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!