You’ve finished your novel. Your draft is complete. Now all you need is a fiction editor.
The advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology are remarkable. So, you don’t need a human editor anymore. Right?
Similarity rules
Um … well … admittedly, some AI algorithms are clever and can definitely be useful for some basic, repetitive tasks.
But what many people fail to realize is that by dismantling vast tracts of text to acquire their knowledge base (often without the authors’ permission), AI systems have a tendency to reduce everything to the same default setting. So, texts all start to resemble each other.
Context is key
Moreover, AI fails to acknowledge nuance, and so theoretically, a child’s delighted exclamation – ‘Let’s eat, Granma!’ – in a children’s novel might find itself inexplicably transformed by the AI gremlins into a smorgasbord of a horror scenario — ‘Let’s eat Granma!’
Arguably, the punctuation is correct, albeit context-dependent, but the author’s intention has been utterly disregarded and the machine has left no room for querying or clarification. It has just made the change.
Patterns and prejudice
In addition, AI adheres to the dominant perspective across all texts, which leaves little room for diversity. Minority opinions are subsumed, rejected. And biases — racial, gender, and so on — are allowed to permeate the narrative, thus amplifying stereotypes.
Fiction and the delights of infinite difference
But guess what? Fiction is not all the same. It thrives on disparity and celebrates rule-breaking. And its creators are in no way identical. Consider this small snapshot of only some of what it can entail. Different genres. Diverse viewpoints. Innovative worlds. Fascinating and disparate characters. Contrasting settings. Inventive anomalies of grammar. A wide variety of audiences. Unique plotlines. Distinct voices. New perspectives. Quirky ways with words ... The possibilities are endless.
Refusal to conform
What fiction and its creators do not
encapsulate are uniformity, limitation, predictability and repetition.
In other words, novels and their authors do not comply with what AI excels at. And nor do human editors.
As individuals, editors possess different skillsets, varied experiences and distinct personalities. And we bring these, and many other attributes, to our exclusive and personal editing practices.
Adding value to an author's masterpiece
A good editor will enable a particular story to sing, to stand out, to subvert reader expectations as the writer intended. They will question the position of a comma, the choice of a word. They will query and test, suggest and advise, consider your audience and genre, cajole and encourage. Above all, they will respect your text and communicate with you on a human level.
A corporeal editor will certainly not reduce your book to a formulaic, instantly forgettable construct. Nor will they make blanket decisions based on rote learning and artificial presumptions.
Respecting your readers
So, if you think that the effort you put into creating your novel was worth it, and if you believe in your writing, then consider the benefit of a real-life editor.
We might not be cheap. But the value we can impart to your novel will raise your creation above the homogenous, automated competition. And most importantly, readers know the difference.
Why not find out more today from a real-life human.
All images courtesy of freepik.com
Comments