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Melanie Dusseau

@melaniedusseau.bsky.social

4.2K followers 8.4K following 270 posts

Creative writing & lit prof, querying romance author, AI refuser, lover of books & poet of the ginger life. www.melaniedusseau.com Associate Professor of English, U Findlay (she/her), MFA, analog researcher, dog-loving, traveling Hibernophile 💗

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · Nov 20

Hoping my op ed in IHE will spark conversations on BlueSky about AI resistance & refusal in creative writing education, publishing, & writing pedagogy.

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

#AIinEducation #Edtech #EduSky #AIArt #Technology #creativewriting #writingpedagogy #insidehighered

Burn it down: a license for AI resistance (opinion)

Resistance is not futile, Melanie Dusseau writes.

www.insidehighered.com

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 2d

Need a swoony distraction? My flash fic, "A Season for Love" will appear in WW mag, on sale Oct 10. It's a dual POV set in an apple orchard after a 5K. ✍️💙📚🍁

#freelance #publishing #romancelandia #amquerying #writerlife #writingcommunity #booksky #amwriting #writesky #romancelit #author #lovestory

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 2d

Joyful aspects of querying:

✍️ Researching agents. I love their personal, bookish stories. The manuscript wish lists that light you on fire.

✍️The little thrill of hope when you hit send.

✍️ Putting off grading to examine QT stats just long enough to conclude you might be a "maybe."

#amquerying

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Reposted by Melanie Dusseau

Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 6d

Book Broker: an interview with literary agent Kerry D'Agostino

"It is very clear when we receive a manuscript that is an early stage of drafting."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl

Book Broker: an interview with Kerry D’Agostino

A good manuscript catches my attention right away and does not let it go. I am most drawn to voice-driven narratives, where I find something relatable about the protagonist right away, and I find…

darlingaxe.com

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 4d

"These violent delights have violent ends."

#AI #ActorsGuild #HumanRights #Shakespeare #Westworld

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 4d

I wish Query Tracker had an after hours lounge where insomniac writers in different time zones could meet to laugh and cry together. 💙📚

#AmQuerying #Authors #TradPub #WritingCommunity #WriterLife #WriteSky #SpecFic #WriterSky #ParanormalRomance #RomanceWriter #BookSky #Gingers #WritingProf #Romance

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 4d

It is a joy, privilege, and responsibility to create reading lists for my students. It's also more important than ever to stand against censorship and in solidarity with academic freedom in education.

#EduSky #RightToRead #PenAmerica #anticensorship #readbannedbooks

pen.org/report/the-n...

The Normalization of Book Banning

This report offers a window into the complex and extensive climate of censorship between July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

pen.org

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 6d

@juliebwriter.bsky.social Sure! In addition to Psalm & Murderbot novellas, we're also reading Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera and Flowers for the Sea by Zin Rocklyn. Novels are Day Zero, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, and The Handmaid's Tale.

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 6d

My Weird Tales lit class is tearing through several novellas, and they are the perfect length to capture the reading attentions of college students.

If you haven't read Becky Chambers, you ought to. Next up: book 1 of Murderbot by Martha Wells. *Squeals in Sci Fi*

#novellas #writingprof #readmore

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 6d

Exactly what I have been telling my creative writing students. I am glad to see this kind of messaging on more and more literary agents' submission guidelines.

#EduSky #creativewriting #amquerying #humancreativity #AIResistance

@ecniumata.bsky.social

erinniumata.substack.com/p/why-i-cann...

Why I Cannot Represent AI-Generated Work

It has its uses but not in fiction.

erinniumata.substack.com

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 12d

I feel this way about socialslop, too. Imagine that? Automation is not only unethical; it deskills with a vengeance.

#AIResistance #AIRefusal #HumansDoItBetter

hbr.org/2025/09/ai-g...

AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity

Despite a surge in generative AI use across workplaces, most companies are seeing little measurable ROI. One possible reason is because AI tools are being used to produce “workslop”—content that appea...

hbr.org

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 12d

Pssst: wanna read banned books with me in a red state? Knock twice. Bring booze. Password: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

#ALA #ReadHumanAuthoredBooks #CelebrateYourRightToRead #EduSky #writingprof #amquerying ✍️🚫🤖

bannedbooksweek.org

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 12d

America, when will you be angelic?* When will you take off your clothes?

*Ginsberg doesn't use a comma in a direct address, but I do. 😀🇺🇸🚫🤖

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/...

www.poetryfoundation.org

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 13d

Also: every academic integrity policy should include discussions of these lawsuits. Education's post plagiarism crisis should look this right in the face. Remember when we objected to using others words this way? When we didn't ask students and colleagues alike to stomach this stunning hypocrisy?

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 13d

Hard working writers. Creatives toiling in education, our craft hacked by unethical tech. Writers who hustle for every reader. Nobody poets. Debut novelists. Bestsellers. Indie authors. Syntax wizards in nonfiction. Cover artists. I see you. I stand with you.

#Human

apnews.com/article/anth...

Judge approves $1.5 billion copyright settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors

A federal judge on Thursday approved a $1.5 billion settlement between artificial intelligence company Anthropic and authors who allege nearly half a million books had been illegally pirated to train ...

apnews.com

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 14d

Excellent piece in the Chronicle by Kevin Gannon about AI resistance in higher ed.

#EduSky #AIResistance

www.chronicle.com/article/some...

Advice | Sometimes We Resist AI for Good Reasons

Why higher ed needs to listen to the contrarians in setting policies on using tools like ChatGPT in faculty work.

www.chronicle.com

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 14d

Little pep talk after hitting send on new queries.😬❤️ #amquerying #writingcommunity #romanceauthor #poetwritingprose #publishing #perseverance #writingprof #hopeful

Cool news: I'm leading the Ireland & Scotland study abroad trip at my uni again in 2026! Travelling research, here I come. #inspired 🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 15d

Trying to temper the bruising rejection of the querying process with bright spots. Proposal to AWP accepted. New poetry forthcoming in Villain Era; flash romance sold to Woman's World.

This should be a balm, but I still feel shattered. Why are y'all such sadists, fiction writers?

#amquerying

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 15d

Will your press be at the bookfair? If so, offer to do a signing. If you haven't submitted a proposal for an official panel or reading, there are usually lots of great "off conference" readings. Just writer friends or lit mags meeting informally but creating events/invites on social media.

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 16d

Sycophant bots don't know the law. LLMs are not research partners, oracles, or editors gifted in rhetorical analyses. They can't generate passably unbiased text. Let's not call it writing, mkay?

Lawyers: if college students have to disclose their AI use, so should you.
www.ijpr.org/law-and-just...

California issues historic fine over lawyer’s ChatGPT fabrications

The court of appeals said 21 of 23 quotes in an opening brief were fake. State authorities are scrambling to grapple with widespread use of artificial intelligence.

www.ijpr.org

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 18d

A bright spot in the bruising process of querying is noting how many literary agencies have AI disclosures and outright bans in their submission guidelines.

A legion of writing profs, writers, & artists in academia stand with the publishing community in resistance.

#amquerying #AIRefusal #EduSky

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 19d

I've washed and reassembled the duvet cover, and I intend to submit this as the sole artifact for my mid-tenure dossier. My mom supervised and I did it wrong.

What do you want from me, academia? Another heartbreaking paranormal romance? More poems written in the blood of gingers?

#writingprof

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Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 22d

My manuscript is the one in the delicious, genre-bending powder blue jumpsuit on the end. 🤩🇮🇪🩵

#amquerying #MSWL #publishing #writinglife #romance #debut #poetwritingfiction #GrumpyIrishWerelion #mountaincore #Celtic #paranormal #fantasy #WitchesFightingPatriarchy #analogresearch #folklore

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 24d

QueryTracker: the manuscript.

Genre: cosmic horror
Vibes: obsession; darkcore meets hopepunk
Wish list: commercial but make it cross-over, literary, book club, with genre flair. No vampires.

If you need me, I'm overthinking if my query might be a life-affirming maybe.

#amquerying #MSWL #romance

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 24d

#HumanAuthor #ResistRobots #touchgrass #RedheadsDoItBetter

Melanie Dusseau @melaniedusseau.bsky.social · 24d

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