Even ‘Narrow’ AI Can Be Amazing, Sometimes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Talk about AI making life go faster! Just in a matter of moments, I was able to resolve in my own mind because of AI the idea of continuing with this novel I’m working on, despite someone writing a novel with a similar premise.

My novel has a similar premise to this novel.

It was spooky how fast GeminiLLM and ClaudeLLM poo-pooed the idea of me giving up. It took a few seconds of thought on their part.

I can tell you that if I didn’t have them to reassure me, I would have really struggled — possibly for months — with whether I should keep going or not with this specific novel. As it is, I am very cleared eyed — damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!

My novel is totally different — other than the basic premise — of AnnieBot and as such, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Well, I Have My ‘Comp’ Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The moment I’ve been dreading has happened — someone has stolen a march on me with this novel I’m working on. It’s called AnnieBot and it seems on the face of things, an identical premise to what I’ve been working on the last year or so.

I’ve ordered it so I can read it to see how similar it is in detail, but just the idea that essentially my story has already been told is enough to rattle my cage some.

Now, I have two paths before me.

On one hand, I can give up. The story I want to tell has already been told and so I can move on to the next concept. (I have lots of them.)

Meanwhile, I can also double down and finish my novel, despite something very similar having been written. I at least know what my genre of novel is now and unless AnnieBot is a beat-for-beat telling of my novel, I don’t see why, by definition, I can’t finish this novel and query it.

A lot will depend on what I read in a few days when it arrives. But I just hate the idea of giving up just because someone else has written something similar. I’ve invested a lot in this novel and I think it’s really good.