A few weeks ago, I started exploring the question: How to write well in the age of AI. 
 
You can listen to my first answer in the video below this post. But if you're wringing your hands trying to find new ways to write because you feel like AI has stolen your entire bag of tricks, it may be time to put into practice that ancient elementary routine that turned all of us into anxiety-riddled adults. 
 
Stop. Drop. And Roll. 
 
AI isn't the fire that's burning your whole house down. 
 
It's a mimic, a mime, an impersonator that can only do what it's seen done. And if you're willing to change things up, willing to step outside of the norm, your writing becomes distinctly HUMAN. 
 
#endsoapbox
 
Two keep-the-human-in-your-writing-tips for Tuesday: 
 
Do the unexpected. 
 
The technical term for this is pattern interruption. Breaking away from the norm matters in an AI world because everything about AI writing is based on following the pattern: the rule of three, em dashes, or name your AI poison.
 
For example, Arundhati Roy's book, The God of Small Things, is filled to the brim with ALL sOrTS of PaTteRn inteRRuptioNs, and one of my favorite examples of this is when her main characters (twins, Rahel and Estha) say backwards words – throughout the entirety of the book. 
 
We see a great example of this in Chapter 2 when the twins are introduced to their English language teacher, Miss Mitten. When the twins start reading backwards, Miss Mitten says she has “seen Satan in their eyes,” and the twins respond by repeating her words backwards: nataS ni rieth seye.
 
It's one of the most unique literary tools I've ever seen, and it's used to empower the twins' internal rebellion against the cultural tide. Rahel and Estha are desperately trying to build their own reality, and in a caste-ruled world, they're refusing to fit inside their predetermined box. As children, they have few ways to push back, so language becomes their primary tool of resistance. 
 
Play with words. 
 
My friend and brand voice expert Justin Blackman does this better than any writer I've seen in the marketing world. His creative sign-offs alone are worth the subscription to his newsletter. 
 
Smooth like a baby,
Trying not to break the beast,
Keep flapping those willings,
Hocus pocus and a whole lotta focus,
 
Justin's emails are a masterclass in how to twist words in unexpected ways. A true expert in form and function and word pattern, Justin doesn't force his word play. It just happens – at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right dose. He understands that words are vehicles. He knows words exist to transport the reader somewhere, and when (as a writer) you understand exactly what you want your reader to do and feel, you have freedom to use words in new ways. 

Shakespeare did this, too. (Not to conflate Justin with Shakespeare — I thinketh that might be carrying the jest too far.)
 
He combined words. He changed nouns into verbs. Added prefixes and suffixes. And as a result, he created timeless phrases like “Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish!” (Henry IV) or “Away, you three-inch fool! “ (The Taming of the Shrew) – along with new phrases like “break the ice,” “wild goose chase,” and “green-eyed monster.” 
 
We can't all be Arundhati Roys or William Shakespeares, true. 
 
Breaking against the patterns we've all learned doesn't always feel good or easy, sure. 
 
But if AI is showing us anything, it's that as humans, we're desperate for originality. We spend our lives trying to find the pattern, but once it's found, it becomes uncaptivating. We long for mystery – so step into that as a writer. Embrace the unknown. Play with the unexpected. Give the AI something new to copy. 
 
Want more examples in your inbox, though? Hit 'reply' and let me know. The once-upon-a-time English teacher in me could do this all day long.