So I saw a post on social media about an unnamed but well-respected writer who has apparently suggested that, as a way of making a living in a world that doesn\u2019t pay enough for their actual work, writers should use LLMs to write \u201cromantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The poster \u2013 also a writer \u2013 made the important point that since one would have to edit the LLM work, the writer would end up incorporating some of that style into their own work. (The poster is also a writing instructor who discourages the use of LLMs by their students because of its effect on their writing and also because reading LLM prose is deeply boring.)<\/p>\n
But what struck me was that the first writer, who otherwise does their own work and wants respect for that, must consider romantasy a trash genre. I doubt they read it and if they do, it is with contempt. I\u2019m sure they wouldn\u2019t publish it under their own name.<\/p>\n
So I guess outsourcing writing of \u201ccommercial trash\u201d to LLMs is the current version of \u201clearn how to crank out something that\u2019s easy to write\u201d to pay the bills.<\/p>\n
Many years ago, when I was just setting out in the world and looking for a way to make a living that wasn\u2019t too stressful so that I could explore my own writing and other passions, I checked a book out of the library on how to write romance.<\/p>\n
I mean, romance is notoriously formulaic. I have been told repeatedly by people who write it and read it that there are basic rules you cannot break. It should be easy to write. Right?<\/p>\n
Yeah, well no. Because what dawned on me then was that I couldn\u2019t write romance because I don\u2019t read it. I mean, I occasionally read it, and I don\u2019t object to a good love story, but on the whole I\u2019m not interested in stories in which the plot revolves around the characters falling in love and living happily ever after.<\/p>\n
An occasional romantic comedy, sure. Jane Austen, of course \u2013 but then Jane Austen wrote horror, not romance. (I get cold shudders every time I think of a world that bars Elinor Dashwood from well-paid and useful occupation.)<\/p>\n
I came around to the understanding that you can\u2019t write fiction you don\u2019t read and you really can\u2019t write fiction you don\u2019t like. I somehow doubt anyone who\u2019s making money writing romance hates the genre.<\/p>\n
As a result, I don\u2019t write romance. Or tie-in novels. Or literary fiction about young editorial assistants having affairs with senior editors. (Especially that last one.) <\/p>\n
I can see why someone looking at romance from the outside might figure LLMs could do it just as well as people because they think it\u2019s just formula. I assume it\u2019s similar for romantasy. But of course, the breakout romance novels do something different within that formula, because that is possible when you bring your whole self to the job.<\/p>\n
LLMs don\u2019t have a self to bring, so \u2026.<\/p>\n
My own solution \u2013 and it took me a long time to find \u2013 was a day job covering legal matters. The best job was editing a publication on class actions. It was intellectually stimulating, but it was also structured writing. I had to pay attention to being clear, but I didn\u2019t have to invent new ways of saying things.<\/p>\n
Doing that work was actually very good for my writing as well. Figuring out how to be very clear is good training.<\/p>\n
But when I walked out the door, I was done. And, best of all, it wasn\u2019t boring though it also wasn\u2019t all-encompassing.<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s the perfect day job for someone who has another passion to follow: not boring, but not all-encompassing.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, jobs like that are not easily available these days. I\u2019m very glad I don\u2019t need to find a job. And also glad that I\u2019ve made my peace with not being famous or making serious money out of writing.<\/p>\n
I write. I look for places to publish what I write. I could do more, but I don\u2019t have to push things. That\u2019s a luxury I appreciate.<\/p>\n
The one thing I\u2019m sure of, though, is that you shouldn\u2019t sell your soul to make a living. For me, writing something I don\u2019t respect \u2013 even if I write it myself and don\u2019t use LLMs \u2013 is selling my soul. And I probably would be lousy at it anyway.<\/p>\n
For the most part, only you know what is destroying to your soul, so only you can make the call. But I\u2019m pretty sure that using LLMs to write is harmful to everyone and particularly harmful to anyone pursuing writing as an art or profession.<\/p>\n
And using them to write something you don\u2019t even want to read is definitely soul-destroying. Find another way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I saw a post on social media about an unnamed but well-respected writer who has apparently suggested that, as a way of making a living in a world that doesn\u2019t pay enough for their actual work, writers should use LLMs to write \u201cromantasy.\u201d The poster \u2013 also a writer \u2013 made the important point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,18],"tags":[1235,1234],"class_list":["post-4766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-writing","tag-llms","tag-romantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4769,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4766\/revisions\/4769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}