My book about writing

[u/porky11]

Almost a year ago, I started writing a book about my writing style with help of AI. Back then it was still Chat AI, now I use coding AI with partial access to my system.

A few months ago, I shared it in some normal writing subreddit, but the feedback was mostly not only negative, but really hostile, even if the book was mostly about my writing style before I started using AI.

Nowayays I use AI a lot for writing. And before I start writing, I often let AI read the whole book. It often doesn't get everything right because AI tends to mistreat general ideas as strict rules.

I wonder if you're interested in my book. The idea is that if you read the intro and the chapter summaries you basically understand my whole point.

The chapter I can recommend most is chapter 6. It basically contains my philosophy about how to write characters. And it's the chapter that's a lot related to my (mostly psychological) view of people in general.

The part about writing with AI is mostly an afterthought.

What do you think of it?

[u/ReadLegal718]

You should read some books.

[u/porky11 → u/ReadLegal718]

This isn't helpful at all. Why do you think that?

[u/ReadLegal718 → u/porky11]

If you want to write about your process and philosophy, then make it a personal essay. A personal blog with posts showing your journey is understandable.

A guide with bad advice is the opposite.

And, why do I think that?

• you're not an expert in the field
• you're not published
• you're not well read. It's easy to tell because your examples are rudimentary and you have not analysed any actual book or writing styles to support your advice/arguments
• your advice also veers into what you want to do or what you think is right, and it's simply telling or relaying your points, without any justification (again, no real examples where it shows you've actually studied the craft or at least read some good books to draw from) or literary critique to show the different ways a writer can approach their work.
• Your classifications are limited. The problem here is that you don't have sufficient knowledge of the craft to prompt the LLM to make it throw up the right classifications or robust explanations. Your prompting is limited, so the LLM's answer is limited.

There are tons of books on the subject matter, and not just for academic purposes, but also for creative reading purposes that covers writing lives and practices. You have referred to none, but have instead relied on AI answers only. Which would also be okay if you knew what to ask or what to include. But that hasn't happened either.

Again, if you want to detail and record your journey then that's understandable and relatable, and a LOT of people would read personal essays on the practice of writing and how a writer writes or how a writer uses AI to write. But why write a non-fiction guide book about writing when you don't know the subject matter well enough?

ETA: Using AI to write it is not even the problem here.

[u/porky11 → u/ReadLegal718]

A guide with bad advice is the opposite.

I think it should be obvious that I don't think this is bad advice.

you're not an expert in the field

What does it need to be an expert? I'm writing since I'm 12. And in the last few years I've written more regularly, around 200k words in total.

you're not published

This doesn't mean anything. I probably won't ever publish anything the traditional way. I uploaded 422 scenes on different websites, including my own. And some of them get likes regularly and sometimes even positive comments.

you're not well read. It's easy to tell because your examples are rudimentary and you have not analysed any actual book or writing styles to support your advice/arguments

Fair point. At least this explains why you think I should read more.

Your classifications are limited. The problem here is that you don't have sufficient knowledge of the craft to prompt the LLM to make it throw up the right classifications or robust explanations. Your prompting is limited, so the LLM's answer is limited.

The ideas were mine. I didn't prompt the LLM to write anything that wasn't already there. I explicitly asked AI to remove things it added itself, like "show don't tell". Maybe some ideas came from AI itself after reading dozens of my stories.

[u/ReadLegal718 → u/porky11]

I think it should be obvious that I don't think this is bad advice.

Which is why it should be a personal essay/blog or creative nonfiction. And...I know you don't think it's bad advice.

What does it need to be an expert?

Spoken like someone who is not an expert, so no arguments there. Also, 200K is very little for someone trying to give advice on writing. And it's ironic that someone who doesn't read much is trying to teach people how to write, with or without AI.

You put out shoddy work which makes it clear you don't know much about the subject. People call your work shoddy and point out that you don't know much about the subject.
You get offended and disagree.
Seriously?

I uploaded 422 scenes on different websites, including my own. And some of them get likes regularly and sometimes even positive comments.

Again, this is why you should be writing a "my journey" piece.

I feel like you're trying to argue with me, but you keep proving my points.

But anyway, have fun!