Welcome to the Brandywine Valley Writers Group!
The Brandywine Valley Writers Group was founded in 2003 to help professional and amateur writers improve their craft and achieve their goals. We strive to inspire writers through our various programs and to offer friendship within our extensive membership.
Meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm on the second floor of Ryan's Pub on Gay Street in West Chester, PA. The informal meeting begins at 6:30ish when many gather for a social bite beforehand. You'll find a description of our upcoming meeting here. Visitors and new members are always welcome, so come on out!
Meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm on the second floor of Ryan's Pub on Gay Street in West Chester, PA. The informal meeting begins at 6:30ish when many gather for a social bite beforehand. You'll find a description of our upcoming meeting here. Visitors and new members are always welcome, so come on out!
Visit us on Facebook!
Please use Meetup to join our group and to receive meeting notifications. It’s free! Joining us on Meetup is important since you can sign up to get our meeting notifications emailed to you and you can RSVP. When you RSVP, it helps us plan for our meeting site usage so there is room for everyone.
Note: This site contains meeting and member information. It will not accept any comments. Use the Contact Us tab to send us e-mails.
Read Kate Archer's (BVWG Member) Statement on AI
Statement on the use of Artificial Intelligence
Dear Reader:
I recently received the following in my inbox regarding authors’ use of artificial intelligence (AI):
“Many of us have been using these tools for more than a year already, and attitudes have shifted as it’s become clear they are here to stay. I hope more authors will define themselves as AI-Assisted Artisan Authors in the year ahead.”
I do not know whose attitude has shifted, but that’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Not one word, not one plot point, not one description, not one sentence of dialogue, produced by me will ever have any assistance from AI. I will not use AI to produce cover art, but will pay an artist to use their art. If I choose to produce an audiobook, I will use a real narrator. Period.
As a member of the Author’s Guild, I have pointed out that approving the use of AI for “some” things and not “other” things is a slippery slope that requires self-discipline that many will not have. Further, it does not create firm boundaries for what is being pushed on readers. Already, people who are not writers and do not put any work into it are churning out AI books that were built on the backs of real authors. Publishers are being inundated with them.
So what’s the problem? If some idiot wants to try their hand at producing an AI book, it doesn’t mean anybody has to read it.
The problem is, AI did not think up whatever it regurgitated. It used my books and every other author’s books. It stole them, in fact. Most AI systems were fed books from pirated sites. Needless to say, authors were not asked for their permission despite holding copyrights, and authors will not be paid for this theft.
For any author to use AI is to feed the beast that is stealing from them.
If that were not bad enough, writing is a skill. If a person does not have the skill, they should try to develop the skill. Depending on AI will result in book after book that lacks originality and fails to surprise the reader. People with more IT skills than writing skills will be sure their rankings are at the top of the web page and readers will find themselves swimming through a vast ocean of mediocrity. Suddenly, it will feel as if all historical romances are the same now. Because they will be.
And most importantly to me, the arts are a human endeavor. Not something to be produced by machine, where the most successful are the best marketed. If Andy Warhol had used AI, there would be no Andy Warhol. AI does not produce any new ideas; it just steals and recombines from those humans who do.
I believe we are, as usual, becoming the victims of a bunch of bros (gender neutral) who are determined to make money regardless of the consequences. This happens to us all the time—think the 2008 recession, the A bomb, the oil industry/climate change, price gouging while blaming inflation, shrinkflation, planned obsolescence, etc.
One might imagine these tech people would solve the fundamental problems of the internet first: How to protect children from predators, how to protect young adults’ mental health, how to trace back and prosecute scammers, how to eliminate bots spreading lies that end up killing people. But no, they are heartily congratulating themselves on an already screwed up technology.
This time, I think we will discover far too late that AI has robbed our lives of meaning. I do not only refer to the arts here. Lawyers will not need to lawyer, pharmacists will just watch a screen, social workers will be hands-tied to algorithms—nearly every job will be affected in some way and many will be completely lost. I was once an entry level file clerk in a court office. I kept myself engaged all day by inventing faster and more efficient ways to file. I was really into it. We’re humans—we create things, we think up things, we accomplish things.
With AI in the future, most of us will just be watching things.
Those are going to be some long days.
For now, online platforms are requesting that authors who use AI say so. I’m thinking they will not say so.
I WILL state my stand, though. All Kate Archer books have been written by Kate Archer and only Kate Archer. That means, from the original idea to the final product there has been no interaction of any kind with AI. Not research, not plot ideas, not outlines, not editing, not ANYTHING.
I became a writer because I like to write. You became a reader because you like to read. Not everything in the world needs to be “disrupted” or “hacked.” Sometimes, the next new idea is just a Rube Goldberg cartoon that makes a thing more complicated than it needs to be.
Now, my dear reader, I hope you are enjoying this meddling butlers’ journey with me. Those six gentlemen are going to cause A LOT of trouble for everybody, including themselves. Fortunately, the ladies in question are well-prepared to face any obstacle thrown in their paths.
Kate
So, you want to write a book!
Read an article about writing
Please use Meetup to join our group and to receive meeting notifications. It’s free! Joining us on Meetup is important since you can sign up to get our meeting notifications emailed to you and you can RSVP. When you RSVP, it helps us plan for our meeting site usage so there is room for everyone.
Note: This site contains meeting and member information. It will not accept any comments. Use the Contact Us tab to send us e-mails.
Read Kate Archer's (BVWG Member) Statement on AI
Statement on the use of Artificial Intelligence
Dear Reader:
I recently received the following in my inbox regarding authors’ use of artificial intelligence (AI):
“Many of us have been using these tools for more than a year already, and attitudes have shifted as it’s become clear they are here to stay. I hope more authors will define themselves as AI-Assisted Artisan Authors in the year ahead.”
I do not know whose attitude has shifted, but that’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Not one word, not one plot point, not one description, not one sentence of dialogue, produced by me will ever have any assistance from AI. I will not use AI to produce cover art, but will pay an artist to use their art. If I choose to produce an audiobook, I will use a real narrator. Period.
As a member of the Author’s Guild, I have pointed out that approving the use of AI for “some” things and not “other” things is a slippery slope that requires self-discipline that many will not have. Further, it does not create firm boundaries for what is being pushed on readers. Already, people who are not writers and do not put any work into it are churning out AI books that were built on the backs of real authors. Publishers are being inundated with them.
So what’s the problem? If some idiot wants to try their hand at producing an AI book, it doesn’t mean anybody has to read it.
The problem is, AI did not think up whatever it regurgitated. It used my books and every other author’s books. It stole them, in fact. Most AI systems were fed books from pirated sites. Needless to say, authors were not asked for their permission despite holding copyrights, and authors will not be paid for this theft.
For any author to use AI is to feed the beast that is stealing from them.
If that were not bad enough, writing is a skill. If a person does not have the skill, they should try to develop the skill. Depending on AI will result in book after book that lacks originality and fails to surprise the reader. People with more IT skills than writing skills will be sure their rankings are at the top of the web page and readers will find themselves swimming through a vast ocean of mediocrity. Suddenly, it will feel as if all historical romances are the same now. Because they will be.
And most importantly to me, the arts are a human endeavor. Not something to be produced by machine, where the most successful are the best marketed. If Andy Warhol had used AI, there would be no Andy Warhol. AI does not produce any new ideas; it just steals and recombines from those humans who do.
I believe we are, as usual, becoming the victims of a bunch of bros (gender neutral) who are determined to make money regardless of the consequences. This happens to us all the time—think the 2008 recession, the A bomb, the oil industry/climate change, price gouging while blaming inflation, shrinkflation, planned obsolescence, etc.
One might imagine these tech people would solve the fundamental problems of the internet first: How to protect children from predators, how to protect young adults’ mental health, how to trace back and prosecute scammers, how to eliminate bots spreading lies that end up killing people. But no, they are heartily congratulating themselves on an already screwed up technology.
This time, I think we will discover far too late that AI has robbed our lives of meaning. I do not only refer to the arts here. Lawyers will not need to lawyer, pharmacists will just watch a screen, social workers will be hands-tied to algorithms—nearly every job will be affected in some way and many will be completely lost. I was once an entry level file clerk in a court office. I kept myself engaged all day by inventing faster and more efficient ways to file. I was really into it. We’re humans—we create things, we think up things, we accomplish things.
With AI in the future, most of us will just be watching things.
Those are going to be some long days.
For now, online platforms are requesting that authors who use AI say so. I’m thinking they will not say so.
I WILL state my stand, though. All Kate Archer books have been written by Kate Archer and only Kate Archer. That means, from the original idea to the final product there has been no interaction of any kind with AI. Not research, not plot ideas, not outlines, not editing, not ANYTHING.
I became a writer because I like to write. You became a reader because you like to read. Not everything in the world needs to be “disrupted” or “hacked.” Sometimes, the next new idea is just a Rube Goldberg cartoon that makes a thing more complicated than it needs to be.
Now, my dear reader, I hope you are enjoying this meddling butlers’ journey with me. Those six gentlemen are going to cause A LOT of trouble for everybody, including themselves. Fortunately, the ladies in question are well-prepared to face any obstacle thrown in their paths.
Kate
So, you want to write a book!
Read an article about writing
