The photography/ painting analogy is such a good one. I wish I could write long meandering sentences. Unfortunately I am a choppy writer by nature and it’s hard to change one’s style at this stage of life
I get it! And I think it’s okay. At least it’s always been your style and if anyone comes at you about your writing being AI, you’ve got your ready-made excuse ;)
I'm with you on AI telltales - the choppy writing, one or two word sentences, trying to sound overly dramatic and profound, phrases with 'quiet' in it like 'quiet confidence' or 'quietly give yourself permission'.
The easiest way to avoid AI is to read old books, haha!
I'm finishing up two books now that are both very, very human - A Heart So White, Javier Marias (a buddy read, eager to discuss it soon), and Straight Man, Richard Russo which is already one of my favourite books. Very witty and the main character is uncannily similar to me - age, temperament, a teacher, snark, not taking anything seriously. Two very different books - A Heart So White (if you don't know it) has lots of those meandering sentences, often repetitive, somewhat postmodern, he rambles, but the ideas are beautiful and it's a gripping book.
this was a refreshing perspective... (& as someone that is querying in this mess-- it's been extremely demoralizing. so thank you for this little bit of light!)
i was speaking with my ex-husband last week and he had mentioned something about claude ai, how he used it to generate 95 emails within seconds. the look on his face was priceless when i said that I've never even opened a gen ai browser & until the last few months, was completely ignorant to its capabilities.. i went onto explain that i'll never use it, beside the environmental & societal impact, as a writer, i'm terrified of AI allegations/i'll now never find an agent bc of all the gen-ai books out there. he said something along the lines of ai being too generic & robotic, and will never be able to replace human writers in the arts. i'm really holding out hope that's the case.
(also i'm hoping this makes sense as i'm typing from my phone & it's not easy to scroll back up and reread this 😅😅)
I understood every word! And I know how demoralizing the whole querying process is. It took me nine months! And a gazillion nos (and worse, no response). You will find your agent! You’ve been writing for so long and you’ve lived, like really lived! A robot has got nothing on you.
Keep me updated on the querying process and lmk if you want to chat or vent!!!
I loved Small Things Like These and Foster too. I think they are both good examples of
Ursula Le Guin's carrier bag theory of literature. That theory shifts the novel away from the hero story of the hunt and the climax to a container holding a collection of relationships and feelings that form community. Plausibly AI could replicate a killer plot based on a collection of published thrillers but I doubt it could contain the impressions and multitudes of everyday life, which is truly our lived experience.
I'm still reading The Remembered Solider by Anjet Daanje. It's over 500 pages and so uniquely and poignantly captures all the understandings and misunderstandings of marriage that almost invisible to the outside but mean everything on the inside
Foster is also so good! I’m a big fan of Le Guin’s theory and I think you’re right, both of Keegan’s books (all of them, probably) fit in the carrier bag. The lived experiences are absolutely what make good literature. It’s so sad we even have to have this conversation about AI-written books.
It sounds like The Remembered Soldier could never be conceived of by a robot!
I'm not sure if I am any good at detecting AI vs not AI, have not tested it out yet...but I have strong intuition, so maybe I will lean there. I love this take though, human-forward art! great post!
Agree wholeheartedly that AI will never be able to replicate the humanity inherent in writing. Though I do worry we’re getting so caught up in trying to spot AI writing that we might confuse “bad writing” for AI. Because there’s definitely a difference!
I totally agree! And I do fear pointing fingers at people, only to find out they actually wrote it and it wasn’t AI. Lots of brave writers run their own work through detectors like Pangram and see they claim it’s like 75% AI-written. That would terrify me lol.
I listened to a podcast recently that was talking about this and how a lot of trad pubbed authors could run their work through an AI detector and it would come back as AI…because AI was trained off of their stolen work 🫠 hard to win/prove anything in a situation like this
The impressionist pivot is the part that stays with me. Not competing on the same terms but finding a different register entirely. What strikes me about Keegan and Harvey is that the "light around objects" in their work is almost always emotional architecture, the thing a character won't look at directly, described entirely through what surrounds it. The cold Christmastime streets. The Earth from orbit. The subject is never quite the subject. That indirection is what makes it irreducible.
I love this! Writing about the light around objects. Why I've always loved impressionist paintings - all about the light. Beautiful metaphor to apply to the written word as well.
This is a really beautiful way of looking at it. I’m glad I read this and hope to remember the light!
Remember the light! I love that so much. Thank you 🥹
The photography/ painting analogy is such a good one. I wish I could write long meandering sentences. Unfortunately I am a choppy writer by nature and it’s hard to change one’s style at this stage of life
I get it! And I think it’s okay. At least it’s always been your style and if anyone comes at you about your writing being AI, you’ve got your ready-made excuse ;)
I'm with you on AI telltales - the choppy writing, one or two word sentences, trying to sound overly dramatic and profound, phrases with 'quiet' in it like 'quiet confidence' or 'quietly give yourself permission'.
The easiest way to avoid AI is to read old books, haha!
I'm finishing up two books now that are both very, very human - A Heart So White, Javier Marias (a buddy read, eager to discuss it soon), and Straight Man, Richard Russo which is already one of my favourite books. Very witty and the main character is uncannily similar to me - age, temperament, a teacher, snark, not taking anything seriously. Two very different books - A Heart So White (if you don't know it) has lots of those meandering sentences, often repetitive, somewhat postmodern, he rambles, but the ideas are beautiful and it's a gripping book.
Ok so now “quiet” is on my radar. I wonder how often I use that word and come off AI-sounding 🤣
I haven’t read either of those books. Thank you for putting them on my radar! I always learn something from your notes.
Don’t overthink the ‘quiet’ thing, you’re in the clear - I just said the ‘quiet part out loud’, that’s all 😉
this was a refreshing perspective... (& as someone that is querying in this mess-- it's been extremely demoralizing. so thank you for this little bit of light!)
i was speaking with my ex-husband last week and he had mentioned something about claude ai, how he used it to generate 95 emails within seconds. the look on his face was priceless when i said that I've never even opened a gen ai browser & until the last few months, was completely ignorant to its capabilities.. i went onto explain that i'll never use it, beside the environmental & societal impact, as a writer, i'm terrified of AI allegations/i'll now never find an agent bc of all the gen-ai books out there. he said something along the lines of ai being too generic & robotic, and will never be able to replace human writers in the arts. i'm really holding out hope that's the case.
(also i'm hoping this makes sense as i'm typing from my phone & it's not easy to scroll back up and reread this 😅😅)
I understood every word! And I know how demoralizing the whole querying process is. It took me nine months! And a gazillion nos (and worse, no response). You will find your agent! You’ve been writing for so long and you’ve lived, like really lived! A robot has got nothing on you.
Keep me updated on the querying process and lmk if you want to chat or vent!!!
I loved Small Things Like These and Foster too. I think they are both good examples of
Ursula Le Guin's carrier bag theory of literature. That theory shifts the novel away from the hero story of the hunt and the climax to a container holding a collection of relationships and feelings that form community. Plausibly AI could replicate a killer plot based on a collection of published thrillers but I doubt it could contain the impressions and multitudes of everyday life, which is truly our lived experience.
I'm still reading The Remembered Solider by Anjet Daanje. It's over 500 pages and so uniquely and poignantly captures all the understandings and misunderstandings of marriage that almost invisible to the outside but mean everything on the inside
Foster is also so good! I’m a big fan of Le Guin’s theory and I think you’re right, both of Keegan’s books (all of them, probably) fit in the carrier bag. The lived experiences are absolutely what make good literature. It’s so sad we even have to have this conversation about AI-written books.
It sounds like The Remembered Soldier could never be conceived of by a robot!
I'm not sure if I am any good at detecting AI vs not AI, have not tested it out yet...but I have strong intuition, so maybe I will lean there. I love this take though, human-forward art! great post!
Thank you! I’m sure your AI detection is quite strong. You’d be able to feel if something is hollow.
It helps that this came from Sting, who is both the smartest and the hottest lol
Agree wholeheartedly that AI will never be able to replicate the humanity inherent in writing. Though I do worry we’re getting so caught up in trying to spot AI writing that we might confuse “bad writing” for AI. Because there’s definitely a difference!
I totally agree! And I do fear pointing fingers at people, only to find out they actually wrote it and it wasn’t AI. Lots of brave writers run their own work through detectors like Pangram and see they claim it’s like 75% AI-written. That would terrify me lol.
I listened to a podcast recently that was talking about this and how a lot of trad pubbed authors could run their work through an AI detector and it would come back as AI…because AI was trained off of their stolen work 🫠 hard to win/prove anything in a situation like this
I was trying to explain that to my husband the other day! It’s a wild time to be a writer!
The impressionist pivot is the part that stays with me. Not competing on the same terms but finding a different register entirely. What strikes me about Keegan and Harvey is that the "light around objects" in their work is almost always emotional architecture, the thing a character won't look at directly, described entirely through what surrounds it. The cold Christmastime streets. The Earth from orbit. The subject is never quite the subject. That indirection is what makes it irreducible.
I love this! Writing about the light around objects. Why I've always loved impressionist paintings - all about the light. Beautiful metaphor to apply to the written word as well.