Althouse: "The big-picture reality is that many novels are poorly written."

April 3, 2026

"The big-picture reality is that many novels are poorly written."

"They can still succeed with readers because fiction, like music, is a forgiving art form. Just as a good song can have a groovy beat but a predictable melody, so a piece of fiction can work on some levels but not others. Partial success can be enough, as long as readers find something that moves them—suspense, beauty, realism, fantasy, even just a sympathetic protagonist in whom they can recognize themselves...."

Writes Joshua Rothman, in "Is It Wrong to Write a Book With A.I.? The nature of authorship isn’t as straightforward as it seems" (The New Yorker).

35 comments:

Dave Begley said...: AI could write a James Patterson novel in 15 minutes.; 4/3/26, 8:05 AM
Dave Begley said...: When I was at the Eighth Circuit conference hanging with federal judges and Justice Bret Kavanaugh, a Kirkland & Ellis lawyer wrote a legit cert petition in 15 minutes.; 4/3/26, 8:07 AM
imTay said...: What Dave said, and as far as I am concerned, AI can do the reading too.

What really hurts people who want to write novels is that they simply won't be heard. It doesn't keep anybody from writing a great novel, but if somebody does write a great novel today, it's like a perfect snowflake in a blizzard. Who is ever going to find it?

I see novelists whining on book-tube that they can't get heard, well, that's part of the whole scheme of being an artist, the great ones often are not recognized until after their death, and often live in poverty. The number of writers who live comfortable lives with secure reputations has always been tiny.

Chattering robots overproduce content, chattering classes hardest hit.; 4/3/26, 8:12 AM
Justabill said...: The Butlerian Jihad is sounding better every day; 4/3/26, 8:13 AM
tommyesq said...: It is wrong to say you wrote a book if you wrote it with AI.; 4/3/26, 8:14 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Maybe someday AI will be able to explain whether some particular episode of a TV series is subpar or whether it's just my mood.; 4/3/26, 8:16 AM
Aggie said...: Who gets the royalties?; 4/3/26, 8:19 AM
Achilles said...: Justabill said...

The Butlerian Jihad is sounding better every day

I told you all.

We have a few months to pull the trigger on this. Or not.; 4/3/26, 8:41 AM
ChrisC said...: I am reading "The Magic Mountain" now. A million monkeys banging on a million typrewriters for a thousand years could write this novel before AI could write anything close to it..; 4/3/26, 8:43 AM
tommyesq said...: Also, under current US policy (and policy of much of the rest of the world), the AI-created book is not subject to copyright protection and can be freely copied. As such, you would have great difficulty finding someone willing to publish it.; 4/3/26, 8:46 AM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: are we approaching AI self-publish?; 4/3/26, 9:13 AM
n.n said...: Ghost writers?; 4/3/26, 9:22 AM
William said...: It's a fact that some great writers are not very good writers. There's nothing luminous or graceful about Theodore Dreiser's prose, but Sister Carrie is a great novel. Russians say that Dostoevsky handles their language clumsily......I think AI will eventually be able to produce a reasonable facsimile of a good novel, but one likes to think that great novels touch upon the divine and are not within the grasp of AI.; 4/3/26, 9:29 AM
John henry said...: Tommyesq

Amazon kdp will publish and market anything you write at no charge.

My Amazon published book have made about 10 times the royalties of my trad (CRC Press) published book.

John Henry; 4/3/26, 9:31 AM
John henry said...: When I published my last book in filling out the info (description, bio, audience etc) Amazon wanted to know how much AI went into it.

Didn't affect publication and didn't have to be disclosed in the book. Seemed to be for Amazon's internal use.

All my books can be purchasyvia via Ann's Amazon portal.

John Henry; 4/3/26, 9:38 AM
John henry said...: I remember Hilary going around saying "the book that I wrote" about it takes a village.

I thought it a wierd construction since everyone knew it was ghost written.

Most pols will talk about "My book" and nobody expects they wrote it. (Hoover and TR are 2 exceptions)

So if I use AI to write a book for me, is it any different from using a ghost writer?

John Henry; 4/3/26, 9:44 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: I agree with the person upthread. If Drieser could write popular novels, AI can.; 4/3/26, 10:54 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: You could probably feed an AI something like the Rex stout books (there are 40 or so) and the AI could probably write a good Nero Wolfe mystery. OTOH, look at what happens when TV/Movie writers try to do prequels and sequels, it never come off very well. GOT's basically went in garbage can once R.R. Martin's books were filmed.

Basically, if its something mediocre, AI could probably do it. I think most Norman Lear comedies were written by AI, we just didn't know it.; 4/3/26, 10:58 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: But when it comes to great novels, even the authors cant duplicate their success. So I doubt AI can.; 4/3/26, 11:01 AM
Lazarus said...: Alexandre Dumas and Edward Stratemeyer died too soon. Bill Shatner is probably kicking himself for having to pay actual people to write the books published under his name.

AI will become a tool for novelists. You can already buy Novel Factory ® software to help you write your novel. AI just goes a few steps farther. Writers will become editors who give AI an idea or outline and then improve and polish AI's output. This will more or less become an open secret in genre fiction and a top secret secret in literary fiction. It would clear the air a bit if all literary novelists admitted using AI so that the first writer caught doing it wouldn't be hit with a scandal.; 4/3/26, 11:14 AM
narciso said...: So the count of montecristo clocks at just under 3,000 pages; 4/3/26, 12:06 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: AI can write in the style of celebrated authors like James Joyce. That way, if you don't enjoy the gibberish, you're just not sophisticated enough to appreciate AI greatness, just like the real thing. AI can crank out bloated, disjointed, and exhausting text with a barely coherent plot -- just ask for 250,000+ words and you'll have the new Ulysses or its AI equivalent.; 4/3/26, 12:20 PM
james said...: “It was only an 'opeless fancy,
It passed lika an Ipril dye,
But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred
They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye!'

They sye that time 'eals all things,
They sye you can always forget;
But the smiles an' the tears across the years
They twist my 'eart-strings yet!”; 4/3/26, 2:24 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I think that this is stupid. I read what I read. Have doe so for over 60 (out of 75) years now. And K-21, read what I was assigned. Most of what I was assigned was dreadful. And I can’t remember the last time I read a best seller - esp after learning how those lists are manipulated. Most of those are junk anyway.

I never did understand what went into quality writing. Mostly, English class was where the stupid girls could brown nose As. Like I said, I thought most of it was drek.

It’s not that I don’t read. I do. Voluminously. Bad weeks, maybe 3 books. Normal weeks - 5 books. Good weeks, 7 and more. Even through law school.

So, am I worried about having fewer Great Novels available because of AI? No!; 4/3/26, 2:48 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Yes, AI could write the bad part's of Ulysses. And since most people can't figure it out - almost all of Finigans wake. But the Dubliners? Nope.; 4/3/26, 3:28 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Dumas had co-writers. He was an idea man.; 4/3/26, 3:29 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: When does AI start doing standup comedy?; 4/3/26, 3:30 PM
MadisonMan said...: So many mystery novels are already essentially the same plot: Plucky young woman with heartbreak in her past inherits (or buys) a book store or bakery or coffee shop or garden center in a quaint town (usually with a big tourist season). There is a stunning young man with piercing blue (or green) eyes and wavy hair and sparks are flying. A murder occurs and our plucky heroine solves things while simultaneously finding real danger. I'm sure AI could do just as well as many paperback authors.; 4/3/26, 3:59 PM
narciso said...: Its like with stuart woods (who has become tedious); 4/3/26, 4:30 PM
Not Illinois Resident said...: EIther I'm getting old, or they're just no writing novels worth a long quiet read. Every week I go to our library's New Book section, try to find two promising books to read. Seems I'm only enjoying the newer live-action espionage books at this point, and annoyed by what passes for novelistic literature these days. But enjoyed reading Lionel Shriver's most recent plot-driven timely but opinionated novel.; 4/3/26, 6:03 PM
Ampersand said...: I, on the other hand, enjoyed reading Lionel Shriver's most recent plot-driven timely AND opinionated novel. A Better Life; 4/3/26, 6:20 PM
loudogblog said...: There's a difference between writing a book with AI and a book written by AI.; 4/3/26, 8:40 PM
Rustygrommet said...: It certainly explains Stephen King. Unfortunately he equates volume with intellect.; 4/4/26, 6:55 AM
JAORE said...: "When does AI start doing standup comedy?"

A Priest, a Rabbi and a Methodist Minister with six fingers on his left hand walk into a bar....; 4/4/26, 12:00 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: What is it they say about AI authorship? A book you can't be bothered to read, because nobody could be bothered to write it. The interest in AI writing novels is just another illustration of our efficiency-loving, conveyor-belt society. One of the peculiarities of reading is that the role of the author in the reader’s mind is an element of the experience.

It can be an extraordinary feeling, to be captivated by a story and know that it is the result of the eccentricities of one person’s mind and their dedication to an idea.

Reading is relational.; 4/4/26, 5:34 PM