prowritingaid

[Bob Parker]

One of the things i have issues with when writing, is that my brain often goes faster than my fingers. Typing away, ideas flowing, then when i pause, word seems to have undelines just about the whole days work!
some is letters transposed in words, some is hitting the key next to the letter i wanted to strike ( fat finger syndrome) and some is punctuation.
So i invested in a site called PRowriter aid, an adon for Word. and initially i found it really helped in first scan revision.

Now having found this site, i find the rule NO AI.

so here are the questions

Does using this count as AI?

THe temptation to use AI to give assistance is great, and i must admit to using it ( not on my present novel) but i found it to give some good hints.

as a person that finds i have dyslexic fingers is AI not something that can assist. so long as you have done the work and imagination yourself?

 

[pmmg]

I dont know that we have a rule for no Ai.

I have my own personal opinions on it.

 

[Penpilot]

I'm a terrible speller. When I started taking writing seriously many-many years ago, my punctuation was terrible. I'm much better now, and how I got better was simply by writing a lot. Any time I would encounter a punctuation problem, I would look up the rule I was having trouble with, and then I apply it. I did this many times over, and eventually, I didn't have to look that rule up anymore. I had internalized it. Same with spelling.

Though, I have to admit I sometimes game the system on spelling. I've learned how to misspell words in a way that the spellcheck can figure out the rest for me. BTW, that doesn't count as AI.

As I write my drafts, I sometimes miss words. I transpose letters, etc. BUT finding those things and correcting them is part of the editing process. It helps when they're highlighted red. But I've found dealing with those issues has made me a better writer and editor. Sometimes dealing with a simple error made me reevaluate a section of text and spurred me into making improvements. Because, to me, that error was a red flag indicating that maybe I wasn't as focused and engaged as I should have been when writing that section.

Brandon Sanderson made a video essay recently stating his opinions on AI, and IMHO, he made a good point about the process of writing. A key part of writing as an artistic endeavour is the writer's personal development. Are you a better writer after having written something? Are you constantly striving to be a better?

Using AI takes away from your personal growth.

 

[Mad Swede]

The sort of AI-detection tools used by the main publishers and many agents will detect that you have used ProWritingAid, and they will pick up if you used the AI-tools in Grammarly. And that will get you rejected unless they have stated they acept stories written with the help of AI.

I am severely dyslexic and I have no need of AI to help me write. What I need is a good spelling and grammar checking package designed for use by dyslexic people, and what I use is a combination of Claro Read and Stava Rex.

 

[Finchbearer]

How will you find your writing style and voice if you are using that shit? Use word or Pages and make sure the spellcheck is on.

 

[ThinkerX]

Initially, I used MS Word for basic editing - typos, commas, that sort of thing. It missed about 60% of those issues.

So, I deleted my books and rewrote them withthe free version of Grammarly. That caught about 60% of the errors, maybe 70% if I paid attention to the gold underlines.

Still not satisfied, I took advantage of a steep Black Friday discount and switched to the paid version of Grammarly. That seems to catch about 90% of the errors. It also came with an annoying AI chock full of annoying suggestions. It took offense at words like 'slave' and 'old woman.' It did not grasp that I had characters with names like 'Sticks' and 'Chimp.' 'Carter,' as far as Grammarly is concerned, is a proper name, not a profession. Nor does it grasp that many characters do not speak in a grammatically perfect way. I get rows of suggestions to 'improve' damn near every paragraph. I avoid those like the plague.

So, on the one hand, I do use the Grammarly AI for...fixing grammar. I don't use it for the actual composition.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Given that AI has been shown to write some...unsavory content even when the prompt is nowhere near that.
I'd personally avoid using AI for anything other than maybe a grammar check, but even that can be wrong.
There are plenty of services that offer help for that stuff (especially spelling and grammar) but I haven't personally looked into them.
I'd highly suggest looking for human help on this one though. Nothing computer generated will be able to check the rest of a sentence for context. (Even microsoft Word/open office struggles with this when making grammar suggestions)

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The key is this: Generative AI.

Prowritingaid is not Generative AI until it is. Does that make sense? LMAO. I don't know what real AI tools it offers for rewriting, but that would be a major no-no. Spell check, grammar check, and all of that... well, nobody really gives a shit. Computers have been doing that for a long time.

Soooo, I did a quick search of its abilities, and the two that stand out as no-nos are:

Rephrase and Sparks. To the best of my knowledge, these are the two I'd avoid like the plague. AI doing story analysis, well, that isn't rewriting. It's just computerized feedback. Now, I have rephrase and anything like that shit turned off everywhere because it trends dumber than hell, and my writing isn't boilerplate.

One caveat here: If you're teaching yourself to write, maybe, just maybe, Sparks will teach how NOT to write, heh heh.

 

[skip.knox]

From the OP
>Does using this count as AI?
Only the publisher's opinion matters, and those opinions are currently in flux. This makes it tough on the writer-in-progress because you want to know ahead of time whether using this or that tool would be a Huge Mistake. I can only think that you might inquire at various publishers (this includes Amazon and other digital publishers) to see if they have guidelines or requirements. The shortcoming here is that you might well get an offer from a smaller publisher (here's hoping!) of whom you never thought to inquire.

The best advice I can think of just now is to keep a record of the tools you do use. If you should get an offer from somewhere (o happy day), at least you'll be able to be open about what you've used.

 

[minta]

Basic grammar and spell-check tools are usually fine. They are more like editors than creators xDD.

 

[pmmg]

Best advice I can give, is dont use it.

You can do it without AI.

 

[Prince of Spires]

From a personal perspective I'd say that the only rule is that writers write. All else is guidelines at best.

Does Prowritingaid count as AI? For some maybe. For most I think probably not unless you use it to write (or rewrite) large parts of your novel.

Does it matter? Probably not. Most readers wont know or care. The main thing is that you shouldn't use it as a crutch to make your writing better instead of just learning to write better.

As a sidenote, if you find that you think faster than you type, you could look into dictation instead of typing. It works for many authors and it greatly speeds up their writing speed. It's not really my thing. And I think dictation is sort of like learning to type all over again. But it can definitely be worth it.

 

[pmmg]

The main thing is that you shouldn't use it as a crutch to make your writing better instead of just learning to write better.

And thats the danger. Once you have this tool in front of you the temptation to use it to do the writing will be great. You may claim you did not. I wont believe you.

AI is best left for others. It has no place in a creative endeavor.

You be the writer. Ai is not you.