Competition in the 21st Century

Margaret Sarlej, at the University of New South Wales, has devised a programme that enables computers to generate simple stories. In a statement that may cause some concern to authors, she claims "computers will be making interesting and meaningful contributions to literature within the decade", although she does go on to admit that "it's pretty unlikely a computer will ever produce works like War and Peace."

For those of you who are interested in what, to some, raises a dystopian view of the future, here is an example of one such story, 'written' by a computer.

Once upon a time there lived a dragon, a fairy and a princess. The dragon hated the fairy. 
One summer's morning the dragon gave the treasure to the princess. As a result, the princess had the treasure. The princess felt joy that she had the treasure. The princess felt gratitude towards the dragon about giving the treasure to her because she had the treasure. The fairy and the princess started to love the dragon. 
A short time later the princess killed the fairy. As a result, the fairy was dead. The dragon felt joy that the fairy was dead. The dragon felt gratitude towards the princess about killing the fairy because the fairy was dead.  

Yes, it's pretty silly. But substitute king for dragon, and wicked queen for fairy, and it starts to make sense.

Once upon a time there lived a king, a wicked queen and a princess. The king hated the wicked queen. One summer's morning the king gave the treasure to the princess. As a result, the princess had the treasure. The princess felt joy that she had the treasure. The princess felt gratitude towards the king because she had the treasure. The wicked queen and the princess started to love the king. 
A short time later the princess killed the wicked queen. The king felt joy that the wicked queen was dead. The king felt gratitude towards the princess about killing the wicked queen.

A child of seven could write that. Give the child ten years and they would be writing something rather more sophisticated. They wouldn't come up with anything quite War and Peace, perhaps, but would be writing a decent story within the decade. Just like a computer, in fact.

Thoughts on Passing Judgement

When I heard the iconic and brilliant Ruth Rendell say recently that she doesn't judge people because, she said, 'I don't think we should', her words struck a chord with me. If there's one thing that infuriates me, it's people who are judgemental. I know that sounds like a judgemental statement in itself, but you know what I mean: the people who love to tell you what you ought to be doing, and how you should dress, behave, and generally live your life. Often these people are speaking out of genuine disinterested concern, a 'learn from my mistakes' or 'benefit from my experience' motive. But it's a slippery slope from disinterested advice to interference and ultimately bigotry. People who are convinced their views are 'right' are very dangerous. In a conflict, both sides believe they are right. It reminds me of a joke...

A student rabbi observes an old rabbi judging a disagreement. The old rabbi listens to the first  side of the argument. 'You're right,' he says. The old rabbi listens to the other side of the argument. 'You're right,' he says. The student rabbi is perplexed. 'But Rabbi,' he says, 'they can't both be right.' The old rabbi shrugs. 'You know, you're also right.'

Judgements about other people shouldn't be arrived at on the basis of whether they agree with our own opinions or ideologies. But what about judging talent? To some extent this is unavoidable. It's part of life if we are going to enjoy the arts at all. I wouldn't place my own pathetic attempts at painting on a par with Van Gogh. Is that a judgement? However skilled I might become at playing the piano, I'll never attain the inspired genius of Mozart - or even be as 'good' as any mediocre musician. Is that judgemental? And if so, how do I set about judging other writers, as I am often invited to do, as the judge of a writing competition.

Recently the panel of judges for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Competition met for lunch to agree on a winner. This prestigious international competition involves unpublished authors submitting the opening of their novels. The winner is likely to attract interest from literary agents, if not publishers. So winning this competition can be quite a significant step for an unpublished writer. As judges, we were sent a shortlist of just over a dozen entries, selected from nearly five hundred submissions. Over a long lunch, with much discussion, we managed to reach a concensus about the winner. We had some lively discussions about the other entries. The panel, which comprised a leading literary agent, senior editors from two major publishing houses, an independent publisher, and myself as a bestselling crime writer, were sitting in judgement on the entrants. Did we make the 'right' choice? Is there a 'right' decision? All the writers shortlisted were 'winners', to have reached that stage in the competition.

But there could only be one winner. I wonder what the old rabbi in the joke would say about that.

What do you think?

Help Needed - Support Bookshops!

December was a busy month - until the snow struck. So far I've had to cancel 5 author events this week, in different branches of Waterstones. I really hope readers in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor support their local bookshops which have plenty of Cut Short and Road Closed in stock. Please feel free to contact me for a scanned signature, either for yourself or as a Christmas present, if you can get to Waterstones. They need your support. This week, which should have given them a boost, has been a disaster.
In more positive news, here I am earlier in the month awarding the trophy to John Ward, winner of Watford Writers short story competition, which I was invited to judge. The standard of all the entries was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm delighted to have been invited to judge the 2011 competition!


And here are a few more Watford writers - a very talented bunch.












And of course I've been out and about book signing at least once a week in December - here's a photo taken at Waterstones in Staines

and WH Smith's in Watford (photo courtesy of the Watford Observer)

We braved a blizzard to reach Waterstones in Hemel Hemstead. (If you enlarge the image you can see an unusual 3for2 offer...) We struggled to make it home again, ending up with the front of the car wedged against a kerb at the bottom of a hill. We managed to reverse away from the kerb by putting a pitta bread under each wheel - luckily we'd stopped off for some shopping on the way! While stuck, we met a girl who had abandonned her own car at the foot of the hill. As she as going our way, we were able to offer her a lift home! (We did holding her ransom note but she told us her family had no money to speak of. All they could offer was one small child. Having had two of our own, we reverted to our original offer and dropped her home.)

We made it to Waterstones in Harrow yesterday. Here's an old photo taken there in June 2010 (we forgot to take one today). Add a thick cardy and a fleece to my outfit, and a few more white hairs and wrinkles, and it could have been taken today!

WH Smith's in Harrow today, back to Waterstones tomorrow, and then I'm done!

Apologies to Waterstones in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor for being unable to get to you this week. I hope to visit you all early in 2011.