I still remember the first time AI genuinely surprised me. Not the usual mild amusement you get when a new gadget works as advertised, but a proper jolt, the creative equivalent of discovering a forgotten ten-pound note in an old coat. I was in my shed, rain machine-gunning the windows, halfway through a cup of tea that had already gone cold thanks to my talent for distraction.
Continue reading “Is AI the New Imagination? A Grandad’s Guide to Navigating Wonder”
I quite often put an idea for a short story into one of my favourite chatbots just to see what it gives back to me. Every now and then I will post one on the blog for no other reason than it appealed to me. Hopefully these stories will resonate with you as well.
Continue reading “The Puddle I’m Sitting In”
This week’s AI Drabble Challenge began with a simple idea: combine two images and ask an AI to tell a story. I’ve used images before as creative sparks, but this time I wanted to see what would happen if I merged two, not just visually, but emotionally.
The result was a story that didn’t just emerge from AI; it evolved through it. What started as a neat 100-word piece became something richer, deeper, and strangely more human.
Continue reading “When Two Images Became a Story”
Welcome back to the AI Drabble Challenge, a weekly experiment in human and AI creativity. Each Wednesday, I set a prompt to inspire a Drabble, a story told in exactly 100 words.
You can use any AI model you like (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others), or several at once. How you collaborate is up to you. Maybe the AI drafts the first version, or writes the whole thing, maybe you co-write, or maybe you use it to spark ideas. What matters is the process, and sharing it.
This week’s prompt is two unrelated images.
Image 1:
Image 2:
Use either or both images to create your Drabble. Remember: exactly 100 words, no more, no less.
Each week, I’ll read through the entries, share a few favourites, and highlight one that particularly stood out, for originality, style, or the inventive way it used AI.
This isn’t about competition; it’s about curiosity, experimentation, and celebrating how humans and machines can create together.
AI gives us the tools, but we give it meaning. Let’s see what stories emerge this week, 100 words at a time.
Now it’s over to you, can you craft your own 100-word Drabble inspired by this week’s prompt.
Post your story in the comments below or link to your own blog, I love seeing the imaginative twists readers come up with. So don’t be shy, join in and show us what your AI + Your Imagination can do!
New to the challenge? Visit The AI Drabble Challenge Page for all the details and past prompts.
Every time I post something involving AI, I know what’s coming. A few writers(often my writer friends) will tell me, quite firmly, that they’ll never touch AI “with a barge pole.” Others worry that using it might dull the human brain, or that writing with its help feels like cheating, like handing in someone else’s homework. Some say it produces “soulless” words, and that real writing should only ever come from real people.
And honestly, I understand every one of those feelings. Writing is deeply personal. It’s how we make sense of the world, and of ourselves. When we sit down to write, it’s our emotions, memories and imagination that shape the story. So when a machine suddenly enters that creative space, it can feel like an intruder, a cold, logical guest who doesn’t understand what it means to struggle for the right word or to feel that spark of inspiration.
Continue reading “Why Some Writers Feel Uneasy About AI”
The AI Grandad 