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I use these various AIs for fiction writing. I think Margaret misses some of their utility. You would never just squeeze out a novel with AIs as they currently

I use these various AIs for fiction writing. I think Margaret misses some of their utility. You would never just squeeze out a novel with AIs as they currently stand. They are far too primitive and the context window if far too small right now. However, they are excellent at speeding up the process of fiction writing with humans involved. You get a draft together, but you feel like it could be more dramatic. So, you take a few scenes that you've written, put them in the AI, and then ask it to make them more dramatic. It comes back with okay-ish ideas. You iterate again. And again. Finally, you have something that really feels like what you're looking for. Then you send that out to your editor or friends and family. Instead of getting very high quality feedback in a week or a day (lucky!), you can get middling quality back in minutes. Yeah, it's not the absolute best, but it gets you out of your headspace and gets you iterating faster. You then send that better draft out for much faster feedback. It's like the rubber duck every programmer uses, only it talks back. There are other ways that I tend to use these AIs, but the idea is the same. You're not using them point-blank. You use them as a part of the process, and it speeds up that process as a result. Now, of course, she's not wrong here about publishers. They'll squeeze these AIs out for just crap and try to sell that, and, unfortunately, be successful. When author royalties and advances drop to $0, you can tolerate a lot in the long tail.

vintagedave 3y ago
Could you share some examples of what an AI had written that is acceptable or useful for fiction writing, please? All AI-generated text I've seen had a certain feel or tone that was quite different from 'literature'. I'm really curious to see what you've managed to get them to do, and if you can, even which AIs you've used. Thankyou!
- Balgair 3y ago
  For fiction writing, all of them work more or less the same. The trick to get the AI to produce more iteratable content is to use a really long prompt. The more specific you can be, the better. So, don't say 'in the style of Hemingway' to get something like Hemingway. Say something more like 'in the style of the character of Timeaus, in Plato's Timeaus, as translated by J. Harward' to get something that feels more like an ancient platonic dialog. Don't say ' I want a heroic character who fights dragons', say something like ' I want a maiden in distress over her recent divorce from her alcoholic husband of 7 years, Fred, and the incarceration of her mother for the 4th time for drug abuse. This maiden lives in upstate New York, and ....'. Give it as much as you can. And again, you use AI as an accelerant, not as the generator of the initial ideas. You still have to do that on your own. You can have the AI tweak things, suggest things, but having it make things up from whole cloth isn't the best. Take what it gives you, throw half away, iterate on the rest, repeat. Like with a longer prompt, if you give the AI the entire text that you need a hand with, and then ask it very specific things, you will get better results.

vintagedave 3y ago

Could you share some examples of what an AI had written that is acceptable or useful for fiction writing, please? All AI-generated text I've seen had a certain feel or tone that was quite different from 'literature'. I'm really curious to see what you've managed to get them to do, and if you can, even which AIs you've used. Thankyou!

Balgair 3y ago
For fiction writing, all of them work more or less the same. The trick to get the AI to produce more iteratable content is to use a really long prompt. The more specific you can be, the better. So, don't say 'in the style of Hemingway' to get something like Hemingway. Say something more like 'in the style of the character of Timeaus, in Plato's Timeaus, as translated by J. Harward' to get something that feels more like an ancient platonic dialog. Don't say ' I want a heroic character who fights dragons', say something like ' I want a maiden in distress over her recent divorce from her alcoholic husband of 7 years, Fred, and the incarceration of her mother for the 4th time for drug abuse. This maiden lives in upstate New York, and ....'. Give it as much as you can. And again, you use AI as an accelerant, not as the generator of the initial ideas. You still have to do that on your own. You can have the AI tweak things, suggest things, but having it make things up from whole cloth isn't the best. Take what it gives you, throw half away, iterate on the rest, repeat. Like with a longer prompt, if you give the AI the entire text that you need a hand with, and then ask it very specific things, you will get better results.