The staff at our local independent bookshop make a display with tiny hand-crafted editions of each book that has been included in their monthly Bookpack subscription.
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At any literary event I’ve been to, the author has been happy to sign books. Even old worn ones. The writers don’t just sign them mechanically, but chat with each reader. Often, they personalise the inscription. The queue never gets restless. People happily chat about books as they wait their turn. I fangirl-gushed at Lucy Caldwell and instead of calling security, she chatted with me about our mutual love of short stories, then wrote this generous inscription.
@CiaraNi that’s really cool.
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I was reminded of those readerly pleasures after @tokeriis shared this. An IT consultant boasting on national TV about his ‘AI book factory’. Each AI 'book' takes 30-60 minutes to make. He's published 35 so far.
“It’s still art and creativity, just in a different way than we’re used to. Making the prompt, the system instruction that gets the AI to do this, is creative too."
The bit that makes me want to cry: the biggest chain of bookshops in Denmark is stocking them.
@CiaraNi @tokeriis Reminded me of this: https://mstdn.social/@Nickiquote/116655366869053853
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@CiaraNi @tokeriis Reminded me of this: https://mstdn.social/@Nickiquote/116655366869053853
@Nickiquote @tokeriis The bare-faced brass cheek of him. Of all of them. Pure contempt for the people they're grifting, while openly acknowledging that they wouldn't touch their own slop.
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@CiaraNi that’s really cool.
@Michigander I was genuinely chuffed when I saw afterwards what she'd written, that she'd referred to our actual conversation about the short story form. We'd agreed that it is the single most absolutely supreme and absolutely magical literary form. Because it is, of course.
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@Michigander I was genuinely chuffed when I saw afterwards what she'd written, that she'd referred to our actual conversation about the short story form. We'd agreed that it is the single most absolutely supreme and absolutely magical literary form. Because it is, of course.
@CiaraNi I agree. Do you think it may be the most human literary form and least likely to be mimicked by AI? I know some amateur writers who have explained how novel writing has become very formulaic. AI can easily follow this form to deliver known emotional payoffs. I wonder if short stories rely more on direct common human instincts and understandings between author and reader to deliver meaning? lol…that is enough thinking for me today.
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@CiaraNi I agree. Do you think it may be the most human literary form and least likely to be mimicked by AI? I know some amateur writers who have explained how novel writing has become very formulaic. AI can easily follow this form to deliver known emotional payoffs. I wonder if short stories rely more on direct common human instincts and understandings between author and reader to deliver meaning? lol…that is enough thinking for me today.
@Michigander That's a really interesting thought.
"I wonder if short stories rely more on direct common human instincts and understandings between author and reader to deliver meaning?"
Good insight. Yes, I think they do.
Now I'm thinking about this comment Judith Hermann made at a talk.
"Short stories are often sad and often open-ended. They draw you in, and when they end, it’s like you’re left standing in the rain."
AI-created text isn't subtle enough to make you feel left in the rain.
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@Michigander That's a really interesting thought.
"I wonder if short stories rely more on direct common human instincts and understandings between author and reader to deliver meaning?"
Good insight. Yes, I think they do.
Now I'm thinking about this comment Judith Hermann made at a talk.
"Short stories are often sad and often open-ended. They draw you in, and when they end, it’s like you’re left standing in the rain."
AI-created text isn't subtle enough to make you feel left in the rain.
@CiaraNi @Michigander Ooh. I want to draw a connection between short stories and a kind of visual art that is so spare and economical that it requires a very high level of skill.
Like the attached famous Rembrandt sketch, which is evocative and completely brings the woman to life with an astonishingly small number of brushstrokes. And none that are not absolutely necessary.
Novels, in painting terms, are made up of so many brushstrokes, none of them matters as much.
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@CiaraNi @Michigander Ooh. I want to draw a connection between short stories and a kind of visual art that is so spare and economical that it requires a very high level of skill.
Like the attached famous Rembrandt sketch, which is evocative and completely brings the woman to life with an astonishingly small number of brushstrokes. And none that are not absolutely necessary.
Novels, in painting terms, are made up of so many brushstrokes, none of them matters as much.
@Gaolaitch Perhaps the parallel is with poetry where economy of words is often matched by the vivid imagery produced (and ultimately by Haiku where so much is said by so little).
️ @CiaraNi @Michigander -
@CiaraNi @Michigander Ooh. I want to draw a connection between short stories and a kind of visual art that is so spare and economical that it requires a very high level of skill.
Like the attached famous Rembrandt sketch, which is evocative and completely brings the woman to life with an astonishingly small number of brushstrokes. And none that are not absolutely necessary.
Novels, in painting terms, are made up of so many brushstrokes, none of them matters as much.
@Gaolaitch @Michigander That's a great comparison. That's exactly how I feel about short stories. They are both intense and sparse at the same time, with no room for wasted words. In writing and in art, as you say, that requires a rare level of skill. Including the skill to know when unwritten words and undrawn lines are an integral part of the artwork.
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@CiaraNi @Michigander Ooh. I want to draw a connection between short stories and a kind of visual art that is so spare and economical that it requires a very high level of skill.
Like the attached famous Rembrandt sketch, which is evocative and completely brings the woman to life with an astonishingly small number of brushstrokes. And none that are not absolutely necessary.
Novels, in painting terms, are made up of so many brushstrokes, none of them matters as much.
@Gaolaitch @CiaraNi @Michigander - the Rembrandt may be, and was maybe intended to be ... deceptive. In the areas that the human mind scans with low resolution, the strokes are casual. But the eyes look they are composed by pushing each brush hair into the intended position. Genius, of course.
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@Gaolaitch @CiaraNi @Michigander - the Rembrandt may be, and was maybe intended to be ... deceptive. In the areas that the human mind scans with low resolution, the strokes are casual. But the eyes look they are composed by pushing each brush hair into the intended position. Genius, of course.
@wavesculptor @CiaraNi @Michigander Yes, that is a good visual equivalent of leaving out parts of a story that the reader will assemble in their head.
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@Gaolaitch Perhaps the parallel is with poetry where economy of words is often matched by the vivid imagery produced (and ultimately by Haiku where so much is said by so little).
️ @CiaraNi @Michigander@tompearce49 @CiaraNi @Michigander Hmm yes you may be right, in that way, the Rembrandt is closer to a haiku than to a short story. But on a slightly different axis to the one about artistic skill required. I was conflating the two in my original post, I think.
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@tompearce49 @CiaraNi @Michigander Hmm yes you may be right, in that way, the Rembrandt is closer to a haiku than to a short story. But on a slightly different axis to the one about artistic skill required. I was conflating the two in my original post, I think.
Oh, it was in no way a criticism, and you are quite right, the economy of brush strokes is the true measure of the skill that Rembrandt had (and in any case, what do I know of art!!)
@CiaraNi @Michigander -
Oh, it was in no way a criticism, and you are quite right, the economy of brush strokes is the true measure of the skill that Rembrandt had (and in any case, what do I know of art!!)
@CiaraNi @Michigander@tompearce49 (Not taken as)
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I was reminded of those readerly pleasures after @tokeriis shared this. An IT consultant boasting on national TV about his ‘AI book factory’. Each AI 'book' takes 30-60 minutes to make. He's published 35 so far.
“It’s still art and creativity, just in a different way than we’re used to. Making the prompt, the system instruction that gets the AI to do this, is creative too."
The bit that makes me want to cry: the biggest chain of bookshops in Denmark is stocking them.
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@hemlockcookie @tokeriis I'm failing a translation test here. A despairing gesticulating figure; unhappy; going to hang a hammock from two poles to relax in while reading a book by a human writer. Maybe.
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@hemlockcookie @tokeriis I'm failing a translation test here. A despairing gesticulating figure; unhappy; going to hang a hammock from two poles to relax in while reading a book by a human writer. Maybe.
@CiaraNi Haha sorry! Shouldn't have assumed.
It is a well known kaomoji (Japanese emoji) that depicts a person flipping a table in rage/frustration.
Some variations replace the table by a word, like:
(╯°□°)╯︵ɹǝʌǝʇɐɥʍ
(╯°□°)╯︵ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ
(╯°□°)╯︵dol$oɹɔᴉW -
@CiaraNi Haha sorry! Shouldn't have assumed.
It is a well known kaomoji (Japanese emoji) that depicts a person flipping a table in rage/frustration.
Some variations replace the table by a word, like:
(╯°□°)╯︵ɹǝʌǝʇɐɥʍ
(╯°□°)╯︵ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ
(╯°□°)╯︵dol$oɹɔᴉW@hemlockcookie Ah! That is brilliant. And looking back, I should have worked that out. Tak - this is my new favourite thing.
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