a hot-headed August newsletter
Securing the (Baby Eel) Bag
Every eel report newsletter begins with something about eels because there’s always something about eels, because they’re mysterious and strange. I don’t know if there are any Mainers here, but if there are, what’s going on with the baby eel fishing quotas? Are eels something that everyone in Maine is familiar with?
Did you all know that baby eels aka elvers are a delicacy? I feel like I included tinned baby eels in my holiday round up. But did you know that baby eels are a lucrative fishing export? Baby eels are a more valuable export than scallops or lobster, which I feel like is an important thing to know. A pound of baby eels is worth more than $2,000! That’s wild.
More here from the AP news on the high prices for baby eels, a major export out of Maine. Maybe by my next newsletter, I will find out if Maine fisherman got the approval to up their quotas so that they can harvest more baby eels (and make more money). I’ll keep you posted on any eel conservation efforts and upping eel quotas in Maine like I’m Steve Kornacki in khakis.
For less business-y eel news and some ocean related fun, one of my favorite instagram accounts is @mister_tinu who always has great ocean photography—sometimes there are eel photos!
Also, not about eels, but I read this article about a colossus whale—like the heaviest animal ever, heavier than a blue whale, whale—and you should read it also. It had a teensy tiny head, and a big giant body. It’s wonderful.
Artificial Intelligence Can Eat My Shorts
I’ve been postponing writing this newsletter because well, number one I revised a novel and now I’m jumping into querying that novel, which is my main priority. But also, I’ve had a bunch of book-related topics that I wanted to explore and wasn’t sure what to tackle for this newsletter.
I read this great article in LitHub in support of more weird books for kids, and of course I want to talk about darker and strange books for young readers. They’re some of my favorite books, and I want more of them, and I want to write more of them.
I saw the Barbie movie and I loved the playfulness of the staging and set design and the importance of dolls and playing. I’ve been thinking a lot about how kids are experts at imaginary play, and I want to write about dolls and playing and books for kids that showcase all of that. Thanks, Barbie!
And then, the least fun thing to talk about, artificial intelligence, and what that means for writers and artists and storytellers of all kinds, which is what I want to jump into today while the Hollywood writers strike is just over its 3-month mark where AI is a significant piece of that fight.
I think there’s something to be said for calling AI, artificial intelligence. It’s an artifice. Words have power, and we should remember that. It’s deception. It isn’t genuine and I think that using the abbreviation creates distance from the fact that using artificial intelligence is manipulating other people’s writing, other people’s artwork, other people’s voices and appearances, and it is a deception. For me, the novelty has worn off.
And as we are finding out, it’s often data culled and trained on original work without the permission of the initial creator. It’s theft, beloveds, and if it’s the future, then catch me on my way to Ludditetown.
Hi, yes, welcome to my hill that I am prepared to die on. Yes, I signed the Authors Guild letter about AI and author protections.
If you want, you can skip my artificial intelligence rant for an author interview and cover reveal for my next picture book at the end of this newsletter. A picture book that I wrote, and that so many people worked on to try and make it the best book that we could. I’m serious! The final pass pages for my next picture book have almost 80 comments from nine different editors and contributors—this is all fine-tuning before the book goes to print! All well after the book had been initially drafted, revised, workshopped, critiqued, edited with an agent, and then initial edits and story conversations with my editor when it was acquired and rewrites again after that. And then that process repeated itself with the illustrator who had their own creative process, visual character and story developments, edits, and changes.
Books look like a singular achievement, a singular product, but it takes a village and time (it takes years!) and expertise and so many people working behind the scenes to make them happen.
So, I guess I am inclined to be passionate or upset when there are articles like, make a picture book in 72 hours using AI! No thanks. Absolutely not. That’s not a picture book, that’s theft, and it’s bad.
Have I played with artificial intelligence generators? Have I tested them out? No and I don’t really want to. I’m sure there are a number of ways that I’ve helped train AI with my data that I wasn’t necessarily aware of, and I’m not really interested in doing that on purpose.
All the tech companies embracing artificial intelligence makes me want to crawl into a hole and delete everything that I’ve ever shared online so that I am not feeding artificial intelligence data with any of my writing or narrative voice. I’m not there yet. I’m holding off because I genuinely like social media. I love soccer twitter. I like the eel historian guy. I like this silly newsletter even if it is very randomly sent out. I like my online twitter (RIP) and threads water cooler moments with writer friends, writer friends who I only see once or twice a year irl if I am lucky.
As an author, social media is a way to promote and market books, connect with teachers and librarians, connect with readers and build your book community. It is also, frequently, a double-edged sword. I often think about a comment that I believe Julie Falatko made, like, “do I want to write tweets or do I want to write books? do I want to be good at social media or do I want to be good at writing?” My apologies Julie if I got this wrong! Her newsletter is great, she is rarely online, and is a wonderful role-model and writer.
Would that we all could be Suzanne Collins and write some absolute bangers and then disappear from the digital realm forever. She is living the dream.
I think the pressure for newer authors to be online to grow their audience and have some kind of social media presence to make connections with peers and the book community is a very real pressure. I don’t know if anything authors do actually helps with marketing, but anyway, I’m trying not to turn this into a general discussion about author support and publishing as a business—I only have so many hills to shout from in this newsletter!
Before people log on and play with artificial intelligence there should be some deeper questions and reasons exploring why. I don’t think just because I can is a sufficient answer. Why am I doing this? Who does this harm? Am I exploiting anyone? What’s the meaning? What’s the purpose?
I feel like when I’m writing, or writers in general, we’re all looking for meaning—it doesn’t always have to be serious—but looking at the heart of the subject, the why. Why am I writing this? What does this mean? Why do I feel called to write this story or poem this way? Is this the best way to tell this story? Is this the right word? Is there a better word? What point of view should I use? What narrative devices? What poetic techniques would help? What’s the structure? What’s the setting? What moment am I trying to capture? How do I feel when I write this? How do I want my readers to feel? And before all those questions, the really important ones . . . Who are my readers? Who is this for? Am I the person to tell this story? Is this my story to tell? Am I exploiting anyone?
Writing is a million and one decisions and choices and to pretend otherwise is a scam.
Earlier this summer, I was listening to Laurel Snyder talk about picture book writing, and she said, “there are best practices for good books. There are no best practices for great books.”
There is no data or formula for writing a great book, because great books are built on human ingenuity, creativity, heart, craft, and connection. They often surprise us and make us feel all the things, because those books are teeming with heart and use the tools that writers spend years and decades developing through practice. And then those great books are carefully ushered in with a team of editors and readers that all believe in making the best book possible. There’s no easy button for that.
Whenever I’m workshopping or critiquing stories with other picture book writers, the thing that comes up the most is, what is the heart of the story? In picture books, you have to be concise due to the format and word count constraints. Every line or every choice needs to reinforce the heart of the story, that thing that is what the picture book is about, that one true thing that carries through the whole story, that’s the heart. And that usually takes time and practice to create and discover.
I read that Google was promoting its own artificial intelligence program, (hello, please enjoy this bonus article), and that you could connect their AI with your own google drive documents so that the AI program could learn about your writing to help you revise—what patterns are present, what words, what phrases in your own writing . . . an artificial intelligence in tune with your own quirks and voice! Just what you wanted!
Again, no thank you. Who asked for this?
The reality is that if you’re a writer or you want to write, you need to do that yourself. Having trusted readers and critique partners helps! If it sounds like work, that’s because it is work. But it’s necessary work. It’s good work.
You need to sit with your pages and ask yourself, what phrases do I overuse? What patterns in theme and word choice are present? What’s the summary? What am I exploring? What’s the synopsis? I know writing a synopsis can be painful, but it can also be an excellent writing tool and something that you’ll be asked to write and you should know how to to do it. All those things that the google AI can do, you can do, too, as a critical reader and writer.
Dig through your own writing and reading; critically reading and editing your own writing is part of how you learn. That’s why it’s so important to read and analyze other people’s writing and look at what craft tools they’re using and how they make it work. It’s how you learn to write. Sure, you can ask artificial intelligence to help you with that, but then you haven’t gained any insight through the process. The only way out is through, and that process is how a draft becomes a book, it’s how writing skills develop, and like most good things, it takes time and effort. It’s work.
There’s this great essay in The Sun, called Run Home, by Margot Steines. It’s about running and the author’s relationship with her dad and what running and running marathons means for them both. But there’s this moment where I was like, hmmm, this is also about writing.
Substitute run with write, and you have it. “Why write? The only real answer is: Because you told yourself you would. Because that’s how you learn who you are—by telling yourself things and seeing if you can will them into being true.”
Writing and publishing is a marathon. It’s not easy, people do it because they want to do it, usually because they love it. Or because they love what writing let’s them learn about themselves and what they think. Writing is hard and frequently difficult, but it’s also a joy and a gift to be able to sit down and explore all the things—to perpetually learn about yourself and this world.
Much more eloquent writing on artificial intelligence:
My A.I. Writing Robot by Kyle Chayka in The New Yorker,
AI learned from their work. Now they want compensation by Gerrit De Vynk in The Washington Post
Book Recommendations
Normally, I list all kinds of books from picture books to adult fiction that I’ve been reading and that I recommend, but I’ll do it a little differently this time.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang is my most recent read, and since artificial intelligence is built on theft, lies, and entitlement . . . I highly, highly recommend Kuang’s newest novel which explores all of that (minus the AI) along with privilege, systems of power, and race in this thrilling and messed up satire. R.F. Kuang is brilliant, brilliant.
I thought I’d throw in more book recommendations on artificial intelligence that I want to read, and some books on the craft of writing that I have found helpful.
My kids are all getting old enough where they are very picky about what they read, so here are some titles that my youngest has really enjoyed this summer. The whole Sinister Summer Series is to die for! *ba-dum-tsssshhh*
Author Update and Cover Reveal
The cover for my next picture book is out in the world! I had a lot of fun working with the Tundra team to put together a cover reveal and interview over on their site. Check it out for all the details on wild first draft shenanigans.
And if you don’t want to read the interview . . . drum roll, please . . . here is my next book! It’s illustrated by the amazing Nici Gregory and published by Tundra books. So many people worked on this to try and make it the best book possible, and I’m incredibly proud of it. Also, there might be eels. Or eel-shaped fish, I’m only a fake arm-chair eel expert, which is not an expert at all! It publishes on March 5, 2024, and is available to pre-order wherever books are sold, or you can pre-order a signed copy at my local independent bookstore, BookPeople of Moscow.
Thanks for Being Here on the Internet Together
If you liked reading this, bless you. You can share it with friends and family and whoever you might think wants to read my rant about artificial intelligence or stay up to date on my author news and writing ramblings. It gets ramble-y! and grammatically questionable, which is why editors and copy-editors should never be replaced with robots or artificial intelligence. I’ll have more news and events coming up in the Fall! Cheers, book friends.