Field Notes
On the Frontier
This is a living laboratory. It features experiments in human-AI collaboration, creativity, and business management.
Words I Keep Deleting From AI Drafts
There are words that will appear again and again in the drafts you receive from your AI writing partner. I’ve taken to deleting them all.
Spotting AI Writing Ticks in Fiction Drafts
Thinking of this particular quirk, I suspect it’s because of a lack of dramatic action or emotion. The character is not doing anything other than noticing and thinking, nor does she have any emotion to play off of other than her own desire to suppress her emotions. And in order to make this moment somehow feel important (or deeper), the AI leans on this quirk of the character noticing something and filing it away, a kind of office-like rendering of the act of repression.
Using AI Without Letting It Do Too Much
Even though I didn’t use what AI suggested, I liked the idea of bridging, so I kept that. I also like that idea that the website would be a collaboration between (or a combintation of) the traditional and the new. So even when I don’t adopt the writing, it’s often very helpful to have something to consider and to pick the parts that I connect with, and then go from there.
When AI Starts Writing in Circles
My on-going theory is that AI will write laughable sentences when it is struggling to find interesting things to say. And that’s because the planning is off. The drama has dried up. The characters have flattened. The juice—if it ever existed—has been squeezed out of your story.
Why I Created Multiple Pen Names For Different Genres
Traditionally, pen names have also been a good way to overcome bias or to give your writing career a fresh start or to publish sensitive or unconventional content. For me, it’s fun. And it makes sense to stay in the background, because I feel more like a creative director in this process.
The Trouble With Elara: Using AI for Fantasy Character Names
If you’re writing a fantasy (or a romantasy), A.I. loves to suggest the names Elara, Lyra, Silas, Elias, and Kaelen, among others. I asked A.I. to list the most common names that A.I. provides for fantasy characters and Silas was listed twice. That’s how common it is. Any surname will likely have “Thorne” or “Black” or “Wood” or “Vance” in the name. Stay away from these.