A brief break from blogging

This is the brie I bought the day we arrived in France. We're not allowed to bring dairy products back, so I'm I have work to do. Delicious work.

Sorry for the cheesy pun in the title, and that there's not much of a post from me today. I'll be back home next week, and things will be back to what passes for normal round here.

Please chat amongst yourselves – especially if you have good news to share, or cheese based jokes, puns, and general remarks.

Last minute update! I've been alerted to the fact Press Gazette have published an article on TABFF's use of AI. It appears this blog, and those who comment here, are the top source of information on the subject!

Bonjour!

We're in France on another trip in the van. A short one, mainly for Gary's work this time. I don't think the one hour time difference is quite enough to account for me having lost all track of time and not getting around to writing a post. The lack of good news probably also has something to do with it. (If you missed the latest bad news, you can find it here.)

This morning I had a message from someone who has been writing womag type stories for years and is thinking of putting them into a collection to sell on Amazon. One of her reasons is she feels AI stories are taking over, and she'll find it even harder to get them published, so may as well try herself. As I've produced lots of such books myself, she wondered if I had any tips. Well yes. The first is, don't expect high sales. Secondly, it's not for everyone – and most definitely not something you 'should' do unless you actually want to. Thirdly, here's how I did it.

This post isn't just for her – it's for all of us wondering whether AI will make our human creativity worthless, and what we can do with our existing stories and any we may write in the future. What do you think? Are their still readers for short stories written by humans, and if so, how do we reach them?

Please note – I only know of one womag market using AI to 'create' stories. As far as I know, the other publishers have not decided to take this route, and still do value human creativity, and those who use it to produce content for them.

The future of TAB's Fiction Feast

Here's an email I received today. As I told Rebecca I wished to share any information received from her on this blog, and I've not been asked to keep this to myself, I'm sharing it here.

Hi Patsy

I hope you’re keeping well.

 

We were in touch recently to let you know about the pause in commissioning on Fiction Feast, and I wanted to share a further note with you as several writers have asked me about what will happen to the magazine.

 

We have been reviewing how best to support its long-term future and exploring opportunities in our current editorial and operational approach. 

 

So, the July issue of Fiction Feast has been created using a combination of stories – some writer commissions and some in-house creations from the Fiction Feast team. 

 

We have also introduced the use of AI tools exclusively for our in-house stories, so our editorial team has more time to do what they do best and focus on quality and creativity.  And we will be exploring this further in the coming weeks.

 

Again, I wanted to tell you how much we all value the enormous contribution you have made to Fiction Feast, and your kind words to the team.

 

Wishing you all the best for the future.

Rebecca

Update - This blog post has now been linked to in an article on the subject of AI in TABFF. As that might mean new readers finding the blog, I'd like to point out that it regularly contains information on writing fiction for magazines, usually has links to free entry writing competitions, and even stuff about me and my writing. If you're new here, welcome! I generally post on Saturdays. If you have questions or would like to add to the conversations, please do so in the comments.