出版与作家生涯2017theopennotebook.com
作为科学作家，同时管理自己的精神疾病
On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness
导读
这是一篇科学作家的自述：写作这条职业道路本身如何滋生不安全感与自我怀疑，以及他如何在其中与精神疾病共处。文章引出的 HN 讨论既提醒写作者正视创作型工作的成败焦虑，也提供了一个具体的写作教训——引用研究时别把相关当成因果。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把"发表"当成交考卷：被读者和同行严格评判是这份工作的常态，提前接受它，而不是每次都被它打个措手不及。
- 02
引用研究时严格区分相关与因果；一句含糊的"研究显示"会毁掉整篇文章的可信度，对科学写作者尤其致命。
- 03
写自己的疾病或困境时，别写成药品说明书式的治疗清单，要用具体场景和真实感受撑起叙述。
- 04
把"这次作品会不会被喜欢"的焦虑，和"我能不能把活干好"的自我评价分开，前者本就不由自己掌控。
HN 评论精选
写作把成败押在作品是否被喜欢上，焦虑是结构性的；相比之下多数职业有一份稳定的能力底线可以依靠。
选择以写作为生会滋养不安全感与自我怀疑，尤其对职业生涯早期的人。对我来说，发表一篇稿子就像交上一份考试作文，等于邀请目标读者和同行来严格评判。搞技术的人往往低估了"只管把活干好、过相对低压力生活"的好处：编程也是创造性工作，但没人要求程序员做出市场上成功的产品，那是管理层的任务。而作家或音乐家却要对所做之事的成败长期焦虑——你怎么知道下一个作品会不会被喜欢？当一个项目开始显得一团乱麻时，你怎么知道该不该继续做下去？我也有自我怀疑，但我确信自己不会突然变成一个做不成事的差程序员；而对许多全职创作者来说，这意味着每天都要和这只怪兽搏斗。
shubhamjain查看英文原文
> For one thing, choosing writing as a way of making a living can nurture insecurity and doubt—especially for those, like myself, who are early in their careers. For me, at least, publishing a story is like handing in an exam essay, an invitation for strict judgment by both the intended audience and my peers. I think people in tech tend to underappreciate the benefits of being able to just do the job and enjoy a (comparatively) lesser-stressful life with enviable benefits. Programming is creative endeavour too, but, no one is asked to build a product that succeeds in the market; that's the job of management. Being a writer, or a musician, on the other hand, entails a perennial anxiety over the success of whatever you're doing. How will you ever know if your next thing will be liked or not? How will you know if you should continue working on your project when it starts to feel like an incoherent mess? I have moments of self-doubt too but I am confident that I won't suddenly cease to be a decent programmer who gets things done. For many creative people who do it full time, it means fighting the monster every day.
相关不等于因果，科学写作者误读研究尤其讽刺，也会直接损伤自己的可信度。
2012 年发表的一项长达 40 年的研究发现，作家比从事其他创造性较低职业的人更容易罹患躁郁症、抑郁症和广泛性焦虑症。这让我不安：这只是相关性，但文中的分析至少部分假设了"当作家"是抑郁的可能成因之一。这是多数 HN 读者大概都懂的常见谬误。一个科学作家把论文读错成这样，实在讽刺。
hycaria查看英文原文
>A 40-year study published in 2012 found that writers are more likely than people in other, less creative occupations to suffer from mental illnesses such as bipolar, depression, and general anxiety disorder. This bothers me. It's correlated but the following analysis assumes at least partly that being a writer is one possible factor for depression. Very common mistake most HNers are probably aware of. For a science writer to read papers so wrongly is rather ironic.
批评文章把个人病史写成了用药清单，这类题材更该写真实经历而不是治疗方案。
读起来像一份药品说明书。心理治疗比药物更有用，即使最终确实需要药物。不过我觉得这遵循的是美国式思路：先做一次咨询以免除责任，然后把你转给精神科医生，第一次会面就开一整套药。难以置信。
gcb0查看英文原文
reads like a medication pamphlet. therapy is more useful than drugs, even if drugs are needed eventually. but I think this follow the US school of thought, where therapy is just one session required for liability before you're sent to a psych who will prescribe a pill regimen on the very first session. unbelievable.
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