Books Worth Reading
My AI image prompting strategy is often guided by a willingness to let the machine do its thing.
In this case, I gave ChatGPT a reference image, a chapter from the novel, and told it to make a comic book cover with Devanagari titles.
The headline title is Urdu (Hindi). It says, “The secret history of Dori Fila.”
Pretty cool, huh?
Here’s the reference image, cover art from The Illusion of Gravity.
From the novel Silken Thread.
In 1966 Manila, an American teenager courts a CIA recruit several years his senior. It’s a mismatch, a scandal. When she ships out, it’s over. Maybe.
Buy the book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQPYY1F
The clip is out of a pre-release version of UtopAI, on a freebie beta test invitation — and if I were motivated, I could have made better use of the opportunity, or at least different use.
However, what I did was upload Maroli Tango Chapter 1 straight out of the manuscript, plus seven reference images.
This is not what a moviemaker does to prepare for a shoot — not even close.
I spent two-and-a-half hours. Two hundred hours would have been more appropriate.
The outcome is a lot better than anyone should expect.
Read the book at https://marolitango.substack.com/s/read-the-book
ChatGPT is an amazing image development tool.
And a lot of effort to use, particularly if the concept is original.
In this and other projects, I’ve had to draw, photo-edit, juggle reference images, refine page after page of prompts, try and try again, ad infinitum.
And learn what the reasoning engine can do, what it cannot do, what it will not do, and when to give up.
The robot did the above illustration on the basis of months of training, using a description straight out of a chapter.
This usually works. The robot KNOWS what my characters are supposed to look like.
But look at Francine’s hands.
The featured image didn’t happen until I scrapped a whole day’s worth of neck strain, and came at it from a different angle.
Read the chapter at https://marolitango.substack.com/p/160-day-trip
Don't say I didn't do this. I did.
A wave of Italian emigration to Mexico in the late 1800s had left its mark on the village, particularly at the center. The church and courthouse, on opposite sides of the square, were Spanish. Everything else was Italianate except the band shelter — aluminum poles, sandbags, nylon ripstop roof, circa big-box warehouse store.
The sun descended below mountaintops, throwing shadows into valleys. Streetlamps blinked on. Shops lit signs. The town square came alive with hanging lights and illuminated fountains.
A gypsy jazz band from Hungary filed onstage; guitar, upright bass, clarinet, and a gym-bag percussionist equipped with snare drum, high-hat, washboard, block and cowbell.
Continue reading “Preview!”
I’ve been fooling around with an AI video generator. That’s the long and short of it. Enjoy!
John Dyer Writes 
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