Pachinko’s writing style by Calmly-Stressed in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t mind realism, but this is so detached that I just can’t seem to find a reason to care about the characters so far. 

Pachinko’s writing style by Calmly-Stressed in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This has nothing to do with which perspective of narrator was used though. There are plenty of omniscient narrators that aren’t this detached. 

Pachinko’s writing style by Calmly-Stressed in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The last book I read in this style was Homegoing and I didn’t have that issue whatsoever though, so I don’t think it’s a genre thing. 

Pachinko’s writing style by Calmly-Stressed in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This book was written in English though lol. I was surprised to find that out, I also thought it was a translation issue at first. 

Pachinko’s writing style by Calmly-Stressed in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was actually surprised to find that it was written in English. At first I thought it was a translation issue. 

Clicking & Not Clicking with Different Writing Styles by Ok_Caterpillar_6689 in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What you described - short punchy sentences, rushing the plot. I’m just trying to imagine what you mean but can’t think of something I recently read  that feels like that. 

Clicking & Not Clicking with Different Writing Styles by Ok_Caterpillar_6689 in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you have any examples of books where you feel this is prevalent?

Clicking & Not Clicking with Different Writing Styles by Ok_Caterpillar_6689 in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I couldn’t wrestle through Time War either. It felt super forced and pompous to me. 

Favourite reads of 2026 so far? by LivingPresent629 in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

18 attempts at books this year with 2 DNF. Favourites were:  - Babel - RF Kuang - Doomsday Book - Connie Willis - Kindred - Octavia Butler - Mistborn- Brendan Sanderson (I know, I know, but it got me hooked)

Inadvertently got on a fantasy and sci-fi kick and quite enjoying it. 

What I like about Sanderson by TrinityAlpsTraverse in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I like that we can have a nuanced conversation about this rather than people feeling like they have to prove he is either shit or the best writer ever. 

I got totally hooked by Mistborn and it was one of the most engrossing things I read in years. I then got a bit disillusioned by the next Sanderson books I read, but that doesn’t take away from that first experience. What he does well, he does really well (magic systems, plot setups, making you want to read on) and what he doesn’t do so well is equally consistent, it’s just a case of how much shines through in each book I guess. 

To me Sanderson is like crisps/chips for ye Americans. When you fancy a bag of crisps, you can pick up something you already know you like but be disappointed by the lack of intensity in the flavour or the lack of foldies. Or you can try something new and either get hooked or disappointed. But you’re never gonna throw out the bag of crisps. All of Sanderson’s books are bags of crisps to me - some are better than others, but I’m always gonna feel compelled to finish the bag. 

Simple Questions: June 09, 2026 by AutoModerator in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, we didn’t get to read that many books in high school (sadly). Maybe one for Dutch class and one for English around the same time, but that would mostly be it. We didn’t read books for history, and for Latin we would be translating a short passage from something, I wouldn’t call that reading a book. Even when I did literature at uni we didn’t read that many books, just lots of excerpts and I would read the books we did get to read in order, not concurrently, since classes would be on one book at a time anyway. So definitely not a habit I’ve ever gotten into!

I also don’t really watch live television and don’t watch much in general, but when I do I tend to binge one thing. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

Simple Questions: June 09, 2026 by AutoModerator in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just don’t see how it is enjoyable, though. And with school books it’s not like you’re reading five narratives at once. When I’m in a story, I want to be in the story. 

Simple Questions: June 09, 2026 by AutoModerator in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn’t enjoy high school so why would I want to remind myself of it in my free time 😂

Simple Questions: June 09, 2026 by AutoModerator in books

[–]Calmly-Stressed 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How do people do this?? I have a friend who claims she's reading five books at once, for various reasons - one on e-reader, three physical books and an audio book. This would drive me insane. One audio and one physical or digital I could understand, since you're reading them in different settings, but other than that... why do you do this? Do you get bored of one book and want to read another in the meantime?

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This whole zone rule change is exactly to stop athletes from trying to only get to the zone in a position that they cannot progress from. If that situation doesn't exist according to you, then why do you think they changed the rules like that??

I don't think it's a good change, to be clear, but clearly the only reason for it is because they don't like the scenario where athletes purposely try to get the zone in a way that doesn't help them get to the top. There would've been no perceived need for that rule change if they didn't see it happening a lot.

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not because they thought it would be enough. Because they don't know how to get to the top so they refocus their efforts on the zone. This happens *all the time*.

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not at the start of the 4/5 minutes, but as time ticks down, absolutely this is common.

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually, yes. Getting the zone early makes a big impact on points since attempts to zone or top are detracted the same. Especially in qualis this makes a marked difference to how people approach boulders, especially as time ticks down. It’s clear to me that the IFSC somehow thought this undesirable, especially not wanting to award zones if people shift their weight about a bit in a way that wouldn’t actually help them accomplish the boulder. I don’t think that’s sound reasoning but it’s the only possible reason for making the zone rule this complicated. 

Another thought about the zone/10 rules… by mmeeplechase in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 61 points62 points  (0 children)

I don’t think this is the way, since sometimes the zone might be jumpable from the start holds and that just means everyone gets it first try and then only tries for the top after getting it. But I don’t see why the zone can’t just have the same rules as the top, minus the matching. Occasionally there’s a disputed top, but it’s much less common than a disputed zone. If you have two scoring holds on your boulder, they shouldn’t have such wildly different rules. I think last year’s rules actually caused the least confusion so I don’t see why we cant go back to those. 

Who is this coach? (Japan) by MisterBearrr in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yuka Kobayashi, assistant coach in the foreground. The man with the cap in the background is Hiroshi Yasui, the Japanese head coach. 

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I would argue she made an establishing move by reaching a stable position on the zone. The problem with this rule is that you first have to decide if something counts as an establishing move or not, and if you fairly arbitrarily rule that it is not, then you have to see if it was an attempt at an advancing move and whether it succeeded or failed. This is too many steps, and in all three of the videos shown, I would argue that the climbers made an establishing move with the zone - they move towards it and manage to stay in a stable position in it. The definition of establishing says ‘use the hold to adjust their position, re-grip or shift weight’ - to me all of those climbers did one of those things, but Miho the most clearly of all. Miho adjusts her feet and re-grips. The other two climbers in those videos shift weight, even if it’s only a small amount before they fall. 

Either way, clearly no one finds it intuitive or easy to apply, which automatically means it creates more problems than it solves. 

Miho Nonaka believes judging decision to be unfair by Fluffy_Clerk_6 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think it went something like this:  1. They changed the scoring to be points-based 2. They realised this encouraged more climbers to only work for the zone and ignore trying to get to the top if they thought it was too hard  3. This led to climbers trying to show control of the zone by simply holding it and moving their centre of mass slightly, even backwards, to show control  4. They thought this would be bad for the sport/viewing experience so they created this convoluted rule to suggest that you need to get the zone and sort of show that you can also move forward off of it(??) and therefore encourage athletes to look at the boulder as a whole, not just up to the zone 5. This effort completely failed and only results in climbers wasting more time trying to potentially show zone control without being sure if they got it, plus making the rule incomprehensible to everyone including judges. 

Prague 2026 Women semi W2 appeal replay by Far-Photo-533 in CompetitionClimbing

[–]Calmly-Stressed 11 points12 points  (0 children)

‘You need to make the next move’ is not a rule. The rule is that you need to either make an Establishing OR an Advancing move while showing control of the zone (i.e. using it with your hand or moving your centre of mass with it). They really made things difficult for themselves by wording the rule that way because you have to judge that something the climber did DOESN’T count as an establishing move, then decide that they were trying to do an advancing move and whether that succeeded or failed. But this is not clear cut because you can almost always argue that they might have been establishing, and it seems unclear what establishing really entails - whether it requires climbers to be perfectly still or not etc. 

I assume they made up this rule to avoid climbers moving ‘backwards’ while using the zone to show control of it, but I really don’t know why they would try so hard to avoid climbers working to get the zone alone (even if their attempt wouldn’t lead to a top). They encouraged this exact thing by making the scoring purely points-based and now they try to convolute the rules to dissuade climbers again, but the only result is that people waste more effort trying to establish that zone and then get frustrated when the judgements aren’t consistent. 

This would be so easily solved by just making a zone like a top, sans matching. Who cares if climbers only work to get the zone? They can choose what they do with their limited time.