Cheryl 's Library tagged 写作 →  View Popular

2) How much time - if any - do you spend on the Web? Is it a distraction or a blessing?

I spend a great deal of time on the Web, about two hours a day. It obviously is an amazing tool for research. But let’s just cut to the chase, I spend as much time messing around on the Web to avoid the very acts of working and writing. Compulsive e-mail checks. Web sites in foreign languages. My productivity has suffered. I think that is true of every writer with a computer.

In moments of deep procrastination, in particular at the beginning of the writing phase of any project whether it’s book or magazine or screenplay, I sometimes Google my name three or four times a day. There is no valid purpose to this, since nothing changes. It’s quite pathetic, particularly when my wife catches me. In moments of self-flagellation, I sometimes do Web searches on non-fiction authors who have just written something of enormous critical success. Tim Weiner comes to mind most recently. Bad idea. Very bad idea…

2) How much time - if any - do you spend on the Web? Is it a distraction or a blessing?

I spend probably, in total, two, three, four hours a day. I’m not sure. But I know I can quit anytime. Still, as much as possible, I try to work in my studio, where I don’t get online. I can focus much better and longer when I’m not tempted to watch footage of Jimi Hendrix at Monterey air-humping his burning guitar. I can’t surf the Web while I’m writing. I can’t. I do, but I can’t.

I have had those black-outs where you sit down to write, then boom - suddenly five hours have passed and you have no idea what you’ve done, or seen, but your back and ass feel achy, and you have the dim memory of a few hands of poker, pictures of a newly discovered lemur species, reading that a small town in Georgia claims they’re being menaced by a leprechaun, and the exchanging overly-friendly e-mails with someone you now realize you don’t actually know. Then you notice your mouth tastes funny and you remember the You Tube clip of a mid-western cooking show. The hostess is making squirrel melts. “Perfect,” she says, “for an after school snack, or tail gate parties!”

Who knew.

小說寫作的結束

意味悲傷的產生

我知道有些作家早上八點起床，在鍵盤上從八點半敲到十二點（每天至少寫出一行），然後停止工作，外出休閒直到晚上。我則不一樣。

我寫一本小說的時候，寫作這項行為其實要到後來才會發生。我一開始都先閱讀做筆記、替角色畫肖像、為小說中的地名畫出地圖、為動作定出時間次序。這些工作都用細麥克筆或是電腦進行，至於選哪一種就看工作的時間和地點為何：如果是坐火車時生出靈感，就記在火車票背後，也可以寫在筆記本或是資料卡上；可以用原子筆、錄音帶，如果必要，藍莓果汁也可以派上用場。

關於自己寫小說的方法，我只能再補充一點：這些小說每一本都要花上好幾年的時間。我不懂為什麼有人可以每年都寫一本小說；這些作品也可以是令人讚嘆的，而且我打從心底佩服。但佩服歸佩服，我可不羨慕他們。寫作小說這事的美，並不是在即時轉播，而是延後傳送的美。

每次小說寫到尾聲，我就覺得苦惱，換句話說，根據作品的內部邏輯，它要停止了，而我也得跟著停止。而且我注意到，如果我堅持繼續下去，可能只會弄糟作品而已。美妙之處（也就是真正的樂趣所在）在於六年、七年或八年當中（最好是永遠），你能活在一個你一點一滴親手建構起來的世界，而且這世界已經專屬於你。

小說寫作的結束，意味悲傷的產生。

這也是鞭策你再立刻開始寫另一本小說的唯一理由。但如果它不是已經好整以暇在那裡等你，你就是著急地摩拳擦掌也沒有用。

作家寫作只是為了讀者。凡是說只為自己寫作的人倒也不必然就是扯謊。那只意味著他那天不怕地不怕的無神論態度教人吃驚。

作家如果無法對未來的讀者說話，那麼他必然是絕望的、不快樂的。

建構一個世界，以十足

自信在其中自由來去

寫《玫瑰的名字》的時候，如果沒記錯，我有整整一年時間連一個句子也沒寫（《傅科擺》至少兩年）。我沒有寫，只是讀，只是畫畫草圖，忙著建構一個世界。這世界必須盡可能精確，以便我能懷著十足自信在其中自由來去。

寫《玫瑰的名字》的過程中，我畫的迷宮以及修道院的平面圖多達好幾百張，靈感來自他人畫的平面圖以及我實地參訪的經歷。因為我需要每個要素都能完美運作，因為我需要知道兩個人從甲地邊走邊談到乙地需要多少時間。

我還把修道院所有僧侶的相貌儀態都畫出來。所有的角色幾乎全部蓄鬚（儘管我無法確定那年代的聖本篤修會修士是否全部蓄鬚），後來拍電影時，導演就得仰仗博學的顧問考據當年修士是否蓄鬚。值得一提的是，在小說中我對他們是否蓄鬚一事毫無著墨。但我在讓我的角色說話或是行動時，需要先認清楚他們，否則我就無法知道該讓他們說出什麼樣的內容。

A Day in a Writer's Life / A Day in an Editor's Life:


A writer's work can include:


• creating original works, e.g. prose, poetry, song lyrics, or plays;
  
• proposing topics about which to write or receiving assignments;
  
• gathering information about the topic;
  
• selecting and organizing the material he or she has gathered;
  
• using the written word to express ideas and convey information;
  
• revising or rewriting material;
  
• preparing advertising copy;
  
• selling one's work to publishers, advertising agencies, public relations firms, and publication enterprises;
  
• reviewing, rewriting, and editing the work of writers;
  
• planning the content of books, journals, and magazines;
  
• deciding what material will appeal to readers;
  
• reviewing and editing drafts of books and articles;
  
• offering comments to improve the work;
  
• suggesting possible titles;
  
• overseeing the production of publications;
  
• reviewing book proposals and deciding whether to buy the publication rights;

其实，每到年末，很多职场人都患上了年终焦虑症。比如，绩效考核能不能做到上下满意？来年的工作任务怎么定？是主动跳槽寻求更好发展还是安心卧槽？公司能不能给自己放探亲年假？谈了一阵的女朋友带回家去，父母会不会眉开眼笑？

眼看过节了，还要写一份长长的工作总结，确实挺累心的。听人说，现在的“枪手”连年终总结都能代劳了，花几百块钱就能给你来一份个性化通稿。我倒，这都什么人啊……

说来说去，我的工作总结还是得我来写，我的播种机还是要我来驾驶。到底是干得好重要，还是写得好重要？一转方向盘，谁写谁知道。

She lacked “a voice” at first, she once told an interviewer, but as she began to inhabit the essay form, she found multiple ways to articulate her many interests. “I have always written essays as if they were examples of imaginative writing, as I believe them to be,” she wrote in an autobiographical sketch.

She reviewed all literary forms — novels, plays, nonfiction — and her criticism gained attention. “Articulate, witty, very clever, freewheeling, she became a master of the slashing critical style of the politicized literary intellectuals,” William Phillips, Mr. Rahv’s co- editor, wrote in his memoirs.

Aurora: You have often commented on the aspect of labour in
creative work. You say you get up in the morning, brew coffee, sit at a
desk, and direct your art. How unusual is it for you to write very quickly
and save yourself hours of anguish and hard work?

Cohen: I wish I knew how to do that. There are roughly two
schools of writers: the Flaubert school and the Thomas Wolfe school.
Flaubert laboured over paragraphs for weeks, and Wolfe used to write
thirty thousand words a night. I wish I were in the latter category.

Bob Dylan wrote great songs in half an hour. I remember once in Paris
he praised a song of mine called "Hallelujah," which he was doing in
concert at the time. He asked me how long I had to taken to write it. I
was ashamed to tell him how long, so I said one year. Actually it was
longer than that. Then one of his songs came up, and I asked him how long
it took him to write it. He said fifteen minutes. I believed him. So there
is really not much you can say about it. You either find yourself in one
tribe or the other. I'd prefer to be in the swift tribe, but I am in the
slow tribe.