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OUTLINES! WTF DO I WRITE???

By Eldon Macwood

I've seen several authors over the years talk about outlining being a problem for them. To fair, you can totally pants an entire book, edit the holy fuck out of it, and potentially make a bestseller. Lee Child, Stephen King, and many others have done just that. But if you're like me, and want to build your story, then there's hope for that.

This post isn't for the pantser. Maybe a hybrid who's a plotsters, and definitely for the plotters.

The thing about outlines, yeah, there are a few different templates out there, and you don't have to follow them them to the T. You can be as general as you want. Have as much, or as little as you want. YOu can just write story beats, which are nothing more than small guideposts on the chapter, to an outline, and then create your beats from that. Which is what I like to do.

There are two ways to write them: 1, the old fashion way, and it's totally cool if that's your way. As in, you do all the work. 2, use AI. Now, now, calm down. Breath. I know, the evil AI, blah blah blah. But hear me out, you don't have to use AI for everything. I know, this isn't something that the AI-phobes would tell ya, but it's true. You can use Claude or Chat GPT for free, and create outlines and story beats.

Even if you never use AI for anything else, using it just for outlining, and beats creation, you can 10X your writing output.

Regardless if you wish to join me in using AI as a tool, there are templates I will share with you. If you just want to write it all yourself, here are some sources (I can help you if you wish to use AI).

TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS! is a book I started out with, and was a template I used for a very long time.

Here's the template for Derek Murphy's outline template, which is one of my favorites. This post shows how to use it with AI, but you don't have to use AI to make it work. As Derek talked about this template four years ago, and can be found here on YouTube!

For doing just beats (this works from your braindump or an outline you already wrote) you take the basic events from a chapter, and you use them go off of. Back in the day, I'd usually have just a few beats. Now I tend to use the Sudowrite system which works with non-AI writing as well, which is a 12 beat system. Now you can adjust that however you like. And I prefer to have my beats organized to scenes within a chapter. Use your beats to gage how many scenes you will have.

Beats are usually at least one sentence per beat, but having a few sentences might work better for you. Depends on you, and your story. You can be as general, or as specific for each beat as you wish.

Is this a lot to think about? Maybe. Again, while it's still a system to learn, AI does in fact make it easier. I have my own system, and I use for free Chat GPT and Claude. I use a prompt I learned about in the Sudo community, the person who created it did so for a Notion template. I use it in Chat GPT which gives me really good chapter summaries of chapter I've already written. I use those with the outline chapter to create the next chapter beats. The only I don't do this for would be the first chapter. But you can still write instructions for that set of beats.

Everything here that I've talked about, you could sit down and work out to system for yourself. Be it non-AI, or with AI. Either way. At some point, I will probably show more on outlining, I'd like to put together a cheap course on it. Why cheap? Because I want to help, and i need money, and I know not many people out there can afford much. So cheap is my compromise. Still not sure if I will have time to put it together, but if I do, I will make it as easy as possible, and update it as AI changes.

This is a topic I love talking about. I have no issue with helping for free when I have time to do so, a course would just be a go-to tutorial on the subject that the consumer can use at any time.

But yea, Libbie's book, TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS! and Derek's outline template are my two main suggestions. And my top one, using AI with these templates. There's also another template I've learned from the AI community which goes up to 37 chapters.

And really, the more you work with this topic, the more you will get to the point of customizing your own template style. You might come up with more than one, depending on what you're writing.

I wish you the best in writing. If you need some help with the AI side of things, let me know, and I will give you a hand.

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SA, TO GATEKEEP, OR TO NOT

By Eldon Macwood

Gatekeeping, as in, taking it upon yourself to tell other authors what they can, and cannot write is one of my biggest issues with critics. But that being said, I think it's important to give some critical thought of SA when including it into a story.

When it comes to SA in fiction, I tend to agree with both sides. But here's my take: I don't ever want to write it in a story UNLESS I think this is part of the character's story. Sometimes when you come up with a character, you know some of the things that happens to them that builds who they are. Plus, SA is a real thing, I don't think we should pretend like it's not, and yes, it is something to overcome. Like any deeply traumatizing event.

I admit, I don't get cancel-happy when I see SA in a story, nor do I enjoy those scenes. You can be both on that. I hate real life SA sooo fucking bad as some of the women of my family have went through it. One of the women of my life was murdered in 1986 by her abusive husband (still haunts my family to this day), I still write about abuse and murders in many of my stories. I could write about anything in my wheelhouse which my wheelhouse is dark fiction, and so far, I haven't needed to include SA very often. I usually come with other things that happen. And I say that if something can be cut without hurting a story or character arc, DO IT.

Whether it's SA or not. Everything that happens in a story, needs to belong there. Now, here's something that's challenging for me, I write dark fiction. Mostly grimdark and cyberpunk in genre, and both very dark. I often have women leads. We can look up the stats on SA on women, but I think it's safe to see that if my characters were real, some form of SA would have happened to most of them at some point in their lives. However, as a writer, I can always make any of them the percentage that doesn't endure it. I can also not really talk about it, and have them focusing on other things. SA doesn't have to be the one thing they must overcome.

I dunno, I get both sides. However, what I don't get, is when people super defend it. Like they really enjoy writing SA. Look, as a writer, I'm cruel. I do enjoy making my characters suffer, but SA is one of those things that I can NEVER enjoy writing about. I don't care if the victim is the worst person in the world, I just can't enjoy writing that. So if I ever do write SA in a future work, yes, I will give a legit trigger warning (on that, I can see why it matters), and it will be important to the story. All of this being said, to the authors I love who have written about SA in their stories, this is no shame to you. You guys have done nothing wrong, nor do you offend me with your writing. I know you're just telling a story, and none of you have written it in a way that's glorifying it.

In closing, which is the main point, is about gatekeeping. I hate gatekeeping. When a reader, or writer says that authors have no business writing it, that's when I have a problem. You have no right telling writers what to write just because you can't handle it. Your inability is nobody's problem. Now looking critically at SA, which is also the point of this post, sure, that's important. But overall, I think this is more for the authors of the stories to do, rather than the readers. We who do the writing should in fact overthink everything, lol, that way we make sure everything works. And this is why beta readers, and sensitivity readers are so important. Having a team to help you think over those rough part is vital.

Now, to you writers out there who do get your rocks off writing SA, FUCK YOU! Sideways, with a crowbar. You're sick, and I hope one day karma comes for you.

On that note, peace out, lol.

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WHITE SAVIOR COMPLEX | HERO OR VILLAIN?

By Eldon Macwood

As a mostly white person, I still hate the white savior complex. When I was six, living in Colorado, I played Cowboys and Indians with some classmates. We went to this huge boulder that had trees growing out of it, to us, it was a mini-mountain we could play out our larping. As the cowboy, I was captured by the Indian. But as a prisoner, I learned of their cause, and fought with them against the evil cowboys. Granted, the version we played out wasn't nowhere near as cool as it sounds, because we were all like, six years old, lol, but in our heads, it was a movie to behold. This was in 1987. Although I'm sure it wasn't the story of equality our little hearts thought it was, but for us, it was. Even back then, we kids knew that racism was a thing. And when we played Cowboys and Indians, we had no desire to make the Natives be the bad guys.

But see, back then, I wasn't playing the role of the white savior. Instead, I became an ally who fought alongside, and that's different than playing a savior. Here's another story idea, if a white person is the only one around capable of saving other characters who aren't white, what are they supposed to do? Let them die so that said white character isn't acting like a savior? I'd say the decent thing to do would be to help out in any way, not because that person is white, but because they genuinely care about the lives of others. To say otherwise would be judging them on the basis of the color of their skin, doesn't fall under racism? It did back in my day.

But, if the character is there to play white savior, then I prefer them to fuck it all up, would have been better if they were never there, so now they must do their best to fix their shit. Basically, this is why outsiders aren't allowed in the village, because they always fuck shit up. They go around, playing hero, and some ppl die.

Outsiders are like that kid who's the reason why you can't have anything nice. lol. At least, this can be a thing. Us Humans for a long ass time have always been a fight or flight species, like so many. We evolved in large part to socializing with the right people. And how we do that, we recognize one another as friend or foe. So outsiders, we don't know them, and they have no reason to care about our group. In the matter of culture, or race, would it be much different?

On the other hand, what about outsiders, regardless if they are white, becoming a member of that culture? What about white people who became part of Native tribes before the end of the American Indian Wars? They lost their white status once they were fully allowed. Kina like my earlier example. I was thinking that Chief Logan was once a white man. And Blue Jacket. When I think about either, I think of them as Natives because they were allowed to transition their lives. They foreshook their old ways, and took on the ways of the tribe. Respecting it as a real Native would. I'm pretty sure that nobody thinks of Blue Jacket or Chief Logan as white saviors.

Which also begs the question if the movie, Last Samurai, is a white savior movie. Tom Cruise’s character Nathan Algren was based on Jules Brunet, a French captain who fought alongside the Tokugawa army during the Boshin Wars. And yet, look up anything about white savior tropes, and that movie comes up.

But to the point at hand, I much prefer to see more diverse characters with their own agency. Who save themselves, and their people. If a white character is there, let them be an ally, a friend, because they want to be. That's not being a white savior, that's being a fucking Human being. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't have a white lead. This doesn't mean you if you're white, you can't write non-white characters. I do believe whatever you write, you should do your best to make it as authentic as possible, and from there, write your story. But if you're going to write the same old trope-shit like the white savior, please, turn it around in such a way that it fits.

That's what Frank Herbert did with Dune.

All of that being said, I'm currently writing a one off novel that's a samurai grimdark story called, The Weeping Tiger, that does just that, flips the trope on its head. When I'm done with writing, polishing, and editing, I will release it on Kindle Vella, and then after my exclusive time is up, I will have it available on Kindle. I will make it clear that it's the same book, just in different formats. Can't wait!

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WHEN TROLLS ATTACK! WHEN AUTHORS STRIKE BACK!

By Eldon Macwood

TRIGGER WARNING: For those who know me, I am your Trigger Warning. Some have accused me of being an Edgelord, which sounds like a porn name if you ask me, but compared to actual Edgelords, I'm very disappointing. As my views are my views, period. I'm not here to be edgy, I'm just me, warts and all. But please, don't add warts to me, I have enough of my own. I also don't bend the knee to any political party, I hate them all. They make us fight, instead of using our brains. I am a lover of equality, and I will take whichever side that seems to be in the most right. I also cuss like a motherfucker, not sorry. There will be a disclaimer at the end, because welcome to the Internet. Reader discretion is advised.

Remember, no bitching, I did warn you, I am your trigger warning. I don't provide pacifiers, or Desitin. I'm not responsible for your offenses as you were warned ahead of time. I really shouldn't have to bring this back up again, don't make me. Also, everyone has the right to speak up on their views, whether you’re viewed as a troll or not, you have that right. As do I. Still here? I shall assume you’re not easily triggered, and will read the whole post in proper context. Thank you for sticking around!

On today's episode of the, The Easily Triggered (not an actual series, but would make a cool one), the author, Matt Fucking Shaw, did the unspeakable!!!! The worst fucking thing an author can do!!!! In today's dark, dark, dark world, Matt Shaw went waaaaaay over the rails, man. Are you ready? Here goes, he defended himself against a patronizing troll. YUP. How fucking dare he!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT ALLOWED!!!! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE IT UP THE ASS RAWDOG!!!!!!!!

Okay, my mock triggering aside, here's what happened:

(This is my subjective take, as she has her’s) Following this patronizing, ignorant "review" (the video is linked, I won't cancel her) of Matt Shaw's book, Roll the Dice, Matt responded by writing a dedication to her in his book, Moist Gusset.

So, here are some things to dive into: Hailey Hughes, in her very sassy, patronizing tone didn't just make assumptions about the author based on the book, she said that a white author shouldn't use the N word in a story.

Why this is ignorant:

As long as it's in context with the character, and not glorified by the author, this isn't a problem. Got news for ya, racist people exist. I have written about them, and killed them off in very nasty ways in stories. I'm a mostly white (most Wokies I know don’t give a shit I’m mixed, like DnD, they ignore mixed races) cisgender male author, AND I'm a pansexual. I also defend the LGBTQAI+, and yet, I have no problems with Shaw, as she claims that authors like Shaw, don't care about people like me. Yeeaaahhh, okay. Matt Shaw has no issues with me, probably because I have never attacked him, just sayin'. PLaying White Savior, and/or Story Police isn't a good look, ya know?

It doesn't matter what skin color you are, as long as the story is in proper context, yes, slurs can be said by the characters. This doesn't make it racist of the author. Please, try using your brain sometime. Same goes for writing outside of your gender, your sexuality, your race, etc. An author writes stories that have some realism in them along with a fuck ton of made up shit. It's fine to not like those stories, it's not fine attacking the author, and making them sound like something they are not. Dear Wokies, please understand this. (Disclaimer: not all Wokies are bad, this is just a common thing among the Wokie peoples)

She has also accused Shaw of not being able to write women. Look, I saw this same thing said about a cisgender woman author I really like, by another woman. Guess what??? Not all women think, and speak the same, SHOCKING!!!!! I'm not saying that male authors haven't fucked up when it comes to writing women, but Hailey, or any other woman isn't the judge and jury on how every woman in the world thinks and speaks. SORRY, doesn't work that way. Stop being a gatekeeper, it's not cute. It's fine to talk about what you don't like, but please, be classy about it. Don't attack.

Now, the book that really got everyone's undies in a wad is, Moist Gusset, and not just because the word, "moist" is in the title. Which surprised me, since the word is very triggering. Matt wrote a jab in the dedication to her. While I wouldn't have done that, it was nothing to sneeze at. Well, she comes back saying that he wrote about her in a book about torture porn. He didn't. The book wasn't about her (sorry your highness, only the dedication was about you, not everything in the world, I know, sad, panda ears), and it wasn't torture porn. She also admitted to not reading the book before she went off. Also, Matt misspelled her name on purpose in the dedication. I guess this review merited not reading a book before reviewing, in her eyes. Yeah, makes perfect sense. Maybe next time, read the damn book before reviewing it. Just a suggestion.

It was at this point many in the author/writing community lost their shit, and went on the warpath against Matt Shaw.

A lot of the hate made fun of him for being a fragile white cisgender man, because, yeah, lets act like the bigoted cunts we oppose! Makes perfect fucking sense! Goddamn hypocrites!

To add to this, many of her fans have also attacked Shaw and his fans because of this matter.

Okay, so while you can tell where I stand on this matter, in another video, Hailey made some good points. When it comes to things like, discrimination, it doesn't get talked about enough. Yes, there has been some terrible people who are authors who need to go. Absolutely. But the reason why many in the extreme horror community speak out when you trash talk them, is because it happens a lot. By people waving Woke superiority in their faces.

The extreme horror sub-genre is like any other genre, characters exist with many different views. Guess what? Not every character is supposed to be glorified, especially if they are racist. And most of the time, when anyone gets worked up over a white author writing about a character using a slur, almost always is it in context to that character, not to the author's character.

This shit is gatekeeping. You're playing Story Police. You're crying wolf when there isn't one. This doesn't help to protect anyone. If anything, it hurts your cause. It makes you look like you can properly discern when there is an actual problem. And while she throws out her credentials as a trauma therapist, so what? Jordan Peterson who's a complete transphobe was a therapist as well. Your point?It clearly didn't make him see reality any clearer now did it? The experience may help to a point, but people can still be shitty regardless of it.

Look, we all have books we hate. Perhaps some authors. There are in fact terrible people who write stories that are cringe city. But lumping innocent authors into the bad ones, isn't the way to go.

Hailey had her say, I am having mine.

Now, as an author, and someone who has been publicly attacked before by Wokies playing the White Savior role, I would have done something very different. First off, no specific dedications to reviewers, especially the bad ones. Yes, Hailey is known for her trollish reviews, but still, it counts as a review. At least on the book she claims to have actually read. I don't count her review of the book she didn't read.

What I would do is monetize my haters. Wanna talk shit about me, and make assumptions based on my stories? I will now use those words to advertise my books. You will actually help me. When people ask me how I cope with the hate, I will take a Loki attitude about it. Yes, it's very sad, anyway...

Because why would I ever take the words of an arrogant troll serious? Are you kidding me? You get your world wrecked over a fucking book, and you do so in the wrong context.

Okay, for now, this is all I have to say on the matter. What I won't do, is go around picking fights on social media. I had my say on my platform. You do you.

Peace.

Disclaimer: This is the subjective opinion of grimdark author, Eldon Macwood. A white-Cherokee-Crow cisgender male who makes snow blush with his bright af skin. He's also pansexual, so he's not all bad. The problem isn't with the sensitive topics, but rather, the crying wolf mentality, and inability to differentiate between real wolves, and imagined wolves. When an actual wolf is present, we should indeed, ring the fucking bell. However, to those who make shit up, nobody wants to believe a liar. But I'm just a fragile man, according to many Matt Shaw haters out there who disregard anything guys have to say, and conveniently ignore the cisgender and trans women who stand with him. In my evil, white male mind, I can't see why this has to be a gender thing. But the Wokies sure think it is. Oh well. Ignore me. I'm a man. I'm mostly white. I'm soooooo bad. Yup. Uh huh.

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WOULD THE REAL WRITER PLEASE STAND UP

By Eldon Macwood

(Trigger warning: I'm not afraid of cussing, and it shows. If you have virgin ears that gets offended easily, don't read on. You do you. Reader discretion is advised)

So the other day, I learned that even though I have been writing off and on for over 13 years (longer, but I mean seriously), even though I have 100's of 1,000's words (pretty sure overall tally would end up in the seven figures) across my many wips, even though I have published some stories (through small presses, a couple on my own), that I am just a pretender, and not a real writer all because I now use AI as a tool in my writing. I was told this by another author. Of all the people to say such gatekeeping bullshit. I won't name them as that's frowned upon, unless you ask me directly. Although we share many mutuals on Facebook, I'm sure some who read this post will know who. I have literally imported my own material for fucks sake. Okay, moving on...

AI does come up with some great ideas. And yes, AI can write some okay prose. But the thing of it is, there's this thing called editing and rewriting. And back in my day, when I was considered a real writer, rewriting was considered WRITING. And of course, even then, people bickered over it being writing. I can't speak for REAL WRITERS, since I'm just a figment of your imagination as per the gatekeepers, but for people like me, the first draft always sucks. It's through multiple drafts where the story really comes together. For me, my first draft is called, draft 0. It's the word vomit of the story in a structure that's the clay on the wheel. Which is what I use AI for, along with my own writing in the pre-prose phase.

But now that AI is here, I am all wrong. Forget where I come from. Forget that rewriting is writing. In fact, even if you don't use AI, when you rewrite, you're not writing. Wait, maybe you are, since you didn't involve AI at all. I dunno, ask the fucking gatekeepers, they are the gods on the subject. They know all. They're the real gods of storytelling. Just ask them. They do enough chest-beating to prove it.

Gatekeepers do what I call, minimizing. It's when you hate a group of people for your own ignorant reasons, then you minimize them. They are suddenly not Human. They suddenly don't have the street cred that they held for years. Not to say I was some kind of best selling author with Sanderson level backlog, but still, I had enough cred as a writer. Now that has all changed, apparently. Not sure when, or how, but the gods have spoken.

According to one former friend and a writer (yes, he's still a writer even tho he's a gatekeeper, I don't take that title away, I don't have the right), any use of AI whatsoever will make what I write trash. Nice to fucking know. I have learned soooo much. Like who to unfriend. Don't get me wrong, with everything I have been going through lately, this is a cakewalk. I actually like having something less serious to be mad about. I mean, it is serious, but not on the level of my life right now.

But it still pains me because the writing community has went through so much in the past ten years. It just seems like this one is petty as fuck, all because some writers use a tool that abusers have, well, abused.

Again I say it, and I will keep saying until it sinks in, I don't support abusing AI. I support small presses trying their own best to keep out the AI submissions. I support authors choosing not to use AI one bit. I hate it when abusers steal an author's name and work and then posts it as their own. That's not what I consider gatekeeping. Authors all have their own rules for their writing process, and authors have a right to their brand and work. All presses have their rules for submissions. This has always been a thing, and it's a thing I fully support. Just like I support the writer/actor strikes going on right now, because they have every right to oppose AI replacing them. They deserve their jobs, and the pay to afford bills, and a life.

Me, I just use AI for my own shit. If I submit anywhere, I'd write under their rules, as it's their house. No problem.

Because I'm not a dick.

Now, when a gatekeeper wants to shit on me for my own use on my shit that I will publish, I will sink my teeth into their necks, not literally, that's gross. My reason for this is simple; you're free to avoid using AI all you want, but you're not free to shove it down my throat. You do you, you stay in your lane. I will do the same. But the moment you swerve into my lane, we will have problems. And it's serving in my lane when you trash talk authors like me, and the books I write. You do that, fuck you.

And I noticed from another author who is gone now, they did make a post I kinda agreed with. Although they still hate writers like me, they were mad because of the abusers who don't make it clear that they use AI in their books. Be it in the cover, or in their writing. As where I actually make it very clear I do use AI. I also make it very clear that I write a lot of my own stuff, and that AI is just a tool. I'm terrible at being a pretender as I'm not only an actual writer, but I also freely admit to using AI in the process. But they don't think about that.

While yes this is a rant, it's also to point out the growing divide between writers/readers, This will get messier. People are making their stands. It's sad. And it could have been avoided if many would have just took the time to get to those of us who use AI as a tool. Kinda like how bigots usually don't take the time to get to know the people they hate. They only confirm their own bias. But many love to be divisive, and to commit, othering, which then makes the other side, like mine, do the same. Because it's natural for the consequences to go there.

Get to know us. Get to know the people who aren't abusers. You might be surprised. And who knows, maybe we can start to mend this schism. Maybe. I'm not very hopeful about that, currently I'm saving all of my hope for my mother's health. But it would be nice to see this battle between us shrink. I will play nice if you do. Of course, that goes the other way as well.

Sometimes I have to remind myself when to stop because a thick head won't listen. And then I'm just wasting my time.

This being said, if you respect me, and respect writers/authors who use the tool, we're good. If you don't we're not. Don't waste our time fighting. If you gatekeep, leave me be. Unfriend or block. Just pull the plug. I will leave you alone, no worries. That way we can just focus on our own shit. Don't add more fuel to the fire, thus making the gatekeepers look worse than they already look.

I want to share shit I enjoy. I want to have more positive interactions on here. I know we are all burned out, I know we all have shit we care about and defend. But these days, we need to do better. Lets actually do our research. I know, that's not a popular term. I mean it as in, don't confirm your prejudice. I mean, challenge your prejudice. I did. When I came to AI, I looked at all the sides before I made my stance. And even as a pro-AI person, I was skeptical about AI in writing. But looking into it, and getting to REAL writers, I saw that I was wrong. It's okay to be wrong. There's no shame in that.

I want to get to the point where I don't have to make disclaimer after disclaimer when I talk about using AI. Sadly, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Lately, I have been putting distance between me and other authors who gatekeep. Many of them are self-published authors who have faced gatekeepers shitting on SP authors and books all because some people have abused SP books.

Abuse in publishing, and stealing works is nothing new. It's easier now, but it's not new. Assholes will do what assholes so, shit everywhere, make a fucking mess, with zero disregard. That's why they're assholes. But other authors, or writers, should fucking know better. We should stand united on matters like this. I'm tired of seeing us split apart. We already have plenty of reasons to not get along thanks to stupid politics, but at least with writing, we could come together some. Well, now that's not a thing unless we find a segmented group we can get along with. And each group is getting smaller, and smaller.

If you're a decent person who just wants to learn more, please reach out to me, or look up channels on YouTube where authors go over what AI tools mean for creating stories and art.

Check out Sudowrite here, if you're curious about the site.

Check out what kindest author I know has to say on the matter: Ekello Harrid.

Check out the Nerdy Novelist, Jason Hamilton here.

Check out the Future Fiction Academy here.

Check out Sudowrite's YouTube channel.

These are the top channels that I watched when I was deciding on using Sudowrite. They also cover other platforms like, Claude, Poe, Chat GPT, etc.

I really hope to meet more like-minded creators, and authors, and writers, and story-tellers (whichever term you prefer) who are pro-AI for legit purposes. I will never befriend an AI-abuser, or an AI-phobe. I will draw the line on both.

Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you later!

(If you're not a troll, if you don't spew hatred, feel free to leave a comment!)

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AI AS A WRITER'S TOOL

Check out the site here

The following is my take on AI writing, and the content of this video on Sudowrite.

Sudowrite class

By Eldon Macwood, grimdark/cyberpunk author.

For those who don't understand AI writing, using a platform like Sudowrite isn't all point and click. There's still a lot of work, just different work. For some, this will really help them, as the AI becomes a jr writer, not THE writer. Note the difference.

I still prefer to write my own stories, but I do dig cool tools that can help me out. I have used name generators to help me out. I have picked brains to help me out (not literally, unless AI can help with that, kidding, maybe).

I have played around with different styles to see how a story might work. I have gotten ideas from movies/series, from shit that happens to ppl, etc. I also use story prompt cards that doubles as a game to flesh out story ideas, which right now you can check out the Lore Master's Deck backerkit! Not AI, but the company is called, The Story Engine, it's fucking fantastic!

Point is, I still use the world around me to help write stories. AI is just another tool. There will be idiots who abuse it, fuck those idiots. And fuck anyone who overloads story submissions with AI stories when the rules clearly state not to.

I support Human authors, and funny thing, many who use Sudowrite are actual writers. Hence why this tool helps them so much, because they know enough actual skills to get the most out of the tool. I know it's the trend to hate AI, and hate anyone who uses it, but as a person who hates trends, and hates people looking for fights, I do hope to shed thought on this topic that challenges that tend. I am a natural author. I have been writing off and on for over ten years, had some published. I have shared pages with some great names.

I will continue to write my stories. I will also use the tools available to help me best tell the story. I won't use it to this extreme, as seen in the video above, but I do dig how Elizabeth West really puts a lot of work and thought into her writing.

And like with any book, it all depends on the writer. If it sucks, review it, rate it, and explain the problems. Like with every book. Let potential readers know if the book wasn't well written/edited. This is the thing with self-published books, and everyone of us don't gatekeep self-published authors (I'm assuming reasonable Humans are reading this, ergo, they're not gatekeeping tash heaps). But we still know there are a lot of idiots out there who abuse the ability to self-publish. Be we writers aren't those idiots, are we? We're better than that. No different than with a pro writer who uses AI as a tool.

I will again stress this, it's very different to let the AI do all of the work, which yes, there are writers out there who will do that. Sure, they can if they wish, and I hope if they do, they will make sure the story is still edited well, and give a warning that it is.

I'm not against that if they are upfront. My issue would be, if I see a really interesting book. I decide to buy it. I read it, and I hate it bc it looks like something a toddler would write. THEN, I find out it was all AI written. I'd feel like they didn't even try. I'd feel like they just plugged in some words, let a machine crank out 80k words, and called it book, and then released it. A story is a Hell of a lot more than that.

Sure, in a year, three years, ten years, at some point we will see an AI app that can write any story, make it perfect, and people will indeed use it. They will be able to crank stories just as good as our favorite authors, and release those books as soon as a day apart. Imagine AI stories just as good as a GRRM novel, only without the 10+ year wait in between books. Ten days later, BOOM, sequel!

That is scary. Especially since I adore writing. And those of us who adore it, we will choke on the dust of AI because we won't be able to keep up with the AI writers. BUT, while this is a coming thing to expect, there will be readers who will want to read our books. And this doesn't mean we can't use AI as a tool.

Because if we use it as a tool, and not to do all the writing for us, while we might be a little slower than the complete AI generated stories, we won't be near as slow as those who don't use the tools.

It's up to us all. It's fine to hate the abusers. I fucking hate every kind of abuser. Well, I abuse caffeine, and I don't hate myself, so I do have a few loopholes, but still. Just don't go hating on everyone who uses AI. Because for one, using AI as a tool, doesn't make the author less of a writer. Just like they're not thieves. The topic of AI in the creative world is a lot more complex than what the AI haters think. Hence why I stand by the artists and writers who use AI as a tool. Their voice counts just as much as the haters, and they're way more likable.

If you're still a hater, and you look down on me, I will assume you're no different than a self-publish hater. You might as well be. I will also assume you don't bother to look outside of your opinion, which is sad. For those of you more open minded, and at the very least, curious how this all works, here's the site! I like the Story Engine (not the prompt cards I mentioned earlier) plugin they use. It's a sweet tool, and there are various ways you can use it.

Love me, hate me, whatever, just remember, I never, ever, support abusing AI. I don't support tools replacing Humans, I support tools being used to help Humans. Note the difference.

I wish you farewell, and may your wordsauce be plentiful! Except for the haters. I wish a GRRM level of writer's block on them, because I'm a cruel fucker. lol.