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diff --git a/2023/captions/emacsconf-2023-nabokov--why-nabokov-would-use-orgmode-if-he-were-writing-today--edmund-jorgensen--main.vtt b/2023/captions/emacsconf-2023-nabokov--why-nabokov-would-use-orgmode-if-he-were-writing-today--edmund-jorgensen--main.vtt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..9bf4de03 --- /dev/null +++ b/2023/captions/emacsconf-2023-nabokov--why-nabokov-would-use-orgmode-if-he-were-writing-today--edmund-jorgensen--main.vtt @@ -0,0 +1,767 @@ +WEBVTT captioned by bhavin192, checked by sachac + +NOTE Introduction + +00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.239 +Hello, fellow Emacs enthusiasts. + +00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:06.799 +My name is Edmund Jorgensen. + +00:00:06.800 --> 00:00:08.519 +I'm a software engineer by day, + +00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:10.599 +but by night I love to write novels, + +00:00:10.600 --> 00:00:11.774 +and I lean on Emacs heavily + +00:00:11.774 --> 00:00:13.759 +for both of these activities. + +00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:15.879 +Today, I would like to talk to you about how Emacs, + +00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:17.319 +specifically with Org mode, + +00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:18.440 +has helped me manage some of the practical + +00:00:18.840 --> 00:00:20.940 +difficulties of writing long-form prose, + +00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:22.039 +novels in my case, + +00:00:22.040 --> 00:00:24.319 +and I'd like to get at this by talking about how + +00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.439 +another, much more famous novelist managed + +00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:28.359 +some of those same difficulties in a way + +00:00:28.360 --> 00:00:30.874 +that makes me suspect he might well use Emacs + +00:00:30.874 --> 00:00:31.959 +and Org mode himself + +00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.519 +if he were still alive and writing today. + +00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:35.599 +This talk will probably be + +00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:36.959 +of the most interest to listeners + +00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.239 +who either already write long-form prose in Emacs + +00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:40.879 +or are considering doing so, + +00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.039 +but I think that anyone + +00:00:42.040 --> 00:00:44.079 +with an interest in literature or Emacs + +00:00:44.080 --> 00:00:45.759 +will find something to take away. + +NOTE Nabokov's process of writing novels + +00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:51.119 +So let's get to it. + +00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:53.919 +Here's a picture of a man lying on a bed, + +00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:55.999 +writing something on an index card. + +00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.519 +If we didn't know any better, + +00:00:57.520 --> 00:00:58.959 +we might think that he was just jotting down + +00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.679 +a recipe for beef stew or something like that. + +00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:03.839 +But in fact, this is not just any old man. + +00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.174 +This is Vladimir Nabokov, one of the most + +00:01:06.174 --> 00:01:08.079 +celebrated novelists of the 20th century, + +00:01:08.080 --> 00:01:09.279 +and he's not jotting down + +00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.479 +a recipe for beef stew in this picture. + +00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:12.759 +He's actually hard at work here, + +00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.007 +composing a classic of English literature + +00:01:15.007 --> 00:01:16.559 +on an index card. + +00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:18.799 +That's how he wrote all his novels, in fact, + +00:01:18.800 --> 00:01:20.159 +on index cards. + +00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:22.759 +I don't mean that he just took notes on these cards + +00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:24.159 +or wrote outlines on them. + +00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:25.679 +He did both of those things as well, + +00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.919 +but he also wrote the actual prose of his novels, + +00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:32.799 +word by word, sentence by sentence, on index cards. + +00:01:32.800 --> 00:01:37.359 +Let's see what that looked like at scale. + +00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:39.440 +This box you see here, + +00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:41.239 +full of groups of bundled cards, + +00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:43.919 +is what a novel in progress looked like for Nabokov. + +00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.079 +If you squint, you can see that these cards + +00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:47.639 +were from the composition of Lolita, + +00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.559 +probably his most famous novel. + +00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.719 +So why did he write novels on index cards? + +00:01:53.720 --> 00:01:56.039 +It's not necessarily an obvious choice. + +00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:58.999 +Yes, sadly, Emacs wasn't available to him at the time, + +00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.239 +but most writers in his day, + +00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:02.640 +if they weren't using typewriters, + +00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.919 +which were available, + +00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.999 +were using notebooks or loose-leaf sheets + +00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.359 +or something like that. + +00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:09.959 +Not these tiny little index cards. + +00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:11.919 +But Nabokov loved index cards. + +00:02:11.920 --> 00:02:14.359 +He swore by them because they represented + +00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:15.199 +an elegant solution + +00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:17.999 +to three of the most pressing practical problems + +00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:24.079 +that every novelist faces. + +NOTE Three practical problems novelists face + +00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.307 +Writing a good novel + +00:02:25.307 --> 00:02:27.479 +is artistically difficult, of course. + +00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:28.959 +You have to write something interesting + +00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:30.107 +with a good story, + +00:02:30.107 --> 00:02:31.919 +something that people want to read. + +00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:33.519 +But writing any novel at all, + +00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:34.999 +whether it's good or bad, + +00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.719 +is brutally, practically difficult. + +00:02:37.720 --> 00:02:39.919 +You're hacking something like 100,000 words + +00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:42.440 +into unified shape over a long period of time, + +00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:43.799 +months or years. + +00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:45.719 +There are organizational challenges + +00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:46.959 +inherent in that process, + +00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:48.919 +and each writer needs practical techniques + +00:02:48.920 --> 00:02:51.079 +to manage those challenges. + +00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.399 +The most basic challenge, of course, is that, + +00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.359 +unless you're trying to bring back + +00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.040 +the Homeric Bard tradition + +00:02:57.040 --> 00:02:59.599 +of reciting books from memory in firelit halls, + +00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:01.199 +you need to actually set down + +00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:03.319 +those 100,000 words on some medium. + +00:03:03.320 --> 00:03:05.839 +In Nabokov's case, index cards worked fine for this. + +00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:08.439 +A little cramped, maybe, but workable. + +00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:09.679 +Secondly, as you're writing, + +00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.719 +you're bound to think of little but important things + +00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:13.919 +about the story that you want to record. + +00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:16.207 +I'm not talking here about big thematic notes + +00:03:16.207 --> 00:03:19.039 +or research that can go in a separate document, + +00:03:19.040 --> 00:03:21.159 +but smaller, more contextual notes + +00:03:21.160 --> 00:03:23.879 +that belong right along the prose that they refer to. + +00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:26.639 +These might be reminders, like, + +00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:28.519 +"Remember to clean up this sentence," + +00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:29.707 +or questions for yourself + +00:03:29.707 --> 00:03:31.907 +to consider during rewrites, like, + +00:03:31.907 --> 00:03:33.239 +"Why does Shirley feel this way here?" + +00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:35.599 +Nabokov recorded these notes + +00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:37.559 +in the margins of his cards or on the backs. + +00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:39.999 +Paper, in general, is great for this kind of + +00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.039 +intertextual note-taking. + +00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:44.599 +That's not particular to index cards. + +00:03:44.600 --> 00:03:47.919 +But what Nabokov really loved about index cards + +00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:49.519 +was how they solved the novelist's + +00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:52.119 +third and most difficult practical problem, + +00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:54.279 +which is imposing some kind of structure + +00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:55.599 +on this mountain of words. + +00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:58.519 +To have any hope of wrangling a novel into being, + +00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:00.119 +you need some way to break it down + +00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:03.639 +into parts, chapters, scenes, snatches of dialogue. + +00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:05.839 +You need some kind of higher-level outline + +00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:07.999 +that you can read, navigate, and rearrange + +00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.919 +as you consider and reconsider your story. + +00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:11.919 +You need structure. + +00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:14.879 +Index cards gave Nabokov a really powerful way + +00:04:14.880 --> 00:04:16.239 +to impose this structure + +00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.559 +because they created small, independent + +00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:18.999 +chunks of prose + +00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.359 +that he could bundle together into groups, + +00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:22.759 +like we saw in the box. + +00:04:22.760 --> 00:04:31.959 +This let him navigate his novel in progress quickly. + +00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:33.799 +He could just flip through those bundles, + +00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:36.119 +bundle by bundle, instead of card by card. + +00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:38.240 +He could also impose on + +00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.079 +and modify the structure of his novel + +00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:41.999 +just by shuffling those bundles around. + +00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.307 +So that's why Nabokov loved index cards + +00:04:45.307 --> 00:04:46.559 +for writing novels. + +NOTE Org mode for writing novels + +00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.759 +Now I'd love to talk about + +00:04:48.760 --> 00:04:51.279 +why I love Org mode so much for writing novels + +00:04:51.280 --> 00:04:53.999 +and how it helps me tackle those same challenges. + +00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:01.759 +The first practical challenge, + +00:05:01.760 --> 00:05:03.759 +recording your words on some medium, + +00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:04.774 +is pretty simple. + +00:05:04.774 --> 00:05:06.439 +Org mode is a part of Emacs, + +00:05:06.440 --> 00:05:09.199 +a text editor, so you can just type in your text. + +00:05:09.200 --> 00:05:10.919 +We're not going to spend any more time on that. + +00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:13.439 +For the second practical challenge, + +00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:16.039 +recording small intertextual notes, + +00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.039 +Org mode offers comments, like this one here. + +00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:21.959 +The comment, "maybe I need to say which store?", + +00:05:21.960 --> 00:05:23.239 +with the leading pound sign there. + +00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:25.874 +I think that comments are generally + +00:05:25.874 --> 00:05:28.240 +underappreciated outside of coding. + +00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:29.799 +When writing fiction, for example, + +00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.359 +I love that Org mode lets me keep these comments + +00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:33.959 +close to the prose they refer to. + +00:05:33.960 --> 00:05:37.159 +I can see right here that I'm talking about + +00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:39.119 +saying which store in this first line, + +00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:40.599 +"One day, Bob went to the store." + +00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.999 +I get to keep these things close to + +00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:44.999 +the prose they refer to + +00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.519 +without ever having to worry that + +00:05:46.520 --> 00:05:48.479 +they'll accidentally be exported to a reader. + +00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:50.540 +That's great. + +00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:52.807 +So let's talk about how Org Mode handles the third + +00:05:52.807 --> 00:06:00.919 +and most brutal challenge of all, which is structure. + +00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:03.039 +Here we've taken the same text + +00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:04.879 +and we've imposed some structure on it. + +00:06:04.880 --> 00:06:07.807 +Like index cards, + +00:06:07.807 --> 00:06:09.639 +this is where Org mode really shines. + +00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:11.999 +Org mode extends outline mode, + +00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.359 +which is built around the concept of header lines, + +00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:15.959 +with different levels denoted by + +00:06:15.960 --> 00:06:18.079 +different numbers of leading asterisks (`*`). + +00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:20.674 +Personally, I tend to use top line headers + +00:06:20.974 --> 00:06:23.359 +as chapters and second line headers as scenes. + +00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.079 +You can see that here, where chapter one says + +00:06:26.080 --> 00:06:27.319 +"Bob and Shirley meet." + +00:06:27.320 --> 00:06:29.599 +Here's a scene, "Bob goes to the store." + +00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.639 +And here below is chapter two, yet unwritten, + +00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:34.319 +where Bob goes to work. + +00:06:34.320 --> 00:06:39.679 +Pretty exciting. Since Org mode supports folding, + +00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.159 +I can read quickly through a summary of my novel + +00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.079 +at either the chapter or the scene level + +00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:46.040 +just by flipping through different levels of + +00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.799 +visibility, just like Nabokov could flip through + +00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:51.307 +different bundles of cards. + +00:06:51.307 --> 00:06:52.599 +So here's the chapter level. + +00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:54.719 +I can see at a chapter level, + +00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.679 +"Bob and Shirley meet", "Bob goes to work." + +00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:59.079 +And then I can get one level more specific + +00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:01.159 +and see the various scenes in the chapter + +00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:02.959 +at the second header level. + +00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:03.999 +And I can, if I want, + +00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:10.359 +I can go all the way back to the prose level. + +00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:12.774 +And just like Nabokov shuffling + +00:07:12.774 --> 00:07:13.940 +his index cards around, + +00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:16.759 +I can move scenes around as logical units. + +00:07:16.760 --> 00:07:18.199 +Let's say, for example, + +00:07:18.200 --> 00:07:20.399 +that we wanted to move Bob's thoughts about life, + +00:07:20.400 --> 00:07:22.919 +which are down here, up further. + +00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:26.959 +Well, I can grab "Bob thinks about life," + +00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:30.479 +and I can move it up or down as a logical unit. + +00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:34.719 +But Org mode offers some even more powerful tricks + +00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:36.519 +for structuring and navigating your novel, + +00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:38.559 +beyond what even index cards can do. + +00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.974 +For example, you can use tags + +00:07:41.974 --> 00:07:44.479 +on your scene headings. You can see these here. + +00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.599 +They're the prominent colon separated words + +00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:47.559 +on the header lines. + +00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:49.839 +In this case, I'm using `bob` and `shirley`. + +00:07:49.840 --> 00:07:52.719 +These tags can represent characters + +00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:53.674 +who appear in the scene, + +00:07:53.674 --> 00:07:54.239 +which is what I'm doing here, + +00:07:54.640 --> 00:07:57.207 +or locations in which the scenes occur, + +00:07:57.207 --> 00:07:59.159 +or plot lines that the scenes further, + +00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:00.479 +really anything that you want. + +00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:04.239 +And you can then use Org mode's sparse view features + +00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:07.559 +to query a set of tags and trim your novel down to + +00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:09.519 +a subset of related scenes. + +00:08:09.520 --> 00:08:12.559 +For example, let's say we want to filter down to + +00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.799 +only the scenes in which Shirley appears. + +00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:25.759 +This could allow us to read quickly through + +00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:27.439 +just a subset of the prose, + +00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:29.599 +the prose that referred to Shirley in some way. + +00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.359 +Maybe we want to do that + +00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:33.279 +to check continuity for her character, + +00:08:33.280 --> 00:08:35.519 +or make sure that her character develops + +00:08:35.520 --> 00:08:36.999 +along a compelling arc, + +00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.319 +or even just to get a sense + +00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.399 +of how much airtime she gets in the novel. + +00:08:44.040 --> 00:08:49.759 +Thanks for listening to this whirlwind exploration + +00:08:49.760 --> 00:08:51.879 +of some of the practical challenges of writing + +00:08:51.880 --> 00:08:53.599 +novels and other long-form prose, + +00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.599 +and how Org mode can help tackle them. + +NOTE Takeaways and next steps + +00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.879 +I'd like to leave you with a couple takeaways + +00:08:57.880 --> 00:08:59.759 +and next steps for those who are interested. + +00:08:59.760 --> 00:09:01.907 +First, if you're writing a novel + +00:09:01.907 --> 00:09:02.840 +or other long-form prose, + +00:09:02.841 --> 00:09:04.874 +or even considering doing so, + +00:09:04.874 --> 00:09:06.107 +take a look at Org mode, + +00:09:06.108 --> 00:09:08.374 +especially if you're already familiar with Emacs. + +00:09:08.375 --> 00:09:10.474 +It won't solve the artistic problem + +00:09:10.475 --> 00:09:11.874 +of writing an interesting book for you, + +00:09:11.875 --> 00:09:13.907 +not even with a ChatGPT plugin, + +00:09:13.908 --> 00:09:15.874 +but it's a fantastic tool for managing + +00:09:15.875 --> 00:09:16.874 +some of the practical challenges + +00:09:16.875 --> 00:09:19.840 +that come with hacking 100,000 words into shape + +00:09:19.841 --> 00:09:22.740 +over the months or years that that process takes. + +00:09:22.741 --> 00:09:25.839 +Second, if you're interested in learning more + +00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:27.959 +about some of the advanced features of Org mode + +00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:29.519 +and how they can help in this process, + +00:09:29.520 --> 00:09:32.319 +I wrote a long blog post about my difficulties + +00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.879 +writing a novel with 13 interconnected subplots, + +00:09:34.880 --> 00:09:37.759 +and how Emacs and Org mode saved it from imploding. + +00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:43.999 +I'll put a link here below. [ewj.io/emacs] + +00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:50.840 +Thanks for listening, and Emacs on! |