#*nuance here. probably. you get what I mean

[nebrasska-alasska]

Hello Nebraska!! I just want to say that your Sonadow fanfic, The Secret In Your Quills, is one of the best Sonadow fanfics I've ever read in my entire life! The writing is so epic, and I'm so excited for the final chapters!!

I don't know if you are active on Twitter/X, AI has recently become one of the most talked-about and controversial topics there, and I’d like to know your opinion, especially since you are a wonderful writer.

To you, is using AI to improve and/or correct writing and grammar mistakes considered cheating?

Here’s the thing: I have a friend who is currently writing a book. He built the entire foundation, he came up with a good story, characters, the plot, and everything. But there’s a problem: he’s not very skilled in writing and doesn’t know how to write certain parts. He struggles to describe certain scenes, forgets words that could be used, and makes many, like really, many spelling and grammar mistakes. Not only that, but he also tends to drift off from certain contexts, making parts of the story confusing or nonsensical.

Because of that, he asks ChatGPT to help him with his writing. For example, he writes a section of his book and asks the chat to improve that part, like making it longer, more detailed, and most importantly, correcting grammar mistakes and polishing the writing. When ChatGPT finishes generating the revised version, he reads it to see if it matches what he had in mind. If it doesn’t, he tweaks a few things. And when it finally fits what he wants, he adds it to his book.

But this made me think, and the question kept spinning in my head, so I’d really like to know: is AI actually helping him, or not? I don’t have many friends, and the ones I asked didn’t give me any solid opinions about him using ChatGPT to assist with his writing (assist and improve, not come up with ideas or write it for him).

So I decided to bring the question here to you: Is using AI to help or improve your writing considered cheating or unoriginal?

He doesn't have Tumblr, and since I'm sending this to you anonymously, he will never know that it's me LOL, but I'm serious. What is your opinion about this?

Oof, AI is kind of a tricky subject, and I certainly have a lot of thoughts/opinions on it.

Overall, I don't think AI has a place in writing fiction when it comes to the actual process of writing. Creative writing is an art form, a way of sharing something you've created with others, and having something else nonhuman create that art kind of takes away from the whole purpose. What this means is, when I write, I embrace all of it. The good, the bad, the ugly. The highs of exciting, juicy, and emotional scenes, and the lows of the less fun stuff that comes in between. If you cut corners by having AI write parts of it for you, you're not really growing or evolving as a writer because you don't ever challenge yourself (and listen, you don't have to want to improve your craft while writing fanfiction, but at the same time, if you're incapable of writing the whole thing without having AI fill in the gaps, then it's probably time to reevaluate what you're trying to get out of your writing, if it's not completely yours). It might be a harsh opinion, but at the same time, writing is a form of expression, so why wouldn't you want everything you share with the world to be completely yours in your own unique voice? Isn't that kind of the whole point?

But there's nuance. Having AI help with grammar is a feature that has been in writing softwares since the dawn of the dinosaurs. I tend to ignore grammar suggestions more than half the time because they're either incorrect or because I'm intentionally breaking the rules, but it's still nice to have when reviewing/editing chapters. And idk. AI probably has other nice and innocent features I don't know about because I've never used it before out of principle.

I hope I didn't ruffle any feathers. I'm pretty anti-ai, but that's because in a lot of ways, I see it as an insult to art and the creation process that is innate in us as a species. It has its places in society, but the creative world isn't one of them. Truthfully, I count my lucky stars that I completed my English Literature degree before AI was a thing... I would have hated to navigate that through my courses.

[for-a-longlongtime]

I love all of y’allz optimism, and I still expect the ‘twist’ will be that she either gets with her ex or does this dramatic ‘I decided to focus on myself and I’m not continuing with either of these guys’ which will be touted as a twist. Dakotas character seems to deal for a very major part with the money aspect re: relationships, so I can see it being phrased as ‘omg the twist is that when she has the chance to bag the unicorn that she decides to not go for it because money isn’t everything!’. Am I wrong? I’d love to be! And I would like to have higher expectations, esp because it’s indeed A24 and Celine Song and Pedro —- but see, the casting of Dakota and Chris leaves me extremely skeptical about it truly being a movie with a surprising twist. (Yes I’m prejudiced, I’ll fully own up to that)

Materialists was touted to be inspired by movies by James L Brooks as Broadcast News and Terms of Endearment, which I haven’t seen — but based on the synopsis, those two movies only have as a twist that it’s not ‘a happy ending’ but still a romance movie tho (and with a ‘triangle’ for Broadcast News. Let’s be real, anything like a triangle is often already presented at WOW LOOK AT THIS TWIST). Yes I’m also thinking of Challengers, written by Celine’s husband.

@oliveksmoked you know that I would go hard for a movie that has a polycule, but once again here to me it’s like… I could believe this if it wasn’t Dakota and Chris, but since it is, my expectations are simply very low. And while I would absolutely eat up a fic like this, especially if it’s written by you, also because I think there will be nuance to it — I actually fear for a movie where this is Harry’s “dark secret”, because I simply do not trust a fairly mainstream movie to handle that in a proper way.

I feel like the biggest giveaway is Chris’ character talking about “I see you with wrinkles on your face/when you’re older and with kids”. Not to mention he’s portrayed as a ‘young type’. Meanwhile we don’t hear shit about Harry’s wishes to have kids — so I’m fully expecting a ‘this unicorn of a man can and will give you everything you want, materially and emotionally, except for kids’ angle that’s going to make her pick her ex because “we may not have a lot but we’ll have each other and our kids”. Or she decides that instead of ~~~choosing a man she will choose herself and stay single in the end~~~.

Again- I SO hope to be wrong. But I’m highly skeptical that will be the case. I also feel like it’s possible that we’re holding out for a ~revolutionary twist~ because we’d like to think that’s the kind of movie Pedro would do so there must be something special to it, since we don’t expect him to do a romcom. But hey, I think it’s safe that many of us never expected him to do a Marvel franchise either, you know? (And I’m not even criticizing him for that, I’m just saying - just because it’s not the typical kinda movie for him, doesn’t mean that it’s not just a typical kind of romcom).

I’ll throw in one more thought. When my wife and I had watched Freaky Tales (she loved it too btw) and drove home, she asked me “Why has Pedro never done a movie that’s all about him as a romantic love interest? You know, him as a leading man, but then clearly about the relationship of him and his partner” (yes, she’s seen Strange Way Of Life, but I’d argue that is very different than the ‘leading man with love interest’ role that you generally see in more mainstream stuff). So then I told her what we know about Materialists and she was like “yeah that’s totally what I mean, where he’s like a catch for the female lead etc and you get to see him in romantic situations and with a sex scene or something! Cool, so I guess that’s coming up”.

So — a romcom (even if that isn’t very ‘twisty’) would make enough sense for Pedro to do simply because it’s not a genre he has explored yet. And considering he’s probably at the height (only so far, I bet there’s tons more to come) of his popularity this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just as simple as ‘Pedro Pascal playing the ideal man in a romcom’ as a major selling point for this movie. 🤷‍♀️ Because you’ve seen the response to it so far; the majority of people is eating it up, as romantic comedies are popular with a large segment of cinematic audiences, and I can’t even count the amount of women that I’ve seen say something like “omg obv one would have to pick Pedro!” - meaning, they have opinions about this and are invested, which means that the movie is already attracting audiences.

Also, doesn’t A24 often work repeatedly with the same actors? It may be part of a ‘package deal’ of things he’s doing for/with them, also because Eddington is an A24 movie too. I’m still hoping for him to work together with Halina Reijn (who wrote and produced Baby Girl) in a nineties style erotic thriller tho. GIMME THAT, I’ll inject it right into my veins because I bet it’ll be fab.

I’m Calling It Now…

Y’all out here writing these sweet and fluffy fics about a rich and loving Harry Castillo like he’s the “unicorn” they make him out to be in the Materialist trailer.

The trailer continuously emphaszies how he’s the perfect catch. Almost too perfect. I’m calling it now. There is something WRONG with him. I don’t know what it is - maybe he’s a con artist, an identity thief, or he has someone locked in his basement. I’m not sure…but I feel like a major twist is coming.

Or, it’s the only logical explanation my brain can conjure up to justify that someone would choose Chris over Pedro. Whatever… I’m sticking with it.

I’m mean look at this face. It just screams SNEAKY LIAR. 👀

EDIT: Adding...maybe his name really is Randy. Maybe Harry is his fake name. The one that he stole from the guy that's locked in his basement. Also, as @iknowisoundcrazy kindly pointed out, it's an A24 movie. They aren't exactly known for sweet and fluffy happily ever after type movies. 👀

Not that any of this matters…I still wouldn’t turn him away.

Ruin my life, sir. Please.😮‍💨

💜Mysty

[bisexualfagdyke]

Maybe I need to move past my sensitivity around people using "men" when they mean Cis Men, but it's just so frustrating. The vast majority of ppl will never consider trans men in their conversations about oppression, patriarchy, etc. so I genuinely feel like I need to just find a way to give up on feeling upset & bothered about it.

Being a trans man means you are still oppressed in pretty much all the ways cis women are*, with the oppression of transphobia on top of that, but never considered at ALL because people use & view the word "man" as an inherently cisgender thing and none of the issues, oppression, & prejudice you face is considered cuz ur just inherently grouped in with men as a privileged class 😭😭 like when people talk about oppression & patriarchy, ur just in the "man" category inherently (oppressor causing all this harm), bcuz ur a man, when none of the oppression and experiences you have actually reflect that

It is very annoying being a trans man with a very vast & nuanced understanding of gender, patriarchy, and manhood due to ur lived identity as a trans man, in a cis focused society where nobody else thinks that way