写作方法2021builtbywords.substack.com编辑精选
我从《经济学人》学到的写作工具
Writing tools I learned from The Economist
导读
这是一篇拆解《经济学人》写作技法的学习笔记：作者从这本杂志里总结出可复用的写作工具。对写作者特别有价值的是，评论区几位读者补充了文章背后真正的机制——统一的编辑流程、克制而信息密集的段落、主动列出反方观点。这些才是让文风稳定而可信的原因。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
建立自己的“统一声音”：与其依赖单篇灵感，不如用固定流程（初稿—删改—统一语气）反复打磨，让风格可复现。
- 02
把每段控制在几段之内、信息密度拉高，读者还没厌倦就进入下一个论点。
- 03
主动列出与你结论相反的观点，文章会显得更有分寸、更可信。
- 04
少一点个人情绪化的发挥，多为“观点”服务；这样读者记住的是想法，而不是人设。
HN 评论精选
统一而稳定的文风来自统一的编辑流程，而不是单个作者的天赋。
《经济学人》的文章读起来都一个味道，是因为它们都要经过同一小群编辑的“subbing”（文字加工/副编辑）流程，这群人掌握着杂志的“声音”。作者大学时在该刊实习过，写了两篇文章，发表出来的版本与自己提交的内容只有一点点关系。那些副编辑多是牛津、剑桥出身、年纪不小、类似乔治·斯迈利气质的博士，各自的专业领域非常杂。
hnmullany查看英文原文
The reason why the Economist articles all read the same is that they go through a process called "subbing" or sub-editing by the same small group of editors who own the Economist's "voice". I interned at the Economist one summer in college and wrote two articles for it - the published articles bore a small relationship to what I had submitted. The sub-editors seemed to be mostly George Smiley-type Oxford and Cambridge PhD's of a certain age with an eclectic range of expertises, as far as I recall.
短段落加高信息密度，是让人一路读下去的实用配方。
高中时作者常读两本杂志：《大西洋月刊》订阅价低得离谱，而《经济学人》很贵，所以只有在逛到有卖的书店时才买一本。那是他唯一会从头读到尾的杂志：每篇文章都揭示一点他此前不知道的、关于世界或自己国家的事，信息密集；多数文章只有几段，还没等厌倦就翻到下一篇。
macintux查看英文原文
In high school, there were two magazines I’d read regularly: The Atlantic had an absurdly inexpensive subscription price (I think it was $14 for 2 years at the time) and The Economist was...not inexpensive, so I’d just pick up a copy when I was fortunate enough to visit a bookstore that carried it. The Economist was the only magazine in my life I would regularly read cover to cover. Every article revealed something I didn’t know about the world, or about my own country, and the information was dense. Most articles were just a few paragraphs, so I didn’t have time to get bored before I’d move on to the next one.
淡化作者个性、让观点站到前面，反而能提高写作的整体质量。
作者尊重《经济学人》的写作：水准稳定，论证有据。即便不同意其立场，也仍然尊重。他在想，作者匿名有多大帮助：这样作者不容易沉溺于个人化的发挥或刻意摆出论战姿态，个人被放在次要位置，却换来了出版物更高的质量。他认为其他媒体也该考虑这一点：他宁愿崇拜一个想法，也不愿崇拜一个作者——前者合理，后者容易变成无意义的膜拜；而且当更好的想法出现时，换立场也容易得多。
nmstoker查看英文原文
I respect the writing in the Economist. It's kept to a high standard and they put their cases well with evidence as the article here highlights. Even the times I don't agree with their position, I still respect it. I wonder how much it helps that their writers are anonymous and therefore less likely to go on personal flights of fancy or building an argumentative approach. It is perhaps puts the individual writer on the backfoot but makes the quality of the publication higher. Personally I think other sources would do well to consider this - frankly I would rather be a fan of an idea than a writer: the former seems reasonable the latter likely to vere into pointless worship. Plus it's much easier to switch to new ideas if they're superceded by better ones in due course.
主动纳入反方论点会带来层次感，而且结尾部分往往写得最用心。
补充一点：这篇文章可靠地列出了针对自身的反方论点，因此有难得的层次感。按周出版的节奏也有帮助，耸人听闻的垃圾内容进不了版面。有人教过一个技巧：从后面往前读（讣告、书评/文艺、科学等栏目往前翻），越靠后的部分文笔越好。另外，这篇文章读起来很像该刊谈语言与写作的 Johnson 专栏。
jackconsidine查看英文原文
I'd add one thing to this post: The Economist reliably lists counterpoints to its articles. It has a nuanced feel, rare for a news source. The weekly cycle also helps as sensationalized nonsense doesn't make the cut. A trick someone told me was to read the sections in reverse (Obit, Books / Arts, Science etc); the writing quality is best towards the end! PS this post reads a lot like the Johnson column on language, writing etc.
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