Ep 28: Will AI Write Good Novels? With Bestselling Human Crime Writer Katherine Pathak

Shownotes<p><b><strong>AI, authors and the business of telling stories—with Katherine Pathak</strong></b></p><p>Could AI help a prolific novelist keep up with her own imagination? And how different is an AI continuing a successful series from a ghostwriter—or an author’s family—taking over?</p><p>This week I’m joined by crime writer Katherine Pathak, author of the best selling DCI Dani Bevan series, to talk about her new book, <i><em>Red Red Rose</em></i>, and what AI might mean for writers, readers and publishing.</p><p>We explore the possibilities for producing and abridging audiobooks, adapting novels for the screen, and keeping much-loved characters alive after their creators want to move on. Along the way, we discuss celebrity authors, the appeal of a recognisable human voice, and why fictional characters spend so much time drinking tea and dragging their hands through their hair.</p><p>Katherine and I don’t agree on everything—particularly whether readers will always want human authors. But we find plenty of interesting parallels between possible uses of AI and how publishing already works.</p><p><b><strong>In this episode:</strong></b></p><ul><li><b><strong>00:00</strong></b> Introducing Katherine and <i><em>Red Red Rose</em></i></li><li><b><strong>01:40</strong></b> Human authors in an age of AI</li><li><b><strong>03:39</strong></b> Audiobooks, abridgement and adaptations</li><li><b><strong>10:50</strong></b> When audiobook production becomes a bottleneck</li><li><b><strong>12:14</strong></b> Successful series, reluctant creators and literary successors</li><li><b><strong>19:46</strong></b> Can AI create the next big literary brand?</li><li><b><strong>24:39</strong></b> Do you want AI to copy your voice?</li><li><b><strong>25:17</strong></b> Crime fiction, motives and what AI might learn from our stories</li><li><b><strong>31:22</strong></b> Celebrity authors, ghostwriters and the value of a name</li><li><b><strong>35:17</strong></b> Cups of tea, sighing and the habits that give writers away</li><li><b><strong>38:23</strong></b> Why setting matters—and the appeal of British crime fiction</li><li><b><strong>40:24</strong></b> AI’s role in the work surrounding the writing</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.asynchronousunreliable.com/episode-28-katherine-pathack" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><i><em>Read the transcript</em></i></a></p><p><i><em>The DCI Dani Bevan series and the Alice Mann series, set in Scotland, and the Imogen Croft series, set in