Announcing the “Mostly AI Free Zone” No. 4
Ever growing list of writers who do the hard job for their writing but dabble with AI for images, etc.
Reposting this so people still see it. And several names added. Woohoo!
There was a tagging issue last week, but it seems to be fixed. Phew!
Welcome, dear humans! These writers bring you 100% human written works with an AI image here and there. And apparently I have to post this as a new article now and then for people to see it, especially those listed here.
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
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)
Editing, including AI grammar check & spellcheck vs. the regular kind (if you use Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and other such sites and haven’t turned off their AI tools, then AI is being used, and worse than that, they now have your text to further enhance their LLMs)
*AI is programming set to give you a response. If it can’t find real information, it will make something up (I have seen documentaries on this). 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 AI, including text generation, not just grammar checking. 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
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.
– Victorian Vignettes – Exploring eerie elegance of Gaslamp Horror in Victorian era. – quite useless – deep thoughts on art, desire, and superficiality – Crockerfeller Tales – Scoop Magilla creator, Kraken Lore editor – Imperfect Lines – Musings, and working on debut novel – Very Observational with Adam Rockwell; The Cartoons of Norm Rockwell – Offbeat essays, wild fiction, published triweekly – On the Storytelling AnimalAJ –
(dhw) – Screen Views (non-fiction), The Xen'in Universe (fiction) – A Room Full of Books & Pencils – Historical Fiction Stack – Historical fiction & fantasy – Monsters & Mystics – Fantasy, paranormal romance – Mirth as Medicine – Matte & Shiny Objects – Practice Space – Your Grandma's Substack – Andrew’s Fiction Writing Substack – Cyberpunk, horror, dirtbag literature – The Irrational Sage – Friendly to Bears – Poetry, music, fiction, non-fiction – Before I Dye – EvangelosSciFi – Captain Kekistan – An Ordinary Disaster – The Write Books – The Wander Notebook – beginning writer – It's the Devil – College professor, Am Lit PhD, pulp reader, horror lover, writer – Between Two Lampposts – Writing on the Ledge – Author of novella Seeking Morels – Dreams In The Void – Coracle Voyager – SwampWitch – Caroline’s Newsletter – Words in Bloom Stories and Poems – The Legend of Leanna Page – Castles in the Sky – The World of Yesterday – Living Culture – Reflections of The Sovereign Artist – KILL THE LION – Colin’s Dark Stories – Colin's Chronicles – Always the Horizon – Craig’s Cabinet of Meagre Offerings, The Wednesday Audio – detect magic – Indulging a Second Look – And the Quest for Pop Culture – Stories of Many Kinds – Made from What’s Not Real – Superhero, anthropomorphic, fantasy; some SF, horror, mystery, other – Donna’s Substack – Poetry (book recently published in UK) – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles – The Steam Stack – From the Future – Age of Aquarius – A Guide to Unreality – Speculative fiction (story featured in anthology edited by ) – Ellen’s Substack – Burnt Tongue – The Wandering Wonderer – just a guy – Return to Your Trees – Fantasy (with a dragon or maybe two) – Felix's Fertile Feed – Felix Chamber – Pulp West – Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry; The Pulp Fictioneer – Campocore (in Spanish) – Only Child Originals – Horror and dark stories inspired by fairy tales and folklore – Gareth Southwell – Science fiction, philosophy, book reviews, publishing insights – Travel is Dangerous – Ordinary Life and Other Fictions – The Wander’s Silent Fables – SHE WHO STIRS THE STORM – The Wyldwood – Fiction with sarcasm/satire – The Sudden Walk – Dharma Bum Poetess – Conversations with Critters – Honeygloom – Dunmore Dispatch – Fantasy, speculative fiction – Out of Ika’s Mind – The Library (be aware that they accept all submissions, including those that might contain AI generated content or images) – Wayne's Gathering of Stories and Ponder – True stories, Love, fiction, comedy, horror, scripts, podcasts, poems, erotic, ghostwriting – niottu by James Leth – The Worlds of JR Steinhaus – Science fiction, science fantasy, fantasy – Jane Sez… – The Armada Chronicles – Long-time writer (60+ yrs) – Black Moon Journal – Magical Manifestations Productions – Bottled Embers – Incessantly Incentivized Introspective Incidents – Orbiting Insanity – Jim Melvin’s Realms of Fantasy – Reality Dispatch – Strange New Worlds – Science fiction, horror, humor/satire – The Modern Alchemist – Non-fiction – Josh Tatter Has Thoughts – Horror, crime, detective, thriller – Dispatches from Bohemian Splendor – Stay Grounded – New Coats for Old Tales – Old stories with a new look – Karen's Substack – Esoteric Thinking – News Sidequest – Characters on Call – Spirit Seeds – Tomorrow the World – Echoes From the Well – Vindicators – Planet Hy Man and Beyond, Getting Through The Day With Comedy – Science fiction comedy, contemporary comedy – Tales From The Infinitum – Cosmic Kudos (Currently On Hiatus) – Tap Water Sommelier – Ghostwriter Kristin Noland - Writing Tips and Musings – The Salty Witch – Health and wellness (actually supernaturally written) – Fisherman Tales – Stories (some funny, some serious, some true) – Leland Myrick’s Author Substack – Writer, illustrator – darkinkstories – Shimmers of Being – The 100k Novelist – Podcast of fictional stories, blog about author – The Library of Celaeno – The Lizzy Co Show – Sessions with Dr. Botgore – Psychological horror/horror fiction – The Wanderer – Science fiction – Kaos Kronicles – Fantasy, Science fiction stories and novels, 2 children's books – Luke Burgis Newsletter – Just Enough to Get Me in Trouble – Poison Ivy House – Radio Cosmos – Cosmographia – Aryan Intergalactic – Literary fiction – Raw, emotive poetry – Dream Big – Mother of 3 children and writing a novel (contemporary/women's fiction) – History, Landscape, Birds & Stories – How About This – The Inciting Incident with Mata Haggis-Burridge – Bluebird Fiction – Authorstrator – Writing & drawing for YA audiences – Meredith’s Substack – Mystery, thriller – The Night Writer – Thrillers – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover – The Vigne Intervention – Existential technology writings – Life Crumbs – THE FICTION DEALER – Does writing prompts – The Deer Run Hollow Files – The Futureness – Nancy's Substack – Short stories – Newton's Tales of the Macabre – The World of Niko Pulp – The Finnish Meat Guy – Babel Babble, Fictitious – Ophelia’s Bazaar – Magical time traveler (definitely doxie written) – Parrish Baker writing under Urna Semper – Science fiction – Twisting the Myths – My Weird and Wonderful Life – Suspense reader, factual writer – The Zeitville Chronicle – Life of Agency – Sincerely, Precious – Fantasy, romance, contemporary short stories, diary entries – Spirit Animals – Fantasy – Barking at Nothing – 𐌉𐌃𐌉Ꝋ𐌕𐌄𐌒𐌵𐌄 – Arrivals and Departures – All My Dreams Are Red – Science fiction, fantasy, mysteries – Rian’s Substack – Serial Production – dog and pony show – Poetry – Writing While Farming – A Journey of Words – Poet, novelist (working on literary fiction trilogy) – Rory's Newsletter – Thoughts, ramblings, musing of Irish publican in UK – How to Evolve – Piercing the Veil – Stories told by a traveler in this antique land – Childlike Soul Newsletters – Writes about artistic journey of singer Aurora – Solvitur Ambulando – Non-fiction – Cravarian Realms – The Forgotten Library (great writing, an AI image or two might show up) – Ghost Stories – Paranormal fiction, tech horror, dystopi – Ghost Notes – Caravanserai with Samantha Childress – Scrawls of Dread’s Substack – Emporium of Wonders – Fiction, non-fiction – Survivor of loss, addiction, disillusionment; writing because “still feels like mine” – Matte Black – Science fiction, dystopian, horror – Feats N' Faults – The Warriors Hub Newsletter – Cream of The Crop – Hey, Slick!Stephanie Losi –
– The Mind-Soul Sanctum – Re: mental health (self-help, emphasis on personal experiences, common sense) – Stuart’s Substack – Odd, humorous Science fiction – On the Road to Jericho: A Novel – svndavn stories – Romance, fantasy, Science fiction – Tales From the Underworld – Historical true crime – Tell Me a Mystery – Eclecticism: Reflections on literature, writing and life – Dark literary fantasy (myth, memory, decay) – The Casual Writer – The Common Centrist’s Substack – Writes about art, culture, world events; composes music; now creating serialized novel – The Delinquent Academic – Arthur's Substack – Ola’s Substack – The Untangling – Timothy’s Substack – My Favorite Suspects - Mystery & Thriller Newsletter – Serialized mystery/thriller fiction, occasional book/movie review, essay on craft – Dracula’s Ghost – I won't keep you – Pandora’s Box of Infinite Stories – Occam’s Lab – Fantasy – Vic's Verdict – Fantasy, some Science fiction, more – Vivian’s poetry and musings – Artist, writer, poet – Weapon’s Substack – Science fiction, fantasy – Chiefly Lyrical, RUINS – DOOM FICTION – Wyatt Werne – The Lake of Lerna – Letters on Being – yuelian's rough drafts – Foolish Words – Literary fiction – The Threshold, Parapraxis – The Reformer; Infinite DominionFinal 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 | Bookshop.org | BookBub | Everand | 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
I don't remember what I answered on your survey (or if I ever saw it?).
But I'll mention that the only thing for which I used AI in the rom-com posted on my Substack was to brainstorm a title. (I think the final title was a modification of a ChatGPT suggestion.) No AI images. Spellcheck on an old version of Microsoft Word (2000 or 1995 or something like that). Does this count as AI usage? I have no idea how other people view this.
I used google to help research whatever needed researching, and always verified facts with reliable sources.
For my substack author interviews, there's no AI involved, to my knowledge. (If the authors use AI in answering the questions, I can't control that. But again, to my knowledge, none of them have used it.)
The issue gets a little trickier with my current WIP. The rom-com revolves around high schoolers preparing for a musical. I needed a title for the musical and used ChatGPT to brainstorm about the title. (I regret doing this now.) Then I didn't use those titles or any "ideas" AI came up with about the musical. I saw what rubbage it regurgitated and dreamed up much better things. The fictional musical's title and storyline bear no resemblance to any of the AI trash.
But it brings up the question, is this considered AI-usage? I guess?
Hello. I think you may have sent me a survey or something awhile back but I'm not sure. I mostly write nonfiction, so I don't know if that qualifies for your list or not, but I am also working on several fiction projects at the moment, particularly a medieval mystery.
I'm responding to this post rather than your "A.I. Free Zone" one because I do use ChatGPT for two purposes in my writing:
1. to look up sources for reference, e.g. where Aquinas may have mentioned something specific in his works that I couldn't find by other means (like the search feature in Kindle), though I've learned to be careful since, as you said, it will make things up if it can't find what you ask for (I always tell it now to let me know if something is authentic or made up).
2. for research on my fiction, especially to determine if something is historically plausible such as a murder MO for my medieval mystery, or to look up relevant historical facts for my time period.
I never use it to generate any actual writing for my work, fiction or nonfiction, and I would only use a name or idea it comes up with if it happens to show it and I like it, though I always modify it to my specifications and preferences.
Would this disqualify me for entry to either of your A.I. free zones?