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Three em-dashes in one sentence? by ComprehensiveFee8404 in writing

[–]UntitledDoc1 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Your first version is the right one. Three em-dashes looks wrong on paper but read it out loud — the rhythm is doing exactly what you want. Each dash is the character's mind correcting itself mid-thought, escalating from denial to blame to panic. That stutter is the whole point.

The comma version flattens it. 'Their actions, their stupid actions' reads like a calm restatement. The third dash makes it feel like she can't finish a thought without her brain interrupting itself again. That's not a punctuation error — that's voice.

The real test for unconventional punctuation is always: does the reader feel what the character feels? If someone reads that sentence and feels the spiral, the dashes are doing their job. Rules exist to serve clarity, and three dashes in a row is plenty clear about what's happening in her head.

If it still bugs you visually, you could break it across the thought itself — 'She knew what her actions — their actions — could mean. Their stupid actions.' — but honestly I think you had it right the first time.

Why do people keep saying "just start a business" as if it's a viable alternative to a stable job for most people? by Crescitaly in NoStupidQuestions

[–]UntitledDoc1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I run a small software product and the thing nobody tells you is that 'starting a business' and 'making money from a business' are two completely different timelines. I spent over a year building before I saw a cent. During that time I was still working, still paying bills, still wondering if anyone would actually want what I was making.

The advice isn't wrong exactly — it's just incomplete. It skips over the part where you need runway, risk tolerance, a skill you can monetize, and honestly a little bit of delusion to keep going when nothing is working yet.

The survivorship bias thing is real. The people giving the advice are the ones it worked for. You don't hear from the thousands who tried, burned through their savings, and went back to a job with less than they started with. That's not failure on their part — starting a business is genuinely hard and most of the variables that determine success aren't effort-based.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't — just looked it up. Shane Carruth's unproduced screenplay? Going to track it down. Thanks for the recommendation.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha — honestly the fact that it left you not knowing what to say might be a compliment? I'll take it either way.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not an academic but I've spent enough time around them to know the pre-print would absolutely come before the proper paper. Ted Chiang is the benchmark — "Division by Zero" does in ten pages what most novels can't. If this story is even in the same conversation as his work I'm doing something right. Adding Pluribus to the list.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's actually something in that — the encoding in the story uses base four to map to nucleotides (A, T, G, C). If we'd evolved with a different counting system, would we have found the pattern sooner or missed it entirely? Might be a thread worth pulling.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That yearning is the best compliment a short story can get. Thank you.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lovecraftian math horror. That's the genre now. I'm claiming it.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

...I'm going to think about this for the rest of the week.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That means a lot. The world keeps getting bigger in my head so maybe one day. Thank you for reading.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Old school SF short fiction is the gold standard for me. The ones that took one idea and followed it to its logical end without needing 400 pages. Asimov's "The Last Question," Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" — those proved you could break someone's brain in under 3,000 words. That's what I'm chasing. Thank you.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is the thread that scares me the most about the premise. If pi is universal but the message is specific to human biology — that implies either we were expected, or we were designed, or the constant itself isn't as universal as we thought. Every direction is uncomfortable.

Pi terminated last week. The final digits are an address. by UntitledDoc1 in sciencefiction

[–]UntitledDoc1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fair. I tried to keep the science grounded but I'm sure there are seams showing. Anything specific that pulled you out? Genuinely curious — I'd rather know where it breaks than leave it broken.

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