写作方法2011chronicle.com编辑精选
一本经典的“非教科书”写作书
A Classic 'Nontextbook' on Writing
导读
这篇讨论围绕一本经典的“非教科书”写作书（Trimble 的 Writing with Style）展开，核心有三点：写作时要想着读者而不是只为自己写、文体规则可以有意识地打破、以及海明威式的反复修改。值得写作者读，因为它把“为谁写、怎么写清楚、怎么改到位”讲得既具体又可操作。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
动笔前先写下目标读者是谁，放在文章开头，提醒自己不要只为自己写作。
- 02
按目的选文体：要权威地讲复杂内容，或谦逊直接地讲简单内容，风格应服务于读者而非炫技。
- 03
把“七不要”之类的规则当作有道理的默认值，理解它们为何存在，才知道何时该打破。
- 04
改到“用词正确”为止；宁可短而准，也不要用冗长注水的章节稀释信息。
HN 评论精选
写作和设计前先明确目标读者，避免只为自己而写。
文中这句话特别触动我：新手写作者有一种“天然的倾向……首先想到自己，因此主要为自己而写”。我的一位写作教授要求我们在每篇文章的标题旁写下目标读者的描述，以防犯这个毛病。这不只是写作时的危险，做任何设计都一样：不理解不同受众会如何看待、如何使用你的作品，就很难成为好的设计者。为不熟悉技术的人做网页或应用设计时尤其如此；除了有助于打开更大市场，听到自称“怕电脑”的人说五分钟就学会了用你的应用，那种成就感无与伦比。
samdk查看英文原文
This sentence in particular stuck out to me: The novice writer, he argues, has a "natural tendency ... to think primarily of himself—hence to write primarily for himself." One of my writing professors had us write a description of our target audience as part of the heading of each essay we wrote to try to help prevent us from doing this. It's a danger not just when you're writing, but when you're doing any kind of design. I think it's very hard to be a good designer without being able to understand how different audiences are going to see and interact with your work. It's especially an issue in web/web application design when you're designing for people that aren't at all tech savvy. Besides being very important if you're trying to reach a broader market, it's amazingly gratifying to hear someone who self-describes as "terrified of computers" tell you about how they learned to use your webapp in 5 minutes.
按表达目的选风格：权威地讲复杂内容，或谦逊简洁地讲简单内容。
我喜欢《Clear and Simple as the Truth》，它有一种权威的口吻，能把复杂的东西讲清楚而不降智；也喜欢《Style: Towards Clarity and Grace》，它更适合谦逊、直接、简单的非复杂表达。
gte910h查看英文原文
I love "Clear and Simple as the Truth" for a very authoritative voice which can present complex things without dumbing down: (Non-aff) http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Simple-As-Truth-Writing/dp/0691029172 And "Style: Towards Clarity and Grace" for a more humble, direct, simple style for non-complex presentation: (Non-aff) http://www.amazon.com/Style-Clarity-Chicago-Writing-Publishing/dp/0226899152
规则是可以被有意识地打破的，关键是要知道规则为何存在。
Roger Hart 有一份很精炼的本书摘要。不过 Hart 漏掉了我最喜欢的“七不要”：1. 不要用 But 或 And 开头；2. 不要用缩写；3. 不要把读者称作 you；4. 不要用第一人称 I；5. 不要以介词结尾；6. 不要拆分不定式；7. 不要写只有一句话的段落。而 Trimble 恰恰乐于逐条打破这些规则。
chalst查看英文原文
Roger Hart (Historian at U. Texas, wrote something on the history of linear algebra I liked) has a lean summary of the book at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rhart/courses/materials/papers/trimble.html Hart misses my favourite list, the Seven Nevers: 1. Never begin a sentence with But or And. 2. Never use contractions. 3. Never refer to the reader as you. 4. Never use the first person pronoun I. 5. Never end a sentence with a preposition. 6. Never split infinitives. 7. Never write a paragraph containing only a single sentence. each of which Trimble delights in breaking.
反复修改直到措辞准确，而简短的章节本身就是对简洁的示范。
讲修改的那一章，只是海明威访谈的七行摘录。其底层建议是：一直改到把词用对为止。更底层的建议是：别用冗长注水的章节毁掉一个简单的信息。访谈里，海明威说《永别了，武器》的结尾他重写了三十九次才满意，问他是技术问题还是什么难住了他，他答：“把词用对。”
pigbucket查看英文原文
> The chapter on revising is a seven-line excerpt of an interview with Ernest Hemingway The underlying advice of that chapter is: rewrite 'till you've got the words right. The advice lying under the underlying advice is: don't ruin a simple message with a long water-filled chapter. Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do? Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied. Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you? Hemingway: Getting the words right.
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