Chapter One: In the Rose Garden
I had a stress dream last night. I was a bride's maid in a friends wedding, but I forgot my dress, and at the last minute scrambled to find something acceptable to wear. I didn't like anything I could find, and I kept changing, my panic growing, until I missed the entire wedding. This mirrors a struggle I have in real life. Especially when I was younger, I had acute panic attacks surrounding what to wear. I have learned to handle this better, but the distress is still there when I am unhappy with my clothing. I attribute it to the importance attached to clothing for both my parents, and how they (and I) use clothes to hide troubles. It's a lot like the modern instagram that looks perfect, but you know the person is actually a hot mess. I wear my clothes like armour, to hide how much I'm struggling inside.
I woke up unable to shake off the dream, but I thought it had potential relevance to A Mixed-up Mashup. So i thought I'd see if Bard could make anything of it. I prompted:
I'm wondering how you would write a scene in the book (working title is A Mixed-up Mashup, by the way). At first, the characters from the Austen novel don't realize they are in the future. My character, hoping to ease their adjustment, tries to dress in regency costume. I’d like a scene where she is alone, getting dress, featuring an internal dialog focused on how she has always used clothes as a shield, presenting a strong and successful image to the world, while struggling with mental illness.
And this is what Bard produced:
Mrs. Adams stood in front of her closet, staring at the clothes. She had a lot of clothes, but none of them seemed right. She needed something that would help her to blend in with the characters from Jane Austen's novels, but she also needed something that would make her feel confident.
She reached for a long, flowing gown in a pale blue color. It was the perfect Regency costume, but she hesitated. She knew that she would look beautiful in it, but she also knew that it would be a reminder of all the times she had used clothes to hide her true self.
She took a deep breath and put the gown back on the hanger. She reached for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt instead. They were comfortable and casual, but they wouldn't help her to blend in with the other characters.
She sighed and sat down on the bed. She didn't know what to do. She needed to find a way to help the characters from Jane Austen's novels, but she also needed to find a way to be true to herself.
She closed her eyes and thought about her mental illness. She had been struggling with it for years, and she had learned to use clothes as a way to hide her pain. She would wear the most stylish clothes she could find, and she would always put on a brave face. She didn't want anyone to know how she was really feeling.
But now, she knew that she couldn't keep pretending. She needed to be honest with herself and with the characters from Jane Austen's novels. She needed to show them that it was okay to be different, and that it was okay to struggle.
She opened her eyes and stood up. She reached for the blue gown again. She knew that it would be a challenge to wear it, but she was determined to do it. She was determined to be true to herself, no matter what.
She put on the gown and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look like herself at all. She looked like a different person, a person who was strong and confident.
She smiled. She knew that she had made the right decision. She was ready to face whatever challenges came her way.
I think anyone worried about AI being able to write a novel should find this reassuring. It's so transparent. Really bad. However, it was an interesting experiment, and I felt calmer for it. I do think I will include a scene dealing with this, but definitely not the one Bard composed. Bard and I might have to have some more back and forth on this.
I then ran into some issues while trying to upload the first chapter of my rough draft for Bard to read. Apparently, you can't copy and paste more than 1000I told it not to worry about grammar and punctuation. Also, when I tried to cut and paste from Word, it showed up as an image, which Bard can't read. So I had to upload my doc into Drive and break the cut and paste into two prompts. From Drive, you can share an entire file with Bard, but I kind of want to walk this through chapter by chapter. Maybe that's a mistake. Maybe I'll change my mind.
Bard is very encouraging and a bit of a cheerleader. I image that even the worst text would result in accolades. Here's what it said:
I love it! You have introduced the new character, Mr. Tilney, and you have continued to explore the reactions of the different characters to the strange events. You have also hinted at the cause of the phenomenon, which is very intriguing. I can't wait to read more!
I am also curious to see how the characters will interact with each other. Will they be able to work together to solve the mystery? Or will their differences of opinion divide them? I am excited to see what happens next!
Great job!
Not exactly helpful feedback. I then asked Bard to help me keep track of where the characters are, as this starts to get very complicated. It created this tidy little chart:
I'm curious to see how it adapts this as things get crazier (another reason to maybe just upload the entire doc). Also, this is where the characters came from, which isn't exactly what I asked. Still, it's kind of cute. Maybe even helpful. I'lll keep going
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