I feel compelled to hammer on this issue. I don’t steal story ideas from anyone. And I don’t use AI software to create more stories “in my style.” (Because I have various styles, I’d likely drive any AI nuts!) I’m also not a famous celeb who pays a ghostwriter to write or even polish my stories.

Every story is mine and mine alone. I discount the contributions from traditional publisher’s editors who all too often tried to ruin “my voice” or multiple voices used in my storytelling. And sometimes my name’s not on a story, but my fans probably know why. (Hint with an accompanying wink: A.B. Carolan is a very special Irish friend!)

All the stories, articles, and posts I’ve written during my relatively short time as an author of mystery, thriller, and sci-fi tales or posts like this one are my own creations and influenced or motivated by my personal background, although there are a few writers who have inspired me to write my stories: Asimov, Christie, Clarke, Heinlein, Haggard, James, Lewis, Orwell, Steinbeck, Tolkien, and many others, although that inspiration has only the common characteristic that their stories greatly entertained me as a young reader. (Yes, I read far beyond my age!) Some of these authors even inspired me to be patient and become a scientist first, postponing my storytelling until my “retirement.” (The last is probably the wrong word to describe authoring the many tales I’ve written after turning my back on a scientific career.)

I suppose some MFA student could write an erudite thesis about me and my oeuvre that no one would care about, one that analyzes my many plots, themes, settings, characters, and so forth. I wouldn’t recommend that, though. I’m not dead yet; the what-ifs still come. What’s now lacking sometimes is grasping the right word or phrase as I write. But I have far more ideas for stories than I’ll ever be able to turn into manuscripts that I can publish (or give away, as in my free PDF downloads).

I’ve been creating stories all my literary life and even before. (For example, the idea for Esther Brookstone and Bastian van Coevorden came to me long ago when I asked myself as a young lad reading Christie’s mysteries, “Why didn’t Dame Agatha put her two famous sleuths, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, together to solve a crime?”)

I’ll continue to create stories as long as I can. But never fear! They will all be my own creations…no one else’s!

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