Category: Thoughts and Ramblings

The Artificial Creative

While I’m sure this has been done to death, I wanted to talk a little about the applications of AI in the creative space. We’ve all seen those posts online about “I made a bot watch 5,000 of Hell’s Kitchen and had it write an episode” and allowed a sigh of relief. “At least computers won’t take away jobs from novelists and TV writers,” we laugh and move on with our day.

However, Artificial Intelligence has been created to generate any text. Students can get computer software to write complete essays, songs can be written to mimic certain artists and their genre styles, and people have even submitted full AI-written short stories to major fiction magazines like Asimov. It feels a little bit backward that we’re using something that has the ability to do so much of our work to give us more leisure and creative time as something to create so we have more work time. It makes me feel a bit odd about our trajectory as a creative in society.

This is not to say “Technology is Evil and Edison is a witch.” I’m writing this on my computer and I use technology in a million ways throughout my day. I think the question isn’t “should we have AI working in classically ‘human’ arenas?” but “How can we work with AI?”

With the rise of all the AI-generated art out there, I do worry about what it will mean for our future as a society. It’s easy to set up a program that will scan the internet for various features of paintings, analyze songs for musical patterns, and–yes–even write whole books based on a single sentence prompt. But what is the value of that? Without going into the ethics of copyright and ownership (which is a whole different subject I’m not qualified to speak on), are these pieces of ‘art’ worth our time? Beyond the novelty of ‘AI-Generated Profile Pics’ or something similar, how long will these endure the test of time? Will we be looking at these the same way we look at the Mona Lisa or The Birth of Venus? They’re cool tricks, but I don’t think they’ll ever properly replace human talent and creativity. In the future, it could exist, but I really hope humans don’t lose the passion to create ourselves when a computer can do it the same way. Will we be advertising ‘No Machine Novels’ or ‘Code-Free Art’ as an alternative? I can’t say for sure.

I certainly hope that we don’t lose sight of how writing binds us together as humans. We always talk about how humans are more ‘advanced’ than animals. Some people say it’s empathy, some people say it’s tool use, and some people claim it’s the moment we walked upright that sets us apart. Truthfully, I believe it is our ability to create and tell stories. From oral traditions around the fire and cave paintings to digital art and blogs, we have always been a species that thrives on the idea of stories and creation.

The truth is, we already use AI as writers a lot. A basic spelling and grammar check requires some amount of AI and there are all kinds of writing prompt generators out there that use formulas to derive everything from character names to ideas for novels. We have AI to help us edit our work into something more concise and comprehensive, we have software that can proofread our work. All of these things are crucial to any writer with a pulse. In my mind, we should use AI as a companion to our creative endeavors, not as authors.

Piecing Together

Every writer–no matter where they are in their writing journey–has a Trunk Book. It’s a story you started when you weren’t ready and had to give up. A story you wrote that never quite came together or a series of ideas you didn’t know how to connect beyond a few scenes and a loose plot. Maybe time got the better of you, or a busy schedule determined that your story would be put on hold, or perhaps you just lost steam about it and moved on to another idea. The Lost Characters, the Abandoned Quests, and the Snippets of Dialogue that you loved all linger together in the bottom of a trunk: digital, physical, or mental.

Personally, I have a particular file on my computer that I call the Graveyard: projects that didn’t quite pan out, short things I wrote in high school, and things that just never settled quite right for whatever reason. Sometimes, like a literary corpse snatcher, I go back to old projects and do a bit of grave robbing to piece together old ideas into something new. I have found myself revisiting this folder a lot recently.

The question that hits me again and again is “What needs to be fixed?” before I can do anything with it. Is it the tone of the story? Does a character not have enough motivation or do their actions seem inconsistent? Who or what would be needed to drive the story forward and what is stagnant that doesn’t seem to fit the pace? Answering these questions help me decide what to do with these old cadavers of story. Some stay in the Graveyard to age a bit, but some seem ripe enough to try and resurrect.

I am, admittedly, guilty of Email Writing a Novel. While working desk jobs–stuck behind a computer with shifting workflow–I would often send emails to myself. When an idea hit me that was remotely more interesting than another spreadsheet or company email, I would email my personal email what was on my mind. Trapped behind a desk, I built gateways to my own adventures. I uncovered an old email thread I had written and decided to tackle it again.

The most important thing about Graveyards or Trunk Books is that it doesn’t destroy things that didn’t work at the time. It saves them so they can percolate in a safe place without constantly trying to fix what’s broken. The most important part of writing is–unsurprisingly–writing. If you’re stuck in a Trunk Book, sometimes it’s healthy to set it aside until you’re ready to stitch together a new monster. Hopefully, your results will be more beneficial than Dr. Frankenstein’s body building.

Expert Insight

I have recently been doing some job shadowing. I’m looking to find work that is fulfilling and gratifying in a similar way to writing while still allowing time for it. Talking with people I know who are well-versed in their fields has gotten me thinking about one of the most important aspects of researching for writing: Experts.

Whether you’re writing non-fiction that is purely factual or a fantasy just barely clinging to aspects of our reality, having the correct view of things is essential to making your writing more realistic. I keep an active list of people I consider experts in everything. Whether they’re long-time professionals or experienced hobbyists, I like to keep track of what my friends consider themselves experts in. An element of realism is important so the audience of a story feels connected. I have friends who are photographers, veterinarians, horse handlers, gardeners, and crafters of all sorts. If I ever decide to include elements of these in a story, I find it better to research on my own and ask questions of these experts in my life.

Shadowing also gives an opportunity to collect important sensory details. All the information in the world is fantastic to bring reality to your writing, but it is equally as crucial to get your reader into the place you’re experiencing. I’ve started keeping a small notebook with me to write down sensory experiences in places I visit. The smell of a horse barn, the sounds of the forest, the feel of soft soil in one’s hands, and the visuals of an active surgery are all fantastic ways to add reality to your writing. Humans are naturally observant, even if we aren’t consciously doing it. Think of somewhere you go every day: your office, your favorite coffee shop, your friend’s house. What do you see when you think of it? What sounds do you associate with it? Any smells that come to mind? Imagine that level of detail in your writing, not just creating a visual snapshot, but adding more realism to the reality you created.

Try writing a description of a room that you’re in without being there (using as many of your senses as possible). Read your description later. What did you include? What did you leave out? Rewrite it again and revisit it in a month. When you can start to create a vivid picture of this place, start doing it with other places.

Now, see if you have a friend who you consider an expert. Ask them over for coffee or a drink and ask them about their expertise! People love talking about things they love, so use this as an opportunity to become a mini-expert in a new field! Learn something new and try writing about their day. Now try working it into a narrative! You’ll find that you can create more realistic worlds in arenas you were previously a novice at. It doesn’t have to be technically perfect, but it can appear very real!

New Beginnings

Here we are again! Another year in which we try to find ways to improve ourselves across the spectrum. New skills to learn, new commitments to ourselves, and new beginnings to the year. Sometimes, they see us through to the end of the year; other times, not so much. Either way, I think it’s healthy to look back on the year and try to figure out where we can use improvement or even just to take stock and see if we’re where we want to be in our lives. The last few years have certainly been full of challenges and changes, but also a lot of things that have improved us (or perhaps are still in the course of improving us). Whatever the circumstances, I always like to try and put some goals down in order to fully take advantage of the year, especially when it comes to my writing. So, here are my Writer’s Resolutions for 2023:

Write for 1 Hour Every Day: I have, admittedly, slipped a little bit in the past few months. I’ve gone through some pretty drastic changes in my work life and part of me is still recovering from the ricochet of all that. Still, going into 2023, I’m feeling more comfortable about that situation and I’m ready to start committing my time more intentionally. I want to get back to writing at the same interval every day. My old schedule doesn’t quite fit with my new routine, but I’m trying to carve out time to work on my writing more diligently and keep that consistent every day (the easiest way to form a habit is repetition). I want to make that time sacred and keep to it as much as I would to any work schedule.

Submit Once A Week: The easiest way to win at poker is when you’re holding all the cards. Granted, that’s not how poker is supposed to be played, but the metaphor stands. I want to regularly and diligently query my novel and submit my short fiction to magazines, etc. I blame this falling off on a number of factors, but won’t go into that. The point is, I need to do more to get my work seen and read if I want it to go anywhere. So I want to submit more of what I write rather than let it simmer in my hard drive while running off of hope. You can only win if you play.

Find a Writing Group: This one is one I should have done a while ago, but with the state of things when I moved back, it got more and more difficult to make that happen. I would like to find a group of individuals who also write. This would be partly to talk shop, but also to share victories and commiserate on the challenges. Writing classes and workshops are great to work on your craft, but there’s the emotional aspect of things that a lot of non-writers don’t fully appreciate. Having that built-in support network of people who are also working on telling stories would be a tremendous help to getting that social aspect of writing life back on track.

So, there you have it. Three, solid, actionable goals for 2023. It will require some discipline on my part, but I think there’s a way to make it all come together in the end. More goals will probably come up as the year progresses, but there’s never a bad time to start thinking ahead and getting things in order. Do you have any goals for the coming year?

Arranging Titles

I’ve been considering re-shelving my books recently. Between a few moves, borrowing books and trying to construct a To Read Pile out of the book fort that is becoming my apartment, I’ve wanted to arrange them in a way that would please me and make them more accessable.

In my mind, there are two main obstacles when it comes to book shelving and both of them come from size. The first is oversized books: large in either length or width in a way that makes them difficult to shelve. The second is paperbacks, which are easy to find space for but don’t use all of the space efficiently. Bookshelves are designed for the larger end of books, but don’t always allow the user to optimize the space. So, how do I make all my books fit without losing too many in the process? Personally, I think bookshelves should come with mini-shelf attachments: just enough to hold another row of paperbacks a little above the row in front of it. This would really help the paperback problem to optimize the shelf space without having to double stack and lose the titles behind them. I tend to keep Oversized books on top of shelves with bookends to support them or arrange them in their own section. Dungeons and Dragons Manuals tend to make their own section next to my TV rather than a shelf (any Ikea bookshelf would crumble under the weight).

I like to arrange my books by subject as much as possible. Most of my books are fiction (Sci-Fi and Fantasy, mostly), but I also have books that are on different sciences, writing practices, history and mental health. With all the moves, my shelving recently has been “where’s the space?” and that hasn’t been working for me recently. I’d like to get that to be my main organization system and kind of build from there. Right now, I have a few paperbacks stacked on the shelf over my fireplace, but I want to try and work out something to prop up a second row of paperback for my regular bookshelves to make use of that space. I want to try and put all my nonfiction books together at the very least, but I have to take stock of what I have and what I don’t. With the holidays and my birthday approaching, I want to try and make any room I can for new additions to the collection.

How do you organize your books? Subject? Size? Author Name? Color?

The Sound of Rushing Deadlines

Douglas Adams once said “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” This sentiment feels no truer than when you first try to tackle a large project in a designated timeframe. And so, once again, we find ourselves nearly a week into Nanowrimo (or National Novel Writing Month, for those who aren’t in the know). For many, it’s a first foray into the world of intensive novel writing. For others, it’s a familiar kick in the pants to deal with the project they’ve been putting off doing (present company included). As such, I feel it’s important to discuss how to handle writing deadlines without wanting to pull all your hair out. As the days wind down to the final day of November, 

  1. Small chunks
    50,000 words sounds like a lot because it is! Can you think of 50,000 of anything you have on hand? Maybe you have a massive coin collection, or a hearty storage of raisins, or maybe just a bunch of small, pretty rocks. Regardless, picturing 50,000 of any of these things really puts the number into perspective! It is, after all, the minimum word count for a standard novel (and it’s not National Short Story Writing Month–that’s in May). 2,000 of something, however, is a bit more manageable to picture. 2,000 pennies is more than a handful, but you can still count them out with an end in sight. Making your goal something manageable by the deadline is a much easier–and healthier–way of looking at it. Spread it out into smaller chunks and you’ll feel a little less like you’re drowning in word debt. 
  2. Find a Partner
    Accountability is 9/10ths of the battle! It’s easy to tell yourself that you will catch up soon, but can you look in the eyes of a trusted friend and lie to them the same way? Better yet, you and a friend can have Writing Blocks together! I do these with friends from time to time. Often, we’ll do them with fairly low stakes involved (usually an admission of failure over social media or something similar). Working alone together makes the process feel a bit less isolated when you’re working your way through a particularly challenging writing slog. Furthermore, having someone to work with gives you someone to bounce ideas off of during breaks (or even just talking about what you want to have happen next to think about how to get there). 
  3. Keep a Schedule 
    Know thyself! If you know that coming home from work or school leaves you exhausted and vegetative, find a better time to write. I loved having lunchbreak writing sessions, but I also have an appreciation for the quiet mornings with just my words and a cup of hot tea. Additionally, setting aside time to think about your story can save time when you’re at your manuscript. Everyone knows your best ideas come when you’re not working on a thing, so keep a small notebook and spend some time to think through novel problems (in the shower, commuting, cooking, exercising or anywhere else you can spare a few brain cells to mull over your plot). Then, refer to your notebook during your designated writing time! Spend less time thinking about what you’re going to write and just put it to the page! 
  4. It’s OK to Play Catch Up
    An important thing to remember is that life happens. Doctor’s appointments show up. Work gets overwhelming. Time spent recovering is as valuable as time spent working. All that is to say, it’s OK to fall behind. You can settle in on a day off and really commit to playing some catch up. As daunting as, say 6,000 words may look at first, if you give yourself a good block of time to work it out, you can get into the grove and tackle it all at once. Your small chunks might not be the smallest at times, but if you can put aside a day to work on it, you’ll get there in no time. You don’t want to save it all for the last minute, but things pop up in life. 
  5. You’re Allowed to Change Deadlines
    OK, this is really only true if you have the luxury of setting your own deadlines, but sometimes you need to extend deadlines. With Nanowrimo especially, goals change. Maybe your 50,000 word story is gonna need to be 60,000…or 100,000! 50,000 words in 30 days is really just the first goal. It can be–and is–a flexible thing that changes as time goes on. Don’t restrain yourself to just 50,000 words or just 30 days if you think you can improve with more words and more time! The challenge isn’t set in stone. 

Nanowrimo is often a great kick in the pants for starting (or finishing) a project you’ve had rattling around in your brain for a while. If it’s your first, third, or five hundredth time trying to hit a big deadline like this, it’s meant to be for fun! Write your story as best you can and when you do, prepare yourself for NanoWriMoEdYe (National Novel Writing Month Editing Year (or years)). 

Bookish Movies

Working in a library, I often find myself asking “The Book or The Movie?” more often than other other arena. With my friends I can usually tell if they mean the movie or the book, but working in a library has made me realize just how many movies based on books or writing there really are. I’ve started getting into the habit of borrowing one book related movie for every other kind of movie I borrow. I’ve decided that any book or writing related movie can be put into one of three categories.

  1. Adaptations:
    These are the most common ones that come up. This is basically any movie that has a book or written version of it somewhere. Increasingly, the trend seems to be for Hollywood to make movie adaptations of books (and even short stories) rather than taking a risk on a story that has no previous following. These are probably the most popular version of Bookish-Movie: Jurassic Park, IT, Ready Player One, or any number of YA trilogies that make the bestseller list.
    Now, naturally, just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good. These days, every fan of the book approaches even the trailer of a book adaptation with a certain amount of cautious hope. The true test is often how ‘faithful’ the book is to the movie. Major plot overhauls, forgotten characters or overlooked thematic elements, or movies that only take the title and not much else. Sometimes, regardless of an authors involvement, the ‘faithfulness’ of the movie comes down to the studios. These are the most accessible, but also most prone to disappointment.
  2. Books about Writers:
    These are stories where a writer is the main character. Rather than a biopic (discussed next), this tends to focus specifically on the writer and their struggles with the creative process. There can be a lot of crossover in this regard (writers seem to enjoy making their characters writers, since it’s something they understand). The Words is a good example of this, focusing on a writer’s struggle to be seen by the publishing industry and the risks he’s willing to take to ‘make it’.
    These are often overdramatized. No one would want to watch a man struggling in front of his computer for two hours, trying to figure out how to make a paragraph flow better. Still, these can sometimes be uplifting movies when an author gets to take his work to the world and they get recognition they deserve.
  3. Author Biopics:
    The last category is movies about specific writers. These are movies that can be hyper realistic documentaries, like Salinger, or they can be dramatized versions of an author’s life, such as Tolkien. These can be sad at times, seeing all the struggles a person goes through (especially dramatized for Hollywood) can be difficult. Still, learning the histories of writers and seeing how it relates to their writing can be interesting. In addition to the story of the author, these movies also tend to reveal a lot of the story of the book. Knowing the lives of our favorite creators can help us appreciate their stories even more.

What are some of your favorite bookish movies?

The Reading Nook

Every reader dreams of having a big, extravagant library: tall oak shelves, high-backed chairs, a crackling fireplace, and an impenetrable wall of books! But, some of us have…simpler budgets.
Whether you’re living in the library of your dreams or a small apartment, having a special reading nook is a great addition to any space. I’ve been slowly working to convert my balcony into a reading nook (though I will certainly have to reassess these plans when it starts to snow). I find that very few of my neighbors are out on their balconies with any regularity, so I enjoy going out there with my dinner for the evening and enjoying some time away from the perpetual screens that I find myself glued to all day. When I can catch it, I’ll go out and watch a nice thunderstorm rumble from the protected alcove. And, of course, when the weather is clear and there’s a nice breeze, there is nothing that quite compares with going outside with a good book.
The ambient sounds are good background for whatever I happen to be reading and it’s a nice mostly private space for me to relax with a book. I’ll go out with a cup of tea and a light snack to enjoy the cool mornings or evenings and unwind a bit before or after a long day. And on my days off, the balcony becomes a nice little outdoor reading nook.
A good reading nook should have adequate light, a comfortable seat, a nice temperature, and–naturally–something to read. It can be just about anywhere, but I recommend keeping it a bit separate from your sleeping space or anywhere with a lot of traffic in your house. If you can surround yourself with books? That’s great. If you can only bring out one book when you’re reading it? That’s also great! There’s no right or wrong way to have a reading nook (though we all dream of the dramatic ride on the library ladder). In the end, a reading nook is about making a comfortable space where you can enjoy a good story and let the outside world stay outside (or more outside, depending on your location).
Do you have a reading nook? What goes into your perfect reading spot?

The Joy of Tabletop Games

I’m suffering from a bit of a mental burnout for a few reasons, so this post is gonna be a bit shorter than usual.

But, we just wrapped up a game of Monster of the Week in a group I’ve been playing with for about 6 months and I just wanted to reiterate my absolute delight at playing Tabletop RPGs.

I’ve no doubt talked about this before, but I just love story-driven games. Whether it’s decided by dice or a video game, I love stories that are gamified in some way. I am one of those people who enjoys running a game as much as they enjoy playing in other people’s games! I think that RPGs give storytellers a lot of very powerful tools.

You want to get better at worldbuilding? Give your players a set space and they’ll push up against the glass asking “What’s that out there?” and then you have to come up with something. I’ve encountered this scenario a few times in various games and it’s led to some fantastic adventures all from one player seeing something and wanting to poke it. You can build an entire continent of adventure and then have to shift all your adventures to a different location because those pesky players keep finding something more interesting elsewhere. And they ask questions that you need to come up with answers to–usually on the spot. It makes you a more flexible storyteller and makes you more aware of the places your readers are going to look to poke holes in.

Want to get experience with tone and mood? You quickly realize how different the words you use when describing an evil dragon’s lair shifts to the comfortable inn where everyone hangs their hat. I’ve been at tables where everyone collectively holds their breath, just waiting for the next words out of the DMs mouth. That’s tension. Seeing a player care about characters in a moment of crisis can be so heartbreaking you’d swear they were worried about real people.

Speaking of characters, running a tabletop game will have you thinking of characters on the fly that you want to explore more because you keep peeling back layers. One guard could very quickly turn into a group favorite (sometimes even going along for the ride) by the few characterizations you give them. You learn how to quickly make people enjoy (or despise) the characters you want them to, not by telling them, but by showing them. It can be so rewarding to see characters learn to trust NPCs or see a PC’s relationship with another PC change as they adventure together. You learn what really makes people tick, especially when you ask your players what their characters feel in the moment.

Story is such a powerful tool for games. It gives your players a mission, a goal, a reason to get out of their sleepy hamlets and go fight a dragon. But for someone who is obsessed with story, it is a lesson in committing to the moment and resisting the urge to make it perfect. An NPC’s name will never change–especially if it makes everyone burst out laughing. You learn to let go and have fun. You learn that it doesn’t need to be perfect on the first draft. It just has to be there.

Editing is a different beast, of course, but we all have our dragons to slay.