這篇文章來自《positivity blog》，他的依據是斯蒂芬.金的《On Writing》寫 的讀后感，他把這些經驗作為自己寫博客的借鑒。之所以選擇這篇文章，一是想測試抓蝦需要多長時間抓取文章。二是滿足抓蝦用戶的需求，他們非常喜歡這種標 題。三是豆瓣九點已經成為我Blog的主要流量來源，這篇文章應該更符合豆瓣網友的口味。最后，原文是英文，我翻譯為中文。考慮到我的英文水準有限，所以 把原文和翻譯都附上，希望能有人指正其中的謬誤。

1. Get to the point.抓住重點

Don’t waste your reader’s time with too much back-story, long intros or longer anecdotes about your life. Reduce the noise. Reduce the babbling. In On Writing King gets to his points quickly. Get to your point quickly too before your reader loses patience and moves on.
不要用過多的背景故事、冗長引子和作者個人傳奇浪費讀者的時間。要減少不必要的旁枝末節，要減少無意義的胡說八道。在《On Writing》中斯蒂芬.金很快能抓住重點，你也得那么做，否則你的讀者將會失去耐心掉頭而去。

2. Write a draft. Then let it rest.寫好草稿，然后冷處理。

King recommends that you crank out a first draft and then put it in your drawer to let it rest. Now, how long you let your text rest may vary. King puts his manuscripts away for several months before rereading and start the editing process.
金建議，當你打好了第一個草稿之后，就把它鎖在你的抽屜里，由它去好了。需要冷處理多長時間沒有一定之限，金一般要把草稿放在抽屜里數月之久，然后才去再次通讀并開始完善。

I often let a post rest for a day or two before I start editing (as I′m sure many other bloggers do from time to time too).
我本人經常寫好一篇帖子后等待一到兩天，然后再開始編輯修訂。（我相信很多博客時不時也會這么做）

This enables you to get out of the mindset you had when you wrote the draft and get a more detached and clear perspective on the text. It then becomes easier to edit, add and cut in a sometimes kinda ruthless way. The result is most often a better text.
使用這種方法，能夠讓你拜托寫草稿時的情緒，而換用不偏不倚和更清醒透徹的視角對待文本。可以讓你更容易地修改文章，使得增刪的行為變得“冷酷無情”。這么做的結果是你往往能得到一篇更好的文章。

3. Cut down your text.勇于刪削

When you revisit your text it′s time to kill you darlings and remove all the superfluous words and sentences. Removing will declutter your text and often get your message through with more clarity and a bigger emotional punch.
雖然是文章是你的親兒子，但是當你重新審閱它的時候，你要勇于刪除所有冗余的字詞和句子。刪改能規整你的文章，還能以更為清晰和更富于沖擊力的形式表達你的想法。

Don′t remove too much text though or you may achieve the opposite effects instead. King got the advice to cut down his texts by 10 percent from an old rejection-letter and has abided by this advice for decades. While editing my blog I′ve found that 10 percent seems to be a pretty good figure not just for mammoth-sized books.
但也別刪削太多，或是達到過猶不及的程度。金曾經在一封退稿信中得到過個建議：減少10%的篇幅。此后的幾十年時間中，他一直遵從這個建議。當我修改我的博客文章時，我發現10%這個比例非常恰當，看來它并非只適用于鴻篇巨著。

4. Be relatable and honest.保持可信和誠實

King has an honest voice in his fiction and in his memoir. He tells it like it is and makes us relate to him and his characters. Since King′s fiction often is of an odd kind with strange plots that seldom happen to normal people I think one of his strengths as a writer is being able to write relatable content anyway.
（relatable是不是想當然的生造詞？）金在他的小說和角色里都始終用一種誠實的聲音說話。他恰如其分地如實描述，因而使我們對他和他塑造的角色信服。雖然金小說中內容對于我們普通人來說非常另類罕見，我想他使人信服的力量源自于總是描述令人信服的內容。

One of the keys to doing that is to have an honest voice and honest characters with both bad and good sides to them. People we can relate to with all of their faults, passions, fears, weaknesses and good moments. King′s characters seem human. That creates a strong connection to the reader who starts caring about the characters.
能做到這一點的秘訣之一是誠實的寫作和真實的角色，無論作者是描寫好的一面還是壞的一面。我們之所以會覺得一個人可信，是因為他所有的錯誤、激情、恐懼、脆弱和美好的瞬間。金塑造的角色有血有肉，這就讓讀者和小說人物血肉相聯，開始關心人物本身。

Another key to being honest and relatable is keeping a conversational style. Keeping it simple and using language that isn’t unnecessarily complicated. Using the words that first come to mind.
另一個保持城市和可信的秘訣在于始終使用對話風格。保持對話內容簡單，沒有必要使用復雜的語言，而是要用你腦海里最初浮現的字句。

5. Don′t care too much what others may think.不要太過在意別人的看法。

King admits to being needy about the emotional feedback he gets when he lets his wife read a new story for the first time. He gets a kick out of hearing her laugh so she cries or just cry because something in manuscript really touched her. But he has also gotten tons of mail over the years from people who confuse his sometimes nasty characters with the writer. Or just thinks he should wind up in hell. And King hasn′t always been a favourite among literary critics either.
金承認，當他讓妻子做為他新故事的第一讀者時，對于情緒化的反饋他很不適。聽到她大笑的時候，他也會因此而抱怨，弄得妻子哭了起來。或者是她為草稿中的內 容所打動而哭泣的時候，他同樣會大發牢騷。而他每年也接到數以噸計的讀者來信咒罵他，他們把作者和作者塑造的邪惡角色混為一談，或者認為金應該下地獄。此 外，金在文學評論界也同樣很不得寵。

But from what I gather he just sits down at his desk and keeps writing every morning anyway. If you listen too much to your critics you won′t get much done. Your writing will probably become worse and less fun. And criticism is often not even about you anyway.
但是從我搜集到的資料顯示，他只是回到桌子邊坐下，在每個早晨繼續揮筆*。如果你聽了太多關于你的批評，那么你也將一事無成。你的寫作過程將變得更為不暢，減少了其中的樂趣，而那些批評通常根本和你沒有任何關系。

6. Read a lot.廣泛閱讀

When you read you always pick up things. Sometimes it might be reminders about what you know you should be doing while you write. Sometimes it’s some cool idea or just the world and atmosphere the writer is painting. Sometimes it’s something totally new that makes your jaw drop. That one is my favourite. And sometimes you learn what you should avoid doing. There are almost always lessons you can learn.
當你閱讀的時候，總能有所收獲。有些時候，當你在寫作，這些在閱讀中的積累會告訴你應該寫什么。有些時候，它們則變成了某個絕妙的主意或者你筆下需要描繪 的氛圍。有的時候它們的效果是如此驚人，也許你會下巴掉到了地上。有的時候，你也能從中學到一些應該避免的事情。在閱讀過程中，你總有可以學習的東西。

If you want to be a better writer you need to read a lot to get fresh input, broaden your horizons and deepen your knowledge. And to evolve you need to mix yourself up with new influences and see what happens.
如果你想寫得更好，那么你需要大量閱讀，構思新的表現方法，擴大你的視野，深化你的知識，然后把它們帶來的新意融匯到你想表達的事物上，看看會有什么事情發生。

How do you find time to read more? You can cut down on other evening activities like watching TV-shows you don′t care for that much anyway. Or, as King suggests, you can bring a book to waiting rooms, treadmills or toilets. I like to plug in an audiobook while I′m on the bus or walking somewhere.
那如何找到時間閱讀呢？你可以壓縮晚上的休閑娛樂項目，比如說看電視，反正你其實并不需要隨時盯著它。或者按照金的建議，你可以帶著書去候診室、健身房或者廁所去看。我個人比較喜歡在乘巴士或者散步的時候聽聲訊電子書。

7. Write a lot.勤奮寫作

I’ve saved the most important tip for last. To become a better writer you probably – and not so surprisingly – need to write more.
我把最重要的一條秘笈留到了最后。不要驚奇，如果你想寫得更好，那么方法是寫得更多。

Many of the best in different fields – Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods – have gone beyond normal limits of practise. And so they reap extraordinary results.
布魯斯·斯普林斯汀、飛人喬丹、老虎伍茲，許許多多這樣在不同領域內的高手，都曾痛下苦功，超越常人。所以，他們因為吃得苦中苦，終成人上人。

But what do you do when you don′t feel like writing? Waiting for inspiration can become a long wait.
可是，當你不想寫的時候你是怎么做的？妓女不能等有了性欲才接客，這可能需要太長時間。

One good way to get around this is to find an effective solution to reduce procrastination. You may have to try a few before you find one that works for you. Another way is well, just to do it. And if you just get going your emotions changes a lot of the time and any initial resistance becomes fun and enthusiasm instead.、
擺脫這種狀態的好辦法是找到一個減少拖延的法子。在找到一個奏效的方法之前，你也許得多嘗試幾個。另一種方法也不錯：只管去做。當你能經常改變自己情緒的時候，最初的抵觸情緒將代之以趣味和狂熱。

*注“斯蒂芬.金多年來一直保持固定的寫作習慣，每天早晨固定時間開始寫作，寫夠定額，如同服藥。

轉自槽邊往事