In Today’s Journal
* About Generative AI
* A Few Notes on Genres
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
About Generative AI
From 1440 Science & Technology newsletter:
Generative AI systems are unlikely to ever author truly creative work. (University of South Australia | Candy Gibson.)
“A study found LLM creativity has a maximum of 0.25 on a scale from 0 (no creativity) to 1 (maximum creativity), on par with average human creative capacity.
“Under current design principles, AI systems produce content of creativity equal to their datasets, which professional and expert creators will recognize as lacking originality, novelty, and effectiveness.”
I personally hope generative AI will remain unable to be ‘human.’ And I personally hope the computer of the lazy scam artist (they are definitely not ‘writers’) who currently use generative AI to produce whole works will explode. Preferably while the scam artist is bent over it.
A Few Notes on Genres
Full disclosure, this is another blast from the past, mid-2024.
Genres—and more to the point, Choosing Genres—is often a frustrating venture. And that frustration is further compounded by what defines a particular genre.
- The Western is defined by Setting.
- The Romance is defined by Characters and their actions.
- Action-Adventure is defined by events.
- Thriller is defined by the “ticking time bomb” (or several successive ticking time bombs).
- Mystery is defined by questions.
- Science Fiction and Science Fantasy also are defined by events, and of course those two genres also trump all other genres: If there are any SF elements in the story, then its primary genre is SF.
- And Magic Realism is defined by events that occur at that place on the horizon where reality folds into imagination.
A case in point is the Wes Crowley saga. One problem I encountered with that saga is categorizing it beyond Western. The problem arises because many people don’t want to read a “western.”
That particular saga IS a period western that begins in the late 1800s in the Texas panhandle and ends roughly 60 years later in the fishing village in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico. But it’s so much more.
Western is a genre that doesn’t begin to cover any individual book (beyond maybe the works of Zane Grey or Louis L’Amour), much less the whole saga.
Throughout the Wes Crowley saga, there are also heavy elements of Romance, Action-Adventure, Psychological Suspense, and even Magic Realism. And of course, a lot of slow-motion or stop-action or freeze-frame intensity (so suspense).
I’m not talking about romance as in our hero hooks up with a new favorite heroine for a chapter or so, or action-adventure where the hero engages in a single battle during the entire novel.
I’m talking about books (and a saga) in which those other genres (Romance, Action-Adventure, Psychological Suspense, and Magic Realism) are interwoven through the whole story. Books in which they are pervasive, or nearly so.
In one book of that saga, Magic Realism was so pervasive an element that I even listed Gervasio Arrancado (my MR persona) on the cover as a co-author. (grin) Just in case some readers were familiar with Mr. Arrancado’s other works.
But most folks who enjoy a great romance story or psychological suspense or action-adventure or magic realism won’t buy a “western” saga. And as a result, they miss out.
Of course, you address problems like that by choosing subgenres. At D2D, you can choose as many categories as are suitable. I usually also do that with keywords or internet search terms.
At Amazon, though, you’re limited to only three categories. And some of the stores to whom D2D distributes your work probably also limit subgenres. I suspect they’ll choose the first few and let the others fall away.
So below the main genre, you probably want to list the other genres or subgenres in order of their significance.
I’ve encountered the same problem with another saga: The Journey Home.
It’s an SF saga, one that takes place as a generation ship departs Earth for another planet, a new “home” called Terra 2.
That one too is heavily permeated with other genres (except western and, arguably, magic realism) but it must be labeled Science Fiction or Science Fantasy as the primary genre.
If you’re wondering about the difference between SFiction and SFantasy, in SFiction the science must adhere to the laws of physics as we know them. In SFantasy, you can go beyond those laws.
But with the apparently accepted sloppiness and dumbing down of America, the line between the two becomes more blurred with every passing day.
As I mentioned above, SF/F trumps all other genres. If even one element of SF appears in your book, it’s SF and then whatever other genres.
So be careful and thoughtful (yes, conscious mind) when choosing your genre and subgenres. The right search terms can mean the difference between sales and no sales.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The True Size Of Check this out for some size comparisons.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 830
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 830
Writing of Blackwell Ops 53: Jack Striker | The Next Level
Day 1…… 2035 words. To date………… 2035
Day 2…… 2217 words. To date………… 4252
Day 3…… 3751 words. To date………… 8003
Day 4…… 2218 words. To date………… 10221
Day 5…… 2181 words. To date………… 12402
Day 6…… 1673 words. To date………… 14075
Day 7…… 1972 words. To date………… 16047
Day 8…… 2081 words. To date………… 18128
Day 9…… 2694 words. To date………… 20822
Fiction for December……………………… 20822
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 775469
Nonfiction for December.………………… 18860
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 283990
2025 consumable words………………… 1051890
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 18
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 122
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29