Listened to your piece - brilliant, and thank you. Agency decay is a great and scary term! For me, writing has always been a way of making sense of the world.
For me, it is a way of finding the words for things that are difficult to explain. Sometimes my stories are funny or frustrating. Writing gives me time to understand what happened, and turn chaos into something my mum can laugh at.
I write because not much makes sense and I am trying to understand it. I do use AI on occasion to help me come up titles though – yikes.
Thank you for speaking up about this! It scares me to think how writers are losing their unique voices, perspectives, and overall approaches to conveying their stories. I'm also confused as to why so many novelists especially are relying on AI. Why take away the thrill and fulfillment of using your own creativity to write a novel? Why write in the first place if you're just going to ask a bot to generate the story and the prose on your behalf? In a way, this is making it easy for agents and editors to discover which authors are actually in this industry for the right reasons...
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Tessa. I agree, it is confusing. But I think the most heartbreaking part is that AI is eroding writers' faith in themselves. It's a slippery slope and sometimes can happen little by little.
Thank you Nicole for this. I tend to think of writing like something physical, sports, exercise. Can’t outsource the reps or steps and expect the same gains. It just doesn’t work that way. Looking good on the gram doesn’t mean you’re actually healthier. Same on the page.
Love the clarity in your message here too. I feel like some people just get angry about AI and they haven’t totally done the work to figure out what button it’s pushing in them. Folks who are clear in their mind on how and why they use AI, writing, business or otherwise, have my attention and I almost always come away from those discussions feeling more hopeful.
Love how you talked about interiority. I think that's such an important topic. I'm reading Yesteryear, and although a lot of the book is satirical and funny, Chapter 6 has such rich and fascinating interiority, and shifts that reveal an unreliable narrator. I think AI is going to push us to be more human in exactly the ways you describe. To go deeper and do what's not replaceable about being human. Thanks for the thought-provoking podcast!
Hi Emily - I read Yesteryear as well and understand what you mean. Wouldn't it be lovely if AI pushed us to be more human? In many ways, I'm optimistic that it will. Thanks for sharing and happy writing!
Listened to your piece - brilliant, and thank you. Agency decay is a great and scary term! For me, writing has always been a way of making sense of the world.
For me, it is a way of finding the words for things that are difficult to explain. Sometimes my stories are funny or frustrating. Writing gives me time to understand what happened, and turn chaos into something my mum can laugh at.
I write because not much makes sense and I am trying to understand it. I do use AI on occasion to help me come up titles though – yikes.
Thank you for speaking up about this! It scares me to think how writers are losing their unique voices, perspectives, and overall approaches to conveying their stories. I'm also confused as to why so many novelists especially are relying on AI. Why take away the thrill and fulfillment of using your own creativity to write a novel? Why write in the first place if you're just going to ask a bot to generate the story and the prose on your behalf? In a way, this is making it easy for agents and editors to discover which authors are actually in this industry for the right reasons...
Anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Tessa. I agree, it is confusing. But I think the most heartbreaking part is that AI is eroding writers' faith in themselves. It's a slippery slope and sometimes can happen little by little.
I love the insight here especially on the question of motivation.
So glad it resonates 😊
Thank you Nicole for this. I tend to think of writing like something physical, sports, exercise. Can’t outsource the reps or steps and expect the same gains. It just doesn’t work that way. Looking good on the gram doesn’t mean you’re actually healthier. Same on the page.
Love the clarity in your message here too. I feel like some people just get angry about AI and they haven’t totally done the work to figure out what button it’s pushing in them. Folks who are clear in their mind on how and why they use AI, writing, business or otherwise, have my attention and I almost always come away from those discussions feeling more hopeful.
SUCH good insight, Matt! I love the analogy of reps and steps. Thanks for adding to this conversation.
Love how you talked about interiority. I think that's such an important topic. I'm reading Yesteryear, and although a lot of the book is satirical and funny, Chapter 6 has such rich and fascinating interiority, and shifts that reveal an unreliable narrator. I think AI is going to push us to be more human in exactly the ways you describe. To go deeper and do what's not replaceable about being human. Thanks for the thought-provoking podcast!
Hi Emily - I read Yesteryear as well and understand what you mean. Wouldn't it be lovely if AI pushed us to be more human? In many ways, I'm optimistic that it will. Thanks for sharing and happy writing!