Announcing the “Mostly AI Free Zone”
While AI gains steam in many areas, we’re steering clear here for the most part
Welcome, dear humans! These writers bring you 100% human written works with an AI image here and there.
Almost a year ago I began speaking out about that technology (large language models, i.e., LLMs) commonly called “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI.” The danger was clear then, and it is even more so now. In fact, many of the things I was concerned about then have come to pass. But all is not lost, as this mostly AI free zone will show.
Your published works are being soaked up in these LLMs usually without your knowledge, consent, and compensation. On the contrary, these “sucked up” works are then being used to generate stories, novels, even images, bass riffs, video techniques, etc. to mimic the originals used to “train” them (that is, to modify the programming to spit out things).
To attempt countering this, writer @K.M. Bennett suggests we include an “anti training” line in our published works:
But of course the AI might be trained to include this, too, as a fooler, or platforms such as Amazon may not want to publish anything containing that line.
One great thing you, as a reader and fan of great writing, can do is to support those creatives (writers, designers, photographers, etc.) that are dedicated to keeping their work human.
What Constitutes Human Created
I asked what I thought was a simple question: Do you use any AI in your work? The responses showed things were a lot more slippery than that. Basically, any use of AI is problematic. But the worst is when it creeps into your writing.
The writing process includes:
Researching*
Outlining
Plotting
Character descriptions/development
Text generation (even just a sentence)
*I have recently learned that Google, which I don’t use, has incorporated AI in their search engine. AI is programming and has been set to give you a false response if it can’t find real information (I have seen documentaries on this). That means it makes things up. Best to steer clear if you can. I use Startpage.com for my online searches. It doesn’t track them or have any AI (to my knowledge). Then I take the time to go through the search results (the “hits”) and compare information across several sites. Takes more time but saves putting something false in my work.
Also note that Grammarly now uses some AI. Since AI is set to give false responses if it doesn’t have a real answer, this doesn’t sound useful.
As for AI-generated images, I have spoken out against them quite a lot as an artist. But I also understand that some of you find it necessary. Writers who don’t use AI in their writing process but do find AI images necessary are shown below. Don’t miss the AI Free Zone list.
Sadly, many writers are no longer listed. They either said they use AI some way in the writing process above, or they did not respond to my query. No judgment intended here. I just prefer to promote HUMAN endeavors.
Authors Who Keep Their Writing Human
As J. M. Elliott said (I paraphrase), we have to take their word that they do not use any AI technology in their writing process. The people here have given me their word, and I accept them as true.
I will be spotlighting a selection of their works in separate posts as frequently as time allows.
A. B. Frank – Victorian Vignettes – Exploring eerie elegance of Gaslamp Horror in Victorian era.
a. natasha joukovsky – quite useless – deep thoughts on art, desire, and superficiality
A. R. Crocker – Crockerfeller Tales – Scoop Magilla creator, Kraken Lore editor
ACP – Imperfect Lines – Musings, and working on debut novel
Adam Kozak – Adam Writes
Adam Rockwell – Very Observational with Adam Rockwell; The Cartoons of Norm Rockwell – Offbeat essays, wild fiction, published triweekly
Addam Ledamyen – On the Storytelling Animal
AJ – Cathedral Effect (dhw)
Alex S. Garcia – Screen Views (non-fiction), The Xen'in Universe (fiction)
Alida Winternheimer – A Room Full of Books & Pencils
Alison Bull – Historical Fiction Stack – Historical fiction & fantasy
Amanda V Shane – Monsters & Mystics – Fantasy, paranormal romance
Ana Bosch – Mirth as Medicine
Ananda X. Suddath – Matte & Shiny Objects
Andrei Atanasov – Practice Space
Andrew Beebe – Your Grandma's Substack
Andrew MacLeod – Andrew’s Fiction Writing Substack
Andy Futuro – Cyberpunk, horror, dirtbag literature
Angela Morris – The Irrational Sage
Anne Belov – Friendly to Bears
Annie Hendrix – Poetry, music, fiction, non-fiction
Antonio deGou – Before I Dye
Aristotle Evangelos – EvangelosSciFi
A-thon X – Captain Kekistan
Barbara Graver – Writing on the Spectrum
Ben Woestenburg – SCRIBBLER - A PORTAL TO FICTION
Bowen Dwelle – An Ordinary Disaster
Brady Putzke – The Write Books
Brennan Kenneth Brown – The Wander Notebook – beginning writer
Buck Weiss – It's the Devil – College professor, Am Lit PhD, pulp reader, horror lover, writer
C J O'Hare – Between Two Lampposts
C. M. Setledge – Writing on the Ledge – Author of novella Seeking Morels
Calum Darroch – Dreams In The Void
Canal Town Teacher – Coracle Voyager
Caroline Barnard-Smith – SwampWitch
Caroline Furlong – Caroline’s Newsletter
Carolyn Jones – Words in Bloom Stories and Poems
Cedar Flyte – The Legend of Leanna Page
Charlie D. Becker – Castles in the Sky
Charlie Sherritz – The World of Yesterday
Christine Mineart – Living Culture
Clintavo – Reflections of The Sovereign Artist
Cody Clarke – KILL THE LION
Colin Devonshire – Colin’s Dark Stories
Colin Durrant – Colin's Chronicles
Copernican – Always the Horizon
Craig Burgess – Craig’s Cabinet of Meagre Offerings, The Wednesday Audio
Dan Blakely – detect magic
Dane Benko – Indulging a Second Look
Daniel Sherrier – And the Quest for Pop Culture
David Finlay – Stories of Many Kinds
David Perlmutter – Made from What’s Not Real – Superhero, anthropomorphic, fantasy; some SF, horror, mystery, other
Donna Faulkner – Donna’s Substack – Poetry (book recently published in UK)
Dungeon Mistress – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles
DW Dixon ⚙️⚙️ – The Steam Stack
Edward Rooster – From the Future
EJ Trask – Age of Aquarius
Elana Gomel – A Guide to Unreality – Speculative fiction (story featured in anthology edited by Winston Malone)
Ellen Arnison – Ellen’s Substack
Emil Ottoman – Burnt Tongue
Erik Waag – The Wandering Wonderer
erniet – just a guy
Esther Nagle – Return to Your Trees
Father Roderick – Fantasy (with a dragon or maybe two)
Felix Futzbucker – Felix's Fertile Feed
Felix Kammerlander – Felix Chamber
Frank Kidd – Pulp West
Frank Theodat – Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry; The Pulp Fictioneer
Gálvez Caballero – Campocore (in Spanish)
Garen Marie – Only Child Originals – Horror and dark stories inspired by fairy tales and folklore
Gareth Southwell – Gareth Southwell – Science fiction, philosophy, book reviews, publishing insights
Gavin Brennan – Travel is Dangerous
Geoff Foley – Ordinary Life and Other Fictions
gkgaius – The Wander’s Silent Fables
Gloria Horton-Young – SHE WHO STIRS THE STORM
H. M. Vigness – The Wyldwood – Fiction with sarcasm/satire
Hamish Kavanagh – The Sudden Walk
Harley Claes – Dharma Bum Poetess
Heidi Zawelevsky – Conversations with Critters
Honeygloom – Honeygloom
Ian Dunmore – Dunmore Dispatch – Fantasy, speculative fiction
Ika Wright – Out of Ika’s Mind
J. M. Elliott – The Library (be aware that they accept all submissions, including those that might contain AI generated content or images)
Jack Wayne – Wayne's Gathering of Stories and Ponder
Jacob Mascarenhas – True stories, Love, fiction, comedy, horror, scripts, podcasts, poems, erotic, ghostwriting
James Leth – niottu by James Leth
James Steinhaus – The Worlds of JR Steinhaus – Science fiction, science fantasy, fantasy
Jane Deegan – Jane Sez…
Jasmin So Armada – The Armada Chronicles – Long-time writer (60+ yrs)
Jean McKinney – Black Moon Journal
Jenna B. Neece – Magical Manifestations Productions
Jenny Homan – Bottled Embers
Jessamine Halverson – Incessantly Incentivized Introspective Incidents
Jim Melvin – Jim Melvin’s Realms of Fantasy
Jim Minns – Reality Dispatch
John Coon – Strange New Worlds – Science fiction, horror, humor/satire
John R. Clarke – The Modern Alchemist – Non-fiction
Josh Tatter – Josh Tatter Has Thoughts
Joshua Lavender – Singular Dream – Science fiction
Judson Stacy Vereen – Dispatches from Bohemian Splendor
Justin – Stay Grounded
Karen LeBlanc – Karen's Substack
Karina Pawlak – Esoteric Thinking
KateMotleyStories – Your Motley Stories – Encourages people to write their memoirs
Kay Stratton – Queen of Oversharing
Keith Conrad – News Sidequest
Keith Patterson – Characters on Call
Kelley Murphy – Spirit Seeds
Kemptea – Tomorrow the World
Ken Flyingheart – Echoes From the Well
Ken W. – Vindicators
Kerrie Noor – Planet Hy Man and Beyond, Getting Through The Day With Comedy – Science fiction comedy, contemporary comedy
Kieran Stott – Tales From The Infinitum
kimia madani – Cosmic Kudos (Currently On Hiatus)
Konstantin Asimonov – Tap Water Sommelier
Kristin Noland – Ghostwriter Kristin Noland - Writing Tips and Musings
Lauren Steinheimer – The Salty Witch – Health and wellness (actually supernaturally written)
Lee Moreau – Fisherman Tales – Stories (some funny, some serious, some true)
Leland Myrick – Leland Myrick’s Author Substack – Writer, illustrator
Levi Ouwendijk – Shimmers of Being
Liath LaVerne Hawke – The 100k Novelist – Podcast of fictional stories, blog about author
Librarian of Celaeno – The Library of Celaeno
Lizzy Co – The Lizzy Co Show
Lorne Bronstein – Sessions with Dr. Botgore – Psychological horror/horror fiction
Lucas James – The Wanderer – Science fiction
Lucas Waltersdorff – Kaos Kronicles – Fantasy, Science fiction stories and novels, 2 children's books
Luke Burgis – Luke Burgis Newsletter
Lyle McKeany – Just Enough to Get Me in Trouble
Lyndsey Resnick – Poison Ivy House
M. Cosmos Newstrom – Radio Cosmos
M. E. Rothwell – Cosmographia
Madame Z – Aryan Intergalactic – Literary fiction
Maria Corazon de la Cruz – Raw, emotive poetry
Maria Hanley – Dream Big – Mother of 3 children and writing a novel (contemporary/women's fiction)
Marian L Thorpe – History, Landscape, Birds & Stories
Mark Dykeman – How About This
Mata Haggis-Burridge – The Inciting Incident with Mata Haggis-Burridge
Matt Gerrity – Bluebird Fiction
Meaghan McIsaac – Authorstrator – Writing & drawing for YA audiences
Meredith Rankin – Meredith’s Substack – Mystery, thriller
Mica Merrill Rice – The Night Writer – Thrillers
Michael B. Morgan – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover
Michael Kingswood – Story Time with Michael Kingswood
Michael Vigne – The Vigne Intervention – Existential technology writings
Michael Young – Life Crumbs
Miguel S. – THE FICTION DEALER – Does writing prompts
Mitchell Todorov – The Deer Run Hollow Files
Morgan Beatty – The Futureness
Nancy Waddell – Nancy's Substack – Short stories
Newton Webb – Newton's Tales of the Macabre
Nikki Root – Stories Like That
Niko Haapala – The World of Niko Pulp
O.A.Ruotsalainen – The Finnish Meat Guy
Oleg – Babel Babble, Fictitious
Ophelia 🌈 – Ophelia’s Bazaar – Magical time traveler (definitely doxie written)
Parrish Baker – Parrish Baker writing under Urna Semper – Science fiction
Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ – Twisting the Myths
Patricia Meier – My Weird and Wonderful Life – Suspense reader, factual writer
Paul Spencer – The Zeitville Chronicle
Phil Hampton – Life of Agency
Precious Jane – Sincerely, Precious – Fantasy, romance, contemporary short stories, diary entries
Pritchard Pub – Spirit Animals – Fantasy
R.I.P. McKenna – Barking at Nothing
Red Lamb – 𐌉𐌃𐌉Ꝋ𐌕𐌄𐌒𐌵𐌄
Reena Kapoor – Arrivals and Departures
Remus Noronha – All My Dreams Are Red – Science fiction, fantasy, mysteries
Rian Stone – Rian’s Substack
ringleader – dog and pony show – Poetry
Robert C. Worstell – Writing While Farming
Rod Bluhm – A Journey of Words – Poet, novelist (working on literary fiction trilogy)
Rory Hanrahan – Rory's Newsletter – Thoughts, ramblings, musing of Irish publican in UK
Ros Barber – How to Evolve
Ross Conner – Piercing the Veil – Stories told by a traveler in this antique land
Rune Moen Holmen – Childlike Soul Newsletters – Writes about artistic journey of singer Aurora
Russell Smith – Solvitur Ambulando – Non-fiction
Ryan W. Craver – Cravarian Realms
S. L. Linton – The Forgotten Library (great writing, an AI image or two might show up)
S.L. Stallings – Ghost Stories – Paranormal fiction, tech horror, dystopi
Sam Bartol – Ghost Notes
Samantha Childress – Caravanserai with Samantha Childress
Scrawls of Dread – Scrawls of Dread’s Substack
Sean A. Patterson – Emporium of Wonders – Fiction, non-fiction
Shain Parwiz – Survivor of loss, addiction, disillusionment; writing because “still feels like mine”
Shane Bzdok – Matte Black – Science fiction, dystopian, horror
Shane Elliott – Feats N' Faults
Shoni – The Warriors Hub Newsletter
SLART – Cream of The Crop
Stay Slick – Hey, Slick!
Stephanie Losi – Risk Musings
Steve Kelsey – Tales from the Burning Bear
Strawbridge – The Mind-Soul Sanctum – Re: mental health (self-help, emphasis on personal experiences, common sense)
Stuart Bedlam – Stuart’s Substack – Odd, humorous Science fiction
Sue Mann – On the Road to Jericho: A Novel
Susan Moss Thomas – Writing Is a Super Power – Career writer (news, books, screenplays, ads, marketing pubs)
svndavn – svndavn stories – Romance, fantasy, Science fiction
Tales From the Underworld – Tales From the Underworld – Historical true crime
Tell Me a Mystery – Tell Me a Mystery
Terry Freedman – Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life
The Black Sun Archives – Dark literary fantasy (myth, memory, decay)
The Casual Writer – The Casual Writer
The Common Centrist – The Common Centrist’s Substack – Writes about art, culture, world events; composes music; now creating serialized novel
The Delinquent Academic – The Delinquent Academic
The Resilient Writer – Ola’s Substack
Tiffany Chu – The Untangling
Timothy Schmid – Timothy’s Substack
Todd Brasel – My Favorite Suspects - Mystery & Thriller Newsletter – Serialized mystery/thriller fiction, occasional book/movie review, essay on craft
Tom Schecter – THE SHIELDBREAKER SAGA – Dark literary fantasy without the magic
Travis Blake – Dracula’s Ghost
Trilety Wade – I won't keep you
V Kelly-Sibley – Pandora’s Box of Infinite Stories
Vanessa Glau – Occam’s Lab – Fantasy
Victor Casler – Vic's Verdict
Victoria Jensen – Fantasy, some Science fiction, more
Vivian Keller – Vivian’s poetry and musings – Artist, writer, poet
Weapons of Legend – Weapon’s Substack – Science fiction, fantasy
Wendy Cockcroft – Wendy Cockcroft's Writings – Angsty fiction
William Collen – Chiefly Lyrical, RUINS
DOOM FICTION – DOOM FICTION
Wyatt Werne – Wyatt Werne
Yakubian Ape – The Lake of Lerna
Yardena Schwersky – Letters on Being
Yuelian Hong – yuelian's rough drafts
Zachary Clark – Foolish Words – Literary fiction
Zachary George – The Threshold, Parapraxis
Zack Grafman – The Reformer; Infinite Dominion
Final Note
If we are to preserve creativity, we humans must eschew any and all AI technology. Help that by committing to not using any AI technology in any way and/or supporting those who do.
By the way, spellcheckers are just programs that compare what you type with what’s on their list of words. I mention this because some people have indicated that they have been told spellcheckers are AI.
Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.
No portion of this work may be used for training artificial intelligence without written permission from the author.
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My four totally human created books (so far) from Wordwooze Publishing:
NEW! From the Files of Fontaine Investigations – paranormal mystery
The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas – a sweet romance novel for the holiday season (ebook, paperback, and soon on audio).
Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales – my first book of eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio).
The Stardust Alliance and More – my second book of eerie stories with a touch of Sci-Fi (ebook, paperback, audio).
The Wiccan Tales – a novel and a real Halloween treat (ebook, paperback, audio).
(All human written. I even designed the covers.)
See them all here:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson: | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable
Audio versions:
Wind Down the Chimney | The Stardust Alliance | The Wiccan Tales | The Greeting Card Girl's Christmas
Thank you! Proud to be among the many human creators here. 💕
Hi! I just commented on the other post, but I don’t use AI. There’s no soul in AI artwork! All Stella Maris images are my own or @Therese Judeana’s.