Chenqing 100

the first in a series of guest posts by Rascal Hartley.

editor’s note: Duck Prints Press is highly anti-gen-AI in all usages, but we recognize it’s very easy to say “don’t do that” and very hard, for people who have gotten used to using a tool, to actually stop. That is the spirit behind this series of posts: not simply “don’t do that,” but a concrete guide for people who have gotten into the habit of using generative AI to do their heavy lifting and want to stop but aren’t sure how to do so. We encourage people who have not ever used generative AI to continue to not do so, but also, we want to arm people who have used this tool and no longer want to with the tools and supports they need to stop. We recognize that “just stop” is rarely helpful advice for people habituated to a poor practice, and that is the why we are making these posts. You, person using genAI who doesn’t want to but isn’t sure how to break away: you can quit. And these posts can help.

Hi! I’m glad you’re here.

I want to start off by removing some of the overwhelm of approaching writing on your own. Writing can feel like a huge beast to tackle, but it isn’t. I promise it isn’t. It can be broken down into steps, and, if we’re being honest, sometimes you can skip some of them. It all boils down to what is needed to tell the story you want to tell.

That is not to say that this will be easy, but it is possible.

Let me assure you, firstly, that perfect grammar and spelling are not required. Editors exist for a reason, and the reason is that the burden does not fall to you. All you have to do is write. We will cover basic editing in a later blog, but for this one, I really just want to hammer home one point:

It should not be perfect.

Writing feels overwhelming because there is so much to do, and “all of it needs to be done to a certain standard” only makes it harder. But it doesn’t need to be. To repurpose a line from one of my favorite fanfics (that link will take you to Bilbo/Thorin smut, just fyi), “There is no room for perfection in a good story.”

AI makes (mostly) technically correct works. It makes them “good enough,” and it makes them fast. The result is there soon after you have the idea. That’s pretty hard to beat. Every writer I know has expressed the wish to just take an idea from their head and transpose it instantly onto paper, which makes the anti-AI stances seem kinda hypocritical, right?

Except I don’t want someone else’s words on that paper. If I did, I’d hire a ghost writer. I want my own words there. And if you’re here, I think you do, too. If you’re here, you have a story worth telling, and you want to tell it yourself. And that is scary. Stepping away from the easy way to do things the way they should be done is really, really scary.

But that’s okay.

We’ll do it scared.

Over this blog series, I’m aiming to guide you in going from idea to finished draft. But bear in mind that, though you’re not using AI to do it, you’re not doing it alone. There is a wonderful community of writers out there who will cheer you on and offer help. Rope in your friends, your pets, and your rubber ducky (seriously, THE best writing companion you could have) and remind yourself that you CAN write a story.

After all, we’re humans. We invented stories.

1. What are you currently reading?

• Soul Vibration vol. 1 by Dr. Solo: I knew basically nothing about this going on, and it's decent so far. I usually struggle with things this slow-paced but there's something compelling on it, and I can't even put my finger on what, because it's also very slow burn, which is usually off-putting to me. I think it helps that the mc is appealingly optimistic. This is a modern danmei, about a rock star and his fan-turned-fellow-musician-turned-personal-assistant. The book also claims they are both straight and calls it straight x straight romance. I think perhaps I have a different definition of straight than anyone else involved; it's looking more like a case of "heterosexual except for that vein of demisexual same-sex attraction"
• Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot 6) by Martha Wells: it's a crime that I have to do things other than listen to more murderbot, tho coming off 5, which was very deep, long, and compelling, this so far feels... less. Idk about plot-order reasons, but I think "suffering by comparison with the more in-depth one" is definitely a reason to change the read order. Oh well.
• 天官赐福 revised vol. 1 by 墨香铜臭: crossed 40% through volume 1! Which means I've covered the equivalent plot of all of the official English vol. 1, plus a little.
• Chicago Manual of Style 18th Ed.: I'm back at reading this, finally, after a six-month hiatus. As of last night, I've finished all the pre-matter and am actually in the parts that are about grammar (instead of being about the publishing industry).

2. What have you recently finished reading?

• Tailhook by La Rive Gauche: all in all, I liked this modern danmei BL. It wasn't great, but it also wasn't bad. I'm curious about The Approach, from the same author and set in the same 'verse.
• The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan: aside from a little wonky pacing related to how the mc learns about her powers, I really liked this novella. It was a very quick read, and had a lot of interesting things to say about diaspora and queer Chinese history.
• Network Effect (Murderbot 5) by Martha Wells: well, that was excellent.
• Caramel by Puku Okuyama: modern BL with a big age difference (28 year old with an 18 year old)... it was... fine. The older one was a controlling jerk, idk, I think I'd have told the 18 year old to run away from the red flags 
• Honey Smile by Yura Miyazawa: unmemorable volume containing two modern BL stories with overlapping characters; I really liked the first one but was much more meh on the titular one.
• Daemons of the Shadow Realm vol. 3 and 4 by Hiromu Arakawa
• A Nightingale Awaits the Blooming Love of Spring by Nayuta Nago: a simple teacher/student modern BL that I rather enjoyed.
• Bedtime Fairy Tales vol. 1 by Yu Ci: the last of the danmei manhua released by Rosmei, this is off to an interesting start as a gothic fantasy about a demon hunter, the demon he's cursed to carry, and the guy who is in love with the demon he's cursed to carry (at least I think that's what he feels) who is also now the demon hunter's partner.
• My Isekai Life vol. 17 by Ponjea and Shinkoshoto
• Kagurabachi vol. 8 by Takeru Hokazono
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 26 by Fuse

3. What are you planning to read next?

Returning all my library books and not getting new ones, plus clearing the decks of most of my Libby loans, has freed me up to be more of a mood reader for manga, which I think is better for my brain. That makes it harder to say what I'll read next, as a lot be "whatever queer manga is in my Libby TBR, is available immediately from one of my libraries, and catches my eye," but with that in mind...

Novels: Soul Vibration is three volumes so that'll keep me occupied for a bit.

Physical graphic novels: if the mood strikes me, I've been planning to reread Mysterious Lewellyn's Candlelit Dinner (now that I have all six volumes), Moriarty the Patriot (my mom got into and bought all the volumes, including volume 20, which I didn't even know existed, as far as I knew 19 was the end, so I haven't read 20 yet but I want to reread first), and From Far Away (one of my all-time favorite shoujo series, and I've been watching the new anime of it coming out; I own all 14 volumes). All of these are things I own, tho, not from the library, so I have no specific time frame).

Libby loans: nothing is due in under a week, but That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime vol. 27 and My Isekai Life vol. 18 are both due in 8 days so presumably both of those.