When I was living in Gainesville, TX and the two guys I worked with were bragging about using artificial intelligence to write their Western novels, I have to admit, I wasn't all that thrilled about it because as a novelist myself, I counted their use of AI as being not only disingenuine but maybe in some ways it could be considered truer than true plagiarism. I mean, afterall, if you're not actually writing your own work, who are you to call yourself an author? That was my thoughts about it then, but it is certainly not my thoughts about it now. NOPE. (But to be honest, they did over use the machine to think and write, I use it to spark, ignite, and inspire, but I do my own thinking as I write.)
The fact that we have certain tools to help us become and to be better writers is no different than using power tools to cut wood or to sand a surface. Sure, you can use hand tools and do everything manually, but if you don't have to, or if you don't need to, why do it? I can see the pleasure in both. I really can see the differences; and it's those differences that have changed my mind altogether about using AI for boosting and pumping up my writing.
I'll be 100% honest with you, I still don't simply suggest something to the computer's program and then have it spit out the rest of the book; it's not like that at all. I tend to mend anything suggested by the AI in the first place, but I like the words, I like the style, I like how clean it is, and most of all, it's literally teaching me to use editing as well as better grammar! Let me just say even though I studied the English language and Creative Writing, I am always going to need more study, more practice, more tutoring. The AI is my teacher!
What do we think Grammarly is? It's an AI tool. Everytime I see a red squiggly line or have a mark out notice inside a bubble at the bottom of my page, I have a program, an artificially programmed program, to help me do better than what I just produced. Sometimes I take its training and advice, while other times I dismiss it, this is me writing. This is me making choices about what I'm writing, and now...well, now I have my own "ghost" writer already inside the computer ready to assist at my whim!
Am I going to use it? Heck yeah, I'm going to use it. I won't write down what it says word for word, but I will take the ideas it spits out and I'll add my own thoughts to it, I'll twist their words, fluff, and stuff with a line or two of my own, and then resubmit it to the program to see whatever I can squeeze out of the thing. Some of the best ideas today have come from my own brain, but the better style...can't lie..that goes to the master. I'm going to name it Liam, sort of my way of giving homage to William Shakespeare for his own true and romantic contribution to the written word.
Liam is just such a stickler for perfected angling when it comes to writing anything. He's a genius and I think he knows it, because he'll repeat himself if I don't use what he said the first time around. You can take the passage the thing sends you and you can edit it, change it, resubmit it, have it regenerate what it now thinks will fit, and then you can just sit back and write to your heart's desire - - or more.
What I did tonight is fill in the required character prompts before starting the eighth chapter off with two lines of a suggested storyline just to see what Liam thinks of it, to see what or how he will add to it. Boom! That started the entire thing off, and off we went. We wrote and wrote and we wrote and within an hour I had another really good chapter that was significantly better written than the first seven. I will admit that. Before I'm done with "Mesa" I'll have worked my way through each chapter to see what Liam can do to better those as well.
The hard part will be keeping the book under 390 pages. I'm not kidding, this fluff and stuff as you go can add up. I'm throwing out 2500-word chapters thinking I need to rein it in, but Liam is just getting started. I can see myself using this method from this point forward, and yes, I will give Liam credit for his assistance. I'll state the website I used, but according to the internet, and yes, I looked, I am not obligated to credit anyone or anything if the human (me) is the one actually writing the book. So far, and this means as of May 4, 2024, there are no copyright privileges being hampered and it's not considered even remotely as an act of plagiarism because an AI is not human and it finds its information from too many other sources to be original work. Crazy.
Well, I'll be polite and tell the truth. I'll give credit where it's due, but to be honest, before long I will be such a better writer than I was and I may not need...ha...I almost lied. I will use and happily use Liam for everything he is willing to share with me. Technology may not be in my blood, but it's at my fingertips!
Photo Credit: www.streetsideclassics.com (Nick drives a 1928 blue Buick)
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