Our brains are melting
a prompt to spark your imagination
this week’s prompt:
Write a dystopian scene, story, poem, or song.
Happy writing!
Pitches and Submissions
Prompted is always open to pitches from writers with something to say about the creative process, creative routines, creativity, or really anything mildly writing-related — including reported pieces and interviews. Got something a little offbeat and weird? Awesome.
musings
Genuinely, what the fuck are we doing letting AI run rampant? I understand why corporations are all for it, but I’m baffled by all the regular folks going to bat for what amounts to widespread creative theft.
Aside from the moral dubiousness of training AI on creative work without the permission of authors, can we also talk briefly about how dumb AI is making people?
Lately, I’ve seen so many social media posts from people who say they asked AI to do this or that for them. In a very short span of time, it seems people are relying heavily on AI to do just about anything that requires a modicum of thought.
This week, I saw one Twitter user rave about how AI was able to design their living room. People, they fed it an image and what it spat back out was just a tidier version of the same room. And yet, people were losing their shit over its “abilities.”
Of course, AI will only get smarter and better at doing what it’s doing, and we’re collectively going to get dumber and dumber. And I’m not talking book smarts here. I’m talking about a complete loss of critical thinking. And that to me is even more terrifying than AI stealing creative work.
Because creative theft has always been around. And artists will continue to do art and fight for their right to create.
But the death of critical thinking will doom us all.
things that caught my eye
Recommended reading this week: The Writer’s Union of Canada stance on artificial intelligence
🎩 Can Simon & Schuster Become the A24 of Books? — via The Cut.
🦹 How is Meta Getting Its Hands on Advance Digital Galleys to Train AI? — via LitHub.
⭐What Canadian Books are Popular Right Now? Check Out This Week’s Bestsellers — via CBC.
✏️ Waterston Desert Writing Prize — submissions open until May 1, 2025 at 11:59PM PST.
📚 Adult Education is Critical for Success. Here’s How Libraries Can Help — via Library Journal.
💰How Counter-Tarrifs Could Make It Harder to Support Canadian Books — via CBC.
🧩(My favorite puzzle book series is being turned into a TV series!? Weird, but OK!) ‘Murdle’ TV Series Based on Murder Mystery Puzzles in Works at Amazon From Legendary — via Deadline.
✏️ Banff Writing Residency for new writers of YA and Children’s Books — Application deadline June 4, 2025.
deadlined stuff from previous weeks
✏️ Fractured Lit Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize — submissions open until April 14, 2025.
✏️ Call for submissions from the League of Canadian Poets for poetry reflecting the theme of Love Loves Our Loving for an upcoming chapbook. Deadline Tuesday, April 25, 2025.
✏️ Applications Open for 2025 Writers-in-Exile Humber Scholarship (applicants must be members of PEN Canada’s Writers in Exile program) — Deadline June 2, 2025.
open submission calls
✏️ Cursed Morsels has a submission call for single-author horror and weird fiction short story collections by BIPOC writers only. Open until 2026 calendar is filled.
✏️ Seize the Press is looking to publish dark speculative fiction, strict 7,500 word limit.
✏️ Okay Donkey is open to poetry and flash fic submissions, no deadline but there’s a monthly cap on free submissions.
i hope your weekend words spill out effortlessly, like pollen tumbling from newly opened spring flowers.
artwork by Angela Miklos Creative