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Professional Fangirling: Writing IP with Rebecca Mix

Annie Cosby

July 19, 2023 | 3 min read

Have you heard authors talk about "writing IP"? Or maybe that book in your hand is IP and you don't even know it. Or maybe you have no idea what we're talking about.

Regardless, you've definitely read something that was created as IP, and the process is fascinating — trust us. Join us for an interview with Author & Freewrite Ambassador Rebecca Mix to discuss writing IP and what it's like for an author.

First things first. What does it mean to write IP?

IP means "intellectual property," ie. instead of writing something you came up with on your own, you're hired by a publisher to write about something that already exists! People usually think of existing brands, like Neopets, Disney, Marvel, etc., but IP can also mean a concept that's developed in-house by an editor and then an author is hired to write it. You'd be surprised how many books are IP without anyone even knowing.

Wow. That's fascinating. So you do both. You have your own original books, like The Ones We Burn and The Mossheart's Promise, and now you're getting into IP, right? How did you get started with that?

I always wanted to do IP, and it was going to be something I started pursuing a little further along in my career — but then, in 2021, my editor at Andrews McMeel reached out to see if I'd be interested in doing the Neopets graphic novels because I talk about how much I love Neopets, constantly, online.

Never hurts to be loud about what you love!

Neopets?! Like the virtual pet website? *break to fangirl* How is the process of writing IP different from writing purely original content?

IP is a lot more collaborative. And you get source material! Since it's not my world, a lot of my job with this particular IP is to understand and love the canon, and then develop a story that does that canon justice. It's really interesting because since this isn't something I own, there's an entire team of people dedicated to ensuring that all of the details align and that I do the canon justice.

Typically, when I write my own books, no one even knows about them until I have a detailed outline, a pitch, and sample chapters. This one kind of worked in reverse: the pitch had to be approved by the lovely folks over at Neopets, then I sent them an extensive 4,000 word outline for them to comb through so they could suggest changes, nix certain elements that conflicted with lore or with upcoming plots they were developing, etc. You have to be someone who doesn't hold things precious; names and characters and subplots will change, because at the end of the day, they're the experts, and my job is to just try and tell a good story.

Then, when the book gets turned in, instead of just my editor working through it, it goes back to the team so they have a chance to read and suggest changes. In that way, it's a lot less lonely than writing my own original work, and a lot more of a team effort!

Do you like one more than the other?

I don't think so! I think IP and original stories all have their own perks and merits. I love the creative control of writing my own stories because I can really go wild, but in the case of Neopets, it felt like an utter pipedream to get to create new canon for a property that has meant the world to me for the last 20 years. And the teamwork aspect of it was really fun, too. I'll definitely continue to write my own original stuff, but I'm hopeful I can continue to do more IP as well!

If you could write IP for any universe, character, brand, etc., what would it be?

Oh gosh. Too many to choose, because I love too many things! For existing brands, the obvious answer is the Warriors series. I grew up devouring them and it's a dream of mine to get to work on them at least once.

Other very niche dreams would be Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Tangled, Pokemon, Wizard of Oz ... but I've also always been keen to try my hand at working on a publisher-developed IP. Anything video games, murder-y magic, or set in Michigan would be a blast. And if some editor out there was ever dreaming about a book dealing with brain injuries, I unfortunately have the experience down for that one already!

So there you have it. Welcome to the world of IP! If you could write a story set in any universe that isn't your own, what would you choose?

Readers can learn more about Rebecca Mix at www.rebeccamix.com or follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Facebook.

Annie Cosby

Writer

Annie Cosby is the Marketing Manager at Freewrite, a former fiction editor, and the author of seven books — and counting. Her work deals with Celtic mythology and has twice won the YA Indie Author Project in Missouri.

The Set Up

The 2024 study recruited 293 writers to write an eight-sentence “micro” story. The participants were split into three groups:

Writing by human brainpower only
The opportunity to get one AI-generated idea to inspire their writing
The opportunity to get up to five AI-generated ideas to inspire their writing

Then, 600 evaluators judged how creative these short stories were. The results confirmed a widely accepted idea but also offered a few surprising findings.

Prompts from AI Can Jumpstart the Creative Process

Right off the bat, the reviewers rated the AI-guided stories as being more original, better written, and more enjoyable to read. (Interesting to note that they did not find them funnier than the fully human-inspired stories.)

This actually isn’t that surprising. Most writers know the “blank page dread” at the beginning of a project. Even as I write this, I can’t help but wonder, “If I had been tasked with writing an eight-sentence story, what the heck would I have written about?”

Many writers share this sense of needing to pick the “right” story to tell. And that uniquely human concept of perfectionism can end up actually inhibiting our creative process.

A prompt, then, can help us quickly clear this mental hurdle. To test this, I’ll give you one, courtesy of ChatGPT: “Write a story about a teenager who discovers a mysterious journal that reveals hidden secrets about their town, leading them on an unexpected adventure to uncover the truth.”

Can you feel your creative juices flowing already?

Since its release, AI has been celebrated for its ability to assist in idea generation; and this study confirms how effective using artificial intelligence in this way can be for writers — some, it seems, more than others.

AI-Generated Ideas Helped Less Creative Writers More

It doesn’t feel great to judge a writer’s creative prowess, but for this study, researchers needed to do just that. Prior to writing their short stories, the writers took a test to measure their creativity.

Researchers found that those considered less creative did substantially better when given AI-generated ideas — to the point where getting the full five ideas from AI “effectively equalizes the creativity scores across less and more creative writers.”

This isn’t the case just for writing. Another study by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship WZ also found that AI tools most benefit employees with weaker skills.

So is AI leveling the playing field between okay and great writers? It seems it may be. But before we lament, there’s one more finding that proves using AI isn’t all perks.

AI-Aided Stories Were More Similar — And Needed to Be Credited

The researchers took a step back to look at all the AI-supported stories collectively. And what did they find?

The AI-assisted stories were more similar as a whole, compared to the fully human-written stories.

Additionally, when reviewers were told that a story was enhanced by an AI idea, they “imposed an ownership penalty of at least 25%,” even indicating that “the content creators, on which the models were based, should be compensated.”

This leads us to that all-important question about AI-assisted work: who owns the content?

According to Originality.AI, an AI and plagiarism detector, “When there’s a combination of AI and human-generated elements, the human elements may receive copyright protection if they meet the requirements.”

So right now, if a writer uses AI to generate ideas — but writes the content themselves — they retain rights to the work.

However, Originality.AI even admits that “the legal system is having a hard time keeping up” with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Time will only tell what AI regulations will look like in a few years.

What Does an AI-Assisted Literary Future Look Like?

The researchers from the University of Exeter Business School study raise an interesting point about what the future landscape for writers may look like. If droves of authors begin using AI to come up with ideas, we may end up with a lot of well-written yet dime-a-dozen stories.

So will human beings choose the easier, but less diverse, path? Or will we stick to fighting through writer’s block armed with nothing but our own brain?

Or, a third option: can we somehow learn to harness AI to supercharge our writing process without sacrificing the wholly unique creativity that infuses human creation?

That’s one question that even ChatGPT can’t answer.

Editor's Note: Artificial intelligence may have already transformed writing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be in control of your own words. Read Astrohaus Founder Adam Leeb's statement on AI and privacy.

Learn more

August 22, 2024 • 8 min read

Reimagining the Future of Storytelling in a World with AI

While AI has capabilities that range from coding to image generation, the model that excites — and terrifies — writers is the LLM. It won’t be long before we see the world’s first blockbuster novel, written entirely by an LLM. What does this mean for art, and writers in particular? Is it all doom and gloom? The answer is, of course, more complicated than yes or no.