June 2025 Links
Tolkien and cynical fantasy, the lack of male friendships, a wild writing process, and more. 8 links.
Signs that an article was written with ChatGPT. It’s easy to tell if you know what to look for, but most good writers instinctively know. The articles have a particular smell. I still haven’t been able to get any LLM to give me a single good paragraph, let alone an excellent one.
My experience has continually shown that readers want to connect with other people. They value an authentic voice, fresh with any chaos, typos, and the occasionally flawed opinion that person may have.
Do your best to write content that reflects who you are. Don’t fall into the trap of submitting the same cover letter 80 other candidates generated. And whatever you do, don’t ever use the word "delve".
Why GEO might be a fool’s errand. Just use words. The whole point of LLMs is so we can just use words to interact with a computer.
Optimizing with GEO reverse engineering tactics is like entering a house through a small attic window. GEO ignores that the research frameworks literally embedded in the outputs of the model are the keys to the front door.
The bridge between Tolkien and modern cynical fantasy. I had heard of Tad Williams’ epic. Now I might need to read it.
The Memory Sorrow Thorn series (1988-1993) is fantasy's missing link. It's the most successfully-achieved epic fantasy project done in the vein of Tolkien and it laid the foundations for the modern politically-savvy fantasy novel. This was a huge mistake.