AI Influencers

https://www.deviantart.com/omven/art/Gen-1786643620-0-1368234714

 

My wife does a "clipping service" for me, where she sends along articles that she thinks I'd be interested in. The other day, she found one in the New York Times (behind a paywall, so I don't know if you can click through,) called "So You Want to Build an A.I. Star?" 

And this is just... ugh, I mean.... 

Basically, the article outlines how corporations are using AI technology to create content creators (a.k.a. "Influencers.) These fake people are so complete, they have tragic backstories

I'm starting to get what William Gibson was talking about when he said that it's getting impossible to write cyberpunk as we approach "the singularity," where we are basically already living the future we imagined.  

It so incredibly dystopic to me that we are living in an era where I can't even be sure that the poster I am watching on TikTok or Facebook/Instagram/Meta Reels is a human being who shares my profoundly niche interests. I might just be falling for an extremely targeted ad campaign brought to me directly from my corporate overlords to keep me fat and happy and off the streets, where I should be exercising my First Amendment rights (if you know what I mean.)

And, how do I get the job of making up these personas? I feel like creating character that people like might be a skillset of mine, but are they employing writers or marketing execs?  My guess is the latter. After all, AI already scrapped all my words and absorbed my characters. What do they need writers for at this point?

I think what bothers me is that I actually get a lot of joy out of watching dumb little TikToks/Reels of people beachcombing for sea glass or telling me their crazy D&D character ideas. I would legitimately feel betrayed to discover that any one of those people is fake or that hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water was destroyed to create. 

Any ideas as how to get out of this timeline? Someone want to press the on/off switch for the Hadron Collider? We could sure use a do-over.

Conversation about Cyberpunk

 I spent a lot of my time yesterday attempting to clean-up some audio recorded by my friend and collaborator, Cole Sarar. We had a lovely lunch together wherein we discussed writing and specifically cyberpunk writing. If you want to take a listen it is here:

https://www.patreon.com/lydamorehouse/posts/cyberpunk-with-166532045

Yes, this links takes you to my Patreon, but the content is free. 

You are always welcome to join my Patreon as a free member. I am not a huge fan of capitalism, even though that's how I make my money, so you can treat your subscription as my "newsletter." That's the sort of information you'll get--updates on appearances, videos or audio recordings of performances, etc. I don't post often at my patreon, but when I do, it's stuff like this. You can also, if you are feeling wildly generous, join at the ONE DOLLAR level. This will get you access to the whole .01% of stuff that I reserve for my paid members. 

As Cory Doctorow once said, "Content wants to be free," despite all of our attempts to monetize it. 

Anyway, if you've started reading this blog, you will be familiar with several of the stories that I end up talking about as I've discussed them here.

Enjoy responsibly!

Big News! Many books forthcoming...

 I bet most of you have figured that I've dropped off the face of the earth. Turns out that I have been busily working on a science fiction book (under my given name Lyda Morehouse.) I just sold it and two more books in that trilogy to Cheryl Morgan at Wizard's Tower Press. 

https://wizardstowerpress.com/media/wizards-tower-acquires-earths-shadow-trilogy-from-lyda-morehouse/

Also, since I suspect that most readers here are more interested in my Tate Hallaway persona, GOOD NEWS FOR YOU AS WELL.  As part of the trilogy package, I have also agreed to write Alex Connor #3! (currently titled Infernal Affairs.) 

Space Lesbians!

You know that lesbian space opera I keep talking about? It's going to be part of a new publishing house run by Rachel Manija Brown. 

Here is what she says about it:

Kalikoi, a new F/F publishing house, will launch on May 3.

Kalikoi brings you the best fiction about women in love with women. Our diverse authors know how to stir your imagination, speed up your heart, and make you laugh or cry. But by the end of a book, your only tears will be happy ones: Kalikoi books guarantee happily-ever-after or happy-for-now endings!

Our heroines all identify as women, but beyond that, the sky’s the limit. They may be trans or cis; they may be lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or asexual; they may call themselves queer or Sapphic or prefer no labels at all. Kalikoi celebrates ALL women who love women.

Whether you’re looking for an action-packed paranormal romance, a fantasy to transport you to a magical world, a historical full of sensual detail, a moody noir, a lighthearted comedy, or a space adventure, Kalikoi has the book for you!

Kalikoi is a project I've been working on for a while, and I'm delighted that it's about to become a reality.

 

The site is still somewhat under construction. For instance, I notice that I haven't sent along my author photo. But, if you go there you can sign up for the newsletter and all that jazz. And, since I'm already shamelessly promoting, let me remind you that if you join my Patreon, you can hear me read from the very same lesbian space opera that I will be publishing with them at the $1 level.  (That video will drop the day after tomorrow around 4 pm CT. So, don't worry if you don't see it yet. I just scheduled it.)

Cover Reveal - The Reinvented Heart Anthology

 

My short story "Sincerely Yours," will be coming out in The Reinvented Heart Anthology which is coming from Arc Manor Press in February, 2022, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Cat Rambo.

I am very excited to be part of this anthology and it looks like I am sharing the anthology with a lot of amazing science fiction/fantasy authors. 

Starting with a Bang (and Why That's Bull)

 I've start up a new writers' group that includes some writers who are newer to the craft. This has been wonderful for me, because I personally find it useful to my own process and to my own understanding to have to articulate how writing works. 

One of my colleagues was complaining that his other writers group always harps on him to have a strong hook. They keep telling him "You have to start with a BANG." The problem is the story he wants to tell isn't a high octane shoot 'em up, it a quiet, reflective piece about grief and a small, personal mystery. So, he was talking about how frustrating it is to have to artificially wrench his story into a form where it starts with some kind of huge dramatic moment.

I stopped him and said, "It's a lie. What your colleagues are telling you is a lie."

A hook can be an actual gunshot, but what a BANG is, is simply the easiest way to get a reader's attention. It is not--absolutely not--the only way to get it.

You don't actually have to start with a bang at all. What you have to start with is a "hook," and that is very, very, VERY different than a bang. What a hook is, is something that compels a reader to want to go on. It's a sense of tension, an anxiousness to know more, it is a question that the reader desperately wants answered, or a quiet sense of building dread... or something else that has the reader saying 'OOoooooOOO, I want more of THIS.' 

It doesn't have to be BIG, it just has to be compelling.

It has been drilled into to new writers that the opening has to be exciting... and it does. It's just that it doesn't have to be "exciting" in a conventional way. 

I would go so far as to say that, if you do it right, almost anything could be a hook. A really strong sense of place could be enough for a reader to settle in an say to themselves, "Yes, this place seems super interesting, I want more." A strong, quirky narrative voice might be enough for a reader to say, "WHO is this person?? I must find out!" 

My friend and fellow Wyrdsmith, Adam Stemple once told me that an opening has to leave the reader with the impression that they are "in the hands of a master." And, he's right. Part of what you are establishing with your hook is a sense that you can be trusted to tell a good story. One of the ways you can gain that trust is believing that what you have to say is enough. Don't feel like you have to artificially contort your story so that you start in some conventionally "exciting" way. Just give your readers that nugget, the one that hints to them that what is promised is totally worth it. 

It still takes work to do it right, but don't waste that work thinking you have to go big or go home. You have to be interesting and compelling. That's hard enough!