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AI Might Swallow Us Whole, But Let It Be a Writer's Playground Until Then. Dr. Christine D. Allen, 10/7/2026 Playtime, Take 1: What Does AI Hear in Your Writing? What if you could hand your writing to a reader who had no agenda, no history with you, no reason to flatter you—and ask, "What do you hear in this?" Not whether it's good. Not whether it deserves to be published. Not even whether it's likable. Just: *What kind of voice is this?* That is one of the more interesting g

Image by Christine Allen; content from Roland Barthes, S/Z . Trans. Richard Miller. New York: Hill and Wang, 1974. (Not a rhetorical question. Please give me your thoughts of the subject if it's something you think about.) Most people read to relax. They want a readerly book--a whodunnit or a romance that satiates a hunger for story and curiosities while validating, or at least not conflicting with, their worldview. You'll find them browsing for romances or crime novels or ot

When my first book came out, I was elated. I thought certainly the good life had finally arrived. But there was trouble in my nest, and though it wasn’t my doing, the trouble very much complicated following up my good luck with effort to honor it. In fact, I would soon spend a lot of time in domestic-violence shelters and fighting a creative-writing department who found that beyond scandalous. Writing friends I cared for deeply disappeared, because I was of no use to anyone w