How to Avoid AI Rejection

[SimonDoom]

You know the story of the bombers that came back full of bullet holes?

We're only seeing the strories that got through the screening.

I don't doubt that. It doesn't undercut my point.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You know the story of the bombers that came back full of bullet holes?

We're only seeing the strories that got through the screening.

But we're hearing all about those that don't, and there seem to be a lot of common factors in play - the main one, I think, is the number of writers saying, "I've only ever written reports or business reporting before, and I use Grammarly for that." The examples folk are giving all have a similar feel to the writing, I reckon.

 

[Fatdog25]

This is a good question. I'd like to hear from a) experienced Lit authors if they've encountered an AI rejection, and b) new Lit authors who have NOT encountered this problem.

If new < one year, then here goes:

I started using Grammarly in October 2023. I've submitted five stories with its assistance, one EH and four I/T.
No rejections. I had seven stories published before that, one Romance and six I/T, starting in May 2023.

Here's why I believe my stories were not flagged:

1. Incest is a subject that AI isn't likely to produce, as it is illegal. There's probably a way around it, not interested in finding it.

2. I write mostly first-person "familiar", meaning the narrative is written as if the narrator is telling the story to a friend. This includes using words like just, really, absolutely, and nice. A lot. There are occasional asides, where the narrator speaks to the reader. Everybody does it, right?

My grammar sucks sometimes, although my dialogue is a little more formal than @SimonDoom suggests. It's what seems to work for me. (I tried to write this item the same way I would write a paragraph for a story, to illustrate my point. Some of y'all ain't gonna like it and that's okay.)

3. I don't use Grammarly's suggestions for rewriting sentences. EVER. It's a business platform, not a fiction one. What I've seen from its suggestions, it depersonalizes the narrative. Not what I want.

Based on what I've seen from writers who have had a problem and provided a sample, it's mostly third-person classic narrative with overly formal grammar in their dialogue. I've skipped over a few (most) AI posts so I'm just guessing here.

I get it, not everybody likes first-person or I/T. I'm not suggesting that anybody change their style based on what works/worked for me.

My point, such as it is, is that AI has been fed Hemingway, Steinbeck, et al, and if you try to write like that because that's what you were taught was proper writing, it's gonna get flagged (I'm looking at you, AutoCrit users...).

 

[XerXesXu]

My point, such as it is, is that AI has been fed Hemingway, Steinbeck, et al, and if you try to write like that because that's what you were taught was proper writing, it's gonna get flagged (I'm looking at you, AutoCrit users...).

The base models is fed almost every piece of writing on the internet. The outputs of the base model are then retrained on the output of humans employed to reframe those responses in a human style (fine-tuning). It's that human style which the AI detectors detect. The fine-tuning doesn't remedy the fundamental deficiencies of the base model, which arise because it has no understanding of its inputs or outputs, but it makes it conform to a conventional human style. It's these aspects of human style which get flagged by AI detectors and, ironically, it's things that those writers are doing right which cause them to be flagged.

 

[nighthawke0078]

I’m a published author 4 small books by a niche publisher. (Not erotica) I’m about to submit the first part of my story. After seeing all these thread about AI generated stories I started digging and reading more here and elsewhere.

Turns out I’m only 91% human. Shocking to me, but not my wife apparently.

 

[lustychimera]

I’m a published author 4 small books by a niche publisher. (Not erotica) I’m about to submit the first part of my story. After seeing all these thread about AI generated stories I started digging and reading more here and elsewhere.

Turns out I’m only 91% human. Shocking to me, but not my wife apparently.

I think it's a fairly niche issue that seems much more widespread than it is due to these threads. It's certainly an issue the site needs to iron out. Even rejecting one human written story is too many.

But from the rejected stories I've read, what I've gathered is the more conversational your prose is, the less likely your story is to be rejected. I use a ton of filler words—love em—and em dashes—love em—and all my stories have spent maybe a day, day and a half in pending.

Not saying that's right. In fact I think it gets a pass because it's so 'wrong.'

With you being a published author, I'd be very interested to hear how your pending experience goes.

 

[nighthawke0078]

I think it's a fairly niche issue that seems much more widespread than it is due to these threads. It's certainly an issue the site needs to iron out. Even rejecting one human written story is too many.

But from the rejected stories I've read, what I've gathered is the more conversational your prose is, the less likely your story is to be rejected. I use a ton of filler words—love em, and em dashes—love em, and all my stories have spent maybe a day, day and a half in pending.

Not saying that's right. In fact I think it gets a pass because it's so 'wrong.'

With you being a published author, I'd be very interested to hear how your pending experience goes.

It’s interesting. Since finding out about AI written narrative I’ve went down a really weird rabbit hole. I knew nothing about it. So it’s wild! I even found a subreddit of people talking about how to reliably corrupt the ai to write smut.

I mean, that’s cool, but I think at my age I just look at it and think,”I’ll stick to gold ol’fashioned Usenet and literotica.”

 

[lustychimera]

It’s interesting. Since finding out about AI written narrative I’ve went down a really weird rabbit hole. I knew nothing about it. So it’s wild! I even found a subreddit of people talking about how to reliably corrupt the ai to write smut.

I mean, that’s cool, but I think at my age I just look at it and think,”I’ll stick to gold ol’fashioned Usenet and literotica.”

Damn! You really go old school for your smut.

If you really want to go down that AI rabbit hole, 4 chan'll tell all about how to corrupt it.

I came across a website a while back that had an AI designed to strictly write porn stories for your enjoyment and commercial enterprise. People just put in their kinks, and it spit out a story. It's coming, but it can't replicate soul in writing. I think there's always going to be an audience for that.

 

[nighthawke0078]

They tell ya to use what ya know, right? Or maybe it was write what you know… hell, either way… I’m sure there are some kids on my lawn I need to go yell at.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Or natural conversational lead-ins such as "Yeah, but...", "Uh huh," "Oh, I dunno," or "Really?".

You talk with blondes a lot, I see.