I’m pretty sure no one knows about this, but for years I’ve had a vague plan to write a non-fiction book for other writers.

The premise was very simple – a book containing 1001 opening lines for stories. They’d be organized into categories (dark, optimistic, funny, etc.) and well-indexed if you’re looking for something specific. Or you could just dip in and pick one randomly.

The idea is (or rather, was) that it would be there for any authors looking for a bit of inspiration, either for a story or just for a daily writing exercise. Or anything really.

I started working on the book and I have a document containing a collection of interesting opening lines.

And there’s no point in me continuing it.

Why?

Because generative “AI” has completely invalidated the idea.

Even if you assume there are authors out there who’d pay money for a book instead of typing Give me 100 examples for great opening lines for a horror story into their slop-generator or choice, most people are going to assume that I just typed Give me 1001 examples of great opening lines for stories and novels and left it at that. If you’re tempted to try those and see what you get, please don’t. The slop-bots are all trained on stolen writing and consume ridiculous amounts of energy.

That’s not something I’d ever do because, as my notebook clearly states, I don’t use AI.

NO AI ANYTIME STICKER by Alex Plante and available here

So, there will be no 1001 Ways to Start Your Novel.

Now, I’m under no illusion that anybody will care about the death of my imaginary book, but it’s just one example of the impact the slop-bots are having on creative people. If I’d built a business around that type of writer’s aid, generative “AI” would have destroyed my business overnight.

I also know there will be plenty of people that shrug and say “that’s business” or “just use the bots yourself” but human creativity is facing a death by a thousand cuts, and I’m intent on doing everything I can to push back.

Which is why I go out of my way to support authors who aren’t using AI and avoiding those who are. And that includes authors who wouldn’t dream of using the slop-bots to write but are more than happy to use it to replace their cover artists.

I hope you’ll do the same.

[The Death of My Non-Fiction Book by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 29th April 2026]