the moment I read the cake metaphor I just knew this would be a banger piece. thoroughly enjoyed this one cayse! this in itself is a perfect example as to how chatgpt can complement and supplement and add character to writing, but it is only able to do so by absorbing and learning from cayse!
that chart is roughly where i stand too, maybe a little prior to that. the two things that irk me the most on AI-assisted writing are those who use it wholeheartedly and unabashedly as mark of efficiency, and those who think they’re saints for not using it and see users of any kind as sacrilegious scum of satan. like most things, i’m sure there’s a happy medium, and that happy mediums differs from person to person.
so long as these tools do not destroy our thinking and we maintain our sense of learning, humanity and neuroplasticity (admittingly difficult!) — I find it fine, I hope.
I can totally respect that. Somewhere between 2.5-3 it definitely starts to shift from “helpful like a standard writing critique group, brainstorm buddy, novel writing workbook, or book coach might be” to “helpful like a co-writer, super hands-on editor, or ghostwriter might be.”
Great article. I use AI as a research tool as I rewrite my family’s published epistolary memoir into a full blown fictional historical novel. As a example I have missing letters so I use AI to write the “reply letters”that are missing. I could not tell the difference between my father’s writings and the fictional AI letter. On the fictional letters I let readers know, through symbolism, that that particular letter is AI generated. As another example, I had it research which tram line and the route my father may have taken from his base camp in Paris to the store where he met my mother. What was the weather like on a particular day in 1946 as it relates to my father’s writing, or give me the history behind the church where my parents were married in Paris. Now AI is not always accurate so I have to do a recheck. The description of a statue AI produced did not match an actual photo or the description I’m using in my novel. With all this said AI can be a great tool if used properly. BTW in my prologue I inform readers that parts of my novel are AI generated and ways they can tell what has been generated via AI from actual human written letters.
That sounds like an incredible use of the technology! It is kind of beautiful if you think about it, you are expanding on your own family history with the patterns found in all of human history’s words 😊
Thank you for your comment. From my research I think the way I am using AI to augment a factual epistolary novel, turning it into a fictional historical novel is absolutely amazing. Such as give me the name of a restaurant in 1947 in Heidleburg Germany that my father may have visited. What was on the menu? What did the surrounding area look like when he sat at the window? What was typical menu Atbthe time? How did he get there from the train station?
I am fortunate to have 100s of pages and documents with addresses and dates that I can use to help me use AI to enhance a real life story. A hotel my father stayed at while in the Army at the end of the war in 1945 is now a Best Western Hotel. AI can be such a great research tool if the writer has some real information to go by. For one scene I had it give me the temperature and cloud cover on a particular day my father was traveling.
I have it search for maps of the times so I can check for the name of streets, etc. it gave me the information I needed to make the induction of my father into the army in 1942 the real thing (former military so I know that description is accurate) or what the scene of Omaha Beach looked like the day after the initial D-Day invasion as he drove his truck off the LST into the waters of that beach - I felt as though I was actually there.
It provided information about the 1945 War Brides Act that allowed more than 100,00 servicemen to bring there foreign born wives to the States without having to go through the usual immigration protocols or even the difference in philosophy of marriage between my American father and my French mother and why the cultural differences in marriage eventually led to their divorce. How the occupation of Paris by the German army probably affected my mother’s adolescent years - probably
PTSD was involved which may have been a contributing factor to their breakup. I could go on. In the end it is making my novel more immersive than what I could do on my own.
I’m baker 2, and thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I never felt the need to justify my use of AI as a personal assistant. For me, Claude is bae. I’m a single mama of 3 and a freelancer aka a one-woman show. My time is limited and so is my budget. I need and take all the help I can get. Period.
I came for the discussion...fully guarded and ready to defend my use of AI in writing...and just about everything in life. I left feeling fully validated, confident in defending myself against the "AI purest weirdos". I now have a craving for my wife's chocolate chip cake and am asking ChatGPT on the best strategy on how to convince her to bake it for a weekend coffee complimented treat.
The thing I find hilarious is how the AI purest weirdo’s don’t seem to understand just how very much NOT pure they are. It’s right around that point in the conversation that people typically decide I’m an evil AI worshipping demon witch and block me. And I’m left standing there going—dude, take it up with Microsoft Word!
This is a GREAT albeit unintentional companion piece by @Fableford. Please consider reading to help round out your perspective!
https://open.substack.com/pub/fableford/p/the-loneliness-epidemic-creativity?r=2rmbrl&utm_medium=ios
the moment I read the cake metaphor I just knew this would be a banger piece. thoroughly enjoyed this one cayse! this in itself is a perfect example as to how chatgpt can complement and supplement and add character to writing, but it is only able to do so by absorbing and learning from cayse!
that chart is roughly where i stand too, maybe a little prior to that. the two things that irk me the most on AI-assisted writing are those who use it wholeheartedly and unabashedly as mark of efficiency, and those who think they’re saints for not using it and see users of any kind as sacrilegious scum of satan. like most things, i’m sure there’s a happy medium, and that happy mediums differs from person to person.
so long as these tools do not destroy our thinking and we maintain our sense of learning, humanity and neuroplasticity (admittingly difficult!) — I find it fine, I hope.
Thank you so much! 😊
I wouldn't go past 2 on that chart, it wouldn't feel like my writing, i wouldn't feel like i could call myself a writer past 2.5
I can totally respect that. Somewhere between 2.5-3 it definitely starts to shift from “helpful like a standard writing critique group, brainstorm buddy, novel writing workbook, or book coach might be” to “helpful like a co-writer, super hands-on editor, or ghostwriter might be.”
Great article. I use AI as a research tool as I rewrite my family’s published epistolary memoir into a full blown fictional historical novel. As a example I have missing letters so I use AI to write the “reply letters”that are missing. I could not tell the difference between my father’s writings and the fictional AI letter. On the fictional letters I let readers know, through symbolism, that that particular letter is AI generated. As another example, I had it research which tram line and the route my father may have taken from his base camp in Paris to the store where he met my mother. What was the weather like on a particular day in 1946 as it relates to my father’s writing, or give me the history behind the church where my parents were married in Paris. Now AI is not always accurate so I have to do a recheck. The description of a statue AI produced did not match an actual photo or the description I’m using in my novel. With all this said AI can be a great tool if used properly. BTW in my prologue I inform readers that parts of my novel are AI generated and ways they can tell what has been generated via AI from actual human written letters.
That sounds like an incredible use of the technology! It is kind of beautiful if you think about it, you are expanding on your own family history with the patterns found in all of human history’s words 😊
Thank you for your comment. From my research I think the way I am using AI to augment a factual epistolary novel, turning it into a fictional historical novel is absolutely amazing. Such as give me the name of a restaurant in 1947 in Heidleburg Germany that my father may have visited. What was on the menu? What did the surrounding area look like when he sat at the window? What was typical menu Atbthe time? How did he get there from the train station?
I am fortunate to have 100s of pages and documents with addresses and dates that I can use to help me use AI to enhance a real life story. A hotel my father stayed at while in the Army at the end of the war in 1945 is now a Best Western Hotel. AI can be such a great research tool if the writer has some real information to go by. For one scene I had it give me the temperature and cloud cover on a particular day my father was traveling.
I have it search for maps of the times so I can check for the name of streets, etc. it gave me the information I needed to make the induction of my father into the army in 1942 the real thing (former military so I know that description is accurate) or what the scene of Omaha Beach looked like the day after the initial D-Day invasion as he drove his truck off the LST into the waters of that beach - I felt as though I was actually there.
It provided information about the 1945 War Brides Act that allowed more than 100,00 servicemen to bring there foreign born wives to the States without having to go through the usual immigration protocols or even the difference in philosophy of marriage between my American father and my French mother and why the cultural differences in marriage eventually led to their divorce. How the occupation of Paris by the German army probably affected my mother’s adolescent years - probably
PTSD was involved which may have been a contributing factor to their breakup. I could go on. In the end it is making my novel more immersive than what I could do on my own.
I’m baker 2, and thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I never felt the need to justify my use of AI as a personal assistant. For me, Claude is bae. I’m a single mama of 3 and a freelancer aka a one-woman show. My time is limited and so is my budget. I need and take all the help I can get. Period.
I came for the discussion...fully guarded and ready to defend my use of AI in writing...and just about everything in life. I left feeling fully validated, confident in defending myself against the "AI purest weirdos". I now have a craving for my wife's chocolate chip cake and am asking ChatGPT on the best strategy on how to convince her to bake it for a weekend coffee complimented treat.
The thing I find hilarious is how the AI purest weirdo’s don’t seem to understand just how very much NOT pure they are. It’s right around that point in the conversation that people typically decide I’m an evil AI worshipping demon witch and block me. And I’m left standing there going—dude, take it up with Microsoft Word!