Complex Numbers

Artificial Creativity

You will be replaced by a machine.

Yes, you. Well, unless you retire or croak before the machine gets a chance. Many replacements have already happened (assembly line workers, cashiers), and many more are on the way (see: autonomous vehicles).

But maybe you never considered that a computer could write better than you can. Not yet, but they're working on it.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-six-main-arcs-in-storytelling-as-identifi...

Until that happens, there are some pretty good takeaways in the above link for us soon-to-be obsolete human writers:

A story's emotional arc can be used to assist in plotting the narrative. The article identifies several of these arcs, and hints at the idea of nesting them within a longer story. We can use this consciously, whereas I think a lot of writers do it unconsciously.

Be aware of which words people find to be "happy" or "unhappy," which may not correspond to your own opinion. For example, "laughter" is in the list of happy words, but because of unresolved issues from childhood, it's doesn't register that way for me.

Have a look at the "Rags to Riches" archetype graph. It's maybe 2/3 down the page. Well, I was expecting a kind of ascending line; I mean, that's the implication, right? You're poor, which sucks; good shit happens, and then you're rich, which is awesome. But no, instead we have something resembling a partial sine curve, right? Curves down, bottoms out near the beginning, rises more or less smoothly to a peak... but the peak is not at the end; there's a downturn right before the end. It's implying that a rags-to-riches story can't just stop at the high point; there has to be, perhaps, some acknowledgement that everything's not as awesome as we'd hope. I mean, that drop-off at the end is pretty sharp.

Going back to near the beginning of the article, yeah, I'm gonna part with ol' Kurt on his opinion of the similarity between the Cinderella narrative and the Bible. I mean, I think he's right about the Cinderella plot shape, that works, but to apply that to the Bible you pretty much have three chapters of Genesis, then you fall into a great big hole, and then you don't climb back out until you get to the New Testament. It ignores the shapes of all the stories in between, such as the whole "escape from Egypt" and "Joshua kills half the Canaanites and enslaves the rest" bits. Besides, the Fall was the best thing that ever happened to us. Or, you know, it would be if I took the story seriously.

I want to see this work replicated independently. I'm not sure there wasn't some kind of selection or other bias.

Anyway, thought I'd link something that's actually about writing, for once. Not that it'll do me any good. I'm still too lazy to work on my own stories. At least I can get these entries done.