For most of this year I haven’t been reading many books. This is because I was helping a friend beta read their book, and I had made the choice to not read any other published novel of that particular genre so that I could avoid mixing up details or making comparisons. I wanted to keep the experience a little more contained and untainted because it’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, and it was honestly a lot of fun! It gave me a bunch of insight into how people will latch onto different details as they read the same material while we shared the same objective of trying to provide constructive feedback on how we felt as we read.
Well, tonight we finally finished beta reading that book and had our last meet up to discuss things. At least, for a little while. Then we’ll pick up with another one!
In the meantime, I think I can get back to reading one or two other books out of the MANY I have in my backlog, but I’ll probably be looking at things differently for a bit.
I’ve been ever so slowly working through the Mistborn trilogy (currently on book two) but that is not the book I am primarily reading right now.
Unfortunately, I cannot divulge any details about the book I’m reading because I’m sworn to secrecy. The only thing you get to know is I’m helping a friend.
Other than those, I have a massive back log of books to read through, and I keep adding more! I might have a problem.
Recently, I hit the one year mark of writing every day here on the blog, and I was using the daily writing prompts provided through the WordPress dashboard. Unfortunately, I’ve now come full circle and been getting the same prompts. Because of this, I’ve been struggling with trying to find things to write about when I feel like I can’t reuse the prompt of the day.
So, starting today, I’m going to try and expand into creative writing instead of just my usual ramblings.
If I see the daily prompt is something I don’t think is worth answering again (because I can’t add on to what I shared the last time) I’ll instead be looking up different creative prompts and trying to throw them at my good buddy Calvin aboard The Last Opportunity. If you don’t know who Calvin is, he is the protagonist from my NYC Midnight short story challenge entry called “The Smugglers Intern“. (I’ve shared the original, unedited entry here, so feel free to read it and possibly provide thoughts or critiques!)
Before I dive into Calvin’s misadventures as an intern aboard a decommissioned military space vessel, I’d like to make sure you know that I don’t plan on these creative writing posts intentionally maintaining any kind of cohesion with each other. There may be some that continue off of others, but it is not guaranteed, as I will be writing entirely off the cuff for the day. At least, that is the plan at this time. Finally, they may be any length I choose. They could be a simple paragraph, or they could be another multi-page short story.
Without further ado, here is today’s prompt for Calvin!
None of it seemed real, but after several months of helping Admiral Slodpolk negotiate market contracts across the galaxy, Calvin was getting used to his new normal. Except for today. The smell, although cloyingly sweet and nauseating, wasn’t the problem. It was the sight and sound of Yugarth VII’s Root Beer Pigeon’s falling out of the sky like a plague of Terran Locust’s. Thousands of creamy brown and white birds slamming against the ground, against windows and sides of buildings, while Calvin and the Admiral took shelter beneath an awning. Everywhere Calvin looked, they splashed with unsettling squawks like muted fireworks. Cascading rivulets on glass that would then reform into the strange birds, cooing on the sills. Dripping off the corner of the awning, creating tiny versions of them to strut around with the terrier-sized ones that congealed out of large puddles. A few seconds after their “rebirth” they would explode into vapor that hissed almost like carbonation escaping a freshly opened can of soda. None of these things, individually, would have bothered Calvin to such a stomach turning degree, but the assault on his senses was overwhelming. He wouldn’t be able to drink root beer for a while, and the strange rain of exploding carbonated pigeons would likely haunt his dreams for a couple days.
The last time I answered this prompt was almost a year ago and I think I still stand by those three wishes.
However, between then and now I watched a funny video on YouTube about trying to craft the perfect wish with no loopholes. Seriously, you should give it a watch. It might make you rethink how you word your genie wishes, just in case.
I really liked the way they handled the first wish to help determine the ramifications and loopholes that a sneaky genie might manipulate to mess with the person making the wishes.
Personally, having that kind of foreknowledge would be crucial in that exact case, but since we’re still dealing with a fictitious situation I wouldn’t worry about it. I might still go over my original three wishes with a fine tooth comb just in case there are unintended slip ups that aren’t intentional on the genie’s part.
For instance, the first wish, originally worded as such: I wish I could safely hop in and out of the stories I read so I can experience them as if I were really there.
I have a better idea of how I could wordsmith this one, especially after also having watched a TTRPG Live Play from Dropout and Dimension 20 called Never Stop Blowing Up which reminded me of the big premises of the anime Sword Art Online. Reworded, my first wish might go something like this: I wish I could safely choose to hop in and out of the stories I read, whenever I want, so I can experience them firsthand, choosing which character perspective I take, and never risking actual death due to the event of a character death because I would be safely ejected from the story so that I can choose to re-enter in the perspective of another character.
I think I’ll the other two wishes from the original post alone. Not because I think they’re perfect and have no loopholes, but because trying to work those ones out could be messy and I don’t want to spend the time trying to “Rules Lawyer” them to death.
Are you actively trying to learn to use AI to complement your work? Or are you trying to learn more unique skills that cannot be easily replicated by AI?
The regular daily prompt was something about a big risk that I haven’t taken yet, but since I answered that one a while back, I decided to fill in with my own. It did pop up in the back of my mind again, though, when I stumbled upon the one I added above while scouting for a new idea.
First, I’d like to mention that I have already dabbled with AI a bit for different reasons, but I haven’t made the leap to trying to use it for my own benefit. I’ve learned a smidge about how they work, and how they’re being used in different industries, but shelved the idea of leaning on them when what I saw was giving me an icky feeling (at the time).
One of the things I did was mess around with ChatGPT a little to try and see what kinds of information it had access to from Dungeons and Dragons so that I could try to possibly use it as a little Assistant DM (should I ever actually get a group together and play). This was early on in my research for trying to understand the hype, learning a bit about Large Language Models, and I kind of liked how things were turning out. It could pull up all kinds of information on short notice and offer explanations (to the best of its ability) on how certain things worked or where the information was sourced so that I might look into it myself to confirm.
After tinkering with it for a bit I got the idea to see what kinds of ideas it could string together to help me from a creative writing aspect. Then I got cold feet. I put that idea aside for a bit, and went on my way. Not long thereafter was when I stumbled upon an issue that was springing up in the indie-publishing world for fiction authors. Apparently, the market, especially on Kindle, had been getting flooded with stories. What tipped me off were comments and posts on different social media sites and on reddit that all mentioned how they felt similar, and were poorly constructed and almost rushed. People started putting two and two together, and realized that it had to be AI-related. This gave me some serious pause. Several months went by and I saw someone comment about how people were being caught and screened for trying to submit AI built manuscripts to traditional publishers, which caused these reviewers and some editors to start including phrasing concerning these kinds of manuscripts. So, while I didn’t get my hopes up to begin with, it did severely stifle the idea of using AI for creative writing purposes.
At least, until someone pointed out (it was probably Brandon Sanderson, since I listen to a lot of his podcasts and such) that it’s still up to the writer (me) to actually sift through the AI responses and craft things. I don’t HAVE to use exactly what is generated. Which just took me back to my original idea for the D&D stuff. I can use it for ideas, maybe throw in a more developed prompt to see what gets churned out, and then further customize everything (or even throw things out entirely!) So, I may circle back around to trialing it at a later date if I feel like I’m getting stuck. For now, though, I’m still running on my own brain.
One other area I dabbled with AI, actually very recently, was with coding/scripting for work. I didn’t actually use my work device or any sort of sensitive data, so as to avoid risks, but I was stuck trying to figure out a way to make something work in Microsoft Power BI for some reporting I work on. I wanted to try converting DAX scripting into M code to see if it might help improve processing data from a massively customized date table I had constructed. So, I plugged in the idea to a different AI service via my phone, and tried to work with what was given back. Sadly, I couldn’t make it do what I wanted, so it was a bust. I’ve not looked toward AI for work purposes since then, and doubtful I will again since I really should be developing that knowledge and skill set on my own and not relying on AI to do it for me (or else why bother having me do the work at all?)
At this point, all things considered, I still haven’t messed with AI as much as some people, and I don’t know how soon I’ll get back to dabbling with it for creative writing purposes or as a sort of Assistant DM, but I know I’m definitely not intending to use it for work again any time soon.
I haven’t found a book lately that I can say totally qualifies for this honor, but I have had some in the past.
Way back in elementary school is when I discovered Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I think it was probably around 3rd or 4th grade? I was always reading at a level a couple years above most of my peers, and when I first read Ender’s Game I didn’t know some words or fully understand the context and complexity of the story, but I was enthralled. I read that book several times, taking a couple weeks or months in between reads without reading anything else so that I could digest it before reacquainting myself with the story.
Middle school up to about sophomore year of high school was when I read some Dragonlance stories and what was available of TheWheel of Time, and although I didn’t reread them as voraciously as I had with Ender’s Game, I did reread a few of them at least a couple of times.
Reading Harry Potter didn’t happen for me until book six was released. After that I read them a couple of times, mixed in with more Wheel of Time, and then reread some of them leading up to book sevens release. After book seven I didn’t reread them, and it would be several years before I chose to read and reread something new.
I think the last book I actually reread multiple times was Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. My older brother recommended I check it out. This was probably during the last couple years of college, as I recall reading The Human Division in its serial release format around that time. Even after that I would still circle back to reread that first book. It’s been more than a few years since my last reading of Old Man’s War and now I kind of want to go back and read it again.
Well, aside from all those books I haven’t found anything new. Maybe I’ll find something new to read over and over again soon.
So many books to read, so little time! I have a decent list of books to read that I’ve picked up in the last couple of years, and I actually put that list into a personal OneNote so I could track purchases. Below is the list of most recent books that I’ve purchased and added to my backlog. There are 33 books in the list, and I’ve grouped some based on series. Are any of them on your list?
Mistborn Era 1
The Final Empire (Read)
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Mistborn Era 2
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
The Lost Metal
Elantris
Warbreaker
The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Oathbringer
Rhythm of War
Wind and Truth
Brandon Sanderson Secret Projects
Tress of the Emerald Sea
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
The Sunlit Man
J.W. Wells & Co.
The Portable Door
In Your Dreams
Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard
You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps
The Dragon's Grove 