Reposted by Megan Bessel
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
February 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
After far too long, I have a new blog post up, discussing how to format dialogue. Hopefully this is helpful for people, and double-hopefully I didn't make any mistakes in it!
www.meganbessel.com/2025/02/01/h...
www.meganbessel.com/2025/02/01/h...
How to Format Dialogue
As a writer, I spend time in writing communities with people of varying levels of experience with the craft. Across those communities, one of the most common mistakes I see people make is not formatti...
www.meganbessel.com
February 2, 2025 at 1:46 AM
After far too long, I have a new blog post up, discussing how to format dialogue. Hopefully this is helpful for people, and double-hopefully I didn't make any mistakes in it!
www.meganbessel.com/2025/02/01/h...
www.meganbessel.com/2025/02/01/h...
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Why do people who seem otherwise intelligent and competent keep suggesting GenerativeAI as a solution to problems that require accurate information when the one thing it can’t deliver is…accurate information?
January 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Why do people who seem otherwise intelligent and competent keep suggesting GenerativeAI as a solution to problems that require accurate information when the one thing it can’t deliver is…accurate information?
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Let it buy the works that it reads--the writers who have written works influenced by my work have done that. Or let it pay taxes and get a library card.
But there's not even a whisper about that! Just "you should feed all your work into this for free because PROGRESS"
But there's not even a whisper about that! Just "you should feed all your work into this for free because PROGRESS"
December 27, 2024 at 4:46 PM
Let it buy the works that it reads--the writers who have written works influenced by my work have done that. Or let it pay taxes and get a library card.
But there's not even a whisper about that! Just "you should feed all your work into this for free because PROGRESS"
But there's not even a whisper about that! Just "you should feed all your work into this for free because PROGRESS"
Not even for legal reasons, but I’ve found keeping separate “personae” for work, personal, and writing to have been super helpful in life. And my policy of different user names everywhere has helped me shake off more than one creep at this point.
Keep it separate, IMO.
Keep it separate, IMO.
Don't cross the streams.
Don't cross the streams if you're a government employee subject to FOIA.
Don't cross the streams if you work in the private sector and your diary might get caught up in litigation that has fuck-all to do with you.
Protect your work/life balance and your privacy.
Don't cross the streams if you're a government employee subject to FOIA.
Don't cross the streams if you work in the private sector and your diary might get caught up in litigation that has fuck-all to do with you.
Protect your work/life balance and your privacy.
December 30, 2024 at 4:58 AM
Not even for legal reasons, but I’ve found keeping separate “personae” for work, personal, and writing to have been super helpful in life. And my policy of different user names everywhere has helped me shake off more than one creep at this point.
Keep it separate, IMO.
Keep it separate, IMO.
I personally have been using bookshop.org which claims to give money to local bookstores (I picked one by me!) since I still prefer to do shopping online for time-management reasons
December 4, 2024 at 6:41 PM
I personally have been using bookshop.org which claims to give money to local bookstores (I picked one by me!) since I still prefer to do shopping online for time-management reasons
Reposted by Megan Bessel
A poem for my last day working at the writing center for the semester (by Joseph Fasano)
November 23, 2024 at 2:09 AM
A poem for my last day working at the writing center for the semester (by Joseph Fasano)
Reposted by Megan Bessel
The secret is that other writers aren't competition; they're peers, colleagues and friends. Someone who reads me is going to read other writers as well; the entire publishing economy is "yes, and." Therefore it does me no harm, and much good, to support other writers and to wish them well.
And Heinlein would have approved! Terry Pratchett said, "Most SF writers were once fans. There's a habit they have, not of paying back, but of paying forward; I know of no other branch of literature where the established "names" so keenly encourage wannabe writers to become their future competitors
November 19, 2024 at 7:24 PM
The secret is that other writers aren't competition; they're peers, colleagues and friends. Someone who reads me is going to read other writers as well; the entire publishing economy is "yes, and." Therefore it does me no harm, and much good, to support other writers and to wish them well.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Non-artists: please gently let your well-intentioned niche blogger friends know that generating an AI illustration for their posts is not a harmless novelty. There are so many sources for free, eye-pleasing, not-environmentally-rapacious images. Creative Commons licenses, public domain art history.
October 8, 2024 at 5:40 PM
Non-artists: please gently let your well-intentioned niche blogger friends know that generating an AI illustration for their posts is not a harmless novelty. There are so many sources for free, eye-pleasing, not-environmentally-rapacious images. Creative Commons licenses, public domain art history.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Saw someone describe AI art as pollution and that...is so accurate it's going to sit with me for a while.
October 7, 2024 at 11:27 AM
Saw someone describe AI art as pollution and that...is so accurate it's going to sit with me for a while.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
We have lots of stories that end with the triumph of tearing down the empire, and not a whole lot about rebuilding something better afterward.
I'm realizing one of the central narratives of the Arthurian cycle is that when the kingdom starts to decay the heroes start to ride out on a quest to find the magic thingie that will fix all their problems instead of staying home and doing the work, and that's infected a lot of fantasy fiction
September 4, 2024 at 3:09 AM
We have lots of stories that end with the triumph of tearing down the empire, and not a whole lot about rebuilding something better afterward.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
NaNoWriMo proudly undermining the one core principle that NaNo absolutely got right: you have to write lots and lots and lots of junk to gain the skills to be a novelist. Telling a robot to do it for you means your skill level will stay at zero forever. There is no shortcut for anyone.
September 2, 2024 at 3:53 PM
NaNoWriMo proudly undermining the one core principle that NaNo absolutely got right: you have to write lots and lots and lots of junk to gain the skills to be a novelist. Telling a robot to do it for you means your skill level will stay at zero forever. There is no shortcut for anyone.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
we fucked up as a society by deciding that the arts and math/science are opposite and adversarial things. if i told you how much everything is part of everything else you'd throw up
September 3, 2024 at 12:25 PM
we fucked up as a society by deciding that the arts and math/science are opposite and adversarial things. if i told you how much everything is part of everything else you'd throw up
Looking forward to when they replace athletes with robots. After all, we watch basketball to see the ball go through the hoop, right? Robots can do that so much more efficiently than humans! Sports will get much more exciting with robots!
(This is a post about using Generative “AI” to create “art”)
(This is a post about using Generative “AI” to create “art”)
September 3, 2024 at 3:47 AM
Looking forward to when they replace athletes with robots. After all, we watch basketball to see the ball go through the hoop, right? Robots can do that so much more efficiently than humans! Sports will get much more exciting with robots!
(This is a post about using Generative “AI” to create “art”)
(This is a post about using Generative “AI” to create “art”)
Reposted by Megan Bessel
This thread is great and you should read it
Hi everyone let's talk about the Carlisle 52 series of cups, in particular the Carlisle 5216, a topic about which I am extremely normal. In my estimation, a triumph of thoughtful industrial design and is probably my favorite ever mass produced object. 🧵
oh also i stole this from the brewery where we had lunch earlier
August 30, 2024 at 1:30 PM
This thread is great and you should read it
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Exactly 😂.
We've also forgotten that the purpose of writing isn't just to have a final piece expressing an idea. Writing is actually part of formulating an idea in the first place.
The way we really learn how we think about something is figuring out how to express it.
We've also forgotten that the purpose of writing isn't just to have a final piece expressing an idea. Writing is actually part of formulating an idea in the first place.
The way we really learn how we think about something is figuring out how to express it.
So much of writing well involves the deletion of poor writing—that’s the hardest thing of all IMHO. AI can’t do that.
August 29, 2024 at 10:54 AM
Exactly 😂.
We've also forgotten that the purpose of writing isn't just to have a final piece expressing an idea. Writing is actually part of formulating an idea in the first place.
The way we really learn how we think about something is figuring out how to express it.
We've also forgotten that the purpose of writing isn't just to have a final piece expressing an idea. Writing is actually part of formulating an idea in the first place.
The way we really learn how we think about something is figuring out how to express it.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
My opinion about worldbuilding is that i love worldbuilding in a totally dorkish way & enjoy writing/talking about my particular (not universal) theories & practices of worldbuilding which, if helpful to others, is cool, & if not, totally great! Go with your own vibe! That's the whole point of art.
August 25, 2024 at 10:22 AM
My opinion about worldbuilding is that i love worldbuilding in a totally dorkish way & enjoy writing/talking about my particular (not universal) theories & practices of worldbuilding which, if helpful to others, is cool, & if not, totally great! Go with your own vibe! That's the whole point of art.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
My opinion on worldbuilding its that every sentence you write reveals something about the infrastructure of the world you are writing in.
Whether the logic of the world is a mythic, dreamlike one or you have flow charts of trade routes is an aesthetic difference.
Whether the logic of the world is a mythic, dreamlike one or you have flow charts of trade routes is an aesthetic difference.
August 25, 2024 at 11:25 AM
My opinion on worldbuilding its that every sentence you write reveals something about the infrastructure of the world you are writing in.
Whether the logic of the world is a mythic, dreamlike one or you have flow charts of trade routes is an aesthetic difference.
Whether the logic of the world is a mythic, dreamlike one or you have flow charts of trade routes is an aesthetic difference.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
p.s. use more adverbs.
August 16, 2024 at 11:40 AM
p.s. use more adverbs.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
The opposite of a meat lover's pizza is a veggie hater's pizza, which is weirdly THE SAME THING
August 3, 2024 at 2:37 AM
The opposite of a meat lover's pizza is a veggie hater's pizza, which is weirdly THE SAME THING
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Every AI shill talking about “I want to democratize art” is here extracting from artists instead of investing in artists which kinda makes me think they don’t care about art
August 2, 2024 at 10:33 AM
Every AI shill talking about “I want to democratize art” is here extracting from artists instead of investing in artists which kinda makes me think they don’t care about art
Reposted by Megan Bessel
The only thing gatekeeping someone from pursuing art is an unwillingness to be bad when they start.
They see artists they love and want to skip all the hard work it took to get there.
They see artists they love and want to skip all the hard work it took to get there.
August 2, 2024 at 2:06 PM
The only thing gatekeeping someone from pursuing art is an unwillingness to be bad when they start.
They see artists they love and want to skip all the hard work it took to get there.
They see artists they love and want to skip all the hard work it took to get there.
Reposted by Megan Bessel
Art
Isn’t
Supposed
To
Be
Universally
Palatable
Isn’t
Supposed
To
Be
Universally
Palatable
July 28, 2024 at 5:10 PM
Art
Isn’t
Supposed
To
Be
Universally
Palatable
Isn’t
Supposed
To
Be
Universally
Palatable