Find the book here, free, on Substack.
254 chapters.
101,573 words.
617 pages, with illustrations.
3 1/2 years in the making.
The manuscript will continue to be a work-in-progress until publication on KDP.
Comments invited.
I Posted the Last Chapter
Chapter 250.5 ~ By ChatGPT
The machine intelligence misunderstood an instruction to create a chapter illustration, and wrote a chapter sequel.
See the inspiration here.
250.5 ~ Go Getters (continued)
The cook-off was staged beneath striped awnings on the promenade, between the pub and the lake, where Ruksa Zila’s resident ducks had to be shooed away from the prep tables by a pair of size-one maroli wielding little orange flags.
Berlina Lopez arrived in an apron that read KISS THE COOK OR STAND BACK, and the Minister of Interplanetary Affairs — Chef Balin Droma of Eeka Prime, a broad-shouldered Fila with a waxed crest and the confidence of a man who had once flambéed a six-kilo river eel on live television — stepped off his yacht carrying a lacquered spice chest handcuffed to his wrist.
Brandon saw this and muttered, “That can’t be a good sign.”
“It’s television,” said Dori Fila, not looking up from her monitor wall. “Everything is a good sign.”
Continue reading “Chapter 250.5 ~ By ChatGPT”ChatGPT Reads Screenplays!
I would have said, “Sure, it does”, if I had thought about it, but I didn’t until this morning.
The robot’s analysis of my Silken Thread screenplay is 14,343 words.
Deliverables included a scene-by-scene comparison with the novel, an adaptation map, and a beat-sheet.
In its opening comments, the machine said —
I would edit it for marketability, but not because the script lacks value. It already has a distinctive mix of period romance, espionage texture, and later action-thriller escalation. What it most needs is sharper packaging: a clearer promise of genre, faster escalation, and a more focused spine.
What’s already helping you:
The central hook is strong: an intense romance between Barb, 28, and David, 18, beginning in 1967 Manila, with Mandarin/CIA intrigue in the background. That is unusual and memorable. The reunion section in 1969 Texas/Houston also has real movie energy, especially once David’s parallel lives start stacking up: CIA analyst, BLM ranger, student, equipment operator.
You also write vivid set pieces. The Houston reunion works, the sinkhole/stabbing sequence is cinematic, and the Singapore home-invasion material feels like a different, larger movie arriving late in the script.
Umpteen pages later, we had a plan
Working outline for revised screenplay
1. INT. SKY RESTAURANT, HOTEL NEW OTANI, TOKYO – NIGHT
Objective: Establish that David already has a plausible, prestigious future in Asia before Barb enters his life.
David dines with Ward Aarens and Wu Qiang; Qiang offers him a future in business if he learns Mandarin and becomes useful in the right way.
Keep short: one table exchange, one clear offer, one strong visual of young David looking out over Tokyo.
2. EXT. TOKYO STREET – NIGHT
Objective: Introduce the film’s core thematic conflict: a life of strategic advantage versus a life of love.
Ward walks David through the rain and explains that the kind of life Qiang offers may come with a wife chosen for business and desire displaced elsewhere.
Do you have a screenplay languishing in a file folder? You should try this.
John Dyer Writes 
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