你會寫文章嗎？
你說，我會。
我說，你不會。
不僅你不會，絕大多數人都不會，我也不會。
別以為現在這么多人開著微信公眾號，每天嗖嗖嗖地發文章，感覺很厲害的樣子。別以為現在寫書的人也多，會寫不會寫的，抱個湯煲就上陣了，也感覺很厲害的樣子。
其實差遠了。
別以為寫作很簡單。如果你一開始就低估了一件事的難度，就不可能在這件事上精進。
雖然我現在已經出了一本書，而且賣得還不錯（也就三十來萬冊吧），但是我知道，在寫作這件事上，我還是一個小學生。
道理很簡單，如果把寫作當成一門學問，我從沒有認真、細致地去研究它，把它里面的學問搞清楚；如果把寫作當作一門技能，我更缺少刻意練習，進行長期且有針對性的訓練。
我們都誤以為寫作是一項不需要費太多功夫，無需專門學習和訓練就可憑借經驗和感覺來取得的能力。
我們甚至不具備起碼的判斷力，區分不了優秀、良好、平庸和垃圾的文字，把滿目瘡痍的文章捧上天。
因此我們需要學習如何寫作，并訓練如何寫作。
這段時間，我將系統研究寫作這回事，并把收獲及時分享給大家，為了便于和其他文章區分，這些文章都將冠以【寫作談】。
我研究的第一本書叫 On Writing Well： The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction，它的中譯本名為《寫作法寶》。其實這本書我在七八年前讀博期間，就已讀過原版，當時只瀏覽了一遍，就收獲頗豐，這次拿來反復重讀，便有更多體會。可惜的是，它的中譯譯得很糟糕，讀起來磕磕碰碰，難得原著精華。所以我建議大家讀原版，或者原版和中譯本對照閱讀。
這本書的內涵豐富，讀一遍是不夠的，讀多遍也不夠，而是要在寫作的實踐中經常翻閱對照，才能得其精髓。不過，我這里很想摘選書中的精華，先分享給大家，讓大家作一番初步了解，想必也會有不少啟發。
下面列出的二十條，均為中英文搭配，其中中譯是我自己翻譯，并非人大出版社的中譯本文字——
1. Writing isn't easy and isn't fun. It is hard and lonely.
寫作并不容易，也不有趣。它艱難而孤寂。
2. Rewriting is the essence of writing.
修改是寫作的本質。
3. Writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself.
寫作是一門手藝，而不是藝術，一個將手藝生疏歸咎于沒有靈感光顧的人不過是在愚弄自己。
4. Professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.
專業的寫作者是隱居的苦士，他們很少見其他作者。
5. Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.
最終，寫作者所要銷售的產品并非他所寫的主題，而是他自己。
6. The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive con struction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what— these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence.
好的寫作的秘訣是把每一個句子都剝得很干凈。有一千零一種減弱句子力度的累贅物：每一個無用的詞，每一個可被簡化的詞，每一個已由動詞表達其義的副詞，每一個要讓讀者猜測施動者的被動結構……
7. Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other.
清晰的思考成就清晰的寫作：兩者互依互存。
8. Thinking clearly is a conscious act that writers must force on themselves, as if they were working on any other project that requires logic: making a shopping list or doing an algebra problem. Good writing doesn't come naturally, though most people seem to think it does.
寫作者必須把清晰的思考當作一項自覺的行動，就像做所有講求邏輯的事比如列購物單或做代數題一樣。與絕大多數人設想的不同，好的文字絕非渾然天成。
9. Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard.
寫作是一項艱難的工作。別指望妙手偶得的佳句。很少有句子能第一次寫對，甚至到第三次都不能。寫到絕望的時候請記住這一點。如果你發現寫作很難，那是因為它真的很難。
10. Few people realize how badly they write. ?Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style and how it obstructs what they are trying to say. If you give me an eight-page article and I tell you to cut it to four pages, you'll howl and say it can't be done. Then you'll go home and do it, and it will be much better. After that comes the hard part: cutting it to three.
很少有人意識到自己寫得有多糟。沒人告訴他們，他們的風格中擠入了多少多余或晦澀的成分，以及這些成分又是如何阻礙著他們的表達。如果你給我一篇八頁長的文章，我會讓你把它刪節到四頁，你可能會大叫說這是不可能的。然后你回家照做，發現文章確實變得好多了。接下來才是難辦的部分：繼續減成三頁。
11. The reader will notice if you are putting on airs. Readers want the person who is talking to them to sound genuine. Therefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself.
讀者能看出來你是否在裝腔作勢。讀者希望跟他們對話的人是真誠的。因此一條基本的寫作規則是：做你自己。
12. You are writing for yourself. Don't try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience—every reader is a different person. Don't try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don't know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they're always looking for something new.
你只是為自己寫作。不要去設想所謂的大眾讀者。沒有大眾讀者，因為每一個讀者都是不同的。不要去猜測編輯喜歡出版什么，也不要考慮時下國人的閱讀氛圍。直到親眼讀到，編輯和讀者并不知道他們想要讀什么。當然，他們總是在尋找新東西。
13. The race in writing is not to the swift but to the original.
寫作競賽比拼的不是速度，而是原創性。
14. Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written by earlier masters. Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I'd say I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.
保持閱讀今人作品和早先大師作品的習慣。通過模仿來學習寫作。如果有人問我是如何學習寫作的，我會說我的方法是閱讀那些和我寫作類型相近的作者，并搞清楚他們是如何寫出這些作品的。
15. Also bear in mind, when you're choosing words and stringing them together, how they sound. This may seem absurd: readers read with their eyes. But in fact they hear what they are reading far more than you realize. Therefore such matters as rhythm and alliteration are vital to every sentence.
當你挑選詞匯并把它們編排在一起時，請留意它們的發音。這可能有點荒唐：讀者不是用眼睛閱讀的嗎？可事實上，他們聽他們所讀的東西，你沒有意識到而已。因此對于每一個句子來說，韻腳和韻頭都至關重要。
16. Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five—just one.
每一件成功的非虛構作品都應留給讀者一個全新的富有激發性的觀點。不是兩個觀點，或者五個，就一個就夠了。
17. The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.
每篇文章中最重要的句子都是第一句。如果第一句無法吸引讀者延讀到第二句，那么你的文章就出局了。然后如果第二句無法吸引讀者延讀到第三句，那么你還是出局了。
18. Your lead must capture the reader immediately and force him to keep reading. It must cajole him with freshness, or novelty, or paradox, or humor, or surprise, or with an unusual idea, or an interesting fact, or a question. Anything will do, as long as it nudges his curiosity and tugs at his sleeve.
你必須在開頭就立即抓住讀者并且迫使他們繼續讀下去。開頭的誘惑力來自下面這些元素：新鮮感、新奇感、矛盾性、幽默、驚奇、不尋常的念頭、有趣的事實或者疑惑等等。任何可以撬動讀者好奇心以及拽住他們袖子的東西都行。
19. You should always collect more material than you will use. Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best—if you don't go on gathering facts forever.
你必須搜集比你實際使用更多的素材。每篇文章的堅實程度取決于細節的富余度——從盡可能多的備選材料中精選出極少數最有用的部分。
20. Paragraphing is a subtle but important element in writing nonfiction articles and books, a road map constantly telling your reader how you have organized your ideas. Study good nonfiction writers to see how they do it. You'll find that almost all of them think in paragraph units, not in sentence units. Each paragraph has its own integrity of content and structure.
段落是非虛構寫作中一個微妙而重要的成分，它就像路線圖，不斷地告訴讀者你是如何組織你的想法的。去研究一下好的非虛構寫作者是怎么做的。你會發現他們中的幾乎所有人都以段落為思考單元，而不是以句子。每個段落都在內容和結構上完整一致。
作為一個寫作者，寫作引領著我踏入了一個個奇妙的旅程。現在我要重新上路了，你想同行嗎？
