The Writing Catalogue

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Category: Writing

Writing, editing and publishing advice will be posted here. Most of the blogs will be based on Internet Sherlocking and personal experiences. Occasionally, I will share links of things that helped me tremendously with writing, editing, book design, and publishing.

  • The AI writes articles – yay or nay?

    The AI writes articles – yay or nay?

    ML+AI Technology will write your blogs or stories. Or will they?

    Audioblog – listen while (or instead of) reading

    I know it sounds unbelievable to many. A software that creates an article on any topic? An AI writes articles? Stop misleading me Binati, you snobby gobshite. I promise, I am not. I mean, I am a gobshite but I am not misleading you. The video clearly shows one website working. You can go to the site to get proof yourself. Writing with the help of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) is here, much quicker than we anticipated (not really, we just have a MARVEL-ous perception of the diverse forms of ML+AI).

    Over the years, while ghostwriting technical content, I have come across some trippy tech. Two things I heard that blew my writerly mind were self-writing AIs and conceptual plagiarism detectors. Yes, I am going to expand on both of these so stop rolling your eyes at me.

    Self-Writing AI

    I heard about self-writing AIs in 2016 when machines were being forced to read horrendous material and then, they had to write (by prediction) the next awful thing this author/scriptwriter would create. Examples would be: NaNoWriMo (Barber, 2019), 1 THE ROAD BY AN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (Goodwin, 2017), Artificial Tim Denning (Roberts, n.d.), and many more. The results were hilarious. However, these showcased something. When enough data is fed into these systems, they could predict and replicate the writing style of a subject with palpable accuracy.

    Look at your phone right now and text someone with predictive text (Henry, 2014) on. What you are experiencing is a device that learned your preferred words. This device you own has learned to autocorrect words to whatever it is you prefer to use. For instance, now when I try to type Shanti for ‘Om Shanti’, it autocorrects to Shanthi, my friend’s name because I say Shanthiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii way more than Shanti. The technology existed. What was missing was a need.

    That’s where the writers from the KISS generation stepped in. KISS here refers to Keep-It-Simple-Silly and not the rock band. These are stalwarts of the content and eBook writing industry who primarily aspire to cash in on the trend to earn by writing and not write to educate/inspire/inform/entertain/express. They will google a topic smartly, not really confer with the development teams of the product/service they’re writing for, then get to writing; well rewriting.

    Original ideas don’t always exist. I understand that. However, as responsible writers, we have to build on existing ideas by writing and not rewriting. The KISSes just ignored all of that for the greenback and started creating shoddy content that people paid for. Given how bad the content quality was, courtesy of the rewrites, every time a Search Engine updated, the Search Engine Optimisation of the blogs tanked.

    Paying customers were back to square one in spite of paying the professionals. This frustration often presents itself via rants on social media and service review platforms. Observant coders noticed a problem and they devised a solution – an AI that rewrites original content for you.

    Go check Shortly AI. It is a GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) API(Application Programming Interface). You get five free trials by signing up. Log in. Select what you want to write: a blog or a story. Then, input a brief. This is basic details about the blog/story you want to write. Set how much content you want created. Do you want it paragraph by paragraph or do you prefer the entire article written in one fall swoop? Click on Write for Me. Then wait.

    A Screenshot for Shortly AI
    A Screenshot for Shortly AI

    You will see the plagiarism free, grammatically accurate content it creates by going through a crap tonne of pre-existing content on its own. It does this almost instantaneously. It is surreal. You might be baffled by this, probably a bit scared. You shouldn’t be. If you create quality content, no machine will be able to replace you because machines can recreate (right now). One of the things that makes us human, sentient is our ability to create. If you create, you will always be in vogue.

    There’s WordLift as well; a tool which will optimise your content using an AI, something that will trawl through the cyber universe to determine the correct parameters. The need to hire SEO optimisers and overpriced agencies would be rendered moot.

    Conceptual Plagiarism Detection

    Another problem with bad writing is plagiarism. Some people change the voice of an article from passive to active, and that becomes the article. If conceptual plagiarism detectors existed, something like shameless rewrites of somebody else’s work would stop. A customer won’t be wasting their money on a hack job.  

    When I heard about plagiarism detection that went beyond the words, to say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. This is something I will purchase first hand (when it launches) because frankly, at this point, some people need to be exposed for the content thieves they are. There really is no pressing need to steal someone’s work and substitute that with better words.

    Every content sharing platform is equipped with this ability to share links, cite sources and give credit to the original content. Instead of rewriting (smart plagiarism), people could cite (that will increase your SEO as well). Instead of rewriting, credit the original author for the source material. Then, agree and add to the content of your blog or your prospect’s blog.

    Rudimentary conceptual plagiarism is already being detected as discovered by this study (Yu H., Huang C., Kong L., Sun X., Qi H., Han Z., 2020) that found an uptake in plagiarism detection by 56%. What this means is Google’s machine learning equipped algorithm is detecting some plagiarism which our standard plagiarism detectors are missing. This probably also explains why certain blogs suddenly develop an SEO problem whenever the search engine updates.

    Word of free advice – when you commit to the grind and the hustle, what you miss out on is progress. You’ll get the views, the fame and maybe the money. But what about responsibility? No matter what Turdi-McTurdson says, it is never okay to willingly steal someone’s work and just do a rewrite because it is easy or because everyone does it. With plagiarism, it is binary. You either copy or you don’t. Don’t copy.

    Should you be scared then?

    I completely agree with TIC here when they say, “Right from conceptualisation to creation to fine-tuning to results, machine learning is involved at all stages of the modern content creation process. What’s important for the content writer is to remain in the driver’s seat and use machine learning tools to make content creation simpler, faster and better.” (TIC, n.d.)

    These websites will become the latest tools in our arsenal. Let the AI write the articles. You can subscribe to these websites to up your content game by creating a legitimately kickass blog. Start by preparing a blog brief instead of a solid outline. Let one software fetch you the data. Let another optimise the entire thing for Search Engines. Then, you step in to humanise the content. Ultimately, to make a human buy things, you need to do human-esque things. You are absolutely not done content writing yet. You simply get to upscale your content in a simpler, more efficient way. What is scary about that?

    Change is constant. With technology, change is imminent. You can whine or you can adapt. Choose to adapt, ya?

    I would love to know your thoughts about this in the comments. Do you think a writing software ushers the metaphorical death of human content writers? Or do you agree with me?

    While you’re at it, subscribe to my monthly (free) newsletter. I share resources and updates, once a month via a thematic text block.

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    Citations

    • Barber, G. (2019). Text-Savvy AI Is Here to Write Fiction. Retrieved from WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/nanogenmo-ai-novels-gpt2/
    • Goodwin, R. (2017). 1 THE ROAD BY AN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK. Retrieved from Jbe Books: https://www.jbe-books.com/products/1-the-road-by-an-artificial-neural
    • Henry, A. (2014). How Predictive Keyboards Work (and How You Can Train Yours Better). Retrieved from life hacker: https://lifehacker.com/how-predictive-keyboards-work-and-how-you-can-train-yo-1643795640
    • Roberts, E. (n.d.). I Forced An AI To Read 80 Tim Denning Articles And It’s Now A Bad Inspirational Quote Machine. Retrieved from towards data science: https://towardsdatascience.com/i-forced-an-ai-to-read-80-tim-denning-articles-and-its-now-a-bad-inspirational-quote-machine-ea9805d73ddc
    • TIC. (n.d.). WILL MACHINE LEARNING KILL THE CONTENT WRITER? Retrieved from TIC Works: https://www.ticworks.com/blog/content-writer
    • Yu H., Huang C., Kong L., Sun X., Qi H., Han Z. (2020). Research on MLChecker Plagiarism Detection System. International Conference of Pioneering Computer Scientists, Engineers and Educators.

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  • Fifteen Reasons Why Writing fiction can be Easy

    Fifteen Reasons Why Writing fiction can be Easy

    Audioblog – listen while (or instead of) reading

    Writing fiction is a pipedream for many of us who become writers. We explore nonfiction to pay the bills but the main focus is to write fiction. The writing-for-the-wallet however takes over the writing-for-the-dreams. Fiction writing sadly becomes that thing we wanted to do but we didn’t know how, or we couldn’t complete what we started, or there wasn’t enough time, or … ifs, buts, what ifs simply dominate the narrative and sadly, fiction writing gets pushed in the corner.

    Fear not my lovely scribe because Binati is here to quell your fear, obviously minus the abhorrent poetry she tends to write. Without further ado, let’s come to the point – Historical and Mythological stories. History is that which has happened. Mythology is that which influential people of history claim happened. The point being literally and/or figuratively, historical and mythological stories have a start, a middle and an end – the three basic building blocks of any story. As a writer trying to learn fiction, you can start here. Instead of getting overwhelmed by designing characters and charting a plot (that makes sense), you can take existing characters and plots, and explore the recesses of your sublime imagination.

    Let me tell you the why first; why you should practice fiction writing using historical and mythological stories:

    1. Reading enhances brain function

    According to multiple studies exploring deep learning, skill acquisition, boosting creativity and such, reading is shown to increase myelin production which allows neural synapses to fire quicker. With a faster, more active neurochemistry, you will obviously create better. Also, history and mythology are interesting! Why not spend time reading, improving brain function and exploring stories from around the world!

    2. History and mythology already consist of a winning idea

    The stories became myths and legends for a reason – they contained within them a winning idea. A winning idea is a story people like to listen to over and over again. If you take these stories which are immortalised in the sands of time (for a reason), you already have a winning idea. All you need to add would be perspective and language.

    3. The Characters are unforgettable by default

    Historical and mythological characters have depth (often unexplored). They, by default have the necessary traits of a successful literary character; that’s why people remember them in the first place! With unforgettable characters of this sort, all you have to do is simply focus on the storytelling rather than character building.

    4. You don’t have to needlessly explain things

    Descriptions would be pointless because people already know the stories. The familiarity to the character already exists saving you precious time to tell a story instead. Instead of waxing poetic about the traits of a character, you can learn how they talk and make their actions show on the page. It would be a much better use of your practice time.

    5. The Structure of the Story already exists

    Structure of any fictional or real-life story lies in two things.

    1. What your character is doing?
    2. Where is your character going?

    With historical stories, you know what the character is doing and where they ultimately ended up. Instead of charting their path, you get to tell a story about it.

    Now, let us move on to the how; how can you practice fiction writing using historical and mythological stories:

    6. Use your POV to trigger you reader’s mind

    Every individual on this earth has a unique POV i.e. point-of-view. This POV is what enables us to tell diverse stories containing one or more of the three types of stories we tell, namely:

    1. Rags to riches
    2. Boy meets girl
    3. Man learns a lesson

    You can take any or many historical and mythological characters and weave a narrative around that. Your POV is not just limited to perspective; it also includes genres. A historical character can land in a time loop for instance. A mythological character can suddenly become human. Your storytelling canvas is as blank as it could be in spite of the popularity of the character/s you choose.

    7. Intentions and Obstacles of the Character can be fictionalised to a specific genre

    As stated previously, you already know the intentions of the characters. You also know the roadblocks they encountered. Every story told requires an intension and an obstacle. Intension is the strength and purpose you give to your character/s. Obstacle is a weakness (or many) that your character/s has to overcome. The intentions could tie into their original stories. The obstacles however are where you can let your imagination run wild. Bring in multiple genres – magical realism, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.

    8. Use the known idea and work your perspective into the narrative

    You can make the mundane feel exotic by the power of storytelling. If I were to make a God order something on Amazon without having any legal address or human money, the story becomes hilariously entertaining by default. Simply use the existing narrative and twist it to suit your storytelling needs.

    9. Make the audience a component of your work

    People already know the stories. They know who the historical/mythological characters are. They probably also know the story arcs. They are invested in those stories already. All you have to do is make them a component of your narration of story. You can do this by challenging their perception, introducing an unreliable narrator, drawing a parallel (without explicitly stating so), shattering expectations, et al. I can go on and on. In doing so, you will make the reader think of the magic words, “Oh! What happens next…”

    10. Try mirroring which is imitate the history/mythology

    If the idea of retelling a story irks you, try mirroring instead. Mirror the story from history or mythology into a story containing new characters. Don’t tell your readers who you are mirroring. Let them make the connections and let their minds explode. Mirrored characters provide this surreal depth which might make your newer characters seem more relatable.

    11. History/mythology is condensed (and open sourced). Try expanding the stories, the facts to create fiction.

    History and mythology aren’t copyrighted. You can use them however you please. They are also incredibly condensed because of how many stories there are to tell. Like peeling the layers of an onion, pull apart these condensed stories at their seams. Explore their depth. Analyse what they are trying to say beyond the literal. Research the scenarios around the time these stories were told for the first time. Expand that which was compressed courtesy of the limitations of their time.

    12. Write (and increase) what you know

    Research. You have plenty to research with these characters, their stories, their locations, and their motivations. If you like these stories already, you can write them because you already know them. Write what you know. Then with the help of search engines and open sourced literature, delve into the research rabbit hole to discover the land of the compressed. Start expanding. Start writing.

    13. Make the story accessible to the morality of the present

    Stories from the past rarely stand the test of time in terms of morality. Or do they? See what your research uncovers and either use the morality of the present to retell stories from days gone by or question the current perception of the past by showcasing the realities of the past to the present. There are just so many possibilities here.

    14. Characters with a likability problem can be made accessible; more sympathetic

    Unlikable characters are interesting to write because while the intention maybe singular, the obstacles might not be. Instead of telling the story of the hero, try telling the stories of the other characters. You might find some amazing stories staring at you in the face, hidden in plain sight.

    15. People read fiction to read about people; imperfect people

    What history and mythology inevitable shows us is imperfect people who found perfect, fitting endings. You have the best people for a story. You simply have to shine the light on their human elements making them relatable, accessible and likable.

    So, that is all I have to offer with this one. I will see you soon with more writing advice. If you have any ‘writing advice’ requests, tell me (in the comment section). Did you find these fifteen blahs helpful?

    Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts. If you’d like to read more, feel free to browse through the blogs and the essays. If you want some amazing verbal goodies delivered to your inbox monthly, fill in your fabulous details down under.

    15 Tips For New Fiction Writers

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  • 9 Compelling Reasons why you should participate in Community events

    The Blog Read Out Loud

    You are going about your daily life. The routine keeps you happy and healthy. The financials are sorted. You are living the good life. Yet, something seems to be missing. Introducing, theme based community events! Community events are, as the title suggests, events scheduled for a set time around a community. For instance, if you are a member of the inking community, you can ink and think for thirty days. These help you practice your thing alongside people driven by passion around the same profession and/or hobby.

    Here are nine reasons why I think community events are the coolest things ever!

    1. Misery loves Company

    Community events involve a community. Small, medium or large, this will be a group of people who really care about doing something specific. You like writing prompt based micro fiction for thirty days straight? Fictember got you covered. Whether you know how to write micro fiction isn’t relevant. The only thing that matters is you want to do something. You won’t be miserable alone. Someone will be there to help you out, whenever you need them to. You won’t be alone.

    2. There’s strength in Numbers

    You won’t be in it all by your lonesome. Unlike the twig that snaps with a little pressure, human beings need groups, a bundle of twigs that won’t snap no matter how much you try. Community events draw out the twee-s from the entire world. These puffins get together around their passion projects and simply create. Whether it is coders coding or gamers gaming, these events do make our emotional core stronger.

    3. Creative Collaboration by Participation

    Collaboration has become a buzzword in professional media circles for a reason. It works. When you collaborate, you feed off each other’s energies. Instead of contemplating things while swimming in the miserable soup of you psyche, you can collaborate with someone. This someone will find you via these community events. They might be like you or completely unlike you. Together though, you guys could create magic. I created two books with people I found via a LinkedIn event.

    4. Building an Action driven Community

    The potatoes you find via these community events will be willing to potate with you around the niche that brought you together. You have an action driven community at your disposal for advice, support and critical appreciation. That is literally, figuratively and metaphorically amazing!

    5. Finding mentors becomes easy

    People with experience often join community events to see whether they still got it. Instead of spending hours looking for mentors, you can simply participate in such events. Collaborate to create along the way. You will definitely find people who will rise above the crowd courtesy of skills and experience. If you participated earnestly, you can simply approach them with a mentorship request. Mostly, you will get a yes!

    6. Networking of the best kind

    You can do a brute force networking attack on Social and Professional Media platforms. I would rather just do this instead – participate and vibe with the adorable fritters of any community I get involved with. This would lead to networking with intention. It will also give you an opportunity to customise your networking messaging.

    7. Constructive Feedback from people who walked the talk

    You will see three common types at these community events. It here refers to what the community event is about (writing, reading, painting, coding, building, et al.).

    1. Those who love it.
    2. Those who want to try it.
    3. Those who want to see it.

    All of these individuals will have the intention. They will also have some degree of experience. So, when they criticise your work, it will be constructive; helpful.

    8. You have fun in Groups

    Life really isn’t hard, if you’ve got some adorable snoots to bop. Things are fun when you do them in groups. The sprints that happen during NaNoWriMo are insanely productive and fun writing exercise. Why? Mostly because people sprint together and have fun on the way.

    9. Something to look forward to

    NaNoWriMo, Inktober, Huevember – these are three events I do regularly. Fictember is something I started on LinkedIn. I know these events will happen irrespective of my participation. If I am blocked creatively, these events provide ample incentive to unblock. You can give this a shot. Trust me, it is worth it.

    Let me now show you the results of my community events.

    NaNoWriMo

    NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month of November. Every year, people pledge a set amount of words and then they just get to writing. The general figure is 50,000 words in 30 days. I have done NaNoWriMo twice and I got one book out of them (which I successfully pitched to an agent). Hear my experience.

    NaNoWriMo Experience

    Fictember

    Fictember is something I started with a friend on LinkedIn. The nonfiction to fiction transition is hard for writers like me. So, I asked the community and they participated. We got together and wrote prompt based micro fiction for thirty days. It was challenging and it was fun. You can join Fictember as well.

    Fictember

    Inktober

    On a rather gloomy day of September in 2020, as I contemplated the upcoming doom which is Preptober (preparation of NaNoWriMo), I just felt overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I wanted to write. My personal life was a bit of a mess. My professional life was painfully normal. I was just overwhelmed. There is no better way to describe it.

    Then came the magical unicorn which survives on the tears of photoshop and crushed dreams. Instagram promoted an inking event – Inktober. Inktober is a prompt based inking challenge which runs throughout the year (Inktober52) or you can participate in it for an entire month (Inktober Classic). This is where you make one drawing per week throughout the year or you ink continuously for all the thirty one days of October. No matter what you choose, you are only allowed to use ink.

    Now I am an ambitious racoon. Instead of foraging through the forests, I always choose to dive head first into a pile of trash. I therefore chose to torture myself by preparing for NaNoWriMo November and by inking prompt based drawings for thirty-one odious days. 

    That wasn’t all. On top of the prompts for Inktober 2020, I decided to be an over-smart masochist and aspired to link all the 31 prompts to writing. To simplify, I chose to make thirty one drawings using just ink and paper. These drawings were not going to be random doodles. They were all going to follow Inktober’s assigned themes and I was going to link them all to writing.

    Inktober 2020

    I am happy to report how I succeeded. I succeeded so well, I am going to do the same for Inktober 2021.

    You are probably wondering why I am telling you this! It’s simple – I just want you to know how trying different things that seem like torture could actually turn out to be the thing that brings you peace. In the extremely busy, chaotic lives most of us lead these days, we often forget that us humans, we are not born with a manual. We are blank slates. We figure things out as we go along the path of life. If you don’t try the thing due to any excuse, well, you’re missing out.

    Also, I wanted to brag a little. The sentiment being, “Oh look what I did!” This pompous puffin who couldn’t draw a straight line used outrageously expensive ink and some weirdly angled ink pen to ink writing theme doodles for an entire month while working, studying and going through life as is. If this lazy cat can do it, so could you.

    Fun fact: This is my first ever blog. I have never written about personal experiences because I thought personal is, well, personal. Going by that lovely logic, I have been sitting on so many personal stories of joy, sorrow and extreme mundanity, I could talk your ears off. Who knows, maybe I will!

    If you want to know whether I become someone who overshares in the upcoming future, sign up for my newsletter using the link below. Also, let me know what you want me to try next!

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