A chapter of my story was rejected without explanation, claiming WRONGFULLY it was using AI.

[ragal2]

I was born in one country, raised in another, and did most of my advanced studies in a third country- Neither one uses English as the official language. As a result, my written English was never my strongest suit.
My life hobbies used to be traveling and photography. On average, I traveled abroad 5 times a year, and in the USA 3. Most of my pictures were taken during my trips.
Unfortunately, 3 years ago, I got hurt in an accident, and since then, I cut on trips and pictures.
I tried to figure out what to do with my free time until a long-time friend suggested jokingly that I write literotica. I experimented a lot when I was younger, so I looked into it. I wrote a 5-chapter story and sent it to literotica. It was rejected because the editing sucked. The editor was right! Next, I got help from Smokey125, who graciously edited 2 other chapters. These stories got accepted. The first one was published on 10/15/22. Since then, I started writing in my free time, and all my stories have been published. However, the most typical comment I got was, 'I liked your story, but better editing and word proofing is needed.' So, after writing around 90 chapters/stories, I started using Grammarly for editing. I emphasize - A L L the stories are mine. I never used AI or any other means of giving me ideas or doing anything else but correcting the language!
I mentioned it because the first chapter of my story 'Mom, I'll Take Care Of You' was well accepted and was read by 20,000 readers in the first 2 days. I sat down, wrote the second chapter, and started the third chapter. To my surprise, the editor rejected it, noting the reason as 'While we do not have a policy against using tools to help with the writing process (i.e., spellcheck, grammar suggestions, etc.), we do ask that all work published on the site at this time be created primarily by a human.'
I wrote back to the editor explaining that the story was written by me but was ignored. Chapters 2,3 and 4 are still in the 'pending' column. I am frustrated - I do not have a smartphone (I mostly use a line phone and rarely a simple flip phone), I never used a GPS, and I type using 2 fingers... Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to use AI to write a story! And worse of all - No reason was given as to why the editor suspected it was AI. (Was it related to my productivity - On average, I write a chapter every 3 days. My limited vocabulary? I have no clue.)
The editor decided on the silent treatment, even though the story was original, not copied from anything or anybody else. Perhaps here I'll get answers...

 

[EmilyMiller]

No one here can help you. We don’t know what the problem is. Do one of two things (or both):

1. Resubmit your work with a note to the editor saying it is definitively your work
2. PM @Laurel and say the same (tell her the story title)

Good luck.

Em

 

[countdowntolov3]

Just resubmit it with a note that says, "I didn't use AI."

The initial rejection was probably done automatically. Once you resubmit it a human will look more closely.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You're the third person this week getting a knock back with AI as the reason given.

All you can do is resubmit to the site with a Note to the Editor, stating what you say in your first paragraph, and that you now use Grammarly; and swear on your dead relatives that no AI was used in the writing of your story.

You're not getting any malicious silent treatment - the rejection notices are generic, and no-one gets specifics. Unfortunately, you have to figure it out for yourself.

If you state that English is not your native language, you should get a more sympathetic ear.

 

[MrPixel]

More grist for the theory that ESL writers are triggering the AI detection.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

You claim that the story was rejected for no reason, then you admit that the reason given was suspected AI generated. That's a reason.

How to get around it? Well the site apparently has added an AI detector in recent months and something in your story has triggered it. This is becoming more and more common. The popular solution seems to be to re-submit the story and add a note to the admin explaining how you wrote it yourself. Many others have had success with this.

 

[jaF0]

Perhaps here I'll get answers...

As we've asked several people faced with this issue, post 2 or 3 paragraphs of one of your submissions that was rejected. Some posters will examine and make suggestions.

People who learn English in school as a second or third language sometimes write too 'mechanical' without meaning to.

 

[Carnevil9]

How do you know that YOU aren't an AI? You could be a replicant that was implanted with false memories of a fictitious childhood and let loose on the world, unaware of your own laboratory beginning. For that matter, how do any of us know?

 

[KeithD]

If you were told it was constructed through AI, it gave you an explanation of why it was rejected. If you didn't use AI, send it back it with that disclaimer in the notes box.

 

[ragal2]

I did as other authors suggested, explaining that no AI was involved in ANYTHING in my story - IT still takes the editorial board a long time to decide, and at least once, it rejected the story again with no further explanation except for the automatic paragraph about AI.
I think the board needs to amend its policy. If their AI Tracker suspects a story, send the usual rejection message. However, if it's being rejected a second time - the editors should give examples of AI-constructed sentences.
Thank you, ragal2.

 

[Comshaw]

I'm beginning to wonder if it is an AI problem that most don't realize. I've noticed the Grammarly "suggests" changes to my phrasing that, while my choices are still acceptable, the program considers its suggestions more "appropriate". The problem I see with that is if I take those suggestions I'm giving up the tone, my "voice" if you will that identifies me in exchange for what a program suggests is better. As an example it tagged the first phrase of this post "...beginning to wonder..." as not being clear and concise. I use the free version of Grammerly so I didn't have the opportunity to find out what it suggested I use instead.

An AI program will write in a perfect style with perfect grammar, punctuation and spelling. While a human will make a mistake somewhere along the line. And some (like me) will make many. By using a program like Grammerly and accepting all its suggestions, the text will appear to be perfect. I wonder if that's what's being detected as AI doing the writing?

Comshaw

 

[ragal2]

I agree with you. I use Grammarly too, and since then, I got flagged several times. I have 2 questions:
1. How much are we allowed to use this software before the editors call it AI?
2. Even if we used Grammarly to the fullest, the idea and the story are still ours. Why is it so awful to correct our English and make it more pleasing to the readers???

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

1. How much are we allowed to use this software before the editors call it AI?

You can use it to check your spelling and grammar. But the moment you allow it to rewrite parts of your sentences, that's apparently too much already.

2. Even if we used Grammarly to the fullest, the idea and the story are still ours. Why is it so awful to correct our English and make it more pleasing to the readers???

In another thread, someone posted a reply they got from the admin about why they don't want authors to use AI-Assists like Grammarly, and the answer was pretty clear: Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and Co, create texts that all sound alike. And they don't want their catalog to become one homogenous mass.

Now, we can fight over how much value a stance like that has... but, at the end of the day, it's the admin's decision. They won't change this policy unless all the rejected authors just give up and post to other sites instead. If Lit's daily submissions were reduced to one-page masturbation fantasies normally found on Reddit by a dozen different authors, because all the others have been rejected and moved on to SOL or something, they'll maybe rethink that whole thing.

 

[RejectReality]

So glad I'm still using ( and will continue to use ) programs released before AI really took off. Glad I decided against buying a subscription to ProWritingAid as well. I only used ( and loved ) the repeated words and phrases report in the free version, so the value wasn't there. Once it reduced the number of words you could input several years ago, the free version became useless to me.

Grammar programs are notoriously bad at prose. That's what they're trying to solve with AI, but I think they're just introducing a different form of homogeny that was the problem with the business-driven suggestions that were the problem in the first place.

 

[ragal2]

I understand the editors are not interested in AI's limited vocabulary options. What bothers me is that in some stories I haven't changed the sentences. I only corrected grammar mistakes, and now they are waiting close to 2 weeks to be published. My guess is, eventually they'll be rejected (Without a specific explanation). BTW, if an author had his/her story rejected once, could it be that the author is flagged for more scrutiny next time?

 

[Priscilla_June]

No one here can help you. We don’t know what the problem is. Do one of two things (or both):

1. Resubmit your work with a note to the editor saying it is definitively your work
2. PM @Laurel and say the same (tell her the story title)

Good luck.

Em

Em, you should make a thread to explain as much and it should be pinned

 

[EmilyMiller]

Em, you should make a thread to explain as much and it should be pinned

The same advice has been given by many

Em

 

[LonRivers]

I would suggest finding a good editor to help you out. Using a program like Grammarly may send up some "Red Flags" as it may add in certain key words or common phrases that trip some triggers so to speak. It does suck though, and I feel your pain as it can be frustrating. I have had multiple stories denied because of content, but they have always told me what I did wrong to warrant the denial. Once I corrected them or rewrote everything from scratch, they accepted the stories. Don't give up though. Keep writing and keep submitting. if you use grammarly, don't submit it yet for publishing. Send it to a trustworthy editor first and have them look through it.

 

[ragal2]

You are probably right, but it is frustrating. I registered for a program ONLY to correct my grammar, and this is the only thing I use it for. Yet I am being stopped in my tracks. At present, I have 6 stories in the pipeline, the first of them since 12.20...