writing process

Whatever Worked Last Time...

Whatever Worked Last Time...

Brian Eno has a card in his Oblique Strategies set suggesting: Whatever worked last time, never do it again.

That might be more extreme than we always need but the sentiment is a good one. Just because it worked last time doesn’t mean it would work again. And just because a client has one idea in mind with their story, it doesn’t mean that’s the best way to narrate their own journey.

AI Policy in Ghostwriting

The only time AI is The Answer is when you’re talking about Philadelphia basketball.

The rise of AI and LLM in creative fields is, at least at the moment, concerning. It takes the human element out of what should be about human expression. And in other applications, like the military, the application of this technology dangerously takes away the human element of decision making.

It also seems to me that AI is a misnomer at this point in mid-2024. The technology has been burdened with that name and all the promises that comes with that title but without the ability to deliver.

I have talked with clients who have used AI through ChatGPT, Jasper and others for blog posts, social media content, and even video scripts. The general consensus is that they wouldn’t use it for a finished product. They strictly use it for idea generation.

My own stance is that I do not use these tools when writing. The only part of my ghostwriting process where AI is used is in transcribing interviews.

It baffles me as to why you would want people to spend time and energy in reading your book if you didn’t put that energy into it. Nick Cave, via Stephen Fry, put that more eloquently.

When I’m ghostwriting your manuscript, it will all be written by me.