A.I. Creating Stories with Family: 'Go!Go! Gecko'
by Hazel Edwards OAM
Produced and Illustrated (AI) by Lisa Loh
Also available on Amazon. https://amzn.asia/d/hrgriXx
Currently Kindle free downloads.
On their birthdays, as a gift of the imagination, I write a special story for each grandson. There is no commercial aim. But occasionally a quirky, personal story has universal appeal. That’s what happened with the gecko story written for my Darwin-based 3 and 5 year old grandsons.
This story is dedicated to....
Trevelyan, Kylie, Arlo and Zachary
They are the real Edwards’ family who live in Darwin. They inspired the ‘Go! Go! Gecko’ story. Decades ago, the Dad, Trevelyan was the one who imagined ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake’, when he was four. Mum Kylie helped check details. Grandma Hazel Edwards wrote ‘Go! Go! Gecko’ as a birthday gift for her Darwin grandsons and used family photos of the real children as illustrations. But this version is in A.I. rather than photos to protect the online privacy of the children involved.
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Many tropical locations have geckos. And remote Tropical communities also have grandparents and friends who visit in the DRY and send snail mail inbetween. Children enjoy going to the box to check. Geckos were a new experience for me in fun places all over the house. On the fan. Dangling from toilet rim. In the baby’s pusher.
Initially we organised personal family photos to go with their birthday story. And mailed the gift.
When Lisa Loh, a 2D producer approached me about adapting other books into 2D with Indonesian translation, the rights were complicated. So I suggested the Gecko story instead. Although Lisa negotiated with various Asian book publishers for possible translations , her concept was going straight to 2D, but with A.I. illustrations instead of conventional artwork. I hesitated.
As the human creator of many books, some ‘skimmed’ in the past year, I have qualms about A.I. Ethically, creators should be paid for their original work. Especially illustrators.
So why did I become involved with using A.I. illustrations for the ‘Go Go Gecko’ story?
Curiosity. Need to learn how A.I. worked. Collaboration with Lisa the 2D producer-animator. Intrigued by how a story could be screen crafted more quickly bypassing the print book version. And we intended using only generic backgrounds. But then the cyber issue of child privacy of which children's authors are most aware had to be considered. I'm very careful not to show my young grandsons on social media unless from a backview. And when author-visiting schools, students hold up books or fun fan letters in front of their faces.
Picture books are the most expensive and time consuming to illustrate. Often up to a year for an imaginative human. I value the skill of the original artists and have worked with excellent practitioners. Their work has ‘soul’. A.I is functional but with mistakes. And it is ‘Skimming’ without financial recompense to copyright owners. But moving straight to 2D with my original words was a bit different.
Dilemma:
• The ethics of using AI for speed and cost.
Solution:
Connecting Lisa and my daughter-in-law Kylie on What’s App was a time-saver. Could send big files. The three of us could add or comment regardless of time zones. Lisa who worked late hours because of her day job, could add illustrations whether she was in Melbourne or Malaysia and later, Kylie could comment in Darwin time. Kylie ‘Darwinised’ the illustrations making suggestions to convey a genuine tropical setting in vegetation and housing. Louvres on the windows. Child safety fence around pool. The right kind of gecko for Darwin. Appropriate sandals on children’s feet. Shorts not long pants for parents. Sunhats. Water bottles. Authentic background.
Even internal details. Bigger ‘fridges in kitchen. Double toilet button for half flush.
Kylie queried the leather sofa. ‘In the tropics that would go mouldy.’
But the real family pet Storm was the greatest challenge. Dogs with only three legs were not on A.I. Well, maybe now. Lisa asked for photos and the breed of Storm who had lots of relatives, to make it accurate. She created a dog with three legs.
The grandkids loved having their story in another dimension. Zachary (3) knew it was his family and wanted to know why ‘he’ /his character wasn’t in ‘EVERY’ picture. Arlo (5) was just starting to read and could relate to the familiar setting.
The story was a very simple one of finding the gecko in the illustrations. This enables very young children to be involved. With a background as a teachers’ college lecturer, I’m conscious of carefully structuring sentences for new readers as well as for children whose adults read to them. Lisa was especially interested in reading easily accessible stories, with children who might have special challenges. That’s partly why she wanted to experiment with stories in other mediums and also with translations. My grandsons were used to dual language Indigenous and English picture books
At their Darwin school, they are learning Indonesian, so a translation was relevant. And their parents and Darwin grandparents both read daily with them.
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Diplomatically Kylie commented.
‘Our dog Storm is very old and sick and recently the peacock was hit by a car so the book will be timely to remind them of happier times.’
Lisa added a peacock painting on the wall, even though it wasn’t there in real life.
This story started in fact and ended in fiction and on screen.
As an interim stage, we've put the story up on Amazon, but it will go onto screen and other mediums and translations soon.
Link: https://amzn.asia/d/hrgriXx .
Importance of this A.I. Casestudy
◦ Admittedly, Literacy Ambassador Hazel is an experienced educator -author and Lisa is a producer, but any family can share memories in this way, as well as helping young readers.
◦ Relevant for grandparents wishing to keep in touch with remote family as can read together on screen. Or write their own personally relevant stories.
◦ Dual language and different mediums. Relevant for other tropical countries with gecko. Possibility of Malaysian and Mandarin translations soon, plus audio.
◦ Online, families can have reading dates in different time zones. Each has access to the story, together.
◦ Children can illustrate the text written with adults in family or use photos for limited edition private books.
◦ Few tropically based stories with wildlife such as geckos in simple language for beginning readers.
◦ Hazel and Lisa have learnt from this A.I. experiment but still believe originators should be recompensed. And so important to have the experience of creating, not just copying.
About the Author
Australian Hazel Edwards OAM (www.hazeledwards.com) is best known for ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake’ (Penguin) series but also writes adult mysteries and YA novels such as recent ‘Wasted?’ (Bookpod) Her work has been translated into ten languages and adapted for screen and audio. She’s a Literacy Ambassador and keen on children reading and creating fun stories. Her 'Writing For Young People' (Amba Press) & 'Kaleidoscope of Ideas: Hands-On Activities for Gifted Minds (Amba Press) are useful resources.
“On their birthdays, as a gift of the imagination, I write a special story for each grandson. Occasionally a quirky personal story has universal appeal. That’s what happened with the gecko in the mailbox story written for my Darwin-based 3 and 5 year old grandsons. All the family contributed ideas for the story. Then producer Lisa Loh made it happen in 2D, Indonesian and other formats.
The Producer
Lisa Loh is a full-time working mother of two, creative producer, and mother to a 6-year-old son with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Inspired by her son’s journey, Lisa has embraced storytelling as a tool to help children with ASD explore their potential. Through this book, she hopes to encourage other parents to use social stories to support their children’s development and understanding of the world.
In producing the illustrations, Lisa utilized AI tools like Canva and MidJourney, overcoming the challenges of a steep learning curve and a trial- and-error process. While she believes AI can bring substantial benefits to various industries, she maintains that it will never replace the originality that comes from human creativity. Her determination to blend technology with heartfelt storytelling is reflected in this project, which aims to engage children and support parents around the world.
Published by LLKR Pty Ltd
written by Hazel Edward OAM, Illustrated by Lisa Loh
Edited by Kylie Edwards.
Also available on Amazon. https://amzn.asia/d/hrgriXx
Currently Kindle free downloads.
Author-Educator-Speaker
1moThe issue of use of A.I. in family created stories online as a kind of privacy protection for young children's cyber safety, is an issue I haven't seen covered elsewhere. Might be worth reading this approach and why we used it.