path: root/2023/info/nabokov-after.md

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<a name="nabokov-mainVideo-transcript"></a>
# Transcript


Introduction

[[!template new="1" text="""Hello, fellow Emacs enthusiasts.""" start="00:00:00.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""My name is Edmund Jorgensen.""" start="00:00:05.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I'm a software engineer by day,""" start="00:00:06.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but by night I love to write novels,""" start="00:00:08.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and I lean on Emacs heavily""" start="00:00:10.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""for both of these activities.""" start="00:00:11.774" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Today, I would like to talk to you about how Emacs,""" start="00:00:13.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""specifically with Org mode,""" start="00:00:15.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""has helped me manage some of the practical""" start="00:00:17.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""difficulties of writing long-form prose,""" start="00:00:18.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""novels in my case,""" start="00:00:20.940" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and I'd like to get at this by talking about how""" start="00:00:22.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""another, much more famous novelist managed""" start="00:00:24.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""some of those same difficulties in a way""" start="00:00:26.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that makes me suspect he might well use Emacs""" start="00:00:28.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and Org mode himself""" start="00:00:30.874" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""if he were still alive and writing today.""" start="00:00:31.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""This talk will probably be""" start="00:00:34.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""of the most interest to listeners""" start="00:00:35.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""who either already write long-form prose in Emacs""" start="00:00:36.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or are considering doing so,""" start="00:00:39.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but I think that anyone""" start="00:00:40.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""with an interest in literature or Emacs""" start="00:00:42.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""will find something to take away.""" start="00:00:44.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]

Nabokov's process of writing novels

[[!template new="1" text="""So let's get to it.""" start="00:00:45.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Here's a picture of a man lying on a bed,""" start="00:00:51.120" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""writing something on an index card.""" start="00:00:53.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""If we didn't know any better,""" start="00:00:56.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""we might think that he was just jotting down""" start="00:00:57.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""a recipe for beef stew or something like that.""" start="00:00:58.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""But in fact, this is not just any old man.""" start="00:01:01.680" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""This is Vladimir Nabokov, one of the most""" start="00:01:03.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""celebrated novelists of the 20th century,""" start="00:01:06.174" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and he's not jotting down""" start="00:01:08.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""a recipe for beef stew in this picture.""" start="00:01:09.280" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""He's actually hard at work here,""" start="00:01:11.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""composing a classic of English literature""" start="00:01:12.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""on an index card.""" start="00:01:15.007" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""That's how he wrote all his novels, in fact,""" start="00:01:16.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""on index cards.""" start="00:01:18.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I don't mean that he just took notes on these cards""" start="00:01:20.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or wrote outlines on them.""" start="00:01:22.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""He did both of those things as well,""" start="00:01:24.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but he also wrote the actual prose of his novels,""" start="00:01:25.680" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""word by word, sentence by sentence, on index cards.""" start="00:01:28.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Let's see what that looked like at scale.""" start="00:01:32.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""This box you see here,""" start="00:01:37.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""full of groups of bundled cards,""" start="00:01:39.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""is what a novel in progress looked like for Nabokov.""" start="00:01:41.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""If you squint, you can see that these cards""" start="00:01:43.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""were from the composition of Lolita,""" start="00:01:46.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""probably his most famous novel.""" start="00:01:47.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""So why did he write novels on index cards?""" start="00:01:50.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""It's not necessarily an obvious choice.""" start="00:01:53.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Yes, sadly, Emacs wasn't available to him at the time,""" start="00:01:56.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but most writers in his day,""" start="00:01:59.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""if they weren't using typewriters,""" start="00:02:01.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""which were available,""" start="00:02:02.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""were using notebooks or loose-leaf sheets""" start="00:02:03.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or something like that.""" start="00:02:06.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Not these tiny little index cards.""" start="00:02:07.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""But Nabokov loved index cards.""" start="00:02:09.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""He swore by them because they represented""" start="00:02:11.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""an elegant solution""" start="00:02:14.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to three of the most pressing practical problems""" start="00:02:15.200" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that every novelist faces.""" start="00:02:18.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]

Three practical problems novelists face

[[!template new="1" text="""Writing a good novel""" start="00:02:24.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""is artistically difficult, of course.""" start="00:02:25.307" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""You have to write something interesting""" start="00:02:27.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""with a good story,""" start="00:02:28.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""something that people want to read.""" start="00:02:30.107" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""But writing any novel at all,""" start="00:02:31.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""whether it's good or bad,""" start="00:02:33.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""is brutally, practically difficult.""" start="00:02:35.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""You're hacking something like 100,000 words""" start="00:02:37.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""into unified shape over a long period of time,""" start="00:02:39.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""months or years.""" start="00:02:42.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""There are organizational challenges""" start="00:02:43.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""inherent in that process,""" start="00:02:45.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and each writer needs practical techniques""" start="00:02:46.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to manage those challenges.""" start="00:02:48.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""The most basic challenge, of course, is that,""" start="00:02:51.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""unless you're trying to bring back""" start="00:02:53.400" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""the Homeric Bard tradition""" start="00:02:55.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""of reciting books from memory in firelit halls,""" start="00:02:57.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""you need to actually set down""" start="00:02:59.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""those 100,000 words on some medium.""" start="00:03:01.200" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""In Nabokov's case, index cards worked fine for this.""" start="00:03:03.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""A little cramped, maybe, but workable.""" start="00:03:05.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Secondly, as you're writing,""" start="00:03:08.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""you're bound to think of little but important things""" start="00:03:09.680" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""about the story that you want to record.""" start="00:03:11.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I'm not talking here about big thematic notes""" start="00:03:13.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or research that can go in a separate document,""" start="00:03:16.207" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but smaller, more contextual notes""" start="00:03:19.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that belong right along the prose that they refer to.""" start="00:03:21.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""These might be reminders, like,""" start="00:03:23.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""&quot;Remember to clean up this sentence,&quot;""" start="00:03:26.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or questions for yourself""" start="00:03:28.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to consider during rewrites, like,""" start="00:03:29.707" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""&quot;Why does Shirley feel this way here?&quot;""" start="00:03:31.907" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Nabokov recorded these notes""" start="00:03:33.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""in the margins of his cards or on the backs.""" start="00:03:35.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Paper, in general, is great for this kind of""" start="00:03:37.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""intertextual note-taking.""" start="00:03:40.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""That's not particular to index cards.""" start="00:03:41.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""But what Nabokov really loved about index cards""" start="00:03:44.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""was how they solved the novelist's""" start="00:03:47.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""third and most difficult practical problem,""" start="00:03:49.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""which is imposing some kind of structure""" start="00:03:52.120" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""on this mountain of words.""" start="00:03:54.280" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""To have any hope of wrangling a novel into being,""" start="00:03:55.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""you need some way to break it down""" start="00:03:58.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""into parts, chapters, scenes, snatches of dialogue.""" start="00:04:00.120" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""You need some kind of higher-level outline""" start="00:04:03.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that you can read, navigate, and rearrange""" start="00:04:05.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""as you consider and reconsider your story.""" start="00:04:08.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""You need structure.""" start="00:04:09.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Index cards gave Nabokov a really powerful way""" start="00:04:11.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to impose this structure""" start="00:04:14.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""because they created small, independent""" start="00:04:16.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""chunks of prose""" start="00:04:18.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that he could bundle together into groups,""" start="00:04:19.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""like we saw in the box.""" start="00:04:21.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""This let him navigate his novel in progress quickly.""" start="00:04:22.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""He could just flip through those bundles,""" start="00:04:31.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""bundle by bundle, instead of card by card.""" start="00:04:33.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""He could also impose on""" start="00:04:36.120" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and modify the structure of his novel""" start="00:04:38.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""just by shuffling those bundles around.""" start="00:04:40.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""So that's why Nabokov loved index cards""" start="00:04:42.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""for writing novels.""" start="00:04:45.307" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]

Org mode for writing novels

[[!template new="1" text="""Now I'd love to talk about""" start="00:04:46.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""why I love Org mode so much for writing novels""" start="00:04:48.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and how it helps me tackle those same challenges.""" start="00:04:51.280" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""The first practical challenge,""" start="00:04:54.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""recording your words on some medium,""" start="00:05:01.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""is pretty simple.""" start="00:05:03.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Org mode is a part of Emacs,""" start="00:05:04.774" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""a text editor, so you can just type in your text.""" start="00:05:06.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""We're not going to spend any more time on that.""" start="00:05:09.200" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""For the second practical challenge,""" start="00:05:10.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""recording small intertextual notes,""" start="00:05:13.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Org mode offers comments, like this one here.""" start="00:05:16.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""The comment, &quot;maybe I need to say which store?&quot;,""" start="00:05:19.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""with the leading pound sign there.""" start="00:05:21.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I think that comments are generally""" start="00:05:23.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""underappreciated outside of coding.""" start="00:05:25.874" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""When writing fiction, for example,""" start="00:05:28.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I love that Org mode lets me keep these comments""" start="00:05:29.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""close to the prose they refer to.""" start="00:05:32.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I can see right here that I'm talking about""" start="00:05:33.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""saying which store in this first line,""" start="00:05:37.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""&quot;One day, Bob went to the store.&quot;""" start="00:05:39.120" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I get to keep these things close to""" start="00:05:40.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""the prose they refer to""" start="00:05:44.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""without ever having to worry that""" start="00:05:45.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""they'll accidentally be exported to a reader.""" start="00:05:46.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""That's great.""" start="00:05:48.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""So let's talk about how Org Mode handles the third""" start="00:05:50.540" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and most brutal challenge of all, which is structure.""" start="00:05:52.807" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Here we've taken the same text""" start="00:06:00.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and we've imposed some structure on it.""" start="00:06:03.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Like index cards,""" start="00:06:04.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""this is where Org mode really shines.""" start="00:06:07.807" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Org mode extends outline mode,""" start="00:06:09.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""which is built around the concept of header lines,""" start="00:06:12.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""with different levels denoted by""" start="00:06:14.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""different numbers of leading asterisks (`*`).""" start="00:06:15.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Personally, I tend to use top line headers""" start="00:06:18.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""as chapters and second line headers as scenes.""" start="00:06:20.974" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""You can see that here, where chapter one says""" start="00:06:23.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""&quot;Bob and Shirley meet.&quot;""" start="00:06:26.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Here's a scene, &quot;Bob goes to the store.&quot;""" start="00:06:27.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""And here below is chapter two, yet unwritten,""" start="00:06:29.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""where Bob goes to work.""" start="00:06:32.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Pretty exciting. Since Org mode supports folding,""" start="00:06:34.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I can read quickly through a summary of my novel""" start="00:06:39.680" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""at either the chapter or the scene level""" start="00:06:42.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""just by flipping through different levels of""" start="00:06:44.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""visibility, just like Nabokov could flip through""" start="00:06:46.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""different bundles of cards.""" start="00:06:48.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""So here's the chapter level.""" start="00:06:51.307" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I can see at a chapter level,""" start="00:06:52.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""&quot;Bob and Shirley meet&quot;, &quot;Bob goes to work.&quot;""" start="00:06:54.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""And then I can get one level more specific""" start="00:06:56.680" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and see the various scenes in the chapter""" start="00:06:59.080" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""at the second header level.""" start="00:07:01.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""And I can, if I want,""" start="00:07:02.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I can go all the way back to the prose level.""" start="00:07:04.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""And just like Nabokov shuffling""" start="00:07:10.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""his index cards around,""" start="00:07:12.774" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I can move scenes around as logical units.""" start="00:07:14.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Let's say, for example,""" start="00:07:16.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that we wanted to move Bob's thoughts about life,""" start="00:07:18.200" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""which are down here, up further.""" start="00:07:20.400" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Well, I can grab &quot;Bob thinks about life,&quot;""" start="00:07:22.920" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and I can move it up or down as a logical unit.""" start="00:07:26.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""But Org mode offers some even more powerful tricks""" start="00:07:30.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""for structuring and navigating your novel,""" start="00:07:34.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""beyond what even index cards can do.""" start="00:07:36.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""For example, you can use tags""" start="00:07:38.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""on your scene headings. You can see these here.""" start="00:07:41.974" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""They're the prominent colon separated words""" start="00:07:44.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""on the header lines.""" start="00:07:46.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""In this case, I'm using `bob` and `shirley`.""" start="00:07:47.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""These tags can represent characters""" start="00:07:49.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""who appear in the scene,""" start="00:07:52.720" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""which is what I'm doing here,""" start="00:07:53.674" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or locations in which the scenes occur,""" start="00:07:54.640" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or plot lines that the scenes further,""" start="00:07:57.207" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""really anything that you want.""" start="00:07:59.160" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""And you can then use Org mode's sparse view features""" start="00:08:00.480" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to query a set of tags and trim your novel down to""" start="00:08:04.240" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""a subset of related scenes.""" start="00:08:07.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""For example, let's say we want to filter down to""" start="00:08:09.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""only the scenes in which Shirley appears.""" start="00:08:12.560" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""This could allow us to read quickly through""" start="00:08:14.800" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""just a subset of the prose,""" start="00:08:25.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""the prose that referred to Shirley in some way.""" start="00:08:27.440" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Maybe we want to do that""" start="00:08:29.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""to check continuity for her character,""" start="00:08:31.360" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or make sure that her character develops""" start="00:08:33.280" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""along a compelling arc,""" start="00:08:35.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or even just to get a sense""" start="00:08:37.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""of how much airtime she gets in the novel.""" start="00:08:38.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Thanks for listening to this whirlwind exploration""" start="00:08:44.040" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""of some of the practical challenges of writing""" start="00:08:49.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""novels and other long-form prose,""" start="00:08:51.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and how Org mode can help tackle them.""" start="00:08:53.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]

Takeaways and next steps

[[!template new="1" text="""I'd like to leave you with a couple takeaways""" start="00:08:55.600" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and next steps for those who are interested.""" start="00:08:57.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""First, if you're writing a novel""" start="00:08:59.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or other long-form prose,""" start="00:09:01.907" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""or even considering doing so,""" start="00:09:02.841" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""take a look at Org mode,""" start="00:09:04.874" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""especially if you're already familiar with Emacs.""" start="00:09:06.108" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""It won't solve the artistic problem""" start="00:09:08.375" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""of writing an interesting book for you,""" start="00:09:10.475" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""not even with a ChatGPT plugin,""" start="00:09:11.875" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""but it's a fantastic tool for managing""" start="00:09:13.908" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""some of the practical challenges""" start="00:09:15.875" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""that come with hacking 100,000 words into shape""" start="00:09:16.875" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""over the months or years that that process takes.""" start="00:09:19.841" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Second, if you're interested in learning more""" start="00:09:22.741" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""about some of the advanced features of Org mode""" start="00:09:25.840" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and how they can help in this process,""" start="00:09:27.960" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I wrote a long blog post about my difficulties""" start="00:09:29.520" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""writing a novel with 13 interconnected subplots,""" start="00:09:32.320" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""and how Emacs and Org mode saved it from imploding.""" start="00:09:34.880" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""I'll put a link here below. [ewj.io/emacs]""" start="00:09:37.760" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]
[[!template text="""Thanks for listening, and Emacs on!""" start="00:09:44.000" video="mainVideo-nabokov" id="subtitle"]]



Captioner: bhavin192

Questions or comments? Please e-mail [ewj@inkwellandoften.com](mailto:ewj@inkwellandoften.com?subject=Comment%20for%20EmacsConf%202023%20nabokov%3A%20Why%20Nabokov%20would%20use%20Org-Mode%20if%20he%20were%20writing%20today)


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