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!

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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!

Beware Book Marketing Frauds (They're Everywhere These Days)

So, you've finally done it. You managed to get your book published, and it's available for sale! Your chest is swollen with pride, and you take to social media to inform anyone who might listen about your achievement, and to make your sales pitch to folks who might want a copy. And at first, it feels like you're getting a lot of positive attention. You're getting comment sections full of congratulations, and you're even seeing some upvotes come your ways... but that's when you start to notice a pattern. People you don't know, and whom you've never interacted with before, who are giving you empty praise that makes it seem like they didn't even look at your sales pitch, much less at your book. They start asking you to contact them, or worse, turning up in your inbox trying to talk to you about your book.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, friends, but your work is not so brilliant and captivating that people are fighting over the ability to help you make more sales. Unfortunately these people saw that you published a book, and they're swarming you like sharks smelling blood, hoping to pry open your wallet before you know any better. This week I'm here to help you avoid being victimized by any of these scams... because they are legion online.

Yeah, I can get you more sales. Sure. Absolutely...

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!

Read Between The Lines (And Stay Suspicious)

You can't believe everything you see online. However, a lot of authors are primed for scams, precisely because we want to believe we are the ones who are going to beat the odds. That our stories are so great and so special that all it takes is a glance, or reading a sample, for complete strangers to be totally mesmerized and excited by what we made.

However, when you're interacting online, I want you to treat any interaction as if you're on a dating site, and you just received an unsolicited email from an extremely attractive person who seems really into you.

Which is to say that you should be asking who they are, what they want, and what game they're playing.

You've just been waiting to meet someone like me, hmmm? Pressing X to Doubt...

Whether you have someone trying to start up a conversation with you in your comments, or you're getting a message in your inbox, consider asking yourself the following questions:

- Have They Given You Any Details?: A lot of the time these messages are filled with empty praise. They tell you how creative "your book," is, or they say your cover is, "so eye-catching," but it very much feels like a script. If there aren't any specifics mentioned, even something as basic as the title of your book when you ask them, "Which one are you talking about?" you should be suspicious.

- How Fast Did They Respond?: If you put up a post talking about your book, and you get a reply within a few minutes, that's not a good sign. Ask yourself how long it would have taken for someone to see your post, and to read the sample or actually check out your book. Because if it feels like they were ready to shoot you an answer sight unseen, that should make you question what's happening... doubly so if the message/comment also feels like boilerplate from the above point.

- Do Their Messages Make Sense?: Now, this is not intended to be a grammar snob point. If someone tries to talk you in a comment or message, and it feels like English is their third or fourth language, this isn't inherently suspicious. But it can be a yellow flag you should keep in mind for the direction this conversation eventually goes.

Now, once you've gone through all of these flags, you may still want to continue the conversation. Maybe you even feel like things might be going well, and you actually want to private message this person. This is usually when this mysterious new admirer tells you that they want to help you sell more copies of your book! Isn't that kind of them?

Don't get your hopes up. Because sure, it's possible that this person has legitimately been following your career for a while, they love your work, and they just want to show you they appreciate you. It's even possible they want to help you out by inviting you onto their podcast or YouTube channel, maybe even giving you a long-form review on their blog. But once your new friend makes that offer, much like that suspiciously attractive person on a dating website, that's when they start talking about money.

I could get that done for you... for a SMALL fee...

Just like how your prospective date tries to get you to subscribe to their Only Fans, so too will authors find that these admirers and well-wishers are just trying to sell them on a service. For a fee they insist they will get reviews of your book on Amazon, or sometimes on sites like Goodreads. They'll often make you all kinds of promises, as well... however, it's important not to get caught up in the sales pitch. Are there marketing specialists who can help you reach hundreds (or thousands) of new readers, and help you get huge sales? Sure, they're out there.

But they don't try to hit you up on Facebook chat for a fee of $80.

There are a lot of services out there which authors can hire to help them boost the signal on their books. There are bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters who review books, there are book review companies who have a stable of authors, and there are publicists who will build entire campaigns for you to make sure you're reaching the right audience. All of these services have their own websites and official business contact information, plans you can purchase, and reviews you can read from other authors who have used them.

That person who randomly messaged you on social media? Yeah... if you're really lucky, they're someone who is just starting out in their career, and they haven't realized how woefully unprofessional that approach looks. They might try to do their best for you, but if that's their opener, you're already in a rough spot. What's more likely, though, is they're just a scammer looking to take your money and peace out with it.

Don't let them do that. Only go through verified services, and only hire them if it's something within your budget that you think will actually help get your books into people's hands. When people like this reach out, your best bet is to report them, block them, and move on with your day.

Lastly, while we're on the subject, check out Alice The Author over on YouTube. She's worked with several services like this, has reviews of them, as well as other ways for you to avoid getting scammed!

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)

- 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 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.

When Writing A Mystery, Start At The Middle of The Onion

I will fully admit, I am not a famous mystery writer. However, between my sci fi thriller Old Soldiers, and my hardboiled cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats, I've done my share of plotting and planning when it comes to webs of red string. And one thing that I've learned throughout my career as a writer is that while the audience (and your protagonist) starts from the outer layers of a mystery and works their way in, what you need to do as the creator is start in the heart of the thing, and build your way out.

It makes everything significantly easier, trust me!

And you do a lot less crying, overall.

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 Seed of Your Mystery

So, you want to write a mystery. Maybe you're writing a traditional private detective novel, a police procedural, or even a spy thriller, but you want the plot to take its share of twists and turns before the reader gets to the end of the story. The problem you're facing is that when you think about your mystery, you end up getting bogged down in misdirections, until you're chasing your own tail.

Here's what you do. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and go all the way back to the beginning. What is the central event of your plot? What is at the heart of the mystery you're writing that your protagonist is going to uncover? Once you know that, you've found the center of your onion.

And from there, we spiral outward.

For example, did a missing person end up getting killed in a back alley scuffle behind a bar? Is a highly-placed official in the intelligence service actually a double agent for the enemy? Is the client's husband cheating on her?

The answers to these questions might seem simple, but the center of most mysteries usually are. And once you know where the center of your onion is, you can then start adding the extra layers around it.

So let's take the classic story of a private detective whose client wants him to find out if her husband is cheating on her. As such, the central part of the mystery that you know, as the author, is yes, the husband is actually cheating on his wife. But that isn't all that interesting, as far as plots go, nor is it much of a mystery. So we start building layers around it.

Return to the affair. The husband has, of course, been trying to hide the fact that he's cheating on his wife (hence why she had to hire a private eye to follow him around). But is there something unique about the husband, or the person he's cheating with? For example, does the husband have an important government position where he deals with sensitive intelligence? Or does the person he's cheating on his wife with have such a position? Or was there another complication entirely?

For the second layer, let's say the husband had a relatively normal life and a normal job as a business manager. He started cheating on his wife with a new intern at his office. It seems like a perfectly normal affair, as such things go. But the intern was actually a plant by the FBI under a false identity who was there to examine the business's money laundering for organized crime.

Now when our detective starts looking into the husband, and into the intern, suddenly he becomes a person-of-interest to both parties. The mob wants to know why he's keeping tabs on a guy who helps run one of their fronts, and the FBI is wondering who this guy is that's trying to run down specifics on their agent, worrying that he could compromise her position. Especially if it turns out the affair is part of her cover story, and the agent is trying to use that to get more sensitive information for her own investigation?

The plots go deep.

Every layer you add from initial seed of the mystery builds your onion up that much more. And once you have added what you think are an appropriate number of layers, you can then start mapping your protagonist's (and your audience's) path through them.

For example, does your detective start with the husband, gathering information on him? Does he dig into the business, and talk with some of the other people who work there? Or does he just start tailing the husband, hoping to catch him in the act, and that's how he catches sight of the "intern" he's seeing off-the-clock, while also getting noticed by the mafia goons who act as the husband's personal security? After refusing to be warned off, does he deal with harder pushback, resulting in alley brawls, or even a shoot out? And if that happens, do the feds step in to do their part to warn him off, explaining that he needs to tell his client nothing, or to lie and say her husband isn't having an affair (as that kind of chaos could jeopardize the current case they're building)? And if he ignores the warnings of both the cops and the criminals, does he keep pushing until he gets kidnapped or black bagged? And in the end, does the detective's friction cause the mob to slip up, tipping their hand, and getting them caught?

A complicated scenario, absolutely... but at the core of the mystery the answer to the question is, yes, the client's husband was absolutely having an affair. That turned out, though, to be the smallest part of the mystery.

But if you started at the outside and tried to work in, it would be a lot harder to construct the onion as things might not match up so neatly. So begin in the center, and work your way out organically... it will make your job a great deal easier at the end of the day.

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)

- 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!

Anything CAN Happen With Your Book (But That Doesn't Mean It WILL)

When you create something, it's possible that this is the one that breaks big. Maybe your novel gets people to really pay attention to you as a writer, and it becomes a major sensation. Perhaps the next video you put out goes viral, and you end up with millions of views, and an overnight audience. Maybe this episode of your podcast, or audio drama, just happens to explode, and it puts a lot of cash in your pocket.

However, the keyword here is possible. The problem arises when you, as a creator, operate on the belief that just because something can happen, then it's going to happen. Because that is where you start getting tripped up, and running into serious problems.

17 Black... what were the odds?

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!

Better To Have A Plan You Don't Need

We've all had those daydreams where we imagine ourselves as massive successes. We contemplate how many copies we could move at a convention, and we fantasize about how nice it would be to just write all day without worrying about bills. Those of us who treat our writing as a job will take it a step further and research keywords, marketing strategies, trends in the genre, and we'll put together plans for how we're going to reach our target audience. And a lot of us will try to build momentum by putting out small samples of our work, building our audience, and trying to snowball interest.

But even if you workshop your plan, massage your metrics, and come up with a plan that looks perfect on paper, that's no guarantee that it's going to work. And that is important for you to acknowledge.

Well, it's not quite what I was expecting...

Just because you have an interview with a prominent YouTuber or TikToker, that's no guarantee their audience is going to buy your book. Just because you have a large newsletter, that doesn't mean it will translate to large sales. You could have amazing artwork on your cover, a prominent booth space at a convention, and so on, and so forth... none of these things will guarantee that your creation is going to find the audience you need, or that you'll make enough sales to turn this into your career.

As such, it's important to use the Cheese Cloth Method when it comes to actually selling your book.

Think back to when Covid first became a pandemic. Social distancing was one of the first methods to avoid transmission and spread. However, it wasn't always possible, and even then there were people who still got infected. Masking was also used as a way to prevent the spread of the disease, as well, stopping the infected from exhaling germs, and preventing the uninfected from taking in a viral load with their next breath. When the vaccine came out, it represented another way to prevent people from getting infected in the first place.

Individually, any one of these things might fail. But the more layers of protection that were put in place, the more defenses one had against the sickness. Consider your marketing strategy the same way. Because any one aspect of your strategy may fail, or simply not get the results you want. However, if you put together a layered approach then you're more likely to get the results you want.

But it's important to remember that more likely is also not the same as guaranteed. Even if you put in the work, and do your best to come up with all the possible angles, there's still a chance that you don't get the results you wanted... but you've got a better chance of getting there if you have a plan.

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)

- 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 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.