On book coaching and trusting your gut amidst the industry’s struggle with AI
You may’ve heard, earlier this year, how the previously self-published book Shy Girl was picked up by a traditional publisher in an impressive deal before being canceled after accusations of AI use. More recently, a crime novel from a debut author sold at auction for $2.5M before being pulled back by the agent for alleged AI use. I’m not going to wade into the details here, but I’ve provided links if you’re curious.
- Publisher Cancels “Shy Girl” Horror Novel After Writer Accused of Using AI
- How Could This Have Happened? A Publisher’s Take on How an AI-generated Book Got Acquired by a Major Publisher, Why No One Flagged It as Problematic, and Why Shy Girl is a Bellwether
- $2.5 million book deal canceled over A.I. suspicions (This week in books)
A writer I’ve worked with for a few months recently sent me her opening pages of a new novel and asked for my gut reaction to support a decision she was struggling with. I shared my thoughts about what wasn’t working yet and what was, where the promise was, and, most importantly, encouragement to keep exploring how to develop her story. Even those early comments, before she really dug into them, prompted her initial reaction of “spot on”. I love that. So often what I find a writer needs more than anything is the validation of something they already know is going on in their story. From there, we work together to identify what that is, and help them strengthen it. That’s just the best feeling.
That’s also the part that AI can’t do. Not really, not in a way that understands what a writer’s trying to achieve with their story. I get to work with them. I get to talk with them. I get to read their body language, see where their pain points are, and help them decide what’s right for their story.
Your gut vs. the pages
When a human reader who knows craft and story tells you that something isn’t working — or that it is — you recognize that. You usually know it yourself, in your gut, or you know when something just flows. You’ve got to trust your instinct, and you’ve got to be willing to improve, and to recognize when you can improve it. That’s a skill we build and strengthen by using it and working at it. It’s “real data” you can trust, because it came from someone who cares about your story and who cares about you making it better.
AI feedback is generic by design. It’s trained to match patterns across millions of books written by humans. Pretty incredible technology when you stop to think about it, but it only mimics what humans do. That generic output is really easy to accept without thinking about it critically. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t struggle with this myself — I’ve played around with it plenty. I use Claude a fair bit for my business processes: it’s saved me from breaking a backend system, and guided me to fix another that I did break… it helped me set up a client management system… and then later untangle myself from that same CRM (sigh). It even built me a nifty time tracker (though remembering to use it is a whole other issue).
The slippery slope is when AI offers to do more, or research more, or provide solutions beyond what you asked for. If that goes against your instinct as a writer, take note. Coaching doesn’t hand a writer a cleaner draft of their work. Rather, it’s helping them build the skill that lets them diagnose and strengthen their own pages, so their next pages in their next story are stronger.
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It’s getting complicated
I don’t think it’s realistic to tell writers not to use AI in any form. It’s built into search engines, into grammar tools like Grammarly, into most of the software that we use every day. Expecting complete avoidance isn’t a real option for most people, and I respect the writers who want to keep their craft as human as possible while still being realistic about that.
If you’re interested in traditional publishing, then know that there’s more to come. Some agencies and agents have been amending their submission guidelines to discourage AI use, and the high-profile deals that’ve fallen through this year are enough to scare any agent or acquiring editor. Others are more permissive. On the legal side, too, under current US law, purely AI-generated content can’t be copyrighted (Copyright and Artificial Intelligence + Who Owns AI-Generated Content? The Truth About Rights and Licensing), so it’s a risk for a publisher.
The conversation is just as up-in-the-air for self-publishing writers too. There’s ongoing discussion about disclosure language and certification for human-authored work, along with that same copyright issue mentioned above. There’re labels on Amazon. It’s confusing and overwhelming. Nothing’s settled, and there will be more to come.
I don’t have a problem working with authors who use writing software with AI incorporated into it. You can choose to turn some (if not all) of it off, or choose not to take the suggestion, or choose to look at a suggestion critically and learn from it. That’s the benefit if you’re willing to be critical and take that moment to be human.
Jane Friedman maintains an AI and Publishing FAQs for Writers that I’ve bookmarked. I recommend you do the same to keep track of what’s shifting month to month. There are other industry professionals now wrangling with ways to possibly document the writer’s process and workflow, to prove if or how much AI was used. (some good articles to check out: Ready To Prove You Wrote Your Book? Workflow Tips For Writers In The Age Of AI + Brian Murray Addresses AI Authorship Issues [paywall]) Keep an eye out for more — much more — to come.
Writing is hard. It’s also joyful.
It’s freaking painful, and it’s fun, and it can be magical, and it can make you want to pull your hair out… sometimes all in the span of one hour. That’s not going away with better tools or faster drafts.
It’s easy to get discouraged online to see other authors celebrate book deals or signing with an agent. But this is always fantastic news, and it doesn’t happen overnight for them.
All I can say is try to find joy in the process. I’m telling myself this as much as you. Light that candle, sip your favorite drink, and enjoy creating a character and struggling with them to find a solution to a problem. Even if it’s a creative way to hide that pesky body.
Writing has never been about speed — unless you’re one of those amazing fast drafters (I am not). Book coaching is a way to help writers get better and feel more confident and enjoy the process more. It’s a way to partner for encouragement and cheerleading along the way. It’s also here to help you get better at recognizing on your own when your pages are “spot on”.
Happy writing!
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Hi, I’m Rebecca Davis, developmental editor and book coach, mystery lover, and former research administrator. I traded grant proposals for plot twists and now I get to help writers find their way through the maze of story and structure. I live on the South Carolina coast, and believe every story needs both a map and a little mystery. Explore Coaching Services →