7 Ideas On How Your Writing Can Stand Out Amid the AI Noise

I’ve given this final installment about all-human writers and AI much thought (if you missed the previous essays, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here). This post focuses on practical application: how all-human writers can stand out and find their readers amid the AI noise and what practical steps one might take to distinguish oneself.

This whole post was born from a running note in my phone that I’ve curated as I’ve come across podcasts and advice from industry professionals over the past year. I’ve added to it and mixed in my own thoughts so I apologize that I don’t have sources to site. Regardless, I hope you find it helpful and please share your own ideas in the comments!

This may seem obvious on the surface, after all, isn’t that what we’re all actively doing each time we sit down at our desks? But I think there are two parts to this. One, by letting out abilities grow with practice and two, by learning more about the craft of writing. Now is the time to hone your unique voice and become a connoisseur of sentences: their music, aesthetic, and of course, what they are communicating (more on this is a moment).

Why? Because AI sounds like anyone and everyone. It’s voice is generic, informative, crisp, and confident. I screen shotted this nothing burger of an article from The Economic Times (conspicuously citing no author in the title, fyi) to remind you exactly what AI sounds like on any given day.

Now that we’ve all had the opportunity to yawn and feel smug over this repeated and expository list of nouns and blasé phrases, we can rest assured that we can do exceedingly better. Lean into your voice, follow your curiosity, and read, read, read! Great literature, particularly classic novels and poetry, will sharpen your writing in the way the iron sharpens iron. When you stumble upon a beautiful sentence that just does something, stop, read it again, maybe even write it down for analysis. Ask yourself: what about this works? Why does it make me feel this way?

Whether you’ve found your authorial voice or not, there is always room to explore, to dig deeper and to write more boldly than before. Write the sad things, write the funny things, write the things you’re afraid no one will understand.

A few writing professionals have recommend that writers learn to write humor. AI isn’t good at writing humor yet and that’s a good thing for us.

If you’re not naturally funny, don’t dismiss yourself too quickly.

A few years ago, I took a humor writing class online. Within the course of an hour, I learned several methods for writing funny dialogue. It was so much simpler than I realized and it’s the same methods even comedians use when writing their jokes.