关于写作——值得牢记的史蒂芬·金的写作技巧

Mary Good Books

You don’t need writing classes or seminars any more than you need this or any other book on writing — Stephen King
你不需要写作课程或研讨会，就像你需要这本或任何其他关于写作的书一样——斯蒂芬·金

![Pasted image 20231231095254.png|Photo by Kenny Eliason

In his book ‘On Writing: The Memoir of Craft’, the American author Stephen King accounts his experiences as a writer and his advice to young writers.
美国作家斯蒂芬·金（Stephen King）在他的著作《论写作：工艺回忆录》（On Writing： The Memoir of Craft）中讲述了他作为作家的经历以及他对年轻作家的建议。

I’ve just finished reading this book and below are some lessons which ought to be useful to young writers:
我刚刚读完这本书，以下是一些对年轻作家有用的经验：

1. The prime rule: read a lot and write a lot
1. 首要原则：多读多写

The most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself, and this happens when you read and write a lot. The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.
最有价值的课程是你自学的课程，当你大量阅读和写作时，就会发生这种情况。你读得越多，你就越不容易用你的笔或文字处理器自欺欺人。

You can read both bad and good books because you will learn from each.
你可以读坏书和好书，因为你会从每本书中学习。

“One learns most clearly what not to do by reading bad prose. Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling.”
“人们通过阅读糟糕的散文最清楚地了解了不该做什么。另一方面，好的写作会教给学习的作家风格、优雅的叙述、情节发展、可信人物的创造和讲真话。

2. Carry a book wherever you go
2. 随身携带一本书

This is how you make sure you read a lot: by carrying a book wherever you go. You can listen to audio books in the car while you’re driving and carry a hardcopy wherever you go. You just never know when you’ll want an escape hatch.
这就是你确保你读很多书的方式：无论你走到哪里都随身携带一本书。您可以在开车时在车内收听有声读物，并随身携带硬拷贝。你永远不知道什么时候会想要一个逃生舱口。

“The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows. Waiting rooms were made for books — of course! But so are theatre lobbies before the show, long and boring checkout lines.”
“诀窍是教自己小口阅读和长吞咽。等候室是为书籍而建的——当然！但演出前的剧院大厅也是如此，冗长而无聊的收银台队伍也是如此。

3. Have a place where you do your writing
3. 有一个写作的地方

Writing is telepath, you have to have your own far-seeing place. The biggest aid to regular production is working in a serene atmosphere. Also, by the time you step into your new writing space and close the door, you should have settled on a daily writing goal.
写作是心灵感应，你必须有自己的远见卓识。对正常生产的最大帮助是在宁静的氛围中工作。此外，当你踏入新的写作空间并关上门时，你应该已经确定了每天的写作目标。

“If possible, there should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.”
“如果可能的话，你的写作室里不应该有电话，当然不应该有电视或电子游戏供你鬼混。

4. Have your vocabulary at the top of your toolbox
4. 把你的词汇放在工具箱的顶部

Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful. Some writers have enormous vocabularies while others use smaller, simpler vocabularies.
请记住，词汇的基本规则是使用您想到的第一个词，如果它是合适的和丰富多彩的。一些作家拥有庞大的词汇量，而另一些作家则使用更小、更简单的词汇。

Don’t make any conscious effort to improve your vocabulary. You’ll learn more words as you read other books, of course.
不要有意识地努力提高你的词汇量。当然，当你阅读其他书籍时，你会学到更多的单词。

“Make yourself a solemn promise right now that you’ll never use “emolument” when you mean “tip” and you’ll never say John stopped long enough to perform an act of excretion when you mean John stopped long enough to take a shit.”
“现在就给自己一个庄严的承诺，当你说'小费'时，你永远不会使用'报酬'，你永远不会说约翰停下来足够长的时间进行排泄行为，而你的意思是约翰停下来足够长的时间去拉屎。”

5. Watch your grammar
5. 注意你的语法

Steve recommends reading ‘Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition’ and ‘The Elements of Style’ by William Strunk, to polish your grammar. Bad grammar produces bad sentences, even though you can disobey some of the rules:
史蒂夫建议阅读威廉·斯特兰克（William Strunk）的《Warriner's English Grammar and Composition》和《The Elements of Style》，以完善您的语法。糟糕的语法会产生糟糕的句子，即使你可以不遵守一些规则：

“It is an old observation, that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules.”- William Strunk
“这是一个古老的观察，最好的作家有时会无视修辞的规则。除非他确定自己做得很好，否则[作者]可能会尽最大努力遵守规则。- 威廉·斯特兰克

Must you write complete sentences each time, every time? Perish the thought. Take any noun, put it with any verb, and you have a sentence. It never fails. Rocks explode. Jane transmits. Mountains float.
你必须每次都写出完整的句子吗？灭掉这个念头。将任何名词，与任何动词放在一起，你就有一个句子。它永远不会失败。岩石爆炸。简传输。群山飘浮。

6. On verbs
6.关于动词

Verbs come in two types, active and passive. With an active verb, the subject of the sentence is doing something. With a passive verb, something is being done to the subject of the sentence. The subject is just letting it happen. You should avoid the passive tense.
动词有两种类型，主动动词和被动动词。对于主动动词，句子的主语正在做某事。使用被动动词，某物正在对句子的主语做些什么。只是让它发生。你应该避免被动时态。

E.g. The meeting will be held at seven o’clock VS The meeting’s at seven
例如，会议将在七点举行 VS 会议将在七点举行

The rope was thrown by the writer VS The writer threw the rope
绳子是作家扔的VS是作家扔绳子的

The body was carried from the kitchen and placed on the parlor sofa VS Freddy and Myra carried the body out of the kitchen and laid it on the parlor sofa
尸体被从厨房抬出来，放在客厅的沙发上，VS弗雷迪，迈拉把尸体抬出厨房，放在客厅的沙发上

7. The adverb is not your friend
7. 副词不是你的朋友

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly.
副词是修饰动词、形容词或其他副词的词。它们通常以 -ly 结尾。

Consider the sentence He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door.
考虑这句话"他坚定地关上了门。"这绝不是一个可怕的句子（至少它有一个主动动词），但问问自己"firmly"是否真的必须存在。你可以争辩说，它表达了他关上门和他砰的一声关上门之间的某种程度的区别。

8. White spaces and paragraphs
8. 空格和段落

You can tell without even reading if the book you’ve chosen is apt to be easy or hard, right? Easy to read books contain lots of short paragraphs, including dialogue paragraphs which may only be a word or two long and lots of white space.
你甚至可以不用阅读就知道你选择的书是容易还是难，对吧？易于阅读的书籍包含许多简短的段落，包括对话段落，这些段落可能只有一两个单词长，并且有很多空白。

The ideal expository paragraph contains a topic sentence followed by others which explain or amplify the first.
理想的说明性段落包含一个主题句，然后是解释或扩展第一个主题句的其他句子。

“The more fiction you read and write, the more you’ll find your paragraphs forming on their own. When composing it’s best not to think too much about where paragraphs begin and end; the trick is to let nature take its course.”
“你读和写的小说越多，你就越会发现你的段落是自己形成的。撰写时，最好不要过多考虑段落的开始和结束位置；诀窍是让自然顺其自然。

9. Construct schedules
9. 构建时间表

My own schedule is pretty clear-cut. Mornings belong to whatever is new — the current composition. Afternoons are for naps and letters. Evenings are for reading, family, Red Sox games on TV, and any revisions that just cannot wait. Basically, mornings are my prime writing time.
我自己的日程安排非常明确。早晨属于任何新事物——当前的构图。下午是小睡和写信的好时机。晚上是阅读、家庭、电视上的红袜队比赛以及任何迫不及待的修订。基本上，早上是我写作的黄金时间。

Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to. If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind — they begin to seem like characters instead of real people.
一旦我开始做一个项目，我不会停下来，除非我绝对必须这样做，否则我不会放慢脚步。如果我不是每天都写作，这些角色就会在我的脑海中开始陈旧——他们开始看起来像角色而不是真实的人。

10. Writing is like sleeping
10. 写作就像睡觉

Like your bedroom, your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream. You need the room, you need the door, and you need the determination to shut the door. You need a concrete goal, as well.
就像你的卧室一样，你的写作室应该是私人的，一个你去做梦的地方。你需要房间，你需要门，你需要关上门的决心。你还需要一个具体的目标。

“Your schedule — in at about the same time every day, out when your thousand words are on paper or disk — exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go.”
“你的日程安排——每天大约在同一时间，当你的千言万语写在纸上或磁盘上时——的存在是为了让自己习惯，让自己准备好做梦，就像你让自己准备好睡觉一样，每晚大约在同一时间上床睡觉，并遵循相同的仪式。

11. What are you going to write about? Anything you damn well want.
11.你要写什么？任何你打死也想要的东西。

In terms of genre, it’s probably fair to assume that you will begin by writing what you love to read. Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex, and work. Especially work.
就体裁而言，可以公平地假设您将从写您喜欢阅读的内容开始。写下你喜欢的东西，然后通过融合你自己对生活、友谊、人际关系、性和工作的个人知识，让它充满生活，让它变得独一无二。尤其是工作。

What you need to remember is that there’s a difference between lecturing about what you know and using it to enrich the story.
你需要记住的是，讲授你所知道的和用它来丰富故事是有区别的。

What would be very wrong, I think, is to turn away from what you know and in favor of things you believe will impress your friends, relatives, and writing-circle colleagues. What’s equally wrong is the deliberate turning toward some genre or type of fiction in order to make money.
我认为，非常错误的是远离你所熟悉的，转而去写你认为会给你的朋友、亲戚和写作圈同事留下深刻印象的事情。同样错误的是，为了赚钱而故意转向某种类型或类型的小说。

12. On plotting
12. 关于情节设计

I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible.
我不相信情节设计有两个原因：第一，因为我们的生活基本上是没有情节的，即使你加上我们所有的合理预防措施和精心计划；其次，因为我相信情节设计和真实创作的自发性是不相容的。

The story which results from a plot is apt to feel artificial and labored. You may as well lean more heavily on intuition. The situation comes first. Then the characters (flat and unfeatured). Once these things are fixed in your mind, you can begin to narrate. Characters will form themselves as the story goes.
由情节设计产生的故事很容易让人感到人为和刻意。你不妨更多地依靠直觉。情景是第一位的。然后是字符（朴实无华的）。一旦这些事情在你的脑海中固定下来，你就可以开始叙述了。随着故事的发展，角色将自己形成。

I have written plotted novels, but the results, in books like Insomnia and Rose Madder, have not been particularly inspiring.
我写过情节设计小说，但结果，在《失眠》和《玫瑰·马德》等书中，并不是特别鼓舞人心。

13. Good description
13.良好的描写

Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and near-sighted. Over description buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to find a happy medium.
单薄的描写让读者感到困惑和近视。过度描写将他或她埋没在细节和图像中。诀窍是找到一个快乐的媒介。

A good description usually consists of a few well chosen details that will stand for everything else. Description should begin in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the readers.
一个好的描写通常由一些精心挑选的细节组成，这些细节将代表其他一切。描写应该从作者的想象开始，但应该在读者中结束。

If I tell you that Carrie White is a high school outcast with a bad complexion and a fashion-victim wardrobe, I think you can do the rest, can’t you? I don’t need to give you a pimple-by-pimple, skirt-by-skirt rundown.
如果我告诉你，嘉莉·怀特（Carrie White）是一个高中弃儿，肤色不好，衣橱时尚，我想剩下的事情你可以做，不是吗？我不需要给你一个一个疙瘩一个疙瘩，一条裙子一个裙子的破败。

But I think you will find that, in most cases, your first visualized details will be the truest and best.
但我想你会发现，在大多数情况下，你的第一个可视化细节将是最真实和最好的。

14. Figurative stuff
14. 比喻性的东西

The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of fiction, reading it and writing it, as well.
明喻和其他比喻语言的使用是小说的主要乐趣之一，阅读和写作也是如此。

Avoid the use of clichéd similes, metaphors, and images. He ran like a madman, she was pretty as a summer day, the guy was a hot ticket, Bob fought like a tiger etc.
避免使用陈词滥调的明喻、隐喻和图像。他像疯子一样奔跑，她像夏日一样漂亮，那家伙是一张热门门票，鲍勃像老虎一样战斗等等。

My all-time favorite similes, by the way, come from the hardboiled-detective fiction of the forties and fifties, and the literary descendants of the dime-dreadful writers. These favourites include “It was darker than a carload of assholes” and “I lit a cigarette that tasted like a plumber’s handkerchief ”.
顺便说一句，我最喜欢的比喻来自四五十年代的硬派侦探小说，以及一角恐怖的作家的文风。这些最喜欢的包括“比一车混蛋更黑”和“我点燃了一支尝起来像水管工手帕的香烟”。

15. A word on dialogue
15. 关于对话的一句话

Some writers are just better in dialogue than others. Your skills in this area can be improved but it’s better you know your limitations.
有些作家只是在对话方面比其他作家更好。你在这方面的技能可以提高，但你最好知道自己的局限性。

The key to writing good dialogue is honesty. The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see.
写好对话的关键是诚实。这份工作归结为两件事：注意你周围真实的人的行为方式，然后说出你所看到的真相。

“No kid ever ran to his mother and said that his little sister just defecated in the tub. I suppose he might say pushed or went woowoo, but took a shit is, I fear, very much in the ballpark (little pitchers have big ears, after all).”
“从来没有孩子跑到他的母亲面前说他的小妹妹只是在浴缸里排便。我想他可能会说拉了或哗哗，但恐怕在棒球场上（毕竟小投手有大耳朵）。(这段没读懂)

16. Revising your work (your book)
16. 修改你的工作（你的书）

Steve recommends two drafts and a polish. The first draft, even a long one, should take no more than three months, the length of a season. This first draft you need to write it with your door closed, that is, write like no one cares.
史蒂夫建议两份草稿和一份润色。初稿，即使是很长的草稿，也不应该超过三个月，一个赛季的长度。这个初稿你需要关上门写，也就是说，写得像没人在乎一样。

After your first draft, take a couple of days off, a minimum of six weeks. The idea is to prepare you to edit this first draft with fresh eyes when you come back.
初稿后，请几天假，至少六周。这个想法是让你准备好在你回来时以新的眼光编辑这个初稿。

The second draft you are to do it with doors open. That is taking opinions from your ideal reader. Steve’s ideal reader is his wife, Tabby. Also, try to cut the unnecessary information: Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft — 10%.
第二稿你要开着门做。那就是从你的理想读者那里听取意见。史蒂夫的理想读者是他的妻子塔比。另外，尝试删除不必要的信息：公式：第 2 稿 = 第 1 稿 — 10%。

Some more quotes: 更多引述：

While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.
虽然不可能从一个糟糕的作家中造就一个称职的作家，虽然从一个好的作家中造就一个伟大的作家也同样不可能，但通过大量的努力、奉献和及时的帮助，有可能从一个称职的作家中造就一个好的作家。

When I’m asked for “the secret of my success”, I sometimes say there are two: I stayed physically healthy and I stayed married. The combination of a healthy body and a stable relationship with a self-reliant woman who takes zero shit from me or anyone else has made the continuity of my working life possible.
当我被问及“我成功的秘诀”时，我有时会说有两个：我保持身体健康，我保持婚姻。健康的身体和稳定的关系与一个自力更生的女人的结合，她对我或其他任何人的狗屎都不屑一顾，使我的工作生活成为可能。

Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.
写作不是为了赚钱、成名、约会、上床或交朋友。归根结底，这是为了丰富那些阅读你作品的人的生活，也丰富你自己的生活。

You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.
你可以，你应该，如果你有足够的勇气开始，你会的。写作是魔术，就像任何其他创造性艺术一样是生命之水。水是免费的，所以喝吧，吨吨吨。

I wish you all the best in your writing journey!
祝你在写作之旅中一切顺利！