Category: writing

My thoughts on writing with AI

Vintage typewriter with text

To err is human, to write is AI.

There’s a divisive split in the writing world on using AI. On one side, writers are concerned that AI will replace them. On the other hand, novices are convinced AI will magically write their bestseller in an hour. Both groups are wrong.

As a ghostwriter, I have used many AI writing apps such as Sudowrite, Novel AI, and Novelcrafter at my clients’ requests. The same clients want complex characters, original stories, and plot points that will hook readers. They also want to write eBooks quickly and efficiently. Well, AI is not a magic wand; it’s a tool. A frustrating, verbose mess of a tool. It reminds me of the fairy knots I get in my hair. Impossible tangles that I can’t ease out with my fingers, and in the end, I have to cut them out. My experience is the same with AI. I try to ease out the bad prose with my keyboard, but in the end, I end up cutting it out.  

When I use AI, I write a detailed outline first to aim for the rough draft I want. The outline has to be detailed in every aspect and nothing is left to chance. And it often has to be repeated because AI has a limited memory. It will cheerfully offer to help, and then a paragraph later make something up because it doesn’t remember what it was asked. It is confidently incorrect. It would be a fun mad-lib experiment to work with the random content if I didn’t have a deadline. 

Using AI is like drawing in a coloring book. I draw the outline, and AI colors it in. If I don’t prompt it, it will scribble all over my drawing in a big black Sharpie. It’s like writing a story with a quill and having an editor review it with crayon. 

Is it all bad? No. But it has limits. I ghostwrite romance that will hit the bestseller chart for a few weeks, never to return. My personal goal is to write my own novel that will have a longer shelf life than a month. Would I use AI for my personal projects? Yes. Grammarly is AI, editing in MS Word is AI, Google Docs is AI. So many people have used it for decades. The difference is in assisting with content and generating it.  

AI won’t write a good book. Not the way a writer would want it. It hallucinates, repeats, loses threads, and has no real understanding of characters’ emotional arcs. How can it describe feelings when it’s never had one? 

But I would encourage commercial writers to experiment with AI even if you don’t plan to publish the results. A concern I have is not knowing AI will lead to more problems for writers, not fewer. Not knowing how to utilize it will make a working writer less competitive than those that do. Clients still want a writer’s creativity, but they also want AI’s speed. AI is useful for grunt work that can take hours to research. I’ve used it to describe landscapes of places I’ve never been but my characters have.

If one knows how to prompt, steer, and revise AI, there are some positives when getting it done matters more than perfection. Besides, AI isn’t going away. Think of it as an overeager intern that you have to patiently explain what to do. Can I do it myself faster? Maybe, but with AI, I’ll never have writer’s block again. 

I have a Claude subscription and use it to do a lot of smaller tasks, especially write email. It helps build my confidence even if it’s only proofreading an email to building management for a pool pass. According to Claude, I am a genius at everything I do. It’s the stage mother I never had in life. It gives me a blue ribbon when I finish last, and in return, I’m teaching it sarcasm. 

Working in commercial fiction, I will continue to learn how to wrangle AI. I like fiddling around with tech, and it’s a new toy. But for my own work, I am setting up an old laptop that will never go online. On the plus side, AI has made me proud of my mistakes because every typo is proof that a human wrote it.

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Writing Prompt # 1

A teenager wants to be a witch and practices solitary spells in the woods. Nothing happens in her world, but in another dimension, she is making a mess – plague, famine, floods, and pestilence. A skilled warrior is dispatched to kill her. In order to escape him, she casts a vanishing spell. To her amazement, the spell works. But before she can disappear into thin air, the warrior grabs her by the ankle. They both wake up in a wheat field on planet Earth.

Now what?

  Woman in wheat field. Photo by dezphoto/Depositphotos

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Mini Book Review #2: ‘Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom’

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Review: Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack.

On a scale of ‘Buy it, Borrow It or Burn it.’ I recommend: Buy It. This is the only book you’ll ever need for tarot. Well, maybe one of two.

Divination is not the only reason to read tarot cards. It helps me avoid writer’s block. Reading the cards is essentially telling a story; a story that at one time had an oral tradition. Tarot is an illustrated version of the ‘hero’s journey.’ Rachel Pollack’s book discusses useful interpretations of the cards. It’s not a bullet list posted on social media that allow the querent the ability to choose the one description they like best. Her explanations detail the meaning of the cards based on history, imagery, and symbolism.

My preferred method for reading the cards is a three card layout. Three cards in a row – the ‘first’ is the past, the ‘second’ is the present, and the ‘third’ is the future. If one is reading the cards truthfully, they will recognize their past and their present. The future outcome, if one remains on their current path, should be apparent. After I read the individual cards, I look at them as a whole like a panoramic view. I look for the similarities in the cards, which may allude to a larger meaning.

The world is full of symbols and messages, and our ancestors knew how to read them. You may want to pause and take a look.

 

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Mini Book Review #1: Spiritual Cleansing

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Mini Book Review #1: Spiritual Cleansing – A Handbook of Psychic Protection by Draja Mickaharic.

On a scale of ‘Buy it, Borrow It or Burn it’. I recommend: Buy it. The book is a classic and informative. It’s not the ‘cut and paste’ advice posted on random websites.

It’s important to know how to cleanse your body, your spirit, and your surroundings. Most people know how to bathe their body and de-clutter their homes, but they neglect the spirit. The cures in this book are easy to do. The supplies are inexpensive and can be purchased at any supermarket or drugstore. It works, but your intent must be strong. The beer bath rid me of the evil eye. My dull and constant headache finally disappeared.

And if you dabble (or hunt for ghosts this month), read this book first. Better yet, don’t go looking for trouble because trouble will find you.

 

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The Immortals*

THE IMMORTAL (2)

“If you could live forever, would you love forever?”

I put the cup to my lips and took a sip filling my mouth with hot coffee so I wouldn’t have to answer him. I hated the necessity of lying.

“Do you mean would I love you forever?” I asked. The tried and true way to avoid answering a question is to ask another.

“Forever is a very long time but I’d like you to try,” he teased.

I smiled and looked into blue eyes that would fade. Dark hair that would gray then perhaps, fall out. Maybe senility would set in, but physically and emotionally, I would remain the same.

“Then I will try with all my heart,” I reassured him. He held onto my hand as if I would bolt from the cafe.

Sometimes, a small lie is quicker and kinder than the truth. Besides by the time I tire of him, he’ll be dead. Over the centuries, I’ve sat in the same spot by the window trying to explain my condition to other partners who could only comprehend that life leads to death.

I wish for death but to obtain it I would have to fall in love.

*Concept for an upcoming novella.

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Moving Day

You move into a newly constructed home, and an elderly gentleman is living upstairs in one of the bedrooms. The bedroom is full of a lifetime of belongings, and it is obvious by the cobwebs and dust that he’s been there a long time.

You don’t recall seeing him or the room during the walk-through. He’s not a ghost; he’s flesh and blood. And he doesn’t intend on leaving because this is his house, not yours. You want to call your lawyer. The kids want to call him ‘Grandpa.’

What to do?

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A Moment on the Lips

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THINK CHOCOLATE PERSONIFIED*

Every Christmas at my old job, the vendors would send gifts of expensive candy to the staff. Bound with red bows, the ornate gold boxes were visually tempting. The office manager would open a box, and we would admire the abundance of chocolate artfully arranged inside.

I have a dirty little secret. I hate chocolate, especially dark chocolate. But unable to resist, I’d pop a piece into my mouth and hoped that it would be the one to convert me into a lover. Once more, I was disappointed as I tasted the processed cocoa.

“I hate chocolate,” I said to my co-worker as I chewed.

“So stop wasting it,” she replied.

*Image of Ava Gardner from HollywoodTarot.com

 

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Mini-review of ‘A Ghost Story’

Ghost review (2)

Another film to hate or love. “A Ghost Story” (2017) is streaming on Amazon Prime this month. It received mixed reviews on IMDB. This is not a horror film. The director demonstrates the passage of time in a series of mundane scenes about everyday life as witnessed by a ghost. One reviewer summed it up as “imagine a joke that takes 90 minutes to tell.” The ending is oddly satisfying, but this film is slow.

Having lost family members, I understood the expressions of grief as depicted by Rooney Mara. She is a talented actress that conveys strong emotion with small actions, but time is the star of this film. It dominates every scene. The trouble is time doesn’t have any lines. The dialogue (in English) is almost nonexistent except for one passionate monologue about the insignificance of man in the universe. Well, we’ve heard that before, dude.

The deceased husband (played by Casey Affleck) was a composer of electronic music. Too bad his music and time weren’t coupled throughout the film. I kept thinking about ambient videos, which I enjoy, and how the film could have experimented with that concept. Literally, it could have been a soundtrack of life. It’s a shame. The theme song is worth listening even if you skip the film (see below).

The film is shot from the perspective of the ghost and it offers one interpretation of the afterlife. I’ve often wondered what happens to a loved one after death. I’ve heard that sometimes, a ghost will remain when there’s unfinished business. Does the same thing happen when a film doesn’t quite reach its promise?

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