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Today, I checked out AI for novel writing. Running a book award, and being a writer myself, I thought I'd better see what all the fuss was about. So I went on Squibler, put in a summary of the sci-fi 'first contact' novel I'm presently writing and pressed enter. Approx. 10 mins later, it came back with a 40,000 word novel based on my summary.

So, what did I think of it?

It was, in every way, soulless junk. Basically, a lot of techno jargon with no character development, no suspense, no - well, anything. Just garbage. I know I'm now supposed to edit it to 'make it my own', but it was so terrible, it would take longer to edit it than to write my own book.

But, in a way, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was how it made me feel. I discovered, when you get AI to write your novel, there's no journey, no feeling of accomplishment. I just felt like a cheat. Yes, AI offered me a 'product' but even if the product had been good (which it wasn't), I would just feel like a scammer. How could I possibly put my name to a book written by a computer?Today, I was reminded of the fact that writing a book is not just about the finished product. It's about how you get there; the journey, the agony, the sleepless nights. Writing a novel using AI rips all of that away from you.

So I will happily go back to the 'hard way' of writing a novel as, to be perfectly honest, it is still the ONLY way to do it. That way, I might (just might) produce a book that (a) I'm proud of and (b) is actually worth reading.

Edward (Billy Bob Buttons / Hickory Crowl)

To see the list of the 2024 FINALISTS in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, click on the FINALIST tab at the top of the page.   The children’s books were read and judged by children from 10 UK primary and secondary schools, the adult books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm.

Only TWO DAYS left till we announce the 2024 FINALISTS. They will be announced at approx. 10 AM UK time on Friday 14th Feb. That very day we will begin sending out the NON-finalist feedbacks. We will send out approx. 10 a day over 6 weeks. You can then reply and tell us if you wish us to post the feedback on Goodreads and Bookbub for you. The FINALIST/WINNER feedback will go out AFTER we announce the WINNERS (picked from the FINALIST list) on 1st April.