Which can AI do: formulaic writing or organic writing? // Which kind of writing will fulfill you as a writer?

AI has clarified for me even more the underpinnings of my long opposition to formulaic, 5-part masturbatory rise and fall of tension, pre-ordained story structures; and my embrace since, oh, forever, of organic associative forms of narrative. I think that formulaic conventional story writing has prepared people for AI-generated stories, as there is often not much difference between the stories even though the “generators” might be different.

I have a lot more to say about this but the wolf—not the rugged furry ones with fabulous ears who can be vicious and are authentic and beautiful, but the slimy late-capitalist wolf that says that, no matter how hard I work, no matter how much I study, no matter how ethical I want my creations to be, no matter how much I care about the world and its creatures and elements; no matter my intensive labor in teaching and writing; I gotta get more money to feed my belly, keep my teeth, feed my mind, and house it all in cloth and shelter—is at the door.

But I happened to google what Netflix series use AI, and I saw the earlier dawdling—used for visual effects only! and now the spreading stain, the infiltration of AI into handing down the originating ideas, and developing the story. The stories that come from within humans come from the knowledgeable gut and the trembling heart that truly know the tragic and the hopeful, the shameful and mysterious, betrayal and resistance, all of it as more than words, more than code, more than what the internet tells us or can tell us.

And so it all makes sense. I’ve watched some things, read some things, that scream dully: Artificial Intelligence. And realized this is a very familiar thing. How so, when AI is a relatively recent phenomenon, and to be truthful, I am not.

How? The formulaic story, generally using the Aristotelian 5-part dramatic structure for the high form in ancient theater—tragedy—which by the way he considered suitable only for a few men of a few great families—while the proper genre for women and slaves, said the Aristote, was comedy—>can be and of course has been fed to AI, which pops those little story buggers out like fruitflies.

I’ve heard you. You recognize it more and more. The BS AI story.

Well, I recognized the agonizingly high schoolish 5-part story formula which can indeed reach a level of “interesting” with even a bit of depth, though often it does not—but here is one great difference—Any human not bored to death by the formulaic process can write that kind of story. But so can AI. In an instant or two or a minute, depending I guess on whether you are a paid AI subscriber or not. You recognize these AI stories that are flooding our social space online, but the thing is, many are not so different from the human-generated stories using that formula. Written by humans by filling in the blanks of the prefab structure. You know you are being manipulated by both, or both “writers” are trying to.

The distinct organic human-written story—AI cannot generate this. Perhaps someday as humans keep feeding it, knowingly or unknowingly.

(I got a LinkedIn notice today for a “creatives” job in which one helps to train AI by letting it know which responses it gives are more “natural”. I could do that. Wolf at the door. But, nope. I’m in resistance. Won’t surrender. (You can take my resume and format it, but you can’t take my organic writing, my wild and natural dialogue!!!)

You can watch AI generated scripts lifelessly acted out. You can recognize quite quickly the exact approaches, the list of necessary scenes, what the actors should look like, how much frustration is just right but not too much for the casual somewhat sedated viewer also trying to keep the wolf from the door, to handle.

I’ve got much more to say on all this but I hear the howling; the door I am grateful to have for a while, is shaking.

Take a class/workshop with me. Come work with me on organic story and a whole bunch of other very human writer things, useful in the creative resistance to AI (and to the grasping bloated horrors behind the whole deal). Very useful to your distinct writing and stories.

https://anya-achtenberg.com/workshops/ Snoop around in there. I have my preferences, but tell me what you most want. You know, human choice. The virtual offerings below are already on the table. I’ll announce those details in a couple of days, but I’d love to hear from you about preferences.

Custom-Made Story, a 10-week intensive course in Fiction, Memoir/Creative Nonfiction, & Hybrid Forms

This one for sure if you’re ready to work intensively, with weekly written lectures, weekly zooms, deep discussions of craft, and written and live critiques from me and your colleagues in a small group. Each round of this workshop changes to respond to the needs and gifts of the participants!

Say it! Dígalo!: The Standalone/Write-together Writing Workshops

Ready to dip in, get to writing right away, have your understanding of the elements of craft expanded? Want to sign up for just one workshop at a time? These single-event (not events for singles!) workshops opens your space for starting to write; for returning to writing out of silence and overwhelm; for expanding your craft in surprising ways; for keeping in good writing shape and connecting in community. Nothing dry and “prompt” in the writing explorations we’ll do in class, and the takeaway suggestion that’s all yours.

Details on the above, coming soon. In the meantime, for more information, registration and payment details, contact me directly through email, at aachtenberg [at] gmail [dot] com

Gotta go. Someone’s at the door.

Anya

(C) Anya Achtenberg, from Writing in Upheaval 2025