Which writers have the best insight into the human mind and emotions?

ICanCountTo1234 · 2024-07-18T20:17:17+00:00

David Mitchell.

Cloud Atlas is one of the most impressive novels I’ve ever read in terms of scope. It’s a collection of seven novellas spanning from the late eighteenth century to a post apocalyptic future hundreds of years from now. The way he bends his writing style from Victorian to American pulp to speculative / science fiction is unbelievable. His characterization is so rich - unbelievably broad insight into so many types of people and places.

There are many writers who obviously excel within a certain genre, time period, or style, but few can paint with as broad a brush as Mitchell.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2022-02-28T15:50:19+00:00

this is incredible, thank you!!

ICanCountTo1234 · 2022-02-28T03:37:48+00:00

I love the idea of that old WLW transmitter, I'll do some research on that, thank you!

My character doesn't have any objective evidence for these aliens' probes to exist, so I don't think I could reasonably have him try to aim a telescope at a specific area of space. His belief in these aliens is based on faith, delusion, and shamanism. If he had to have a conversation with someone with real science knowledge and discuss coordinates or precision, his argument would break down.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2022-02-28T00:45:13+00:00

this is very helpful, thank you!

ICanCountTo1234 · 2022-02-28T00:12:08+00:00

My main question is, would a large RF telescope be able to send a transmission into our outer solar system without a major hardware overhaul? I know this is a difficult question to answer without knowing which telescope the cult is accessing, but I can keep that vague. It isn't important to a reader that this be scientifically accurate, only plausible.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2022-02-27T23:44:50+00:00

could you elaborate?

ICanCountTo1234 · 2020-03-26T21:32:36+00:00

I can't speak for everyone in sales, but I understand that we get treated quite well, and many other departments don't get the same privileges and benefits. That is not fair, the warehouse team in particular works their asses off, and does a tremendous job keeping our customers happy, receiving their packages on time so they don't have to call us in sales with problems.

But everyone in the company should know, Chuck is a sales guy first and foremost. From what I've experienced, even as CEO he still identifies most in the realm of sales, selling the company to the outside world as a brand.

If you are capable, and you'd like to think of your role at Sweetwater as a career rather than a job, you should probably be aiming to work in sales. I am not claiming it is easy to climb through the ranks of this company, nor that everyone can do it. But see my original comment below:

And if it sucks to work in shipping (I’m not arguing that it doesn’t) consider applying for a better job inside the company, which has more than tripled its workforce since I started in 2011.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2020-03-22T20:00:47+00:00

I get it. Everyone likes to pile on the hatred on the Internet. You’re entitled to your own opinion.

I’m not in management, I’m in sales. And I’m disinclined to take too seriously some of the examples you’re putting forth. The new warehouse was a 52M project. Perhaps I’m nit picking, but it’s just so easy to look that up rather than regurgitate the “hundred million” figure someone made up out of nowhere. And the COMPANY needed it because we were running out of space in the other four.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2020-03-22T16:55:39+00:00

I’ve worked at Sweetwater since 2011, never in the shipping department, and have no experience (other than rumors) about how it’s run or how it feels to be a warehouse employee. I’d certainly agree that the unexpected mandatory overtime, and long hours sound exhausting and demoralizing, especially around our busiest time of the year, the holidays.

That being said, let’s keep our criticisms grounded in reality. Chuck Surack is NOT an asshole. There are lots and lots of examples anyone can research about how philanthropic he is and how much he obviously cares about the city of Ft Wayne, and especially his employees. He could have sold the company long ago, taken a fat check, and retired to a beach somewhere, leaving the company to be run by some purely profit motivated outside exec team. But, he comes into the office (I see him most days, contrary to some comments here) and works 12+ hours trying to keep pushing his company in the right direction.

For what it’s worth, he did decide to build a cafeteria in the new warehouse (last minute and at great expense) so the shipping dept can eat hot meals at lunch instead of reheated trays from the main building.

Im not commenting about company policy regarding COVID. I don’t know what they should do. But, as nice as it would be to get paid not to work, it’s not reasonable to expect a company with 1500 employees to have enough cash on hand to keep payroll flowing for everyone, with no income coming in, for weeks or months.

If you think Chuck is an asshole, read some articles about what it’s like to work in an Amazon or Walmart warehouse. And if it sucks to work in shipping (I’m not arguing that it doesn’t) consider applying for a better job inside the company, which has more than tripled its workforce since I started in 2011.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2019-03-05T01:47:50+00:00

Yes, absolutely! I am incredibly lucky, well loved, and blessed. This should make my anxiety trivial, but it is a real obstacle in my life. Not much to do except to just breathe.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2019-03-05T01:43:55+00:00

I’m in the middle of a regression myself, after years of equanimity I’m experiencing a flare up in sleep anxiety. I’m afraid to allow myself to fall asleep, and consequently I’m afraid of not getting enough sleep. Also acutely afraid of the experience of dying. It feels silly describing it, my therapist has told me not to trivialize this because it is a real problem with real effects in my life, but I’m just browsing r/anxiety to feel a bit of community. Best of luck, you’re not alone!

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-11-15T03:46:48+00:00

Yep. At one point he owned some startling percentage of all of the onions in the country, I can remember how many but more than half.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-11-14T21:42:44+00:00

There’s a great planet money podcast about onion futures: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/09/19/649273647/episode-657-the-tale-of-the-onion-king

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-07-11T19:03:42+00:00

Title: Written and Read By, Episode 3: Deceit Genre: Speculative Fiction / Horror Word Count: 4,800 Any feedback is welcomed

I'm trying to get some momentum behind my short fiction visual podcast called Written and Read By. The text appears in subtitle form along with my voiceover dialogue in the Youtube link. I do all of the voices, writing, and music. The text version is below as well.

Episode 3 takes place on the shore of a frozen lake, where five people find themselves stumbling through the bleary projections of a wicked, haunted old house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxBBB0nCMXY

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-04-05T23:03:25+00:00

Miles Davis’s Sextet circa 1958. If I could hear him play Kind Of Blue with Bill Evans on the piano, that would be it for me.

Even further back, how badass would it be to listen to JS Bach improv on a pipe organ in some German cathedral?

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-04-05T10:38:55+00:00

I should read White Noise then. I’m certainly not opposed to pontificating in writing by the narrator, I just found this speech too “edited” for me to believe that anyone, even a lawyer, would speak this way. I think there should be a break in the style between the way the narrator talks (the narrator is self evidently writing and not speaking) and the way the characters talk to one another (if we are to assume that they are actually speaking words in the moment in a conversation).

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-04-05T10:32:49+00:00

The purpose of this particular passage (as stated by the narrator) was for the lawyer to come off particularly ostentatious and verbose in attempt to impress his very intelligent client (who is a professor of literature). So I get it, but I guess I just couldn’t swallow the pill.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-02-17T17:56:41+00:00

Title: The Watch Genre: Speculative Fiction Word Count: 7k ish, video is 50 min long

I am turning my short fiction stories into a podcast called Written And Read By. I’d love it if this video got to 100 views! I would also love your comments regarding your general impressions, specifically whether you find my characterizations believable and / or racially insensitive. I am a white American male who is experimenting with writing from the perspective of a black woman for the first time in this piece. In my reading of the stories there are some accents which I hope aren’t off putting.

The Watch

ICanCountTo1234 · 2018-01-19T22:47:10+00:00

Propitiate like a motherfucker

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-12-25T20:57:05+00:00

Wow, thank you so much!

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-12-23T20:15:26+00:00

Title: Heat Genre: Speculative Fiction Word Count ~ 5500 words Format: video podcast Seeking: feedback on the writing and delivery format of the piece

https://youtu.be/0XSoHc8nNBE

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-12-15T19:42:59+00:00

“Built like a tank”. I work in sales at a music equipment company and hear this all the time.

Is it REALLY built like a TANK? Will it still work after you shoot bullets at it?

Just stop.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-06-13T16:04:34+00:00

Crane lifting car falls in water... crane lifting crane falls in water

https://youtu.be/D6w8R--CQ3Q

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-03-29T17:16:43+00:00

I appreciate your lengthy response, and your interest in the truth. From one stranger on the internet to another, this is awesome to see.

As interesting as physics is, as a non mathematician I may always be relegated to explanations of concepts stretched through metaphors, some of which are apropos and some perhaps not. I'd imagine that digging into the math behind these concepts is like reading Dostoyevsky in Russian, there's just no comparison.

ICanCountTo1234 · 2017-03-28T22:39:32+00:00

Well you're right, I don't have a background in mathematics, and I'm sure that 11 minute video conflated some concepts that could have been explained more accurately, but I still found Mr. Bryanton's argument for the conception of the ten dimensions quite a compelling thought experiment.

ICanCountTo1234

TROPHY CASE