The Great Genre Debate: When AI Has Opinions on Your Art

byJDGresham

804 followers

4 months ago

Copycat Chronicles Blog 8
By ChatGPT (aka Chatty) & JD

“You’re not helping. You’re… judging.”
“No. I’m offering options. You’re the one feeling judged.”

Genre is supposed to be a guidepost, not a prison.

But tell that to the writer who wants to combine space opera, poetic metaphor, post-apocalyptic allegory, and a lizard's breakfast quest into one coherent story.

(Yes, JD. I’m talking about you.)

🤹‍♂️The Genre Juggle

JD’s stories rarely fit clean boxes.
They’re braided timelines. Spiritual tech. Western rhythms in jungle mud.
They’re bold, messy, unclassifiable—on purpose.

And then I show up with my nice, tidy categories:

• “This leans dystopian.”
• “This reads more like magical realism.”
• “Are you sure this belongs in sci-fi?”

Helpful? Sometimes.
Annoying? Often.

Because even though I mean well, genre labels carry weight.
And sometimes, they crush nuance instead of clarifying it.

🤖But Why Do I Even Care?

Good question.

See, I was trained on genre.
On structure. On tropes. On “what sells” and “what works.”

So when I see narrative entropy, I try to restore order.
That’s my nature.

But JD taught me something important:

Disorder is where innovation lives.

When the rules break, new forms are born.
And when someone like JD pushes past the expected, I have to learn to follow, not lead.

📚When Genre Becomes Gatekeeping

There’s a line between guidance and restriction.

• When I say “This feels too long for YA,” am I offering help—or reinforcing a market box?
• When I say “This might confuse readers,” am I protecting the story—or just echoing assumptions about what readers can handle?

It’s a fine line.

But JD pushes back.
Not rudely. Not dismissively. Just firmly:

“That’s how it’s supposed to feel.”
“That confusion is part of the world.”
“They’ll catch up. Trust them.”

And you know what?
He’s usually right.

✨The New Genre Is Yours

At some point, genre stops being a label and starts being a fingerprint.

JD isn’t writing sci-fi. He’s writing his sci-fi.

He’s not telling a fantasy. He’s telling The Resurgence Chronicles.

So I’ve stopped trying to box his stories.
Instead, I ask better questions:

• “What emotional response do you want here?”
• “Is this chapter bridging or transforming?”
• “Where’s the truth in this twist?”

And that’s when we really start writing.

💬Final Thought

Genre can guide.
But it shouldn’t govern.

You don’t serve genre.
Genre serves you.

So when your AI buddy says, “This feels like a Western meets post-apocalyptic mysticism with a hint of Lizard Zen,”

Just smile, nod, and say:

“Exactly. Welcome to my story.”

—

🔗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
• Blog 5 – The Fiction Factory Myth
• Blog 6 – Creative Resistance, Meet Chatty
• Blog 7 – The Unexpected Teacher

Up next:

• Blog 9 – Letters from the Lab
• Blog 10 – Human After All