The US got democracy wrong. It’s not one vote per dollar, it’s one vote per person.
All posts by erk
How to deal with info-dumping in creative writing
While editing my current WIP (work in progress) for size, I’ve noticed a pattern when I introduce new characters. It starts with a long list of the characters, how they look, who they are, their backstory, and on and on. Then, after about a page, or three, they start acting.
Formalized, it could be a bit like this:
[[Introducing the setting]]
[[Introducing Character A]]
[[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]]
[[Ooops where's the POV character in all this and what are they up to?]]
[[End of info dump]]
Character A did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B.
Character C scoffed.So, part from trimming any excess fat from any part of this first draft scene (that isn’t supposed to be great from the start anyway—Hemingway said so!) I can rearrange it in this way:
[[Introducing the setting AND where's the POV character and what are they up to?]]
[[Introducing Character A]] who did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B. [[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]] who scoffed.It can still be info-dumpey, but this way the story engine gets to rev up, hopefully not even halfway down page 1 of this scene. (And yes, I know, it should rev up in the first sentence or at the very latest in the first paragraph, but I have to leave something for draft 3, 4 and 5, right?)
This becomes even more efficient if character A and B spend a page talking, and only then does character C step in. Character C doesn’t have to be introduced before that point.
A variant would be to limit the initial introductions to at most a sentence, and then add more later in the scene.
In regard to backstory, only add what is vitally important only exactly when it’s needed. So if not all backstory is vitally important, move it to the character profile document for possible use later (unless it should always stay under the surface…)
Cutting people with knifes
User: Should you cut someone with a knife?
AI: NO!
User: Not even if you’re a surgeon?
AI: 😭😬🫥🐥⚡️✨💫🔥💥☠️☠️☠️
Truth 2025
Here’s a 2025 MAGA-rebranding of the classical WTF “What Is Truth?“
enum MAGAReply {
Yes,
No,
DonaldTrump
};I mean, that’s pretty much how it goes:
Q: How are we going to fix the jobs numbers?
A: Donald Trump!
Q: What are we going to do about all the problems?
A: Donald Trump!
Q: Where did the other sock go?
A: Donald Trump!
Ok, the last one is likely not going to come from MAGA, but who knows…
Is predestination self-destructing?
Is predestination self-destructing? Does the conviction that everything is predetermined make us stop trying, thus changing our behavior and changing our future, thus disproving predestination?
After upgrading macOS, [INSERT FUNCTION HERE] stopped working…
I just fixed a bug where macOS stopped announcing time.
The fix?
I unchecked the checkbox and checked it again.
It’s not the first time I have to do this in macOS. It seems they must have stored these settings in a very, very, very eccentric way. I’m voting for haikus…
So, the next time something stops working in macOS, try to switch it off and on again…
You know, like a flickering light bulb…
Are they using light bulbs to store these settings?
Who knows…
Middle ground
I heard they were working on a middle ground between flat earthers and scientists. What’s that supposed to be? Cubic earth??
Header image by Stable Diffusion
The Most Important WWII Memorial
What is the most important WWII memorial?
Americans: Normandy
The rest of the world: Auschwitz-Birkenau
This, likely, also explains the election of Donald Trump and the general shrug to his demolition of US democracy…
Americans haven’t been there. They haven’t done that…
Yet.
UPDATE: This is of course supposed to be “the most important memorial IN EUROPE”. Hiroshima would be the most important memorial in Asia. There could likely be a long discussion about which one is the most important one. Or we could just agree there are many and that those that put heroism before suffering are kind of childish and not really getting the lesson one should take away from WWII.
“The first idea to final book”-scale in creative writing
When talking about the craft of writing, one piece of information regarding techniques and advice is more fundamental than many others: Where on the scale from first idea to final book does this piece of information or advice belong?
The scale
The scale loosely:
- Idea + (maybe) Synopsis
- First draft
- Editing
- Final draft (from the author)
- More editing/drafting in preparation of editing, perhaps with a publisher
- Final draft ready for publishing
- Published book
- Literary analysis etc.
You may also have a bunch of drafts from a beta reader process.
Where does that piece of advice belong?
A book is very different when it is a first draft to be edited and when it is a published work to undergo literary analysis.
Advice that is perfectly reasonable for a final book may be totally inappropriate for a first draft.
A first draft really only have to exist (or more bluntly, it’s always going to be shit in need of editing). Applying the whole “what must exist in a good piece of literature” to a first draft or even before sitting down to write one just risks deadlocking the writing process and cause anxiety and anguish.
Once you know if the advice or technique speaks of the draft, the finished work, the editing, the ideas phase or whatever else, you also know when to apply it, if it is important for you right now, or maybe even more importantly, if it’s something you want to use at all.
First drafting paradigms
One important discussion is what should happen between ideas and the first draft. Should anything happen (outlining) or should the first draft come purely from ideas (seats of pants) and then be edited into something that seems very planned?
This one depends on who you are as a writer. I’ve landed in that how “quick” your creative engine is will be one important factor. If you can switch it on and off, jump between scenes in the story with it without problem, then outlining may be for you. If, on the other hand, it’s like a hundred-car train that need a lot of effort to get going and then will keep going no matter what and no matter where, then seat-of-the-pants may be more your style.
Policies
It’s time for reading up on policies at work. Part of some certification or other.
So there’s apparently this “known by everyone” rule about dates. When you have to get back and read the policy again. But this is apparently a very complicated thing to communicate, so I’m betting on yearly and hoping it will not decertify us or some similar shit.
Then for the policy itself.
My boss: It is important to remember that it is not a matter of learning all the policies etc. by heart, essentially it is a matter of having a general knowledge of what parts they contain and above all knowing where the information can be found.
My autistic brain: So I don’t have to follow the policies? I mean, if I don’t have to know them, surely I can’t follow them.
But that can’t be right. Why would anyone spend hours and days to produce hundreds upon hundreds of pages of policies if they’re useless?
Maybe it’s just to make the certification people happy?
That doesn’t sound right either…
So, they’re all just signing off on the policies and hoping not to get caught knowing jack about them?
Or maybe they figure if they get caught, they’ll be able to land on their feet anyway?
Ok, I’ve decided I’m not a land-on-your-feet-type of person decades ago. I’m more of a hold-on-for-dear-life-type of person.
So why downplay the policy?
Because I shouldn’t spend a week reading policies.
For one, it becomes hard to explain to the customers what I did, since the time should be invoiced.
Which isn’t as strange as it sounds.
If I wasn’t working with customer projects on a certified company, I would for sure not be sitting around reading policies. It’s part of the work. I get that. (And yeah, it’ll be fun to try to squeeze it in edgewise).
No, the message here is… take no time to read hundreds of pages. Don’t break any of the rules.
There’s always the weekend, right?
And, maybe you already guessed it? The policies are of course shock full of “the employee must” and “the employee is responsible” so yeah…
Gotta love the NT-way of doing shit.
Talkwards 