And the AI wrote… and I almost quit

I was reluctant about AI. I had used Grammarly for a few years already, and I used to check my writing on Hemingway. Grammarly is a convenient resource on the word processor, since it reviews as I write. The downside is that it can be confusing: why is it underlining this word? Did I misspell it or was it a syntax mistake? And, when you’re writing and you want to “get in the zone”, all these flashing colors can be distractors. Hemingway is a good tool when reviewing the logic of the text. I’ve tried the free version and it was good enough: it marks confusing paragraphs, repetitive words and counts how many adverbs I’m using, giving an ideal average according to the length.  It’s great for editing the first draft. Yet it can also feel restrictive. Maybe because I use a lot of adverbs, adjectives and long sentences trying to make it clear (maybe because Spanish is a long language, too, and most authors I’ve read use long sentences), but I feel under pressure to fit Hemingway’s expectations. It took away my interest in writing. And to be honest, I wasn’t very sure about it for grammar and punctuation, because English may not be my first language, yet sometimes I spotted some questionable rules that were more confusing than useful.

Yet, I decided to give AI a chance with a novel. I thought I could use it as a word accountant, I mean, just check if I had changed the name of a character in different pages and maybe which words I was using the most. I tried Chat GPT but the chapter was too long for it, so, while I was copy-pasting it in shorter pieces, I copy-pasted the whole thing on Gemini. And that was my first green flag for it: it can read long texts. I guess Chat GPT must do, too. But I usually get used to a tool and hardly ever change it (I mean, I stuck with OneNote for years, and I only switched it for Drive because I ran out of memory). 

I reviewed all the chapters and the AI made me notice some mistakes, both in grammar and in logic sequence. I have to tell, is not as having someone read it; a human can tell if the text was boring or if he got confused in certain pages, but AI can note if there are sensitive topics. Let me explain it. I was uncertain and uncomfortable with a comic script. One of the characters was a preteen that got involved with an adult. As you can see, very sensitive topic. Though the story is about how he escaped before the man can harm him, I was worry all this could be an apology of a crime. So, I used AI to review the different scenes in order to erase anything that could be misunderstood. I even found out that I might have been tolerating mistreatments on my life while writing it. But that’s another thing.

On the other hand, I found out AI can be addictive too. It may be the programming, but it’s always polite, making it easy to forget I wasn’t talking to a human. And it was eager to help even if I had an idea at 1:00 am. Suddenly, I found myself not only reviewing the WIP, but I wasn’t writing or drawing because I was reviewing all kind of stories: stories that had barely a topic; stories which I had forgotten; stories I had given up on them, and stories I want to finish once I am done with the actual ones. What I mean is that AI can also be an agent for procrastination.

It’s true that it can write a complete essay in seconds, too. I also tried that. I asked for an essay on feminism. But it was clearly not my style nor the approach I have. I am very critical of any political movements, especially if they pretend to be “philosophical” too. And this essay was generic, the kind of essay a student would write to get an A but not because he or she were interested in the topic. I mean, Gemini pointed out it was an essay at Junior High level, but it was full with all the cliches you’d find on the topic. Or at any feminist blog.

So, yes, AI is a handy tool when writing. Grammarly is great for misspelling and on the spot corrections, offers great advice about the tone (which can be useful with job-related writings, but not on creative works, where you change tones and voices and even may need to add some intentional mistakes according to the character). It also has a Grammar book where you can find why it marks something as a mistake, which is better than looking for my grammar books at the shelf. Hemingway is a good approach if you care for the form, so I think it should be used once you have read and edit a couple times, so you’re sure what you want to say and how. And Gemini is great as a sounding board. And yes, it probably will be able to write a novel in the future, but I don’t think we should worry about it erasing the authors of the creative process. Not yet, at least.