I’m curious how well AI can write fiction. Now, I’m not a name brand author in the sense that there are only a handful of people who’ve heard of me. If sales are a measure of popularity, I make enough money to support the editing, cover art, and other production costs of the next project. I’ve occasionally dipped into my author fund to buy a yummy beverage and perhaps a nerdy thing or two for myself.
I only bring that up because I wanted to see if I could have chatGPT write me a short story from my own book series and supply my books as the source material. I want to assure you that I’d never have an AI write something and pass if off as my own. But, I have curiosity, nervousness, and a whole bunch of mixed feelings about the technology and what it means for authors. So rather than rail about it without any experience of it myself. I want to see first hand what it can do. Here’s what happened.
What I attempted to do was this:
“Write a 8,000 word story based in the Time Burrito book universe”
Then cut and paste books 1-4 of the series and see what happens.
However, when I cut and paste the first Time Burrito novel the file size was too big and the AI began writing a story anyway.
Basically, I couldn’t feed my books into the AI to train it and was planning to scrap the whole silly idea. But then I read the story that it wrote from the prompt: “Write a 8,000 word story based in the Time Burrito book universe”
And weirdness ensued, and I liked it and want to share it with you. To be clear, this is not a story in the Time Burrito universe, but I would say it ranks up there with its weirdness. I want to share the first part with you now (and other parts on subsequent emails).
I don’t know how it ends because it literally stopped writing and I had to tell it to continue writing and got another small chunk. That’s when I got this idea, to experience the story with you all, I won’t ask it to write more until then. Let’s see where this goes.
The AI Story Part I
The sun was beating down on the small town of San Ventura, California. The air was thick with humidity, and the only thing that seemed to be moving was the occasional tumbleweed rolling down the dusty main street. It was a typical lazy summer day, until a strange noise filled the air.
The noise sounded like a thousand cats meowing in unison, and it was getting louder and louder by the second. The townspeople looked up in confusion, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.
Suddenly, a giant burrito appeared in the sky above the town. It was unlike any burrito the people of San Ventura had ever seen before. It was enormous, at least 20 feet long, and it was shimmering with an otherworldly glow. The meowing noise was coming from inside the burrito.
The townspeople watched in amazement as the burrito descended from the sky, landing gently on the dusty street in front of the town’s only diner. A man dressed in a bright yellow jumpsuit climbed out of the burrito, looking around in confusion.
The man was named Carlos, and he had just traveled through time in a burrito.
Carlos was a time traveler, and he had been sent back in time to retrieve a rare ingredient for his employer, the Time Travel Agency. The ingredient was a special type of cheese that only existed in the 19th century, and Carlos had been tasked with retrieving it.
Carlos had been instructed to go back to 1870, to a small town in the Wild West called Deadwood. He was supposed to find a local cheese maker and convince him to sell him some of his rare cheese.
But things had not gone according to plan. Carlos had accidentally traveled back to the year 1870, but instead of ending up in Deadwood, he had ended up in the middle of the desert. He had wandered around for hours, trying to find his way to Deadwood, but he had gotten lost.
Just when he thought he was going to die of thirst, he stumbled upon a small town called San Ventura. He had never heard of the town before, but he was grateful to have found it.
He had spent the last few hours wandering around the town, trying to figure out where he was and how he was going to get to Deadwood. He had stumbled upon the diner by accident, and he had gone inside to get some food.
That was when he had heard the strange meowing noise coming from outside. He had looked out the window and seen the giant burrito descending from the sky. He had quickly finished his meal and climbed inside the burrito, hoping that it would take him to Deadwood.
But instead of taking him to Deadwood, the burrito had taken him back to the present day. Carlos had no idea what to do now. He was completely lost and alone, stranded in a strange time and place.
As he stood on the dusty street, trying to figure out his next move, he heard a voice behind him.
“Excuse me, sir. Can I help you with something?”
Carlos turned around to see a young woman standing behind him. She was dressed in a pink waitress uniform, and she had a friendly smile on her face.
“I’m sorry,” Carlos said. “I’m a little lost. Do you know where I am?”
“You’re in San Ventura,” the woman said. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Carlos hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he should tell her the truth about who he was and where he had come from. He didn’t want to cause a panic or attract too much attention.
“I’m just passing through,” he said finally. “I was hoping to find a way to get to the nearest town.”
To be continued…
If you’d like to see me become a name brand author, here’s a catalogue of some of my books (which are definitely written by a human).
Time Burrito 