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!

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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.

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

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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!

No, You Don't "Need" AI To Make Your Book Into A Reality

I recently talked about generative AI in Writing Is About The Process, Not The Output, but given that this bubble is rapidly heading toward a burst, I felt there was something important that needed to be mentioned to end off the year 2025. Because I am consistently seeing people who are crying about the fact that they need AI to make their books into a reality because they can't afford to buy cover art, they can't afford to pay an editor, they can't afford this, they can't afford that, and that criticizing them for using AI when they're poor is just gatekeeping and classism.

I am here to tell you all, as a fellow poor, you do not actually need AI. In fact, the use of AI is making your book worse, it's cheapening your work, and it's turning the audience against you. Because if you couldn't be bothered to write a story, then people are going to ask why they should be bothered to read it?

Seriously, you are only hurting yourself with this.

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!

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You Can't Shake The Devil's Hand And Claim You're Joking

To be clear, here, generative AI (stuff like ChatGPT and its ilk) are not tools. They aren't a fun little prompt someone made to give you a story idea, or a character name. They aren't search engines that can reliably bring you facts. They are digital parrots that are trying to guess what it is you want them to say, and they're vomiting up all their stolen work because they want to make you happy.

So, right off the bat, you did not create the things these engines made. In this situation, you are a factory owner that's stealing labor from others, and claiming it's yours because you're the one who gave the order. That's not how creation works. If you didn't do the work, then you don't get to claim the credit for it. Simple as.

Secondly, and this is an even bigger concern, generative AI steals your skills and makes you dumber. Whether it's this study in Psychology Today, or this study in Tech.Co, the use of generative AI weakens the connection in your brain, wrecks your ability to think critically, and it degrades your skills. So even if there was some genuine need to use it (which there isn't), you're harming yourself by indulging in it. And the longer you use it, the worse the poison is going to eat into you, and the harder the road back to recovery is going to be for you. That's just the facts.

With those two important points addressed, though, I'd like to get to that last one. Because you can absolutely afford the things it takes to make your book into a sleek, marketable finished product. The question is whether or not you're willing to actually put in the work to make it happen, and to do it with the sweat of your own brow instead of just pushing a button and skipping ahead to the end.

Take this cover, for example.

For those who don't know, this is the cover for my self-published fantasy novel Crier's Knife. The art I used is Standing Stones, and it cost me a grand total of $5 to use. And I wrote this novel years ago. I've never had to pay that fee again, or do anything else to cover that cost. It was a minimal investment. And if you go to websites like Pixabay or Morguefile you can find images there that are completely free to use for your book cover.

More importantly, though, the cover doesn't look like AI slop, and the image is credited to J.H Illustrations, so anyone who wants to sling the accusation can look and check for themselves.

But what about editors? Those have to be more expensive than art, right? Yes, they usually are. You're looking at something like a few hundred dollars at minimum for an editor to look at your book. However, as with cover art, there are ways around this. You could:

- Find an editor who has a special going on (common around the holidays).

- Ask friends that you trust and have related expertise (other authors, English teachers, etc.).

- Ask in an online writer's group for community assistance (not perfect, but often helpful).

Anything someone says they need AI for has a non-AI solution that is better for you as a creator, and better for your book. You can get free or cheap art, you can get discounted or volunteer editing services, you can find step-by-step instructions for how to format your book once the manuscript is ready, and in a lot of cases you can just ask podcasters or YouTubers to do audio renditions of your book (you'll likely need to offer them some kind of royalty cut, but you can make it happen).

There are resources and tools available that can actually help you get stuck into the process, understand what it takes to make your book better, and to make it a product of your own work and effort. Some of them will cost money, but there are always ways you can bring it down to a reasonable amount. Because if you find someone charging you thousands of dollars for cover art or editing services, you need to know that is either a scam, or you are paying for top-shelf services that are not going to be worth it for you as an indie writer.

Most importantly, using these other resources builds up your knowledge, your skill, and your abilities to turn your ideas into finished books. They help you engage with the process of making art that is really yours, and that you can be proud of.

Using generative AI? All that does is atrophy the muscles you should be building, worsen your product, and turn off the public in a big way. It hurts you, and your book, and you should stay far, far away from it.

Remember what they said about the One Ring? It doesn't matter how pure your motives, or how incorruptible you think your intentions are. It's going to eat away anything inside of you until you're a hollow little goblin, unable to think for yourself. No one wants that for you as a creator, but more importantly, no one wants to read books that come from that poisoned process.

Support The Literary Mercenary

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

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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!

Writing Is About The Process, Not The Output

Normally when I talk about writing I'm concerned with the technical aspects of storytelling, and trying to help folks overcome common pitfalls. However, with the advent of plagiarism software, I think there is something that really needs to be addressed. Something that is so intrinsic to making any kind of art that we didn't even need to put it into words before now... but this is the world we live in.

In short, the output you generate is worthless if it doesn't have a soul. What makes a story, a drawing, or a sculpture worthwhile is that it reflects the process the creator went through. It has to be the result of action, creativity, blood, sweat, and tears. If all you did was turn the assignment over to a computer to execute on your behalf then not only did you not make something, but you are poorer because you didn't even have the experience of making something.

That is what makes art valuable, and what lends it a unique flavor; the fact that it is made by a human creator who did their best to execute this piece to the fullest extent of their ability.

You can't trust the process if you aren't even going through it!

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!

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Making Art Is About Having An Experience

I want to take a moment to reference a piece of fiction from a place even bleaker than our world, but which at least realized it should ban any form of Abominable Intelligence. In the grim darkness of Warhammer 40K, the Emperor of Mankind genetically engineered several sons who were colossal in size, strength, and power, considered demigods forged from science and warp-touched sorcery. One of these was Fulgrim, a being who sought perfection in himself, and in all things.

Fulgrim once entered a competition to carve a statue against a baseline human sculptor. Like something out of a Greek myth, the human artist couldn't hope to defeat Fulgrim... but somehow he did. Because while Fulgrim executed a technically perfect piece of art, there was no denying that the other man had carved something that truly made a connection with the observer. There was a soul to his art that people could read into, gaze upon, and which made one feel something. When they looked upon Fulgrim's statue, all they saw was a flawless depiction of a subject, but it seemed empty. Hollow. It had no soul, and no story to tell. Even Fulgrim himself, enraged and with his pride bleeding, acknowledged that the human had made a better piece of art than he had... he just couldn't understand why.

How... how do they do it!?

There are dozens of examples of fiction talking about the process of creating art, and what a quintessentially human experience it is (Asimov had a lot to say on the subject, too). However, I find myself thinking of this example from a very silly dark space opera series about big manly men having violent punch-ups, because this one snapshot encapsulates so much about the fundamental misunderstanding so many people have about creating art. Any art.

People who are defending AI, who get super stoked about being able to push a button and have it make things for them, are Fulgrim. They have the ability to effortlessly create an output, that even if it is technically perfect (generative AI isn't, but we'll set that aside for now) it is empty, soulless, and the eye just slides right off of it. He is so fixated on why his flawless sculpture has less regard, and less beauty, than the flawed creation made by someone who lacks his enhanced gifts, and his unusual abilities. How is this art made by a mere mortal better than his?

And we can have the whole debate about using words like soul to describe a piece of art, or arguing over whether something digitally painted is less "real" than something made in a physical medium... but that gets into higher, philosophical hair splitting. However, generative AI creates an uncanny valley effect. Even if it gets the hands right, and even if it gets the proper number of teeth, just looking at it we feel there is something off about it. It feels like an imitation of something in a way that triggers our brains that it isn't safe, and it isn't right. It's off-putting, and once you recognize it for what it is, it's ugly in a way that no crayon drawing can match, because at least those were made with genuine effort.

Don't worry, this applies to text-heads, too.

Everything I said above about sculptures and images? It applies to books, too.

Because even if you get lucky, and an AI manages to write a story that doesn't have massive grammatical errors, constantly forgets who the cast of characters is, and has plot twists that spiral in on themselves in a way that makes no sense, it feels off to read. Reading something written by generative AI feels like hearing something in the Apalachian wilderness call out in a voice that sounds human, but which clearly isn't. You don't know if it's the intonation, the accent, or just that no living person speaks like that, but you know it isn't right... and it creates that same uncanny feeling.

Roll Up Your Sleeves, And Get Stuck In!

Art is about doing. Yes, at the end of the day, the output is going to matter if you want to be able to sell your art and make a living as a creator. But it takes years to hone your skills, and to be able to make art with your own mind, your own hands, and your own skills. Whether you're writing, drawing, making videos, or sculpting, that end result is not the end-all-be-all. It is the result of your journey, and the experience you had getting there. It is the result of your process.

You cannot skip the process just because you don't want to do the hard work, and then claim this uncanny fey creation is your work. You didn't make it. You just pushed a button, and made a pact with another creature, who did the work for you.

It's sort of like people who download video games that play themselves without any input from you. Or people who just pay to win a game without actually playing, skipping straight to the end scene. Those people didn't have the experience of playing the game, didn't develop the skill necessary to achieve that victory, and as such they didn't actually do anything. The experience, even when it's hard and frustrating, is the goddamn point of it all!

Support The Literary Mercenary

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

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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!

Don't Let AI Rot Your Brain (Why You Should Never Use ChatGPT As A Writing Tool)

When you first start a workout regimen, it can be equal parts hard but invigorating. You're moving your muscles in new ways, you're getting used to new poses, new lifts, new everything. You might even be changing your diet, if you're going really hard. But pretty soon, you'll feel that shiny new exterior start to wear thin. You'll start dragging yourself to the gym, and grumbling under your breath between sets that you wish you didn't have to do this. You wished there was some other way... some magic shortcut you could take to just get trim, strong, and firm without all this sweating and straining.

And there are a thousand and one scams promising to give you that. A special diet that will melt away pounds of fat without any extra work. A little device that will shock your stomach into a six pack. A simple routine found only among a secret sect of monks who are all absolutely ripped. A little pill that will give you the get-up-and-go you need to make your gains.

This isn't about crash diets and exercise scams. This is about ChatGPT.

It's like fake diet pills, but for your writing.

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!

The Only Person You're Cheating Is Yourself

We've all seen companies and individuals jamming generative AI programs into everything. They've infected our search engines, they're all over social media, and they're infesting the marketplace as scammers offer entire novels "written" by these programs in hopes of making a quick buck. And if you're the sort of writer who wants to skip the hard work and fast-forward to the story being done, these plagiarism programs offer you the siren's song you want to hear. They promise you complete stories, unique stories, and then you'll be done in a record amount of time. They swear they're just going to take the work out of writing, handling the grunt work that's dragging you down.

They're promising that you'll get rippling, six-pack abs while laying on the couch and pounding chips by the family-sized bag. All the results, and none of the fuss.

Don't you want those gains already, bruh?

If you've ever been on a crash diet, or used a fitness gimmick, then you already know what the problem is. Because sure, it might get you some short-term losses around your waist, or give you some temporary feelings of health, but if you use these things long-term they're going to do serious harm to your body.

And that's what ChatGPT does to your brain.

Because for all the hype around this program and what it can supposedly do to mimic human thought and speech, there are stories out there of people who used it as a mental crutch until their academic legs atrophied under them. There are stories of high school and college students who had it write their papers, but then found that when it came time to take their final exams they have no actual knowledge or learned skill to call upon. There have been people who tried to use it to write legal briefs, and found that it was quoting cases that never happened, attempting to sound smart when the machine is just guessing. There are people who've used it to try to get ahead at work, and people who've used it for regular socialization who suddenly flounder when they no longer have a program telling them what to say or do.

It's the equivalent of sending a robot to the gym to lift weights and run on the treadmill for you. Yeah, the work is technically being done, but you aren't getting any stronger from doing it. In fact, if all you do is sit at home on the couch, you're getting weaker while letting the robot go through your routine for you.

That's what generative AI is doing to you. Because it's hard putting words on the page day after day, honing your skills, and finding just the right turns of phrase. But if the Internet goes down and someone hands you a pen, you can still write a story... and probably a pretty good story, if you've been putting in the work to really build your skills. But if you've been letting the computer do all the heavy lifting for you, and someone asks you to pick up the 250 lbs. you keep saying you're capable of bench pressing, it's going to crush you.

Git Gud... You Won't Regret It!

Writing is not just about putting together a short story, a novella, or a novel. It's also about honing the craft, finding your voice, and becoming more accomplished as a creator. For this reason, it's important to remember that even failed attempts are worthwhile. There is something to be learned with every assignment, every story, and every experiment... but you have to do it yourself. Otherwise you're never going to make any progress as a writer.

So yes, it's going to suck. You're going to tear out notebook paper, wad it up, and toss it in the garbage. You're going to reread something, sigh, and hold down the Delete key until it's all gone. And you're going to have those moments where you know something is wrong with your narrative, but you just can't quite put your finger on it.

Stick with it. It's going to be valuable when you realize you can shred your way through stories that once would have given you serious trouble, or that even on days where you're phoning it in you turn in Grade A work by most people's standards.

Don't take the easy way out... it's a lie. It's always been a lie.

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

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- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

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, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

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!