Theodore D. C. Cox 📚 Legends & Demons

May 31st...

@flyfoxpro I actually saw Empire in the theater in 1978 and then Jedi as a still very young kid. I also grew up ST > SW, but loved Star Wars anyway. Was very excited for the prequels, but saw them as an adult and they certainly weren’t the lore I’d dreamed of as a kid.

@ted_cox I came to it as a teen in the 2000s, after years of being a “Trekkie.” So I think approach it all far more critically and largely treat Star Wars the same way I do other films I didn’t see as a child, I like them but they aren’t definitive to me.

I have a theory that the appeal of Star Wars was the implication and inference one got of a wider world and that as that wider world expanded the appeal grew less and less.

@JoshDaws This is true, but it also over-simplifies the challenges and costs associated with iteration. I think it will be better in the future, but at present it seems like most tools only do one or two things well and any divergence needs a different tool or an acceptance of slop.

It’s incorrect to assume work made with AI tools will automatically lack craft and coherent design. There’s still a human directing the tools. They can accept slop or iterate until their creative vision is brought to life.

@mcahogarth I’ve been saying various forms of that first but for more than a year — though not as eloquently. If you want to boycott AI, get off X and stop writing in Word. If those two things are too much trouble, you don’t really believe in your crusade.

I wonder a little at the anti-AI crusaders who boycott small studios, microbusinesses, and individual artists, but who don't give up using Amazon, Google products, Shopify stores, Etsy, Apple, Youtube, big publishers, big studios, etc. These corporations are also using AI, but it's only the single, struggling types who suffer when the dogpiling begins. Is it one of those "I can't pressure those guys, so I'll concentrate on the people I can pressure into failing" things? Because all that's doing is weeding out all the potential competition. Do they want the big studios and corporations to be the only game in town? I sympathize with "I want to live in a world with no AI." We don't live in that world anymore, though, and smashing the looms isn't going to bring it back. Given that, we should stop pretending that there's a path that doesn't involve some group of people getting their lives upended and think about how we can help them turn that situation into an opportunity, rather than berating them for trying to use those changes to survive. (Or, dare we allow it, thrive.) I really think it bears repeating: we no longer live in a world without AI, and the genie's not going back in that bottle. Your energy to fight the inevitable is limited, and even if it wasn't, the battle is already lost. So. What do you do next?

@DNicholsAuthor I write under my legal name, but use a pen name in day to day life. 🤣

Hey, fellow writers... How many of you use a pen name and why did you decide to do that? #WritingCommunity

Yes.

@MichaelFKane @YuvalKordov @BradRTorgersen I basically tried it Brad’s way. And then in my mid-40s my wife bought me a technic set…

@YuvalKordov @BradRTorgersen To Brad I say, "Why not both?" My 4 year old helps me build my city street buildings and plays with them for a few weeks before it goes on the shelf. And buildings come down periodically to be played with.

I adore LEGO. LEGO was at its best when it did the early LEGO Space kits. The Galaxy Explorer was my first. I nearly broke my 6 year old brain on the directions. LEGO figures large in my childhood 6-12 YO. And that's precisely the age bracket all LEGO should aim at. Not adults.

@hanitabhat In fairness, you are very short.

@ted_cox Am I a dwarf now? Is this a hobbit book?!?

I got a few free minutes and decided to try @JaneskiLori's suggestion of trying my image with ChatGPT instead of Grok. I'm impressed. This is zero photoshop, just a prompt: x.com/ted_cox/status…

After a bit of fiddling, GPT is ALSO terrible at prompt following & doesn't do well at making precision adjustments. After a lot of fiddling, I got this weird thing with the bobblehead protag, all the drama stripped out, and the green lady in the fur cocktail dress...

Here's another grok attempt without edits:

@JaneskiLori I hear you. I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled for it.

@ted_cox It's being edited now, so TBA. Editor is also Husband, so it's hard to find editing time (while I'm working) when the Hooligan is at that age (2) where he has to be watched constantly, or he either destroys something or kills himself. 🤣

@KoalaQuillHQ But if that were the solution it would be great because I’m REALLY good at it!

Writers are told to "build a platform," as if the solution to being ignored as an author is to become ignored as a content creator instead.

@JaneskiLori In the thumbnails, I like the grok version better, but as soon as I pull up the full images the drama of the GPT image really starts to punch. That’s great. When does your fantasy romance come out? I loved the Carter Files so I’ll look forward to more of your work.

@ted_cox That looks great. I like it. As another example, this is a cynogriff I have for my (clean) fantasy romance. The left picture is Grok, the right picture is ChatGPT. Same prompt both times.

@Robert_C_W @Grummz That's great! Repairable is important.

@ted_cox @Grummz From the looks of it they're far more durable and repairable.

How awesome is that?!?

@BellaHagleyWood Is this the new DM scam?

Another one bites the dust

@nivenrile I agree completely. 😂

@ted_cox See, if this is steak sauce, that’s fine. But “brown sauce” sounds unappealing.

Is Ireland all right? (Spotted in World Market)