As a lifelong user of the Oxford comma, adverbs, and other syntactic queues that often generate suspicion of undisclosed, unethical usage of Artificial Intelligence resources, recent events involving indie authors who are being accused of such behavior has me feeling a lot of different emotions at once.
The verified issue regarding uncredited and unpaid for imagery for cover art has me thinking, "Conduct your due diligence and pay artists for their creative labor!"
Then there are the murkier contradictory issues of who gets penalized and cancelled for using Artificial Intelligence and who doesn't. Last year an all-non-human publishing venture was celebrated when it received an initial investment of multiple millions of dollars. As a published indie and traditional author my email inbox is filled with offers for ways to use technology to "streamline" my writing process and "accelerate" my productivity.
If I were a traditionally published author under contract with a looming deadline, maybe those claims would tempt me. But every aspect of the writing process offers its own rewards: developing complex characters' strengths, weaknesses, quirks; plot elements, pacing, voice; origin stories, research--every task offers opportunities to learn something new about the world, others, and myself.
A few bestselling authors brag about their usage of Artificial Intelligence to write their books and they continue to receive critical acclaim and financial rewards while others get accused, convicted, and discarded based on accusations slung without irrefutable evidence, a legitimate investigation or verified conclusions. And as with too many situations in this world, ethnicity, skin color, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and powerful, influential connections are relevant factors in who is being judged, how they're judged, and the consequences, if any.
I just submitted an 82k erotica manuscript to my first-choice literary agent. I started writing it in 2019, finished it in 2020, then shelved it until 2023, due to family responsibilities and working on other projects, when rereading it reminded me of how much the characters and story appealed to me. It's been a pattern of alternating refinements and pauses ever since. Software is unable to shape and develop stories about the messy gloriousness of humanity with the authentic intimate delicacy that humans can.
In this current publishing environment my old school approach of a handwritten first draft makes me feel safer. About one thousand pages of notes and rough draft in addition to multiple computer files saved over several years offer proof of my creative labor. It's my default way of writing that now feels necessary for many other reasons.
My question for myself and other authors is always this, "What's your writing priority?" The answer shapes what we're willing or not willing to do to get published. Document your progress. Backup your files. Vett the reputations of author services professionals. Ask them detailed questions about the resources they use. Trust, but verify as much as possible.
Happy ethical creating!
[2 large black 3-ring binders, 1 laying flat and the other propped upright against the bottom of the 1st; both arranged against a watch plaid blanket]
For the first time in too many years to remember I didn't read any books last week. My family, friends, preparing my query, and social media bingeing kept me too busy to read. No regrets:-)
Just started reading Restore Me and And Now Back to You. Borrowed Burning Daylight and And the Crowd Went Wild. My #BACissues (Book Acquisition Compulsion) continue. Still no regrets.
[9 books, from left to right: Restore Me, And Now Back to You upright next to a bookstack, top to bottom - Burning Daylight, And the Crowd Went Wild atop 5 books showing only the bottom edges]
Always wishing you good health, peace of mind, safety, joy & some pleasure every day
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