Weekly I/O: How best author tells story, Remembering self and experiencing self, Craft can only be achieved with tenure
#83: Sanderson 3P Storytelling, Remembering and Experiencing Self, Craft and Tenure, Mood and Memory Recall, Best Opposing Perspective
Hi friends,
Greetings from San Francisco!
Here's your belated weekly dose of bit-size learning.
At the end of this Weekly I/O, I’m experimenting with a new section to help you get more value from my writing. Let me know what you think :)
Input
Here's a list of what I'm exploring and pondering on this week.
1. Brandon Sanderson's three storytelling elements: Promises, Progress, Payoffs.
Video: Lecture #2: Plot Part 1 — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy
Brandon Sanderson is one of the most prolific fantasy authors in the world. He mentioned there are three critical elements of a good plot:
Promises: Promises are expectations a story sets through genre, tone, character, and plot. These implicit promises shape reader engagement. For example, Indiana Jones' opening scene promises an epic adventure.
Progress: Progress engages the reader when the story moves towards goals or plot progression, though the progress might not necessarily be linear. For example, Star Wars' plot progresses through location changes.
Payoffs: Payoffs are the reader's feelings when the culmination of promises and progress leads to fulfilled resolutions. These feelings are earned when readers experience the characters' struggles and growth. For example, a story solves its mysteries or reaches climactic conflicts.
These elements are interconnected. Promises set expectations, progress moves towards them, and payoffs fulfill them.
Thanks to Kevin Hsu for sharing this with me. Check out his novel!
2. We have two selves: the experiencing self and the remembering self. The self that remembers decides what makes us happy, not the self that actually experiences things.
Book: Why We Remember
Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman conceptualizes the ideas of two selves.
The "experiencing self" is that part of us that lives in the present moment, and the "remembering self" reflects on our past experiences.
These two selves can interpret the same event very differently. For example, Kahneman's and other's research on colonoscopy patients showed that the remembering self is more influenced by peak moments and endings of experiences, rather than duration.
We can think of the remembering self as a storyteller. Our satisfaction and happiness are based on the story it tells instead of what we experience. In other words, stories in our memory, not reality, shape how we feel about our choices and outcomes.
This also reminds me of Aristotle making the distinctions between time and single moments.
3. You can achieve operational excellence through process, but craft can only be achieved with tenure.
Video: A conversation with NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang
During his conversation with Patrick Collison, Jensen argued that although operational excellence can achieve many valuable things, exceptional outcomes require something more nuanced, like craft.
What makes the difference is that operational excellence can be systematized through processes, while achieving exceptional craft requires the experience and accumulated knowledge that come with tenure.
Craft is impossible to codify into a set of explicit instructions. It can only be developed over time by a team that has shared experiences and has collectively learned to operate on a deeper, almost intangible level.
4. Our mood can influence which memories come to mind more easily. A sad mood makes sad memories easier to recall.
Book: Why We Remember
Our current emotional state can influence which memories are more readily available. A study by researcher Charan Ranganath showed a connection between mood and memory.
In the experiment, participants listened to slow, melancholic music to create a sad mood. They were then asked to think about a sad event from their past.
The results showed a cyclical relationship between sad memories and sad moods. Recalling sad memories caused a sad mood in participants. Being in a sad mood, in turn, made it easier for participants to recall other sad memories. This finding indicates a strong link between emotional states and memory accessibility.
Our senses also play a crucial role in triggering powerful memories. For instance, music often has the uncanny ability to transport us back in time, certain scents can bring people back to specific moments or places, and some visual cues can also trigger vivid recollections.
These examples illustrate how our senses are intricately connected to our memory system, capable of evoking complex emotional responses and detailed recollections of past events.
5. For a different perspective, don't rely on random Twitter opinions. Instead, seek out the best arguments from the opposing side directly.
Podcast: Michael Nielsen: Tools for Thought - David Perell
To get a different point of view, you don't have to tweet and see what other people on the other side said. You should look up what the best person on the other side says, not a random person on Twitter.
Don't read garbage.
Output
Here's what I've published since the last time we met.
1. Augmenting Human Intellect and Douglas Engelbart
Part 1 of Revisiting Augmenting Human Intellect series.
2. Intelligence Augmentation Framework
Part 2 of Revisiting Augmenting Human Intellect series.
Recap
Try answering these five simple questions to review and reinforce what you've learned:
That's it. Thanks for reading. Please share which input you found the most helpful or intriguing. Just reply to this email with a number—it's quick and easy!
And as always, feel free to send me any interesting ideas you came across recently!
Looking forward to learning from you.
Cheers,
Cheng-Wei
Subscribe to Cheng-Wei’s Update | Subscribe to 程維的中文更新 | Subscribe to Weekly I/O | Facebook | Twitter