A.I. didn't work that well for me.

[Incanus]

So I messed around with an A.I. writing tool last night.

I wanted to see if it could prompt a few ideas about a chapter I’ll be writing soon. It should go without saying I had no intention of using any of its prose.

I had to use around 200-300 words to set things up, but that wasn’t nearly enough it turns out. My story just has too many details, constraints, history, and general rules to follow that it makes it rather too cumbersome to deal with. Just teaching it how the magic works, I would probably need 500-1000 words. I re-wrote the prompts a few times, adding details, but it didn’t help all that much.

Anyway, not surprisingly, it generated very generic stuff, nothing I couldn’t come up with myself. And since my brainstorming for my story has been working pretty well lately, I’ll just stick to that.

The A.I. is pretty clever, to be sure, and if I was writing something different, it might have sometimes been helpful.

Interesting little experiment. I’m sticking with what I know works.

 

[Diana Silver]

it generated very generic stuff

Gnehehe.

 

[skip.knox]

I'm with you, Incanus, without having tried very hard. I have plenty of ideas, lots of revision to work on just now, and am not inclined to learn what amounts to another way of conversing. Maybe I'll dip the toe in again when I start up a new story.

That said, I continue to be very interested in the topic over all. There are aspects of AI outside of story generation that seem important and worth paying attention to.

 

[Incanus]

Even though it didn't yield anything worthwhile, I thought trying the experiment was worth doing. It was... interesting.

Like anything, one could get better at it. I'd have to mess around more to get the promptings working right. But even then, it's really not up to the task. I'm sticking with tried and true-------

 

[Devor]

I've found it pretty helpful. I wouldn't use its text in a book or article, for all the reasons. But's it's been great for talking through things, and having it list 6 or 10 or even 20 ideas can help save a lot of time. But I don't expect it to give me the answer. I prompt it so that it will prompt me. And, it takes a bit of a conversation. The more you can narrow the subject and talk through your thought process, the more useful it is.

 

[Prince of Spires]

The draw is, in part, that "pretty generic" is still better than some human writing I've gone through, beta-reading for a couple of authors.

I also think that it might be slightly stronger if you write your whole story using it, since you can use what came before as input for the next bit. Though you'd still end up with the same bland prose and wandering plot. After all, the AI doesn't know the concept of a story, or plot, or characterization, or any of that. It just guesses what the next word needs to be (in a very elaborate fashion).

I agree that AI can be helpful just to have someone to throw ideas at. Just asking it to give me 10 different exotic fantasy monsters in a Assirian desert setting is a nice way to get some random stuff thrown at me which can let me build on it and shake up my thoughts. It's useful to challenge my own ideas and get me out of my head for a moment.

 

[pmmg]

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss also gazes back into you.

 

[Incanus]

I have no doubt people have done useful things with it. I could probably learn how too.

But last night, I went with non-A.I. brainstorming and came up with what I needed. I'll be back to half-drafting tonight.

Having it create lists sounds a bit more useful than what I tried. I'm not sure how to go about that. I don't need much in the way of world-building at this point.

I was mostly interested in some small-scale plot ideas, like what kind of obstacles/problems two of my characters have in navigating through an abandoned town/city where a small group of enemies also are. It just generated generic fighting stuff and couldn't come up with something like a plan the characters make and then have it not go well. It seems it can't piece together different levels of plot into a single focused scene.

It doesn't know my world, characters, theme, background info, and I don't have the patience to teach it.

My plot ideas lately have been working out pretty well lately, so I'll just continue with that.

 

[Incanus]

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss also gazes back into you.

And that's why I never, ever get into a staring contest with an abyss.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It seems it can't piece together different levels of plot into a single focused scene.

Indeed it can't. There isn't anything intelligent about artificial intelligence...

In my experience, it isn't so much about getting an actual solution from the AI. Rather, it's a way to get the creative juices flowing with someone who's patient and who gives a semblance of random ideas. It's like asking for "10 mythical monsters based on Assyrian mythology in a world loosely based on the middle ages around the time of the crusades."

This doesn't necesarily give you the 10 monsters (or even 1) you need. But it gives you a starting point and maybe some ideas for names. It's like going down the rabbit hole of Google looking for ideas, except that it's a shortcut you can then use to go down the Google rabbit hole.

 

[Finchbearer]

I think chatGPT can be good for prompts for writing, or for getting a general overview of something specific. But for finished products, not so much.

 

[Incanus]

Where I'm at with my WIP, I can't really think of any use for A.I. The world-building is more-or-less done, though there is always another detail to add. I don't need lists of monsters, magic, weapons, etc.

It can't help with plot or characters or theme, and it can't write usable prose. I can't think of any prompting I need that I can't do myself. Generating original names is one of my great joys, and part of the creative process I'd never, ever want sourced out.

I could sort of see using it right from the beginning of a project (as Prince of Spires suggested), but that's not where I'm at (I'm far into Act II of the plot, getting near Act III).

I'm sure there are uses for it. But I won't be needing it for my current project.

 

[skip.knox]

And that's why I never, ever get into a staring contest with an abyss.

The abyss never blinks.

 

[Prince of Spires]

The abyss never blinks.

Are you absolutely sure? The absence of proof isn't proof of absence. Maybe the abyss only blinks when no one is looking. Or only if you stare long enough.

 

[dollyt8]

I use AI more for organizing my thoughts into character profiles, magic systems, etc. and also creating outlines. I don't think it's ever going to be good enough to write a chapter the way I want, and I don't have any desire to use it that way. But it's insanely good for creating outlines or a synopsis for a novel. Ask it about the three-act story structure some time and use that to create an outline. It's pretty awesome!

 

[Rexenm]

I came to the conclusion to bunch together a plethora, and see where to go from there, but AI is a pretty good angle, that some people see religiously.

I usually teeter and totter with AI.

 

[GaldortheGreat]

So I messed around with an A.I. writing tool last night.

I wanted to see if it could prompt a few ideas about a chapter I’ll be writing soon. It should go without saying I had no intention of using any of its prose.

I had to use around 200-300 words to set things up, but that wasn’t nearly enough it turns out. My story just has too many details, constraints, history, and general rules to follow that it makes it rather too cumbersome to deal with. Just teaching it how the magic works, I would probably need 500-1000 words. I re-wrote the prompts a few times, adding details, but it didn’t help all that much.

Anyway, not surprisingly, it generated very generic stuff, nothing I couldn’t come up with myself. And since my brainstorming for my story has been working pretty well lately, I’ll just stick to that.

The A.I. is pretty clever, to be sure, and if I was writing something different, it might have sometimes been helpful.

Interesting little experiment. I’m sticking with what I know works.

AI definitely has its pros and cons. My favorite way to use it is for brainstorming ideas. It really gets your juices flowing. As far as using it to write fictional content, any writer that has tried it knows AI isn't up to the task.

 

[pmmg]

AI has nothing I want.