Does Human Writing Have a Soul?
The favorite argument against AI writing is that it has no soul. A one-prompt book has none, but plenty of human writing doesn't either. The soul in writing is the little human parts the author puts on the page.
Category: Writing (Page 2)
Artificial IntelligenceDoes AI Have a Soul? Wrong Question
Asking whether AI has a soul misses the point, because art itself has no soul. The soul lives in the mind that made the work and the mind receiving it, and Game of Thrones showed how fast an audience feels…
WritingHow Long Should a Chapter Be? Manuscript Habits That Save You Later
A chapter is as long as one complete thought, and a thousand words is plenty when the thought is finished. Keep with next and real heading styles stop a manuscript from fighting you through every revision.
WritingI Write Books for a Living. I Barely Read Them Anymore.
I write books for a living, and I haven't finished reading one in about five years. The shelf behind me on video calls is set dressing, and the reading I do now comes in pieces, a chapter at a time,…
Personal GrowthThe Work I’d Cringe At Now, and Why I’m Glad I Do
Old work makes you cringe because your judgment kept improving after the work stopped. I deleted almost 200 web pages of LinkedIn branding articles, and an early book I ghostwrote makes me wince, and both taught me what to keep…
Book MarketingPreface, Prologue, Foreword or Introduction: What Goes Where
A preface tells readers why you wrote the book, and most of them skip it. The introduction is the two to four page sales tool that decides whether they buy. This piece covers what each opening page is for, where…
Book MarketingWho Is Your Book For? Build a Reader Avatar Before Chapter One
Before I write chapter one of any book, I build a reader avatar: one specific person the whole book is written to. A book or its PR aimed at everybody works for nobody, so I build the avatar first and…
BusinessBottom-Up, Top-Down: Why I Build Both Ways at Once
I'll start on the code before I even have a strategy, and it has cost me rework I hate. These days I go bottom-up and top-down at the same time, on software and on books.
Critical ThinkingReading Josephus: Pick the Right Translation and Watch His Bias
The Jewish War by Josephus is one of my favorite books, and the translation you pick decides whether you finish it. Josephus wrote for the Romans who spared him, so trust his map and doubt his numbers.
FictionHow to Write a Plot Twist Readers Never See Coming
A good plot twist is a surprise the reader could have seen coming and didn't. How to plant small hints, misdirect, avoid the twists that fail, and test yours with beta readers.
MemoirsCan Writing a Memoir Make You Sick? The Toll Nobody Warns You About
Writing a memoir can wear you down physically and emotionally, even decades after the events. A client who had to stop three chapters in, my own experience, and how to protect yourself.
Personal GrowthWhen Caregiving Ends and the Words Won’t Come
When caregiving ends, a lot of writers find the words stop with it. Why grief and burnout stall your writing, how long it lasts, and what kept me sane when my wife was sick.