I’m about 80 pages into writing my book, although most of it is classified except for the first couple chapters.
But as noted before, it can be fun to see how AI interprets my writing.
Having just finished chapter 6 of my book, I decided to use Speechfy’s “podcast” feature to generate a late-night show about the chapter.
I find the results amusing. What do you think?
A couple of years ago, I decided to play with ChatGPT and have it write a blog post for me. The results, I wrote, were believable but super generic and cliched. They reminded me of like a blowhard who is good at showing off but not actually very smart.
Now we know that, despite all the computing power required, AI really isn’t that smart; this is why it requires way more training than a person does.
Although it can be a useful aid.
In that frame, it made me reflect in ways that AI has actually become useful while writing a novel.
And no, it’s not actually writing any of the book for me. I tried that today as a fun experiment, and it was still just… amusing. Here’s a sample, but it’s basically all like this.
Lena was gone. And with her, the version of James that believed love could be mapped, managed, or mutually agreed upon.
And so began that particular summer, where the tequila was cheap, the dreams were rented, and every good story started with a woman who left before the music stopped
Has AI gotten worse? 😆
Also note that ChatGPT somehow (by coincidence?) used the same protagonist name that I’m using in my book, although I did not give that name in the prompt. Interesting… 😤
Still, AI is actually amazing at a couple of things.
After writing a chapter of the book, I can feed the text into Speechify and instantly turn it into a really good audiobook. This is not just a basic Siri-style reading but a realistic voice with feeling. You can pick from a bunch of voices voice, including a few celebrities, although the founder “Cliff” is my favorite. It’s fun to listen to, and hearing your story interpreted in someone else’s voice is both instructive and fascinating.
I also like to use the summarize tool. Even the much maligned Apple Intelligence is helpful for simply summarizing a few paragraphs I just wrote. It’s a useful check to tell me if I’m getting the intended idea across, like, “Yeah, that’s what I meant,” or “Ohh, this needs work.” Like Speechify, it’s also just kind of fun to see what “someone” else thinks of your story.
Writing progress ✍️ #slowandsteady #writing #onedayatatime #austin #texas #atx #refrigeratorgoals via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DAa-hXcOsRz/
See also: “If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive.”
Lately, I’ve been shifting my writing time and energy to a novel. It’s fictional but based on some real experiences.
I have four chapters drafted, and, let’s see… about 64 chapters to go. 😆
Accordingly, I have note had as much time to put into this blog.
But I’ll do my best to keep writing here from time to time.
In the mean time, this quote from Casanova (yes, the actual Casanova) is a good reminder to keep it light.
I am writing My Life to laugh at myself, and I am succeeding. – Giacomo Casanova
This dude was quite the adventurer and had a lot of interesting things to say.
I need out check out his story about his life, although that may require a time investment beyond my reach any time soon. He seemed to have a lot to say: three volumes, about 40 hours each, if you’re doing audiobooks.
He sounds like kind of a gabber. I hope he’s not an Uncle Colm.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
William Shakespeare
Amen. Done. ✅
[Author attempts to restrain self and stop here but must link to a related joke, a fashion analogy, and a counter-example.]
Okay, also…
Being a storyteller and not just a basic sage, Shakespeare had some amusing / ironic context around this quote, including a “windy preface”, as part of the play Hamlet.
Brevity is taken to the extreme at The McKittrick Hotel in New York, where you can experience a Shakespearian tale with no words.
Mental Break Town 