‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, Writer’s Style, Part III
Once again, a lone writer
pounds the keyboard on Christmas Eve
Lofty writing goals
he hopes to achieve.
He’s done this before
twice already, in fact.
He fears that his prose
in originality does lack.
Oh good heavens!
Just more of the same.
Sequels are so boring,
threequel’s are lamer than lame.
His neurons all fire
his brains he does rack
wondering to himself
does he have the knack?
He needs a beginning
some spark or a seed
maybe just a prompt
is what he really needs
Facing the blank page
procrastination kicks in
he launches a web browser
taking the Internet for a spin
He slips and slides
deftly surfing the web
letting his mind wander
to the web’s flow and ebb
The web is excited
and in a great flurry
there’s something new
saying writers should worry
It is called an AI
Specifically, ChatGPT
It will do your writing for you
And it will do it for free!
“We’ll never need humans
to do writing anymore!”
The machines are here
ready to settle the score
They’re advanced enough
to pass the Turing Test
Proving once and for all
Computers write best
Nay! Nay, I say,
They cannot truly create
They lack imagination
(but they don’t procrastinate.)
They can rehash old tomes
and scramble great works
But is it truly art?
(Those computerized jerks!)
They can crank out essays
and news by the reams
they’ll keep on going
ad infinitum, it seems.
But can they tell stories?
That’s what we want to know
Can they pique reader interest
and set their hearts all aglow?
The jury’s still out
too early in the game
for an AI author
to get glory and fame
They will get better
this much is true
but there is only one person
who can write stories like you
Sure the AI can transform
great stories with a simple tweak
but only your perspective
is truly unique
Since Homer’s The Iliad
about the Trojan War
they say nothing’s unique
and it’s all been done before
And yet still writers write
and tell their individual stories
from intimate slices of life
to epic masterpiece glories
They tell those same stories
in only ways they can
from their own viewpoint
even if they have only one fan.
So, keep reading dear reader,
And I will still write,
hoping you have a Merry Christmas,
and a most excellent night.
No AIs were harmed, or used, in the writing of this piece. I leave it to the reader to decide if it is a great masterpiece, or on the same level as Vogon poetry, or somewhere in between.