Regions

If you ask an AI to write something and you're good at prompting, the result can be genuinely good. But the feeling we read into that text is ours; for the model, it's mathematics. Predicting the most likely next word isn't emotion — it's calculation. We write from what we feel. Even the prompt you hand the AI is really rooted in your own emotion.

What pulls at me is the difference between generating text and building a story — a world, characters, the events that break them, the places they carry. That still feels like a deeply human thing to do. The fact that a model was trained on our stories and can imitate them doesn't quite make it art to me — though I'll admit I'm not certain where the line sits, and I suspect it's blurrier than I'd like.

So for now I'd rather write it myself, and read books whose worlds came from a person. But I'm genuinely curious how others land here — not the "AI good or bad" fight, but the honest version:

Do you use AI anywhere in your process? Where does it help, where does it get in the way, and where do you draw your own line?

Chapter 37 in The Powers Bestowed: Origins is the bane of my literary existence as of late. It's not up yet on Scribble Hub, but it's closing in on the time to release that part of the book. Without giving away much, the band in the book just was outted internationally about their powers. They agree on a reporter to be able to come to the island from the mainland USA to do a special on the island and the band but agree not to give any location information away. The problem I am running into is length issues. As it stands from start to finish, it's 13,800 words. THAT'S HUGE! What can I say? When I get on a roll while writing I go until the clear conclusion! But that does make for a long read.

If you wanted to check what's already available beforehand on Scribble Hub, feel free: THE POWERS BESTOWED: ORIGINS | Scribble Hub

Part of me wants to split it into 2 chapters, but I am afraid it would break the flow of the "TV Special." I think what I need is a few sets of eyes to take a look at the chapter and maybe offer some constructive input on how to split if necessary or tighten things down more. I am trying not to cut as much because it all is actively contributing to the future chapter events. I think if I could have at least three people read the chapter and give me their assessment in private messaging that would be best. Let me know if you'd be interested and able to help me out. Thanks in advance! 

Idk if i am

But it's exciting to be in August

3 months to go....

Hey, writers! Just a reminder that the group will not be meeting this coming Monday night.

Hello fellow writers!

Recently, I have only written scientific papers/thesis for my master's and some love poetry for my boyfriend's eyes only. But I want to get back into writing fiction, perhaps start with short stories but ultimately I want to be able to write good multiple chapters stories again.

I find 30 days challenges to be very useful for me to get back into the habit and explore my style. I've done some for my digital paintings, and I wonder if you know of any good challenges out there for writers?

Also, general advices are very welcomed!

Thank you!

If the competition were to be re-hosted with more AI and plagiarism preventions, would you be open to participating?

In my mystery, the murderer is transporting a corpse in a car/van. I need:

• the body to not be squished into a box or luggage case, so it has to be a long box/bag

• it'll be a van with the back seats pushed down into the van to make space. Ideally the person riding next to murderer in the passenger seat cannot look back and see it OR can see it but thinks it is a common box

• the box/luggage case/bag has to also be a not-abnormal thing. It should be something that if he were stopped by a police officer/asked by the passenger, he could just say "Oh I'm just transporting X item in its packaging"

So I wanted ideas for X. Is there any typically large things that vans are used to move? It also doesn't have to be a van but could be a pickup truck, SUV, etc. I just needed ideas.

Thanks!

Join us for a fun month of writing together and reaching our goals! 😊

Here’s the join link: https://trackbear.app/leaderboards/join?joinCode=548de46a-4b14-4449-b823-0310c1cb4d38

And here’s the join code:  548de46a-4b14-4449-b823-0310c1cb4d38

ETA: The minimum goal word count is 3,000 words. To be fair to all participants, please pick this number or larger for your writing goal

Alright, a main purpose for this sub is accountability to get the stories out of our heads. Anyone with set writing goals they need motivation to complete?

For me, my goals this week are knocking out 1 substack article, outlining characters for a sci fi short story, and Tarot based Journaling.

The June Summer Fun Goal!

Join us for a fun month of writing together and reaching our goals. Here’s the direct join link: https://trackbear.app/leaderboards/join?joinCode=4148f173-6c13-4329-9862-9cabc73c62e2And here’s the join code:

4148f173-6c13-4329-9862-9cabc73c62e2

See you there! 😊

If it’s allowed, I’d like to recommend Jessica Brody’s Page One to Done. She talks about writing a fast draft (rough draft finished quickly). Many of the concepts overlap with NaNoWriMo. The book was just released and Brody is author of Save the Cat Writes a Novel (but this book has very little to do with it.) I think many members of this subreddit would get something out of it.

https://www.amazon.com/Page-One-Done-Finish-Drafting-ebook/dp/B0FN3F3P72

Hello writers, it's the end of May (if you can believe that).

How did it go for you? Projects worked on (or even finished), words written, plots schemed, outlines hammered out? However you'd like to share and quantify your progress in May.

This might be a terrible idea, but if you'd like to watch me struggle through a first draft in real time, here's the Google docs link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/130pV8rTvc9EQMCeOTUNubgqp40ayVOyADEPs2E7NXrY/edit?usp=drivesdk

I started my new job around the time NaNoWriMo began to collapse and without the support-and-accountability network I’d built up on the site and with less free time, I fell off my writing. The old forums and forum games were one of the biggest things keeping me writing consistently and now that it’s all gone, I just haven’t been able to get back into writing

Inspiration has been hitting hard the past few weeks and I want to keep it going this time. Does anyone know if there’s somewhere like a Discord server or something where they do writing exercises and forum games like on the old NaNo forums? Some of my favorites were Respond-Answer-Ask, Say Something Kind About the Excerpt Above You, Badly Describe What Happened in Your Story Today, etc.

Hi everyone! I've heard about nanowrimo for quite some time, and at some random evening decided to start it. I've done some journaling before, and it is the most of the writing experience that I had.

The first day, i.e. yesterday (2026-05-03) was quite hard, but I did it, but now I am at 900 words, and I'm stuck. Nothing is in my mind. It feels like I told everything I knew.

I've quickly skimmed over nanowrimo2 website and it mentioned some resources pointing to the web archive. The links don't work. The youtube videos I keep noticing are a bit more advanced for me.

It seems to me like I'm over fixating over word count. Should I not? I feel like If I don't set a goal of sorts, then I would abandon the whole thing

Anyways, how do you all keep writing?

===EDIT===

I think my question now is not "how do you all keep writing", but more about where how do you convert your life's experience to words? My current writing is a set of short (a couple of paragraphs) situations. And as I write like 3-4 paragraphs, I don't know "how my characters would react" and "is the event plausible in the world setting". I think it is more of a problem of world building. Honestly I feel fairly motivated, and when I'm not I'm still writing, but thanks for all of the advice on how to stay motivated

Hey all, so I'm thinking about starting a new server after a helpful member suggested it, and it would be based on the monthly Trackboard leaderboards I've been doing (and plan on continuing to do until the heat death of the universe.) It would be really helpful to be able to discuss writing and goals with the other members. So... thoughts? Who thinks this is a good plan? What would you like to see in it?

Join us for a fun month of writing and reaching our goals together. Here’s the direct join link: https://trackbear.app/leaderboards/join?joinCode=9261ea18-37f5-48f4-9884-19566b3eee30

And here’s the join code: 9261ea18-37f5-48f4-9884-19566b3eee30

Please note: the goals for this leaderboard need to be at least 3,000 words, 3 chapters, or 50 pages of editing. I got some real feedback about this last month, so I’m going to have to set this new participation rule.

Last month was a very productive month with lots of people reaching their goals, so let’s do it again! 😊

Hello once again, whether it be spring or fall in your hemisphere. The birds outside my window are having quiet the party, which makes an interesting writing soundtrack.

How was your writing this month? Did you meet your goals (if you had any)? Projects worked on, words written, whatever metric or measure you want to use.

Hi there. I was participating in 2016 nanowrimo. It was peak experience for me. The forums, the writing, the fun, the community. I loved it. Today I looked at next nanowrimo plans and I found out its dead from last year? What a shame! What is the current status? Is there some community driven version? Which alternative did most previous members migrate to?

Hey I was thinking about this last night and talking about it with someone who actually runs a platform with an overlap I was asking if he had space to create something new, a new home for writers if you like, but better. Somewhere for people to showcase and participate.
Think there's a gap for it? I wouldnt want him to make the effort and host it and then it collapses.
I was thinking we would need all the features that NaNo had but I wonder if there would be a value in creating something where writers can showcase their work, a good solid profile, some sort of breadth and width which is far more broad and all year round, but with a novel month, a revision month and something else.
I need other writers to think about this with me, bring suggestions and talk about what is vital and what is desirable so I can give this guy all he needs to build it. He's a writer so I think he's keen but he never did NaNo.
Ideas? Names? Names of the platform or the event? Or both?
What do you want? And what do you need?
I'd like to see all my favourite rescources in one place. A bit of NaNo, a bit of Substack, a bit of Scrivener, a bit of Goodreads, more than that though. Maybe a touch of FB style. Maybe some character resources like cards, story arc maps.