When I saw the name of this book, I believe many friends, like me, were both excited and disappointed. I was excited because I came across a book that specifically explains how to write; I was disappointed because there were so many books introducing writing skills. , most of them talk about the basic common sense of writing in general, which is boring. However, when I turned to a passage at the beginning of the book, I was deeply attracted by it:
It becomes more interesting as you continue reading. The English name of this book is "The Kite And The String", which literally translates into Chinese as: The Kite and the String. The kite is a rational and wanton flight, and the kite string is a rational control and guidance, which can make the kite fly higher. , and it won’t make her disappear without a trace!
This is to play with the dual consciousness of rationality and sensibility. Be sure to read it carefully. First, who is the author?
Anyone who dares to write "Writing Lesson" must first be a writer, Alice Mathieson, a Jewish-American, a contributor to "The New Yorker", a famous writer, and has won the English Novel Award The highest honor is the "Trolley Award", the American Best Short Story Award, and the O. Henry Short Story Award.
These are not the key. Alice Mathieson’s other identity is a teacher. She has taught at Yale University, Brooklyn College, and Bennington College. Her dual identity as a writer and teacher makes her It has both perceptual practical experience and rational and keen observation of literary creation, and can better grasp the most urgent needs and pain points of ordinary people in writing!
Mathieson’s personal experience is also legendary. She was originally just an ordinary woman, a mother of three children and a stay-at-home mother. She only started writing novels at the age of 33, with the original intention of subsidizing her family. She only wrote her first novel at the age of 50. This amateur author who became a monk unexpectedly was able to win many of the highest honors in the English novel world, which aroused people's interest even more - how did she "write" successfully!
Mattison has been teaching writing classes in schools since then. She has gathered half of her life’s teaching experience and writing experience into the book "Writing Class". After learning this, can you not wait to read this book? Where's the book?
In fact, the content of the book is very simple. Adhering to the dual consciousness of rationality and sensibility, it solves three main problems in novel creation:
First, how to discover inspiration
I believe that the first trouble most people encounter when writing is lack of inspiration. Although our teachers have taught us since we were in school: "If you want to write, you need to read a lot. If you read too many books, you will naturally know how to write." However, when we grow up, we find that we still can't write, let alone write novels!
"Writing Lesson" tells us that extensive reading accumulation is not enough. Extensive reading can only make the article wider, but it lacks the most important point-temperature!
Temperature refers to the creator’s passion for life and love for creation. Without temperature, it is difficult to inspire, and inspiration is a creative sudden thought. There is a famous saying that we are very familiar with: "Genius comes from 99% hard work and 1% inspiration. But 1% inspiration is even better than 99% Effort is more important”!
Where did this crucial inspiration come from? Mattison’s advice: “Look in real life.” A good life requires working hard in the field you love!
The classic novels "Red Sorghum" and "White Deer Plain" that we are familiar with both start from the hometown of the authors Mo Yan and Chen Zhongshi, describing the customs and historical stories of Gaomi, Shandong and Shaanxi plains respectively, so understand The place where you grow up is very helpful in inspiring inspiration!
Many people will say that my life is ordinary and my hometown has no history, so what should I do? Matthiessen tells us in "Writing Lessons" that we need to cultivate our own imagination, use wild imagination, use fiction and coincidence techniques, and combine rationality and sensibility, which can often break the shackles of reality and create things that no one has thought of. The miracle!
Matthiessen believes that people who are passionate and love the life around them should start from the life around them and be able to fill their works with details, arouse emotions and bring the characters to life; at the same time, they should be sensitive to discovery There are objective facts hidden in ordinary life. Of course, reality is just a blueprint, so don’t follow reality. The charm of novels is to pursue both truth and fantasy!
In short, at the beginning of writing, you need to immerse yourself in life; as you get better, you need to withdraw yourself from life; full of enthusiasm for life and an innocent heart that is not influenced by reality are the two magic weapons to obtain inspiration!
Second, how to tell the story
After you have the inspiration, you need to consider how to tell it. This is the skeleton structure of a novel:
The first step is to determine who will tell the story. Choosing which person to narrate corresponds to the narrative type will have different effects. When writing autobiographical themes, first-person narration is usually used; there are also many third-person narrative techniques. The protagonist, as a bystander, leads the reader to see what he sees. This feeling is very similar to the voice-over in a movie.
Each narrative type has its unique charm. Mattison emphasized that no matter which person you use to narrate, you must treat "yourself" as "others" to make readers feel the reality , allowing readers to see their own reflections and share the joys and sorrows with the characters.
Therefore, as a creator, you must first put yourself into the situation before you can move others!
The second step is to depict the characters and set up the plot
In depicting the characters. Matthiessen has a unique point of view - "Abusive intelligence". The so-called abusive intelligence means daring to cause trouble for the characters. Every character imprinted in his heart is a person who has escaped from layers of difficulties. Only by setting the character in Only in difficult situations can real emotions be stimulated and the potential of the character be unleashed!
For example, if the lively and cute Little Red Riding Hood successfully arrived at her grandmother’s house instead of meeting the big bad wolf on the way, then the story would be meaningless; In the popular aunt's house, the legendary magician who finally saved the world is nowhere to be seen!
Regarding setting up the plot, Matisse’s advice was to use one event to promote another event, ensure that the main line is clear, and let the characters move more. Novels such as "Tomb Robbers" and "The Tibetan Code" that have become popular in recent years are purely fictional. However, the plot has ups and downs. The key is that in the fictional plot, people can see the rationality and promote the plot according to logic. The readers have a strong sense of participation!
Third, how to judge whether a work is good or bad
Everyone hopes that their work will be liked by more people, so after writing a work, what people are most eager to know It just depends on whether you write well or not. Matthiessen believes that to judge the quality of a work, one must be calm, start from product thinking, and complete it from the same perspective of the writer and the reader.
Writing requires self-indulgence, at least in the beginning.
But after all, the work is for readers to appreciate, and the primary creative goal should be to bring readers a pleasant reading experience, not just to satisfy one's own creative desires, so it needs to be revised repeatedly, accepted criticism, and learned from experience!
Matthiessen believes that writing novels is not as unattainable as people think. As long as you can open your heart, express freely according to your own imagination, let the emotional kite fly for a while; and then plan and describe rationally according to common sense, After repeated revisions, let the rational kite string play more roles, and ordinary people can write satisfactory works!
This book not only brings the basic knowledge of novel creation, but more importantly, tells us that everyone has the right to express and express, and everyone has the talent to create, as long as you start If you take action, you are already on the right path!
The whole book "Writing Lesson" runs through the dual consciousness of rationality and sensibility. Mattison believes that this is not only the secret of her personal success, but also the success gene of all good novels! The book not only brings the basic knowledge of novel creation, but more importantly, inspires everyone's desire to express and create. I believe everyone has the talent to create!