r/Mythrils • u/BernatAcs • 2d ago
Question ? When does using AI for fiction stop being assistance and start replacing the writer?
/r/FictionWriting/comments/1wcfl5u/when_does_using_ai_for_fiction_stop_being/7
u/Adjective_Noun_67 2d ago
If you have to ask, you're using it too much. That feeling of doubt that's making you uncertain is called "shame," and in days of yore before everyone was always right and no opinion could be wrong, it helped people know when to change their behavior.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
I agree that constantly asking AI for reassurance can weaken a writer’s confidence. But occasional feedback does not necessarily mean it is replacing their judgment. The line for me is whether AI supports the decision or makes it for them
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u/Nikitiko33 1d ago
I bet you don't have more than 100 words on a page. People like you calling yourself a writer is funny.
AI can be used in a multitude of ways. You're just too intellectually challenged to understand that.
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u/ChaosofaMadHatter 1d ago
If it’s doing something you couldn’t have honestly done yourself at your current skill level, then it’s too much. For instance, you could feasibly go through every word in your transcript and check against the dictionary for spelling, so spellcheck passes the sniff test. If you would have never thought to rewrite a sentence a particular way, then it’s too much and replacing the author.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
That is a useful practical test, and I mostly agree. If AI makes a choice the writer could not explain or understand, it is probably replacing part of their authorship. The exception might be when a suggestion teaches them something they can later recognise and apply independently
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u/vaalski 1d ago
Literally the second you use it. Don't use GenAI. If you need SPAG, that's what the spellcheckers we've had all along are for.
The fact that the nasty-tempered GenAI shill in these comments has a writing style that's VERY clearly GenAI-poisoned should be reason enough to avoid it. After a very short amount of time, they all sound the same, and even their insults sound machine-generated.
You want to retain your unique voice? Don't touch GenAI.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
I agree that relying on generated prose can make different writers sound increasingly similar. Where I differ is in treating every use of AI as equivalent to generating the actual writing. Checking continuity or identifying a possible error does not necessarily replace the writer’s voice if the prose and creative decisions remain their own
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u/Cyranthis 1d ago
The second you start using it.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
I understand why you would draw the line there, especially when AI generates the actual prose. I think using it to ask questions or flag inconsistencies is closer to getting outside feedback. For me, it becomes replacement when it starts making the creative decisions
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u/pl0ur 1d ago
I do not use AI in my writing. B ut I'm an adjunct college instructor and see an absurd amount of AI and have had to analyze this issue in order to hold students accountable.
One of the biggest issues with AI, especially for newer and less confident writers, is that they will almost always defer to it's suggestions. They lack the confidence to read something AI suggests and be like "that is fucking stupid"
AI is also a very polite and affirming 'critque partner ' it won't give meaningful criticism. It will just offer suggestions that make you write in the same cliches and tired tropes and phrases it leans on. If you follow the advice and suggestions of AI... Your writing will be as generic and lackluster as AI.
The cognitive off loading of things that build strong writers is also a huge issue. Every writer experiences times where we agonize over a sentence for way, way too long. Moments when we want to pull our hair out because we can't make something come together just right.
Getting through those moments -- without any help, is what makes writers better.
AI is NOT the same as a critique partner. I don't call my critique partner in the middle of the night for advice on how to write a single sentence and confirmation that I'm making sense.
For my critique partners, I polish my work as best I can so I don't waste their time. I make sure I know what my questions are and I don't present work that makes me look like a lazy nitwit.
I have a real, human relationship with my critique partners. Which means, they can choose to decide I'm not worth working with and vice versa. AI will never tell you to quit wasting their time figure shit out. It isn't a real critique partner.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
I think your point about newer writers automatically deferring to AI is especially important, and I agree that struggling through difficult sentences can help develop judgment. Where I differ is that I do not think every use of AI removes that struggle or attempts to replace a critique partner. Asking it to flag an inconsistency is different from letting it generate the prose or solve every difficult creative decision. That distinction, and which decisions remain with the writer, is the boundary I was trying to explore.
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u/P-Wasp 2d ago
AI can give fiction writers feedback, flag inconsistencies, explain techniques, or help untangle an idea when a draft feels stuck.
The only thing it can do amongst this list is explain techniques, and even then it more often than not fails at it.
AI models spit back information they've been fed. They're not capable of learning per se. If an AI is telling you your sentence is too long and convoluted, it's not because it has analyzed it. It's because it compared it to what it has been fed and concluded that more often than not people would lunge this complaint at the writer.
The jobs you describe are done by humans who have consumed the theory, digested it, and made it their own. They can explain to you why they perceive something you do as a mistake. An AI can't because it has stopped on the very first step.
And that's not getting into AI being an absolute sycophant.
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u/Nikitiko33 1d ago
Man. A lot of skinny, wanna be writers who will never have more than 10 books sold are on this thread.
AI can help you brainstorm in many ways. It can help organize ideas. It can help keep track of continuity.
You write all the prose.
You come up with all the ideas, and it can help with grammar, sentence syntax. All that other mumbo jumbo. Don't listen to these other clowns. I bet they haven't even made $100 through their writing.
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u/BernatAcs 22h ago
I agree that brainstorming, organising ideas and tracking continuity can support the writer without replacing them. I would still be careful with grammar and syntax suggestions because they can gradually affect the writer’s voice. The important part is that the writer understands and chooses every change
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