How an LLM helps me be creative

A listener, a playmate, a cleaner, a combatant

My credentials for saying what I’m about to say: I have two degrees in literature, one an MFA in poetry. I have published widely, as a poet, a literary critic, a magazine journalist, and a professional blogger. I have also worked professionally as an editor. I know writing.

That said, I use an LLM all the time as part of my creative process. My favorite new trick: I pull up the voice chat when walking my dog to talk over ideas or help me process what I think. I am primarily a verbal processor, so this is hugely valuable, and saves my friends lots of time listening to me prattle on. I feels like I have a thoughtful conversation partner, which makes it seem more “real.” The resulting transcript then contains my own words and some interesting stuff from the LLM, which I feed into my first draft and then clean up.

Another time-saving use for AI: A lot of my professional life involves Zoom calls. I use an AI notetaker to summarize and transcribe these calls. Then I pour these transcriptions into the LLM and play with prompts. One of my favorite uses is to ask it to tell a story based on the conversation, staying true to how people speak. I can ask for different storytelling patterns, to see how they feel. (For an example of a post started this way, see How am I not being clear?)

I will also play with structure of a post or ask the LLM to comment on whether I’m missing a related concept or piece of research. It’s also useful to query about main talking points or areas of dissent.

All of this requires editing, refinement, and critical thought, of course. Nothing I post comes straight from the LLM, because the prose it generates is typically joyless pablum filled with abstractions and empty words.

Not made with an LLM. That’s why it’s a little blurry, because I don’t want to spend the time trying to optimize the image. Truth.

I’m not sure it saves me any time, as I spend at least a couple of hours per post here. But it certainly helps me stay interested and engaged over time. These kinds of approaches free up my creative brain to think about the craft of writing, by saving me lots of time painstakingly transcribing interviews, journaling, or having conversations where I say brilliant things, only for them to be lost because of my cruddy memory. Perhaps this is particularly helpful for me because I live with ADHD, and slow, tedious processes kill my soul.

Make the LLM work for you, on your terms, in concert with your beautiful brain. I often tell it to shut up, stop giving me damn lists, and to quit interrupting me while I process verbally. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough!

(This post written without the aid of an LLM.)