#Tag
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 19: Talk about how you've fixed a mistake in your work.
The most involved story would be how nearly all of my submarine plot needed to be scrapped and rebuilt (just like the sub), but I think the funniest was when proofreading Blight, I realized that one of the characters had a Tesla. At the time it was meant to signal "rich and environmentally conscious" but by the time the book was in proofs it signalled something very different.
#WritersCoffeeClub 19/9: Talk about how you've fixed a mistake in your work.
Writing is a constant learning process. Early in my novel-writing career (ca. 2003-08) I sold a series to Tor in the USA: it had errata—not surprising, it was longer than War and Peace!
In 2013, it got pocked up by Tor UK; I managed to convince my editor there to let me rework it from six slim fantasy-branded books into three fat technothrillers. Made over 3000 changes along the way. It was, indeed, a better version.
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 18
Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.
Blasphemous according to who?*
I am Jewish, and the only thing blasphemous in Judaism is cursing the name of God. It's a very specific wrong doing, and not a the kind of general or umbrella term it is in Christianity.
No, I have not written anything blasphemous, nor do I intend to. If other people consider my writing blasphemous, that's their problem.
*(Dot Warner voice: Helllllooo cultural Christianity!)
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 18
Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.
Blasphemous according to who?*
I am Jewish, and the only thing blasphemous in Judaism is cursing the name of God. It's a very specific wrong doing, and not a the kind of general or umbrella term it is in Christianity.
No, I have not written anything blasphemous, nor do I intend to. If other people consider my writing blasphemous, that's their problem.
*(Dot Warner voice: Helllllooo cultural Christianity!)
#WritersCoffeeClub 18: Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.
I'm an atheist who had a non-mainstream religious upbringing and I blaspheme gleefully and at length at every opportunity against any religion that privileges dogma over humanity.
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 18: Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.
German folk tales contain a surprising amount of blasphemous stuff.
But my favorite example is "The Smith of Mitterbach" where the protagonist kicks Saint Peter down the Ladder to Heaven because the latter wouldn't let him in.
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 18: Have you written something blasphemous? Tell us about it.
German folk tales contain a surprising amount of blasphemous stuff.
But my favorite example is "The Smith of Mitterbach" where the protagonist kicks Saint Peter down the Ladder to Heaven because the latter wouldn't let him in.
#WritersCoffeeClub
I have a bit of a writers delema. I have a story set in the 1900's and one character is a bigot and an ass. In writting his dialog, I am torn between keeping his speech authentic or not using derogatory and racist words for people and keeping his speech so that I'm not using derogatory words in my book. I would like peoples oppinions on this, authentic use of racist speech or not?
#WritersCoffeeClub Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
Nope. I think objecting to other people's use of LLMs is enough of a signal, and we should focus more on persuading nonwriters to value good writing. Which was an uphill battle already before LLMs, at least in my industry. But I have to believe we'll get there, to preserve my own sanity if nothing else.
#WritersCoffeeClub 17: Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
I don't think we should worry about it, to be honest. Should we worry about the existence and useage of LLMs to create writing? Yes. Should we worry about their plagiarism? Yes.
But trying to prove you didn't use an LLM is a losing battle. It doesn't work for essays, and it won't work for us.
I am vocally anti-LLM and my work has arisen from who I am as a person. That has to be enough.
#WritersCoffeeClub September 17: "Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?"
Proving it is impossible, as I'm sure others have said. I've seen some folks putting a 'no ai' label on their work and I don't think that's a bad thing, but it doesn't actually prove anything.
#WritersCoffeeClub Sep 17: Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
Yes.
I am published by Tor and Orbit currently (and have been published by other major Big Five imprints in the past).
EVERY SINGLE ONE of my book contracts contains a warranty clause to the effect that it is entirely my own original work, except for cited and referenced quotations (agreed by the publisher).
Use of an LLM would put me in breach of contract and liable for damages.
#WritersCoffeeClub 17: Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
I don't think we should worry about it, to be honest. Should we worry about the existence and useage of LLMs to create writing? Yes. Should we worry about their plagiarism? Yes.
But trying to prove you didn't use an LLM is a losing battle. It doesn't work for essays, and it won't work for us.
I am vocally anti-LLM and my work has arisen from who I am as a person. That has to be enough.
#WritersCoffeeClub 16: What was the hardest writerly lesson for you to learn? Or unlearn?
Probably to stop comparing myself to other writers. Stop comparing word count, stop comparing publishing success, even to a degree to stop comparing style.
That all fed into imposter syndrome, which used to stop me in my tracks. It could also make me bitter to no real purpose.
I strive to write good books. I strive to improve. But I'm not using other writers as measuring sticks.
#WritersCoffeeClub What was the hardest writerly lesson for you to learn/unlearn?
Its important to look at a work from the pov of a reader rather than a writer.
I think a lot of writers are told specific rules about what makes a good book, but books that I personally enjoy don't follow that rule. Here is popular author and series that don't follow "good" book advice:
Nenia Campbell: Tells book entirely through flashbacks
Under the Oak Tree: FMC speaks the majority of the time with a stutter
#WritersCoffeeClub 17 September. Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
The shouldn't, but they may need to. I'm not sure most people care as much as we do. I think a better response is to write the best work you can. At least at the moment, it's not hard to produce better stories than LLM-derived ones.
#WritersCoffeeClub 17 September. Should modern writers worry about proving their work is not generated by an LLM?
The shouldn't, but they may need to. I'm not sure most people care as much as we do. I think a better response is to write the best work you can. At least at the moment, it's not hard to produce better stories than LLM-derived ones.
#WritersCoffeeClub What was the hardest writerly lesson for you to learn/unlearn?
Its important to look at a work from the pov of a reader rather than a writer.
I think a lot of writers are told specific rules about what makes a good book, but books that I personally enjoy don't follow that rule. Here is popular author and series that don't follow "good" book advice:
Nenia Campbell: Tells book entirely through flashbacks
Under the Oak Tree: FMC speaks the majority of the time with a stutter
That stories don't need to center conflict.
Ironic, i suppose, given how much i embrace and talk about the many other possibilities for fiction stories.
But it really took me years to work through, where I fought with my own stories, which mostly weren't working because I tried to force conflict into them, because stories 'have' to center conflict, and when I'd go to friends and mentors they'd read it and say the problem wasn't enough conflict or the conflict wasn't central enough, so I'd try to fix it by embracing the conflict, but that just made the whole thing worse.
Eventually I said 'fuck it, I'm writing stories my way, and if that means no central conflict, then that's all good.' But it took me years.
#WritersCoffeeClub 15: How do your immediate surroundings influence your work?
On the page? They don't. I'm not any better at writing about rain when it's raining. I'm not better about writing about being in a bedroom because I write in my bedroom. Not to mention that would severely limit what I could write about.
Influence me as the writer? A LOT. A comfortable, familiar environment gives me the calm I need to write efficiently. I can write in other environments, but it's not as efficient.
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