We writers put so much of ourselves into writing. Countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears. Sleepless nights wondering about our characters. Years of writing and perfecting our craft, letting our imagination run wild, even when it can be so torturous at times. And yet at the same time, for me, writing is what makes me me. It is where my imagination runs free. It is where I can explore all my deepest dreams and fears and terrifying hopes, without having to worry about judgement. It is where I can create my own world. A world of magic. It is where I can explore hope and put so much of my dreams into this one story. Stories are so so powerful and they have such a huge impact on the world. Stories are what inspire change. Stories are what have given me and so many other people in this world hope in a world that can feel so hopeless.

And to see something like this is…

I can’t describe it.

I’ve seen so many people in YouTube comments say that it doesn’t matter. That AI writing is good anyway and that nobody cares if it’s human or AI written so long as it’s good.

But to me, stories are so much more than “good writing” and “polished prose”.

To me, the stories that I have read and loved as a kid are the stories that have been shaped by the author’s own experiences. By their memories, their fears, and their hopes. It’s part of what makes books like When You Trap a Tiger or Front Desk so real and so important.

Things like just outcome alone, perfect prose, imperfect prose, etc… none of that should erase all the work that went into this book. I once read a book that didn’t have as polished, perfect prose and maybe one could write lusher descriptions with AI. And yet I didn’t care. And yet that book still stayed with me for so long. It is one of the books that has truly inspired me.

Why? Because of the world that this teen author built from her own imagination. Because of the fact that this was another teen writer. A real person, who clearly put so much of herself into her work, and who didn’t give up when so many people might’ve. A person who started out writing when she was 11 years old, like me. And to just see someone like me doing this and not giving up and actually making it as an author and to just feel the magic and real-ness of the world she’s created… that is something that meant everything to me when I was writing the Enchantria series. (By the way, that author is Sophie Torro, and she’s a wonderful author, everyone should go read her books!!!) Just from reading her books and from reading her blog, I could see how much she really enjoyed writing. And all of that really comes through on the page.

Gail Carson Levine says it better than I do in her book, Writing Magic. “Readers care less about perfection and more about connection, getting caught up in the story, caring about the characters.”

That is really what happens to me when I read a book that truly stays with me. The book is never perfect. And yet it had that sort of real, emotional attachment that stayed with me more than a perfect book ever could.

Storytelling is such an important part of our world.

It has been around for billions of years, ever since the first humans.

It is something that has influenced so many people, including me. It is truly something that really shapes our world. Storytelling is what has given hope to so many people and it is what has made so many people feel seen and let them know that they matter.

If I had not read the stories that I obsessed over as a kid, I would never be the same person I am today.

That is something AI can never replicate, even if it may have “excellent prose” or “lush descriptions”. 

Stories and music and art and so many more things are how we express ourselves. They let out pour out all of our emotions and show ourselves to the world. Through writing, I’ve just discovered so much about myself. Enchantria was an escape for me and it was a place where I could confront all of my fears of not being good enough and of not fitting in in a place where I keep telling myself I should fit in just because of my race. Those fears are not gone. But through writing, I’ve at least been able to bring them to light and at least try to look them in the eye.

And to have AI churn out ‘stories’ to just replace something like this is… well, dreadful.

I was nearly in tears when I read that piece of news linked above. Creative professionals like singers, artists, and writers already struggle with making money. There’s no point denying that. It’s most certainly NOT impossible and I truly do believe that if you really really do strive for it, you will get there. No matter how long it takes.

And now to have our work able to be stolen and just put into AI to create a soulless story….

I just really do not have the words to speak on this.

But I do hope to bring this attention to light. This completely violates our rights as authors and creative professionals, and we must fight against it. This will impact SO MANY creative professionals, who already struggle to make money as it is. And to have AI able to replace them (and be trained off of their work without permission nonetheless!) is unacceptable.

So sign this petition to share your support for human authors, artists, singers, and other creatives!