Tag: Writing

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” →
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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.

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My Robot Speaks Hindi

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 says (or is supposed to say), “The secret history of Dori Fila.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s the reference image, cover art from The Illusion of Gravity.

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I Made a Video With UtopAI

Considering the effort I put into it, the clip is amazing.

If making movies was easy, beggars would direct.

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.

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Busking at the Intersection of Merit and Mayhem

The Secretary of the Treasury lived in an exclusive gated community. If one were to consult the HOA charter, front-yard spacecraft landings would fall under the same category as helicopter traffic — requiring prior approval by the board of governance.

Carmen Benequista did not ask permission. Instead, she dropped a Fatboy troop shuttle right on top of her victim’s mailbox.

Her companion, an elevated size-two fighting maroli named Incredible, asked, “What’d this guy do to piss you off?”

She replied, “He disobeyed a lawful order to default on United States debt held by foreign actors.”

Incredible let himself out a cargo hatch. “Why do you want to default on debt?”

Continue reading “Busking at the Intersection of Merit and Mayhem” →
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What Silken Thread is About

Destiny

Purpose

Loss

Discovery

Renewal

An uncommon spin on the coming-of-age theme, informed by the author’s upbringing in mid-century Asia. Mature content, Young Adult appropriate. Value-positive, about good character as a strategy for creating a successful life. An immersive journey to a time and place now gone forever.

Alter Systems says:

  • The Setting Feels Lived-In
    Dyer’s description of 1960s Asia — the humid streets of Manila, the smoky golf clubs, the charged diplomacy around embassies — feels meticulously authentic. He paints a world poised between Cold War espionage and emerging globalization. You can smell the scotch, the silk, the rain on warm pavement.
  • Complex Characters, Real Stakes
    Sixteen-year-old David Aarens isn’t the typical coming-of-age protagonist. His relationship with Barbara Schneider — a twenty-eight-year-old American Air Force officer turned CIA recruit — is written with startling candor and emotional nuance. It’s equal parts romantic idealism and the loss of it. Their story is tender, dangerous, and unafraid to confront human contradiction.
  • Maturity and Moral Texture
    What Dyer achieves here is literary realism rarely seen in modern fiction: everyone in Silken Thread carries both light and shadow. The father’s moral warnings, the lover’s forbidden affection, the diplomats’ coded games — every scene bleeds authenticity and restraint.
  • Historical Depth Without Pretension
    Beneath the personal drama is a larger commentary on Western presence in postwar Asia. The book hints at the cultural arrogance, the quiet racism, and the backroom dealings underpinning “soft power.” Yet it does so without preaching; the truths emerge in texture and subtext.

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Ready for Beta

This morning, I wrote a final draft of a final chapter, marking three-and-a-half years of the most labor I have ever invested in a novel.

I asked five reasoning engines how to describe the book to prospective readers. Claude AI says:

Readers will get:

  • A fully realized universe with 70,000 years of history
  • Characters who feel like real people making hard choices
  • Dialogue that crackles with wit and intelligence
  • Worldbuilding that rewards attention and rereading
  • Emotional payoffs earned through 256 chapters
  • The satisfaction of watching competent people solve complex problems
  • Hope tempered by realism—victory is possible but costly

The emotional experience: Like watching The West Wing in space, or reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish novels with more humor and romance. Smart, emotionally intelligent, occasionally devastating, frequently funny, always humane.

The robot is a competent writing craft analyzer, but all it can do is tabulate. Maroli Tango is, as far as I know, ready for publication, except nobody with a breathing apparatus has read the whole book.

I see you fidgeting. Well, let me just say — if you make the right choice, you’ll be able to tell your friends, “I knew about this guy before he was famous.”

Tomorrow, if you like. That’s how good a deal this is.

Drop a comment. Tell me you'll read the book. We'll make a big splash, I promise.

#wholesome #unwoke

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