Receipts to Keep Handy When Someone Accuses You of Writing With AI

For the culture.

Photo by Rhamely on Unsplash

The witch hunt is on, people. I know you can smell it in the air.

Everyone is worrying about AI. Is it in your book? Are you telling the truth? Why are you lying?

What’s also clear, if you’re really paying attention, is that now people are looking for receipts.

It’s no longer enough to send a manuscript in an email. Apparently, there are things that must come along with it now. Proof. Irrefutable proof that you wrote it.

Well, what is that proof supposed to look like?

This is a fast-moving situation, but I’ve been monitoring the landscape and have come up with some quick guidance that I think can keep ourselves safe and cover our asses a bit.

Mind you, this is in no particular order. Use one, or all of them.

Probably all of them, to be safe.

Post More Selfies of Yourself Writing

I know. You never wanted to be that guy posting selfies at the coffee shop, talking about your word count and how you watched the steam rise from your coffee while you worked.

But we don’t have time for such luxuries anymore. Post selfies, preferably every day, of yourself writing. Make sure your word count is visible on the screen. Or just take a picture of the word count itself.

Caption it: “I’m just posting this so I get to keep my advance.”

Donate to Pangram

Keep it a buck. They are going to be our overlords.

I couldn’t find a way to pay them on their website. But they have to have a headquarters somewhere. Drop off a check. Do it in person so they know who you are.

Get ahead of the game and kiss the ring while it is still within reach.

Read Passages of Your Novel-In-Progress Out Loud to Others

There are numerous people you could choose here.

Your spouse, for example. What better way to end the night than reading aloud from your manuscript? Don’t worry about their reaction. This isn’t about feedback. This is about cultivating a witness. Someone who can corroborate the details of your plot on the stand. Whether it works or sustained their interest is another matter entirely.

Literary agents work, too, by the way. They’ll all be wondering anyhow. What better way to assuage their suspicions?

Here’s an idea: Put your agent on speakerphone while reading to your spouse from the work-in-progress. Two birds, one stone.

Handwrite Your Drafts and Deliver Them in Person

Everyone wants to go back to the old school these days. Let’s be serious about it then.

Handwrite your drafts. Bundle them up, and mail them to your literary agent or publisher.

Or, better yet, show up to Penguin Random House or wherever else with the pages in your hands. Don’t let the security guards stop you. This is urgent business. You have an incredible novel to deliver, so what if nobody asked for it?

Hire Your Legal Team Now

I feel for Jerry Falade. He had a $2 million deal on the table and now it was taken away from him. But I’m not going to let his mistake become mine.

It doesn’t matter that your novel draft is only 23 pages long. It’s never too early to prepare for the 15-way auction to come for its rights. Don’t be dumb. Hire a lawyer now.

Feed them everything: the selfies, the handwritten drafts, the depositions from your witnesses. Get all of it in order so that when your day comes you aren’t caught flat-footed.

These strategies are by no means full-proof. The technology is evolving as fast as the accusations are.

I wish you the best of luck out there. God speed.

Peace,

Andrew