Note: This piece first appeared as an op-ed in The Ottawa Citizen on March 21, 2023. Since ChatGPT-3 was released a few months ago, we can’t seem to go more than five seconds without reading a sentence about — and increasingly created by — the AI software or its latest iteration, GPT-4. The speed and skill of… Continue reading Here’s why all AI writing should carry a label

Note: This piece first appeared as an op-ed in The Toronto Star on January 23, 2023. There is a swaggering new genre on the writing block and it involves humans writing about machines writing. Writers are churning out pieces, presumably on their own, extolling the uses of AI writing programs, declaring the high school or… Continue reading Why would we want to outsource being human to a machine?

The study of history, like that of literature or film, depends in large part on making sense of narratives, characters, and themes, all universal patterns repeating themselves in new situations and with new variations. As the world remains transfixed and increasingly galvanized by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refusal to simply bow down… Continue reading Channeling Churchill, Leningraders, and Roberto Benigni

When it comes to the question of how to write books for money, much has been written. The most half-hearted googling will unearth a treasure trove of titles purporting to teach you how to write the next bestselling novel or screenplay. Everyone in this confidence game appears to have a formula, not seeming to have… Continue reading Writing for money?

In the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday, Death becomes human for three days so he can understand why people are afraid of him. This being Hollywood, he of course takes the form of a Duke, falls in love, and has to choose between letting his mortal love live but leaving her behind or taking… Continue reading Literature takes a holiday

View post to subscribe to site newsletter.

Write what you have to, not what you think you should because it will be popular, or will sell, or will win awards, or will make you look smart or otherwise good. You don’t choose your story. Your story chooses you. The most important thing is to tell the truth, even when you’re making things… Continue reading Top Ten “Rules” of Writing

John le Carré is one of my handful of favourite novelists, a category filled with writers who have taught me something about the craft and whom I regularly reread. It is probably due to le Carré that one of my earliest attempts at novel writing was a thriller. It was not a Cold War thriller… Continue reading Literary Thrills: In appreciation of John le Carré (1931-2020)

View post to subscribe to site newsletter.

What do you expect now that you’ve just published your first book with a small, independent, ideally respected press? That the whole world will open up to you and bow down at your feet? That your genius will be trumpeted and sung from every mountaintop or at least one well-known reviewer will not just say… Continue reading Words to a young writer just starting out

View post to subscribe to site newsletter.