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Randy, I think the discussion above morphed into one about whether writers (not reviewers) here should have access to an AI reviewer like the one on Booksie. Admittedly, I've yet to try it. I keep meaning to cross-post over there, but life keeps getting in my way.

The general consensus is that AI should not be used to generate reviews for others; that would make for a rather useless site. Writers can do that themselves. Using an AI to clean up chapters before posting them here is a no-brainer, though, for folks who don't have a good handle on grammar and punctuation. That way, reviewers here can focus on the story rather than writing mechanics.

I don't think there's anything wrong, though, with helping someone figure out how to use an AI to clean up a chapter before posting.

Sorry to hear that, MJ. I almost joined you with a cast (made in Canada, of course). I was trying out a new ladder at home because the old one was too narrow for me due to balance issues. So I climbed a few steps higher, thinking I could finally reach the ceiling to change light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries, which I now can, but I was a little too close to the ceiling fan, which was running at full speed. Damn did that hurt! Even once it heals, my new cat loves to sit in my lap and get petted and scratched, so I'll be typing one-handed for a while. :-)

Get well soon.
Dirk

These days, whenever I encounter a word whose exact definition I've never read, especially words that I use from time to time, I like to look them up. Here's the definition for apoplexy, although not the only one: unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke.
All that from a few capitalized nouns, huh? :-)
And the lives of scullery maids were Shit!

>>Will AI read one chapter of a book and advise me helpfully about arc, plot or character development?
Based on my experience using Gemini for a variety of detailed conversations, I think it might surprise you. :-)

And legitimate publishers will no doubt use AI analysis to help them decide whether to publish legitimate works or not. Makes me wonder how many classics would have received a thumbs down. Assuming a publisher does decide to publish someone's book, they can use the same analysis to help specify what changes the publisher wants from the author.

>>Or they're lulled to sleep and get a shock at the end. 'Connor's the AC?!?!'
Nobody would be surprised by that, would they? :-)

I read a bit about the Children's Crusade. Ugh! Many of them sold into slavery. The depravity of the human race knows no bounds, although slavery was a part of society long before that crusade (and still is). Converting your enemy through non-violent means sounds a little like what Pope Nnamani has in mind to retake the Vatican.

I had that age range in mind, although the whole idea of doing so really is just to further the plans of the Unholy Trinity: Connor takes over the Church, kicks out any uncooperative clergymen, and begins to pull together the "Lambs of the Lord" to do "Christ's bidding." Of course, since he bails on Satan halfway through book two, the Lambs never get off the ground.

Some refinements of the story:

- the real Last Challenge, where Connor decides at whom to throw the dagger, Christ or Satan, remains unchanged
- the fake Last Challenge, which is a part of the conspiracy, is that Satan supposedly bet God that the Church would be so corrupt by the End Times that God would be unable to find even one priest worthy of Heaven
- the role of the Holy Emissary, according to the Augustine letter, is therefore to cleanse the Church of corruption before the Final Judgement, become the Last Vicar of Christ, replace the clergy with children (child priests & priestesses), and then dispatch them to every corner of Creation to deliver the Lord’s urgent final call for all to seek refuge from the coming storm in the sheltering arms of the Church, led by Connor
- ostensibly, the reason Christ picked a teenager as the Holy Emissary is that he wanted someone innocent and incorruptible to lead the child priests & priestesses (imagine Connor as innocent and incorruptible, lol); it nicely explains why Christ chose him, though
- the reason Satan and his minions supposedly want Connor either dead or a servant of evil is that the Holy Emissary would essentially guarantee that God will win the (fake) Last Challenge since child priests & priestesses are all (or mostly all) worthy of Heaven; it would totally blow Satan out of the water if it weren't all part of his plan
- the (revised) poison in the Antichrist's dagger is supposed to be one that turns the victim into a servant of evil, which is what Connor will supposedly be fighting throughout his Holy Land trip; I'll probably punt all of the complexity of initially withholding the dagger from Connor, then giving it to him because Romano is desperate, then Connor feels better but becomes megalomaniacal, then is cured at the Sea of Galilee; instead, Connor's descent into evil will be a gradual thing from the beginning of the trip onward until he's cured in the water
- the above ties together Connor's supposed role (Holy Emissary) with his secret role, and allows him to purge the Church of real priests and replace them with children, whom Satan wants Connor to corrupt because they're easier to lead (astray) than real priests
- with the added focus on children in later books, I think the target audience could expand to include younger readers too (down to at least age fourteen if not a bit younger), which is something I always wanted. It's why I used corporeals instead of demon-possessed humans as the Star Wars-like stormtroopers of the story (they can't hit the broad side of a barn, they exist to be shot, and no one living is actually "seen" to die during shootouts); the only rather gross part is that corporeals dissolve into nasty remains when the demons flee the corpses; they'll even have the ability to allow their faces to melt while running at their shooter to terrify them (whenever Detective Campagna does the shooting)
- since Connor is no longer pretending to be Christ, very little (nothing?) will happen in book one that contradicts the Bible, so no more need to explain any of that away (no alternate timelines or any equally dissatisfying complexity); and once the conspiracy is revealed, there's nothing to explain away anyway
- these changes nicely streamline key elements of the story and tie them together much better and more believably than in the first draft; yay!

Hi Dagny.

Thanks for clarifying. You're not the only one who has used AI to help with reviews. If it wasn't for the potential copyright issue associated with the AIs keeping and reusing copies of our inputs, I think it would be a great way to augment our reviews (eg, do the inline stuff ourselves, then run it through an AI to see if it has anything useful to add to the closing comments). Our long-term members have the experience to know if the advice is useful before including it in a review.

I believe Sol has an AI capability for members of the other site, although I have yet to try it.

Have a nice time, Bill. Do you plan to do any bull riding? :-)
Please say hello to Pam for me.

Thanks
Dirk

We're a bit late for that, don't you think? Try to find a piece of land, a river, a lake, a tree, a crop, an animal, a teabag(!), etc. that isn't contaminated by micro-plastics or other industrial pollutants.

Years ago, I thought about writing a story about some chemical/pollutant/GMO crop/etc. that causes all the men on Earth to become sterile. That eventually morphed into the faulty vaccine in Archangel Syndrome that brought civilization to its knees. Good thing too, as the world was running out of trees for toilet paper. A disaster of biblical proportions was narrowly averted thanks to Professor Elroy Winkley and his time travel equation: N=jc^2.

That's what those of us north of the border pray for - colder weather.

Another change I plan to make to book one is that, rather than Connor getting sick without the weapon initially, then seemingly fine once he has it, then megalomaniacal until he's cured at Capernaum, it would be a lot simpler if it was a simple progression from normal to evil to cured. But, that seems rather similar to Frodo and the One Ring, where Frodo grows sicker and more paranoid the longer he wears it, until the volcano when he finally puts it on, until Gollum frees Frodo of it by biting off his finger. In my case, two of my characters (Moses and Antonio) snatch the dagger away.

Key differences between the two are:
- Frodo was clearly a protagonist right from the beginning
- Connor is the hidden antagonist

- The One Ring is a supernatural weapon imbued with Sauron's evil, actively trying to get back to its master
- The dagger is also a supernatural weapon, which in theory, is demonic and created by the Antichrist to stab Connor and introduce a poison that will turn him into a servant of evil, so it seems evil throughout the book
- You don't learn until the end that it was actually created by God the Father for Connor to decide the Last Challenge; thus it's a holy weapon

- The One Ring cannot safely be worn by others and must be destroyed, which can only be done at Mount Doom
- The dagger was supposedly imbued with a spiritual poison in the first draft (which I may change to a more flexible "demonic" poison); it's something people can safely touch (Father Romano, Father Bianchi, and Connor all do so), and they're reluctant to destroy it because they don't know the impact on Connor
- In reality, the dagger cannot be destroyed

- Frodo actually fell under the spell of the ring
- Connor faked falling under the dagger's spell

- Frodo is freed of the ring at Mount Doom but never fully cured
- Connor is "cured" at Capernaum by swallowing water from the Sea of Galilee

- The One Ring is very important to the plot as it's evil and would allow Sauron to take physical form if he gets it, turning Middle Earth to darkness
- The dagger is far less important in book one as it merely determines if Connor falls under the spell of evil; granted the role of the Holy Emissary will be played up as very important, but as an unknown character biblically speaking, the Holy Emissary could fall to darkness, and the Second Coming with all its trimmings would still occur
- even once it's known that the dagger is a holy weapon, it's still not nearly as important to the overall plot as the One Ring, although a dagger that can maim Christ would be a big deal to my target audience, but that would only happen at the end of book three assuming it ever did

- I'm sure there are other differences, but given all of the above, I think I'm safe to simplify/streamline mine; and if not, that's what do-overs are for :-)

Before:
He whittled the end of a fallen branch with the Antichrist’s demonic dagger, recently used by one of that tyrant’s minions to stab Connor. Its addictive poison still flowed through his veins and sickened him, like withdrawal from the fangs of a powerful addiction, whenever he strayed too far from the heinous weapon. There could be no doubt it sought to master him.

After:
He whittled the end of a fallen branch with the Antichrist’s dagger, which the youth had come by honestly enough – from a stab wound to his gut. With the weapon’s poisonous tentacles spreading insidiously throughout his body, seeking to enslave him to evil, and with no known cure, his only hope now lay in finding the source of the healing energy in these lands before time ran out.