T.L. Shreffler's Blog

Dear creative friends,

I’ve been sitting on this thought piece for a while, wondering when would be the “right time” to publish it, considering how generative AI’s landscape seems to be changing month-to-month. Several lawsuits are circulating about copyright infringement vs. fair use, and Disney just announced they will be rolling out new AI initiatives on Disney+.

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this article, I just want to say one important thing: please try to block out the noise on social media and continue to create AMAZING art. Your creativity MATTERS and you are not worthless!

I know many of you are outraged, fearful and hurting because of how Large Language Models (“LLM’s,” also known as “AI,”) have impacted our livelihoods as creatives. I share those feelings. I look at the future of “enshittification” of the internet’s artscape, the fact that my novels will now have to compete against AI generated garbage, and it makes my heart ache.

Even more hurtful is thinking about the children who are growing up in this environment, who will not learn the personal value of doing their own research, completing an essay or school project with their own hands, their own minds, by their own merit— without LLM’s like ChatGPT.

It’s a mess.

With all this in mind, I think we need to have an honest conversation about what’s happening right now in creative industries.

Unfortunately, billions of dollars are being invested into AI and it looks like it’s here to stay. So . . . what can we do to adapt to this new landscape while maintaining our creative integrity?

Does a future exist for creative professionals?

Welcome to Desktop Hollywood

All of our livelihoods — my own included — have been impacted by apps like ChatGPT that use LLM’s to create novels, artwork, movies, music, etc. (And yes, that’s my own em dash, not an AI-inserted one.)

As you may not know, I worked for a short period of time in the Entertainment industry when I went on hiatus back around 2017. I grew up in Burbank, CA only a block away from Warner Bros. Studios. Most of my friends were musicians, actors, voice actors, illustrators, directors, screenwriters or filmmakers of some kind.

What I see now are AI movie generators creating trailers and special effects that would have required a six figure budget about ten years ago. These are skillsets that people went to trade school or college to learn, spending tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree, to learn expensive programs, to work an industry that has now replaced them with an AI tool. Some people are still paying off their student loans for that degree who cannot find work in the industry they fought so hard to enter.

The impact of this technology on creatives is harrowing and overwhelming. It’s a lot like the shift from DVD to Digital Streaming back around 2010, or from CD to MP3 back in 2000. We are experiencing another massive disruption, the future is uncertain, and people are scared. It’s not the first time this has happened in Hollywood, and I doubt it will be the last.

It’s still a really hard pill to swallow.

However, I do see a silver lining. I would like to believe in a light at the end of this trauma tunnel. I would like to believe that these AI tools will not just be used by media giants to put everyday artists and writers out of work.

In fact, big studios like Disney might have just shot themselves in the foot.

Now that we all have access to these AI tools to create scripts, generate keyframes and create costly special effects at the drop of a hat with almost no budget, it means we might be about to witness an Indie Studio Renaissance.

Instead of actors, animators, writers and musicians moving to Hollywood to get involved in Entertainment, every creative person can become their own producer, with a full deck Desktop Hollywood at their fingertips.

We might just be on the cusp of witnessing something truly miraculous — blockbuster hit TV Shows with the production quality of a Marvel series being created in Smalltown, USA in the comfort of your own home.

Yup.

I want this, badly. I want this for all of the generations of creatives who moved to Hollywood and had their dreams crushed by the highly competitive (and ultimately chaotic and bewildering) industry.

I also want it for the economic growth of our nation. By decentralizing the movie industry, every State across the U. S. can enjoy the extra revenue, and actors can be successful while remaining close to home.

Media giants might be completely replaced within the next hundred years by a sea of fiercely competitive and creative indie studios, opening up more jobs for creatives than ever before, because these studios can be located anywhere and operate on much lower budgets with the same access to distribution and talent.

Instead of optioning your rights to a studio to have them sit on a script for seven years — or struggling to raise enough money for a single pilot episode of a new sitcom — you can pick your own team and start producing. Now.

Every city can have its own Hollywood. Its own celebrity talent. Its own thriving creative community.

The entire landscape of entertainment could change.

And that would be a very good thing.

But . . . bringing this article back down to earth, we still have a long ways to go to get to that indie Utopia.

A very, very long ways to go.

Desktop Hollywood sounds pretty cool . . . but what about everything that’s happening now? How did we get here?

So when did all this LLM stuff even begin?

By fate or circumstance, I encountered a fellow back in 2024 who worked on a version of an LLM in the early 2000’s. Of all places, we ran into each other at a work event in the Pacific Northwest, completely unrelated to Entertainment or anything like it. I got to hear the story about how the studios approached him and expressed interest in what he was doing, and commissioned a tool from him. I learned that his version of LLM software is now being using in subtitling, dubbing and closed captioning, but he developed it back in the early to mid 2000's.

It was eye opening to realize that AI Technology isn’t something new that simply appeared one day, even though it feels very sudden. This technology was commissioned by the industry, it has been in the works for a decade or more, and it has finally reached the point that it’s gone viral. Whether noisy or loud about it, studios are already using LLM’s in full swing. Publishers of books and videogames are using it, too.

Of course KDP is using it; Amazon just laid off a bunch of workers with goals to replace them with AI assistants (and maybe someday even robots?)

So in short, every industry is impacted, and every industry is using LLM technology.

But . . . does AI even work?

Despite billions of dollars being invested into AI right now — so much so that it’s causing a global AI bubble that could crash our economy — most companies are still struggling to find a practical use for LLM technology.

The same is true for a small publisher, indie author and creative like myself.

I’ve spent a good part of this last year testing different AI generators, mainly through the service Nightcafe and Adobe Express. Like most of you, I’ve witnessed AI being integrated into every aspect of my life, like updates to the Google Search engine and my phone’s operating system. An AI chatbot or generative “service” has cropped up on every single creative app I use for my small business: Filmora, Adobe Express, Atticus, Google Docs, Youtube Studio, TikTok, DeviantArt, etc.

As a writer, I do not use LLM’s because I feel my creative work is sacred to me. I majored with B.A. in English from the College of Humanities from Cal-State Northridge in 2012. As a Humanities major, the human aspect of writing and artwork is very close to my heart. Writing is a spiritual process for me, not just a business. And for that reason, it’s been difficult to rationalize the use of LLM models in my creative work.

But I am also a small business owner. So, for marketing materials such as website, social media and cover art, I’ve tried to make the AI tools work for me.

What I can say is that I’ve been immensely underwhelmed by the capacity of LLMs and art generators to create “Good” art. AI Art generators are so poor at creating usable artwork that a living, breathing, skilled artist still needs to correct, assist and rework the art in order to make it make sense.

I happen to be a digital artist who’s taken my fair share of college level drawing and painting classes. I’ve been a professional graphic designer for more than ten years. I found a use for AI generated art to create marketing materials and copy for my small business, but the artwork still needs to be heavily touched up. I do this re-painting in an old copy of Photoshop 6 using my Intuos tablet. I rely on my own creative skillsets to rework and redesign generated art to fit my brand. It saves me a little bit of time so I can get back to writing. I was already making my own book covers and marketing materials before AI came along, so I am in a good position to make the best use out of these wonky generators.

For writers who are not artists, or for artists who are not writers, most art and writing generated by AI is unusable. It doesn’t stand up to what a professional can do. Don’t believe me? Here’s a map I asked AI to generate for my new Skydust Kingdoms series. As you can see, it’s nonsense, and each map after this one got worse and worse.

[image error]A map generated by Venice.ai in March 2025.

Oh boy, where to start? At a glance it’s pretty, sure. But gaze on and its wonkiness gets weirder. We have rivers turning into roads, random crops and hedgerows sprinkled between trees, a sparkling river falling from the sky, and a totally nonsensical leger on the lefthand side.

The Dhastel Ranch looks like its own city, with Gravenmere Castle at the center of the map (it’s located in the north.) “Kingdom Forsynthia” is at least spelled correctly, but it’s grammatically incorrect (Kingdom OF Forsynthia). Brazia looks like a shire town when it’s supposed to be a mountainous region, per the prompt.

Also, doesn’t The Abyss resemble illustrations of Mordor? And what’s with 530 calendar days?

And here’s another piece of art I asked it to generate to create a zodiac wheel for Skydust Kingdoms, which has its own human-imagined completely original zodiac system.

Again, nonsense.

[image error]Literal trash. This was supposed to be a wheel with zodiac signs for 12 months and 4 distinct seasons. The gold and blue swirls are pretty, but . . . what?The Long and the Short of it is . . . I still do (most) of my own art content without AI assistance.

I’m still at my drawing board, literally, creating maps, charts and other images for my book series, which I love to do. AI generated art is great for “ideas,” but fails at real world execution.

My prediction is that companies, studios and designers will still need creative professionals to control their brands, edit new designs with professional polish, and write scripts with connection and flare.

And it’s a no-brainer to say the publishing industry isn’t accepting AI manuscripts . . . yet.

If you’re a small time publisher, artist or author like myself who’s experimenting with AI, you’ve probably discovered an endless sea of hands with seven fingers, animals with five or six legs, teapots with two handles, eyes without pupils, trees growing out of trees or mountains growing out of clouds, clothing that doesn’t make sense, inconsistent facial features, hoods that become hair, etc . . . you get the idea.

In summation, AI is a lot of nonsense. We definitely still need artists. We definitely still need writers.

So you should definitely continue to master your craft and CREATE GOOD ART!!! LLM Writing Generators

After being completely underwhelmed by AI art generators, I tried using Venice.ai as a writing assistant to see if I could find a use for this new tool in my workflow. I also messed around with ChatGPT a bit, even though I find its “narrative voice” obnoxious.

In summation, I found myself having to rewrite every scene from scratch because the basic sentence structure lacked cohesiveness and logic.

I also discovered that, of the few sentences that were beautifully structured by the LLM model, they were lifted directly word for word from books published in the 1900s to 1925 era: novels that are currently part of the public domain and searchable on the internet.

Yikes.

As an author who has poured more than twenty-five years of my life into the craft of writing, the thought of lifting a sentence word for word from a novel written in 1900 makes me feel gross.

I follow writers because I love their wordcraft, and I know my readers feel the same about my work. That’s what makes writing so incredible — the human connection fostered between author and reader. Through my writing, I give you a piece of my heart, and that’s the gift! If I’m using AI to write for me, then what about those flurries of brilliance, sudden deep insights, poetry or inexplicable themes that develop on their own throughout a story? It all falls flat.

So after that experiment with Venice.ai, I decided not to use an AI assistant for novel writing purposes, because I will not plagiarize other people’s works even from the public domain. Creative content outputted by these LLM’s is too risky . . . and it cheapens the novel! It’s pretty much all plagiarism from some source or another. This isn’t just about personal integrity. I don’t want to find myself in an unintentional lawsuit!

Wait . . . but I thought AI is Smart?

No, it’s really fast and really dumb.

I encourage you to pick up one of those old Mad Lib books and play around with it. This might be from before your time, so I want you to google “Mad Libs,” purchase one and just play with it. This is what an LLM does. It’s Mad Libs. There’s nothing original about it.

AI can’t think for itself (there is no “self” in a computer program except for YOU, the user, and the dude who wrote the code.) What we call “reasoning” is just a weighted mathematical algorithm using keywords and associations that a human being had to program. You are the intelligence behind AI. You are the creativity behind AI.

ChatGPT is not a person and we shouldn’t treat it like a human being.

We should understand that any time we see a good piece of writing come out of ChatGPT or other LLM’s, even if it’s pieced together from 500,000 sources, it is still absolutely plagiarized.

All that being said, if you choose to use a writing assistant, be very careful about plagiarism. Or better yet, rewrite everything into your own words, come up with your own fantasy world, add your own unique plot twist, and my goodness, write your own book!

Current Lawsuits and Impact to My Work

My work was compromised by Anthropic and I will be receiving a settlement in 2026 from their class action lawsuit for the first five novels in The Cat’s Eye Chronicles.

The sad thing is that I can’t turn back the clock. I can’t tell Anthropic to “delete” my work out of their LLM “database” — there is none. “Copies” of my work aren’t stored anywhere for Anthropic’s LLM to reference. Books and other reference materials are “trained” for pattern recognition, which becomes a weighted set of mathematical equations and associations, and then that original material is discarded.

Similarly, digital art and photography found on the internet is “trained” and then discarded.

What’s being offered to me from Anthropic is a retroactive payment for using my IP to train its LLM because The Cat’s Eye Chronicles is under copyright protection from the Library of Congress.

Once I accept this settlement, which I plan to do, as I certainly don’t have the funds to hire my own lawyer, I can no longer say my work was “stolen” by Anthropic or that AI has committed “theft.” I got paid for my contribution to their LLM, just like someone might license a stock image or commission an artist for a book cover, and that’s really all there is to it.

Likewise, once similar lawsuits begin forcing AI companies to pay artists for the copyrighted work used for training materials, those artists also cannot say their work was “stolen.” They have been compensated, in the same sense that a publisher would compensate a freelance book cover designer.

The Painful Truth (It Hurts Me Too)

As for the hundreds and thousands of art pieces appearing “in the likeness” of an artist’s style? Or “in the likeness” of T. L. Shreffler and Sora’s Quest?

Well, if these artists or authors accept a settlement payment from OpenAI, Anthropic, or hundreds of these other companies, they are also agreeing to allow the company access to replicate a style or a vibe.

As upsetting as it might be, AI is our new uncomfortable reality. Our best route forward is to MAKE NEW ART and continue to evolve our work.

My assumption is that OpenAI also used my work, and there’s a class action lawsuit headed by George R. R. Martin right now that will hopefully allow authors to be paid for their contribution to OpenAI’s LLM, ChatGPT.

Unfortunately, OpenAI will not be ceasing or desisting its scraping of the internet without a court order.

I suggest as an artist that you copyright everything through the Library of Congress to get full protection in the court of law. It costs $45 a manuscript, which I know can feel like a lot of money if you’ve written 10 books, but it’s worth it in the long run. People say “your book has copyright the moment it’s published” but unfortunately, that’s not very useful in a court of law. We live in a bureaucracy and it’s important to have that piece of registration paperwork that protects your rights as a creative — now more than ever!

My second piece of advice would be to remove your creative portfolio, poems, etc. from websites unless you’re okay with it being used to train AI without recourse, because these companies are only going to get smarter and bolder moving forward.

I recommend you closely monitor what’s happening right now with AI lawsuits around the globe.

The Future of AI

Despite all these lawsuits, for better or worse, it looks like LLM’s and AI is here to stay.

That’s because of all the investors buying up stock in these companies.

Billions and billions of dollars are being invested into AI right now. Google just bought up land in Texas in order to create a $40 billion data center. Nvidia and other tech companies are receiving massive investments for the creation of faster chips to design better AI engines.

It’s all a bit of a frenzy.

Because of all these billions of dollars flying around, I don’t think AI is going anywhere anytime soon. We should almost wish for its success, because so much of our economy is tied up into it. (Yikes and . . . single lonely tear!)

That means that as artists, writers and creatives, we can and must protect
our work by registering it with the Library of Congress, and make sure to register your U.S. Trademarks as well.

More Unsolicited Advice for Ye Open-Hearted Creative Innocents

Be discerning about where you post your portfolios and sell your books. Understand that anything you post on your personal website, blog, social media or public platform can and probably will be scraped by AI bots, if not from the United States then operating out of China and Southeast Asia, where it’s harder for creators in the U. S. to leverage a lawsuit.

Do not ever upload your pre-release manuscript into an AI engine to “summarize” it. Do not ever give your ebook to a dodgy third party reviewer who will “write” a paid review. If you do these things, accept that your work will be used for training material for that AI company’s LLM.

In Conclusion

Don’t give up on your career or your art.

Remember — AI is just a tool. YOU are the source.

As an author, we have to balance ourselves between creative idealism and business acumen. To stay competitive in a field, we must master the tools used by our competitors. AI is an incredible tool, but it’s founded on plagiarism. Artists and authors must be paid for the use of their IP on their training models, and AI “scraping” or “training” must become an opt-in, voluntary process.

That being said, in order to stay competitive in these changing times, we must learn where AI tools can help us. For my small business, it’s mostly marketing GFX and Social Media copy. It saves time so I can get back to writing. AI is still a changing landscape, so we will see how that develops in the future.

My dream for the future lies in the realization of Desktop Hollywood.

My hope is that this industry disruption will pass within the next five years, and as authors and creatives, we will find ourselves protected, safe, and enjoying the use of AI tools to manifest our creative vision without concern over plagiarism. By commissioning this technology, the Entertainment industry has ultimately shot itself in the foot. Studios will eventually become obsolete. I imagine a future where every creative person can assemble a small team of talent and become a producer — with their own desktop Hollywood — to surprise, delight, and wonder us all with their ingenuity.

But the scales still need to be balanced, rights need to be wronged, and IP needs to be protected, before we get there.

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The Skydust Duke (Skydust Kingdoms Book 1) — Highly Anticipated New Release by Award Winning Fantasy Author, T. L. Shreffler!https://medium.com/media/04fca92d2faed49be21242d98bfc387b/hrefRelease Date: March 31st, 2026The Skydust Duke (Book 1)In a land where the sky once fell . . . .

Lady Celise Dhastel has spent her life in the shadows — overlooked, underestimated, and quietly enduring the cruelty of her stepmother and half-sisters. Born without the gift of mana-channeling, her noble family sees her as a useless girl fit to work in the stables and nothing more.

Lord High Commander Elias Blackwood, dubbed “the Mad Dog” by the infamous Lady’s Letter, has scared off seven brides since returning home from the war. Haunted and hardened by the horrors of the Abyss, he has no patience for simpering courtiers or marriage schemes. But his father has arranged a birthday gala for him, and Elias has to choose a bride by the end of the ball.

After a twist of fate brings Celise and Elias together in the moonlit gardens of Gravenmere Castle, an unexpected spark ignites. Elias might be the most powerful supersoldier in the kingdom — but will he remove his armor for a chance at love?

The Skydust Duke: A Romantasy Cinderella Retelling (Skydust Kingdoms Book 1)

The Origin of The Daemon King

An excerpt from “A Brief History of Nilos”

by Forsynthian historian Argile Cartwright.

When the meteor hit the continent of Agea three thousand years ago, the Kingdom of Forsynthia did not yet exist.

Prior to the meteor’s arrival, Nilos was an insignificant blue speck of a planet in the Twin Rings galaxy. Its flora and fauna followed the natural evolution of bacteria into plants and aquatic life, then into warm blooded mammals, then primates, then mankind. Ten thousand years ago, the meteor entered the atmosphere at terrifying speeds, creating an arc of fire across the sky, visible from pole to pole. Most of the meteor dissolved into rubble and sand. But a large molten chunk landed at the southern tip of the continent, opening an abyss over a hundred miles long. Although never confirmed by living eyes, its depths were rumored to reach the center of the planet.

Fed by Nilos’ rich atmosphere and native resources, specks of life lying dormant upon the meteor began their own, mutilated form of evolution. These parasites grew and evolved within the Abyss, undisturbed for thousands of years until without warning, the Daemon King appeared. A black, abhorrent beast of tremendous size, whether the creature was plant or mammal or insect or “other” remained unknown. Its body a writhing mass of tentacles, with poison-tipped claws and acidic maw, the Daemon King began spawning monsters into the Abyss.

At this time, as though orchestrated by a hand much greater than mere evolution, the Luminous emerged, humans of immense power and talent rising up from among the normal population. Whether gained from meteoric dust or by destiny or fate, the ability to channel a mysterious power called mana manifested among certain people of Nilos. Due to their glowing hands while channeling, the term “Luminary” or “Luminous” was adopted, and later, the name “Skytouched” was coined by the common people. The most powerful channelers formed families, then allegiances, establishing the Kingdom of Forsynthia as its ruling class. The same pattern repeated in the neighboring kingdoms of Brazia, Dresengard, Illysea, and Sera’naya. Day-to-day life changed forever, as generations of Luminous soldiers went into the Abyss to fight off the monsters and preserve Nilos’s blooming civilization.

Technology evolved, moving through the bronze age into the iron age. Then, with the advent of combustion engines, the world entered into a brand new era of industrial revolution.

Guns were provided to the armies of Forsynthia to fight back the demonic horde, but bullets proved ineffective against the monsters’ alien powers. The Skytouched remained the most efficient means of combating the creatures. Gunpowder proved only somewhat effective against the Daemon King’s regenerative body. Despite technology’s progress, it seemed only Luminary soldiers were capable of restraining the horrors of the Abyss. And so the Luminous remained the sole protectors of the kingdom. Year after year, special units of Daemonguard were trained by the military to protect the kingdom against the nightmares of the Abyss.

Many exceptional heroes rose up through the ranks of Skytouched to defeat the Daemon King. Over and over, the war was won, and the enemy was declared “dead.” But it seemed that, no matter how many times the Daemon King was killed, the heart of it remained buried somewhere deep within the core of the planet. Like a tenacious weed, the creature would lie dormant for a period of time before spawning again.

Sometimes, the monster’s dormancy lasted several generations, allowing the kingdoms of Nilos a chance to rebuild and their people to thrive. Sometimes, its dormancy lasted only a decade or so before the creatures of the Abyss surged again.

And so the tides of war and peace, of chaos and security, came and went for the people of Nilos.

Many stories have been written about warfare and battle — fewer have been written about the aftermath. Our tale begins shortly after the Daemon King’s defeat, at the end of a grueling ten year siege in the Abyss, with the Kingdom of Forsynthia returning to a period of uncertain peace on the cusp of industrial revolution.

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Author T. L. Shreffler © 2023About the Author

T. L. Shreffler is the popular author of The Cat’s Eye Chronicles. She enjoys writing Epic Fantasy, Romantasy and YA Fantasy adventure novels, with strong heroines, brooding heroes, complex villains and slow burn romance. She holds a degree in English from Cal State Northridge (emphasis Creative Writing.) She has been publishing her creative works for more than 20 years. Her latest series, Skydust Kingdoms, will debut in 2026.

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Goodreads & Book Roasting: The Most Abusive Author Platform

I started self-publishing while I was a Creative Writing major in college back in 2010 (I was 22 years old). Back then, Goodreads was a cool environment. A bunch of readers from my fanfiction days started using Goodreads to rate and review books, and they invited me to the platform. That’s what launched me into the world of self-publishing.

In the early days, Goodreads.com offered a wonderful way to connect with readers, network with other authors and make friends. Sure, some critical reviews were posted, but I always felt like those reviewers had read the book, understood it, and were trying to give a well-rounded review. Topics addressed would cover character arcs, setting, themes, pacing and other basic ideas we learn about in English class. Obviously no book is perfect. I’ve been self-publishing for 15 years now and I’m used to a bad review here and there, as all seasoned writers are. That’s just part of being a writer, a business, an artist, an Uber driver, a hairstylist, an internet service provider . . . well . . . you see what I mean. Anyone attempting to engage the public online has to deal with negative reviews. And that’s okay. Sometimes they are warranted, sometimes they are not. You can’t please everyone, nor should you concern yourself with pleasing everyone, especially as a creative artist. Creativity, first and foremost, should bring you joy. And I believe that’s why most fiction authors begin writing, and what keeps them writing: the joy of storytelling.

Before the internet, writers could indulge themselves in all sorts of storytelling, without concern for who might react to their personal daydreams-turned-fiction. The freedom to express, explore and play with different forms of writing, in genres both light and dark, with ideas both taboo and intuitive, was unfettered. And if the doorway to publication opened, a writer published alongside a team of engaged professionals who believed in promoting their work. And if a magazine like Times or Publishers Weekly reviewed their book, those magazines had a production staff and an Editor in Chief ensuring the quality of the review. Even if a book was panned, the review wasn’t posted in a public forum for the writers’ someday grandchildren to read in 80 years. The writer could weep and move on.

Now, those days are over. Online popularity has superseded editorial reviews from established authorities. “What’s trending on TikTok” is all that matters, and a bad review from 10 years ago will remain until the internet implodes.

To compound this issue, writers face a harsher and more grueling landscape than any generation before: the immense cruelty of anonymous, online, public reviews. And they never go away.

Talk about being punished for your creativity.

My concern is that, considering the harshness of these online reviews, young writers’ enthusiasm will be squashed under the intense negativity of online communities, the worst of which has become Goodreads.com (in my humble opinion.) Young people starting out in any creative profession need encouragement. Mastering a craft takes decades of time. All artists and creatives struggle with insecurity. I can’t imagine the immense pressure put on young writers because of websites like Goodreads. I’m sure many writers are completely discouraged from ever publishing, due to fear of being bullied. And their fear is justified.

What happens when young writers are squashed? They never develop into mature writers.

What happens when we lose a generation of mature fiction writers who have struggled, excelled and mastered their craft?

We lose good storytelling.

Goodreads: From Good to Garbage

Despite being a great platform back in 2010 when I first joined Goodreads.com, I don’t go on the website anymore. If I could take my books down, I would. (The website won’t let you take your books down as an author, because they’re a “book database.” Sure. But let’s be realistic: they’re not just a database. Goodreads’ primary use and popularity is due to it being a Social Media community platform like Facebook, complete with User Profiles, Avatars, Groups, Discussions, DM’s and Friends. And so it should be considered a social media platform with a book cataloging feature.) The main issue to be had with Goodreads is not the database aspect, though it is clunky, messy, and leaves a lot to be desired. The quality of the community has changed drastically over the last 15 years since I first joined. I think this shift started around 2018 but got really bad around 2020 or 2021. Now when I cruise Goodreads looking at books, I read terrible reviews that are simply cruel.

Here’s just a handful of quotes from HOOKED by E. MCCINTIRE:

“RIP to my last few brain cells that died after I read this.”“Even the gay Peter Pan fanfic I read was infinitely better than this”“When people told me I’d roast the fck out of this book, I figured it would at least be humorous, or maybe give me tons of things to make fun of, but no… It didn’t give me a single thing. I am almost sad I wasted an entire day on this.”

(Don’t even get me started on the reference above to “gay fanfiction.”)

“Book roasting” on Goodreads is a toxic online trend that I’m pretty sure started on TikTok. My primary concern is for young people who simply love writing, and who want to become novelists. Any young person who publishes an early work — as we all should, to get some experience under our belts — does not deserve to be subjected to the kind of trolling that happens on Goodreads.com.

Here are some examples of reviews for the popular, traditionally published book, OUTLANDER by D. Gabaldon:

I gave up on this book because I was sustaining permanent damage from reading it and I was afraid I’d start hitting back.This is one of the books that started off shallow and directionless but entertaining and ended puke-worthy and ready to be trashed and forgotten.

My heart goes out to young writers, or first-time authors, who will likely abandon their dreams under the immense psychological weight of “book roasting” on a platform that does not allow authors to remove their books or protect themselves.

No Protection for Authors Forced onto Goodreads.com

This community isn’t interested in supporting and connecting with authors like they were back in 2010. “Book roasting” is their new sport. It’s a place people go to get attention for posting the best “Roast.” The bottom line is that Goodreads has forced authors to participate in their “book database” (aka. social media platform,) then abandoned authors without any protection and allowed this abuse to happen. This is not a community of informed or compassionate readers. This is a community of meanspirited people looking to punish, humiliate and bully authors.

So, if a young writer is reading this and just starting out, please listen to me: you can’t take the negativity you read on Goodreads seriously. I know someone, somewhere has told you to “learn” from negative reviews. I will now contradict that advice: in my experience, it’s not worth reading through all the meanspirited reviews on Goodreads to get to a good few critical reviews that might help your writing. If you really want feedback on your writing, join a critique group or circle of other writers where you’re getting informed feedback. Or hire on a few beta readers at your discretion. Find people who will respect your feelings and treat your work with insight and compassion.

It doesn’t matter if your book has flaws or doesn’t “resonate” with everyone. These reviews are dehumanizing, cruel, unmoderated and abusive. If authors try to complain to the Goodreads service or to Amazon, which acquired the platform in 2013, our complaints are responded to with, “You’re being too sensitive.” Classic abuser line.

Dear author, you’re not being too sensitive. Your books are being defamed by internet trolls, and your professional reputation is being damaged without recourse. To spare yourself the psychological struggle, and continue finding joy in your craft, please abandon this website.

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Fantasy Worldbuilding

One of my favorite parts of any fantasy story is the worldbuilding. This is why I prefer fantasy novels above any other genre. I love diving into an unknown world, and I’m a nerd for deep lore. Having strong worldbuilding can elevate your fantasy series, taking it from mediocre to amazing!

Here are 3 ways to make your fantasy world feel more real.

Currency. Design a currency system and stick to it! The Harry Potter series and the Wheel of Time both have complicated currency systems that really add depth to the world.

2. Exports. Consider your Kingdom or Country’s economy. What is their trade like? What’s their main export? Extra points if it’s a magical export like dragon scales or potions.

3. Language. Consider giving your citizens more than one language. It was common in the ancient world for a kingdom or country to have more than one language, a “formal language” spoken by the educated elite or nobility, and a “peasant tongue” reserved for lower classes. It was a way for the two classes to further distinguish from each other, and even hide secrets.

What do you think of these three tips? Have I left anything out? Share your thoughts in a comment and say hello!

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Heart of the Wolf

A steamy Paranormal Romance about forbidden first love! Keywords: age gap, first love, shifter romance, alpha male, obsessive male lead, small town romance.

Maddy Donovan is trying to survive her senior year of high school. Her life is far from normal. Her stepdad is a shameless alcoholic. The power bill is due. And she has a math test tomorrow. She’s living in survival mode, and she has no time to date that spicy older guy who keeps coming by the hardware store. What’s his name again? Right. Gareth Delarosa. Long black hair, hazel eyes — hot guys like him don’t belong in a little town like Black River. He’s been her secret crush for the last five years, but there’s an age gap, and he’s way off limits.

But it seems like fate has other plans. When Gareth saves her life the night of a break-in, she wakes up in his bedroom, in his bed, wearing his shirt. Her secret fantasy is staring her in the face. But she can’t be his girlfriend. Her life’s a hot mess. Oh wait, he’s a werewolf? And she might be his lifemate? Right. Seems like her luck. True love is about to upend her world.

Welcome to a love story about crossing boundaries, taking risks, healing from trauma and learning to live on the wild side. This is not your grandma’s love story. Recommended for readers 18+, contains spicy scenes and adult content.

T. L. Shreffler is writing Paranormal Romance as A. Mariposa!

Before readers of The Cat’s Eye Chronicles get concerned, I am still writing YA Fantasy under T. L. Shreffler! But I decided to publish my Paranormal Romance stories under a new penname, A. Mariposa, for two reasons.

My Paranormal Romance series is not for children under 18.Heart of the Wolf does not take place in a high fantasy setting even remotely similar to The Cat’s Eye Chronicles.

For these two reasons, I didn’t want to confuse readers by publishing my Paranormal Romance series under the same name as my YA Fantasy works. Heart of the Wolf has some darker and more adult themes than what we find in The Cat’s Eye Chronicles, like addiction, trauma, poverty, alcoholism and coming-of-age in small town America. And of course, what it’s like to date a werewolf.

My personal idea of Heart of the Wolf is something like Shameless meets Twin Peaks with a splash of True Blood. Small town life can be pretty absurd and surprisingly dangerous. It all takes place in Black River, NY which is a real town in New York State. However, my version of Black River, NY is actually based off of a little place called Concrete, WA where I lived for about 6 months back in 2020–2021. I worked for a time as a Journalist covering their Town Hall meetings, and the range of interesting stories and people I met during my time there led to this off-beat concept of Black River, NY. So you’ll find in the story all sorts of little details pulled from my own life. Maddy’s coworkers at the hardware store, her trailer in the woods, the nearby casino and the Halloween festival are all inspired by my own personal experiences.

Meet the CharactersMaddy Donovan, female MC of Heart of the Wolf by A. Mariposa.

Maddy Donovan is a 19 year old teenage delinquent struggling to finish her senior year in high school. Held back in 8th grade after her mother’s death, Maddy’s life has been far from easy. Her stepdad is a deadbeat loser and she’s been paying the bills since she was 16 years old. She just wants to graduate from high school and get the heck out of town. The only bright spot in her life is her secret crush, the mysterious guy who keeps coming by the hardware store. They have a hidden past. Five years ago, when she tried to run away from home, he rescued her from the mountains. She has been secretly obsessed with him ever since.

Gareth Delarosa moved to Black River five years ago. At the time he was a lone wolf on the run, with no territory and no pack to belong to. While hitchhiking through the Adirondack Mountains, he runs across a young girl hiding in a hollow tree during a rainstorm. It’s late at night, and the girl looks terrified and lost. He helps her back to her trailer, but notices something unusual about her scent. That’s when he recognizes her as his lifemate.

Not one to question fate, Gareth decides to make Black River his home and see what the future might hold. He keeps his distance from Maddy until the night of a break-in at her trailer. She winds up at his house with a concussion. He wants to tell her everything — but how to begin?

Maddy and Gareth sitting at Zippy’s pizza on their first date.

For Maddy, trust doesn’t come easy. The unlikely couple starts seeing each other. Tentatively. But their romance is fraught with obstacles. Maddy might be Gareth’s lifemate, but that doesn’t magically make all her problems go away. Can he rescue her from her abusive home? And can she open up her heart to love? I certainly hope so!

Read on Kindle Vella!

If you like serial books and webnovels, you can check out Gareth and Maddy’s story, Heart of the Wolf by A. Mariposa, on Kindle Vella! Just click the link below to start reading. The first 10 chapters are free!

Heart of the Wolf | Kindle Vella

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If you are a passionate writer like me, then you’re probably a little bit too engrossed in your characters. And that’s okay. Characters are what make a book interesting. If you don’t have interesting characters, then what is a story even about?

Heart of the Wolf | Kindle Vella

I personally find it easier to come up with a main character than a side character. The main character is usually the person in my head who I’m imagining when I’m starting the first scene of a story. What gets to be a bit more challenging is when friendships come into play, or ex-boyfriends, or romantic rivals, and suddenly we have to come up with a backstory for a side character we never thought we would be writing about.

Here are a few quick tips and tricks on how to flesh out your side characters without stealing the spotlight from your main character.

1. Jot down the basics. What is their family life like?

Doesn’t matter if you’re writing Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance or a YA Fantasy adventure novel. Characters have to come from somewhere! Acquaint yourself with your new side character by asking a few important questions. How old is the character? What is their relationship to the MC (main character?) What was their family like growing up? Did they have a deadbeat father? Perhaps an over-controlling mother? Were they from a rich family? A poor family? These little details can bring to life your side character while keeping the focus on the MC.

Takeaway: characters have to come from somewhere. Answer the basic questions first.

2. What brings this side character into the MC’s life?

Was it unhappy circumstance? Or were they old friends from childhood? Whatever the circumstances surrounding your side characters meeting with the MC, this pivotal scene will reveal their purpose in the story. Your side character should either move the plot forward, add conflict, resolve conflict, or help with the MC’s character growth.

Maybe your side character is a helpful friend at school with a passion for paranormal podcasts, and her purpose is to help the MC accept her blooming witch powers. Or maybe your side character is a romantic rival trying to steal the MC’s boyfriend. Either way, the side character is there to help the MC grow by escalating conflict or resolving conflict.

Compare and contrast your side character to your MC and think about how you can use this character to help demonstrate some of the MC’s qualities. Maybe your MC is a little timid. A hot, fiery side character like a best friend at school can definitely be used to demonstrate your MC’s timidity, and maybe help them grow as well.

Takeaway: Opposites attract! Your side character can help demonstrate your MC’s personality traits, strengthening characterization.

3. Don’t miss a worldbuilding opportunity! Does your side character have an interesting heritage?

Maybe your side character comes from a neighboring kingdom, a different social caste, or a different race entirely (an elf or a vampire, maybe?) This is a perfect opportunity to tie in your side character with your worldbuilding.

Ask yourself the following question: what can your reader learn about the world through your new side character?

For example, in Cerastes’ Curse, Book 6 of The Cat’s Eye Chronicles by T. L. Shreffler, Sora meets a girl named Rheina Veer who is a Wanderer (a warrior princess) at the South Wind’s Temple. Through Rheina, Sora learns more about what it means to be a Wanderer in the Southlands, which ultimately helps her decide whether or not she’s going to stay in the temple or choose a different path.

Takeaway: Side characters can help the reader learn about the book’s world. Side characters are a window into your worldbuilding!

Cerastes' Curse (The Cat's Eye Chronicles Book 6)

Hopefully these three helpful tips will give you an idea of how to keep working with that pesky side character. Remember, every character in a story needs to serve a purpose, either to move the plot forward, to help with character growth, or ideally both. What are some qualities of good side characters that stand out to you? Leave a comment!

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Gareth and Maddy from Heart of the Wolf, a forbidden love age-gap romance available on Kindle Vella!

Every girl has “their thing.” And I guess you can argue that every guy has their thing, too. But among women, I think the allure of the “older male” has always been a forbidden fantasy, and that’s why it shows up so commonly in fiction!

I was 23 years old when I first heard the term “Silver Fox.” One of my friends brought a guy to a party who looked like he might be in his late 30s or early 40s, and I heard the girls call him a “Silver Fox,” meaning he was “an old guy who’s still hot.” Alternatively, I have heard an Age Gap romance called “dating a daddy” or “a cougar” (if the woman is the older partner), and a “May-December romance.”

And so every girl has “their thing.” In my own writing, my secret love of Age Gap Romance is revealed in the 8-year difference between the anti-hero assassin, Crash, and the young and idealistic main character, Lady Sora Fallcrest in my YA Fantasy series, The Cat’s Eye Chronicles by T. L. Shreffler. Now, an 8-year difference is not necessarily considered “shocking” in the world of fiction. Especially in fantasy. Especially in a medieval-based world of arranged marriages, rigid social castes and feudalism. But in my own weird brain, I thought an 8-year gap made the most sense considering where each character is at in their personal development. Crash is an assassin of some rank and expertise when he meets Sora at her “coming-of-age” Blooming Ceremony. And I think his protective side — being a few years her elder and more experienced in life — is part of what attracts her to him over the course of the six book series.

I will admit, I enjoy writing about the themes of an Age Gap romance more than I enjoy writing the themes of a typical romance. You can blame Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong, where Menolly, the main character and a talented dragon singer, falls in love with her mentor, Masterharper Robinton. He just happens to be a good 20 years her elder. Oops! But he’s just so, so swoonworthy!

Another surprising Age Gap Romance in YA Fantasy is in Tamora Pierce’s “The Immortals Quartet.” The four books are called Wild Magic, Wolf Speaker, Emperor Mage and The Realms of the Gods. Daine, girl of around 15 years old, is gifted with wild magic. She has the coveted ability to speak to animals. After going on numerous adventures, she ends up getting a big crush on her mentor and teacher, the wizard Numair. (I believe Numair is around 15 years her elder.) It’s a shocking but very squee! inducing turn of events. I could hardly catch my breath in Book 3 of the series when their romance begins to develop, and of course, my little teenage heart couldn’t handle it when they finally confessed.

So is Age Gap Romance a forbidden fantasy? Or is it just a bit of fictional good fun? Every girl has her preference, but I don’t think there’s any harm in writing an Age Gap Romance. It’s all just fiction, after all.

What I Love the Most About Age Gap RomanceThe mystique of the older, dominant, more experienced male. This adds to the power dynamic between the two characters.The young, naive, idealistic female, who is usually coming-of-age in a time of peril, where she must rely on the older male for protection and guidance.A teacher-student vibe where the authority of the male lead supports and encourages the younger female partner.The headstrong competitiveness of the young female MC, setting out to prove her independence, while our more experienced hero waits quietly in the wings to provide leadership and support when needed.

So I think these four themes are what make an Age Gap relationship in fiction so incredibly attractive! Do you have a favorite Age Gap Romance, or a series where the ages of the characters surprised you? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment and tell me.

Click to Read “Heart of the Wolf” on Kindle Vella!

Click to Read “Sora’s Quest” Book 1 of The Cat’s Eye Chronicles

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Losing faith in ourselves, losing faith in others. Coming under attack, not knowing how to defend. People hurt us sometimes. I wish I could say we get better as we get older, that eventually we reach a “golden age” when we become kind, wise, and compassionate. But as the years pass, and stages of life pass me by, I realize adults can be just as horrible as mean-girl cliques or bullies in high school.

I’ve met people so hardened by emotional pain, they can no longer be kind, no longer connect to their fellow human beings. They see everything in black and white, “attack or flee,” “win or lose.” Worse, they see anger as their right, their privilege, like they’ve earned their tantrums and their victims “deserve” to be brought to tears, deserve to be socially ostracized, outcasted, etc. Whatever life has done to them, they’ve become plague-bearers. They spread their hate like a disease. They are carriers of cruelty and misery, and the damage they cause is real. Therapists use all sorts of labels: Narcissism, Sociopathic, Borderline Personality Disorder, Explosive Rage Disorder, Depression-Anxiety, etc. In the end, although I know mental illness is real, to protect ourselves, we must learn to identify this behavior in realms we understand: social irresponsibility, lack of honor or integrity, and saddest of all, a deep inability to love oneself. Young people can still heal. But the older we get, sadly, the worse our sociopathy becomes, the less likely we, as adults, will be saved. As a healer at heart, this has been a very hard lesson for me to see, to observe. The older we get, the less likely we are to ever fully emerge from our own darkness, and in fact, the darker that shadow becomes.

I am a sensitive soul. It’s difficult, at times, to live in a world where people can be so carelessly–or intentionally–cruel. I’ve spent a lot of time trusting the wrong people, but I can’t blame myself for being naive. We all start off as Sora did in her manor, frightened and desperate, seeking an unknown destination, trusting whoever comes down the road. Sometimes, we find ourselves next to Crash, someone not particularly likable, not necessarily loving, and yet possessing a quality of redemption. Sometimes, we find a Laina–someone who seems like an innocent sufferer, someone who calls upon us to protect them. Yet we fail to see all the ways they use us and take advantage of our trust. In my books, I like to create characters who exhibit redemptive traits, because in the end, I do believe we can all heal and overcome our darkness. But I write fantasy, I write ideals and hopes, I write dreams. In reality, darkness is not so easily identifiable and not so easily conquered.

I take heart knowing that we can create meaning in the world. I turn life into narrative. I turn chaos into themes. I make loss a lesson for the soul. I know courage follows fear. I know for some of us, every day requires insurmountable strength to face. Our own skin–our flesh and blood–becomes a prison. Sometimes, in a twist of fate, we must abandon our loved ones to their own sightless cruelty, realizing only one of us can ever escape. And for those trapped in that prison, I know you have a lion’s heart to survive, and I salute you, survivors, on-goers and never-look-backers. I salute you. In the words of Mary Anne Radmacher, “Courage doesn’t always roar.”

Through loving ourselves, we find redemption.

Hey. Wow. It’s 2016. Spaztastic! There are so many exciting developments on the horizon!

First, the writing of Krait’s Redemption, which is coming along splendidly. The story is primarily from Sora’s POV, like all of The Cat’s Eye Chronicles, yet the plot also focuses on two characters we haven’t fully explored yet: Krait and Caprion. So far, there’s quite a beautiful story to be told. These two characters have grown a lot since meeting each other and they both surprised me. Crash and Sora, as well, try to overcome their latest challenges, with the unexpected complication of Sora’s Cat’s-Eye necklace. Stay tuned for a release date announcement and more details in the near future!

I also have a crazy goal to expand the Cat’s Eye store to include art prints of the characters. Eventually, I hope to put together enough art to create a Cat’s Eye Chronicles Almanac of sorts, a “travel guide” to the world, to serve as a companion to the books. I also have a long list of updated character portraits I plan to add to the site. I’ve included a few of them in this post, which can also be found on their respective character pages (Sora and Crash, as you may have guessed.)

For readers of The Dragon Pearl Series, I’m also working on Book 2: The Fire’s Bane, though it’s at a much earlier stage than Krait’s Redemption and will probably be released later in the year. The Fire’s Bane will once again be written from Sienna’s perspective, and will follow Sienna and Darius’s adventure as they try to stop a dangerous sorcerer after the dragon pearl. More details can be found here: Upcoming Titles.

What’s New for T. L.?

So on October 31st, 2015, I took a random trip to the Burbank Animal Shelter, and…this happened.

And this.

And now I have a writing poodle! A fuzzy minion of my very own. Her name is Penny. Here she is, hard at work on her next novel:

Penny enjoys burying snacks in her bedding, digging holes in the back yard, sniffing poop, chasing squirrels and cuddling. I’ve never met a cuddlier dog. She once sat in my lap for a full hour with no complaints. Her fur is constant upkeep, but other than that, she is a perfect little companion.

Lots of exciting things on the horizon. Watch out, 2016!

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens at 2AM on Friday the 18th, apparently the morning of its release. Because I live under a rock, I didn’t know it was in theaters until my roomie offered me an extra ticket.

We promptly went to Target where I bought an old-school Star Wars T-shirt, and my roomie bought a full-on Chewy Onesie. We expressed much disgruntlement when the men’s section had all the cool Star Wars stuff. Sometimes feminists drive me nuts, then sometimes, when standing in the women’s section faced with 3 Star Wars shirts, none of which reference the Dark Side, I get a little mad. Officially, boys get all the cool stuff. Boys get Star Wars, The Avengers, Batman and Zelda. Girls? We get Bohemian elephant t-shirts. Boo!

That night, we downed espressos like whisky shots and went to the 2AM showing. Gone are the days of hummingbird energy. At 27, we now get tired after midnight.

Needless to say, the theater was packed. Our specific theater smelled like a giant fart bomb had exploded over the seats (is “fart bomb” a thing?). If you can imagine 100+ teenage boys all sitting in unwashed pajamas, stinking of BO, sweating and farting and mouth-breathing for hours, that’s how the theater smelled.

Despite the stinky theater and Target’s blatantly one-sided T-shirt campaign, I saw The Force Awakens. When it was over, I wanted to see it again. I fell in love with Star Wars all over again.

Thank you J. J. Abrams for making a Star Wars movie that recaptured my love for the series. Without giving too much away, the main character was a strong female who, unlike Jessica Jones or Xena or that blond chick from Hero, never shoved the “strong female warrior” persona down our throats. The rest of the cast played well off one another, with a lot of fresh faces adding newness to the screen.

I give Star Wars: The Force Awakens 5 stars for awesomeness! What did you think of the movie? What do you hope to see in the sequel?

Here’s a picture of my roomie in her Wookie costume, and some very tiny storm troopers in front of the theater.