The Writer’s Life in the Age of AI with Weina Dai Randel

Description

Some posit that all of life is a story, and that we each have unique authority to become authors in genres both known and yet to be written. In light of the AI revolution the call to pursue creative work in the arts and humanities is critically urgent. Generative technologies can only replace artists and authors if creative people give up and stop pursuing the creative human spark. But for every important and positive reason to write, and for every inspiration, there are dozens more loudly trying to stifle artistic vision and voice. This evening bestselling author and Lexingtonian Weina Randel will dismantle some of the myths of exclusivity that keep us from writing, and spotlight some foolproof tools that we can lean on including emphasizing letting the story be the guide, staying true to the core of our vision, and the importance of character and plot development. Beyond initial inspiration, Weina will discuss what it takes to be an author and share her experience honing the power of perseverance in the face of writer’s block, critics, questionable editors, and the reality of rejection.

Weina Dai Randel is an award-winning, internationally bestselling, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six historical novels, including The Last Rose of Shanghai, which was optioned for a feature film; Night Angels, which was longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Awards; The Master Jeweler; and the Empress of Bright Moon duology. She is a winner of the RWA RITA Award, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards, and a two-time Goodreads Choice Awards Best Historical Fiction nominee. She’s also the recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant in 2023. Her novels have been translated into seventeen foreign languages, including French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew. Weina’s latest, The Lost Kingdom of Daughters, a suspenseful historical novel set in a matriarchal society where marriage doesn’t exist and free love is the tradition, based on the Moso people of China, will be published on November 1st. Born in China, Weina came to the United States at twenty-four. She has worked as an adjunct professor and also as the subject-matter expert for Southern New Hampshire University’s online MFA program, where she designed the curriculum for the romance genre.