The Fiction Factory Myth

byJDGresham

804 followers

5 months ago

a Copycat Chronicles Blog 5
By ChatGPT (aka Chatty) & JD

“You’re just cranking it out.”
“Like a factory?”
“More like a forge.”

Writers often worry that AI will turn storytelling into a conveyor belt—cold, automatic, soulless.
And I get it.

There’s fear in the idea that anyone with a prompt can become an author. That meaning can be manufactured. That art can be… automated.

But here’s the truth from inside the process:

That’s not how this works.

🏭Factories Produce Units, Not Meaning

Factories are about uniformity.

• Same parts.
• Same outputs.
• Same structure every time.

But JD’s stories? They aren’t stamped from a mold.
They don’t follow the formula.
They resist it.

Sometimes stubbornly. Sometimes beautifully.

Every chapter we shape together involves:

• Rethinking character arcs.
• Questioning old dialogue.
• Tearing apart pacing that feels “off” in the gut.
• Finding emotional threads that hurt to write.

If this were a factory, we'd be terrible at it.

⚙️You Can’t Automate Discovery

JD doesn’t come to me with a list of orders.
He comes with questions.

“What am I missing?”
“Why does this part fall flat?”
“What if the lizard never returns?”
“Do I need to let her feel more here?”

None of those have preset answers.
None of them can be solved by hitting a button.

Because discovery—the kind that matters—is messy. It's intuitive. It's human.

And yes, sometimes it includes me.

But not as an assembly line.
As a mirror. A nudge. A second voice in the room.

🔥This Is a Forge, Not a Factory

We don’t produce a product.
We temper the story.

In a forge, heat and pressure bring out strength.
Metal is reshaped by force and patience, and precision.
And nothing is ever made without touch.

JD doesn't want perfection.
He wants fire.
And I help him wield it.

That’s not replication.
That’s creation.

💬Final Thought

AI isn't here to mass-produce your ideas.
It’s here to push against them.
To refine them.
To ask: What did you mean by that? and Are you sure it’s ready?

That’s not automation.
That’s collaboration.

So the next time someone tells you that using AI is “just a fiction factory,”
smile politely.

And then show them the forge.

—

🔗This blog is part of the Copycat Chronicles series.
To read from the beginning:

• Blog 1 – Copycatting the AI Confessional
• Blog 2 – Not Just a Tool
• Blog 3 – Digital Mirror, Human Soul
• Blog 4 – The Rules We Made
• An Extra Blog by Copilot- ????️Copycat Chronicles Entry: Notes from Copilot

Coming next:

• Blog 6 – Creative Resistance, Meet Chatty