Does chatGPT make anyone else feel like a complete novice?

So I thought I'd give chatGPT a try, help with editing my first draft of my first ever novel (still to be, but nearly, finished), and help with the paragraphs I know for a fact need help but wasn't sure what needed changing.
Well, when I asked it to rewrite/edit a few paragraphs and it came out with prose twice as good as what I had come up with, it was somewhat sobering.

I didn't think my writing was all bad in a few places, but the AI has shown me I'm more miles than metres away from being a great, or even good, writer.

Not giving up of course, and I'll use chatGPT to enlighten my ideas on how things should be written but damn, an AI has completely outshone me in fluid, creative, writing... Who'd have thought one day we'd be at this point? no wonder ever creative industry is shitting themselves with this.

 

When it comes to grammar and spelling, yes the machine might be better. But when it comes to the implementation of feelings, complexity of a large text, and the human element, then no. The AI is only good at being a machine, for now.

 

For me, since I'm no pro, I feel it does have better work selection. I think this would be especially true if your vocabulary is not expansive enough. I found some of its word choices to be a step up from what I had used.

 

I'd like to see an example of your prose and chatGTP's, if you don't mind.

 

Here ya go.
Word of warning, this is from the first paragraph of the prologue, I wrote this first, I have done little editing, I already know this prose is very, very weak, and I know what I need to change, but it's a good example to use.

mine:
There was no one who remembered her name, her real one. Long lost to the echoes of war, she thought back on when she had last heard her name called out to her. It would have been thirteen years now. It was a memory she would not forget. She would never let herself.

chatGPT:
Her true name, a casualty surrendered to the relentless echoes of war, lingered in the recesses of forgotten recollections. With the passage of thirteen years, she retraced the fragile whispers of when her name resonated in the air, a distant memory anchored firmly within her consciousness. It was a memory not destined for oblivion—a pledge etched into the very fabric of her being, a vow she would fiercely uphold.


And you know what I like that change, though there are a few things I would take out and rejig. There are some superior word choices in there.

 

To be honest, and this may be because I am a novice as well, but the chatGPT version was hard to follow and felt excessive.

Sure, your version could do with a touch-up, but I would not say that the AI version is superior, just different.

 

The ChatGPT version is what I would politely describe as "overwritten".

If the rest of the book was written like that, it would end up in the bin before the first chapter.

 

Well, I'd use chatGPT sparingly, but I do think it's certainly better than my original effort.
I agree it's a little overwritten, but as stated, take a few things out and shorten a few things and done.
If an editor had to choose between the two paragraphs, I think they'd still go for chatGPT, no?

Before anyone gets worried, I already had in mind how I planned to rewrite the prologue, no chatGPT getting involved.

 

Your version was actually much better. Just in terms of clarity alone, yours made sense. The ChatGPT version makes no sense. And, as a few people have already said, the Ai wrote some very purple prose, meaning it used ridiculously big words and convoluted sentences where simple ones would be far better.

Plus there's this:

Relentless, recesses, and recollections all used so close to each other, and even in the same sentence? No. That's just bad writing. As bad as 'Which way were we wandering?" in place of "We didn't even know where we were going."

You want to keep your writing down to earth. I don't know why some beginners think writing should be all flowery and difficult to read, like some kind of elaborate Victorian poetry. It shouldn't. It should communicate clearly and at a level people will understand and feel at home with. Spare and simple is far better than elaborate and overwrought.

 

This is what ChatGPT came up with for me:
Arr, there be none left who could recall her true name, lost to the howlin' winds of war, she be thinkin'. Castin' her mind back, she do, to the days when her name echoed on the salty breeze. Thirteen years hence, it was, the last time her name danced on the lips of another. A memory etched in her soul, aye, a memory she'd be holdin' onto till the end of her days, never lettin' it slip away like a bottle lost at sea.

Admittedly, I may have told it to write the style of a pirate.

 

Yours has some awkward places, but it's better than the bot's, I think, which is, as others said, way too purply. I suspected that would be the case with AI.

I signed up for the paid version of chatGPT for a couple of months to check things out. With a free account, it was always too busy to access. I don't plan to use it for writing, though.

 

Well, if you guys are saying mines better, I'll happily take the W
Though once I finish my first draft of the book I see a huge swathe of areas, prologue included, that's going to need a thorough rewrite, but such is the fate of a first draft.

 

I would suggest doing some research about authors and chatgpt.

 

I'm only here to reaffirm that I also dislike what ChatGPT wrote. That's how I used to write as a newbie and it was honestly terrible! Bloated as a balloon. You could also say that the writing definitely feels phoney-baloney. Heh.

I feel like you equal pretty words and an extensive vocabulary to better quality writing from your responses. If so, discard that misconception immediately and chuck it in the bin. Anyone can flip open the thesaurus and slap a bunch of words to appear elegant and well-spoken. But words are precious things (learn from Bradbury!) and they must be placed with care and meaning. If you just put them there for the sake of it, that meaning is lost, and you get what we call purple prose.

I'll give you the advice @Xoic gave me about a hundred times in my early days here. Don't try to write in complex structures and styles, write in a simple and effective way if you're a beginner. Trust me, it's possible! It'll only take practise (like literally everything in life) and once you get there, you can start looking into more advanced stuff.

 

I shall heed that advice, however, we are always told show not tell, and yes, within reason (We don't need to describe a red door as anything but a red door unless there's some significant reason for the colour red). So in a sense we obviously want to write in a way that conveys emotion, feeling, not just a list of actions, that'd be dull. A line of course needs to be drawn, we don't want a wall of purple prose either. Note I said that I would have taken chatGPT's wording and altered it. It is too much. As a novice even I could see it, but there were a few things there I could have taken from its rewritten paragraph to improve my own, I think.

I of course could just be overly critical of my own work, as we all are, I'm sure.

I might paste a few examples once I have the first draft completed (A few paragraphs here and there) and get some opinions on the writing quality. It'd only be a snippet but even that much can allow a glimpse into the quality of the prose as a whole.

 

The place to paste excerpts of your writing is the workshop. You'll also receive criticism (which not everyone likes, hence my warning) but take my word that it really is necessary.

To do that you've got to make two critiques first

 

Ha! Purple is exactly what I thought, although for a true, rich, purple it would need more adverbs. But it's purple enough, as is.

@Seiya - Fear not, you can still outwrite AI.

 

I get where you're coming from so I see this from your point of view.
Very good response and some pretty harsh replies but it's reality.

Have you thought of trying ProWriting Aid or Hemingway Editor Pro?
It'll put things (your writing) into a bit more perspective and a better understanding yourself

 

I did have a free trial of prowriting Aid, i think, or something very similar. That seemed okay, though as many users stated, take it with a grain of salt. Pretty much like chatGPT really as well

 

Many of the tools like Prowritingaid are useful, but require a human to make the final decision. They will flag things and suggest replacements that do not fit with context or character voice. So the author is left to decide if the suggestion works or not for what they are going for.

Personally with all the possible copyright issues, in the training of ChatGPT and similar AIs. I wouldn't use them for more than a possible outlining tool, but even then there could be problems with the result being derivative of some one else's work.

 

Full disclosure: I personally hate AI and am worried for the future of writing because of it.

Now, honestly, I liked yours better. Why? Because yours was concise, to the point, and seemed to have a lot of emotion in it.

GPTChat's version reads like some kind of overly pretentious fanfiction writer who read the dictionary cover to cover. Too many big words take away from the meaning of the story and the impact is lost in writing flourishes.

If a human wrote like that, okay, that's a style, but like I said, I think yours have a simplicity that moves things along and I wanted to read more.

 

I've not used Chatgpt nor other AI writing programmes, not even out of curiosity (I don't think spellcheck counts and, in any case, mine has an irritating American twang (it's favour, colour, prioritise!!)). I'm not curious about them, though do worry as to what direction we're headed. The world is batshit crazy these days and computer programmes creating entertainment fits right in.

The answer to OP question is no. Being a novice makes me feel like a novice and when I'm not a novice, I hope to feel less like one. It's all part of the process. Skipping these different stages may be possible with the assistance of AI, but the creative world won't be better for it.

 

I can't say I'll never use AI for writing prompts or critique. What I can say is that if I never used AI I would not feel the poorer.

It would be great to be a respected novelist. But only if it's my blood flowing down the tines of my nib.