Do we ever stop to think?

If ever there was a prescient term for the times we now live in, it’s GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

First mentioned in the 1950s, it is essentially the concept of consuming flawed or biased information resulting in a similar flawed output or thought process; or, in modern-day terms, if you consume enough shit, your mind will be nothing but shit, spewing shit all the day long.

These days, we consume garbage on an industrial scale via computers, and that tiny, addictive little machine almost all of us have: your smartphone. Garbage is forced down our throats whenever we access a search engine (look folks, have we got a banal story for you!), clickbait that is more Max Headroom than max knowledge. Social Media loves to slop it into our minds as we search for the next Dua Lipa song, as we watch basketball highlights and swipe for trailers for the next big thing. 

But don’t kid yourselves, you search for this crap just as much as it’s thrust upon you.

Like fast food and sugary snacks, the more we feed on information garbage, the happier we think we are. Which is also garbage. We’re not happy, we’re no less addicted than that poor slob who does no exercise but consumes chocolate bars by the ton and sugary drinks by the gallon. The difference is, we’re rotting our brains more than we’re rotting our teeth or hearts. Which, when you think about it, is no different to the slob. 

Yeah, we’re information slobs, and there’s more of us than you think, me included.

No stranger to emotions and mental health, it became obvious to me that if I wanted to write again, I needed to get into shape, like the road runner picking up his shoes again after years off that tarmac mile. And a writing career - a good writing career - is as much about being mentally and physically healthy as it is about being a good writer. You don't get given those writing chops, you develop them, from graft, from the Art and from being physically able to do the Art.

So recently, I decided to get my mind into shape by ditching most search engines, putting app timers on those I can’t completely do without, and training myself out of the habit of clicking because they’ve baited me with an interesting headline (which are most often misleading). Now I don't click because of a good picture, or by announcing something controversial. I give most news headlines the scepticism they deserve. (And, many news vendors are resorting to clickbait these days, ones I used to have respect for - they are all at it; garbage bylines, peddling rubbish that has no respectful place).

So, begone trash-media! You have no value here! And while this discipline has driven out really bad, modern habits, it's replaced them with much healthier and more positive behaviours.

Now I’m reading more books, fiction and non-fiction, and learning more because of it. I'm playing fewer games designed to waste my time, watching fewer things that offer nothing to the world beyond a shrug and a momentary sugary treat of distraction.

And I’m happier. My mind feels healthier. 

The internet wasn't designed to be the biggest waste of life in human history, even if that's what it's turned into. It was meant to, with moderation, expand our minds with pure knowledge, not fill them with garbage. The sooner we, as a society, realise that, the happier we can be.

And we can, trust me. I’m not a doctor. I don’t need to be.

You just need to use your common sense to see that if you only consume garbage, then that’s all you’ll ever be.

We all make mistakes, I don't need an algorithm to tell me that

Last year, I shared a post where I showed how I was using Co-pilot to prototype book covers that would serve as inspiration and reference for my writing.

Since doing that, I discovered my mistake. 

Why? Well, I stopped doing that thing I really enjoy in the early development of projects: sketching out scenes and characters, to inspire and enrich. 

~

As a kid, I loved to idle away time doodling and drawing. I have notebooks full of that stuff from the age of eight until now. As a kid, in the absence of capable writing skills, I drew poster art for movies I wanted to write and direct. I have many colourful memories of myself as a boy, sitting in a sports hall in Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre, drawing A4 posters of art while my mum was doing her aerobics classes. Good, inspiring times, listening to 80s pop whilst drawing the next 80s blockbuster movie!

As an adult, I drew covers for The Secret War and Sandcastles on the Moon because they also inspired me, but in a different way; they acted as an incentive to finish, a milestone to reach out for. (And they were helpful when the publisher asked for recommendations for book covers later on, but more of that in a future post.)

~

But you know what else I've discovered? AI isn't a substitute for my sketches at all, because it only provides a facsimile of what I want, a facsimile that I have to iterate over and over to get even close to my vision. 

Co-pilot couldn't replicate my imagination. It could not translate my thoughts into a picture.

Yeah, you can argue that when I sketch, that translation is limited by my own skills (I have an eye, but I'm no genius!), and time (shouldn't I be spending this time writing words on a page, not drawing?). That doesn't mean it's any worse than AI, or any less of an investment than the writing. Sometimes, obvious shortcuts are not the best. Just ask the wolf in Red Riding Hood. Sure, he gets there first, but what if he hadn't? He might have been around to eat another day!

My own work is raw. I'm a sketcher, not a painter. I'm not an artist in the classical sense, and I don't think I can turn professional. For example, this is the sketch I drew a couple of weeks ago, for a current project:

It's rough, it's pencil, and it's raw. But it's me. 

I also generated this in Co-pilot:

It's more finished, skilled and refined. 

But it's not me. And it doesn't inspire because of that. 

The pencil sketch above is a first draft, not intended to be the final result (even if there is one, because I'm not Jean Cocteau, or Clive Barker, folks - I'm not that skilled!). But it serves as an important reference for me, a reminder of what my stories are about (and they are about me, what inspires, what I hope for, what I fear). What's important is that AI will never truly understand that, even though it's trying its best to. It doesn't have emotional intelligence; it just copies what it thinks are emotions. It's a fraud, at best.

So it can't inspire.

What's also important is that I still get a kick out of drawing, even if I'm not the most skilful. My mistake is that inspiration can come from many corners, be they natural, supernatural or human. 

They don't come from algorithms or formulas. 

That's not Art.

No, you can't steal my shit

More eagle-eyed viewers, and I hope scrapers, will notice that I've included wording on the website stating that if anyone uses my words, either printed or digital, without my consent, I will skull-fuck them sue them.

There's currently a battle in the courts about copyright and fair use, where Artists are fighting for their lives against greedy mother-fuckers who wouldn't understand creativity if they dumped into the toilet. I am, like others, watching this with bemusement, thinking, how did we get there?

But I'm also thinking that publishing and artists need to change their own models. If Art and Artists need to self-preserve, then they need to consider leaving the digital world behind and becoming physically exclusive. Perhaps an end to eBooks for publishing houses, perhaps no more digital galleries of art or photographs?

Tracy Savage is an example of a great artist who has had enough of those greedy fcukers, and she restricts reproductions of her art online. Good for her. I wish others would do that too. 

After all, it's harder for someone to steal ones shit, when you've got hold of it. And the World Wide Web is no longer a safe pair of hands. Sure, use it to wave your own and tell people to come over. Get 'em to be curious, but maybe we need to be more wary and savvy of the perils of Digital?

I am 50

Last year I turned 50.

It's a natural time to reflect on the things and moments that shape you. And these days I tend to focus on the good rather than the bad.

Over on BlueSky, I've posted a thread of 50 things that made me the writer and creator I am, the ingredients that are the most important to me.

You can view these influences here: https://bsky.app/hashtag/Iam50

And Happy New Year to you all - may it be a prosperous one in all that you do.

Throwbook Thursdays Issue 1

Look!

There!

Up on the floor!

Is it a throw! Yes!

Is it a book! Oh yes!

Then it's Throwbook Thursdays!

So there you go, no more explanation is needed. Except to say, here's the first book on the list, perhaps the most-read book in my collection (I think I musta read it a gazillion times as a teenager).

For £4.99, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction contained more sensible advice than any writing courses, degrees, etc. that I paid for/enrolled in/attended in all my years. Do you want writing advice from Ray Bradbury? You got it! Dean R. Koontz? Absolutely. Ramsey Campbell? Are you kidding? Sure! And so many more. 

Any budding SF, Horror, or Fantasy authors should track this down where they can. Like all the Throwbook Thursdays, these books are no longer in print. They are treasures to hunt down where you can, unearth and dust off, and covet. Throwbacks, yes, but when you think so many amazing books are out-of-print, and only remembered by those privileged 80s or 90s readers, then there's a lot of you out there that are missing out.

Each week I'll post another throwbook here and on Bluesky. If you like, comment on Bluesky, and if I can help you track down a copy, even better!