NaNoWri-NO

Posted on September 2, 2024

I first participated in NaNoWriMo – the National Novel Writing Month that, in spite of its name, was an international month-long writing event – in 2002. I wrote a Monkey Island fanfic that centred around Guybrush Threepwood‘s battle with his sexuality, resulting in him coming out as bisexual and going on a very strange date with Stan the Used Boat Salesman.

You see, I’ve always loved writing. As a kid I studied writers and writing, I read everything I could, and I learned by experimenting, getting feedback, seeing what resonated with audiences and, most importantly, what resonated with myself. Writing was a soulful, soothing, somewhat restorative practise for me – something that saw me through some really hard times, and that I’d continue to find a love for in my adult life. Looking back on my writing from 2002 is a little cringeworthy from my perspective as a now-published author – but I wouldn’t trade that journey for anything.

NaNoWriMo was a huge part of helping me find confidence, hone my craft, and build community while I was on that journey, and it was incredible to know others went through the same things. I was even a Municipal Liaison for a couple of years in the early 2010s!

And now they’ve gone and milkshake duck-ed it.

Fake Cockney rhyming slang aside, NaNoWriMo have published their guidelines for the upcoming season, set to begin November 1st 2024, and in it they mention AI. Great, I thought, good to take a stance on AI as it does so much to hurt writers in so many ways and adds little to the writing process. I bet their take will be the same as the majority of writers out there, right? Right? Right?!

“We believe that to categorically condemn AI would be to ignore classist and ableist issues surrounding the use of the technology, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege.” – NaNoWriMo

Allow me to do a comical double take and take a giant hit on this massive crack pipe before I respond.

Classism, Ablism, and Privilege

The use of the word ‘privilege’ is interesting here, as I’ve spent a lot of time in the last twelve months discussing and contributing to AI policy where equity of access has been a key point of contention. If there is a tool out there that effectively means people can pay to write faster, or pay to write better, or pay to write more eloquently, than those who can’t afford to do so? You’ve got a two tier system. You’ve got inequality. You’ve got privilege, the haves and the have-nots. Taking a stand against AI tools in NaNoWriMo would level that playing field. Alas.

Let’s also talk about the things that AI tools then do instead of a human we’d traditionally pay. One year, I decided that one of my NaNoWriMo novels might be worth taking further. So I paid an editor – another human being – with actual money that they used to buy food. Or shelter. Or drugs, for all I care. I paid someone to do a few days work for me, and I got something in return. Oh look, the exchange of goods for services. Sometimes it works!

With AI tools acting as editor, cover designer, translator, continuity checker, and ethical consultant, we’re actively taking money out of the hands of the people who work in and around writing and publishing. And, in the process, getting far worse results.

As for accessibility – given that at least fifty percent of current generative AI tools play havoc with screen readers and don’t work with a lot of traditional acessibility software and hardware, I’m not sure what the arguement is here.

AI Makes Being a Writer Harder

Writers aren’t just suddenly deciding that generative AI is bad because NaNoWriMo is supporting it. There have been a number of complaints over the past three-or-four years that just haven’t been solved (or solved enough) yet:

AI Generated Reviews

These go on to harm the chances that indie writers get read or recommended, and pose a huge mental health drain to writers.

AI model training

Writers worry that their writing, a product of years of passion and hard work, is being systematically fed into large language models as the basis for training generative AI algorithms without their consent.

The Proliferation of AI Books

Online booksellers and bookstores alike are being flooded with mass-generated AI fiction of poor quality designed to make some AI script kiddies a quick buck. It makes real work harder to find, and degrates the experience for everyone.

The Devaluation of Writing

Let’s face it, if an AI can do it – even if it’s poor by comparison – people will stop paying writers to write. For many, this is our livelihoods. The roofs over our heads.

Okay, but AI lets people write who haven’t written before?

Look, I don’t want to gatekeep writing. I want everyone to get to experience it – I run workshops called “Everyone’s a Writer” and encourage everyone to give it a go. But – I believe – writing is a distinctly human experience. It’s not something we do for profit, to hit a goal, or to fill a quota. It’s something we feel, something that bursts out of us.

Imagine an AI-powered humanoid robot flawlessly creating a technically perfect ballet. It takes bits and pieces of what it’s learned from other humans and predicts what you want to see. It may have a plot, and it may be technically very impressive. But what journey did that robot go on to create that piece? What are the battles it fought, the hardships it overcame, the sweat and tears, the setbacks and the elation when things went right?

If the goal of writing is to produce a technically well-composed story that hits key prompts and fills a wordcount quota, then great. Let’s get the AI to do it, and I’ll find another planet to live on.

But if writing – like all creating – is more about the journey than it is about the destination, then I believe we’re selling generations of new writers short by telling them that they can and should use AI tools to hone their craft.

We’re depriving people of the greatest part of writing – the road we travel on, and the friends we make along the way.

And as for me and NaNoWriMo? Well.