What's the use of reading novels without writing them? (online novel)

The first taboo: no matter how beautiful the writing is, don't let the description stop your narrative.

The novelist must remember this: don't describe anything too much, whether it's Teton Mountain, sunset or zebra on Waikiki Beach. Otherwise, the strength of your narrative will be affected, and you will also make the reader's attention appear dangerous blank. Please remember elmo. Leonard's golden advice: "I always try to delete what readers will skip." Readers are really willing to skip invalid content.

The second taboo: don't waste too much time describing unimportant environment.

Novelist David. Luigi once declared: "There are more descriptions in good novels than descriptions. The danger of most background descriptions is that a series of beautiful statements and narrative interruptions push readers to a sleepy situation. " Please remember Luigi's motto and write it on a piece of paper and stick it in front of a computer or typewriter: "Description in a good novel is more than description."

The third taboo is: don't waste the reader's attention on an unimportant thing. This is the most common mistake for beginners.

The fourth taboo is: don't generalize, be specific.

No one can sum up the taboo of writing better than Chekhov, a great Russian writer. In a letter, he warned a writer friend to avoid generalization and normalization: "I think the true description of nature should be quite short and relevant to the theme." Avoid stereotyped descriptions, such as' the sunset bathed in the waves of the black ocean, and the purple and golden light poured down' and so on. When describing nature, you should pay attention to details, so that even if you close your eyes, you can still see the scene you describe.

So, when you sit down and write, please remember that it is not "a drink" but "a martini"; Not a dog, but a poodle; Not a bunch of flowers, but a bunch of roses; Not a skier, but a girl in bud; Not "a hat", but "a horn hat with a high top"; It's not a cat, it's an Abyssinia cat; It's not a gun, it's zero. The new 44 caliber automatic pistol is not a painting, but the Olympia of Manet.

Combining the description of the four taboos with Chekhov's good words, we get a rule that all good writers should follow when describing: be specific!

You should be able to describe the scene accurately and make the characters authentic. They do their daily work in the sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste of their own country. Ravel? Spencer.

"How can we make things look authentic?" When a writer is asked this question, it is actually a compliment to him. If someone further says to him, "I seem to be there, I can hear, smell and feel these places, just like walking into the pages of a novel", then what he gives readers is really extraordinary. When I was asked the same question, my answer was "with the help of the five senses". Some writers always fail to realize that readers' five senses should be used to gain a sense of reality. It is common to use readers' visual feelings, but how many times do you use readers' sense of smell, hearing (except in conversation), touch or taste? I started writing from 1976, and there are still five words hanging on the office wall: look, listen, touch, taste and smell. Whenever I write, I will refer to this table and consciously write something with flavor. In fact, some disgusting things are miraculous when creating a sense of reality.

Think about the smell of rotten fruit when a person opens the refrigerator; Rotten fat when a person peels a bear's skin; When a woman refuels at an unmanned gas station, her hands will smell of gasoline. It is not enough to mention the taste at the beginning of the story. When telling a story, you have to refer to that table again and again. Let's imagine a man and a woman arguing about something. The man rushed to the kitchen from the door and shouted at the woman, "I can't stand your mother living with us anymore." The old lady must move out before I come back, or I will leave this house! " When setting this scene, I can let women bake pumpkin pie (sweet, warm, reminiscent of the happy time like Thanksgiving), but if you add the flavor of pickled spices and vinegar, this scene will be profound. At some point, I will let readers imagine the taste: "I solemnly warn you, Laura, with or without her!" "When he spoke, the taste was as sour as that in the kitchen. Don't forget, Laura was still filling the jar with pickles when we quarreled. When she quarrels loudly, she may burn her hands and then wash them in cold water. Of course, she may also pour salt water into kimchi, spill it all over the floor, and then wipe it clean. She also dried her hands with a denim apron. She can wipe the sweat (heat, itching) off her forehead. She can make a hullabaloo about, wave her spoon (hard wooden handle) and throw it at the man. These will enhance the visual effect. What sound might you hear when the quarrel is getting worse? Did a dog sneak in and drink the water from the tin cake plate?

Are there any cars rattling on the road? Is that the sound of children playing in the yard next door? Is the water on the stove jingling when it boils? How hot is the water Did you tell the reader the temperature? Will the heroine in the novel put a cup of iced tea or iced coffee next to the pickle jar? The quarrel ended when the man went out angrily, but the problem was not solved. At this time, did the heroine pick up the cup, drink iced coffee, find the coffee bitter, and then make a face? As you can see, in a plot similar to the above, it is possible to arouse people's five senses, but in order to do this, the plot must be carefully arranged. You can't use all the five senses in most plots (especially taste is the most difficult to write), but you can easily arouse the reader's four senses, and in most plots, you can arouse the reader's at least three senses. When you doubt the truth of the dialogue in the novel, read your dialogue aloud, pretend that you are an actor, and say your lines with the cadence needed on the movie screen and stage. If it sounds stiff and unnatural, it needs to be revised. Don't forget, people's ideas expressed in words are always unprocessed and polished, so let the characters speak briefly. People always ask questions one by one in life, so should the characters in your novels, especially when you want to know each other. People often sigh, pout, laugh, scratch their heads, drum their cheeks and look at their nails in conversation. You should also let the characters in the novel have these actions, so that people can continue to talk at work.

Use concluding remarks to create images. Look at the following two examples: "You never liked my mother!" " "Laura shouted. She put down the kettle with a bang. "You never liked my mother! "Laura suddenly put down the kettle. The second sentence increases the tension, makes the story move forward faster, and deletes redundant words, implying rather than telling the reader that Laura is yelling. This is the best moment of the principles I mentioned, and it is through these principles that I measure all my works. Words used in tense moments should be few and precise. This is what I learned from my English teacher. When I wrote my second book, I couldn't write down several plots and couldn't find the reasons, so I gave the manuscript to the teacher for her criticism and suggestions. When she told me this rule, I applied it to my novel. Then, everything becomes clear at a glance.

When the plot is tense, use short and pithy sentences, use short words in sentences, use less concluding remarks, and write suddenly. When you do this, you will feel nervous. In contrast, in the depressing plot, there is silence and tranquility everywhere. At this time, it is necessary to use longer sentences, longer words, longer paragraphs and more concluding remarks. Doing so will naturally relieve tension. When conceiving a novel, we should establish a realistic attitude. Only by observing and thinking can we accurately describe the scene and make the characters credible. They use their inherent sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste to carry out their daily work. Well, as I said before, taste is the hardest thing to write in a novel, but four fifths of it is not bad.

Use these five senses and sentence structure to create a slow or tense atmosphere, which will make your novel readers linger, because they are too real.

Seize the stimulus:

For novelists, always grasping the magical stimulus is the greatest reward. Felix? Whitney

There are many exciting moments in a writer's life. If these moments are after rejection and disappointment, it will be happier. I will never forget those moments, the first time I heard the words of encouragement from the editor, the first time I saw my words printed, or the first time I held my novel in my hand. I firmly believe that for any novelist, the real "peak of excitement" is everywhere. Besides, it will continue to appear because we have learned how to stimulate it. I mean, when a new novel is conceived, the first flash in my mind is a wonderful moment. When a new story (or novel) keeps flashing in the original idea, the author will feel dazzled, and we usually think that it will be the best work we have ever written.

This wonderful feeling may often appear in an instant, and I will spend a few days or weeks with it. The flashes in these thoughts gather so many strange lights, as if they are constantly flashing because of some magic.

So I wrote them down. I am always happy to write the beginning of one story after another, but occasionally I finish a complete story. What I write is never as perfect as my dream. I'm too impatient. I lost interest when I found that I had just started this story and had to continue it. The magic disappeared, so I kept giving up those stories.

I envy the writer who can develop into a novel according to his original ideas. But I can't do it overnight, so I must be clear about the direction of writing before I start writing. I found some effective ways to protect those initial bright spots and let them continue to shine or reappear. I found that when I write about 30 pages, if I can keep my initial excitement, my interest will be highly mobilized until I finish my work.

How long the initial excitement can last varies from book to book. I spend some time designing characters in my notebook, collecting bits and pieces of the plot, making clear my writing direction, or writing down things that suddenly appear in my mind until I have to start writing. That moment always comes when I haven't fully designed it. I never refuse that driving force, at least I can start my story first. In order to reward myself, I usually write a few pages first, which is conducive to the coherence of writing and can help me find the ideas of characters and plots at any time.

When I read the finished part again, I feel happy again. I really want a reader to share these beautiful words with me. I don't expect to get a lot at once, but I do hope to get praise and affirmation, although I know I am the worst judge of these works, because I am deeply involved in creation and can't see its shortcomings at all.

Usually, the reader I choose is deeply involved in this set of rules, and he will encourage me and give me some advice gently so that I won't get carried away. Sooner or later, I will read the first chapter again and see if I can change it better after thinking. It is dangerous for beginners to invite people to criticize too early, and it is easy to douse the initial excitement. It is safer to ask others to read and judge after writing.

Now, I don't expect that kind of extreme excitement to last forever. I know it will reappear, which excites me and inspires me to move on. You know, it is not enough to rely on a wave of excitement for hundreds of pages of stories. In the process of writing, some wonderful new ideas will make me turn a corner, write an unexpected turning point, and let me reach the peak of excitement again. Novelists should be emotional people. If our writing becomes a self-conscious movement without passion, the novels we write will certainly be unremarkable.

It is also unwise to wait for a sudden inspiration. When I can't finish writing, I often ask myself: What unexpected actions might the characters take in this situation? What kind of plot is both logical and unexpected? I became a movie in my mind, and the sparks of inspiration kept hitting me.

Let's analyze three kinds of stimuli that are often encountered in novel writing. The first is the most important, that is, the author's excitement about the story to be described; The second is the experience of the characters in the novel when they play special roles. If you can find the motivation to excite the character, you will reach another level of excitement. The third kind of excitement is about readers. If you and the characters are in high spirits, readers will also get satisfaction from your story.

The author's purpose is to make readers and characters share the same fate. However, it is not easy to keep the author in high spirits and let him spend months or even years finishing his novel. The main sticking point is that I am tired of what I have written and have no long-term planning. In order to keep my writing fresh, I made a rule for myself, that is, don't look back too much at what I have written. When I start writing every day, I only look at the last few pages, which gives me the motivation to continue writing quickly. Although I really want to know what I have done and see what it is like, I will never allow myself to expect more than five pages, even for a short time.

At that moment, when I began to believe that what I wrote was just a mess, I lost interest and confidence. So I just read from the beginning until I fell into writing. However, they are much better than I expected. Ha, I'm full of energy. Keep writing. I found that after this browsing, I have a better understanding of the characters. This situation often happens in the process of writing novels.

My own way is to read books and communicate with novels. The purpose of reading novels is not to imitate or gain new ideas, but to discover certain emotions. My attention lingers between pages. When something suddenly touches my emotional resonance, I can continue to write, because I have been able to convey that emotion to my character. I rewrote the dry love scene and it worked well this time. I also found a way to deal with the loss of interest: replenish your brain with new supplies.

"Anxiety" is one of the effective methods worth using, but I don't admire this negative method, it is just a method. We can transmit the excitement to the readers in various ways, so that it can be strengthened continuously, thus maintaining the initial flash of thought. For novelists, always grasping the magical stimulus is the greatest reward.

Suspension tension method in novel creation;

One of the secrets that mini-novels attract readers with only a small space is to skillfully use the "hanging tension method" in description. The method of "hanging tension", also known as suspense, suspense, setting buttons and tying bags, is a common and very important technique in novels. Chernyshevski used the "hanging tension method" in this way-he said in the preface of his novel What to Do: "I quoted the novelist's usual trick: take out several beautifully decorated scenes from the middle or end of the novel and put them at the beginning, casting a fog over them." In What to Do, Ropf pretended to commit suicide from the beginning, causing suspense, and then flashed back to his past relationship with Vera and Gilchad Novo, explaining why he pretended to commit suicide. In fact, "suspension tension" can be used not only at the beginning, but also in the middle and even at the end. For example, in the movie "Gunfire of the State Secrecy Bureau", the ending scene is that Chang Liang unexpectedly shot and killed the spy chief, rescued Liu Xiaochen and Aji, and then followed the fleeing national army-who is Chang Liang? The film did not explain until the end. This "suspense" at the end is bound to arouse the audience's speculation and association. The content of "suspension tension method" can be divided into two categories: first, some characters in the work have "numbers" in their hearts, but the readers are completely "in the dark", so that readers can judge and guess the progress of the plot themselves. For example, in "Borrowing Arrows from Grass Boat", Zhuge Liang predicted that there would be heavy fog in the sky, and he could "borrow" 100,000 arrows in three days, but the reader was completely ignorant and worried anxiously about Zhuge Liang's fate. First, readers know most of the plots, but some characters in the works are "in the dark", which makes readers open their eyes and want to see how these characters will act. For example, in Fifteen Levels, the reader knows that the house mouse stole the money, but the characters in the work know nothing except the house mouse, so the reader is expecting with concern: how will this unjust case be handled? When using the "hanging tension method" in novels, we can tie a small bundle in the big bundle, a small button in the big button, and buckle one ring after another to push the contradictions and conflicts to a climax. However, mini-novels are extremely short, and often only set a small "suspense", which suddenly shakes off the "burden" at the end of the description, bringing surprises to readers and thus receiving good results. When using the "suspension tension method", we should pay attention to its authenticity, both "suspension" and "mystery", that is, we should not pretend to be mysterious and destroy the artistic truth of the work; Second, we should pay attention to the theme of "suspending tension". If we "relax" the details, it will only weaken the theme of the work.

The twelve commandments of a writer:

A writer has twelve commandments, so he should avoid following the trend. "Don't make a fool of yourself, write when it is popular, and write about the Three Kingdoms when it looks good."

Second, avoid' I'. This is not much to say. For all writers, writing in the first person is a taboo. "

Third, avoid running accounts. "The article is too simple, so we must talk more, describe the environment more, and describe more people."

Fourth, you can't copy. "At least readers can't see that it is copied. Some people's works will know that it is the plot of copying Ji Qin."

Fifth, avoid articles being too short. "Don't cheat click-through rate to write a book. A chapter must have at least four or five thousand words. "

6. Don't tremble too much. "Dragging can be done, but it must be skillful and cannot be delayed indefinitely. Try to explain some useful things and foreshadowing, and lengthen the article with some words, but don't force it if you are not skilled enough. The article is too short and too long. The length should be moderate. "

For example, science fiction works should not be combined with martial arts, and those martial arts science fiction cartoons covered with incense are the most failed. Because they just balance martial arts and science fiction. Every novel has its central theme. Science fiction is science fiction, and martial arts can appear in it, but it has little effect. Because science fiction is the theme, everything should be explained from a scientific point of view, not both science and martial arts. "

Eight, avoid Superman "The most taboo in the article is that in addition to following the trend, the protagonist becomes Superman overnight. The protagonist's ability to get unexpected orders when encountering adventure can be! But you get super powers overnight, and then you are powerful, so how do you write to the end? "

Nine, avoid too many names. "Readers won't have the patience to remember the place names and names you quoted, and they can only explain them slowly (very slowly) in the article and slowly digest them for readers. If the author is too anxious, it will only make the reader dizzy and become a running account. "

X. Taboo table "The theme setting is always for yourself. Don't force it on the article. Readers are not interested in reading your settings. It's like telling the ending of a book in advance, which makes people lose the taste of reading." Example: The author of Thief wrote Thief without any setting. At first, I saw it and thought it was a medieval aristocratic story. Finally, the magician suddenly appeared. Only! Clearly understand that this is a fantasy work. It gave me countless surprises, and the author didn't see more magicians for a long time, which made readers more interested in reading. Things like dragons finally appeared slowly, describing them one by one, rather than giving examples one by one. In other words, until now, the author has made me understand what the world is like. The dragon has only appeared twice now, but the goblin has never seen it. ) In my mind, I built the world in my mind one by one with long writing style, which is his success.

XI. Avoid saying, "As an author, we should try our best to read and write in a neutral position, so please don't appear in the article and call her little XXX, ah XXX, to save trouble." The article must give people a neutral and cold feeling. However, for the intimate relationship between relatives and friends, nicknames are used instead of names. I have never seen those people with excellent writing style use these nicknames instead of characters' names. What are you doing as an author with his own role? "

Twelve, to avoid confusion between the superior and the subordinate. "There are many works, and the protagonists try their best to contact the people around them." For example, when the protagonist ordered his eldest brother to do something, he said, "Brother XXX, go and help me take pictures of something." Instead of: "So-and-so listens, shoot XXX for me." Public and private affairs cannot be made public, and the relationship between superiors and subordinates is chaotic. You see which army in the world will use this tone in war and in the workplace. This only shows that the author lacks social experience.

On the other hand, in many works, the author is too obviously on the side of the protagonist, which makes the serious war very embarrassing, just like a child's play. "ah! I'm a little late. Someone actually killed them all, leave me a few! " "You this good boy, unexpectedly will all the enemies are defeated, that I played? Don't leave me any. " This is not like what a soldier should say! Soldiers ~ national affairs, places of life and death. How can you let the relatives and friends of these protagonists do whatever they want? Where is the military law? Make the battlefield play like a house. -Comment on the Gains and Losses of Writing Comment on the Gains and Losses of Writing First of all, for an author, many novices like to write books with me, or the first person. I don't understand why they think so. Finally, for example, the records of different people, the records of the Three Kingdoms and so on gradually switched to him as a third person. Because this writing technique has many shortcomings, anyone who has traveled online knows that under normal circumstances, you can never write a good book with' I', especially a novice. So many readers don't have a good impression on the author who wrote this book, so they don't read it after reading the first page, unless they enter VIP or something, expecting him to improve in the future. Therefore, it is best not to use me to write a book. Jin Yong never used this writing technique, but Huang Yi once stopped using it in The Blade Master. The authors actually asked themselves if they could do better than these two masters. I really admire them.

Second, women, I don't know how much love experience these authors have, or the ratio of male to female in China's current market is too outrageous, which makes the protagonist in the book lose the character and self-esteem that a man should have and let women beat and scold at will. It seems that having a girlfriend is enough. Even if the girl makes any mistakes, I can't see that the protagonist is angry or anything. This is a saint. There are many such protagonists! Then this protagonist has lost his character. Especially some books about the king, the king will never let anyone threaten his authority. They must be ruthless, and sometimes they have to give up their beloved woman and become dead steel, but many authors insist on writing perfect love stories. Let's go Neither the reality nor the novel world is perfect, because the readers themselves don't believe in perfection. Isn't this writing clearly telling readers that this is just my delusion? Also, I am a man, and 90% of online readers are men. If the author wants to write about love, he can consider writing a love novel. I don't think that the factor of love should not appear in men's books, but I have seen many people adjust the proportion of love in novels to be ridiculously high. Obviously, the king's novels insist on love, and the iron-blooded novels insist on playing house. It seems that women are more important than the country. Ha! You can't have your cake and eat it. Sometimes you have to choose between a woman and a country, but many authors just write a happy ending, ok! It's classic enough to only love beauty and not Jiangshan. It is a satire on these readers, and it is impossible to write it perfectly. Also, in many books, the protagonists are too soft-hearted, at least I have never seen anyone kill a woman, no matter how arrogant that woman is. Alas! The world of Wu Zetian.

Third, you can choose to skip what you are not good at and downplay it instead of describing it in detail. If you really want to write, you can check the information, but there is no information about love, so I advise people who have no love experience or only know love from comic novels not to write hard, which will only make the rice stick to flies.

Fourth, what should be detailed and what should be simple, if overhead, is mainly to describe the strength of the established empire. Generally speaking, it is the YY of a country, not the YY of the protagonist. I think the difference between military and overhead is only historical and non-historical.