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diff --git a/2023/talks/nabokov.md b/2023/talks/nabokov.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b5b346fc --- /dev/null +++ b/2023/talks/nabokov.md @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +[[!meta title="Why Nabokov would use Org-Mode if he were writing today"]] +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2023 Edmund Jorgensen"]] +[[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/nabokov-nav)" raw="yes"]] + +<!-- Initially generated with emacsconf-publish-talk-page and then left alone for manual editing --> +<!-- You can manually edit this file to update the abstract, add links, etc. ---> + + +# Why Nabokov would use Org-Mode if he were writing today +Edmund Jorgensen (he/him) - <https://tomheon.com>, <mailto:ewj@inkwellandoften.com> + +[[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/nabokov-before)" raw="yes"]] + +I've written several novels in Emacs. One of them grew into a monster with a +baker's dozen twisty, interconnected subplots. + +When I started to revise that novel, I had to use an outline to keep all the +subplots straight, but I found it nearly impossible to keep that external +outline consistent with the prose. + +Finally I landed on a workflow using org-mode to keep the outline and the +prose together, which significantly reduced the burden of keeping the two +consistent as I moved and modified sections. I also found a way to use tags +and sparse views over them to enable quick read-throughs of subsets of the +book for continuity checks (which I plan to demo). + +Later--long after finishing the book--I realized this process was essentially +the Emacs update to the writing process that Nabokov used: he wrote on index +cards that served as both prose and outline, so that he could move them around +(which he did incessantly). + +There's something deeply beautiful about org-mode's refusal to treat structure +and prose as different things in a piece of writing--something I think Nabokov +would have appreciated, and something I definitely appreciate, because it +saved my novel. + +About the speaker: + +I'm Edmund Jorgensen, a software engineer by day and a writer by night, using +Emacs for both. When one of my novels threatened to collapse under the weight +of its own subplots, org-mode's powerful blending of structure and prose +rescued it. I'd like to show you how that worked, and how much of org-mode's +power for writing comes from its similarity to Nabokov's famous +index-card-based writing process. +# Discussion + +## Notes + +- It looks like the Zettelkasten slipbox for nabokov +- James Howell also like the idea using small slide to convey single + idea to the reader. In emacs, we have `narrow` function. Yes! I + use various narrow functions to present text with Emacs. (I use + narrow a bunch when editing, it really helps focus on a chapter or + scene) + - The funny thing about narrow functions, I mean the first time I + saw it in the manual, there is a warning to the new user. That + would be afraid of this kind of functionality, and you have to + be careful, haha... + - I saw that warning too and avoided narrow for a long time as a + result! But it's not really that bad... + - Exactly, I use narrow a lot, you know, every time I'm + working on any single type of writing or writing a code or + writing a piece of manuscript. It's really helped me to + narrow down my attention and to kind of release any other + thoughts that is not directly connected to the current + things I'm working on. And that really is an underestimated + functionality for the Emacs. +- The most valuable thing that Org will bring to the writer is the + structure, how we can navigate between different structures of + thoughts. +- The idea is using tag to narrow down a single person's timeline in + the whole context of stories. It's something very interesting. +- ewj.io/emacs +- 👏 I'll start writing my masterpiece tomorrow! +- I need to use tags more, org-sparse-tree is handy + + +## Questions and answers + +- Q: Does the index really matter here? I mean, his colleague is also + using some A4 paper, and do you think that the index card is the + most important thing here? + - A: + - portbablity win! +- Q:How do you export the second level headings (scenes in this + example) without the heading itself, just the content? + - A:3 ways for this: ox-ignore (it was visually annoying), dumb + awk script, pandoc filters in lua + - I would say the org-transclusion works very well for this + kind of demand. +- Q: Slightly offtopic: where can we see your novels? + - A: there are on Amazon: two of them, and a book of short-stories + - Links:<https://www.amazon.com/World-Enough-Time-Edmund-Jorgensen/dp/0984749233> + - <https://www.amazon.com/Other-Copenhagens-Stories-Edmund-Jorgensen-ebook/dp/B00O4OQCBE> +- Q: Have you looked at the Denote Signature features. The + hierarchical nature of luhman IDs and index cards work well with + Denote Signatures + - A:I haven't, but I will take a look! + - <https://protesilaos.com/emacs/denote#h:f9204f1f-fcee-49b1-8081-16a08a338099> + - The part that I like with signatures is they can be optional + with your zettelkasten as another way to use it. +- Q: Do you have a workflow combining hand-written index cards and org + mode? + - A: + - Maybe just take a picture and OCR for your small index + cards, but at the end of the day you always have to go back + to your main Org files. + - Ooh, I have a workflow for using Google's OCR to grab + the text from my sketches (esp. the ID) so that I can + link to my sketches in Org with ID and completion - + sachac + - haha, nice to see different approach, I personally + didn't do that because I still most of my work is + on the computer so yeah in the future if i have lots + of handwriting notes in my working I will reconsider + Google solution +- Q: + - A: + + +[[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/nabokov-after)" raw="yes"]] + +[[!inline pages="internal(2023/info/nabokov-nav)" raw="yes"]] + + |