IWSG - September 2025

 

 

Click here to find out more and to see a list of other IWSG blogs.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts for the September 3 posting of the IWSG are
Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Diedre Knight!

September 3 question - What are your thoughts on using AI, such as ChatGPT, Raptor, and others with your writing? Would you use it for research, story bible, or creating outlines\beats?

I've lived a long time and seen a lot of changes in technology. And change is rarely easy.

I see AI tools much like the shift from manual typewriters to electric ones, or from the abacus to calculators that now outpace early computers. AI is still simply a tool.

It's helpful for speeding up certain tasks like research, organizing a story bible, or sketching out beats and outlines. And just like with my internet searches pre-AI, I still have the responsibility to verify the information and sources.

What's important (in my humble opinion) is to avoid the temptation to let AI do all the work. As with anything, it's critical that we continue to think for ourselves. Human creativity is the heart of storytelling and still rests with us.

Do you see AI more as a calculator (an assistant that helps with the details),

as a co-pilot that shares more of the journey,

or something to completely avoid?

IWSG - March 2024

  

Click here to find out more and to see a list of other IWSG blogs.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Co-hosts for the March 6th are

 Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and Liza @ Middle Passages!

Question: Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

The simple answer is Yes. If you've researched anything on Google or Bing, AI's participated in your search. If you use ProWritingAid (and I'm guessing Grammarly uses it too) to check for grammar or style corrections, you've used AI. Photoshop uses it too now, though they say they use only their own stock of owned pictures as sources. 

I love using ChatGPT for my blurbs. I'm kind of awful at writing them. While I put emotion in my books, I tend to be "dry" with the blurbs. And ChatGPT is sooo drama! I find it really over the top. But it uses words or phrases I sometimes can use (toned down).

What I really like is using AI to brainstorm with. Or to help with the description of a scene I'm fighting with. I may give it a section of text and tell it to rewrite it using all five senses. Then I can go through what it suggests and see if there's anything in the words it uses that I like. This isn't all that different from when I would use the website resources (from The Emotion Thesaurus gals) for this kind of thing.

The key is that it's a resource for me to strengthen my writing or make the research a little faster. When I was writing a scene in a book that released last year, I needed some kind of business for another character. I  could spend hours checking the types of businesses on online stores, but ChatGPT gave me a huge list of possibilities. Just like that.

I used to spend a week formatting my paperback books in Word once I had my ebook done. Now I have Vellum that does it with with a simple click. That tool has given me back a week of my life for every book I release.

And that's what AI is to me. A tool.

What about you? Do you agree or feel differently?

AI Can Be Cool ... And Seriously Weird

 I have an app on my phone that will cartoonize pictures. It's kind of fun when creating avatars of yourself. Recently, an update added a new feature that would change a photo to a watercolor. And it's dang cool! The faces are really well done.

Until you look at the hands. And Grandpa's forehead.

Creepy!