Home

Why I won’t change my writing style

I’ve been in love with em-dashes long before generative AI became a thing for the masses. Even my pen name is a nod to the em. Note the subtle dash in my sigil, the leading ellipse ahead of the dash as ‘footprints’ of the letter M:

(Thanks again to my artist-brother for helping to craft it!)

Another example:

“The commas of eyes,

pausing, watchful; the em–wise

in the bended brow, & sometimes,

almost an ampersand.”

From “4th”–a poem for my aunt that I wrote in the late 90s, since published in The Women of Myth

There’s a nuance to the em that goes beyond what it might replace–a parenthetical, a comma, a colon–kin to these marks but not always the same. I use ems loosely, eschewing the strictest of rules for them because those rules make them far more like those other punctuation marks. I use em-dashes as a way to show the reader that something is joined, but also that it has a bit of distance from what precedes or follows that which is set apart using the em.

I also love the way the em looks–it’s okay here, in its ‘double en’ state (two adjacent en-dashes), but it’s gorgeous in certain fonts. I sometimes play with | and — in my work as structure marks or embellishments. (Think ogham.)

My case is simple. I am who I am–my writing technique, my tics, my style. If a computer has decided I’m worthy of imitation, I’m not going to let it change me. Why bend the knee, allow the aspiring (AI-spiring?) conquerer to occupy my space unchallenged?

It’s not like my colleagues don’t try–they point out the em-dashes when editing manuscripts and grant proposals I’ve drafted, suggest to make it “look less like AI.”

How to address this snap judgment? There is no simple way to deliver a verdict of AI use. My colleagues tell me that the AI detection tools aren’t good enough to hold up in court, and that it’s a game–the AI gets better, the detectors respond, the AI adapts again.

The problem here is bias–the reader who makes a decision about you based on what they believe, not what they can (or can’t) prove.

My proposed solution is awareness. Dear Reader, I wrote this piece–and I did not use generative AI to do it.

I will not yield the em to AI–instead I will defend this ground. Join me, and we will– {music soars, then fades}

We will keep using the em-dash.