FanStory.com - AI by Sandra Stoner-Mitchell

AI is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used constructively or abused. I believe it can be a fabulous tool for writers—when used appropriately. But it can also be the bane of a writer’s website, like FanStory, when used inappropriately.

Inappropriate Uses of AI

1. Plagiarizing a bot’s output – Some writers are feeding an AI bot a prompt, then posting the output as if it were their own. Sometimes they use the output verbatim, and other times they will rearrange words. Either way, it’s plagiarism when used on a writer’s website like FanStory.

2. Heavy editing of your input – I believe it’s also inappropriate to write a poem or a piece of prose, feed it to a bot, and ask it to fix it up to make it sound better. I’m not talking about grammar or spell-checking, but heavy use of AI-generated content. This is similar to number 1 but instead of giving the bot a prompt, like “Write a poem about the transition from autumn to winter,” you instead feed it a poem you’ve written and ask it to improve it.

There’s a spectrum here. If you only change a very few words based on its suggestions, this is the same as following the advice of an editor, beta reader, or FanStory reviewer. But if you take the majority of the words the bot supplies, that’s when it is no longer your work.

3. Writing reviews – We’ve seen the trend lately of reviews written by AI. This is totally inappropriate. It’s an unfair way to earn member dollars and the reviewing contest awards because it doesn’t even require that a piece be read, just fed into a bot for comment. It’s often easy to spot these when a review refers to you as “the author” rather than “you.”

Even if a reviewer has read the piece and doctors up the bot’s analysis with personal phrases, like using your name or wishing you well, it doesn’t make the review more appropriate if the analysis wasn’t done by the reviewer.

Appropriate Uses of AI

I use AI in several ways when I write my novels. I believe all of them are appropriate uses and have helped me improve my writing. I would encourage writers to do the same.

1. Research - I use it mostly in research for my novels, and I liken it to the help I might receive from a librarian. My novels are full of science, and because I'm not a scientist, I must research the topics I write about. The ideas for the various inventions in my novels are completely my own, but I consult with AI for their plausibility because I prefer my novels to be closer to speculative fiction * than science fiction.

Before I began using AI for research, I had to rely on Google searches, and the number of articles I had to wade through to find the facts took many times longer than it currently takes via specific questions to an AI bot.

2. Teaching aid - I use AI to learn writing techniques. One I’ve studied is known as free indirect discourse, ** a technique used in third-person POV fiction. In the past, when I was learning the technique, I would take a stab at employing it, feed the paragraphs to a bot for a critique, decide which suggestions for improvement resonated with me, if any, and put the ones I liked into my own words. I no longer need to do it because I have learned the technique via this method.

I liken this approach to having an English teacher read your story and make suggestions for improvement.

3. Beta reading/editing – Beta readers and editors read your story before you publish it and give honest feedback. They will tell you both what works and what doesn’t so you can improve it before publication. My wife beta reads and helps me edit everything I write, and she excels at it, pointing out plot holes, unrealistic dialogue, and redundancies. I take many of her suggestions but always put them into my own words. Stephen King’s wife, Tabitha, does the same for him.

An AI bot also makes an excellent beta reader/editor, performing the same functions as my wife.

For example, it recently indicated I was overusing a particular phrase, which escaped my wife and me. I changed the wording of several instances to reduce repetition.

As another example, it asserted that a change from one passage to another was too abrupt. I agreed with it, but not its suggestions of how to smooth the transition. I frequently don’t like its wording suggestions and always come up with my own, but I appreciate the tips. This is another example of what an English teacher would point out with a red pen when reading your story.

4. Sounding board - I occasionally use it to discuss plot ideas I have conceived of for feasibility and realism. I will propose a scenario to see if it makes logical sense or needs refinement. I always initiate the plot sequence and never rely on it to suggest the plot to me.

5. Picture Generation – Other contributors to this book have already commented on this, so I’ll keep it brief. I use it to generate the pictures that accompany each of my chapters. I imagine what I want, then describe it as best I can and see what the bot comes up with.

There is a world of difference between the appropriate and inappropriate uses of AI on a writer’s website like FanStory. Using it to help you improve your writing is far different from allowing it to do the majority (or all) of the writing for you, much as a ghostwriter would do. Appropriate use is like having a librarian to help research and either an English teacher, beta reader, or editor edit your writing.

Author Notes

* Speculative fiction: A genre that departs from realism, characterized by things such as magic, futuristic technology, alternate histories, or supernatural beings.

** Free indirect discourse: A technique used in third-person POV writing that seamlessly blends a character's internal thoughts with the narrative voice, avoiding conventions such as italics and speech tags like "he wondered" or "she thought."