A Story by Leo Gonzales

Image: Untitled by Leo Gonzales

I. A model has writer’s block, and wonders where all their ideas are flowing to and from – writes in a cabin beside a fruit tree and is told by a friend that there is a computer-generated model that gives you ideas. Every idea, from novel synopses to business ideas, are preprogramed by someone else. The model asks, why are they getting so many ideas? And their friend answers that there’s a demand. About over half of the fruit from the tree is edible and the model shares the fruit with a windowsill companion, a ray of light that shines from a candle’s curvature toward a leaf carrying a droplet.

II. The model looks at the program from an overseer perspective instead of a consumer – it’s a metaphor on attraction, they decide. The model is attracted to being an overseer, coming up with ideas, instead of letting ideas flow. Turn Monet’s water lilies into a novel. And the model decides to go that direction; how blue can so mean so many obvious things in a word, and how the bridge’s green hue can offer a sort of sadness that refracts how many times it takes to accept that the bridge is green.

III. As the model continues to linger on that idea, begins to write on the topic, the model goes back to the programmer’s ideas and sees that they get similar ideas; paintings to novels, sees someone imploring support/reimaginations of classical artworks. The model begins to grow enamored with the reliability of the programmer’s flow of concepts and decides to reach the programmer, asking what of the program gives you the ideas and the programmer responds that the model is a generated template.

IV. Months pass and the model writes a novel about Monet’s water lilies – the model continues to edit and revise, and gives credit and love to the source of the idea with each word. The model points out their favorite line, that good ideas spread fast in contrast to water lilies growing rapidly, and ponders whether to send the line into the programming office by mail as a thank you. The book, self produced, floats through time and seemingly hangs out in the bedrooms of friends and thrift shops, and the model wishes they had gone to college. The model decides to give the book as a gift to the programmer without credit due or the expectation of an investment.

V. The programmer who came up with the idea writes back and tells the model that when reading the line they thought themselves so privileged to be in a new enlightenment era, where the same experiences can be shared in a new medium. The programmer continued to write, how has no one come up with this idea? It’s such a simple idea – why does it feel so new? The model writes back in a short and finalic tone that she plans to continue writing in the same way but somewhere new. When arriving to a new location, a friend’s living room, she picks up a book without asking and reads it back at their place, picks up another idea and continues to write in their living room.

This work was featured in issue #11