写作圣经的方法论
图片发自PEXELS
Chapter 2 方法(Methods)
本章部分吸取了《The Elements of Style》中关于副词、时态、转折词的使用方法，比如尽量少用副词，这些原则在中文里同样适用，值得每个人反复斟酌。
8.Unity一致性
You learn to write by writing.
只有写才能学会如何写。
All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.
所有写作最终都是为了解决一个问题。(阐述事实、表明态度)
One choice is unity of pronoun.
前后人称要尽量一致（第一人称“我”和第三人称“他”不要随意切换）。
Instead of controlling his materials, his materials is controlling him. That wouldn’t happen if he took time to establish certain unities.
（前文为一个游记）我们不应该被写作材料牵着鼻子走，而是要花时间好好组织素材，让文章有连贯性。
Nobody can write a book or article about something.Tolstoy couldn’t write a book about war and peace, or Melville a book about whaling. They made certain reductive decisions about time and place and about individual characters in that time and place---one man pursuing one whale. Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
没人可以就某事写本书或文章。托尔斯泰无法写本书来描述战争与和平，麦尔维尔也无法写出一本关于白鲸的书。他们只是对时间和空间做了些简化，只描写了在那个具体时间和具体地点下一个追逐白鲸男人的性格。在你开始写之前，你的主题必须要有删减。
Therefore think small. Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop.
因此，想小一点。决定好你要写主题的哪一小块，然后把它说透了，就停笔。
As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn’t have before. Not two thoughts, or five--- just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader’s mind.
对于你想表达的观点，每个成功的非虚构作品应该在读者心中有且只留下一个有触动的想法，这个想法是他从来没有过的。不是两个也不是五个，只有一个，所以你要想好给读者头脑中留下什么样的观点。
9.The leading and the Ending开头和结尾
The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn’t induce him to the third sentence , it’s equally dead.
任何文章中最关键的就是第一句。如果它没能吊起读者的胃口往下读第二句，那么你的文章就挂了，如果第二句不能引起读者往下继续第三句，你还是挂了。
Your lead must capture the reader immediately and force him to keep reading. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or in interesting fact, or a question. Anything will do, as long as it nudges his curiosity and tugs at his sleeve.
你的开头必须迅速俘获读者，并能推着他继续。开头要以新奇、自相矛盾、幽默、惊喜、不寻常的观点、有趣的事实，或者一个问题来钓住读者。任何只要能调动读者好奇心并拴住他们的方法，都可以使用。
But take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph---it’s the crucial springboard to the next paragraph.
要小心处理每段的最后一句话，因为它是到下一段的关键跳板。
You Should collect more material than you will use. Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best.
你收集的素材应远大于你文章所要使用的量，文章的力度很大程度上跟你所能提供服务于文章主题的细节数量成正比。
Another moral is to look for your material everywhere, not just by reading the obvious sources ad interviewing the obvious people.
另一个启示就是要随处搜集你的素材，而不仅仅是通过大家都熟知的书或人作为信息来源。（路边的广告牌、玩具上的包装说明、药品上的声明等）
Another approach is to just tell a story. It’s such a simple solution, so obvious and unsophisticated, that we often forget that it’s available to us. But narrative is the oldest and most compelling method of holding someone’s attention; everybody wants to be told a story.
另一个方法就是开头讲个故事。它如此简单明了，也不高深以至于我们经常忘了用。叙事其实是最古老也最引人入胜的抓住读者注意力的方法，人人都想听个故事。
Sometimes you can tell your whole story in the first sentence:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. ---The BIBLE
有时候你可以在第一句中讲述整个故事：
起初，上帝创造了天地。----圣经
The perfect ending should take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right. They didn’t expect the article to end so soon, or so abruptly, or to say what is said. But they know it when they see it. Like a lead, it works.
完美的结尾应该带给读者以小惊喜却又不唐突，读者没预料到文章会那么快结束，或者已说完了它该说的，但是当他们看到，他们就知道要结束了。
For the nonfiction writer, the simplest way of putting this into a rule is : when you’re ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make , look for the nearest exit.
对于非虚构类作者，最简单的原则就是：当你准备好结束时，就结束。如果你已经呈现了所有想表达的事实和观点，寻找最近的出口，结束它。
10.Bits & Pieces零零碎碎
Verbs are the most important of all your tools.
动词是最重要的表达。
Most adverbs are unnecessary.
大部分副词都是多余的。(比如“的”、“了”、“呢”、“吧”。)
Don't overstate.
不要过度陈述。
Writing is not a contest...Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.
写作不是竞赛。保持自己的节奏，忘掉和别人的比拼，你唯一要战胜的是自己。
The Quickest Fix:Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it.
解决一个棘手句子的最快速方法就是删掉它。
Keep your paragraphs short.
段落要短。
Almost of nonfiction writers think in paragraph units, not in sentence units. Each paragraph has its own integrity of content and structure.
大多数非虚构类作家都是以段为内容单元，而非句子。每段自有其故事的完整性和结构。
Rewriting is the essence of writing well:it's where the game is won or lost.
修改才是写好文章的本质，也是胜负所在。
You won’t write well until you understand that writing is an evolving process, not a finished product. Nobody expects you to get it right the first time, or even the second time.
只有你明白了写作是一个进化过程，而不是一个成品，你才能写好文章。没有人指望你第一次就做好，第二次也不。
Most rewriting consists of reshaping and tightening and refining the raw material you wrote on your first try. Much of it consists of making sure you’ve given the reader a narrative flow he can follow with no trouble from beginning to end.
大多数修改主要是使你的初稿更紧凑、更精准、也更瘦身。是为了有个更好的叙事结构，可以引导读者从开始到结尾，不会有阅读困难。
The longer I work at the craft of writing, the more I realize that there’s nothing more interesting than the truth.
我写作时间越长，就越意识到没有什么比真实更有趣。
The reader plays a major role in the act of writing and must be given room to play it. Don’t annoy your readers by over-explaining---by telling them something they already know or can figure out.
读者在写作中也扮演着重要角色，要给他们空间去参与。过度解释——告诉读者他们已经知道或者他们能自己搞明白的东西，往往会使他们厌烦。
No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections, you will write well and will engage your readers.
只要你认真对待，生活中就没有什么是愚蠢而你不能写的领域。追随你的热爱，你就能写好，这也会吸引你的读者。
To be continued...
未完待续...
