Story of Kennett: The Write Group supersedes ChatGPT – Daily Local
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During the current AI surge, one may think that creative writing is waning. Ed Charlton begs to differ. In fact, he goes on to speak about The Write Group that meets monthly at the Kennett Library.
It is here that indie authors support each other in different stages of their writing journey. As Ed says, “I have so many ideas that need to come out. I write because the creative impulse will not go away. I cannot not write.”
Ed Charlton currently resides in New Garden Township and relocated to this area with his wife, Grace, 14 years ago to be near his family.
Owning his own company, Scribbulations LLC, Ed was free to work from home. He described his business as “value-added services for indie authors.” He provided support with editing, cover design, printing and website development. Currently, he is closed to new projects.
Ed’s love is science fiction. He grew up in England with “Dr. Who” and was captured by this genre. Even though no one told him he could pursue writing as a profession, he started writing science fiction and is about to publish his 10th book.
He has written “Hoyle Station,” “The Offworld Trilogy,” “The Assassin Trilogy” (Book 3 out Q1 2026), and “The Aleronde Trilogy.”
Ed started The Write Group in the Kennett area. He had been part of The Write Group in Montclair, New Jersey, and wanted to re-create it here. Since 2012, the group has had several iterations and, in the past two years, has settled into meeting every month on the third Tuesday at the Kennett Library from 9:30 am to 11:00 am. They have 70 names on their email list, and six to eight authors attend each month. Community members with a serious interest in writing, whether published or not, are welcome.
The Tuesday meeting is an open discussion about barriers and lessons learned, along with encouragement to continue writing. There is also a Critique workshop that meets twice a month on Monday from 6 pm to 8 pm (organized by Romance author Sarah McGregor). Critique members can be sure of honest and helpful feedback.
Both meetings hold hybrid sessions and require registration at The Write Group: https://ccls.libcal.com/event/14908109 and The Critique Workshop: https://ccls.libcal.com/event/14094819.
In an interview, Ed said he was not concerned about AI taking over creative writing. He pointed out that many articles are being written showing AI produces significant hallucinations, or non-truths in non-fiction writing. He suggested that one write a paper on a particular subject, then compare it to ChatGPT’s writing. He said, “It is so convincing where creative energy lies. We cannot replace the human being.”
In an article by Amanda Caswell entitled “Study finds ChatGPT-5 is wrong about 1 in 4 times — here’s the reason why,” she says: “Research points to a structural issue. When a chatbot says ‘I don’t know,’ it gets penalized in testing. That means the models are effectively encouraged to always provide an answer, even if they’re not sure it’s right. In practice, that makes your AI assistant more likely to guess than admit uncertainty. For everyday queries, this can be harmless. But in higher-stakes cases, from medical questions to financial advice, those confident errors can quickly turn dangerous.”
Ed Charlton describes his greatest satisfaction with creative writing as receiving positive feedback from a reader. Recently, he signed books at the Avon Grove High School Country Christmas Craft Fair. He said, “A visitor, who bought my books the previous year, said she enjoyed them and had returned to buy the rest of my series.” He continues, “I know I won’t please all readers, but when I do, positive feedback is golden.”
When asked how we inspire youth to engage in creative writing, Ed again points out that it comes from a passion to express oneself. Parents, teachers and friends can be the encouragers and hold creative writing up as a profession, a major, or a minor hobby for one’s entire lifetime. He says, “We need to keep it upfront as a viable career and pursuit.”
“The Story of Kennett – Shaping the future one child at a time,” Joan Holliday and Bob George’s book on Kennett may be purchased on Amazon and at the Mushroom Cap. You may contact Joan at: dochollisv@aol.com
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