写作方法2020mythcreants.com
写给刚开始写作的跑团玩家
For Roleplayers Who Start Writing
导读
这篇文章面向从桌面角色扮演（跑团）转向小说写作的人，讲的是两种创作方式之间的落差与可迁移的经验。对写作者的价值在于：它把"临场发挥"和"正式写作"的差别讲清楚，也提醒你哪些跑团习惯能带走、哪些必须放下。评论区补充了更根本的一条：为什么写、为谁写，往往决定你能不能写完。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
跑团时很多背景靠同伴的想象和默契补足，写成散文后这些默认共享的信息必须由作者明确写出来，否则读者会一头雾水。
- 02
为自己想读而写：与其猜市场要什么，不如写那个"我希望别人已经写出来"的故事，这样才撑得过长篇写作的延迟满足。
- 03
刻意训练品味：遇到喜欢的作品，追问是哪一部分打动了你、哪一段你想怎么改，这比模仿风格更能长出自己的判断力。
- 04
先给角色设定清晰的性格与背景，再把他们扔进具体情境里"发现"他们会怎么反应，这是从跑团迁移到小说写作最实用的一招。
HN 评论精选
只为发表而写会扼杀乐趣；单人跑团式写作让人重新找回"为自己而写"的状态。
这些道理都成立——前提是你写作是为了被人读。我年轻时写了很多，但过程很痛苦：家人朋友读完只说"还行"（他们本来就不怎么读书），别的写作者说"很喜欢"然后想把一切都改掉，我于是开始怀疑自己写的每句话，越来越拖延，最后不得不承认自己已经停笔。几年前我开始玩论坛连载式的《龙与地下城》，又享受起了写作。后来我干脆一个人玩，既当主持人又当玩家，全程写下来：那感觉和年少刚开始写作时一样，但没有任何阻碍。因为要掷骰，连我自己都不知道接下来会发生什么。我花几周做出性格和背景详尽的角色，把他们丢进故事，然后在情境中"发现"他们会怎么反应。推荐给所有热爱写作的人：没有人会嫌你写得太短、太长、细节不够或细节太多。
Aeghie6i查看英文原文
All of this is true if you write to be read. I used to write a lot when I was younger, but this was always painful. My friend and family would go "meh" when reading what I wrote (they're not avid readers themselves), other writers would "love it", then want to change everything, and I started to second guess everything I was writing, to the point I didn't love it anymore and procrastinated more and more until I had to admit to myself I just stopped writing. And then, a few years ago, I started playing dungeons and dragons, in play by post games. It was fun, and I did enjoy writing again, even if it was casual writing. Then it hit me : why not play solo and go a bit further? I started playing alone, doing both the game master and the players, all written (while still continuing other games with people, of course). And this was _incredibly_ fun. It was the same feeling that I had when I started writing younger, but with no obstacles anymore. Plus, because of the dice rolls, even I was not sure what would happen next. I take weeks to create characters with detailed personalities and backstory, I drop them in the story, and I discover them, because it's only when they face a given situation or talk with a given character that it becomes obvious how they will react. I would recommend that to anyone who loves writing. There's nobody to tell you it's too short, or it's too long, or this section is not detailed enough, or this one is boringly full of details. If you write only for yourself, you can focus on the best things in writing : imagination, and having fun.
写自己真正想读的故事，并刻意拆解自己喜欢的作品来培养品味，是撑完长篇的关键。
关于写作的延迟满足：完成长篇的一个办法是享受你正在写的东西，也就是写那本你自己会想读的书。我试过好几次去构思能卖的小说点子，结果一个都没写下去；直到我认真去想"我希望别人已经写出来的那个故事"，才真正开始并享受整个过程。推论是：你必须知道自己喜欢什么样的故事，也就是要培养品味——不是和评论家意见一致，而是看片读书时弄清自己享受哪一部分、不喜欢哪一部分、你会怎么改。这种训练不限于文学，看画时也可以问自己：究竟是哪一笔让你有感觉。开始这样想之后，我写出了一个可能不讨大多数人喜欢、但确实打动我自己的故事；我发现它用画面讲比用散文讲更好，于是重新开始练画——我这个讨厌画画的完美主义者，现在练起来几乎没有心理障碍。
deathgrips查看英文原文
Good article. On the last point, about delayed gratification when writing: one way, and perhaps the way to complete a long writing project is to enjoy what you are writing, which means you are writing the book that you would enjoy reading. I've tried multiple times to come up with a novel idea that would sell but I ended up never pursuing them. Once I started thinking really hard about a story that I wish someone else had already made, I got started and enjoyed the whole process. A corollary to this is that you must know what kind of stories you like, which means you have to develop your taste. I don't mean "taste" in the sense that you have the same opinions as New York Times critics. I mean that when you watch a movie or read a book that you enjoy, try to understand what parts of it you enjoyed, what parts of it you didn't enjoy, and how you would change it to make it better. This doesn't just apply to literature. In developing your artistic taste, you could try to understand exactly what part of an awesome painting evokes feeling in you. After I started thinking this way, I came up with a story that might not appeal to most people but sure as hell felt moving to me. I realized that the story could be told better in a visual format instead of in prose, so I started practicing art again. I'm a perfectionist who hated drawing when I studied art in school, but now that I have this idea in my head I feel very little inhibition in practicing. Instead of wondering how to make my story sell better or second guessing every mark I make, I move forward because if I hesitate I feel like I'm letting down the characters in the story I want to be told.
"规则"总有例外：庞大的人物阵容、延迟揭晓的世界观、刻意不透明的角色动机，用好了反而成为特色。
好的规则大多有例外，《玛拉兹英灵录》就是一组有趣的例外，它本身就是从跑团设定长出来的。它人物数量多到离谱，第一遍读你根本记不住谁是谁；很多早期书里的事件当时看不懂，世界观和魔法体系逐卷揭开，到第十卷大部分疑惑才有解释；角色动机通常直白，但少数决定剧情走向的角色是彻底的黑箱，其中有些还是视点人物；在最糟糕的处境里开玩笑也合适，因为对那组角色来说就是合适的。
Everlag查看英文原文
Most good rules always have an exception, Malazan[0] is a fun set of exceptions to these. If you're not familiar, Malazan is a series of high fantasy novels and they're quite good. Well, they're excellent apart from the first book which is usually what kills the series for people. Just start on the second book if you're interested in trying out the series. Malazan started as a setting from some campaigns and grew from there, so this feels pretty appropriate to bring up. - It has an absurd number of characters. On your first read you will lose track of who Widdershins is. Hell, between books you'll probably forget who Bottle is. This is a listed of named characters[1]. - A bunch of events that happen in earlier books don't make sense at that point. The setting slowly unveils its magic system and world between each books. By the tenth book, most things that were confusing are justified. - Character motivation is usually upfront except for a few characters that define the majority of the plot's direction. Those characters are complete blackboxes. Some of those are viewpoint characters that become non-viewpoint characters. - Jokes are sometimes appropriate in even the worst situations because its appropriate to that set of characters. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen_characters
用世界构建工具先搭出大图景和剧情钩子，再动笔写具体故事；角色驱动的行动逻辑往往比情节驱动更有说服力。
如果你想跑一个能当故事写的团，Microscope 非常适合：它擅长"大图景"，常被用来给正式战役做世界与剧情的脚手架，几场下来就有带钩子、动机、冲突的世界设定。扩展包 Microscope Explorer 针对世界构建做了优化，但完全可选。另外一则相关趣闻：《苍穹浩瀚》这系列小说本质上是把一个跑团记录写下来，这解释了很多由角色驱动、而非剧情驱动的行动。
captn3m0查看英文原文
If you're planning to write a RPG as a story, Microscope[0] is very well designed for this. I've been playing it recently across multiple groups, and it shines for the "big-picture" usecase. It is often used as a "bootstrap-your-actual-RPG-campaign" scenario builder. You play with your group for a few sessions, and you end up with a world complete with plothooks, campaigns, motivations, challenges etc. The expansion set, Microscope Explorer[1], optimizes the rules a little bit for World-building, but that's entirely optional - You can easily go miles with just the standard rules ("Just Play Normally" is part of the expansion here). Also, random related trivia: Expanse[2], the famous book series that was adapted into the (now) Amazon-run TV series is a RPG game written down. This explains a lot of character actions that are very much player/character driven, and not plot driven. [0]: http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ [1]: http://www.lamemage.com/microscope-explorer/ [2]: https://www.cbr.com/the-expanse-series-rpg/
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