As a Coke drinker (please, no hating from the Pepsi drinkers!), I noticed new flavors in the store. Apparently, they’re being inventive with a new “Creations” platform. In 2023 alone, they’ve created at least seven new varieties of Coke. Instead of your usual Cherry or Lime, they’ve released limited editions of the following. I’ve pulled most of these interesting descriptions straight from their website.
*Starlight: inspired by space. Consumers say it has a raspberry flavor (after a study came out stating that space tastes like raspberries) https://next.voxcreative.com/ad/20726659/space-taste-like-raspberry-titos-cocktail
*Dreamworld: “tastes like dreams”
*Byte: has a “pixel flavor”
*Ultimate: no description here, but consumers say it tastes like Coke + fruit punch
*Move: co-created with Grammy-award winner Rosalita, it “brings to life the transformational power of music”
*A no-name version co-created with the entertainer Marshmello: it tastes not like marshmallow, which would make sense, but like strawberry and watermelon
*And lastly, the new Y3000: “co-created with AI.” After trying it, I can say it tastes like Coke and Dr. Pepper had a baby.
This last creation, Y3000, made me suspicious because it was co-created with AI. Anything created with AI is like no-calorie sweetener—unhealthy and synthetic.
Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous. It crept into the artistic world creating images “scraped” from the internet and cobbled together—with no recognition given to the original artists. Then the literary world was invaded. A surplus of books written entirely by AI showed up on Amazon. Jane Friedman, a columnist, professor, and writer with twenty-five years in the literary industry, had several books show up on Amazon with her name on them—again, written by AI trained on blog articles she’d written. Amazon eventually pulled them down and is now requiring authors to declare which of their books were written with AI, and if so, by how much. (How many people will be honest about that?) And just yesterday, I read Kindle will be beta testing audiobooks with AI narrators.
Last month, I played around with ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence bot. I asked for poorly written paragraphs for an editing exercise I was planning. On a whim, I asked for a Christian fiction example. What I got didn’t look anything at all like Christian fiction. There was no mention of faith, grace, or mercy, no life-changing events. It mentioned the sun rising and feeling positive as a new day began. I would categorize the paragraph inspirational, although I didn’t find any of the vague drivel truly inspiring.
There has been some worry circulating in the literary world about what this infiltration of AI means for authors. Will we be replaced? How do we “compete” with AI? AI is soulless. It can’t have an existential crises or think about eternity or explain what love feels or looks like. It has no emotion, thought, or sentient properties and only puts out what was put in. It can’t explain the miraculous, the divine, a priceless gift given that isn’t deserved.
This is why we need real authors creating real stories, not some bot spewing words. Original, creative stories don’t have to include perfect characters in a beautiful utopia. But each story can shed a light in a dark place and offer hope to those who might not even know they need it. Original, imaginative stories (speculative, romance, and other genres) include not just beautiful words strung together, but believable characters and strong emotions to hook the reader. No random AI program can do that.
If you’re a writer, go forth and write the best story you can—include imaginative plots, flawed characters, and vivid worlds with hope shining through at the end. And if you’re a reader, buy those books written by real authors that speak to you, the ones you can’t put down until the wee hours of the morning. Share them with others and tell your next-door neighbor about the newest gem you’re reading. Write reviews to share your thoughts and to direct others to books that deserve to be read. Let’s do our best to bury AI by focusing on the real and the enduring, instead of the unhealthy and fake.
Banned book week was October 1-7. Although I’m a bit late, here are some of the top banned/challenged books of the last decade.
Today as part of the StoryQuest Academy Clean Fiction Blog Tour, I wanted to share some of the inspiration behind The Firebrand Chronicles (includes Spark, Flare, & Burn).
I’m a firm believer God gives each of us a special gift that makes us unique and distinctive. This fact and the question “What if…?” inspired the beginning of my YA portal fantasy trilogy the Firebrand Chronicles.
Here’s a little more about Spark:
Spark (and the entire Firebrand Chronicles boxed set!) is available at Amazon (
But when I learned there would be a boxed set, with all three of my books plus some extra stories included, it was hard to imagine. Today that news is a reality as the
Can you think of anything better than more Fantasy and Sci-Fi titles to put under your Christmas tree?
After Burn was released, there was a flurry of emails between me and my publisher discussing this. I got to work and wrote four short stories about Brenna and beloved side characters. It was a lot of fun to flesh out the world of the Jasper Territory a bit more. I’m thrilled to share it all with you!
Ylva was raised by wolves. That is the story her clan tells of their Wolf Queen. The truth is far more miraculous. Her Gift, bestowed by the Light, enables her to see deep inside the hearts of men. Prince Rohan considers the Light mere superstition and only believes in what he can see with his own eyes. But a great evil is infecting the Four Realms. The battle between the Light and the Darkness is no longer bound to human hearts, and words Ylva and Rohan thought were just legend are being whispered again. The dragon is rising.
Tabitha Caplinger gets way too emotionally invested in the lives of fictional characters, whether it’s obsessing over a book or tv show, or getting lost creating her own worlds. Tabitha is the author of The Chronicle of the Three Trilogy, a Christian urban fantasy, and a lover of good stories and helping others live chosen. When she’s not writing book words, she’s reheating her coffee, binging a new show or teaching God’s Word to students. Tabitha, her husband and two beautifully sassy daughters desire to be Jesus with skin on for those around them. They live to love others…and for Marvel movies.
in, and Arvandus. Spending all that time with them made me imagine what else could happen to them. After finishing a story, I usually imagine different connecting points between characters and plot. Even my short story “Everwild” (which is in the anthology Mythical Doorways and is FREE, BTW…) is already a four-book series in my head. I have plenty of adventure and mayhem planned for half-fae Flint and full-fae Lila. I just can’t get all my projects written as quickly as I’d like.
Sometimes I’ll include the sixth sense, intuition (sparingly). You know that feeling of knowing when someone’s lying or when your hair rises on the back of your neck? This sense is great for creating tension.
to fists.
Welcome to this week’s #WritingWednesday post!
Have I lost you yet? Aside from my bad writing example, it’s boring! Nobody cares about Mary Sue or her coffee or what she’ll make for supper. Summarize and get to the point when she discovers her husband is having an affair or her dog tore up her neighbor’s prize-winning roses…