#IWSG – AI Ghostwriter

October 7, 2026 by Roland Clarke

For much of September, as in previous months, I’ve been concentrating on one writing project, so I have posted nothing significant here since the Insecure Writer’s Support Group post in September, Archetype.

However, Sunday’s gripe post, Frustration, summarises, in a rambling way, where I was at the beginning of this month. Perhaps getting that off my chest, to use a corny phrase, helped me feel more positive. Many thanks for your comments. Except more frustrations arrived today, starting with my Google Chrome browser.

On the home front, the bedsit-office is coming together more and more every day. Unfortunately, we had to let our carers go, as the expense was creating more problems for our limited budget.

Time remains the key actor in my writing. My health continues to demand drastic choices. Although I regret shelving my North Wales police procedural, Fates Maelstrom, I haven’t totally abandoned Sparkle Anwyl in my long-term dreams. In fact, my writing software, ProWritingAid, gave my original Snowdonia novel some interesting feedback. It suggested I should have persisted with it and gave me some valuable revision ideas.

Too late for now.

Unless I change direction again and abandon my current project.

Unlikely, as I’ve nearly finished revising my alternative history novel, Eagle Crossing. It’s been a chance to edit the second draft and create a detailed outline. I’ve just got the last three chapters to work on, plus a rewrite of the prologue. Set in 1000 AD, when Leif Erikson discovers Newfoundland, the Prologue explains why the Vikings stayed. But right now, the prologue is too long, and the major chapters set in 2020 should explain most of it. When I finish this revision, I would appreciate feedback before I move on to the next draft. Yes, I am feeling insecure.

However, I can’t abandon my Ukraine saga, Freedom Flights, which remains on hold, probably until there is a just peace, which brings an end to this horrendous war. Most days I try to keep up to date with the news from Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini

Heroiam slava!

Every month, IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG posts. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

October 7 question – Many people are calling for writers who use AI to disclose it. Most who employ ghostwriters do not admit it – do you think authors who use ghostwriters should have to disclose that, too?

(Thanks Melissa Maygrove for the question!)

AI has concerned me for quite a while, though I never thought of it alongside ghostwriting. Then maybe there is an overlap if people are using either or both.

Sometimes I’m tempted to use a ghostwriter, or maybe just a writing partner. In fact, I used a writing partner many decades ago, but I let him down, and he finished our nonfiction political book on his own. I also considered a writing partner a few years ago, but he wanted both payment and credit for working on an existing draft novel. Maybe I was wrong about that in retrospect, as it was a reasonable agreement.

I have never used a ghostwriter, nor do I consider using one. I fully agree that authors should inform every reader about the involvement of a ghostwriter. That seems only fair.

As for the AI, I admit I use writing software that must have an AI element, not a ghost, but another editor other than myself. There was an interesting occasion the other day when a writer, a bogger friend, asked ChatGPT about his own website. It gave an incredibly detailed overview, demonstrating that AI had actually been reading and probably using his website to teach other AI models. Fortunately, the AI has scanned this site, but it doesn’t seem to find many interesting blogs from its perspective.

I’ve tried to answer the question in my rambling way. To summarize, yes, I think writers who use ghostwriters in the same way as they overuse AI, and vice versa, should admit it upfront to their readers, and that must mean to their publishers.

The awesome co-hosts for the October 7 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Liza at Middle Passages, JH Moncrieff, and Jemima Pett

Finally, don’t forget to visit other writers via the IWSG site for their invaluable insights on writing:

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG, and our hashtag is #IWSG.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

Frustration

October 4, 2026 by Roland Clarke

What’s making me frustrated?

In chronological order, in yesterday’s timeline (October 3, 2026):
• DOGS.
• BEDBOUND.
• WIFE.
• WRITING.
• KEYBOARD.
• HOME.
Maybe somewhere down the line, I’ll add politics.

Let’s start with Saturday’s trigger. Our two male DOGS, both neutered, have been pissing in the bedroom and the corridor, mainly on anything they can lift their legs against. This creates an enormous amount of work for Juanita’s son, Jason, and his wife, Kaylee. This has been a problem ever since we moved in with them 3 months ago.

The next cause of my frustration is being BEDBOUND and unable to do anything around the house. When we were in our first house in the U.S., I was relatively mobile. However, when we moved, the situation confined me to a bed, and I then fractured my right femur. Having gone from an active life to being stuck in bed, I sometimes feel totally useless. What am I contributing to anything other than being a drain on resources and time, which might never have happened if I had remained in the UK, but that’s the ocean under the liner?

Maybe if we were still in the UK, I’d be able to help my WIFE more. She is not frustrating, but she gets frustrated with her situation, over her health, money, her computer, sometimes me, especially random answers like this one. I can do very little, if anything, to help, so that frustrates me. Frustration becomes a vicious circle.
In theory, I should have at least two or three things to distract me.

Being with my loving wife, gaming, and WRITING. Yes, on a good day, writing helps me feel better, especially when I accomplish something, such as finishing or revising another chapter. But with so many unfinished stories and novels, only one published book and one story in an anthology, I’m running out of time.

I thought I finished a novel in 2025, but that proved to be a non-starter. So far, I have had one good, encouraging piece of feedback… from my writing software. But that’s AI. Does it have a valid opinion? Then there’s the novel revision I gave up on a few months back, knowing it needed something like another murder. I need to revise the last few chapters of my alternative history, but I’m frightened where it’s leading. Is this another dead end? Am I wasting my limited time?

The Norwegian Viking ship Draken Harald Harfrage sailing off Greenland – http://www.drakenexpeditionamerica.com

Another writing problem is a messed-up KEYBOARD. It either misses characters completely or writes multiple versions of the intended letter. The only solution seems to be dictation, but then that makes a lot of errors and encourages me to ramble. Forget technical solutions. They haven’t resolved the problem.

Finally, we get to HOME, sweet home. The house we are living in with my wife’s son, his wife, and their daughter has worked out great, and they do everything to look after us. But my green card expired, and even after 10 years, the authorities have not provided me with any medical assistance. That contrasts with universal healthcare in the UK. My British assets have all gone. Now it is my brother who is selling possessions to cover my medical needs.

Almost every day I miss the UK, and there are moments where I hate being in the U.S.A. – but not most Americans. That comes down to politics, but then the cause of those problems has become global. Even the UK is feeling the fallout. Yet there are moments when my wife and I still feel our hearts are in North Wales.

Now that I have spelt out my frustrations, maybe I’m calmer, but revision might be the next step.

#IWSG – Archetype

September 2, 2026 by Roland Clarke

For much of August, as in previous months, I’ve been concentrating on one writing project, so I haven’t posted anything here since August’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, Regrets… if you ignore the reblog, which it seems almost everyone did.

On the home front, we now have paintings on our bare walls, including two special horse pictures and an English landscape painting. The photo from our office window in Wales is also up, as are some plants in our bedsit room. In the corridor outside our room, we can now see our cuckoo clock from the Black Forest.

Time is the key takeaway for my writing. I fear that, due to my health, I am running out of time, so I need to make some drastic choices. As I said last month, I am stuck at a roadblock in the project I was working on, my North Wales police procedural, Fates Maelstrom. There are far too many talking heads and not enough action. Either I need to murder someone or chase someone across Snowdonia.

Instead, I have spent the month working on revising my alternative history novel, Eagle Passage. It’s not only topical in the themes I have already included and will develop, but there’s also a better balance of elements. The devastating Nepal-Tibet flood also brought home how the direction mankind has taken the world in the last century, or more, is taking us toward an apocalyptic future – one I wrote about in another post-apocalyptic series. That’s unless the rich nations on the planet, and especially wealthy exploitative companies, choose a different path. My novel sets mankind on a different route in 1000 AD, one that places ecological resilience, people and livelihoods before profit and exploitation. However, the characters face a crisis in 2020 which threatens at least one continent, if not the whole world, resurrecting dangers from our timeline.

Here is one of many current warnings motivating me: Nepal-Tibet flood: this is the cost of not acting in the face of the climate crisis: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/28/nepal-tibet-flood-climate-crisis-global-heatinghttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/28/nepal-tibet-flood-climate-crisis-global-heating

Weirdly, just like my only published novel, Spiral of Hooves, the opening chapter is set in a part of what we call Canada. Some of the other chapters take place in what is now Quebec, which is where I went to college for two years. Any guesses to where Stadacona is?

However, I can’t abandon my Ukraine saga, Freedom Flights, which remains on hold, probably until there is just peace, which brings an end to this horrendous war. I do try to keep up to date with the news from Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini

Heroiam slava!

September 2 question – Do you have a favourite character archetype you tend to gravitate toward in your writing?

This proved to be an interesting excuse to delve deeper into my writing. Initially, I also wondered what sex my main characters had been so far. I wasn’t surprised to discover that male leads were six and female leads twelve. In some cases, these were joint main characters, one male and one female. It was also hard to know who the lead characters were when the secondary characters took up an equal proportion of the plot.

I suspected that more of my lead characters were of the Detective archetype. Not surprising, as my Welsh detective Sparkle Anwyll features in the four draft novels in the Snowdon Shadows series. So, presumably, that makes the Detective archetype the one I gravitate towards. However, not everyone online classifies the Detective as an archetype, although these characters “Doggedly follow clues and bring truth to light.”

Sparkle & Kama
Graphics by Jonathan Temples –
http://jonathantemples.co.uk/

In my writing, they also fit the Hero or Heroine archetype. In which case, I need to delve deeper. Several of them also have traits that place them in another category… The Outlaw, who “Defies rules and social order”. Sparkle’s sexuality and mind games put her apart from her fellow detectives, and some disapprove of the way she behaves.

Others operate outside the normal detection system, although still exposing lawbreakers. In the same draft novel and its sequel, I have two female characters who clearly operate outside the system, but on the side of good. One even openly rejects rules and societal norms and challenges authority. She calls herself a ‘white hat’ on numerous occasions, as she hacks into computers to stop the wrongdoers trying to bring down two online worlds.

The male lead in the same books falls squarely into two categories. First, “the overlooked and underestimated” Underdog, “proving their worth against the odds”. Second, the Everyman, “the relatable, ordinary person who may lack confidence or ambition but is thrust into extraordinary circumstances”. Writing this character, I found myself putting a lot of my own feelings and situation at the time into creating him.

Over the years, I may have unconsciously been writing similar archetypes. However, I’ve consciously wanted to write something that fits the Hero’s Journey. In 2016, I did write something that fit, or was meant to fit, the Heroine’s Journey. The central character, Torill Migisi, is clearly matches the archetype, The Chosen One – someone who is “Unwillingly anointed to defeat evil”.

It might not be my ‘favourite character archetype’, but it’s the one I’ve been gravitating towards. In last month’s IWSG Post, I wrote that, “I can regret and revise Eagle Passage as an Alternative History with current themes woven into a Heroine’s Journey plotline”.

So that is what I’m doing. As I follow what’s falling apart worldwide, I feel this novel might be a more interesting sell, especially if I get the balance right between rewriting history, dialogue and action.

Here are some resources I used to learn more about archetypes.

24 Character Archetypes: Definitions and Examples: https://www.novel-software.com/character-archetype/

50 Common Character Archetypes: https://www.everywritersresource.com/50-common-character-archetypes/

27 Character Archetypes — Examples in Literature & Movies: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/character-archetypes/

The awesome co-hosts for the September 2 posting of the IWSG are Kate Larkinsdale, SE White, JS Pailly, Olga Godim, and Natalie Aguirre!

Finally, don’t forget to visit other writers via the IWSG site for their invaluable insights on writing:

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG, and our hashtag is #IWSG.

Essential Reading – Don’t Act Late

August 13, 2026 by Roland Clarke

The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World’s Climate

A timely warning for us all, especially those young enough to act in time. Hard but crucial read.

#IWSG – Regrets

August 5, 2026 by Roland Clarke

For much of July, as in previous months, I’ve been concentrating on the usual writing project, so I haven’t posted anything here since July’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, Changes.

Having moved house in the last few days of June into our new home in Nampa, Idaho, we have been adapting from a two-bedroom home to a bedroom and bathroom in my wife’s second son’s new home, bought with some of the money from our house sale. As with our last house, we are still waiting for some items to reappear, especially paintings on the bare walls, to make our room seem more like home.

The UK might have a lower GDP than the US, but back there we were not being driven into poverty by medical bills. No wonder my heart is still in North Wales.

On the writing side, I’m slowly revising my North Wales police procedural, Fates Maelstrom. Having finished a chapter-by-chapter outline with improved plotlines, I continue to revise my 2018 draft. Except I already see too much talking and not enough action. Do I need another murder?

However, I can’t abandon my Ukraine saga, Freedom Flights, which remains on hold, probably until there is a just peace and an end to the horrendous war.

Slava Ukraini

Heroiam slava!

August 5 question – As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you’d done differently in your writing process?

“Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention…“

Correction: I’ve got more than a few regrets, but I can’t list them all.

On the writing front, my biggest regret is starting too many projects and not finishing enough of them. I admit that part of the problem is getting crazy ideas and needing to turn them into a draft novel. Well, after publishing one novel, I produced ten draft novels and two incomplete drafts.

However, looking back, most of these have arisen out of NaNoWriMo. For too many years, I used this to create a new project every year, rather than returning to projects that had mileage. Here’s a chronological list to show the extent of the problem:

NaNoWriMo 2011 – THE LAST LEAF. Developed from an IWSG Anthology entry.

NaNoWriMo 2012 – WYRM BLOOD. Sequel to a thriller penned in 2011.

NaNoWriMo 2013 – TORTUOUS TERRAIN. The sequel to my 2013 debut novel Spiral of Hooves.

NaNoWriMo 2015 – FATES MAELSTROM. Snowdon Shadows series Book 2. Started in 2012, then relocated to North Wales in November 2015.

NaNoWriMo 2016 – EAGLE PASSAGE. My Viking Alternative History developed from an IWSG Anthology entry.

NaNoWriMo 2017 – RUINED RETREAT. Snowdon Shadows series Book 4.

NaNoWriMo 2018 – FEVERED FEW short story collection now revised a year later.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – FEVERED FUSE. The revised version of ‘Fevered Few’, with a revamped title, an amended plot and new scenes. Snowdon Shadows series Book 1.

NaNoWriMo 2023 – FREEDOM FLIGHTS SHORTS Pre-Korean War

On November 2, 2022, I posted #IWSG – NaNoWriMo Challenge, which gives a different perspective on my NaNoWriMo outings. Earlier, in 2019, I also recorded my total word counts each year in Nano Notches.

From: http://foundandcherished.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/nanowrimo-survival-guide.html

It’s interesting looking back to realise how many draft novels I regret abandoning when another idea dragged me in a new direction. I even remember draft novels that weren’t NaNoWriMo projects – two, at least:

‘Seeking A Knife’, Book 3 in the Snowdon Shadows series, which is incomplete and needs previous books to establish Sparkle Anwyl. ‘Wyrm Bait’ is the mystery that preceded Wyrm Blood, and I regret filing it away after detailed comments from a reputable and published British editor, who was positive while suggesting a logical approach to the rewrite.

What is my biggest regret… after leaving North Wales? Not promoting ‘Spiral of Hooves’ enough, so I’d choose to work on the sequel set partly in Idaho, ‘Tortuous Terrain’.

While that’s difficult to fix, I can regret and revise Eagle Passage as an Alternative History with current themes woven into a Heroine’s Journey plotline which might be a more interesting sell than yet another police procedural that lacks action.

Or am I totally wrong? Or just getting distracted and confused?

The awesome co-hosts for the August 5 posting of the IWSG are Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia!

Finally, don’t forget to visit other writers via the IWSG site for their invaluable insights on writing:

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG, and our hashtag is #IWSG.

#IWSG – Changes

July 1, 2026 by Roland Clarke

For much of June, as in previous months, I’ve been concentrating on one writing project, so I haven’t posted anything here since June’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, Story Ideas.

However, over the last few days of June, family members and carers were packing up our belongings in our trailer home with some guidance from my wife and me. The last Saturday in June, we were moved by Viking Medical Transportation to our new home in Nampa. We have downsized from a two-bedroom home to a bedroom and bathroom in my wife’s second son’s new home, bought with some of the money from our house sale.

https://www.vikingmedicaltransportation.com/

We are now working out which belongings we can keep and where to put them. Some crucial items still need to appear, but they will eventually.

On the writing side, I’m slowly revising my North Wales police procedural, Fates Maelstrom. Having finished writing a chapter-by-chapter outline with improved plot lines, I can now return to editing, or rather revising, my 2018 draft.

My regular carer is a bit of a history buff and expressed interest in my Alternative History novel, Eagle Passage, so I’ve been revisiting that. Whenever I need the distraction of another project. I’m seriously considering revising my continuation of the Viking Age.

However, I can’t abandon my Ukraine saga, Freedom Flights, which remains on hold, probably until there is peace and an end to the horrendous war.

Slava Ukraini

Heroiam slava!

July 1 question – Is there anything you’d like to see changed, added, and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry?

As I’m finishing this on the morning of July 1st, my answer will have to be extremely rushed. Can self-publishing be improved as an option?

Cover design by Jonathan Temples. Cover photo by Nick Perry.
https://rolandclarke.com/spiral-of-hooves/

Having only self-published the second edition of Spiral of Hooves, I know little about this publishing avenue. Rather than struggle to convince a publisher that I’m a valuable investment, I’m considering self-publishing, as many authors are taking that route. I know some of you are doing this successfully.

At the moment, there seem to be a lot of poorly written self-published books out there. So, the market is flooded, and it’s hard to stand out. The answers seem to be better self-editing and revision, plus a greater commitment to marketing one’s own books. Due to my health and declining time, I’m beginning to realise that writing, editing, and marketing will take up more time than I have remaining.

Strangely, one of my carers is a self-published writer of fantasy and erotica, using the pen name Kataya Moon. Her solution is to sell her books on multiple sites, offer editing services, and ‘moonlight’ as a carer. To me, that is not a viable career path in my twilight years.

Can the industry develop better self-publishing avenues, or is there already a sensible, viable, and inexpensive route available?

As one IWSG co-host has suggested elsewhere, it all comes down to marketability.

The awesome co-hosts for the July 1 posting of the IWSG are Rebecca Douglass, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Cathrina Constantine, and Jacqui Murray!

Finally, don’t forget to visit other writers via the IWSG site for their invaluable insights on writing:

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG, and our hashtag is #IWSG.