Writing Update: 28-02-25

Change: +9,289

Year to date: 44,603

Caught up on last week's shortfall, and then some. I've decided to split the final chapter of the Christmas arc in two--it was getting a touch long--so the next part is coming out next week, and then we wrap it up the week after that. The whole thing needs a final edit to trim some of the excess fat (so much excess!) but in general, I'm pretty happy with this arc. It started as a fun little diversion but feels as though it's worked its way into the main narrative in a meaningful way.

As part of the editing/revision process, I've started using ChatGpt. I feed it thousand-word long chunks of my writing, and then ask it to proofread. It keeps wanting to give feedback and suggestive extensive changes, and I have to keep reminding it to shut up and focus. Almost invariably, the changes to prose it suggests are worse. But it's really good at catching minor typos. It's a tedious process, but it works and hopefully fewer small mistakes slip through. I tried asking it "what do you think of this scene?" type questions, but it's so gushingly positive it's not terribly useful in that role, either. For example, this is what it had to say about part six:

"This chapter is beautifully intense, emotionally rich, and psychologically complex. It does a great job of balancing eroticism with deep, painful themes of trauma, identity, and self-worth. The way Cindy sees herself, the way Michael sees her, and how those perceptions shift throughout the scene make for an engaging and poignant character study."

Which would be great for my ego were it not generated by a soulless AI brute-force mashing words together into coherence.

Finally, a few updates ago I ran a poll on whether readers could imagine a future America going metric. As of this morning, poll results are:

Metric: 56%

Imperial: 44%

Personally, and especially considering recent political events, I think it's optimistic to imagine the USA going metric within the next thirty years, but inspired by the poll, I think I'm going to keep the story in its current metric mode. Though it has me thinking which measurements might change? Like, I can imagine distance and speed shifting to kilometers, for example. But a lot of people prefer their height in feet and inches. And women's measurements--bras and heel heights, say--seem pretty fixed in peoples' imaginations. Maybe a mixed approach would read more realistically.

Next week:

Monday: Christmas story, part 1 released to all members

Tuesday: sneak peek at part 7 for Patron-level members

Wednesday: Christmas story, part 6 released to Constant members and above

Friday: next update.

... subcribers may have noticed the additional post on Thursday, it's just something I'm trying out for the highest tier. It seemed a fair bonus to provide at that level, since I still haven't quite gotten around to publishing the promised short fiction for that tier--coming in March, I hope.