写作方法2022thorstenball.com编辑精选
我写书时用到的工具（2018）
The Tools I Use to Write Books (2018)
导读
这是 Go 语言书籍作者 Thorsten Ball 介绍自己写书工具链的文章：Markdown、pandoc、自定义脚本、纯文本工作流。它值得写作者一读，因为评论区里几位出过书的人几乎一致认为：工具只占边际影响，真正决定成败的是坐下来写完的动机，而格式排版问题都可以事后补救。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
选一套顺手的纯文本工作流后就别再折腾工具，把精力留给每天真正坐下写完的篇幅。
- 02
先用 Markdown 之类的轻量格式写完全稿，再借助 pandoc 等工具转换格式；格式问题可以留到最后统一处理。
- 03
动笔前先写一句话故事概括，再扩成三句话说明主要事件，层层展开，保证全书有连贯的主线和节奏。
- 04
把「写作」和「排版出版」当成两件事：书稿完成后再处理页边距、页码、封面条码这些细致工作，别让它们干扰创作。
HN 评论精选
工具无关紧要，阻碍人写书的是动机不足；格式问题可以事后修补。
我写过四本技术书，包括《经典计算机科学问题》系列。我同意 Thorsten 最后说的：这些工具其实都不重要，最多只是边际影响。大多数说想写书的人缺的是动机，而不是工具。2013 年我和 Apress 合作时他们用 Word 模板；Manning 允许用 asciidoc 或 Word 模板，我第一本书用 Markdown 写、再用 pandoc 转成 asciidoc，格式问题多到让我后两本书宁愿回去用 Word 模板。现在这本我打算试试 Leanpub 的类 Markdown 格式。但还是那句话：这些都不重要，格式以后能修，你必须坐下来写！
WoodenChair查看英文原文
I've written 4 technical books including the Classic Computer Science Problems Series (https://classicproblems.com). I agree with what Thorsten said at the end—none of this really matters—or it's marginal at most. Most people who say they want to write a book lack the motivation to do it. It's not the tools getting in the way. Apress used Word templates back in 2013 when I did my first book with them. Manning let you use asciidoc or Word templates when I worked with them. I wrote my first book with them in markdown and translated to asciidoc using pandoc. There were so many formatting issues and I found the tools for asciidoc so immature that I ultimately went to using their Word templates on my next two books with them despite preferring purely text formats. Now I'm working on my next book and I think I'm going to try self publishing. I'm liking leanpub's use of a markdown like format. But again none of this really matters. You can fix formatting later. You have to sit down and write! PS Thorsten's "Writing an Interpreter in Go" is great: https://amzn.to/3yLTJjE
先用一句话、再三句话逐层扩展的「雪花法」，让故事从开头就有清晰的主线和结构。
给感兴趣的人推荐「雪花法」（Snowflake Method）：先写一句话摘要，再写三句话描述主要发生了什么，然后像分形一样不断扩展。这样从一开始就有一个情节连贯、结构规划好的故事。可能更适合虚构写作。
yboris查看英文原文
Maybe relevant to those interested: The Snowflake Method https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ The gist (might work better for fiction, unsure): write a single sentence summary, then, three sentences to describe what major things happen, then fractal it out - keep expanding. This way, from the start, you have a cohesive story with a planned-out arc.
书籍排版制作有大量琐碎的印刷细节，这属于出版工程，与写作本身要分开对待。
我帮一位作者用 Word 做过 KDP 自助出版，工作量不小——把书稿变成可印刷状态有大量细碎问题要解决。装订尤其麻烦：条码、封面元素的位置取决于书脊宽度，而书脊宽度又取决于字号、页边距、字数、纸张厚度。页码也是麻烦事：有的要求前后页不编号、有的要求重置、有的要求罗马数字加阿拉伯数字混排、有的要求居中或靠边，离页边距太近印刷厂就会不满。
ggm查看英文原文
I did KDP for an author, from Word. It wasn't nothing. I valued my labour at $0 to get experience, There are a LOT of fine-grained issues to resolve, bringing a book to printable state. Binding is it's own special hell: There are huge expectations of barcoding, which plays with your cover artwork, and the positioning of things on the cover is a function of the width of the spine, which is a function of pointsize, margins, wordcount, paper density/weight/thickness. I became very dependent on other peoples templates and calculators to "get this right" Perhaps the oddest part of this, is the join over paper and ePublishing: they are very unequal in terms of DPI expectations, for both font and artwork. I think the golden rule here is "preserve your pixels as long as you can" but there is also "think about metadata, in images and in fonts and text" because producing print ready PDF and ePub formats, the meta is what the printery/bindery is going to work with. EPSF and other stuff comes to the fore very quickly. Page numbering is another bugbear: some places demand you DONT number pre and post, some expect it to reset, some expect one to be roman numerals, the rest in decimals. some want it spine, some want it edge, some want it centered. Get too close to the margins, now the printer hates you...
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