Scientific Studies Applied to Literary Hits

[Monique GOLAY]

Some time ago I read something rather interesting regarding how scientific studies brought out what verbs are most used in literary hits (e.g. to remember) in contrast with flops (e.g. to want). I tried to find that study back but only fell on this link: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/10/key-hit-books-discovered-highly-successful-literature. It seems that literary hits bring out more the historicity of what has already been written in the text. You have that in music, too, as that is what I gathered from my acoustic guitar lessons. Pieces that have repetitions (without being repetitious as in rock "music") form the ear and get better appreciated.
Perhaps something to bear in mind.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Maybe that's what makes for the experience of 'resonance.'

 

[Monique GOLAY]

You have to be quite a physicist to be able to speak intelligently of the concept of resonance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh, do I? I am interested in physics, but I meant it in another sense of the word: this;

1. an underlying or pervasive quality of a particular type, esp. in a work of art or literature: an apocalyptic resonance

 

[Monique GOLAY]

zgloops

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I find this sort of thing worrying, as I can well believe that marketing types would use such software to coerce writers into doing their bidding. And what would happen if one's manuscript was fed into a computer to be edited in this way, with the carefully chosen words and phrases replaced by buzz words? I have problems enough battling inept spell-checkers and doltish Google search results - I did a search for a Millet painting recently, and half of the results showed Miley Cyrus exposing herself!
Apparently computers are being used to write novels. I chortled at the awful computer-generated poem in this article - http://uk.businessinsider.com/novels-written-by-computers-2014-11
That phrase 'you can be replaced' has sadly come true for many occupations with computer driven technology. But any artistic activity requires the human touch - don't you agree?

 

[Meerkat]

I find this sort of thing worrying, as I can well believe that marketing types would use such software to coerce writers into doing their bidding. And what would happen if one's manuscript was fed into a computer to be edited in this way, with the carefully chosen words and phrases replaced by buzz words? I have problems enough battling inept spell-checkers and doltish Google search results - I did a search for a Millet painting recently, and half of the results showed Miley Cyrus exposing herself!
Apparently computers are being used to write novels. I chortled at the awful computer-generated poem in this article - http://uk.businessinsider.com/novels-written-by-computers-2014-11
That phrase 'you can be replaced' has sadly come true for many occupations with computer driven technology. But any artistic activity requires the human touch - don't you agree?

Frightening, BUT I think there would be mass rebellion among artists of all stripes. Think the indie music scene--with mainstream music being little more than autotuned synth, actual musicians turned to making seriously real music.

For us writers, I would think those of us who aren't in it to be superstars or what have you would do the same, and should.

 

[Monique GOLAY]

My intuition is that computerized literature cannot be funny, humourous or ironic. At least, nothing in the quoted article, http://uk.businessinsider.com/novels-written-by-computers-2014-11, made me chuckle or really grasped my imagination. What worries me more is the possibility that computers may beat Go masters (the game of Go is a 4000-year old Chinese game a bit like Chess, except vaster, as the program Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1996; but no program has yet beaten a Go master). Putting such artificial intelligence into the hands of goverments may be worse still, if possible, than having put atomic and H bombs into their hands. Oh well, better laugh than cry. It inspires me to write a story about robots possessing such artificial intelligence in whose hands atomic bombs are given.

 

[Bernard Stacey]

It inspires me to write a story about robots possessing such artificial intelligence in whose hands atomic bombs are given.

Isn't that Terminator??

 

[Monique GOLAY]

Ah, there I go! Somebody has already had the idea before me. It's easier to have an idea than to fructify it, not only in literature, but also in sciences. There's a lot of idea stealing in physics. Miguel, a friend who taught physics at a college level, told me that the famous Isaac Newton litterally stole the ideas from an another fellow whose name I don't even know anymore.