If you don’t know Luke Jennings, he’s the author behind the Codename Villanelle novellas, the books that became Killing Eve, one of the most successful streaming adaptations of the last decade. The show won Emmys, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes and turned Villanelle into a cultural phenomenon. All from characters born on the page.
So when he talks about AI and writing, it’s worth paying attention.
Jennings said something bold:
AI isn’t coming for authors.
AI is coming for unoriginal writing.
He argues that the derivative, the predictable, and the recycled that’s what AI will replace. And honestly, that’s not a loss. That’s a purge.
But the best writing?
The imaginative, the contradictory, the emotionally dangerous?
AI can’t touch that.
Jennings describes imagination as “weird, terrifying, dazzlingly beautiful, and infinitely variable.” That’s the part algorithms can’t replicate the part where a character like Villanelle arrives fully formed, sharp edges and all, and demands to be written exactly as she is.
That’s not data.
That’s instinct.
And his challenge to authors is powerful:
If AI can imitate your voice, you’re not going deep enough.
If it can’t, you’re doing the real work.
So to all the book writers here:
- What makes your writing unmistakably yours?
- What’s the spark, the flaw, the contradiction that AI could never fake?
- And how do you protect that in your process?
Let’s open this up: This is a conversation only authors can have.
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oh wow , thanks for this insight Sandra
Thank you, Beckham B David. I am happy for that.
Sandra Correia Spot on, Sandra. I love this:
“AI isn’t coming for authors.
AI is coming for unoriginal writing.”
We often focus on the ‘I’ of AI, but not the ‘A’ - artificial
If we are unoriginal in our writing then we can use, or be threatened by, AI. I however, think that to the writers of the original and authentic, AI is not a threat, it’s simply the noisy neighbour that boasts about artificiality as if it were a virtue.
Sandra Correia I actually think this is one of the most interesting perspectives on AI and creativity because it shifts the conversation away from fear and toward originality.
A lot of forgettable storytelling already feels algorithmic even when humans write it repeated structures, recycled dialogue, safe characters, familiar emotional beats. So in a strange way, AI might end up pressuring writers to become more personal, more specific, and more emotionally honest rather than less.
What makes memorable writing unforgettable is usually the part that feels risky or deeply human:
the contradictions,
the uncomfortable truths,
the oddly specific observations,
the emotional imperfections.
Those things don’t come from prediction models alone. They come from lived experience, instinct, taste, obsession, vulnerability, and the strange way individual people see the world.
And honestly, if a story feels too easy for AI to imitate, maybe the deeper question is whether the writer pushed far enough into their own unique perspective in the first place.
That’s probably where truly original voices will matter even more going forward.