Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Using AI for Synopses #IWSG


The IWSG question of the month is about AI. Have you used AI to write synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

In terms of AIs impact on creative writing, I have already written a post about why AIs won't replace creative writers. You can check it out here

In terms of writing the synopsis of a book, it's great to give us a hand, but it's not the time saver you'd expect. In output of AI will always need an edit, and you have to give it lots of information for it to work properly, ie a blurb, a detailed summary, or an outline. The more information, the better. Please, never use the raw AI material. 

If you've tried AI, what was your experience with it? If you haven't tried it, what's holding you back?

Note: I'm still recovering from my illness. On pain meds and so very tired all the time. Not a happy camper. And then I went and got Covid as well, thus my recent silence. I have recovered from that fun experience, at least. There is always something to celebrate! 


This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Quick Update #IWSG


Just a quick update. I've been sick since late December. It has not been fun. And still I'm not 100%. I'd say I'm at about 68%, but definitely on the slow mend.It's why I missed last month's IWSG.

Hope everyone has been doing waaaaaay better than me.

Happy writing and reading.

Note: this post has been prescheduled. I'm currently not around, but I'll do the rounds to say hi and catch up in about a week.


This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.


Wednesday, December 6, 2023

How to Write a Book Review


The IWSG question of the month: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author? 

I would argue that book reviews are not only for readers, but for authors as well, and not just for the author of the book being reviewed, but for authors of similar books. They help us get a feel for our readers, what they like and dislike. They help us write better books, and they help us with marketing those books. 

So it’s important to know how to write a book review 

1. Most people would suggest you start with a brief summary of what the book was about, but when reading a review, I generally skip over this part because I’ve already read the blurb. But if you do include this, try to avoid spoilers. 

2. Share what you liked about a book. Did you like the characters, the pace of the story, particular scenes? Did the book keep you guessing or was it an engrossing page-turner. How did the book make you feel? Did it make you laugh or cry? 

3. Share what you didn’t like about the book. I’m guessing most authors wouldn’t like this part, but a well-rounded review has more weight than one that only talks about the best bits. Maybe the book had a cliffhanger or left you unsatisfied. Maybe the book wasn’t what you had expected. Maybe the characters were unlikable. 

4. Would you recommend this book to others? If so, who? 

Reviews don’t have to be long and they don’t have to be eloquent. Us authors appreciate any form they come in. A review is a way of spreading the word about the book. The algorithms of online retailers favor books with many reviews. 

Remember, every review helps.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

5 Benefits of Writing Quickly #IWSG


With November, comes the NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month.  It's a nonprofit organization that challenges us to write 50k words in the month of November. I have done the challenge for many years on and off, depending on busyness. 

Wielder's Prize was the first novel I wrote via the challenge. Sitting at around 80k words, it obviously got extra attention after the challenge finished, but it gave me such a great kick start. I learned a lot about the benefits of writing that dreaded first draft quickly.

While I have written a post about the Advantages of Writing a Fast First Draft, I would like to expand on the benefits. Writing quickly means:

1. Setting aside that inner editor.

While it's great to have an analytical inner editor, during the story creation, it can slow down the process  too much. That inner editor can trip us up and become a hindrance. We end up using it as a procrastination tool. For example, if you're stuck on a story beat, you might go back and start editing earlier content. You call it writing, but really it has stopped you from facing a hurdle that needs jumping. 

If, instead, you're focused on writing the story down quickly, knowing you'll edit later, you can tackle those tricky plot problems that might crop up, the beats, the characters, the actual story.

2. Keeps you focused on the big picture.

Writing quickly helps you remember those plot threads you've woven into the story, to keep them consistent. It helps you work on the pacing and the general flow. When you stop after a page or a paragraph to do something else, you have to return and waste time reminding yourself where you were up to. Often the flow is forgotten, the pace becomes jerky, or a character has changed traits. It becomes harder to fix later.

When writing that first draft, staying focused on the bigger picture is so important. It's so much easier when you reduce the breaks between writing.

3. Helps to avoid overthinking.

Fear and doubt are a writer's worst enemy. We might come up with a brilliant idea, but if we overwork it, start questioning it, or have time to doubt ourselves, then it will die before it even had a chance. Writing quickly pushes all that aside until we can get a proper grasp on the story.

4. More productivity.

Productivity means more stories and more sales. When someone finds your book and loves it, they'll go looking for more of your books. The best way to have more is, obviously, to write more. The bigger your backlist, the easier it is to sell. So rather than deliberating over a phrase here and there before even completing the story, leave that minutiae for the editing phase.

5. Stops us wasting precious time.

I'm guilty of spending too much time on a scene before finishing the first draft. When it came to editing, I ended up deleting that scene. Sometimes you won't know if a section works until you've finished the rest of the story. Why waste time on it before you know if it's there to stay?

What holds you back from writing quickly? If you've participated in NaNoWriMo, what benefits did you discover?


This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Why AI Won’t Replace Writers #IWSG

When I was first introduced to AI for writing, I was truly impressed by what it could generate. As a test, I gave it some parameters and watched it come up with a whole story idea. I got it to break the story down to chapter titles and then I even asked it to write a chapter in full. 

Crikey. 

It was amazing. 

It wasn’t perfect, though. 

Among other things, it followed clear tropes, which isn’t too bad for genre writing. But it became very tropey, with no surprises, which in turn made it bland. This became more obvious when I gave it different story ideas to explore. The more examples I asked from it, the less impressive it became. All the stories the AI gave me were basically the same. Even the style of writing was bland, lacking atmosphere and imagery. 

While this will improve over time, I still don’t believe AI will wholly replace us. Why? 

Because AI lacks that special touch humanity brings to a story. We offer stories that are unexpected, we offer a different perspective, we can capture those special moments that shine when taken from our own unique take on the world. 

How then can AI help us? 

It can do those tasks a lot of us don’t enjoy. It writes great advertising. It can help us break down our already written story into an exciting blurb. It can help us with taglines and synopses. It can shorten research time. It can even help us through a writer’s block by suggesting possible solutions when we’ve written our characters into a corner. And so much more. It's like an assistant who is super helpful when you know what questions to ask.

AI is a tool to enhance our creativity. The best thing we can do is embrace it, to learn how best to use it, and reap the benefits. 

What are your thoughts on AI for writers?

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.