If You Can't Come Up With Ideas On Your Own, You May Have Lost The Plot

Generative AI is a solution in desperate search of a problem as far as adoption by the masses goes (corporations want it to solve the whole "having to pay artists" problem). And because of the pushback against these things, the supporters of these programs are trying to justify any use of them as a necessity. And a recent post titled Using ChatGPT And Other AI Writing Tools Makes You Unhireable. Here's Why is something I wanted to draw some attention to this week.

Because the explanation of what this software actually does is on-point, and it cuts to the heart of something that people need to understand, but a lot of folks are resisting. Writing is not content. It's not just words. Writing is a skill, and if you don't want to actually put in the work to master the skill, then you are not a writer, and you certainly aren't employable as an author.

And this is particularly true when it comes to the inception of your ideas.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

This is Actually The Fun Part For Most People

To sum up, these programs are not thinking. They are literally throwing down Scrabble tiles and doing their best to come up with something they think you want to hear. They were seeded with stolen work, they use a colossal amount of energy and water, and they create a massive amount of pollution, while also fucking up the market on computer parts (and RAM specifically). Worse, those who use these programs are basically outsourcing their own thought process. Studies have shown repeatedly that regular use of generative AI leads to lowered thought process, making you actually slower of wit the longer you use these things.

Your brain, and your creativity, have to practice. You have to build new neural pathways, and exercise new parts of your mind... if you don't, they atrophy. Simple as.

Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power...

Most people understand that typing in a prompt and hitting a button is not the same as writing a story. However, there's a particular argument I wanted to focus on in this week's update because it's something that a lot of people are stridently defending for reasons I do not grasp or understand. To paraphrase, their argument boils down to;

"But I need it to give me ideas! I just need a bit of a push to get me started."

You don't, actually.

There are literally hundreds of lists of story prompts and ideas out there if you're feeling stuck. Hell, I did a short search for lists that don't use AI, and quickly found one from E.M. Welsh, one from The Write Practice, and one from E.A. Deverell. Just like there are non-AI generators out there for character and country names that use no stolen materials, and which aren't feeding into a massive overconsumption of resources.

Hell, if you're willing to part with a few bucks, there are simple lists produced by professionals available on Drive Thru RPG, like the Steampunk Street Name Generator by Adrian Kennelly, or my own supplement 100 Dark Secrets which works just as well for writing fiction as running a tabletop game.

More importantly, though, coming up with ideas is literally the easiest part of being a writer. Hell, children can come up with ideas! All you have to do is listen to an average 8-year-old ramble on, and you'll easily have three dozen story setups in the space of 15 minutes.

Now, will they be good ideas? Probably not. But you know what? Organically generated terrible ideas full of bad grammar and no understanding of story structure are still better than the terrible ideas full of bad grammar and no understanding of story structure these Gen AI programs spit out at you hoping for a pat on the head and a tummy rub.

You Are What Makes The Story

As was mentioned repeatedly in the Medium piece, most of what people claim these programs can do they actually can't. It's just snake oil salesmen promising you that this tonic will absolutely regrow your hair, add inches to your dick size, help you lose weight, and make your ex-wife love you again when it's just a bottle of piss mixed with ink.

It isn't a useful tool, and there are already non-AI options for people who genuinely need a little boost, or a story prompt, or some inspiration.

Most importantly, though, the thing that I feel a lot of people need to understand is that it's the writer's skill that makes or breaks a story. You can have an amazing story seed full of emotional potential and solid character concepts, but if you give it to someone with no experience or skill then they're probably going to flounder the same way as if you asked a 13-year-old with no drawing experience to recreate the Sistene Chapel ceiling using nothing more than a mechanical pencil and a few sheets of graph paper. However, you can also take a ridiculous premise or an absurd concept, hand it to an experienced writer, and they will mold it into a story that will make people laugh, cry, and demand to know why they're feeling things from such a dumb story.

Perfect examples of this are my animal-noir novel Marked Territory, or even my recent short story Gav and Bob: Sanguinala Redux which (apparently) brought a lot of Warhammer 40K fans to tears.

Seriously, check it out if you haven't read it yet!

And to reiterate one of the responses on Facebook to the Medium article, if you cannot perform the most basic task of being a writer (coming up with a story idea), then why do you think you should be at the table for a company making video games, a TV series, or writing novels? If you don't actually put in the work to make something, why are you trying so hard to convince others (and yourself) that you're a real writer?

This is not about good or bad. There are plenty of writers and authors out there that I think are lacking in skill and talent. But you know what? If that thing they wrote came from inside of them, and they put those words on the page, I won't do anything to disparage that achievement. We don't have to be bosom companions, but they're more than welcome into the writer's club as far as I'm concerned.

And if you're someone who is so sure they need Gen AI to be a writer, ask yourself why. What does this plagiarism software do that you can't do yourself? If you know the issues with it, and the cost of using it to the environment and yourself, then why are you insisting on using it instead of one of the other, safer tools out there?

It's never too late to delete these things, and start the hard work of writing. And if you're feeling stuck on ideas, go to a writer's group, and ask to start a brainstorming thread. Talk with other writers, and get a conversation going. You might be surprised what they have to say, and how much they're willing to help.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Authors Are Running The Red Queen's Race (Going Full Speed Just To Stay in Place)

"Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep to the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

- The Red Queen

While not everyone has read Through The Looking Glass, the second book about Alice's unusual adventures, it's the one that takes us to the realm of the red queen and the white queen and their chessboard kingdoms. However, this quote above is so indicative of the struggle that authors find themselves in (especially today) that I felt it was something worth discussing.

Because if you're going full tilt, and the world is just slipping by under your feet while you barely keep even, you aren't alone. In fact, that's basically all of us right now.

And if you fell on your face, you're also not alone.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

Why We're Stuck In This Rat Race

Capitalism. All right, thanks for reading everyone!

...

Okay, so it's more complicated than that. But not nearly as complicated as you think.

So, we live in the modern age of publishing. Right now anyone can put out a book on dozens of platforms, using machines a lot of us have access to, and we can tell people about those books utilizing free social media networks. The tools we utilize on a daily basis, from smartphones to Goodreads, are things that would leave previous generations of authors staring in awe at how far things have come.

However, it's important to remember that possible is not the same as probable. Because it's possible that the scratch-off ticket you just bought is going to pay out $100,000 a year for life... but it's not super likely.

The coin from the Take A Penny tray is probably all you'll get, honestly.

Let's rewind the clock about 10-12 years ago. Around this time there was no generative AI flooding the market. You could make however many posts on social media sites you wanted, and you had a good chance of getting hundreds, if not thousands of eyes on those posts. Going viral seemed random, but there were tools you could use to check for the best keywords, and you had a relatively good chance of actually getting traction on the things you made. The algorithms that governed the Internet generally made sense, and while there were ads all over the place, they were usually clearly marked, and a whole lot less obtrusive.

Now, let's fast-forward to today.

Today we have an ongoing war against AI slop as people hammer the "Write Book" button and then shoot their "novels" out into the void to take up space and attention. Established social media platforms have limited your ability to post, often shadow banning posts that would take viewers off the site and to a storefront, blog, etc. somewhere else. We have algorithms that change every season, and trends that last about an hour or so. And, most importantly, your talent as a writer doesn't actually make a difference because people have to know about you and your work in the first place before you can enchant them with your words.

So no, if it feels like you have to work 2-3 times as hard just to get the same amount (or even less) attention and sales than you did even a few years ago, you aren't imagining it. Every tool you had, whether it's active and engaging online communities, or the ability to reach your audience via a video platform like YouTube, or even the ability to get your book seen and reviewed on sites dedicated to that kind of content, has been dulled, rusted, or twisted to try to turn a profit. And since authors are one of the more historically broke professions (overall), it's not like most of us have money to throw at these problems.

To counter that, we grind harder, write more, craft better posts... but we're trying to run up an active avalanche. And even if you succeed, you're still making fewer sales, reaching fewer people, and going absolutely all-out in your attempt to avoid being thrown down into the ravine below.

And how do you actually succeed? The kind of success that lets you make progress instead of just standing in place when that's all going at a dead sprint seems to do for you?

Well, unfortunately, there are only really three ways to do this. And while the first two are amazing if you can get them, they're probably out of most people's reach.

Your 3 Solutions For Success

No beating around the bush, the first two ways you can get huge success as an author are:

- Be rich

- Be lucky

That's it. Because if you're rich you can, at least, pay for advertising, booth space, and you have hours in your day to dedicate to your online presence because you don't have to spend that money on food and rent. It's also possible that you move in the circles of other rich people, so you have the ability to just get invited onto popular shows and networks, you get reviewed in well-read publications, etc., because you have a network of friends, family, and colleagues who can help you out, which will lead to you becoming better known and better read.

The second one is winning the lottery. Maybe you wrote a book that just so happened to start a new trend. Maybe you put the right keyword in a post or video, and you went viral for no discernible reason. Maybe you made a silly TikTok that got boosted and commented to hell and back, and as a result there are now millions of people who are aware that your novel exists. It's nice if you can manage this option, but it's utterly unpredictable, and if it does happen you really need to be ready to capitalize on it.

So what's the third option? Well, this is one we can all do, to some degree, and it's the best strategy I have since it's the only thing that consistently works:

- Build a community

Holy shit! There's a new book out!

It sounds simple, but it is deceptively difficult. Finding people who like your work, who support you, and who you can work with takes time, energy, and it often means that you need to reach out to others and help where you can. Do you volunteer as a guest on their YouTube channel? Do you help promote their blogs and books to what audience you have? Do you go to cons, bump fists, and volunteer to be on panels to meet fellow creators and fans alike?

There's no one right way to build your community, and it's really a patchwork of efforts that will work in a lot of different ways. But, honestly, that is what you need to do in order to really build a following of loyal readers.

Because as I've said so many times before, writing a book is hard. Selling that book is a lot harder, and you're going to need help if you don't already have fat stacks of cold cash chilling in your accounts.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Ask What The Purpose Of A Scene Is (And Cut It If There Isn't One)

Editing your book can sometimes feel like you're holding a sword in your hand, and being asked which of your children you're willing to part with. There are so many moments in your story, so many turns of phrase that make you smile, and so many arcs that you just can't bring yourself to part with. After all, they make you happy, and they serve the narrative... or so you tell yourself.

I can say from experience, though, not every scene that's in your rough draft belongs in your final book... especially if you're finding your word count running over, or your waters getting muddied. Which is why it's important to sit down, take a hard look at each scene, and really ask if it needs to be on the team. Because some of them probably don't.

Just make the cut.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Unnecessary Stuff Gets Left on The Cutting Room Floor

For just a moment, let's compare a novel to a movie. These are two very different art forms, but both of them are vehicles for telling a story. And just like how a writer might splash all their ideas onto the page, so a filmmaker might shoot different versions of a scene, or even add in extra scenes. When filming is wrapped, and the rough cut is done, it's time to start making decisions about what scenes stay in, and what scenes get chopped out.

Because sometimes a scene that seemed poignant and interesting at the time just makes later scenes feel redundant. Sometimes a scene is meant to give extra characterization to a member of the cast but instead feels like it's over-explaining them, or it actually runs counter to their behavior in other scenes. Sometimes subplots are removed from the movie because there just isn't enough room for everything, and they just felt too busy.

If you get the chance to watch deleted scenes from movies you know well, ask why they were removed in the first place? What was the logic? How would their inclusion have altered the finished product? How would these elements change the story? Because once you understand that, it can give you a more solid perspective when it comes to your own story, what should stay, and what should go.

Some scenes are harder to cut than others, not going to lie.

As an example, if you're writing a murder mystery that's meant to focus on the gritty side of investigating serial killers, what purpose does the scene where the detective has coffee with their sister serve? Is it meant to act as a come-down after a brutal revelation? Are you trying to show the other side of the detective's life as they struggle not to be consumed by the job? Does it involve a difficult discussion where the detective asks their sibling to be on the lookout, knowing that she might be targeted next?

When I say you need to be sure that the book has a purpose, that doesn't just mean it's a scene that drives the plot forward. There are plenty of scenes that don't have any plot-relevant details in them that still serve your narrative, which show different sides of your characters, or which lay false trails or keep your readers guessing. The key is that you understand the purpose these scenes serve, and that you can take a step back, and say that they are definitely helping your book.

Like I said above, your book is the vehicle for the story you're telling. Each part of that vehicle is working together to achieve the end result. You don't want to strip out the pistons in your engine, or take off the tires... but do you really need that spoiler on the rear? Or the extra spoiler on top of it? The bull bars on the front that are just weighing it down? The rack of lights across the roof that are just shining more light, but not actually helping you see better?

It's important to strip out things that are hurting your story... but more important than that is the ability to recognize when something is serving its purpose, and when you could probably stand to bring down the blade, and leave that particular scene out of things.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Can You Get Paid By Social Media Platforms As A Writer? Probably Not

Social media platforms need engagement in order to stay viable, and to that end a lot of them have created programs that pay creators for the posts they make. This is why so many of the people out there with big audiences make so many posts, and try to draw so much energy from their audiences; because the more attention they get, the bigger the checks they're cut by the platform in question.

It's tough to make a living as an author, but chances are good you're already on social media to find an audience, get the word out about your books, and so on... so is this a viable way for you to earn a little extra money to cover your bills while still writing?

Short answer, no. For the long answer, details are below.

Trust me, I'd be all over this if it was possible.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

All Right, How Do These Programs Work?

On paper, the idea makes sense. A social media platform wants eyes and engagement, so it puts money in the pockets of creators who get people to stay on the platform longer. It makes sense; the creators are, essentially, the reason so many people check in on these platforms where they will be exposed to all the ads on the platform.

So, how did this get botched up? Well, to answer that question, I'll go platform by platform and explain how they have structured their programs.

Please sir... could we have a little more?

Instagram

Instagram has one of the clearest cut lines among these programs. Generally speaking, you need to have at least 10,000 followers (I learned this from Little Alice, and I'd highly recommend folks go check her stuff out if you haven't already since she's being shadow banned) before anything kicks in. Once you get to that level, the site starts tracking what you share, and the amount of attention it gets. And when you start getting large views (we're talking the 100,000 to 1 million range) the site starts compensating you for that. Not much, but generally speaking 1 million views is worth somewhere between a hundred, and a few hundred, dollars.

Not nothing... but hardly the success one would expect for a viral-level post.

Reddit

Reddit is the place where I do a majority of my social media posting because (though it pains me to admit this) it is the site where I get the best return on my efforts. But the site has a program that allows people to make money off the posts... but not really.

So, if you can get into the program (not a guarantee), you are given rewards based on the number of gold other Redditors award your posts. In order to get gold, though, a Redditor has to spend real-world currency... so this is essentially a way for you to earn tips.

The problem with this in my experience is that most creators never get awarded gold. You can make hundreds upon hundreds of posts, get thousands of upvotes, and lead to long comment chains... none of that makes any difference if no one decides to award you gold. I'm approaching a quarter million karma on the site, and my account is 10 years old... I've never once received gold. From anyone. Hell, I've barely received awards, no matter how much attention a post has received.

Depending on other users to tip you is a terrible way to try to make money, especially when they have to spend real-world money to tip you via the site's currency. And doubly so when the translation rate is something like a handful of pennies per gold you're awarded. You'd be better off just telling people where to find you on Ko-Fi or Patreon.

Facebook

Facebook is second verse, same as the first. It has the same fundamental flaw as Reddit, because you can only get tipped for your content by FB users giving you stars, which is the made-up currency on FB you have to spend real money for. But unlike Reddit, where users can put gold on any post you make, FB seems to only allow stars to be used on Reels (at least at time of writing).

While there is talk about allowing advertisers to partner with you as a creator, that's currently a grayed-out option. Everything I can see at present is just another shell game where the platform claims you can make money as a contributor, but then just puts that burden onto other users, many of whom probably don't even know the effect their stars have. And just like Reddit, individual stars are worth pennies.

Just tell people where to find you on Ko-Fi and Patreon.

YouTube

While technically not a social media platform, it keeps cropping up. YouTube requires someone to have 1,000 subscribers to their channel, and 4,000 hours of watched content in the past year to unlock all the payment options. People can leave you tips through the site, pay for exclusive subscriptions, and you get ad revenue shared... but again, you need tens of thousands of views per month to make even a spare $50 or so. Millions of views is required before you can cut even triple-digit checks.

Also, to help me reach some of my own goals on this one, check out the Azukail Games YouTube channel where most of my content winds up.

Miscellaneous Sites

So, there are a lot of sites that aren't going to get a detailed breakdown, and a lot of programs I haven't looked into yet. But the trend of sites either requiring you to have absurd followings, or passing off the actual paying part to someone else, is pretty common.

- Blue Sky: No official program yet, but apparently there's talks to change that.

- Twitter: It's a cesspool of bots, fascists, and pornography, but you still need millions of hits and a blue check mark to get paid.

- TikTok: Getting a straight answer is nearly impossible... but it requires hundreds of thousands to millions of followers, and even more views, to make any kind of money.

If You Have That Following, The Pay Is Insulting

There's an old story I mentioned somewhere on this blog about Michael Jordan being interviewed. He mentioned that when he was a rookie player, nobody wanted to give him shit for free. Once he was a champion and a celebrity, people wanted to give him free merch, comped meals, tickets to events, and a bunch of other stuff. They gave it to him because he was famous and well-known, but the point he made was that he didn't need it then.

This is basically the same thing when it comes to getting paid by social media sites.

Because if you can accumulate 100,000 followers (to say nothing of a million), then chances are pretty goddamn good you can get enough people out of that audience to buy your books, merch, support your crowdfunding, or watch your videos. And while getting a little bit of extra gravy on top for having a big audience is nice, sure, this isn't something that's reasonable (or even possible) for small-time creators.

So by all means, if you find yourself skyrocketed to stardom overnight with people hanging on every word, go for it. But if you're looking for some way to pay your bills right now, you're going to have a much easier time getting people to buy more copies of your book instead of getting 1 in every 300 people in the United States to click that follow button.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.