1MerryWriter
Dreamer
Hello there,
Even if I can't see you, it is a pleasure to meet you.
I like to call myself 1MerryWriter. I think of it is an apt self-description. I found this forum through one my latest topics of research - AI (and specifically ChatGPT). If you have an interest in such topics, some of my thoughts on this and what can be charitably described as a 'wall of text' can (hopefully) be seen in the Writing Resources sub-forum on a topic about 'Using ChatGPT for world building'. At least two parts of that post are awaiting moderator approval at this time, likely due to the length. A bit of the following introduction is also seen among those posts, provided it gets approved.
So about me -
I am from India but I don't live there anymore. I am not a native English speaker.
I used to be an academic and I was on track to get a Ph.D. (climate science, urban planning) in the pre-covid era. The pandemic caused a fair bit of havoc in my life and over the last three years I moved to Europe, worked a bit harder than I thought I would have to; to get into an MBA program and I am looking to become a published creative writer (possibly traditionally published). I have not made the call on whether the first book attempt will be a historic / medieval / magical fantasy or a sci-fi fantasy. I enjoy reading and writing both high fantasy and hard SF. I have three 'drafts' in the works that I respect enough to call drafts and many more short stories and novel outlines or just a bunch of character studies and scenes thrown together in some fashion.
I have published a bit of an 'urban fantasy' short story in my native language. Other than that I have about seven academic publications related to my previous field of research, mostly as a co-author, all in English. Some in reputed journals and as chapters in books but that does not mean much if you know what academia is really like. It is more about who you know than what you write or what you have worked on. No shade on anyone I worked with, it is just the way of the world. This is also where I started to ghostwrite, research articles and non-fiction. Naturally all of this was pre-AI and by that I mean, before the proliferation of easily accessible Large Language Models. I have earned at least some of my keep this way but this is again not saying much because it was in India where writing an academic paper in English can be an ordeal for many and I am one of the few privileged enough to have been given access to a higher standard of education than most kids my age at the time and place where I was.
As far as writing goes, I struggle everyday and I am a bit scared of what AI means for someone like me who wants to write fiction and possibly get published the traditional way. I believe in that 'gatekeeping' system at least as of now. All my prior academic publications including that short story I mentioned was reviewed by those I consider my betters and then selected for publication. I am enticed by the idea of self-publishing and I did consider it for a minute but then I went back into my office and sat down to write better stuff and not just push the first thing I deem to be satisfactory. I also mentioned this among other things in that post on the sub-forum but I for one loved the idea of AI as a sci-fi reading kid. Asimov was my introduction to English sci-fi and I have dreamt up adventures that I would have had among the stars in the Foundation world.
I don't want the mods to have to approve a simple intro thread so I will not drag on and I'll stop here. Please share any questions / comments and I will pop back into chat as and when my schedule permits. I am slowly getting through some threads around the place so apologies if I do not know who you are but I'll be reading.
Even if I can't see you, it is a pleasure to meet you.
I like to call myself 1MerryWriter. I think of it is an apt self-description. I found this forum through one my latest topics of research - AI (and specifically ChatGPT). If you have an interest in such topics, some of my thoughts on this and what can be charitably described as a 'wall of text' can (hopefully) be seen in the Writing Resources sub-forum on a topic about 'Using ChatGPT for world building'. At least two parts of that post are awaiting moderator approval at this time, likely due to the length. A bit of the following introduction is also seen among those posts, provided it gets approved.
So about me -
I am from India but I don't live there anymore. I am not a native English speaker.
I used to be an academic and I was on track to get a Ph.D. (climate science, urban planning) in the pre-covid era. The pandemic caused a fair bit of havoc in my life and over the last three years I moved to Europe, worked a bit harder than I thought I would have to; to get into an MBA program and I am looking to become a published creative writer (possibly traditionally published). I have not made the call on whether the first book attempt will be a historic / medieval / magical fantasy or a sci-fi fantasy. I enjoy reading and writing both high fantasy and hard SF. I have three 'drafts' in the works that I respect enough to call drafts and many more short stories and novel outlines or just a bunch of character studies and scenes thrown together in some fashion.
I have published a bit of an 'urban fantasy' short story in my native language. Other than that I have about seven academic publications related to my previous field of research, mostly as a co-author, all in English. Some in reputed journals and as chapters in books but that does not mean much if you know what academia is really like. It is more about who you know than what you write or what you have worked on. No shade on anyone I worked with, it is just the way of the world. This is also where I started to ghostwrite, research articles and non-fiction. Naturally all of this was pre-AI and by that I mean, before the proliferation of easily accessible Large Language Models. I have earned at least some of my keep this way but this is again not saying much because it was in India where writing an academic paper in English can be an ordeal for many and I am one of the few privileged enough to have been given access to a higher standard of education than most kids my age at the time and place where I was.
As far as writing goes, I struggle everyday and I am a bit scared of what AI means for someone like me who wants to write fiction and possibly get published the traditional way. I believe in that 'gatekeeping' system at least as of now. All my prior academic publications including that short story I mentioned was reviewed by those I consider my betters and then selected for publication. I am enticed by the idea of self-publishing and I did consider it for a minute but then I went back into my office and sat down to write better stuff and not just push the first thing I deem to be satisfactory. I also mentioned this among other things in that post on the sub-forum but I for one loved the idea of AI as a sci-fi reading kid. Asimov was my introduction to English sci-fi and I have dreamt up adventures that I would have had among the stars in the Foundation world.
I don't want the mods to have to approve a simple intro thread so I will not drag on and I'll stop here. Please share any questions / comments and I will pop back into chat as and when my schedule permits. I am slowly getting through some threads around the place so apologies if I do not know who you are but I'll be reading.
Myth Weaver
