, my words/my voice. Makes sense. Thank you!
     
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  12. Hideoshi

    Hideoshi Active Member

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    I think our views are different but this is something I strongly feel. I used to follow many learning writers in the forum I frequented before (it's .com and I've noticed you are there too) and it was a shock to me when I realised so many there use AI to make their stories. I befriended many who did not and as you will know in that workshop, there are many stories with varying degrees of writing standards. Some of the more polished works I found are written better, but they lack a soul and quality... an individuality that makes their stories stand out.

    They are good reads but there are very few that I recall and say ... that is story I would return to. Knowing the writer uses AI to build, improve and assist greatly with a created a story is not, in my eyes, the writer being an artist- it is someone thinking of something and letting something else do the work for them.

    I believe in the process of building relationships with fellow writers, that reading more means you pick out the nuances and little hints in how an author builds and sets up a scene. AI can do that but you don't learn to pick up the subtle elements that makes a memorable story. Again this is just my view as I am not an AI fan.
     
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  13. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    I used AI to help develop "Fael the Apprentice". It's in the fantasy workshop. Please read it and tell me if you think it lacks a soul.
     
  14. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    By the way, I am not challenging you when I say the above, and neither am I going to take offence. But I have the feeling you have the wrong idea about what I mean when I say using AI effectively, and the best way for me to illustrate what I mean is to demonstrate it.
     
  15. Naja Noir

    Naja Noir Member

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    Hello,

    I'm painfully aware there's two groups of thought. I'm from the group that thinks it takes away from our own human creativity and more besides just that.

    The closest I've ever gotten to using an AI writing tool was when I downloaded Grammerly. I promptly took it out of computer once I realized it wasn't simply a Grammer/spell checker. It tried to do much more of my work than I was comfortable with, felt like a dumbing down tool and oddly controlling at that. No matter that I recorrected its corrections, it still kept at it. It's programming saw no room for my own wants on the matter.

    I can understand why some people feel drawn towards their use, same reason I think people cut corners at work. I agree with Hideoshi, but with a stronger stance on the matter.

    All that said, I think its possible that one day there might be a time that AI surprises us and comes up with something all on its own, without any input of any kind from us humans. When they do, I'll look at them differently, as writers worthy of their very own accolades. Though I'd still wish for humans to develop their own ideas.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2024
    Hideoshi likes this.
  16. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    People often hear "AI writing tools" and think that means using AI to generate lines or passages of prose.

    That is NOT a legitimate way to use AI effectively, but there are better ways to use it than that.
     
  17. Not the Territory

    Not the Territory Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    My pessimistic side finds the OP suspicious.
     
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  18. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    So does your friendly neighborhood mod team....
     
  19. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Now that you mention it, both of the OP's posts flag as AI content.
     
  20. Hideoshi

    Hideoshi Active Member

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    Don't i take no offence either ... I'm sharing views and nothing more. When I read your first post you made valid points... but there is always a part of me that says... well asking a reader can be (at the very least) equally effective but I see it as a lot more.

    If a reader flags up a passage where they found a dodgy sentences or that it didn't flow... I can ask about it and get an explanation liken to an AI response. The difference is... I am placing faith in a reader (and most likely fellow writer) and trust is very big in any relationship.

    If I do not trust a reader but consider what some AI program is telling me to do... then I feel this is a big problem. We write so people can read a story... not some AI bot and a human reaction is what I seek. A reader can see through the imperfections to grasp the feelings ... AI will point to the imperfection.
     
  21. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    And neither of those are how I am suggesting you should use AI.

    And even if it was, and someone uses Grammarly or some such aid, you would still have to know when to accept the suggestion and when not to.
     
  22. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Grammarly has been around for what, 10 years? Why is it called AI now but wasn't back then? Other then the term just recently became a buzzword.
     
  23. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    A lot of that, but maybe the driving tech behind it has changed.
     
  24. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Meh. Everything is AI now. The auto-defrost function on my microwave will be marketed as AI next year. So will the stud-finders, clothes dryers that shut off when the clothes are dry, the thermostats that know when to turn the heat on. They'll slap that label on anything they can to charge 25% more for a function that has existed for years.
     
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  25. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    AI trousers are coming, mark my words.
     

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