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Many well known writers have died with novels unfinished. We came up with the idea to use a large language model to finish an unfinished novel in the style of the deceased writer. We hoped to write an ending to Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters. Using her editors notes as a guideline.
Overview
Elizabeth Gaskell passed away in 1865 before she could complete her novel Wives and Daughters. As a result, the book is unfinished, and readers are left with an incomplete ending. Despite its unfinished status, Wives and Daughters is still highly regarded for its insightful portrayal of characters and society in the 19th century. Many readers appreciate Gaskell's skillful storytelling and the vivid depiction of the characters, even if the novel lacks a conclusive resolution.
We aimed to see if Ai could mimic her skillful storytelling and keep the characters true to themselves, all while keeping the authors 19th century English and vocabulary that ai does not naturally understand nor write in.
What is Wives and Daugthers about?
The novel is about Molly Gibson, a daughter of a widowed English country doctor, whose life changes when her father remaries. Her new step-mother is ambitious and self centered. Cynthia her step-sister is a socialite with a secretive complicated background. Molly gets close with the Hamley family, a family with higher social standing, she develops a friendship with their son, Roger.
As Molly navigates shifting and complex family and friendship dynamics. she learns damaging secrets that affect her reputation negatively, which in those times was very bad for a woman. Roger starts out in love with Cynthia who is kind but keeps him at a distance. Over time Cynthia's emotional distance and Molly's compassionate nature lead Rodger, who is now in Africa, to realize his true feelings for Molly. Despite the difficult family dynamics at play Molly stays resilient, and is able to mend the strained relationships around her.
Gaskells untimely death left the story unfinished. Editor's notes say that she intended for Roger to return to England to unite with Molly and have a final resolution of love and stability that rewards Molly's integrity and patience.
The blog Fiction Predilection has detailed summaries of the book chapters ( Chapter 1-18, Chapter 19-30, Chapter 31-37, Chapter 38-44, Chapter 45-50, Chapter 51-55, Chapter 56-59 )
Process
Summarization: (Open ai, langchain)
Outline Creation: (langchain, open ai)
Training Set: (langchain, openai)
Text Generation: (llama 2, autotrain, oobabooga)
Meetings: Facilitated several meetings and created agendas and goals to help the team stay on track and complete our project.
Thoughts on the new ending.
The Ai generated ending provides a good continuation for Wives and Daughters. I believe it could be a useful tool for cases like this, works that are old and unfinished.
It stays true to the relationships established, and the mimicry of Victorian prose isn't too bad. The pace could be worked on since Gaskell is known for the breadth of her writing. Given time further refinement would make this even closer to a plausible conclusion.
Code
Language: Python
IDE: google colab
Libraries: langchain, nltk, simplechat, autotrain, huggingface models
LLM's: openai, llama2
Link for code
Impact of Ai on writing
Utilizing Ai to bring closure to unfinished stories would be beneficial. There are people who dislike, or feel unfulfilled by reading unfinished works. If Ai could match the authors voice and vision it would be a good alternative, alongside human written endings to give variety.
This project was completed in October of 2023. We were confined to what was currently out there and with time we believe that Ai will continue to make leaps and bounds, and make projects like this more easily attainable.
Sources
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Wives and Daughters: An Every-Day Story. Project Gutenberg, 1 Jul. 2003, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4274
Google Sites
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