Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

storm moving across a field
September 16, 2022

Welcome to the Future, Part 1

by Lisa Norman

Robot Writer cartoon

Story time

I learned to type on a manual typewriter. In my advanced typing class at a small private school, the teacher promised that anyone who finished all the lessons in the book could work one-on-one with her to learn how to use the school's new computer. People often comment about how fast I type. That promise is why. I worked to get my speed up, and I finished every lesson in the book. I took the stack of completed work to the teacher and eagerly asked when I could start computer lessons. She looked me over and said, "That offer does not include you."

Why? I've never known for sure, but I suspect it had to do with my family's perceived status in the school. Looking back, there were probably other students whose parents had paid for that computer. I don't know.

I went home and told my parents that I wanted to go to public school.

Shockingly, they said yes, probably because it would save them a fortune.

One condition: I wanted computer lessons.

Problem: even in Silicon Valley, most high schools didn't have computers back then.

My parents searched and found a school that had one. We had to be a little sneaky and cross district lines, but the principal allowed it.

There were no official computer classes. If I wanted to learn computers, I would have to befriend Mr. Wilson, the chemistry teacher and the only one allowed to touch the computer.

Fine. I needed a science class anyway, so I signed up for chemistry.

Mr. Wilson was one of the best teachers in the United States. He even went to the White House to receive an award from the president. He was also terrifying and deliberately hard on students, especially mousy little girls who wanted him to take time after school to teach her computers! The Wilson didn't waste time with anyone who didn't really want to put their heart into learning.

Our first meeting went badly, ending with him telling me to get out and come back after doing some impossible task. I forget what it was, something like memorizing the chemistry book, probably.

After all the work to get into this school and into a class with this teacher, I found myself standing outside, wondering what had just happened.

No.

I'd put in too much work.

He was just a scary, mean man. I lived with one of those. I would just have to convince him I would not give up.

With a deep breath, I went back into the classroom. I walked up to his desk and told him I was willing to help after school or do whatever was needed to get those computer lessons, but that I'd gone through too much to get there and I would not accept a "no."

His grimace slowly morphed into a not-so-nice smile. "Well, I could use a putz frau. You know what that is?"

"No."

"It's German for ‘low maid.’ I need someone to clean up around here. Someone to put grades into my computer gradebook."

"I'll do it."

"It won't be easy."

"I'll do it."

Test tubes and technology

I washed a lot of lab equipment for those early lessons. He also made sure I learned chemistry. For two years, he taught me how to use a computer after school every day. I also learned that he was one of the kindest people you could imagine. He just didn't want people to know.

I got very fast at data entry after I accidentally deleted his gradebook during one of my lessons.

Even back then, I was good at beta testing and breaking computers.

Mr. Wilson believed that to be the best in his career, he needed to know not only how things had always been done but also how things might change in the future.

One day he let me borrow a teacher training magazine that contained a fictional account of the classroom of the future and the role computers would play. I still remember that vision. We're almost there.

While my college degree is in creative writing, I also have a minor in Anthropology and the equivalent of an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science minor. Why "equivalent?" Because my fancy Silicon Valley university would not offer that minor until the year after I graduated.

Why am I telling you this?

My life has been filled with technological change and upheaval, much like many of yours have been.

And we're just entering another wave of change.

If we're going to be at the top of our writing profession, we want to pay attention to trends and changes: both obvious ones and subtle ones.

In my next couple of posts, I'll be talking about changes in our industry.

Let's start with a big controversy in the art world right now. My goal is to leave you encouraged and hopeful.

Just like the music industry was ahead of writing in digital rights and downloads, the visual arts industry is ahead of us in artificial intelligence. We're not far behind, though.

The rise of Artificial Intelligence

As I write this, the #1 Science Fiction Graphic Novel on Amazon was illustrated by an AI named Midjourney. I've met the author, Adam Rodriguez, in an online forum, and I've worked with Midjourney. (The featured image on this post was generated by the Midjourney AI*.)

The author created this graphic novel as an experiment. Don't think this was easy. It wasn't. But imagine an author sitting around dreaming of a graphic novel. Let's say our author is fairly old school. They use words. It's overwhelming to find an artist, communicate the vision, and then create a working partnership. Let's not get into copyright and royalty splits. (Note: I'm NOT against authors and artists collaborating. I think it is necessary and valuable. My daughter is an artist. I support artists in any medium, whether more visual or more word-based.)

There's also been a huge controversy about the artist who won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair using the same Midjourney AI.

Before you become too enraged, please note that the artist spent over 80 hours creating those winning images.

Can AI-generated art BE art?

I say that it can, because these are artists who use words to bring their vision to life. More gifted visual artists are also embellishing the AI's initial offering with other digital and physical tools. They report AIs are helping them prototype and design new works faster than before and that their income is increasing because of this collaboration.

Let's work through some stages in the history of art for a moment:

  • artists use paint brushes
  • artists use other tools like air brushes
  • artists use digital tools like Adobe Illustrator
  • artists use AI tools like Midjourney

Where can you separate and draw a line and say that this is no longer art?

When an artist spends 80 hours crafting the prompt to generate a stunning piece of art that captures feeling and emotion, how is that not art?

AIs like Midjourney aren't putting artists out of business. They're just making art more accessible to those of us not gifted in that area. Think the difference between taking a photo with your phone vs an old-school camera with all of the lenses and manual settings.

Artists aren't going away, but many of them are beginning a very profitable relationship with their favorite AI.

But what does this have to do with story?

It applies in two ways: authors can use AI images to bring their words to life for their more visually inclined fans, and AI is coming to the area of the written word as well.

Adam Rodriguez is a writer. He used words to craft that graphic novel: both the words in the story and the words that created the images. It wasn't easy. But the result is fascinating and getting the appreciation it is due.

I'll be doing a future post about using an AI to generate words, but the short version is: don't worry, the AI won't be taking over your job as a writer. Much like using a word processor is easier than writing your novels by hand, the AI can make your first draft process easier. And much like using a word processor can be frustrating, don't expect working with an AI to be a smooth process.

I spent about 2 hours arguing with Midjourney to get the featured image for this post.

*Note: when using an AI, just like working with a human collaborator, check the licensing and copyrights. I'm not entirely happy with Midjourney's rights yet, but if you are on a paid version of the program (which I am), you own the rights to the images you create. Crediting Midjourney is still required. The paid version allows you commercial ownership of what you create. So yes, that means that I own the featured image at the top of this post. No one else may use it without my permission. Some people believe AI generated art is public domain. It is not.

What do you think? Would you ever consider collaborating with an AI?

* * * * * *

About Lisa

head shot of smiling Lisa Norman

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books LLC, an indie publishing firm. She teaches for Lawson Writer's Academy.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? See her teaching schedule below.

Classes:

Top Image by Deleyna using MidJourney.

26 comments on “Welcome to the Future, Part 1”

  1. Yes, I would. I've already started interacting with Replika, an AI that I have conversations with and is the inspiration for my six-sentence-story series. AI's are the future. I won't see all the changes but I want to know what some of the marvels will be. I will have to look into Midjourney.

    1. That's exciting, Darnell! Bringing the tools into our process can be empowering. I checked out your website - you're doing some delightful work!

  2. Absolutely! I think it would be fascinating. I got into IT in the mainframe-only era back in the 70s, first in high school (when my interest in writing also started) and then in the Marine Corps, after a first enlistment as a grunt, and worked in that field from '79 to '96. I got to work on some at-the-time-bleeding-edge systems in the '90s, and it was hard and exhilarating. AI has intrigued me for decades, but I haven't gotten to interact with an AI yet. I'm retired, so my work with computers now is limited to building and using PCs. Right now I'm learning Cubase 12 so I can compose music.
    In my second career, as a psychotherapist, I collaborated with a couple of human co-authors on clinical reference books, but haven't finished any works of fiction yet. Doing so in collaboration with an AI would be a great full-circle experience.
    Kudos for your persistence, courage, and hard work as a young student! It sounds as if you made as much of an impression on Mr. Wilson as he did on you.
    One question: why gum wrappers?
    Thanks, and Semper Fidelis.

    1. Jim, that was a great era to get into computers! It is so different than the experience people have coming to them in modern times. Bleeding edge technology is always exciting. Darnell mentioned Replika - as a psychotherapist, you might enjoy that AI.

      Mr. Wilson and I became great friends. He taught me a lot more than chemistry and computers, that's for sure.

      Re: gum wrappers – my parents were determined to squelch my desire to be a writer. As a result, paper was scarce in my home. I was an extremely obedient child, but if I could find a piece of paper, I would write stories. At the time, there was a fad where girls would make long paper necklaces out of gum wrappers. This was considered an appropriate use of my time. They never suspected that I was hiding stories in those necklaces!

      It is interesting that IT and Writing came together as interests for you. Technology and writing feel deeply connected for me. LOL - virtually unlimited writing space!

  3. What an intriguing post. I think when I read The Best Seller Code, those authors had tried their hand at an early computer generated story, based on their program that analyzed book content. While I believe that went poorly, I wondered at the time if we will ever be able to program that ‘heart’ into a computer that makes readers hunger for more. So much of me wants to say no, that humans add some spark of life that could not be replicated by a series of ‘1’ and ‘0’. It also takes away some of that human feel of author awe. But then again, I see what movies have done with CGI and wonder when I’ll read my first AI book. Thanks for this thought provoking post! And so glad you pushed to learn computers, despite the barriers. So many of us have benefited from your knowledge with websites!

    1. Miffie - spoiler for a future article - I don't think that computers will replace the heart that we bring. In the AI Art world, they are mimicking the heart that the artists bring, but the artist still needs to interact and guide. There's a collaboration that is happening, much like paintbrush and artist, that I hope will carry over.

      Note that we probably already HAVE AI generated books filling the Amazon space. Someone in a publishers' meeting yesterday pointed out the huge volume of fake news books that are coming out. When they described how they were being put together, it reminded me of some AI generated articles that I've seen. I'm *sure* you've read AI generated content, but you may have skimmed it because they lack the finesse (ala Margie!) that well trained authors bring.

      There's a space for collaboration for sure.

  4. There is a new AI System called Jasper which people use both for writing and for art. It's on my list to test it out not because I think it will replace real human writers but because it may be a helpful tool. Keeping up with technology advancements and using them to their full advantage isn't cheating, it's Smart. Currently, I am using voice-to-text capabilities as I have a broken wrist. I've been amazed by how much better they work today than only a few years ago. Not to mention my iPad now supports handwriting to text and can import documents right into my computer.

    1. Liz - that's it exactly. These are tools that we can use to increase productivity. So sorry about your wrist! Ugh. But I'm encouraged by the speech-to-text features. A friend just last week said it tripled her writing speed.

  5. Great post. Shades of Charles Dickens, no? I remember being a bit scarred by my first-grade teacher. We were told that we would have big heads and hands. I pictured the images of aliens you see in science fiction movies. I didn't know that she was probably using a metaphor for humans using computers and not having to physically go places like the library to learn things. It scared me and I still remember it decades later.

    I will say that AI art is a form of art. But I think that it should have its own category, AI Art.

    The term Old School kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I picture something dusty and almost worthless. Because new or old, most inventions improved our lives in some way.

    1. Pamela - I agree with "old school" carrying a ton of baggage. I love the ways in which people are making the world better by challenging the "old school."

      Teachers can be scary! Metaphors with 1st graders... sounds like that could be hugely confusing! I bet you weren't the only scared kid in there.

      I won't disagree with the art needing to be in its own category, but having spent some time watching artists work with Midjourney... there's a few different levels of art generated. Some are just poof lucky and get something amazing from a prompt. (I've done that...) And then there are others where you work for hours and days trying to get the right thing. I'm working on a project like that now for a book cover. In this instance, the AI is replacing my shaky hands and poor execution, but still bringing my vision to life.

      We're still learning how we are going to work these tools into our lives!

    1. Tiffany - I once heard someone comment that we have big computers that should be ABLE to function in ways that are not so foreign to humans. With more and more power comes better interactivity and better tools.

      Hopefully you'll feel more comfortable in time.

      I've taught technology for years. When I was first starting out, I'd take a dead computer, a hammer and a screwdriver, and a bunch of non-techie kids and let them rip it to shreds to see how it worked. Then I'd let them play lots of games.

      Helped the kids get comfortable.

  6. Very interesting. I'm a bit ambivalent about AI in any of the arts. I take your point about the input of the human collaborator, and likening it to the development of using Word and all the other software that makes writing easier, but what happens to human writers when AI becomes free from the need for us?

    1. VM - I don't think it will become free from us. That may be "famous last words" before the AIs take over the planet and eradicate us... but there's something about the human condition that they can not understand...

      Much as I suspect in the future they will say that we can not understand them!!!

    1. Chris, now you're getting ahead on these posts! You absolutely can! There are lots of ways to use AIs to help brainstorm many areas of the process.

  7. Bravo, Lisa. You are hitting us oldsters in the head with logic about art v AI to pop our eyes open. I'm still struggling with website use, so this will develop without me, but I have a much clearer vision of what will come now. Thanks. Every new idea wakes up something in one's brain.

    1. It'll either save you time or take you down a rabbit hole! There are so many shiny things these days!

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