小说与文学2013nytimes.com
一位著名侦探小说作家的真实身份被揭开
A detective story's famous author is unmasked
导读
这篇报道讲的是 J.K. 罗琳化名 A.L. 格雷厄姆出版侦探小说被揭穿一事。对写作者来说，评论区的讨论比新闻本身更有价值：它重新把"情节"这个在成人文学圈里常被轻视的词摆上台面，也提醒我们思考作者的知名度会如何影响读者对作品本身的判断。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
情节与人物塑造并非互斥，能把线索埋进故事、最后巧妙收束，本身就是一项值得磨练的手艺。
- 02
不要因为害怕显得"不文学"就回避讲好故事；很多当代小说家擅长描写和对白，却讲不好一个完整的故事，因为后者更难。
- 03
写作时别太在意自己的姿态，"故事比你本人更重要"，过度自我意识会让叙述卡壳。
- 04
读者对作品的评价常常被作者的名字左右，考虑用笔名或匿名来检验作品本身的质量。
HN 评论精选
情节与人物并不冲突；埋线索、收束故事是需要专门磨练的叙事手艺。
不管你喜不喜欢罗琳的文笔，她有一项本事非常出色，那就是情节。我看侦探小说这个类型非常适合她。事实上，《哈利·波特》系列在铺设线索方面做得相当精彩——这些线索在最后一部的结尾被巧妙地一一解开。这种讲故事的叙事能力，其实是许多"儿童文学作者"共有的。在成人小说、尤其是文学小说里，"情节"有时几乎成了贬义词。你完全可以既有好情节又有好的人物塑造——这两者并不互斥。另一位英国作家菲利普·普尔曼也承认故事的重要性。他在 1996 年对《书商》杂志说过："当你为孩子写作时，故事比你本人更重要。你不能太自我意识，你得让开，别挡道。"正因为写描写和对白比讲好一个故事容易，很多当代小说家写出的情节都很糟。
chestnut-tree查看英文原文
Whether you like Rowling's writing or not, one thing she excels at is plot. I can see how a crime novel would be a perfect fit for her. In fact, the Harry Potter books were quite brilliant in the way they threaded clues throughout the story - all of which unravelled so cleverly at the end of the final novel. In fact, this skill for storytelling or narrative is something shared by many "children's authors". Plot sometimes seems to be a dirty word in adult fction, especially literary fiction. You can have a good plot and good characterisation - they are not mutually exclusive. Another British writer, Philip Pullman, has also acknowledged the importance of story. I like this extract from Guardian article in 2000 on Philip Pullman [1] he...is not afraid to acknowledge the importance of plot in his work. 'When you are writing for children,' he told the Bookseller in 1996, 'the story is more important than you are. You can't be self-conscious, you just have to get out of the way.' Because it is easier to write description and dialogue than tell a good story, very many contemporary novelists write bad plots...Pullman seems to know this... It's in the importance he attaches to narrative that sets Pullman apart from all those highly-praised contemporary writers who cannot plot for toffee. [1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/oct/22/whitbreadprize2001.costabookaward
作品的口碑常被作者名气扭曲，匿名或笔名反而能检验作品本身。
有意思的是，这本书的评价比《偶发空缺》好得多。我怀疑它是否真的写得更好，还是《偶发空缺》只是被"J.K. 罗琳"这个名字拖累了——期望值过高，或者有人就是想看一位超级畅销作家跌一跤。至于说这是炒作：也许吧，但我不认为这是必然结论。她想要远离喧嚣、安静地写书，这很容易理解；而且她也不需要这本书带来的额外收入——如果只为钱，她写更多《哈利·波特》相关的东西肯定赚得多。
snewman查看英文原文
Interesting that the reviews for this book were so much better than The Casual Vacancy. I wonder whether it is in fact better written, or simply that The Casual Vacancy suffered for having J. K. Rowling's name attached to it. (Expectations too high, people wanting to see such a high-selling author take a fall, etc.) As for this being a publicity stunt: maybe so, but I wouldn't take that as a foregone conclusion. It's easy enough to see that she would want to get away from all the hype and noise and just write books. And it's not like she needs the extra income that this book might bring. (If she were simply interested in cash, she'd certainly do better to write more Potter-related material.)
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