August Hiatus and the Future of this Patreon Page

Hello friends.

As I indicated earlier this month, I will be pausing payments for one month. The next story post will be on September 1.

Also, I have something important to discuss.

I've been running this Patreon page for approximately 20 months straight now, with some planned breaks here and there, but otherwise I have not missed any scheduled post. Enthusiasm and priorities change over time, and I am finding it difficult to maintain the quality you have come to expect from me. However, I would like to continue doing something rather than stopping cold turkey.

Before I continue, let me say a few words about AI-assisted stories. Back when I first mentioned the topic, I shared a story called "Velociraptor Takes Queen -- Checkmate". This story was written using ChatGPT-4 (before its censorship was increased), and it was very off-the-cuff. I supplied the characters and basic scenario, and then the direction approximately 8-10 paragraphs at a time.

Since that time, I've been experimenting constantly with Sudowrite and developing lists of guidelines to enhance the writing quality and avoid common AI issues. However, because I typically get no feedback on individual stories, it's impossible for me to tell whether the rest of you have noticed any increase in quality since that time.

I feel like AI-assisted stories have merit, in part because they are much faster for me to write, while still being a lot of fun. I want to impress on you that I am not simply saying "Write me a 3000-word story about a velociraptor and a gryphon queen please." The result would be awful.

Rather, my system nowadays is that I have a list of global guidelines, a detailed character list, individual story guidelines, I direct the action 1 or 2 paragraphs at a time, and then I revise for any AI weirdness that still managed to sneak through. My process has been entirely developed by me over almost a year now, and no-one would be able to mimic it exactly.

With that context, there are a few options from here:

1. Slower post rate: I could cut the Patreon payment to $2.50 and post a story only once per month to maintain the same value. This would likely reduce the stress of biweekly deadlines, but would feel even more awkward for multi-parters than they already are.

2. Alternate handwritten and AI stories (e.g. handwritten on 1st, AI-assisted on 15th): AI stories are generally quicker to write (albeit still by no means "fast"), but it would allow more time for revision of the handwritten.

3. Include AI-assisted stories as equals in poll options: To this point, I have considered it critical to be honest and transparent about what is handwritten and what is AI-assisted, but if I could give options for any story from any source each poll, I can alter the options to fit my current motivation.

I would like to get everyone's opinion with the poll. I am not saying I would definitely obey the top vote, but it would help me get a feel for what's viable and what's not.