Let the Masses Have Their Messes: Why Writers Will Keep Writing in Spite of AI

A talented writer I know once confessed to me that finding time to write felt like sneaking around to meet a lover. I nodded, knowing that she nailed it.

Writers understand that our craft demands our attention. It’s waiting for us to come back to bed so it can consume us again. It knows what we like and where we won’t go. It is jealous when we leave it to tend to other matters. To punish us while we’re away, it will suggest some small thing meant to distract us wildly until we crawl back to it, knowing that we are owned. It sounds a little dramatic, but it’s not far off for me. When I’m writing, I feel guilty because it brings me so much pleasure that I know should not be mine. When I’m not writing, I’m thinking about what must be written next.

(Writing Books in the Age of AI.)

This dance that writers do, that all artists do, is mysterious and primal. It is both work, play, pleasure, and pain to be drawn to the storytelling task, to observe the universe and attempt to capture a sliver for others to consider. Still, we do it and will continue to do so, which is why I’m less tied into knots over AI’s impact on publishing. For those of us toiling at it and loving every minute of the process, we know we aren’t going to stop. There’s simply too much joy on the line.

There has always been competition and gatekeeping in this industry. It’s capricious and maddening, especially for those of us trying to elbow our way into a very crowded, confusing space. Our mothers told us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when you've created something that has been deemed high-quality by others and that something has been assigned monetary value, we rightly demand credit where it is due. The collective we tends to be territorial. We demand to divvy things up, for someone to tell us what is rightfully ours while we occupy space on the planet. It’s why patents and copyrights exist, and why some of us have such disdain for tropes or anything that’s too formulaic.

It’s a helluva time to be an author. I’m nearly 60 and took my official leap into this fray just a few years ago. I have three novels published, part of a series, and I’m working on the fourth. I’ve worked hard to get here, but there’s been some incredibly good luck involved. I have a good start on and big plans for a fifth stand-alone novel that I cannot wait to dive into. Still, I consider myself to be an emerging writer. I’m paying my dues and doing so while working full time and aging. I don’t have all the time in the world, and I have zero interest in stopping now, not when I’m just getting started. Zero. And I know that I’m not alone.

To myself and other writers who are passionate about our craft, I say this: Don’t stop writing.

Artificial intelligence is here. There is no stopping it. It has some good to do, and I suspect plenty of damage. The good news is that publishers and artists alike are already pushing back. Some consumers will, too. Others will not. There will be readers who are satisfied, even thrilled, with AI-generated books. They will be willing to pay for them, and they will use money that they could be spending to purchase work created by people like us who are busting it and loving every minute of it, to create art.

Never fear. This will make what we do more valuable, even rarefied. AI-generated writing will settle into its appropriate place on the shelf, right along with an endless offering of other products available that meet the low standard of good enough. They’ll do in a pinch, just like other conveniences we’ve come to accept: cakes made from mixes instead of baked from scratch, sauce from a jar instead of authentic gravy that takes all day to make, packaged cookies that only look like they could have been pulled right out of the oven. These things are designed to be gobbled up quickly, but we know when we put them in our carts and in our mouths that they are only shortcuts created to imitate their betters.

So be it. We’ll still be sneaking away to our lovers, to our joy spaces to make the real deal. And we’ll do so knowing we have the market cornered on a precious commodity that artificial intelligence will never be able to sweep up with bots and algorithms: hearts that beat, bones that break and souls that soar.

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)