TL:DR – I asked ChatGPT, the language model, to critique and edit one of my short stories with some success.
A couple of years ago I wrote a little clutch of gothic short stories. I published them on Sciencebase. Some of them were read by reasonable numbers of visitors to the site. But, it occurred to me this morning that the AI language model, ChatGPT, might be able to offer me some insights into my creative writing and whether or not the short stories might be worth more effort on my part to see whether I could get them published commercially.
As such, I offered up one of the short stories (Off-roading) with the following prompt to the bot:
“You are to act as an expert literary editor compiling a book of short stories with a gothic twist. You should analyse the story presented to you for literary style, reading level, narrative and nuance and them make a decision, which you will explain, as to whether or not the short story should be included in the book.”
This is what ChatGPT had to say about the short story:
This short story by David Bradley is an evocative narrative about a road trip, described with vivid and sensory language. The writing style is engaging and leans towards a more informal, conversational tone. The story has a melancholic, existential undercurrent and is punctuated with moments of wonder and humor.
The narrative structure of the story is chronological, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The setting and scenery are well described, giving the reader a strong sense of place. The protagonist’s experiences and emotions are central to the story and are described in a manner that is relatable and engaging.
While the story is not gothic in the traditional sense, its themes of existentialism and the transitory nature of life can be seen as having a gothic nuance. The final scene of the story, with the car’s deviation into boulders, can be seen as a symbol for the unpredictability of life and the uncertain future.
In conclusion, the short story “Off-roading” by David Bradley would be a suitable inclusion in a book of short stories with a gothic twist. The writing style is accessible, the narrative is well crafted, and the themes explored are both evocative and thought-provoking.
I then prompted the bot to suggests edits to tighten the text but the majority of its suggestions simply removed any of the poetry in the writing. I changed the prompt to make it act as an editor with a more poetic inclination. It still didn’t work. However, I can see in my own re-reading of the story that some of the sentences could be broken down a little and a few typos corrected. So, I’ll do those manually before I think about submitting to a real literary editor…
Meanwhile, the image above was generated by Mid Journey with the following prompt aimed at creating an illustration for my short story
A slightly battered mid-price car, careering off a dirt track at night into a boulder-strewn field lined with trees somewhere in the American mid-west. Detailed sketch in the style of 1950s Americana magazines.