“Instantly Rewrite With AI | Rewrite With Ease Quickly rewrite sentences for essays, emails, articles, and more. 97% of Grammarly users report that it is their favorite writing tool.”
If I have learned anything in my career it is that nobody — nobody — writes anything very well in one go. True, when writing a novel now and again I’ll write a passage, a line, which doesn’t require a rewrite — but truly, that is rare. Good writing requires all but universal rewriting. A lot of it. So, when the message above appeared on my computer screen I took notice.
Mind, I use the spell/grammar checker built into my computer. I also use Grammarly. How do I use these programs?? When I am close to submitting the first draft of a novel I put the text through these programs. In so doing I catch misspellings, word omissions, and beyond all else, my placement of commas, which is not my strong point. I never use these programs to rewrite my text. I am willing — wanting — to stand or fall by my own work.
Regarding revisions, one of my favorite Samuel Johnson stories goes like this:
BOSWELL: Sir, my friend has written a fine book with many splendid passages, but no publisher will take his book. What should he do?
JOHNSON: Tell your friend to remove all his splendid passages and he will sell his book.
To be sure, in the process of working on a book, there is a vital import from my editor who can (and usually does) call for major revisions and line changes, even small corrections. And, at some point the text is submitted to the keen eyes of a copy editor bringing forward further changes.
There has also been a long-standing tradition of the “ghostwritten” book, books put forth as written by celebrities or well-known public figures, but in fact written by someone else. Here is one such famous example set forth by Wikipedia:
“Trump: The Art of the Deal is a 1987 book credited to Donald J. Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz. Part memoir and part business advice book, it was the first book credited to Trump, and it helped to make him a household name. It reached number 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, stayed there for 13 weeks, and altogether held a position on the list for 48 weeks.
Trump cited it as one of his proudest accomplishments and his second-favorite book after the Bible. Schwartz called writing the book his “greatest regret in life, without question,” and both he and the book’s publisher, Howard Kaminsky, alleged that Trump had played no role in the actual writing of the book. Trump has personally given conflicting accounts on the question of authorship.”
As for Grammarly’s offer to provide quick rewriting (“and more”) by way of AI, I am sure that in the not-too-distant future, a book will pop up on some best-selling list, which, after the fact, will be revealed to have been completely written by a computer. It will happen. I’m sure of it.
But I believe that each writer is unique and the writing that results is personal, conveying the writer’s individual vision, emotions, and understanding of life. No machine can match that. I never want it to.