Entering a contest with strict AI rules? Read this.
Most of publishing draws a line between AI that writes your book and AI that helps you work on it. Amazon KDP, for one, doesn’t ask you to disclose tools you used to edit or check your own writing. The Authors Guild calls using AI as a sounding board acceptable. Fictorial sits on the helping side of that line. It never writes a word of your book.
Some contests draw the line somewhere else, and you should take them at their word.
The Nebulas are the clearest example
SFWA’s Nebula rules (section 9.11) say works that used LLMs “at any point during the writing process” must disclose it on nomination, and those works will be disqualified. Fictorial runs on large language models. Talking about your manuscript with Fictorial during your writing process would be considered AI use. I read the rule that way, and you should too.
Other awards and contests have rules just as strict, and they change. Read the current rules for anything you plan to enter. If the wording isn’t clear, ask the people who run it before you upload.
What I’d do
If a book is headed for a contest with a rule like this, don’t run it through Fictorial. Use it on other projects, or wait until the contest is behind you.
If you’ve already used Fictorial on that book, deleting the project removes your data, but it doesn’t change the fact that you used it. Tell the contest the truth and let them decide.
Why I’m telling you this
Plenty of tools will say you have nothing to disclose. Mostly that’s right. Sometimes it isn’t, and the writer is the one who pays for it. These organizations have their reasons for the rules they set. I’d rather you hear it from me now than from an awards committee later.