讲故事与叙事2013w2.eff.org编辑精选
讲故事的奇妙力量（1991）
The Wonderful Power of Storytelling (1991)
导读
这是 Bruce Sterling 1991 年写给计算机游戏设计者的一篇演讲：他既预言了电子阅读器（ReadMan）的出现，也警告作者不要把文字绑在硬件命运上；他还主张电子游戏不应模仿电影或小说，而应成为它自己的媒介。对写作者来说，这篇文章的价值在于：它谈叙事力量从何而来、主题与情节如何互相呼应，以及为什么要追随自己的“怪”，而不是装得正常。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
让主题、情节、设定、人物这几个结构层彼此呼应，层与层之间的一致性本身就是情感力量的来源。
- 02
别把作品绑在某种硬件或平台上一—载体的寿命往往比作者还短，会随设备淘汰而消失。
- 03
追随你的怪癖：好作品知道自己是什么类型，并且一头扎进去，而不是磨平棱角去“像正常作品”。
- 04
叙事的控制力与自由度往往此消彼长：路径收得越窄故事越有力，但作品也越不好玩，找平衡是一门手艺。
HN 评论精选
载体比作者更短命，别把文字和思想绑在硬件的命运上。
作者引 Sterling 原文：出版圈正在谈一种叫 ReadMan 的读书设备，像 Walkman，只不过捧在手里，有漂亮的小图形屏，书以软盘形式插进去读。“想想看，等 ReadMan 被淘汰，所有为它写的东西就有福地永远消失，从人类记忆中被抹去！”他说自己绝不是卢德分子，但想到这件技术奇迹就“作为作者的血都凉了”：千万别把我的书放进爱迪生的活动视镜、立体镜或蜡筒里，别把我的文字和思想绑在一块硬件的命运上，因为硬件比我更短命。评论者感叹：电子阅读器及其存在性难题，竟在它问世二十多年前就被想象出来了。
hkmurakami查看英文原文
But even that isn't enough, you know.... There's talk nowadays in publishing circles about a new device for books, called a ReadMan. Like a Walkman only you carry it in your hands like this.... Has a very nice little graphics screen, theoretically, a high-definition thing, very legible.... And you play your books on it.... You buy the book as a floppy and you stick it in... ... And just think when the ReadMan goes obsolete, all the product that was written for it will be blessedly gone forever!!! Erased from the memory of mankind! ... Now I'm the farthest thing from a Luddite ladies and gentlemen, but when I contemplate this particular technical marvel my author's blood runs cold... For God's sake don't put my books into the Thomas Edison kinetoscope. Don't put me into the stereograph, don't write me on the wax cylinder, don't tie my words and my thoughts to the fate of a piece of hardware, because hardware is even more mortal than I am, and I'm a hell of a lot more mortal than I care to be. --- So both ereaders (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc) and one of its significant existential problems were imagined 2+ decades before it even existed. I'm always fascinated by how much the classic SF writers "got right" (though granted they got much wroong as well) and this is no exception. Wow.
追随自己的怪癖、别模仿别的媒介；好作品先认清自己是什么，再一路走到底。
继续引 Sterling：这些东西都死了，故事没救它们，也救不了我们和你；这不是该走的路。我们迷科幻不是因为它文学好，而是因为它怪。追随你的怪，别装正常，拥抱你的极客身份。用冷门极客拉夫卡迪奥·赫恩的话说：“去追求怪异的缪斯。”好的科幻故事不是带点火箭燃料味的“好故事”，而是知道自己就是科幻、一头扎进去再从另一头咆哮而出的东西。电脑娱乐不该更像电影、更像书，它该更像电脑娱乐——像到冲破极限、让人无法忽视。评论者补刀：能不能帮我接通 Square-Enix？他们过去十五年干的就是把游戏越做越像电影。
hkmurakami查看英文原文
These things are dead. Stories didn't save them. Stories won't save us. Stories won't save you.* This is not the route to follow. We're not into science fiction because it's good literature, we're into it because it's weird. Follow your weird, ladies and gentlemen. Forget trying to pass for normal. Follow your geekdom. Embrace your nerditude. In the immortal words of Lafcadio Hearn, a geek of incredible obscurity whose work is still in print after a hundred years, "woo the muse of the odd." A good science fiction story is not a "good story" with a polite whiff of rocket fuel in it. A good science fiction story is something that knows it is science fiction and plunges through that and comes roaring out of the other side. Computer entertainment should not be more like movies, it shouldn't be more like books, it should be more like computer entertainment, SO MUCH MORE LIKE COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT THAT IT RIPS THROUGH THE LIMITS AND IS SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE! Can someone get Square-Enix on the line? Because all they've done in the last decade and a half is try to make their games more and more movie-like.
结构层的一致性是情感力量之源；而叙事控制力与玩家自由度是零和权衡，平衡靠手艺。
引 Sterling：电影和戏剧的力量很大部分来自各结构层之间的共鸣；主题、情节、设定、人物布局之间的一致性会产生情感力量。电子游戏永远不会有显著的主题层，因为结果是可变的，仅这一点就限制了它的叙事力量。Sterling 随后建议别为此担心，把游戏当独特媒介来做。但评论者说：深夜走神时他仍会想放下日常工作去写个游戏；他最喜欢的游戏都有很强的叙事，可这有时像零和交换——你越限制结局、把玩家引向少数路径，故事讲得越有效，游戏也同等程度地变得没那么有意思。也许找到正确的平衡是一门艺术。（另注：原文是 1991 年而非 1981 年。）
simmons查看英文原文
"Movies and plays get much of their power from the resonances between the structural layers. The congruence between the theme, plot, setting and character layouts generates emotional power. Computer games will never have a significant theme level because the outcome is variable. The lack of theme alone will limit the storytelling power of computer games." Mr. Sterling goes on to recommend not worrying about the above, and instead focus on computer games as a unique medium. However, it does bother me, when I'm up late at night, my mind is wandering, and I think about how great it would be to take a break from my usual work and spend time writing a computer game. All my favorite computer games have significant storytelling, but it seems like a zero-sum tradeoff sometimes -- the more you constrain the outcome and guide the player along a small number of paths, the more effectively you can tell the story, but the game becomes less interesting by equal measures. Maybe there's some art to finding the right balance. (By the way, this was from 1991, not 1981, as the HN title indicates.)
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