On the Importance of Sentence Crafting in Times of Text Mass Production

Abstract

With the rise of artificially generated texts, there is growing concern about the future of creativity in written language. As a by-product of how they function, large language models push language toward normalized and homogeneous products, eroding the eccentric qualities of texts that reflect singular human distinctiveness. The notion of singularity is explored in relation to the act of writing. The argument is divided into two related parts. First, drawing on the work of Étienne Souriau and David Lapoujade, this paper underscores the importance of attunement to individual points of view in creation. It is argued that the erosion of distinctiveness in the writing gesture undermines the instauration of diverse modes of existence. Second, drawing on Walter Benjamin’s distinction between information and narrative, this work highlights the artisanal nature of narrative writing in contrast with the serialized, mass produced quality of informational texts. It is argued that writing creativity lives in the act of crafting the sentence through a process that unfolds over time rather than in the “germinative idea” of the final product. At odds with this, large language models offer a labor-free shortcut to the final and polished written piece. Finally, drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of desiring-production, it is argued that the dynamic process of crafting a sentence is essential for keeping subjective desire alive.