小说与文学2019antipope.org编辑精选
写超长篇小说的经验教训
Lessons learned: writing really long fiction
导读
这篇博客总结写超长篇小说的经验，既谈长篇/系列在结构上的取舍，也谈出版市场与长期写作的消耗。对写作者的价值在于：它把“写长”从浪漫想象拉回到规划、读者时间成本和职业现实。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
首次写作不要把超长篇幅当成卖点，先按目标市场的首作体量控制长度。
- 02
系列设计可以考虑非顺序结构，让每册都有独立入口，避免一部失败拖垮后续。
- 03
长篇系列要计算读者的时间投入，适当写明确不属于任何系列的单本。
- 04
多年长项目要拆成可完成的小目标并预留恢复期，警惕长期写作带来的倦怠。
HN 评论精选
小市场里超长篇新人稿很难进入出版体系，写作爱好不宜以高收入为目标。
我业余写德语科幻小说，每本约700—800标准页，也吃过苦头：至少在德国出版市场，科幻几乎没有什么项目名额，愿意收该类型稿件的经纪公司极少，出版社也很少接受新人超过400标准页的长篇。我手头已有8部书稿，其中两部各达1400标准页；现在在写第九部，有一天会把它们全部免费送出。问题是校对并定稿成书（比如用LaTeX排版）太耗业余时间。写这些只是友好提醒：在小市场里，别指望靠写作爱好赚大钱；趋势不利，出版社翻译引进成功的美国作者比接受本地新人更便宜、风险更低，读者也比过去更常读英文原作。经纪公司还在找都市小说、“年轻女性小说”、礼品书等。（顺带说，经纪公司认可我的写作质量没问题，但他们说的和想的是两回事，这可能也重要。）当然这仍是我最爱的爱好，一旦开始就停不下来。
jonathanstrange查看英文原文
I'm writing German science fiction novels as a hobby that are around 700-800 norm pages each and learned the hard way that at least in the German publishing market there are virtually no program places for science fiction, very few agencies accept manuscripts in that genre at all, and publishers rarely accept novels larger than 400 norm pages from a first-time writer. I'm currently sitting on 8 manuscripts - two of them are actually 1400 norm pages each. I'm writing on my ninth novel now and will one day give away all of them for free. The problem is that correcting and finalizing them into book form (e.g. typsetting in LaTeX) takes too much of my spare time. I'm just writing this as a friendly advise. At least for smaller markets like the German one, do not ever expect to be able to make any substantial amounts of money from your writing hobby. The trend is against it, and it's much cheaper and less risky for publishers to get a successful US writer translated than to accept a new local one. People are also reading way more English originals than they used to. Besides, agencies are looking for urban fiction, "novels for young women", gift books, etc. (Before you ask, agencies have attested me that the quality of my writing is fine, but what they say and what they think are two things and this may also play a major role.) Of course, it's still my favourite hobby. Once you start you cannot stop. I don't think that any particular lessons can be learned, because everybody writes in a different way and under different circumstances. The bottomline is that it's not hard to write a lot. ;)
非顺序系列让单册可独立成功，也降低全书必须层层收束的压力。
我有点意外非顺序系列（如《碟形世界》）为什么没有更常见。顺序系列的第三本很难成为最多人读的一本，而非顺序系列可以。它还减轻了压力：不必让所有书在主题上层层累积，最终汇成一部对所有前文情节做高潮收束的文学作品。当事情真的串起来、契诃夫所说的那把枪终于在一本非顺序续作里打响时，那更像一个彩蛋。三部曲的第二本如果很糟，会拖垮第三本。我不是不喜欢读系列，但系列对作者来说似乎很有压力。
dalbasal查看英文原文
I'm slightly surprised that non-sequential series (eg Pratchett's discworld) are not more common. The 3rd book in a sequential series can't become the most read one, but it can in a nonsequential one. It also lessens pressure to make all the books thematically build up to a single literary work with a climactic payoff to all earlier plots. When things do add up, and chekhov's proverbial gun finally goes off in a nonsequential sequal, it's an easter egg. If the second book in your trilogy sucked, it sinks the 3rd. That doesn't mean I don't like reading series, but they do seem stressful for the author.
读者对长系列的时间成本越来越敏感，作者应多写明确独立的单本。
我其实开始有点不喜欢科幻/奇幻的长系列了，因为读完它们的时间投入太高。我《时光之轮》还剩一本没读，之后短期内真的不太想再开始另一个长篇奇幻系列。但好像我随手从书架上拿起的每一本奇幻小说都写着“$FOO 系列第 x 本……”唉。我想恳请奇幻和科幻作者多写一些明确不属于任何系列的单本小说。
mindcrime查看英文原文
I'm actually starting to kinda dislike long series in sci-fi and fantasy, because the time commitment to finish them is just so high. I still have one more book to read in the Wheel of Time series, and after that I'm really reluctant to start another long fantasy series anytime soon. But it seems like every fantasy novel I pick up off the shelf says "Book x of the $FOO series..." Uuuggh. I'd like to plead with fantasy and sci-fi authors to write more standalone novels that are very explicitly meant to not be part of a series.
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