出版与作家生涯2021theguardian.com编辑精选
道格拉斯·亚当斯写给自己的备忘录：写作是一种折磨
Douglas Adams' note to self reveals author found writing torture
导读
《卫报》报道了道格拉斯·亚当斯写给自己的笔记，其中他坦言写作是一种折磨，但他也给出了应对方法。对写作者的价值在于：这篇文章把“写作痛苦”从一个私人羞耻变成了行业常态，并提供了几条可直接照做的心理策略。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别为自己的烂稿感到难堪：坏句子先写出来放着，不要在它上面死磕，等故事的后半段被写出来，再回头改。
- 02
宁可积累大量可筛选的粗材料，也不要反复打磨一个段落或一句话：前者可能筛出意想不到的结构，后者只是在原地打磨。
- 03
写作的难点常在中段：你开始看到作品的瑕疵和自己能力的边界，这时能做的是“继续推进”，而不是停下来评判自己。
- 04
要把写作当成主动出击：你攻击它，别让它攻击你，这样才有可能从中获得乐趣。
HN 评论精选
创作的痛苦集中在中段：看清自己的局限后仍要把它推到成品。
作为创作者我深有同感。今年我在创业，创造的过程有时就是折磨。奇怪的是，我已经辞掉正职、做的正是自己想做的事，本该一直很爽；但每天实际工作时的情绪大多是混杂的。偶尔有从头爽到尾的一天，更多时候光是击退内心的抗拒、完成一点点工作就已经是极限。原因在于创作的基本性质：开始容易，完成很难。你可以开始任何事，但做久了必然进入一个丑陋的中段——你开始看到作品的瑕疵，看到自己能力的极限，脑中构想的样子和实际能做出来的东西开始分叉。你看着这一切，知道这些“垃圾”都是自己造的，还要硬着头皮把它推到那个有缺陷、不完美的成品，这才是真正难的地方。我猜亚当斯说的就是这个：我创造的角色开始变丑了……
afry1查看英文原文
I relate to this deeply as a creative person. I'm in the middle of trying to bootstrap some businesses this year, and the act of creating these things is such torture sometimes. Which is weird right? I've left my day job, I'm doing exactly what I want to do, working on exactly what I want to work on, so it should be great all the time right? And yet the daily emotional sensations I feel while actually doing the work is usually a mixed bag. Every once in a while I'll have a fantastic day where I feel great about what I'm doing from start to finish, but sometimes just defeating the resistance within me and getting any trivial amount of work done is the best I can do. A lot of it comes down to basic quality of many creative endeavors: starting is easy, and finishing is hard. You can start anything, but if you work for long enough eventually you arrive at this ugly middle place. The part of the journey where you start to notice all the warts and imperfections of what you're making, when your limits start to show themselves, when the picture of the thing in your mind starts to diverge from what you're realistically capable of doing. Seeing that, knowing that it was you who created all of that "crap," and _still_ pushing through it to get to the flawed, imperfect, compromised final product, THAT is tough. I suspect this is what Adams was expressing: "Arthur Dent is a burk. He does not interest me." Or expressed differently: "This character I've created is starting to become ugly in his imperfections, and I feel like I'd rather throw the work away than continue with it." If you're curious to read more, I write about these kinds of ideas in this part of a recent blog I wrote: https://startupinamonth.net/month-two-week-three/#flying-on-instruments!
亚当斯本人的方法：别纠结坏段落，先攒量，回头再改。
原文打字版：“给自己的总备注：写作其实没那么糟，只要你熬过那份焦虑。别管焦虑，往下推。不要为糟糕的部分感到难堪，也不要跟它较劲。给自己时间，等后面你对故事有了新发现，再回头重做。宁可手握大量材料去筛选、也许从中发现一个意想不到的形状再加以雕琢，也好过疯狂地反复改写一个段落或一个句子。写作可以是好事。你去攻击它，别让它攻击你。你能从中得到乐趣，也肯定能靠它过得很好……！”
karolkozub查看英文原文
Typed out version: > General Note to Myself > Writing isn't so bad really when you get through the worry. Forget about the worry, just press on. Don't be embarrassed about the bad bits. Don't strain at them. Give yourself time you can come back and do it again in the light of what you discover about the story later on. It's better to have pages and pages of material to work with and sift and maybe find an unexpected shape in that you can then craft and put to good use, rather than one manically reworked paragraph or sentence. > But writing can be good. You attack it, don't let it attack you. You can get pleasure out of it. You can certainly do very well for yourself with it...!
区分“写作过程”与“写完之后”的满足感，别指望过程一直愉快。
我写第一本书（后来共出了十本）时，出版社编辑告诉过我一句话，我至今没忘（这句话被安在很多作者头上，我就不争出处了）：“我不享受写作，但我爱‘已经写完’的感觉。”这话一点不假。
xcavier查看英文原文
When I embarked on writing my first (of 10) books, my publisher shared a wise quote/insight, which I have never forgotten: [The quote has been attributed to many authors, so I won’t engage in that debate] “I don’t enjoy writing. But I love having written.” Na’er a true word has been spoken.
拖延是写作的常态，连大师也不例外，不必为此自我否定。
知道亚当斯也跟拖延症搏斗，对我自己的拖延有帮助：“我爱截稿日。我喜欢它们呼啸飞过时的那种声音。”
ZeroGravitas查看英文原文
Knowing that Adams struggled with procrastination has helped my own battles with it: > I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” ~ Douglas Adams
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