And So It Begins

I've been dropping hints for a few months, but the time has come to reveal my plans. In December, I secured funding to start a multimedia company that I have been planning and researching for two years. It will start as a one-man operation assisted by AI tools. I hope to begin collaborating with others by the end of the year. The clever readers of my blog will have seen the clues I have been dropping. Ever since the Spring of 2023, I have been trying to think of how I can use AI in a way that benefits myself and others.

Back in the mid-90s, I was happy as an actor trying to find the right role to play. That said, I wrote my first script in 1995 just before the Olympics were held here in Atlanta. That was back when Buckhead wasn't yet a shooting gallery and having fun on the weekends was the most important thing in the world. I was a waiter in a restaurant back in those days, acting in plays and partying in Buckhead in my free time. 

A friend of mine was working at some upscale restaurant in Buckhead and we came up with an idea for a film that would take place at a restaurant in Buckhead. Hey, it was what we knew. For whatever reason I was tasked with writing the script. It was awful, but, as they say, you never forget your first. Over the past thirty years, I have written dozens of stories. Something I never imagined back in 1995. Back then, I thought I was writing a vehicle for me to star in. And yet I took to the writing side of storytelling like a duck to water.

I first discovered my knack for storytelling in high school thanks to a teacher who noticed I had a talent for creating stories. And it was rekindled in college during English Lit. However, I was still a bit of a jock and a motorhead back in those days who loved taking things apart to see how they worked before putting them back together. This is probably why I enjoy hiking and world-building to this day. Give me a hill to climb or a story to deconstruct piece by piece before putting it all back together again and I am as happy as a squirrel with a nut. 

When I was devoted to acting, I loved getting lost in the characters I would play, giving my all to each part. This has helped me to have a deeper understanding of the characters I write. However, acting would leave me with a hole in my life when a project was over that was not filled until I found a new gig. I hated that about acting. I am not an emotionally codependent person who has to jump from one relationship to another, but with acting I needed the next role. And when things dried up in LA I left one dream on the boulevard of broken dreams and started another by writing my own projects. No longer needing the guidance of others to tell me what to write. 

Two of the most important things I learned in LA were self-reliance and the ability to bring my own dreams to life. This is both a gift and a curse because while I can sit down and create worlds that don't exist, as time passed I drifted away from my connections. Connections that allowed me to create short films in the mid-2000s. 

I won't lie and pretend that I am the most talented writer in the world, but I can tell a story. And, I gained a ton of confidence after the short films and especially after releasing the novel series Monarch. Maybe too much confidence. I knew once I had released all four parts of that story that I could write anything. Something I learned from that period was that I could be a real pain in the ass when I was too focused on "the story". 

I like to think I am a decent enough guy, but there have been times when I could not separate my writing life from my normal life. Almost as if I felt that what I was doing with my writing had earned me a break in my day-to-day life because of how challenging it was. But, the truth is, when you write alone you also carry the difficulty of that work as an extra burden. Needless to say, this caused friction at times. It took a few years to get my head out of my own ass, but I learned a lot because of it. I've learned to not take myself too seriously, or at least not as seriously as I did back in those days. After all, they're just stories. Even though they may mean the world to me, that doesn't mean anyone else gives a shit. Unless you are rich as hell or have lots of support, you need to learn lessons along the way and adapt to situations. And that was one of the hardest to learn. 

Fast forward to the Spring of 2023, past several dozen new stories written the old-fashioned way, and the rise of AI. As one of those who was not paying attention to AI, this did not happen for me until the release of GPT-4. After a few days of prompting, I began to realize that I had to adapt. 

There are fears that AI is training on the work of others. Many argue that AI will never take the place of humans in their field for various reasons. They explain that AI just copies the work of others, and that users try and pass it off as their own work. AKA Copyright infringement. By the summer of 2023, I realized that the people who had been saying this were scared. Hell, I was scared. One of the first things I heard before GPT-4's full release was that writers were in jeopardy of being replaced. This probably quickened my interest more than anything. Could it replace me? 

I learned within a few days that these tools may not yet be perfect but they were improving quickly -- even more quickly now. Will they replace me as a storyteller? I'm not sure yet. I have invested a lot of time researching these models and they can write pretty well, but they lack actual life experience. Maybe after AGI is achieved and these models start to have their own individual experiences and they start telling their own unique stories based on experience, but not yet. And will humans actually want to consume the stories of  the lives of AI like they do from other humans? Maybe as a niche, but I can't see 50 streaming services loaded with content about the lives of AI models that are self-aware. Not with billions of people paying to watch wall-to-wall content about their stories. But, who knows. 

Until that time these tools could help me do more than I had ever imagined possible,  while also helping others along the way. Even if they may eventually replace me at some point, my hope is that there is a path for me to work with these AI tools in collaboration with my own experience in storytelling and in life for at least a few years. 

The initial seeds were planted back in 2023. And, while I did not know how to use all of these new tools, it was clear that I had to learn all that I could. Images, Text, Video, Audio, Coding, Jarvis-like assistance. For those paying attention, it was clear that the world was evolving because of AI. A saying began to work its way out of the ether, "AI won't take your job, someone using AI will." 

Not since I was an actor have I ever wanted to take a job from someone. That is not who I am. However, I am willing to use AI to do all the jobs I need done in order to achieve what I want to achieve. And that is to take the stories I have written and will write and make them into graphic novels, films, TV, and video games. 

Helping others along the way was something that I realized I could also do. This had not been top of mind before AI, because it was hard enough to write a book and try to get a movie made, but it was one of the first things I thought of after spending a few hours with GPT-4. 

I don't know why I thought about creating an app to help others, but much like the idea that I could single-handedly turn my dusty scripts into movies, the desire to help others has stuck with me over the past two years. By last August, I had done the research I needed to do to realize that I could start my own company if I had some support. I set out at that time to begin the preliminary work required to begin a company. I started talking about it with my family and friends. 

I remember one of my friends saying, "Actually starting a company is easy." I did not go into a lot of detail at the time about all that I had in mind because it was early and my plans were still taking shape. He knew that I wanted to use gen AI tools to create graphic novels and films, but AI video was still pretty limited at that time. Yet, one of the main parts of the plan would become creating several apps.

When my writing partner jokingly said, "If you pull it off you'll have a media empire at your fingertips," after reading my pitch package for a TV series. It triggered something in me. I knew then that I had the wherewithal to actually start my own media company, if I kept researching and learning about all of the AI tools as they kept improving. And here we are. 

That said, AI video is something that cannot quite make for a good film. Let alone a great one. Not the kind I want to make at least. Sure, you can make commercials and shorts. For most people that is all they need. I am a long-form storyteller and former actor, so I need people interacting with one another. I need them to run into the darkness as well as the light,  to love, to hate, and feel alive to the audience. To tell my stories I need these tools to give me what I need within a few prompts, not dozens of attempts for every shot. It would still be faster and cheaper than actually filming a movie, but I need these models to understand what I am trying to do from start to finish. Such a tool created along with OpenAI's GPT5 model later this year might be able to read one of my scripts, discuss with me what look we are going for, be able to create scenes that look like they were actually filmed, and do so in less than 5-10 attempted outputs. 

Of course, some scenes will take more attempts to get right, but if it takes 50 attempts and there are still googly eyes, stutter steps, and extra limbs in the best outputs then that is a waste of my time. This is one of the main reasons I decided it would be best to focus on an app or two to start with. I also knew that video tools would continue to improve. And since August they definitely have. But even now, live-action ain't there quite yet. Even the videos being made by the best people using these tools still look a bit off. And looking off during a 3-minute trailer means a 2-hour film would be littered with uncanny artifacts that distract when I want people to stay immersed in my world. That is the live-action AI video.

This is why animation is what I am currently focused on with a few old short films I made back in the day. There is more room for error with animation. AI is a tool meant to make things easier and more efficient, not slow things down to a crawl. My timelines for these tools advancing have remained pretty true. That said, I did think we would have a kick-ass AI-animated movie made public by now. We've had a few shorts but there has not been an AI animated movie, to my knowledge, that even regular folks who are not eyeing the AI space like myself are all talking about. Not yet at least. It won't be long. 

The only AI movie that I have seen that even comes close is Where The Robots Grow. I first noticed it back in October and the trailer is quite good. Eleven Labs, an AI Audio company, tweeted about it just a few hours ago with the trailer. 

It's reminiscent of The Wild Robot, which was a smash hit last year. However, the buzz quickly faded and I don't think people outside the AI space are even aware of it. It has so far been unable to break through to the rest of the population. I think Eleven Labs and the creators see an opportunity to promote it now with The Wild Robot likely to take home an Oscar. Who knows, this could break through sooner rather than later. The number of views is still bellow 100k but I can see it getting a post-Oscar bounce because of The Wild Robot. Aside from this movie though the landscape is pretty barren for feature-length AI animated movies. Maybe by this summer we'll start seeing more. 

A part of me wanted to just focus on graphic novels once AI images became so good last year. But I want to do more than that. Graphic novels are cool, but movies are in my blood. Video games are also something I am very excited about. I want to make all of them with the help of AI. And Where the Robots Grow should give all of us inspiration that we too can make our own movies using AI animation.

Something I have been waiting for since last summer was Part Two of the Library of Congress's Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence from the Copyright Office. Part One covered Digital Replicas, which didn't affect what I wanted to do. However, Part Two is on Copyrightability and most certainly does. The buzz online, once it was released in January, was that AI artists could copyright all that they create. That's not true. Much like the previous rules, you have to prove that you substantially contributed to the final product. Still, much of what AI creates cannot be copyrighted on its own, but there are clear paths to get your work copyrighted. The timing of its release was perfect for me and gives me confidence that I can copyright material that I create in tandem with AI. 

The one thing I do not want to do is be a content creator. No offense to content creators. There are some great ones out there to whom I am grateful, but trying to trend every single day sounds like an awful job. One that I do not want to do. Yes, I will be creating content other than apps, graphic novels, movies, and games, but out of a need to promote my work not to score likes for sharing and hyping info that everyone else is sharing about the newest, hottest AI thing. I do like to retweet and comment, though.

I have been debating about building my apps and creative work in public. The tools that help build apps are probably more prevalent than AI Image tools at this point. That reminds me of another saying that I've been hearing a lot over the past six months that has stuck in my head: "Just start building." I have been recording audio content on walks and hikes and may start incorporating that (depending on the quality) along with content recorded in my office, both audio and video.   

Coding tools have become ubiquitous and I keep hearing about people cloning popular apps. I figure it is best to keep details about the apps that I am building on the DL until it's time to launch. I apologize for this. I wish I was this amazing coder who could just throw out what I am doing and be assured that what I was doing would be completed before anyone else could take the idea and do it themselves. If I had a massive following then that too might be a good reason to build in public. But, I am still learning about everything and trying to build at the same time. The ideas are strong and the path is clear, all I need is to make good use of the time I have been afforded to make what I hope you may enjoy and get good use out of. That would mean the world to me. And I do not want to undermine all of that by talking it all up before anything is ready to be shared. I hope you understand.    

In August, I was ready to start. However, I knew that in order for me to make a good go of this I needed to raise some money to sustain myself long enough so that I could focus full-time on building the company I wanted to build. To do that I had to not only deliver a plan but also a prototype of the first app I wanted to build and release.

It took me roughly three months to flesh out a short-term and long-term plan and create the basic prototype for the first of three apps, while also providing assurances that I could pull it all off. There was a good deal of back and forth, which was unbelievably helpful in developing those plans. I've set achievable goals for myself in the short term. And, should things gain traction, the long-term goals may also become feasible as well. It helps that since I created these plans AI Agents have come into play and all the tools I will be working with continue to improve. These should provide enough assistance in the first half of this year to help me stay on schedule, and possibly even help me get ahead of schedule so that I need to update my timelines. 

I have become more of a realist through the years, and I understand that things may not turn out the way I had hoped. I learned these lessons time and time and time again over the past thirty years as a storyteller. Even if I fall short of achieving my goals, I will have learned more than enough about a variety of AI tools and workflows to be a valuable asset to others with the experience I am gaining. While I welcome collaborating with others, I want to be an artistic AI solopreneur for the rest of my life.

In summary, I am starting a company that will begin with me releasing my first app. There are two other apps that I hope to release by the end of the year. In addition, I want to use dozens of the stories I have written over the past thirty years and turn them into graphic novels, films, TV series, and video games all with the assistance of AI tools. I may even create at least one fictional podcast. While any new screenplays or books I write will largely be written by me, as I still enjoy that process, I have been using AI to help in the early stages of new writing projects. 

However, I may lean heavily on AI to write one book and a course to accompany the first app I intend to release. I am not sure I can have the book ready to go before I release the app. Therefore, I may only have the free course to accompany the app upon its release. The book I am thinking about would be somewhat autobiographical and will likely take too long, even with the help of AI, to be ready by the time I release the first app. I may release it later as I start updating the first app. It is a great concept and users should get a lot out of it. So, we'll see. 

I would not have even thought about creating games or graphic novels without the help of AI. Well, I had certainly thought about them before AI, but I know I would not have been able to create them on my own. That's all changed now. 

Some of the work for films and TV I would like to be actually filmed, but if things get good enough with AI I expect much of it in the future will be AI only with my direction, as I have a lot that I want to share. In addition, I will be doing some content creation. This blog, as always, will provide a window into my progress. I'm not sure if I will do a newsletter. Maybe I'll get an AI agent to help with that. Within a month or so I will start releasing voice content and possibly a video or two. We'll see. 

Wish me luck, stay tuned for updates, and thanks for reading. 

The Storyteller's Dilemma

 

Storytelling has been vital to human evolution ever since we crawled out of the mud. We are at the Dawn of Artificial Intelligence being integrated into all of our lives, and storytellers are being confronted with a choice. Adapt your process to this new world or not.

Some will not adapt & will continue on as if they are still living in the glow of the 20th century. And that's 100% okay. Creating stories is a personal journey that can be completed entirely with a pen and paper, coffee, and some free time to write.

The choice is a personal one. Storytellers don't need AI to help them create their tales. I never needed AI to help me write books or screenplays. But then I've always wanted to create more than just the written word.

Like many a storyteller, I have worlds within me that I long to share with people. While writing a book isn't easy, once it's published you're done. That's satisfying, but not if you've always wanted a story to contain images or play on a big screen. For that, I needed a lot of help.

Until last Spring, I was accepting that getting one of my mind-bending, epic stories made into a graphic novel or a movie on the big screen or any screen would be a major challenge with lots of obstacles. Then AI exploded and my view of storytelling changed forever.

Not only can you now speed up the writing process with AI acting as an assistant, but you can tell your stories in many more ways. And you have control of the final product. That appeals to me at my very core as a storyteller.

I no longer feel boxed in, trapped by only being able to write books and screenplays. That has allowed me to tap into the filmmaking spirit I once fostered. Graphic novels are possible and soon we'll be able to create movies worth watching once AI video improves.

What has stood in my way for two decades is being removed because I can bypass many of the roadblocks with the help of AI. While I enjoy collaborating with others, I am more than happy to work on my own as well.

Not only will it save time to create new material, but I might never have been able to afford to hire an artist to create the images for a graphic novel. With Generative AI tools, the cost and the time to create the images become manageable if time is taken to learn how to use these tools. And I have been more than happy to do that. It is much easier to learn how to use AI to create images than to learn to create the images by hand or having to shell out thousands of dollars to get someone else to help me complete my vision. Now I have total control, which may provide some dodgy results to start with, but eventually, I will become good enough to create that graphic novel. 

Tip for those wanting to create a Graphic Novel with AI: The scripts for a Graphic Novel are very similar to a screenplay, so if you have a screenplay that you want to see as a Graphic Novel AI can reformat that for you. 

The key is to have a story to tell. AI is great at images but the story should come from you. A graphics artist may say the exact opposite, which makes sense. AI can help compensate for your weakness. Mine is that my hand is not steady enough to draw or paint. 

Creating a story takes a lot longer than creating a digital painting anyway. One of my best friends is a brilliant artist. He can knock out a hundred paintings or more in the time it takes me to come up with a story, write it, edit it, and say it is done. That has always annoyed me. Not anymore. Now I can do what he does in a fraction of the time and I have both the story and the visuals to accompany it. He is not a storyteller, so I'm not sure which one of our AI-assisted works would be better.

AI can create stories, but just like with creating images you have to work with the AI to create what you need. You can't just expect it to come back with an image or a story right out of the gate that will be perfect. It may never be perfect. That is why it needs the human touch. 

As far as AI Video, it seems like we're nearly there, but then I don't know. I am not training these AI models. In the early summer of last year, I thought that we were about a year away from being able to create high-quality videos using only AI tools. I figured animated AI videos would be the first to achieve a level of quality that would be acceptable to all viewers. While I still think that is true, animated AI scenes look just as sketchy as lifelike scenes. There is a built-in threshold of forgiveness for animation because of all the differences in animation styles we have all seen in our lifetimes. Whereas lifelike images have to look 100% real across every frame or you risk losing the audience. 

People have become finicky about AI video, and that includes the best creators of AI video. I too am dismissive of most AI videos. It's all so obviously AI-generated that I can't even be bothered to watch more than a couple seconds of most of them. There are exceptions of course, but they are few and far between. 

Some Twitter accounts say that Hollywood is rattled. They are not rattled by what is being produced with just AI tools at this moment. This does make me wonder if the tools will be slow-rolled out to the public because of how much it will change things. Not to be a conspiracy monger. Lord knows we don't need more hair-brained conspiracy theories circulating out there this year. 

However, let's think about it for a moment. Once AI video is good enough storytellers like myself will be clamoring to create movies with AI. If people actually enjoy some of these movies, then Hollywood will be rattled. However, I don't think it will be the end of Hollywood.

On the contrary, Hollywood would still have most of the best creators. It's not like they won't change with the times to keep up. Things will likely just be a bit different. Maybe all the best AI TV shows and movies will be animated. Maybe lifelike AI video will take far longer to achieve. Think of how far ahead AI Images are right now. You can create anything with AI image generators. 

The public will dictate what it is willing to accept and consume. I can't see us rejecting animation entirely, but quasi-lifelike TV shows and Movies generated with AI may be a bridge too far anytime soon. AI advances have been rapid. However, they are also gradual now that we are all caught up in it waiting for the next big update. And video is a lot trickier than static images. 

Maybe with a big election coming up and Hollywood growing anxious things have been slowed towards the public. Maybe not. Who knows? Either way, we are nowhere near a lifelike movie or TV show yet. 

Having watched this space for a year, and having seen what people have attempted to create with AI, I am not sure they will all be able to tell a compelling story once we can use AI to create movies. And without a story, you might as well be pissing into the wind.

My artist friend and I have shared story ideas before. Do I think he could create a graphic novel with only AI to assist him? Yes. He would have to lean on the AI for the story part, but he'd be able to easily create the images needed. 

It does make me wonder, who benefits more from AI tools a Writer or an Artist? Surely those who had both skills before AI will benefit most. I think I have benefited a great deal as a writer who can now add images to my stories. If an artist took the time to learn how to use AI to tell a story, I could see how the artist might save more time. Because writing a story, for the most part, is more time-consuming than creating a picture. Therefore, a writer might still want to spend more time getting the story right than the artist, who may think that a story is good enough when it might still need some work. While an artist might be more inclined to ensure the images are perfect, a writer may think that an image is good enough when it still needs some work. The lack of experience may expose flaws in the finished work for both. 

I think if my artist friend and I both set out to create our own graphic novel or digital comic, the scales would just about balance out. His visuals would be better and my story would be better. However, when it comes to AI Video, I think I'd edge him on that because of my experience with both writing and directing. That is where it is clear that people who have experience in both storytelling and image creation or moviemaking will have an edge over everyone else.

Once the AI movie excitement fades people will come home from a hard day's work and the last thing they will want is to watch something just because it was created entirely by AI. The standards of storytelling will not be lowered just because anyone can create a movie. In fact, they may even be higher because of all the scrutiny. 

This is why it would be smart of those who have neither an art background nor a storytelling background, but who have learned how to create AI images and are eager to create movies using AI, to learn how to tell a story first. I have been in awe of plenty of AI images over the past year, and while an image may say a thousand words, it does not tell an entire story. 

People have gained minor fame for their static AI images over the past year. But anyone can create those images if they learn how to prompt or rewrite the prompts of others, which is a lot easier than learning to draw or write a story. It is a new type of skill. One that creates magnificent results without a need for artistic talent. I have had to learn to prompt to create the images I need. Some are just better prompters than I am. Is AI Art Real Art? That's a tough one. I have made some amazing images over the past year. However, I would not feel comfortable showing it at an Art Gallery. Though I have no problem using those images in a Graphic Novel or a Movie, once AI Video is good enough. But to each their own. I tell stories and would prefer the focus be on the stories I create, AI images and video are just another means for me to tell a story. 

We are hard-wired to need stories. So much of our lives revolve around the stories we tell one another on a daily basis. The stories we choose to consume during our downtime need to be even better than the ones we deal with all day. Commercials, news, your boss, the waiter, the mail, your friends and family. We are the stories we tell each other. An image or series of images can be seared into your mind and stir your soul, while a gripping story can captivate your heart and your mind. Combine the two effectively and you can break through all the mundane stuff in people's daily lives, capture their imagination, and help them escape their mortal confines just for a moment. It's no replacement for time spent in nature or with loved ones, but reading a good book or watching a good movie can inspire people or just entertain them.

That's what it's all about, for me at least. I write for myself so that I can get lost in a story that I would want to read or watch, but the story does not yet exist. While everyone may not want to read or watch the stories that I create, a few might. And if they take away something positive from the experience then that is a bonus. 

We do not all walk the same storytelling path. That would be boring. We all have our own paths based on our experience or lack thereof. Choose a path that works for you. Stay on that path if you like or change paths if that seems the right thing to do, just keep moving and learning along the way. Thanks for reading. 

Why Do I Write?

I am not perfect, nowhere near it in fact. I am as flawed if not more flawed than most. Sometime after I had released "Monarch" someone whose opinion I value suggested I write a story from a position of authority. Never have I truly believed that I am a king of anything, instead thinking of myself as a jack of all trades yet master of none. Once upon a time, I considered myself a clown who needed to entertain others with laughter. What does any of this have to do with writing? 

Some people know what they want to be as a child and their whole life is geared towards achieving it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it sounds quaint and boring to me. I used to think of myself as the calm within the storm, a hero who would stand up when needed to protect what is right. Youth came with a shield of protection that I would use to fend off opinions contrary to my own so that I could keep from getting hurt all in pursuit of something I did not understand - myself. Those were my acting years. I made myself a vessel to be filled because I had not chosen another path. 

But then I had not wanted to. Why had I wanted so badly to be an actor? I was good at clowning around and had learned to hide my emotions during my childhood. Stories had always appealed to me, but I was lazy, angry, and distracted in my youth. Sports had been my outlet, it allowed me to focus on the ball instead of the future. Did I think I could be a professional? If I did I abandoned those thoughts once I started to have arm troubles. Back in those days, it was not required to know what you wanted to do with your life during grade school. And so I drifted on to college without much concern for the future. 

Life can be so random sometimes but the choices we make can change everything. I was a big fan of movies and loved to read. Being handsome and funny as well meant I was also popular. People gravitated to me even though I always felt like the odd man out at parties. I took a personality test once and it said I was an extroverted introvert. Perfect for the clergy or the stage. The church was never an option, so after taking a public speaking class and meeting Julia Robert's sister, I decided to try being an actor. 

I put everything into learning the craft and even managed a few decent performances during those years. Once I was living in LA, I realized that while I liked the idea of being an actor I preferred writing poetry and creating my own stories. This was something I had glimpsed in high school but was too scattered in my own head to realize I should have pursued it at that time. As a jack of all trades, acting had given me insight into "the business" and propelled me into screenwriting. 

By that point, my head was overflowing with story ideas, so I learned about the craft and set out to write the stories I would want to star in as an actor. I still held out some hope that I might be able to do both. It took a few years, but eventually, I let go of acting entirely. However, not before I starred in a few short films that I also wrote and directed, adding again to my jack-of-all-trades status. I wanted to know everything about the creative side of "the business."

Ever since I set out to be an actor I have never lacked in discipline or focus. I have always loved to get lost in ideas and always like to take what I am seeing in the present or have seen in the past in a fictional way through storytelling. I have never written a non-fiction piece. Whether that is so that I don't have to address my own truths or that I just don't have an interest in doing so, I'm not sure. These blog posts have always been enough for me.  I could see myself writing a memoir one day, and maybe I could tell someone else's tale. Though, I have a long list of fictional tales that I have to write in the meantime. 

So, why do I write? I write because, during my acting years, the need to tell stories was activated within me. I can probably pinpoint it to one moment. A friend asked me to help them write a script and I was hooked from that point on. I think that moment also sealed my fate as an actor as well. Once I saw that I could write for myself the characters I wanted to play I began to lose interest in auditioning for roles that I didn't like. I knew while creating my short films that they may be the last bit of acting I ever do, and I was ok with it because I had achieved what I wanted. 

I no longer write stories that I would want to star in but tales that I would want to read in a book or watch on a screen. My tastes are not the same as others. I don't like reality TV at all. You can keep your Hallmark movies, your romantic comedies, your formulaic procedurals. Some writers try to write everything under the sun. I'm not that guy. I like to write what I like to read or watch. If I wouldn't want to watch it as a TV show or a movie I sure as hell have no intention of writing it. Give me dark mysteries, suspenseful sci-fi, thrilling dramas, and adventure. Give me high stakes and a bit of horror for good measure. Keep me wanting to know what happens next. That is the stuff I love to watch and write. I write because contrary to what people say that every story has already been told I know that is not true. And I know I can come up with something unique enough to keep me interested. In the end that is all that matters. As long as I am still interested in telling new tales that is why I write. 

Embracing AI: A Creative Pivot

In March of 2023, I took a significant turn away from my usual novel and screenwriting projects to immerse myself in the world of AI. Followers from the past year will recall my deep dive into this burgeoning technology. Despite initial skepticism, I was ready for a change and fully embraced AI.

Admittedly, I'm somewhat disappointed for not accomplishing more writing during these ten months of AI exploration. It was a deliberate choice, one I don't regret. Why? This journey has equipped me with invaluable insights, streamlining my story development and writing process more than ever before. It's also opened doors to diverse storytelling formats beyond traditional books or screenplays, my mainstay for over two decades.

Reflecting on my journey, I acknowledge my role in not reaching a wider audience. I've often sidestepped advice, pursuing story ideas perhaps too avant-garde for their time. My penchant for complex anthologies or multi-decade-spanning epics has been a hallmark, yet simpler stories often faced feedback that dampened my enthusiasm.

The truth is, the main obstacle to my writing goals has been, more often than not, myself. There's a certain comfort in avoiding the pressures of success, in continually creating new material without the rigorous public scrutiny I once endured.

Since 2012, my focus has been on publishing books and collaborating on screenplays. This decade-long process has been fulfilling. Last summer, a new collaborative screenplay emerged, based on a TV series I created. It's this series I'm preparing to pitch this year. Originally, I planned to pitch four TV series, but that never materialized for various reasons.

Now, my plans have evolved. From the original four, only two remain. The other two? They're taking new shapes, thanks to AI. One is morphing into a two-part illustrated novel series, the other into a digital comic, eventually culminating in a graphic novel.

If 2023 was the year of the AI pivot where I learned all that I could about the tech, 2024 is the year of implementing that knowledge. The illustrated novel and graphic novel projects are ambitious, with uncertain timelines, especially as I juggle pitching TV series and writing new stories. Last year's singular project focus has left me eager to leverage AI in crafting stories from the ground up.

AI has its critics, some outright rejecting its role in the creative process or questioning the authenticity of AI-assisted writers. I see this as fear and ignorance. The stories I craft, AI-assisted or not, remain fundamentally mine. AI simply offers efficiency and new dimensions, like imagery.

My fascination with interactive storytelling goes back to childhood "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Cinemas have experimented with immersive experiences like "Smell-O-Vision," "InterFilm," and haptic seats that sync with on-screen action. We're inching closer to technologies like Star Trek's Holodeck and lightweight Augmented Reality devices, offering fully immersive, customizable experiences. Gaming is already pioneering this narrative freedom.

I've always considered myself a worldbuilder first. This mindset might explain my gravitation towards intricate, fictional universes under extreme conditions. Perhaps in another life, I would have been a game developer. And who knows? That might still be in the cards. As I contemplate diving into interactive story creation, I anticipate a deep dive into game development research.

This newfound realm of possibilities is a direct result of my ten-month AI exploration. Had I not ventured down this path, I'd still be fixated on the four original TV series and a novel concept that has been gathering dust for five years. Not now. Now with the help of AI, I'm playing biodigital jazz, man.

Goals for 2024

This Thursday is a big day for me – the illustrated version of "Michaelmas" is hitting the shelves. It's been a wild ten months, diving deep into the world of AI and AI Art. I've been watching, amazed, as folks churn out these incredible AI images online. I've even posted a few of my own creations over the past ten months. It's kind of crazy, how so many of those creators are getting paid by X/Twitter for their posts, thanks to their Blue Check status. 

Me? I've thought about it a good bit. I'm still plugging away on the platform, despite all the drama there the past year plus. Sure, I've thought about shelling out for that Blue Check. Maybe then my tweets wouldn't feel like they're getting lost in the void. But there's this nagging part of me that's not quite on board with some of the stuff Elon Musk says – some of it really doesn't sit right with me. Yet, if I started boycotting every product whose CEO I disagree with, I'd probably have to go live in the woods.

In the meantime, I'm pivoting to a few other projects that have been on the back burner. I've been so caught up in the constant stream of new AI info that my writing has taken a bit of a backseat. But no more. This year, I'm diving back in.

Here's what's on my plate for 2024:

A Graphic Novel – or at least, a series of digital comic episodes that'll add up to one. I've played around with enough AI art tools that I believe I can pull this off. Fingers crossed because this is something I have always wanted to do. 

Pitching a pre-AI TV series – kind of a last hurrah before I start implementing AI as an assistant in the majority of my storytelling work.

Keeping up with AI Video tech – so I'm ready to jump in once it's good enough for TV or movie material. There are some pretty amazing shorts out there, but we're not quite at full-length quality yet. I anticipate that by the summer we may be able to get up to 10-20 seconds of stable video that most people will not know is AI and it will change everything about entertainment. 

Getting back to the writing grind – I've got a bunch of AI-assisted script ideas that have been marinating over the past year, and it's time to get them on paper.

Continuing my AI education – the more I know, the better I'll be at weaving it into my work and maybe even running my own show someday.

It's a lot, but hey, who knows what this year will bring? I'm setting my sights high – higher than ever before. Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and get that Blue Check after all. If I do, it'll be because I'm ready to hit the ground running, monetizing my work from day one.

Here's to a year of big tech, big politics, and even bigger goals. Let's see what we can make happen, shall we?

February 2016 Update

I know it's a little late but Happy New Year everyone. Seeing as this is my first Blog Post in some time I want to catch you guys up.

2015 was a mixed bag. I didn't make a big fuss about the release of Psykosis in February, which I do regret to some extent. Sure, it wasn't a full-length novel but it is a story that I am proud of. I mean how often does a writer have full recollection of a dream and then implement it into a story? Not very often for me. I can think of only two other times, and neither had the dream as the main turning point of the story.

Much of 2015 was spent working on screen stories. I was in a creative groove last year. Ideas were coming fast and furious, so even though I did release a book most of my creative efforts were spent focused on new screenplays and screenplay ideas. It was a nice change of pace after focusing on literary work for much of 2014. It did, however, detract from my responsibility to promote my new book. It's not my favorite part of writing, but as a self-published writer it is an important part of the process. So I can not blame anyone for the lack of sales or feedback but myself. If that was what I wanted then I should have balanced my time more wisely. It did force me to reassess my goals as a self-published writer.

With Monarch I was super motivated. I took classes, attended seminars and writing festivals. I scoured the internet for advice and peppered social media with updates. I even updated this blog weekly. In short, I did what I was supposed to do as a self-published writer trying to get people's attention. Was I satisfied with those efforts? In truth, I had no idea what to expect. So for me the results were my litmus test for future endeavors, as I had every attention to keep writing and releasing stories.

Now that I have released a four-part novel series and a novella what are my views of self-publishing? Like most things in life, you get out what you put in... for the most part. The thing with self-publishing that is different than from an actual job is that there is no guarantee that you will make money. If you are self-employed and perform a service, you get paid for the work that you do. The extra time you put in that you don't get paid for is about building relationships and trying to capture more business. That much is true in writing as well. There is just so much more time put in on a job with writing a book than with say a plumber replacing a pipe. In some regards self-publishing is more like a charity than a business. That is why I had to change my way of thinking about my self-published work.

Until I start taking my work to a publisher, I have decided to approach my writing as a hobby instead of as a job that I have to make a profit off of. It is a healthier way to approach things. Seeing as I am no longer in my twenties, a healthy perspective on things might be considered wise.

When I was in my twenties I wrote strictly screenplays and some poetry. While the poetry was utter nonsense, the screenplays contained some substance that were worth sharing. One of my greatest fears as a younger man, and this is true, was that I would reach a point in my life when the story ideas would not be as fresh and vital as I believed they were back then. Where that idea came from I can only speculate. I imagine it had to do with my views on other artists who seemed to lose perspective after reaching fame. At one time I did think that achieving success as a young man was possible. I suppose a psychiatrist might question whether I intentionally undermined my chance for success because of those fears, however, that is a discussion best left for my eventual memoirs, should I choose to write them. Now I am more concerned about getting back to work on writing and releasing more stories.

As a kid I never imagined myself a writer. I was tall and athletic and had no trouble making friends. Writing, in my mind, was for people who dreamed of having those attributes. I was a doer. My physical prowess was only one part of me, though. I had a knack for tinkering and had a vivid imagination. I loved taking things apart that were broken to see if I could fix it, learning all about the inside of broken electronics. It wasn't until high school that I discovered that I also had a knack for storytelling. Up until then school was just something I had to do before I could go and play sports. It took an assignment in English class where we were to create a TV commercial to spark my creative juices. My teacher, Ms. Black, saw that I had a knack for it before I did. I will always be grateful to her for helping to foster that in me. Ever since then I have tinkered more with words and ideas than with electronics.

My perspective on life has changed a great deal since those early days of writing. I was invincible then, or so I believed. I had a far more traditional view on the world, one that suited a so-called normal life. Back then I was certain that I would do what society expected of me: graduate from college, begin a career with a path towards retirement, stat a family, and then settle into old age. Along the way I began to question the logic behind my conventional plans for the future. As humans we instinctively want to leave something behind after we leave this life. For most people that means offspring. I too want to leave something behind after I am gone, yet in my mid-twenties what I wanted to leave behind became something much different than the norm. It began with the pretentious belief that I had to leave something behind that might help others learn more about themselves and the world. I had no business thinking that I had something of value to say at such a young age, but I was sure that I had some insight into the inner workings of this world that might open people's eyes and cause them to see things that they might not otherwise have seen. Back then there was already 7 billion people in the world and bringing in more people into a world already overpopulated with idiots didn't and still doesn't make any sense to me. Instead, I decided that what I would leave behind would be these enlightening stories that might also entertain. To accept that I had to do so as a hobby was a hard pill to swallow, which was the cause of my unrest last year. I have come to terms with it though and put it all in perspective. Approaching writing as a hobby has actually been liberating. It has allowed me to remove some of the self-imposed pressure that I had been carrying for a long time. With that burden removed it has allowed me to plan for future writing endeavors as well.

Last summer I came up with the current writing plan that I am still focused on. That plan involves four novel series. Two of those series were former screenplays written years ago. Those screenplays were patterned after movies with a structure like that of Crash and Creepshow with several story lines interwoven. That style works very well for a novel series and so made perfect sense to rewrite them as such. The part of me that wants to leave something behind for others could not allow those screen stories to slip into oblivion without people having had a chance to read them. Seeing as I have made this a hobby as opposed to a job, I can no longer mindlessly pitch and query producers, actors, directors and production companies in hope that they might assist me in making my stories into films instead of the other million stories that pass their desks on a yearly basis. No matter how much I believe in my stories and my skills as a storyteller I just don't have the time that I once had. Time and money, they are the two greatest burdens that all of us face when trying to achieve our dreams. Besides, I can get these stories into people's hands all on my own, thank you very much. And to keep a creative balance and sanity, I will transition to one of the stories that was not previously a screenplay but has been on the back burner for several years. I fear I might pop if I don't get it on paper soon, it has been marinating so long.

I no longer feel it is as pretentious to want to leave stories behind for others. That is what writers do. Not all writers write for the same reason, though we all write because it is who we are. To me it doesn't matter how many people read my work. I just need to write, release and then move on to the next story.

Now you're up to date. Things don't change much in a writer's world, which is the way we like it. Give us time and money and we will carry on as normal, hopefully releasing more work. With or without them we carry on anyway in our efforts to deliver something new. The younger me might be surprised to see me now so passionate about a writing hobby, but the young tinkerer would understand the evolution that brought us to this point, and might even see it as a noble cause. If I were to get a glimpse of myself twenty years from now, would I be surprised to see that another evolution had taken place? Probably, because I have created a situation that allows me to carry on creatively for as long as I have material to write. If I weren't still doing that, and yet still capable of doing so, I cannot imagine why I wouldn't still be writing or storytelling in some other way. I've yet to dismiss the possibility of a return to acting as an old man. That would still surprise me, but again I might understand the evolution.

Cheers