Writing a Writer • Richard P. Gabriel • YOW! 2015

Inkwell is a poetry and text generation program that uses templates, language models, and optimization techniques to generate creative writing that mimics human authors

The program leverages several key components:

• WordNet lexical database for word meanings and relationships
• Google Ngrams for word patterns and frequencies
• CMU phonetic dictionary for rhyming
• Personality traits modeling (Big Five)
• Parallel simulated annealing for optimization

Core concepts used by Inkwell:

• Senses - Finding words with particular meanings/connotations
• Halos - Word clouds that establish mood and themes
• Templates - Flexible patterns for text generation
• Echoes - Sound similarities between words
• Constraints - Rules for word choice and composition

The program successfully generated poetry that fooled expert poets in a workshop setting - they couldn’t tell it was computer-generated

Key technical innovations:

• Heavy use of caching for performance
• Parallel processing across multiple cores
• Custom data structures for fast lookups
• Soft constraint satisfaction through optimization
• Domain-specific template language

Design philosophy emphasizes:

• Thinking like a writer rather than just processing language
• Balancing creativity with coherence
• Working with language musically and semantically
• Avoiding heavy reliance on machine learning
• Focusing on writerly craft elements

Primary capabilities include:

• Generating haiku and other poetic forms
• Mimicking specific writers’ styles
• Exhibiting specified personality traits
• Finding creative word combinations and rhymes
• Revising text while maintaining meaning