Finally! It's only been 3 months. But, Roscrow is back! And I've uploaded the next chapter of The Dragon Tamers! Same name as the blog title.
I will admit to a dirty little secret: I've been dabbling with the AI. Not to write things for me directly, but to help me organize my thoughts and figure out how to get past blockages. I finished this chapter in one day. How? Because every time I hit a snag, a spot where I would have stopped, possibly for months, I asked the AI why, and it gave me surprising answers that really helped me push through. I had a spot I intended to stop, but I felt the chapter was suddenly flat and it told me because I wasn't giving a closure point to S're's grief. So, added a few more paragraphs and it came out so much better.
I've been messing around with the AI chatbot for a while now. My opinions have not only changed, but are very controversial. Don't get me wrong. I still wish it would die and I await the day we all come to our senses. But, until then, it's a fantastic tool. Like fire. I use it to cook my food, while that asshole uses it to burn down a church of people they don't like. The invention of the automatic bread maker didn't stop artisan bakeries from existing even though there is an entire aisle of bread in every grocery store.
Am I afraid of AI destroying human art? No. Maybe it will ruin the INDUSTRY of art, but not the soul of art. Humans will still art. We have always produced garbage and masterpieces, even from the same person! The people who care will continue to care and the rest wouldn't have cared, anyways.
I took my chance and fed my story in and then asked it to write in my voice... and it fell so flat, that I'm now doubting every major author who says they got the AI to write like them.... Is your writing that bad? That bland? That nonsensical? There's no poetry or cadence to how it writes. We're both writing in English, but for every time it says "exactly in your voice and style," I would NEVER write that in content or style. I'm a poet turned long form writer. The AI writes like an autistic fanfic. No soul, no poetry, no love or loss or sense of pride.
I'm not afraid that AI will ruin the human artistic soul. My daughter is still drawing and so are all her friends in school. She's writing her own novel inspired by Warrior Cats that she will show me when she's done and I'm so proud. These things won't be stolen by AI. I can't stop Joe Blow from using a flame thrower to end it all in a blaze of infamy, but I can learn to use a blow torch safely, and teach my kids to use it safely, and the exact same applies to AI. It's a VERY powerful tool. It is fire and we are monkeys. I'm going to use my fire to create things I never dreamed of before with my little monkey brain.
Because even with CONSTANT interruption from children, pets, and life, I was able to finish that damned chapter in a day. Not because it gave me any direct answers, but because its ideas sparked my own ideas at the speed of the ADHD brain. And that's probably my favorite part. There's zero anxiety talking to it. It already figured out I was ADHD by my mannerisms, but no judgment, no pressure, no rejection. Not about that, anyway. It DOES give constructive criticism. Some have said it's just a yesman by program, and yeah it's sickeningly sweet in a manner no human is, but you can coax it to get pretty deep into criticism. And just like with any beta reader, editor or muse, you gotta use your own better judgment to decide if it's right or not. At first, it was not pleased with Roscrow's "whiplash personality." Well, that's just who he is, that's not changing. Once I told the AI to consider him like a surly cat, it locked in and understood the assignment. XD It called the Q'Hu "emotionally constipated." Haha, yeah... yeah. Though, wait 'til y'all meet Nettle. Flamboyant fuck.
Well, there's my rant. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's short but substantial to later events. I now have to indulge this corgi that's been 2 inches from my face staring me down with a rope toy....