I recently tried a story AI writer. I gave a short preamble of approx. 50 words and pushed the button.
Out came a long-involved story. Not along the lines I had planned but a very good story all the same.
I can see how this can be used to create many stories quickly.
I am tempted to publish my story to see the response I obtain.
Any comments
I am tempted to publish my story to see the response I obtain.
Some stories written with the assistance of an AI have scored well on the site. I'm not sure about a whole story written and fleshed out completely by AI.
I've read some AI contents, and found them to be too tedious to read. Too much flowery and elaborate wording that gets tiring after the first couple of pages.
Any comments
I would be interested to test such an AI. Which one did you try?
I agree the story was an interesting one with the few details I used. I had trouble even reading the first chapter as you said the words were too flowery. They seemed to be taken from a technical manual not using everyday words.
I'm sorry I did not keep track of which AI I used and when I tried to find it again there were a number of other AI generators with the same description. It looks like they are AI copies that people are trying to make money from
I've been limiting myself to locally run AI models. The quality of prose is weak compared to ChatGPT and other major models, but I find it stimulates my creativity, simply because these small models write so poorly - I'm compelled to correct them!!!
:)
Isn't it the creative part of writing that excites you? If AI writes your story, you're less a creator and more an editor.
I can see if your goal is monetary. Then having a tool create as many stories as fast as possible so that you can sell them would make sense, but if you're simply a writer who wants to create… Well, don't you miss the creativity part?
Post it. I'd be interested to see what it looks like.
FWIW - I've posted over 50 pieces that are AI generated. None of them make it onto the site without a lot of editing from me, but Laz flags them all AI. I think some are pretty good, and some aren't. This one scored 8.65, for example. About 40% have scored 7 or better, but I've also got a bunch that have scored less than 6. It's always surprising to me what appeals to people.
-E
To be honest the language used was over the top. I have an above average compensation. I found the writing to use terms that may have come from a doctorial thesis. It was very thoughtful but took a lot of time to comprehend the terms used.
It is only at its start, over time I can see it getting better.
I can send you a copy of the story that was produced if you wish. I do not think that it would pass muster to be posted online.
Would love to see it. Feel free to send it to me @EricR.
As for the language etc. I've been building stories with AI now since March. It is faster (for me) than writing from scratch, but it has taken a lot of time to both learn how to prompt the model, and also to create a persona for the model that it can write from. I primarily use ChatGPT. It has decent capabilities for learning to write in a specific tone and style. I've also tried a few other tools that are specific to writers, and I've done a bunch with Grok. Grok is harder to write with than ChatGPT, but it doesn't have the filters for explicit content that ChatGPT has just recently implemented.
And honestly - while you can just say to it "write me a story about x", what you'll get is pretty generic with all the flaws that people love to complain about with AI. You have to spend a lot of time on the writers crafts of world building, characterization, plot beats etc before it can help you to write. And then when have a draft you have to edit it ruthlessly. My latest story was 7 drafts in the making.
E
My latest story was 7 drafts in the making.
You say that like it's a bad thing. It's called the creative process.
I'm sorry as there was only a one chance try before you had to buy I did not keep track of which one I used. They all seemed to be almost the same only with different names.
Almost like they were using the same AI as the background force.
I am tempted to publish my story to see the response I obtain.
I'd like to see it.
I wonder whether it would be an idea for the site to host a new home page menu item, a peer of 'new stories' and 'updates', hosting experimental story attempts for critiquing away from the harsh scrutiny of the homepage. I'd allow those experiments to be commented on but not rated.
AJ
Some of you have asked for a sample of the story.
It is over 100 single line pages.
Here is the first two pages.
Chapter 1: The Gilded Cage in the Mist
3.
The hum of the private jet, a sound that had become as familiar to Silas as his own
heartbeat, gradually faded from his awareness. Outside, the world was a blur of
emerald and sapphire, a tapestry woven by ancient forests and crystalline rivers. But
Silas saw none of it. His gaze was fixed on the holographic display shimmering before
him, a intricate projection of financial portfolios that spoke of a wealth so immense it
could, quite literally, redraw the map of his reality. It wasn't the sheer volume of digits
that captivated him, but the absolute freedom they represented. Freedom from the
cacophony of a world he found increasingly unbearable, a world choked by the
incessant demands of conformity, the endless parade of superficial interactions, and
the suffocating weight of unearned opinion. He had spent decades navigating its
treacherous currents, amassing not just capital, but a profound understanding of its
inherent flaws. And now, he was ready to disembark.
The circumstances that had propelled him to this precipice were a confluence of
astute investments and a singular, audacious gamble. A series of volatile markets,
which had sent lesser investors scrambling for the perceived safety of established
titans, had been Silas's playground. He had seen the patterns invisible to others, the
subtle shifts in consumer psychology, the nascent technological tremors that would
one day reshape industries. He had divested, reinvested, and leveraged with a
prescience that bordered on the uncanny, accumulating a fortune that dwarfed the
GDP of many small nations. But wealth, in itself, had always been a means to an end,
never the destination. The true prize was the power it granted – the power to sculpt
his own reality, to create a sanctuary free from the messy, unpredictable intrusions of
humanity at large.
His destination was a whisper on the wind, a rumour meticulously researched and
validated through a network of discreet inquiries. A remote, uncharted valley nestled
deep within a formidable mountain range, a place untouched by the relentless march
of civilization. It was a geographical anomaly, a vast, verdant bowl cradled by jagged
peaks that scraped the very heavens. The final approach had been the most
challenging, requiring a specialized aircraft capable of navigating the treacherous
updrafts and sudden downdrafts that characterized the region. The small, sleek
VTOL, piloted by a man whose taciturn professionalism was as reassuring as the
aircraft's advanced navigation systems, had navigated the treacherous canyons with
unnerving grace.
4.
As they descended, the true nature of the landscape revealed itself. It was
breathtakingly beautiful, yes, but also profoundly forbidding. Towering,
mist-shrouded peaks, their granite faces scarred by eons of wind and ice, loomed on
all sides, forming an impenetrable fortress. Dense, ancient forests clung to the lower
slopes, a vibrant, almost aggressive green that seemed to swallow any hint of human
encroachment. The air, even within the pressurized cabin, felt crisp and ancient,
carrying the scent of pine and damp earth. There were no roads, no signs of
habitation, no trails that hinted at passage. It was a world that had resisted the world,
a natural bastion designed to deter all but the most determined, or the most foolish.
This was not just isolation; it was absolute severance.
Silas felt a primal thrill, a stirring in his gut that no market fluctuation had ever
evoked. This was the ultimate barrier, a natural moat that rendered the gilded cage he
was constructing impervious to the outside. The sheer scale of the endeavor, the
audacity of carving a life out of such raw, untamed wilderness, was intoxicating. He
envisioned a community, not of his choosing from the dregs of society, but of his
design. A carefully curated collective, bound by shared purpose and a profound
understanding of his vision. A haven where efficiency, logic, and a serene,
unburdened existence would reign supreme. The allure wasn't just the physical
isolation, but the promise of absolute control. He craved a life unburdened by the
unpredictable whims of others, a meticulously orchestrated existence where every
element, every interaction, would serve a singular, deliberate purpose
Thanks for the post. Yeah like many AI stories it's way too descriptive for me, they very quickly make me think "holy f**k enough already!"
SunSeeker
Thank you for sharing this.
I can see why you decided not to post it as a story - it would have even determined readers reaching for the 'page down' key. Still, the initial premise is a potential harbinger of a very good story.
Good luck,
AJ
Every time somebody's said "i have a story that AI wrote for me and it's very good" and then they share it, it turns out that it's actually quite terrible. In another AI thread, Eric Ross prompted an LLM to say that one of the stories he had posted that was LLM-written was good, and it was awful. This excerpt you have posted is also awful!
I could go into detail on what exactly about it is terrible, but you didn't bother to write the story so instead I'll just tell you that it's quite obviously garbage from the first sentence and if you don't see why, consider reading with a slightly more critical eye.
Eric dm-ed me privately to ask (very politely! He was quite generous in his phrasing and my paraphrase here is intended to be self-deprecating) if it's possible for me to provide concrete feedback instead of just being a dick on the internet, because just saying "this sucks" without providing anything useful is the act of haters and cowards. I let him know that I'm happy for him to make the request publicly, but I'll share my response to him to make it clear that my being a dick on the internet is a choice with some thought behind it, and that even if I'm not sharing the reasons, my hating on LLM-authored content has justification behind it.
You're welcome to ask publicly, and I'm happy to share the same response; I appreciate the sensitivity but I'm absolutely willing to stand behind my position.
I am not interested in providing detailed critique of LLM writing because I am not going to put more effort into thinking about a work than the poster did. If you aren't interested in writing a story, you can't possibly think it's fair to ask me to review it, especially in any detail. If you want a detailed line-by-line review of an LLM-generated work, give it to an LLM and ask for a review. If you don't think that will be useful, take the opportunity to self-reflect.
As an establishment of my bonafides, such as I have them, look at the first sentence of the excerpt Wigaway [ed: I was phone posting with a sleeping baby on my lap, sorry about misspelling the name] posted.
> The hum of the private jet, a sound that had become as familiar to Silas as his own heartbeat, gradually faded from his awareness.
I don't know about you, but I don't hear the sound of my heartbeat regularly! Usually when somebody hears their own heartbeat it's a way to emphasise stress or high emotion (heartbeat thundering, blood rushing) or an abnormal silence that leaves ONLY the sound of blood pumping. This is neither of those situations - the sound of the jet is meant to be familiar, so why is it being compared to a sound you only hear in abnormal circumstances? The comparison has been made with no care at all, and so it fails to communicate anything meaningful except the lack of care.
Almost every sentence has flaws of that nature, or on the same level. Taken as a whole, new flaws appear in the construction of the work. But Wigaway put zero effort into choosing the words; at most, they read them and thought "Good enough". If that's the level of significance they think writing has, then I absolutely feel it's fair to say "Not good enough" and move on.
A remote, uncharted valley nestled deep within a formidable mountain range, a place untouched by the relentless march of civilization.
The above was the only well-written sentence in the entire example.
The rest comprises nothing more than an excruciatingly execrable example of extraneous verbiage in excess of any needful explicatory function.
A.K.A. a way to write when you are getting paid a dollar for every 10-letter word you manage to use.