Last updated on January 1, 2026
Billy Bob Buttons gave me permission to post his recent letter to members of The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. I agree with everything he says here wholeheartedly. I will share my personal experience in another blog post so that this one doesn’t reach a too-high word count.
I receive many offers to join various writing groups, and usually, the answer is no. They just want my money without offering much in return. I like this group and what it provides for indie authors. I’ve been a member for several years and would encourage you to visit the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. See the link below.
Guest Post by Edward (Billy Bob Buttons)
Hi everybody,
A few weeks ago, 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. About 10 minutes 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 that 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 I would feel like a scammer even if the product had been good (which it wasn’t). How could I possibly put my name to a book written by a computer?
That day, 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 worth reading.
Edward (Billy Bob Buttons / Hickory Crowl)
Wishing Shelf Gang
To learn more about the Wishing Book Awards, click here.
To read more guest posts. click here.
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