小说与文学2020theparisreview.org编辑精选
库尔特·冯内古特：小说的艺术（第64号访谈，1977）
Kurt Vonnegut, The Art of Fiction No. 64 (1977)
导读
这篇《巴黎评论》访谈记录冯内古特谈写作：他引用保罗·恩格尔的话“别把它看得太认真”，并把写作比作让人为纸上小黑字笑或哭的“恶作剧”。他列举了哥特小说、落难脱身、失去找回、受冤复仇等反复奏效的故事线。对写作者来说，这是一份提醒：别把创作神圣化，要研究经典套路如何让读者甘愿“上当”。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别把写作看得太严肃：把写作当成给读者设一个“无害的恶作剧”，能缓解自我膨胀和创作焦虑。
- 02
研究并善用经典故事线：落难与脱身、失去与找回、受冤与复仇、灰姑娘式逆袭等，都是读者反复愿意“上当”的套路。
- 03
好故事线往往能用一句话讲清：如“一个年轻女子在老宅找了份工作，然后被吓得魂飞魄散”，写大纲时先练这种一句话钩子。
- 04
采访或写对话时少插话，用简短问题和自然过渡让对方/人物自己展开，素材会更真实。
HN 评论精选
伟大故事线本质上是让人一再上当的“恶作剧”，写作不必太严肃。
谈写作时，冯内古特引用保罗·恩格尔的话：如果爱荷华作家工作坊有自己的大楼，入口应刻上“别把它看得太认真”。他说这会提醒学生，他们是在学玩恶作剧——让人为白纸上的小黑字笑或哭，不是恶作剧是什么？所有伟大的故事线都是人们一再上当的伟大恶作剧。他举例：哥特小说每年出版几十本且都卖得掉；朋友博登·迪尔写哥特小说，情节就是“一个年轻女子在老宅里找了份工作，然后被吓得魂飞魄散”。其他套路还有：某人惹上麻烦又脱身、失去东西又找回、受冤后复仇、灰姑娘、一路倒霉下去、人们相爱而很多人挡路、好人被诬陷、罪人……
doomlaser查看英文原文
On writing: > INTERVIEWER > Could you put the theory into a few words? > VONNEGUT > It was stated by Paul Engle—the founder of the Writers Workshop at Iowa. He told me that, if the workshop ever got a building of its own, these words should be inscribed over the entrance: “Don’t take it all so seriously.” > INTERVIEWER > And how would that be helpful? > VONNEGUT > It would remind the students that they were learning to play practical jokes. > INTERVIEWER > Practical jokes? > VONNEGUT > If you make people laugh or cry about little black marks on sheets of white paper, what is that but a practical joke? All the great story lines are great practical jokes that people fall for over and over again. > INTERVIEWER > Can you give an example? > VONNEGUT > The Gothic novel. Dozens of the things are published every year, and they all sell. My friend Borden Deal recently wrote a Gothic novel for the fun of it, and I asked him what the plot was, and he said, “A young woman takes a job in an old house and gets the pants scared off her.” > INTERVIEWER > Some more examples? > VONNEGUT > The others aren’t that much fun to describe: somebody gets into trouble, and then gets out again; somebody loses something and gets it back; somebody is wronged and gets revenge; Cinderella; somebody hits the skids and just goes down, down, down; people fall in love with each other, and a lot of other people get in the way; a virtuous person is falsely accused of sin; a sinful person is believed to be virtuous; a person faces a challenge bravely, and succeeds or fails; a person lies, a person steals, a person kills, a person commits fornication. > INTERVIEWER > If you will pardon my saying so, these are very old-fashioned plots. > VONNEGUT > I guarantee you that no modern story scheme, even plotlessness, will give a reader genuine satisfaction, unless one of those old-fashioned plots is smuggled in somewhere. I don’t praise plots as accurate representations of life, but as ways to keep readers reading. It's funny how familiar this philosophy feels to me as a game designer. Earlier in the interview, he compares the craft of writing to engineering the Model T. Something that can be engineered, but also to be fiddled with and iterated upon in a playful, but mechanical way. The thing with video games is, the industry has done that. We know the tricks and reward paths on a scientific level. Skinner Boxes, intermittent randomized rewards and all that. The casual game industry has put huge amounts of work into discovering these systems, the systems that keep people playing and sometimes that keep certain people paying, in a methodical and statistical way. But in my own experience, my best work has come out from not taking the project seriously, and just having fun, tinkering at the edges. Making a game for me, or for a few people as a joke. Anyway, it's a fantastic interview. Vonnegut is an American treasure, etc.
好的采访靠少说、短问和自然过渡，让对方展开。
我注意到采访者说得很少，而且开口时问题也很短。冯内古特承担了大部分谈话，采访者只是不断给出优雅的过渡，让他继续展开。我在一家做客户访谈的创业公司，这看起来是采访的绝佳一课。
trikonasana查看英文原文
One thing I noticed is how little the interviewer spoke, and when he did, how short his questions were. Vonnegut does the majority of the talking while the interviewer just keeps laying down graceful transitions for him to expand upon. I'm part of a startup that's doing customer discovery, and this seems like a brilliant lesson in interviewing.
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