My first intro to Delia Ephron was in the 1980s, when I performed (probably not terribly well) in a stage version of her book How to Eat Like a Child and Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-Up. I also loved her later book Do I Have to Say Hello? Aunt Delia's Manners Quiz for Kids and Their Grown-Ups a volume my own kids read over and over, giggling all the way at the wonderful illustrations.
I recently finished her memoir Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life, the first (and only) of her non-children's books I've picked up. It's getting a lot of press lately, given that the Broadway version (Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher) opened in previews in September 2024.
One of the lines is: "your writing is your fingerprint."
How wonderful is that? The image resonates with me to such an extent that I've devoted much of my brain space to deep consideration of the spot-on observation in this metaphor.
I've written previously on my extensive and complicated thoughts around the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools. Such text generation — for let's please not call it writing — for all its problems and often squishy ethics is nevertheless a wonderful partner when it is used properly and responsibly.
By definition, it's not creative. It's not human. It can't replace your voice or be your fingerprint. At the risk of getting a bit too woo-woo, it has no soul.
But just as a calculator speeds up computation, ChatGPT can save time or help work through blocks, even for creative writers.
We wouldn't use Wikipedia as the authority on anything, but it's a place to start. So can generative AI be.
I teach in a university. Believe me when I say that the biggest problem with ChatGPT is not that students use it but that they use it wrong.
I needed to find a way to teach students how to use it the right way, so I held my nose and dove into learning the technology.
What I found surprised the heck out of me.
Yes, ChatGPT is flawed. (That wasn't the surprising part.)
It's trained on (often) biased and outdated models.
It quickly sorts through information for the average or most common, not the best or most original.
It can't replace true creativity.
And so on.
But its generative abilities can be incredibly useful if you keep an open mind and know which specific needle in which particular haystack you're hoping to find. 🌾📍🌾🌾
I created a course to teach people how to train ChatGPT on the particulars of their own voice. (Or fingerprint!) The point is never ever ever ever, no never to just take what AI generates for you and use it as is.
Especially not to pretend what it generates is your own original work. (I'm not sure whether that's plagiarism, exactly, but it's definitely cheating at life.)
While AI can't take the place of your fingerprint, there are at least one thousand and one different writing-adjacent tasks that it can help you with, not to mention one million and one different non-creative content pieces we need to create.
Here's just a few reasonable searches off the top of my head:
Stuck on a plot twist? Need a quirky character detail? Looking for unusual murder weapons? Aren't sure what kinds of clothing brands a particular character might wear (or not be caught wearing)? ChatGPT can help you brainstorm ideas to get your creative gears turning.
From crafting a fictional society’s quirks to sketching out a new landscape, ChatGPT can suggest world-building blocks to get you started.
"Talk" to your characters in order to learn more about them, such as possible deeper motivations or unexpected backstory elements. It’s a chatbot after all, so back-and-forth dialogue adopting a character’s quirks or persona can also help you consider how crucial conversations might unfold on the page.
How about help beyond a quick grammar check? For example, not sure if your draft flows the way you want? From pacing to scene transitions and more, ChatGPT can assess how your narrative moves and point out specific places to target in revision.
AI can simplify your research, helping you to narrow down historical, geographical, or cultural details, for example.
Need a chapter outline? Help with a synopsis or summary? A media bio? Suggestions for query inclusions and formatting? These and other admin tasks are a breeze with automated tools.
Look, whatever your reservations, I get it.
But why not take the tech for a test drive? Maybe it will surprise you, too.
