Interview with Ted Chiang • Hacker News Board

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#31

Post by phmagic » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 5:31 PM UTC

"I can’t recommend technical writing as a day job for fiction writers, because it’s going to be hard to write all day and then come home and write fiction. Nowadays I work as a freelance writer, so I usually do contract technical writing part of the year and then I take time off and do fiction writing the rest of the year. It’s too difficult for me to do technical writing at the same time as fiction writing — they draw on the same parts of my brain. " - Ted Chiang

Can this be a blocking factor for coding side projects as well? What if companies offered a role where 11 months of the year, you do the company's work, and one whole month you get to make whatever you want? Or a project-based role that covers a year's expenses.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#32

Post by schoen » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 5:33 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #30

DGAP wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very good, I'd recommend seeing it. Avoid spoilers if you can. The cinematography is gorgeous and the whole movie just feels extremely tight and well put together with nothing extraneous. Its small flaws are overshadowed by just how good it is. HN commenters just like to shit on things as soon as they're popular to feel smart.

>> Avoid spoilers if you can. That's another red flag for me. The great scifi remains watchable over and over. Knowing the plot, not being surprised, should not take much away from a properly good movie. When people tell me not to read spoilers they are suggesting to me that the film is considerably less watchable without the surprises. True be told, pretty much every "giant ships" scifi follows the predictable path.…

While the Hollywood-added differences from Chiang's story are pretty much just as you described, there is also a plot arc retained from the original that's different from this.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#33

Post by schoen » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

(2014); the interview was conducted in 2010 and published here in 2014.

Earlier HN thread with a lot of Arrival discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12940364

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#34

Post by betageek » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

elorant wrote: post #6

I’ve just finished reading “The story of your life” the other day and I can’t say I’m impressed. Based on the comments I’ve read about the movie I expected it to be mind boggling. The author claims that knowing the future affects free will but he doesn’t bother explaining how could anyone know the future or why would there be only one – quantum mechanics for example states that there could be countless futures/univer…

I think in this case the film works better than the story. It's not one of my favourites of Chiang's but the impact & consequences of Louise learning the heptapod language is far greater on film than it is in prose.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#35

Post by samfisher83 » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:14 PM UTC

For a guy with as many awards as him I am surprised he needs a second job. He doesn't write a lot, but given his quality I am surprised someone hasn't paid him to just write.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#36

Post by gamegoblin » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:16 PM UTC

jpm_sd wrote: post #29

I have high hopes for this movie, but I don't enjoy Ted Chiang's writing. It is too clever, the dialog is terrible, and there is an underlying smugness - as if the writer is laughing about his poor, dumb characters and their ignorance.

Can you give an example of the too-clever writing and underlying smugness?

I haven't felt that way, but I have only read "Story of your life" and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", so my sample size is pretty small.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#37

Post by mrec » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:17 PM UTC

phmagic wrote: post #31

"I can’t recommend technical writing as a day job for fiction writers, because it’s going to be hard to write all day and then come home and write fiction. Nowadays I work as a freelance writer, so I usually do contract technical writing part of the year and then I take time off and do fiction writing the rest of the year. It’s too difficult for me to do technical writing at the same time as fiction writing — they dr…

Oh, definitely. I've spent vastly less time on coding side projects since coding became a full-time job. Not that I don't still enjoy coding; I do. It's just that by the time I get home in the evening I'm pretty much coded out. Which kind of sucks, because I haven't found anything anywhere near as absorbing to replace it as a hobby.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#38

Post by mrec » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:18 PM UTC

yolesaber wrote: post #10

Ted Chiang is incredible. My personal favorite by him is "The Great Silence". Touches on communication, the Fermi paradox and ecology from the point of view of a parrot named Alex - http://supercommunity.e-flux.com/authors/ted-chiang/

Ooh, thanks. I thought I'd read everything he's put out, but I missed that one.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#39

Post by macintux » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:21 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #30

DGAP wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very good, I'd recommend seeing it. Avoid spoilers if you can. The cinematography is gorgeous and the whole movie just feels extremely tight and well put together with nothing extraneous. Its small flaws are overshadowed by just how good it is. HN commenters just like to shit on things as soon as they're popular to feel smart.

>> Avoid spoilers if you can. That's another red flag for me. The great scifi remains watchable over and over. Knowing the plot, not being surprised, should not take much away from a properly good movie. When people tell me not to read spoilers they are suggesting to me that the film is considerably less watchable without the surprises. True be told, pretty much every "giant ships" scifi follows the predictable path.…

I'd gladly rewatch it, but is it really so hard to imagine that a surprising plot is worth being unspoiled?

You're trying awfully hard to dislike a movie you haven't seen.

Re: Interview with Ted Chiang

#40

Post by rpearl » Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 6:23 PM UTC

jotjotzzz8 wrote: post #8

I didn't know him until now. I will definitely check out his short stories. I also love Ken Lu, his book "The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories" is one of the best collection of short stories I have read.

Ken Liu actually wrote a response to one of Ted Chiang's stories.

http://kenliu.name/stories/single-bit-error/ is a response/exploration of the same world and ideas as Chiang's "Hell is the Absence of God", in Stories of Your Life and Others.

I recommend reading the Chiang story first.