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.
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.
What I’m Learning from Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand 2.0
Most businesses tell confusing stories and that’s not what customers want. They want clarity. Your story needs to be very clear. The human brain is wired to survive and if you want to make customers pay attention, then you need to tap into that impulse. Eliminate the noise. Highlight what you offer that will help them “survive and thrive.”