NaNoWriMo is a U.S.-based non-profit promoting creative writing around the world. They’re specifically known for an annual contest where users try to write a 50 thousand word novel. Writing is hard, especially keeping the motivation to continue projects. Documents sit untouched for weeks, getting covered in invisible digital dust and eventually being forgotten. Writers not knowing where or how to progress in a story– getting lost in parts of character development and world building. NaNoWriMo is a space for writers to feel somewhat united, not isolated by unmotivation anymore.

NaNoWriMo has recently promoted the usage of AI in their annual contest. In a statement made by the company on Sept. 4, 2024, they said that, “We also want to be clear in our belief that the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege. Not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing. For some writers, the decision to use AI is a practical, not an ideological, one.”

There's a familiar feeling that comes with writing, at least one that I can envision very well– squinted eyes and headaches from staring at a screen for so long. Rewriting over and over again, typing and deleting words to make sure it is as close to perfection as I can grasp. The boost of motivation when I realize I'm close to a big number. Nine thousand words. Ten thousand. Jumping up to twenty. Constantly telling myself I will eventually go to bed, that I can always write more tomorrow. Even in those moments, I never want to stop writing.

Even through the headaches and bright white screens, even through weeks of writer's block and days of laying in bed– wondering when I will someday become the writer I want to be, I am in love with fiction. I create characters that are people of my own, ones that I relate myself to. Digging deep into their brains with my fingertips, intertwining myself within them, they are more than just words on a screen. I created these characters, they are tangible parts of me that cannot be replicated by a machine.

You can ask AI to generate you a story. You can ask it to write you a fan fiction of your favorite characters, or to write you an article about breaking news. You can have AI summarize your books and give you homework answers, but AI cannot replicate the strength of a writer. AI cannot clone the hours put into revising, to drafting. It cannot have the qualities of a human– exhaustion, motivation, power. AI cannot replicate a sleep deprived journalist who writes until they pass out at their desk.

In the statement mentioned previously, the company also mentioned how using AI can be helpful for people with disabilities and how excluding it is ableism. “Not all brains have the same abilities and not all writers function at the same level of education or proficiency in the language in which they are writing. Some brains and ability levels require outside help or accommodations to achieve certain goals.”

As someone with ADHD who struggles with mental illness, projects can be difficult. I procrastinate for weeks, pushing away tasks and slowly consuming myself with higher phone screen time and meaningless “doom scrolling.” I can spiral into episodes of sadness and anxiety. Sadness lurks and it conforms into normalcy. But I am still a college student and I am a writer who has multiple projects I adore. I do not refer to AI to continue my story. I do not rely on it as a pillar for imagination, because it is nothing of the sort.

In a non-scientific, voluntary survey shared by Instagram story, college and high school students from around the U.S. gave their thoughts on the use of AI in writing. 24 voted no in response to the question “Do you like AI?” and 7 voted yes. 77.4% to a 22.6% percentage. When asked, “Do you think it's wrong to use AI to produce written stories?” 23 voted yes, 8 voted no. 74.2% to a 25.8% percentage.“If you were in a writing competition, would you use AI to help you advance and have a higher word count?” 29 votes for no, 2 for yes. 93.5% to a 6.5% percentage. In regards to the usage of AI, almost every response disapproves of it.

Originally, on the NaNoWriMo website, there were forums where people contributing to the annual challenge could talk to other contestants, make friends, and gain insight on their writing, specifically those seeking advice on how to continue their stories– or simply just to bond with others interested in NaNoWriMo. There were multiple different chats to join, but due to problematic moderators, they ended up ceasing them all.

In a forum post from the company on December 4, 2023, they said, “Monitoring our inboxes and forum questions has become a full-time job. As a result, our plan is to close all current Board forum threads as well. We will respond to questions that have already been posted as time allows us. Folks can email us with questions and suggestions at [nanowrimoboard@gmail.com} but please bear with us around the expediency of our responses.”

Sean Ireland, an English Professor at Santa Monica College, gave his thoughts on if AI takes away from the art of writing. Ireland said, “Yes and no. For certain types of writing, no. It isn't harmful. I think that AI can be effective for use in business writing, emails, and in certain technical writing. It can be used for other types of writing too, of course, including textbooks and things like that, even newspaper writing to some degree, but it's not journalism, and writers have used it in these ways. However, for creative writing, including fiction and poetry, maybe drama, which are spiritual in nature, use it at your peril. There's something about the human voice that I just believe can't be replicated—a software will never write The Sound and the Fury because the idea of it alone is remarkable. AI will never write the plays of Shakespeare because the more closely one reads Shakespeare, the more he appears.”

On how newer writers can improve without using AI, Ireland said, “For new writers, I think one has to read and read and read, to find that rapture. It's important to study and practice grammar and punctuation too. It's part of the craft of good writing. And in the end, the writer needs to tell the truth and to believe in what he or she is doing. The writer will offer a part of his or her heart. I really believe this. How do you explain Dickens? Or Emily Dickinson? They needed to write. So did Melville and Faulkner and Toni Morrison. It seems to me there was a need there and a sort of agony. A computer just can’t feel that and so I don't think AI will ever write as well as these writers because AI will never know suffering the way they did. I suppose one can program AI to suffer. I wonder what that would look like. Or imagine the Beatles just appearing from some AI model. What would that have been like for all of us? Impossible. They're us and we're them.”

Lastly, in response to the question, do you think there’s any ethical way to incorporate AI into creative writing?, Ireland said, “There are lots of ethical ways to incorporate AI into writing. I really think it's fine to use in many industries. I don't personally find it unethical to use it in business or in academia in textbooks or to create policy, organize material for classrooms. It isn't even unethical to use creatively. But I think we lose something. At least it can't play tennis. Yet.”

As a writer I have worked on projects with over a hundred thousand words. I have spent hours brainstorming, editing, infusing myself into these characters I have created, almost at some point becoming them. When I discovered NaNoWriMo through a mutual friend, I was ecstatic to learn that other writers love this art form as much as I do. To let the laziness of AI seep into art, to let it change the meaning of a challenge entirely, is disheartening.

Machines are not Writers, NaNoWriMo.

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