**Half His Age** by Jennette McCurdy is about a high school girl who begins a “relationship” with her middle-aged teacher.
As I’ve been reading, I noticed a lot of paragraphs where there are sets of three, trios, triplets, of descriptors (like I just did). I read somewhere that one sign of AI in writing is that it tends to give three examples: something like “he was dark, like a moonless sky, like the sun burned out, like the bottom of the ocean.” (I wrote that without AI.)
Anyone else read this book and notice this trend? Part of me is chalking it up to the teenage voice of the MC who narrates in first person, but I’m halfway and it’s been a more frequent occurrence than I can recall recently.
by kodup
17 Comments
I haven’t read that book but lists of 3s are a really really common narrative device. It’s like lesson 1 in How to Write. It’s why AI uses it, because it’s been trained on so many pieces of writing that use it. I wouldn’t assume AI without other tells
I only just started reading the book so I can’t say. I will add that I was taught to write that way in school before AI, so maybe some people are used to overdoing it!
You forget that GenAI is trained on real authors. What was a normal convention for a long time is being copied by a robot, but that doesn’t mean the previous convention ceases to be used by real writers.
Some of us write like that anyway. And her first book was so amazing it would be hard for me to believe she resorted to AI
Yall think everything is AI now.
this book was not AI. I know this because AI would have done a much better job at writing this story than what was actually published. What youre experiencing is just a normal reaction to reading something with exceptionally bad writing and story telling
I’ve also read it, and definitely not. This is such a common way of writing, and the similarity is just because AI is mimicking a standard descriptive cadence
Has not read the book yet, although rule of 3s is a pretty common narration device across media. I’d think it was AI if it weren’t connected or make sense. Although else someone who has read the book might have more insight.
Re: sets of three. I do not know if Ai was used to write this book, I can only speak from experience.
Growing up I was taught groups of three were the thing to use while writing. I noticed it in many books and papers I read. Even now, when writing something I will use three things.
This doesn’t mean ai wasn’t used to write the book, but I don’t believe it’s proof that it was.
It’s the same as the em dash. People use it too, not just ai.
My guy, that’s a fairly standard writing practice. Most teachers and editors tell people to limit lists to three. That’s a standard of modern English writing.
I’ve read the book twice, and I don’t see any indication of AI. The tone and writing line up with her first book, so I’m confident it’s all original.
Not sure whether AI was used in this specific instance but groups of 3 are actually a well known writing style that humans seem to prefer. Even when I write emails for work I tend to prefer describing things with 3 words (with an Oxford comma of course!) vs only 2 or 4+
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_three_(writing)
The rule of three is a common style feature and doesn’t indicate AI on its own. What often gives away AI is how obsequious and tautological the use of it is…
The “rule of three” is already a principle of writing. Three is just a good number for the human brain. It’s memorable, the minimum to establish a pattern, and it flows well to have three examples. (Ha, get it?)
AI picked up the habit from people doing it a lot. I don’t think that’s much of an indicator of AI as it is of overusing it.
Literary AI was trained on Archive of Our Own, so it uses a lot of literary devices — em dashes…ellipses…and rule of three.
There were full stops. You know what else uses full stops? AI!
AI has used great writing to train its models: The rule of threes is a good narrative device (three is a trend, two is a coincidence, four is a list), so this alone is actually a good, smart, sign of good writing. So please don’t mistake genuine hallmarks of good storytelling and literature for their simulated imitations, strictly based on their use. AI writing generally lacks a certain feeling—it doesn’t feel human. Also, I have always used emdashes as a professional writer; I hate that they’re now considered red flags of AI when they’re a staple of the New Yorker.
The reason AI does that is because it’s trained on actual writers. Rule of three is a common principle – especially when writing for advertising.
Ditto with a lot of other ‘signs’ like using m dashes. I write for a living and lot of my work gets flagged as AI even if it’s from 10 years ago.