3 ms·
I have actually read it and agree it is impressive. I will not comment much on the style of the writing, since this is very much subjective, but I would rate it
by deng 2y ago
I have actually read it and agree it is impressive. I will not comment much on the style of the writing, since this is very much subjective, but I would rate it as the "typical" modern fantasy style, which aims at filling as much pages as possible: very "flowery" language, lots of adjectives/adverbs, lots of details, lots of high-school prose ("Panic was a luxury they couldn't afford"). Not a big fan of that since I really miss the time where authors could write single, self-contained books instead of a sprawling series over thousands of pages, but I know of course that this kind of thing is very successful and people seem to enjoy it. If someone would give me this I would advise them to get a good copy editor.
There are some logical inconsistencies, though. For instance, when they both enter the cellar through a trapdoor, Kael goes first, but the innkeeper instructs him to close the trapdoor behind them, which makes no sense. Also, Kael goes down the stairs and "risks a quick look back up" and can somehow see the front door bulging and the chaos outside through the windows, which obviously is impossible when you look up through a trapdoor, not to mention that previously it was said this entry is behind the bar counter, surely blocking the sight. Kael lights an oily rag which somehow becomes a torch. There's more generic things, like somehow these Eldertides being these mythical things no one has ever seen, yet they seem to be pretty common occurrences? The dimensions of the cellar are completely unclear, at first it seems to be very small but yet they move around it quite a bit. There's other issues, like people using the same words as the narrator ("the ooze"), like they listen to him. The inkeeper suddenly calling Kael by his name like they already know each other.
Anyway, I would rate it "first draft". Of course, it is unclear whether the LLM would manage to write a consistent book, but I can fully believe that it would manage. I probably wouldn't want to read it.
- hjnilsson 2y agoThank you for taking the time to do a thorough read, I just skimmed it, and the prose is certainly not for me. To me it lacks focus, but as you say, this may be the style the readers enjoy. And it also, as you say, really reuses words. Just reading I notice "phosphorescence" 4 times for example in this chapter, or "ooze" 17 times (!). It is very impressive though that it can create a somewhat cohesive storyline, and certainly an improvement over previous models.
- famouswaffles 2y agoYeah I just focused on how well it was paced and didn't give any instructions on style or try a second pass to spot any inconsistencies. That would be the next step but I'd previously never thought going any further might be worth it.
- blinding-streak 2y agoRegarding your last sentence, I agree. My stance is this: If you didn't bother to write it, why should I bother to read it?
- deng 2y agoFrom a technical standpoint, this is incredible. A few years ago, computers had problems creating grammatically correct sentences. Producing a consistent narrative like this was science fiction. From an artistic standpoint, the result is... I'd say: incredibly mediocre, with some glaring errors in between. This does not mean that an average person could produce a similar chapter. Gemini can clearly produce better prose than the vast majority of people. However, the vast majority of people does not publish books. Gemini would have to be on par with the best professional writers, and it clearly isn't. Why would you read this when there is no shortage of great books out there? It's the same with music, movies, paintings, etc. There is more great art than you could ever consume in your lifetime. All LLMs/GenAI do in art is pollute everything with their incredible mediocrity. For art (and artists), these are sad times.
- meta_ai_x 2y agoIt's more nuanced than that. There are certain material/content where it is mandatory/necessary to read them. Ideally I'd prefer to read material written by a the top 1%ile expert in that field, but due to constraints you almost always get to read material written by a midwit, intern, junior associate. In which case AI written content is much better especially as I can interrogate the material and match the top 1%ile quality.
- famouswaffles 2y agoQuality is its own property separate from its creator. If a machine writing something bothers you irrespective of quality then don't read it. You think i would care ? I would not. If this ever gets good enough to write your next bestseller or award winner, i might not even share it and if i did, i wouldn't care if some stranger read it or not because it was created entirely for my pleasure.
- KittenInABox 2y ago> Not a big fan of that since I really miss the time where authors could write single, self-contained books instead of a sprawling series over thousands of pages, but I know of course that this kind of thing is very successful and people seem to enjoy it. When was this time you speak of?