I agree that AI systems are going to break the modern publishing environment. I also think that 'human-made' productions are going to be valued more highly IF THEY'RE GOOD. There are a lot of trash writers out there who have been employed for far too long. What we're seeing is almost a return to pre-industrial creation, where those who create have to do so for its own sake rather than to make a buck... which often has led to greater creations built over longer periods.
The real risk of AI is not that it replaces human creators, but rather that it replaces human desires. I think it will have a significant and potentially catastrophic effect on human nature. I'm not worried that it will replace the heights of human ability; I am worried that it'll replace the desire of average people to ever look upwards.
Precisely my concern, it is why I stress the importance of hard work, of devoting oneself to one’s craft and staring down the ‘threat’ of it in a cool headed manner and with stoic faith and confidence in oneself. We can triumph, humanity has triumphed against all else thus far as we’ve God on our side.
Good art will shine through what we need to do is fight for it, and fight to ensure that we don’t crack and we don’t compromise on human desires and don’t give into sloth.
I really appreciate your support though, your restack and commentary as you’re far in a way more knowledgeable than I on this matter. I just don’t see the fuss I guess, obsessed as I am with the ‘grind’ aspect of writing.
AI will not devalue writing the same way photography did not devalue painting. What it will devalue are the many authors that only want to follow trends, that see their books as a checklist of tropes and clichés. So, the boring ones.
What I'm really worried about though, is what imact, if any, AI can have in the marketplace: Can we expect readers to move through piles of AI slop to find authors that aren't big names? Maybe this will bring back collections and anthologies, small names curated by big ones.
A fun experiment, perhaps, would be to feed ChatGPT your worldbuilding details and main influences and see what it spits out.
I don't think I'm anyone to really tell you whether your writing style is up to snuff...I don't really have an eye for what the market would think.
From a bird's eye view though, I think the prevalent copycats will always follow their contemporaries. I'd wager most AI slop wants to imitate Sanderson and GRRM instead of Howard/Leiber
Oh okay, I prefer to follow Tolkien, Dunsany & Dumas & Howard’s examples. I’ve been told by a friend my work has the ‘weight of Tolkien but moves like Howard’ which I quite like.
But as to feeding ChatGPT I have a friend who did that once and it said I think that it was imitating medieval stories or at least my poems were (Sam Liebl fed my poetry to it). I was quite happy with that analysis.
But okay I’d still welcome your readership and am grateful for your opinion on this matter. I don’t know everything and won’t pretend to, so am glad to have learnt something new.
A Long-Await’d Festival feels like something pulled from a fire-blackened scroll, like it was always meant to be told aloud beside a hearth, not scrolled through between inbox tabs. You didn’t just write fantasy—you kept the tradition alive. And as someone who grew up craving that kind of weight and rootedness in a world that seemed obsessed with gloss and speed, I felt that deeply.
You trust your reader. You don’t handhold. You build a world that breathes in old rhythms, and you let your characters exist in it rather than explain themselves to us.
Cormac, in particular, stood out to me. He’s not the shiny hero. He’s not the sharp-tongued chosen one. He drifts. He dreams. He fails in quiet, human ways. And somehow, that made him feel more honest than half the fantasy protagonists I’ve read in the last decade. The restraint in his arc is brilliant—it makes room for depth most writers rush past.
Also: your women. Thank you for giving them space to be chaotic, loyal, irritable, tender, ambitious—all of it. Too often, female characters get boxed into a single “narrative purpose.” You let yours live, and I saw myself in the cracks and contradictions of them.
That said, if I can offer one small critique: the prose occasionally drapes itself a bit heavy. Ornate, deliberate, beautiful... but sometimes I wanted it to breathe a little more, to be more nimble. There's also some awkward placement in a couple of commas and some adjectives that I, personally, wouldn't have used. I suggest giving it another read, maybe spoken, so you can see how certain paragraphs could flow better.
Substack feels like too small a cage for something this rich. I don't think having Chapter I-IX in a single substack post makes it an enjoyable read. I would rather have each post be a single chapter, with each ending in a cliffhanger of sorts leading to the following chapter in another post.
You’re doing the work that matters. You’re not just writing stories—you’re feeding the flame. The kind of flame that myth grows from.
Originally these were single posts, I compiled them into one. As to commas and adjectives valid criticism, it is a legitimate criticism to my French and English prose so I can't get angry when everyone and myself included have noticed this error. My editors are always removing this or that comma or adding this or that one to there. They just sigh in exasperation (good natured of course) and then tease me and fix it. I love them for it.
I'll have to give it another read out loud and will pass along the criticism to Gemstone's editor.
This was written at a time I wanted to write Tolkienian stuff, and I had a health scare. Didn't know if I'd live so I wrote the first volume and a good measure of the second and outlined the third in three months. I'm better now but the memory of that time still scares me. I wanted to write in a way that the readers could live in and I trusted them to figure stuff out, to read between the lines, and I wanted to write for the love of the language and art of writing.
Cormac was meant to fail, to stumble and screw up and to hurry then falter and then to stumble and find his way. He's quiet and restrained by nature even as he blazes with passion beneath it all. This was the idea, I'm glad you like him, I must admit I love him as a father might his son. I originally intended him to be snarkier but preferred him to be like this, to be more mild and more forgiving and more like a mix of Samwise & Frodo in some ways. He's like a fairy and yet he's completely ordinary in a way.
The women were a joy to write, they are chaotic and I wanted them to be tragic and beautiful. I wanted Daegan for example to be vain and boastful but to learn to grow out of it, for Kenna to be cruel and selfish only to stumble like her son does and find her way. I wanted Helga to be noble and kind, yet there are limits and so on.
My favourite is probably song-loving Berenice who loves music and singing as much as Daegan does, except she's far more romantic and wistful. Her and the Elf-Queen strongly affect me as does Bardulf the Wolf-Warrior.
My goal was not to duplicate, but to kind of imitate yet do things differently from Tolkien and place more emphasis on family than friendship. Though friendship is there at every corner.
As to the rest of your words regarding the prose and how much you liked this tale thus far, I will take them to heart I appreciate it. I will think on it and as said pass along your words to the editor and go over these things from August to November (the period when we'll be sorting this monster of a novel out, as it is 1047 pages long (I believe)). The second volume is currently being revised by me, as there's problem early in the narrative that needs restructuring (mostly the problem child is Indulf).
I really appreciate the thoroughness of your comment and how you feel about this and its place on Substack. I long wondered until recently if this story was bad (I've put up chapters on Royal Road also and have found there readers who are excited about it). My hope is to publish for the end of the year or beginning of next year this volume, then the second one and then the third one. I begin the actual writing of Vol 3 once Vol 2 has a working draft.
There were a few moments when I felt panic over AI and being drowned out by the slop, but I also had the same panic about my books being pirated and I got over that because I realized it's gonna happen no matter what. Pirates gonna pirate. I kinda feel like AI is a bit the same. It's gonna happen. Some people are gonna put out slop and it's annoying, but there are going to be plenty of readers who want books by real people. The trick is getting the books in front of them.
Agreed I had the same moments years ago, but have since forgotten it on a spiritual level. What will be will be. What won’t be won’t be. Can’t control others nor do I want to. Best to just… let others be I guess.
"I’m arguing for the same ideals that Miyamoto Musashi advocated for in his magnificent Go Rin no Sho, which is to say practicing 1000 sword slashes until you’ve perfected it."
This resonated with me as a former warrior. I'm curious though what you mean mote specifically by "practicing 1000 swors slashes"
What I mean is write a thousand scenes, a thousand tales, and a thousand times until you’ve perfected your prose, your poetry and your style of story-telling.
I think I may have been too vague, apologies. Oh and I've practiced swordsmanship for a time of my life and plan to pick it back up so I get how it resonated with you.
AI “authors” will be their own undoing. So many are so lazy they actually forget to edit out prompt text, and the responses from the LM addressing the input. E.g. “I’ve rewritten the passage to make the sex scene 50% more graphic. Here it is…
Absolute slop. Zero concern.
To me this is no different from horney spinster slop (shitty, poorly written, never edited smut novels that flood kindle at .99 each.
The real issue is reaching your audience before they literally drown in awful quality content
I totally agree. They’re ruining themselves and there’s no helping many of them. I don’t get their laziness and refusal to put in the work as I state a few times in this article.
AI is no threat to the talented and the hard-working.
Personally, I don't like ai as a tool for creative purposes, or heck, other things depending on what it does. I know someone whose job interview got messed up cuz of ai, and the system didn't notify the person doing the interview. I don't think its the best to phase out as many jobs as ai can fill. . . The more we are dependent on it doesn't seem like it will be good in the long run. There is certainly no going back to fending our ourselves, even at this point, at least in the most technologically advanced societies/countries. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'll leave this comment with an edit, as there might be some discussion to be had or thoughts to be thought. Idk
I agree with you, I just like learning things hands on and myself. If I can’t learn to build something by mixing the concrete myself or digging with my own shovel why bother? AI just robs me of the fun of learning myself.
Yeah, I could do ai for my covers and illustrations, but I'd rather have it be something I made myself, or I commissioned. That's why I have the profile picture I do. It's a picture I drew when I was a kid, it's something I made. Discord is another matter tho, i like my anime pfps lol.
I agree that AI systems are going to break the modern publishing environment. I also think that 'human-made' productions are going to be valued more highly IF THEY'RE GOOD. There are a lot of trash writers out there who have been employed for far too long. What we're seeing is almost a return to pre-industrial creation, where those who create have to do so for its own sake rather than to make a buck... which often has led to greater creations built over longer periods.
The real risk of AI is not that it replaces human creators, but rather that it replaces human desires. I think it will have a significant and potentially catastrophic effect on human nature. I'm not worried that it will replace the heights of human ability; I am worried that it'll replace the desire of average people to ever look upwards.
Precisely my concern, it is why I stress the importance of hard work, of devoting oneself to one’s craft and staring down the ‘threat’ of it in a cool headed manner and with stoic faith and confidence in oneself. We can triumph, humanity has triumphed against all else thus far as we’ve God on our side.
Good art will shine through what we need to do is fight for it, and fight to ensure that we don’t crack and we don’t compromise on human desires and don’t give into sloth.
I really appreciate your support though, your restack and commentary as you’re far in a way more knowledgeable than I on this matter. I just don’t see the fuss I guess, obsessed as I am with the ‘grind’ aspect of writing.
Good art is rare. We have an over production of Elites. I didn’t recognize any name on that letter.
Same, it is just frustrating how many elites we have. Good art is rare but worth fighting for.
AI will not devalue writing the same way photography did not devalue painting. What it will devalue are the many authors that only want to follow trends, that see their books as a checklist of tropes and clichés. So, the boring ones.
What I'm really worried about though, is what imact, if any, AI can have in the marketplace: Can we expect readers to move through piles of AI slop to find authors that aren't big names? Maybe this will bring back collections and anthologies, small names curated by big ones.
That’s…. actually a fair assessment of the situation. I would ask you given my own writing style clings to traditional styles and forms what your thoughts are about it and its chances of survival; https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/scotlands-fellowship-of-the-ringlord
A fun experiment, perhaps, would be to feed ChatGPT your worldbuilding details and main influences and see what it spits out.
I don't think I'm anyone to really tell you whether your writing style is up to snuff...I don't really have an eye for what the market would think.
From a bird's eye view though, I think the prevalent copycats will always follow their contemporaries. I'd wager most AI slop wants to imitate Sanderson and GRRM instead of Howard/Leiber
Oh okay, I prefer to follow Tolkien, Dunsany & Dumas & Howard’s examples. I’ve been told by a friend my work has the ‘weight of Tolkien but moves like Howard’ which I quite like.
But as to feeding ChatGPT I have a friend who did that once and it said I think that it was imitating medieval stories or at least my poems were (Sam Liebl fed my poetry to it). I was quite happy with that analysis.
But okay I’d still welcome your readership and am grateful for your opinion on this matter. I don’t know everything and won’t pretend to, so am glad to have learnt something new.
You've certainly given me a lot to read! I look forward to finishing it and giving you my thoughts.
Likewise, I'd de delighted if you could also indulge me in reading a piece I just wrote (if you have the time) and giving me your thoughts: https://open.substack.com/pub/redagus/p/the-blood-remembers?r=5zjgle&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
A Long-Await’d Festival feels like something pulled from a fire-blackened scroll, like it was always meant to be told aloud beside a hearth, not scrolled through between inbox tabs. You didn’t just write fantasy—you kept the tradition alive. And as someone who grew up craving that kind of weight and rootedness in a world that seemed obsessed with gloss and speed, I felt that deeply.
You trust your reader. You don’t handhold. You build a world that breathes in old rhythms, and you let your characters exist in it rather than explain themselves to us.
Cormac, in particular, stood out to me. He’s not the shiny hero. He’s not the sharp-tongued chosen one. He drifts. He dreams. He fails in quiet, human ways. And somehow, that made him feel more honest than half the fantasy protagonists I’ve read in the last decade. The restraint in his arc is brilliant—it makes room for depth most writers rush past.
Also: your women. Thank you for giving them space to be chaotic, loyal, irritable, tender, ambitious—all of it. Too often, female characters get boxed into a single “narrative purpose.” You let yours live, and I saw myself in the cracks and contradictions of them.
That said, if I can offer one small critique: the prose occasionally drapes itself a bit heavy. Ornate, deliberate, beautiful... but sometimes I wanted it to breathe a little more, to be more nimble. There's also some awkward placement in a couple of commas and some adjectives that I, personally, wouldn't have used. I suggest giving it another read, maybe spoken, so you can see how certain paragraphs could flow better.
Substack feels like too small a cage for something this rich. I don't think having Chapter I-IX in a single substack post makes it an enjoyable read. I would rather have each post be a single chapter, with each ending in a cliffhanger of sorts leading to the following chapter in another post.
You’re doing the work that matters. You’re not just writing stories—you’re feeding the flame. The kind of flame that myth grows from.
Originally these were single posts, I compiled them into one. As to commas and adjectives valid criticism, it is a legitimate criticism to my French and English prose so I can't get angry when everyone and myself included have noticed this error. My editors are always removing this or that comma or adding this or that one to there. They just sigh in exasperation (good natured of course) and then tease me and fix it. I love them for it.
I'll have to give it another read out loud and will pass along the criticism to Gemstone's editor.
This was written at a time I wanted to write Tolkienian stuff, and I had a health scare. Didn't know if I'd live so I wrote the first volume and a good measure of the second and outlined the third in three months. I'm better now but the memory of that time still scares me. I wanted to write in a way that the readers could live in and I trusted them to figure stuff out, to read between the lines, and I wanted to write for the love of the language and art of writing.
Cormac was meant to fail, to stumble and screw up and to hurry then falter and then to stumble and find his way. He's quiet and restrained by nature even as he blazes with passion beneath it all. This was the idea, I'm glad you like him, I must admit I love him as a father might his son. I originally intended him to be snarkier but preferred him to be like this, to be more mild and more forgiving and more like a mix of Samwise & Frodo in some ways. He's like a fairy and yet he's completely ordinary in a way.
The women were a joy to write, they are chaotic and I wanted them to be tragic and beautiful. I wanted Daegan for example to be vain and boastful but to learn to grow out of it, for Kenna to be cruel and selfish only to stumble like her son does and find her way. I wanted Helga to be noble and kind, yet there are limits and so on.
My favourite is probably song-loving Berenice who loves music and singing as much as Daegan does, except she's far more romantic and wistful. Her and the Elf-Queen strongly affect me as does Bardulf the Wolf-Warrior.
My goal was not to duplicate, but to kind of imitate yet do things differently from Tolkien and place more emphasis on family than friendship. Though friendship is there at every corner.
As to the rest of your words regarding the prose and how much you liked this tale thus far, I will take them to heart I appreciate it. I will think on it and as said pass along your words to the editor and go over these things from August to November (the period when we'll be sorting this monster of a novel out, as it is 1047 pages long (I believe)). The second volume is currently being revised by me, as there's problem early in the narrative that needs restructuring (mostly the problem child is Indulf).
I really appreciate the thoroughness of your comment and how you feel about this and its place on Substack. I long wondered until recently if this story was bad (I've put up chapters on Royal Road also and have found there readers who are excited about it). My hope is to publish for the end of the year or beginning of next year this volume, then the second one and then the third one. I begin the actual writing of Vol 3 once Vol 2 has a working draft.
There were a few moments when I felt panic over AI and being drowned out by the slop, but I also had the same panic about my books being pirated and I got over that because I realized it's gonna happen no matter what. Pirates gonna pirate. I kinda feel like AI is a bit the same. It's gonna happen. Some people are gonna put out slop and it's annoying, but there are going to be plenty of readers who want books by real people. The trick is getting the books in front of them.
Agreed I had the same moments years ago, but have since forgotten it on a spiritual level. What will be will be. What won’t be won’t be. Can’t control others nor do I want to. Best to just… let others be I guess.
This is Gutenberg tier disruption to society. And it’s early yet. I don’t recall Martin Luther begging. Did the Luddites beg? Did Serena Butler beg?
Agreed
"I’m arguing for the same ideals that Miyamoto Musashi advocated for in his magnificent Go Rin no Sho, which is to say practicing 1000 sword slashes until you’ve perfected it."
This resonated with me as a former warrior. I'm curious though what you mean mote specifically by "practicing 1000 swors slashes"
You can also DM me, if that makes sense......
What I mean is write a thousand scenes, a thousand tales, and a thousand times until you’ve perfected your prose, your poetry and your style of story-telling.
I think I may have been too vague, apologies. Oh and I've practiced swordsmanship for a time of my life and plan to pick it back up so I get how it resonated with you.
AI “authors” will be their own undoing. So many are so lazy they actually forget to edit out prompt text, and the responses from the LM addressing the input. E.g. “I’ve rewritten the passage to make the sex scene 50% more graphic. Here it is…
Absolute slop. Zero concern.
To me this is no different from horney spinster slop (shitty, poorly written, never edited smut novels that flood kindle at .99 each.
The real issue is reaching your audience before they literally drown in awful quality content
I totally agree. They’re ruining themselves and there’s no helping many of them. I don’t get their laziness and refusal to put in the work as I state a few times in this article.
AI is no threat to the talented and the hard-working.
The thing that vexes me the most about AI is that if you don’t actually ENJOY the process of writing, it’s a terribly inefficient way of making money.
I get that, I don’t get them though; how could you not enjoy the process? I couldn’t live without it.
And honestly the inefficiency of it is puzzling to me. It doesn’t seem to make any money.
Really like this, but I particularly liked the improve bit. Gives me hope I will someday write the series I really want to write
Thanks, I lost about 10 subs with this article already so many got mad at me for dismissing AI for some reason.
I know you will improve buddy I’ve faith in you.
Thanks! I'd like to and hope I will.
Personally, I don't like ai as a tool for creative purposes, or heck, other things depending on what it does. I know someone whose job interview got messed up cuz of ai, and the system didn't notify the person doing the interview. I don't think its the best to phase out as many jobs as ai can fill. . . The more we are dependent on it doesn't seem like it will be good in the long run. There is certainly no going back to fending our ourselves, even at this point, at least in the most technologically advanced societies/countries. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'll leave this comment with an edit, as there might be some discussion to be had or thoughts to be thought. Idk
Makes sense to ignore it for writers tho.
I agree with you, I just like learning things hands on and myself. If I can’t learn to build something by mixing the concrete myself or digging with my own shovel why bother? AI just robs me of the fun of learning myself.
Yeah, I could do ai for my covers and illustrations, but I'd rather have it be something I made myself, or I commissioned. That's why I have the profile picture I do. It's a picture I drew when I was a kid, it's something I made. Discord is another matter tho, i like my anime pfps lol.
I get that, and yeah human art is so much better.