Since then, it's become the go-to book for new writers.

從那時起，這本書就成了新作家的必讀書。

It's hard to find a list of books for writers that doesn't include this one, and if you look at the best books for writers on Goodreads, this one is number one.

很難找到一份不包括這本書的作家書單，如果你查看 Goodreads 上最適合作家閱讀的書籍，這本書名列第一。

The only problem is, it's packed full of bad, unhelpful advice for new and amateur writers.

唯一的問題是，書中充斥著對新人和業餘作家毫無幫助的糟糕建議。

In this video, I'm going to walk you through the bad advice in the book, why it's wrong, and what you can actually do to level up your craft as a writer.

在本視頻中，我將帶您瞭解書中的錯誤建議、為什麼這些建議是錯誤的，以及作為一名作家，您究竟可以做些什麼來提高自己的寫作水平。

My name is Tim Grawl.

我叫蒂姆-格勞爾。

I'm the CEO of StoryGrid, where we help you build the skills, write a book, and leave your legacy.

我是 StoryGrid 的首席執行官，在這裡，我們幫助你培養技能、寫書並留下你的財富。

My partner Sean Coyne is the creator and founder of StoryGrid, and he is a writer and editor with over 30 years of experience.

我的合作伙伴肖恩-科因（Sean Coyne）是 StoryGrid 的創建者和創始人，他是一位擁有 30 多年經驗的作家和編輯。

Let me tell you something about Steve King.

讓我告訴你一些關於史蒂夫-金的事。

Steve King wishes he could write like me.

史蒂夫-金希望他能像我一樣寫作。

So first off, I'm a big fan of Stephen King.

首先，我是斯蒂芬-金的忠實粉絲。

I love his writing.

我喜歡他的文章。

My favorite novel of all time is 112263.

我最喜歡的小說是《112263》。

I love his writing in Green Mile, Gwendy's Button Box, Joyland, Needful Things, and many other books.

我喜歡他在《綠裡》、《格溫迪的鈕釦盒》、《歡樂國度》、《需要的東西》以及其他許多書中的文字。

I even love On Writing.

我甚至喜歡《論寫作》。

And what I love about Stephen King is he loves writing.

我喜歡斯蒂芬-金的地方在於他熱愛寫作。

He loves the storytelling, the act of writing, everything that goes into it.

他喜歡講故事，喜歡寫作，喜歡其中的一切。

The only problem is, it's not very helpful to new writers.

唯一的問題是，它對新作家的幫助不大。

The thing is that Stephen King submitted his first story for publication to a magazine called Spaceman way back in 1960.

事實上，早在 1960 年，斯蒂芬-金就向一本名為《太空人》的雜誌投稿，發表了他的第一篇小說。

He was 12 years old.

他當時 12 歲。

Fast forward 14 years, it's 1974, and he publishes his first book, Carrie, which went on to be a huge bestseller, and he was 26 years old.

快進到 14 年後的 1974 年，他出版了自己的第一本書《嘉莉》（Carrie），這本書後來成為暢銷書，那一年他 26 歲。

By the year 2000, when On Writing came out, he was 53 years old and had been writing for over 40 years.

到 2000 年《論寫作》問世時，他已經 53 歲，從事寫作 40 多年。

And all of this extensive knowledge and experience as a writer leads to three problems with this book.

作為一名作家，所有這些豐富的知識和經驗導致本書存在三個問題。

The first problem is he's forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.

第一個問題是，他忘記了初學者的滋味。

The last time he was a newbie writer, he was a tween.

上一次他還是新手作家的時候，他還是個孩子。

Like, imagine that.

想象一下

First of all, just try to think back to when you were a tween and anything you were doing at that point.

首先，試著回想一下你還是個孩子的時候，你當時在做什麼。

And then think about something that you've been doing for over 40 years.

再想想你已經做了 40 多年的事情。

It's almost impossible to put yourself back in the shoes of a beginner.

要讓自己回到初學者的狀態幾乎是不可能的。

Which leads us to the problem number two.

這就引出了第二個問題。

The advice given in this book is from someone that knows how to consistently write well.

這本書中的建議來自於一個知道如何持續寫好文章的人。

So much advice in the book is tied to this idea that he can write consistently well, and so his first drafts are pretty good.

書中的很多建議都是基於這樣一個觀點，即他能持續寫出好作品，是以他的初稿也相當不錯。

He doesn't require a ton of editing because he's an expert that's been doing this, and that is not the position new and amateur writers find themselves in.

他不需要大量的編輯工作，因為他是一直在做這件事的專家，而這並不是業餘新作家的處境。

Problem number three is that almost everything he does in writing is intuitive.

問題三是他的寫作幾乎都是直觀的。

What you find when you work with professional writers is that most of them do it very intuitively, and they don't really understand how they do it.

當你與專業作家合作時，你會發現他們中的大多數人都是憑直覺寫作，他們並不真正瞭解自己是如何做到這一點的。

However, if you ask them how they write, they will talk for a long time.

但是，如果你問他們是如何寫作的，他們會說很久。

They just won't say stuff that will actually help you become a better writer.

他們只是不會說那些能真正幫助你成為更好的作家的東西。

There is a huge gap between being really good at something and being able to teach something.

在真正擅長某件事和能夠教授某件事之間存在著巨大的差距。

This is why Tiger Woods, even at the height of his golf career, still had a golf coach.

這就是為什麼泰格-伍茲即使在其高爾夫生涯的巔峰時期，仍然有一位高爾夫教練的原因。

Because being able to do something is different than being able to teach it.

因為能做一件事和能教一件事是不同的。

So now let's just break down the bad advice, and I'm just going to start with the just straight up condescending bits of this book.

所以，現在讓我們來分析一下這些糟糕的建議，我打算從這本書中直接居高臨下的部分開始。

About halfway through the book, he pauses to give his thesis, and part of that thesis is this.

書寫到一半時，他停頓了一下，提出了自己的論點，其中部分論點是這樣的。

While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of 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.

雖然不可能從一個優秀的作家變成一個稱職的作家，但通過大量的努力、奉獻和及時的幫助，卻有可能從一個僅僅稱職的作家變成一個優秀的作家。

So this just isn't true.

所以這不是真的。

Like, I know this in my own life.

比如，我在生活中就知道這一點。

I was a horribly bad writer.

我是個糟糕透頂的作家。

I became a competent writer, and now I'm a pretty good writer.

我成了一名稱職的作家，現在我是一名相當出色的作家。

We're going to lay great writer off to the side, because it's even hard to wrap our heads around what that is.

我們要把偉大的作家放在一邊，因為我們甚至很難理解那是什麼。

But this idea that you can't be a bad writer and then become a competent and then good writer is just nuts.

但是，這種認為你不可能成為一個糟糕的作家，然後成為一個稱職的、優秀的作家的想法簡直是瘋了。

Like, again, if I went back to when he was 10 years old and trying to write, I'm sure his first writing was bad writing, and yet he's forgotten what that's like.

就像，同樣，如果我回到他 10 歲時嘗試寫作，我敢肯定他的第一篇作文寫得很糟糕，但他卻忘記了那是什麼滋味。

And we see this all the time in the story grid, is we can take somebody that's just a legitimately bad writer, and if they learn the basic skills, they can become a competent and good writer.

在故事網格中，我們經常可以看到這樣的情況：我們可以讓一個寫得非常糟糕的人，通過學習基本技能，成為一個稱職的好作家。

Let's look at the next one.

讓我們看看下一個。

This is where he addresses this idea of talent.

在這裡，他談到了 "天賦 "這一概念。

He says that talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless.

他說，天賦讓排練變得毫無意義。

Now, I get what he's saying.

現在，我明白他的意思了。

In the context of this passage, what he's saying is writing shouldn't feel like work.

在這段話中，他的意思是寫作不應該像工作一樣。

You should look forward to it.

你應該期待它的到來。

You should be excited to sit down and write.

你應該興奮地坐下來寫作。

And if it feels like work, then you don't have the talent.

如果感覺像工作，那就是你沒有天賦。

You should basically give up.

你基本上應該放棄。

And again, I just don't think this is true.

再說一遍，我不認為這是真的。

Most of us that are coming to writing when we're later in life, the problem is we've wanted to do it a long time, and now we're actually trying to sit down and do it.

我們中的大多數人都是在晚年才開始寫作的，問題是我們早就想這麼做了，現在我們才真正想坐下來寫作。

And just because it takes some work to get us in that chair and typing the words, doesn't mean we don't have this magical thing called talent.

讓我們坐在椅子上敲打文字需要付出一些努力，但這並不意味著我們沒有一種叫做天賦的神奇力量。

What we do have is responsibilities and jobs and decades of voices in our head from family members saying we're wasting our time.

我們有的只是責任和工作，還有幾十年來家人在我們腦子裡說我們在浪費時間的聲音。

We have all of those things that we're trying to work past.

我們正在努力克服這些困難。

So when I read this, I feel like it can just be really demoralizing if you're a new writer just trying to get in the seat and start writing.

是以，當我讀到這篇文章時，我覺得如果你是一個剛開始嘗試寫作的新作家，這真的會讓你士氣低落。

And you read this, and you think, well, maybe I just don't have the talent.

讀到這裡，你會想，也許我只是沒有天賦。

And that isn't necessarily true.

而事實未必如此。

Next up, let's look at this advice around read a lot and write a lot.

接下來，讓我們圍繞 "多讀 "和 "多寫 "來看看這些建議。

He has lots of passages on this one.

他有很多關於這個問題的段落。

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others.

如果你想成為一名作家，你必須首先做到兩件事。

Read a lot and write a lot.

多讀多寫。

There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of.

據我所知，這兩件事是繞不過去的。

No shortcut.

沒有捷徑。

Can I be blunt on this subject?

在這個問題上，我能直言不諱嗎？

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.

如果沒有時間閱讀，就沒有時間或工具寫作。

Simple as that.

就這麼簡單。

I like to get 10 pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words.

我喜歡每天寫 10 頁，相當於 2000 字。

That's 180,000 words over a three-month span, a good-ish length for a book, something in which the reader can happily get lost.

在三個月的時間裡，這本書的篇幅達到了 180,000 字，對於一本書來說，這個篇幅還算不錯，讀者可以樂在其中。

I suggest 1,000 words a day.

我建議每天寫 1000 字。

And because I'm feeling magnanimous, I'll also suggest that you take one day a week off, at least to begin with.

因為我覺得自己寬宏大量，所以我也建議你每週休息一天，至少從一開始。

You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot.

多讀多寫是最好的學習方法。

And the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.

而最有價值的課程就是你自己給自己上的課。

Now, I have a whole video dedicated to this advice of read a lot and write a lot, and why it isn't true, and it doesn't work, and it is full of this idea of survivorship bias.

現在，我有一整段視頻專門講述 "多讀多寫 "這個建議，以及為什麼它是不正確的、行不通的，它充滿了 "倖存者偏差 "這個概念。

But I'm just going to stop here and say, this idea that the only way that you can learn writing is to just churn out 1,000 words a day and then read a lot of books is, again, kind of nuts.

但我想說的是，這種認為學習寫作的唯一方法就是每天寫出1000字，然後讀大量書籍的想法，同樣有點瘋狂。

First of all, there's lots of people that read a lot, and they can't write.

首先，有很多人讀了很多書，卻不會寫作。

There's lots of people that write a lot, and they also are writing bad.

有很多人寫了很多東西，但他們也寫得很糟糕。

This is what we teach all the time at Story Grid, that there are basic skills that you can learn as a writer, and actually focusing on those and working on those is a shortcut.

這也是我們在《故事網格》（Story Grid）一直教授的內容，作為一名作家，你可以學習一些基本技能，而真正專注於這些技能並在此基礎上進行創作是一條捷徑。

You still have to learn them.

你還是得學。

It's still hard work, but it's not random.

這仍然是艱苦的工作，但並不是隨意的。

This idea that you just read a lot and then churn out 1,000 words a day and write these really long manuscripts where none of it works, and you just kind of hope one day it'll work, that's not how writing and learning how to write should work.

這種想法是，你只需要大量閱讀，然後每天寫出 1000 個單詞，寫出這些很長的手稿，但其中沒有一個是有用的，你只是有點希望有一天它會起作用，這不是寫作和學習如何寫作應該有的方式。

It should be a systematic process of learning skills.

這應該是一個系統的技能學習過程。

So if you want to hear more about this, go down the description.

所以，如果你想了解更多，請往下看說明。

I have a link to my video talking about this myth of read a lot and write a lot.

我有一個關於 "多讀多寫 "這一神話的視頻鏈接。

About a third of the way through the book, Stephen King introduces this idea of a toolbox.

在本書大約三分之一的篇幅中，斯蒂芬-金提出了 "工具箱 "這一概念。

I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you.

我想說的是，要想最大限度地發揮自己的寫作能力，你應該構建自己的工具箱，然後積累足夠的經驗，以便能夠隨身攜帶。

Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.

這樣，你也許就不會看著一項艱鉅的工作而氣餒，而是會抓住正確的工具，立即投入工作。

This part I can get on board with.

這部分我可以接受。

The idea that you have a toolbox and then you're going to put tools in there and build up the skills to use those tools is exactly what we teach at Story Grid.

你有一個工具箱，然後把工具放進去，並培養使用這些工具的技能，這正是我們在 Story Grid 所教授的。

But when we talk about what these skills are, this is where I split ways from Stephen King and what he writes and on writing.

但是，當我們談論這些技能是什麼時，這就是我與斯蒂芬-金以及他的寫作和寫作技巧分道揚鑣的地方。

Because he spends a lot of time talking about things that aren't that important, and then on the things that are important, he gives really vague and unhelpful advice.

因為他花了很多時間談論那些並不重要的事情，而對於那些重要的事情，他卻給出了非常模糊和無益的建議。

So first, let's look at the thing that most of us have heard about this idea of adverbs.

首先，讓我們來看看大多數人都聽說過的副詞概念。

His basic idea is avoid them at all costs.

他的基本想法是不惜一切代價避免它們。

So at one point he says the adverb is and then he says I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.

是以，他一會兒說副詞是，一會兒又說我相信通往地獄的路是用副詞鋪成的。

But then if you back up about a 80 pages from when he wrote that, he has this sentence.

但是，如果你從他寫這篇文章的時候往回翻大約 80 頁，就會看到這樣一句話。

They were boringly wholesome.

他們是無聊的健康人。

And I don't know about you, but that's kind of a weird adverb.

我不知道你怎麼想，但這副詞有點奇怪。

I actually thought he put it in there tongue-in-cheek, but it was so far before his opinions on adverbs that, well, I think he meant to put it there.

實際上，我以為他是調侃地把這句話放進去的，但這比他對副詞的看法要早得多，所以，我覺得他是有意放進去的。

Now the real problem comes when you read these writers' books is they use adverbs.

現在，當你閱讀這些作家的書時，真正的問題就來了，因為他們使用了副詞。

And so this idea that so many authors, including Stephen King, talks about how evil adverbs are and how you shouldn't use adverbs, and then you read their writing and you're like, there's an adverb, there's another adverb, there's an adverb.

很多作家，包括斯蒂芬-金，都在談論副詞是多麼邪惡，你不應該使用副詞，然後你讀了他們的作品，你會覺得，有一個副詞，還有一個副詞，還有一個副詞。

So how do you know when to use adverbs and when not to use adverbs?

那麼，如何知道何時使用副詞，何時不使用副詞呢？

Because they just kind of say this blanket, be careful and don't use that many, but they don't really tell you how to know.

因為他們只是說這塊毯子要小心，不要用那麼多，但並沒有告訴你如何知道。

Well, thankfully, we actually know how to use adverbs here at StoryGrid.

幸好，StoryGrid 知道如何使用副詞。

And there's a really simple rule and it takes a minute to explain it.

有一個非常簡單的規則，解釋起來只需要一分鐘。

So I've already done a video on it.

所以我已經做了一個視頻。

So that's down in the description as well.

所以，這也寫在了說明裡。

That one's called how to unbore your writing.

那本書叫《如何放鬆寫作》。

And it's just a really simple idea about when you should use adverbs and when you shouldn't.

這只是一個非常簡單的概念，即什麼時候該用副詞，什麼時候不該用。

And once you do that, you'll understand.

一旦你這樣做了，你就會明白。

And this is one of those first moments in the book where the advice is just so vague.

這也是書中最初的建議之一，非常模糊。

It's not really helpful.

這其實沒什麼用。

When you read it, it feels like, Ooh, I'm learning something.

當你讀它的時候，你會覺得，哦，我學到了一些東西。

And then when you go to put it into practice, it's not actually helpful.

而當你付諸實踐時，卻發現其實並沒有什麼用。

So let's look at the next one.

讓我們看看下一個。

So the next one, he starts talking about paragraph length.

接下來，他開始談論段落長度。

He says in fiction, the paragraph is less structured.

他說，在小說中，段落的結構沒有那麼嚴謹。

It's the beat instead of the actual melody.

這是節拍，而不是真正的旋律。

But then when you keep reading and you try to see what his advice is, it's something around read books that are like yours and then try to make the paragraphs about the same amount of length.

但是，當你繼續閱讀，並試著看看他的建議是什麼時，就會發現他的建議是，閱讀與你類似的書籍，然後試著讓段落的長度差不多。

But again, it's so vague as to be unhelpful.

但這又是如此模糊，以至於毫無幫助。

Then we move on to about it.

然後我們繼續討論。

As with all the other aspects of fiction, the key to writing good dialogue is honesty.

與小說的其他方面一樣，寫好對話的關鍵在於誠實。

And if you are honest about the words coming out of your character's mouth, you'll find that you've let yourself in for a fair amount of criticism.

如果你能坦誠地說出角色口中的話語，你就會發現自己受到了不少責備。

Again, this is where I want to tie back to this idea that he's been doing this for 40 years at this point.

我想再次強調的是，在這一點上，他已經做了 40 年。

And when he has characters, they're so clear in his mind and they are locked in so clearly.

當他塑造人物時，人物在他的腦海中是如此清晰，他們被如此清晰地鎖定。

He really does feel like he's just listening to what they say and writing it down.

他真的覺得自己只是在聽他們說什麼，然後記下來。

Unfortunately for new and amateur writers, it doesn't work that way because I've actually read the writing where people just kind of say what they think the character is saying, and it's not very good.

不幸的是，對於新手和業餘作家來說，這種方法並不奏效，因為我確實讀過一些人寫的東西，他們只是隨口說出自己認為角色在說什麼，這樣寫出來的東西並不好。

There are some specific things that you can learn that will make your dialogue better.

您可以通過學習一些具體的知識來改善您的對話。

The first is objects of desire, being really, really clear on what your characters want, understanding essential tactics, which is how your characters go about getting the things that they want and making sure that there's plenty of tension and conflict in your scenes with competing objects of desire.

首先是慾望對象，要非常非常清楚人物想要什麼，瞭解基本策略，即人物如何去獲得他們想要的東西，並確保在你的場景中存在大量的緊張和衝突，以及相互競爭的慾望對象。

Now, again, I've addressed this in another video, but the idea here is that every character in every scene should have differing and conflicting objects of desire.

現在，我在另一個視頻中再次提到了這一點，但這裡的想法是，每個場景中的每個角色都應該有不同的、相互衝突的慾望對象。

This is what drives the conflict.

這就是衝突的起因。

And once you have that conflict in place, knowing what your character should say and when becomes a lot easier, but it is not just as telling the truth, whatever that really is when it comes to fiction.

一旦有了這種衝突，知道你的角色應該說什麼以及什麼時候說就變得容易多了，但這並不僅僅是說真話，不管這在小說中到底是什麼。

If you want to use that kind of language, take it out in the street.

如果你想說這種話，就到街上去說吧。

For me, I think the most frustrating part of this book is when he started talking about themes.

對我來說，我認為這本書最令人沮喪的部分是他開始談論主題的時候。

So I've got a couple longer passages I want to share here, and they kind of get this point across of why it was so frustrating for me.

是以，我想在這裡分享幾段較長的文字，它們讓我明白了為什麼這讓我如此沮喪。

I have never hesitated to ask myself either before starting the second draft of a book, or while stuck for an idea in the first draft, just what it is I'm writing about.

無論是在開始一本書的第二稿之前，還是在第一稿的構思受阻時，我都會毫不猶豫地問自己，我到底在寫什麼。

Why I'm spending the time when I could be playing my guitar or riding my motorcycle, what got my nose down to the grindstone in the first place and then kept it there.

我本可以彈吉他或騎摩托車，為什麼還要花時間在這上面？是什麼讓我一開始就埋頭苦幹，並一直堅持下來？

And then just a little bit later, he says this.

稍後，他又說了這麼一段話。

I should close this little sermonette with a word of warning.

在結束這篇小講道時，我應該給大家提個醒。

Starting with the questions and thematic concerns is a recipe for bad fiction.

從問題和主題入手是寫不好小說的祕訣。

Good fiction always begins with story and progresses to theme, and almost never begins with theme and progresses to story.

好的小說總是從故事開始，進而發展到主題，而幾乎從來沒有從主題開始，進而發展到故事的。

The only possible exceptions to this rule that I can think of are allegories like George Orwell's Animal Farm, and I have a sneaking suspicion that with Animal Farm, the story idea may indeed have come first.

我能想到的唯一可能的例外是喬治-奧威爾的《動物農場》這樣的寓言故事，而且我隱隱懷疑，在《動物農場》中，故事的構思可能確實是先有的。

If I see Orwell in the afterlife, I mean to ask him.

如果我在來世見到奧威爾，我一定要問他。

But once your basic story is on paper, you need to think about what it means and enrich your following drafts with your conclusions.

但是，一旦你的基本故事躍然紙上，你就需要思考它的含義，並用你的結論豐富你的後續草稿。

To do less is to rob your work and eventually your readers of the vision that makes each tale you write uniquely your own.

如果不這樣做，就會剝奪你的作品，最終也會剝奪你的讀者的視野，而這種視野會讓你寫出的每個故事都獨一無二。