I’m finally back to developing my next book, The AI Anomaly. Hoorah!
I love the process of growing a story. The AI Anomaly is sprawling a little wildly in my mind and freewriting right now. It’s fun. It also needs a more defined focus.
Picking Up Where The Resurrection Incident Left Off
If you don’t know, The AI Anomaly is the sequel to The Resurrection Incident. In this next storyline, some of the Earthers head back to Earth to assess what is left and how they want to rebuild. One thing they find is an artificial intelligence created by the former generations of Earth humans, but it has had over 300 years to develop itself outside the confines of what humanity had established for it in the past.
I sort of want to just sit quietly somewhere and imagine all the possibilities. But, more than that, I want to get the story out into the world.
My Feelings on AI Villain Tropes (Hot Take Incoming)
I was working out the theme today because, for me, that is foundational to how the story will continue to grow. After my morning freewriting, I see it is shaping up to be something around our creations being extensions of ourselves and also allowing and encouraging independent thinking.
This past weekend, my husband and I watched the movie Atlas. This may be an unpopular stance, but I’m a bit done with storylines about AI only wanting to destroy humans because we are like a virus and are destroying the Earth.
I found the Terminator movies thought-provoking when they came out. I also feel like the fact that we’ve envisioned that possible future through the movie, we learned something. And, in that learning, maybe our relationship with AI has changed in a way that it would not go in that direction.
Building a Better Future (One Word at a Time)
Obviously, I don’t disagree that humans have done not great things to the Earth and we continue to do not great things. I also have an unwavering faith that as we each wake up to our innate potential, that there is no challenge we cannot overcome creatively and we will naturally shift to a more balanced existence.
Looking back, last year was an exploration of newly found freedom. I was in a flow state. I tried a bunch of things. I tested how many spinning plates I could manage at one time. I did a lot. I learned a lot. It was actually pretty awesome because it helped get really clear on what worked and didn’t, what supported my goals and what was a second or third head growing out of my creative body (nothing wrong with that, but it’s not the look I’m going for).
Clarity Over Chaos
I’m not a person that has a problem doing things. I am a person that sometimes has difficulty determining what things I should be doing – the things that would make the most difference. I expanded myself so much over the last year that it only seemed prudent to evaluate it all and make adjustments as appropriate. My past few posts have been about that and I am pleased with the progress.
When I look at all the things I have created this past year, I remember how much fun I had in doing so. However, I can also see that if I had framed a lot of it towards my main life goals, the framework would have been much stronger sooner and I might be further along.
Note to Self: Busy does not necessarily equate to reaching goals.
I’m not beating myself up. Just making an observation so I can be more efficient going forward.
Writing, With Intention
When I’m planning a book, other than the story idea itself, one of the first things I hone in on is the theme. Once I have that established, I use that as a filter for making other story decisions.
As I prepare to work on my next few books, I’m thinking about things differently. I feel like my last three books were rushed along faster than they needed to be. It was almost as if the getting it done was the most important part. I’m proud of what I accomplished, but a bit more planning would have helped me market them better.
Being in an ebb state now and with a clear purpose is showing me where I need to prepare my structures to hold and support/guide me when I’m back into flow and wanting to spill all over everywhere. It’s a balancing act. I find that I have to be cautious to not cut out too much when I’m ebbing because most things can just be tweaked to be aligned with what I want.
A Season of Restructuring
I expect many creatives experience this. I think we have to go through overflow after overflow to learn and grow and decide what really enlivens and inspires us.
I’m restructuring my day and month and year and general project plans in ways that I expect will support me. If a system breaks along the way, I’ll just fix it or replace it with something better.
Going forward, I’m all about my bespoke busy-britches!
