安妮范文

How to become a writer

Annie

I hate writing. Writing is so hard. It is the hardest intellectual activity there is. You need to research, you need to be informed, you need to figure out the pattern and the meaning, you need to form coherent arguments and you need to come up with the right words for all that. No Olympic competition problems, no athletic hurdles, no music scores to memorize and no software algorithms ever present such a creative and analytical challenge all in itself to human capabilities. People would do everything to get out of a writing task. For example, you rather spend three hours on the phone discussing than write a simple email to explain things. You rather record messages on Wechat than composing them and typing them up, even though listening takes more of your correspondents' time; but if you write/type, they just need to glance through.

The very idea of putting down what we want to say on paper scares us so much- because, God forbids, it spells out high output standards! Speaking, on the other hand, dissipates in the air (hopefully after making an impression on the listeners' mind, but most of the time not really), while writing etches your thoughts in stone. So you have to consider carefully to be able to spew lucid stuff, which is a strenuous effort. People hate hard work in the mind.

Still, you need to be a writer. You need to write.

You are protesting now: you cannot write, you are not born to write and you are simply not a writer? Writing is a profession for the most erudite, so it is not for you, you say. Such a concept also lodged in my sub-consciousness for the longest time. One day, I ended up in a seminary school having to speak every day to a class of 200 native English speakers on profound things of life. One of my Caucasian friends who graduated with a bachelor in English Literature at CSUSF told me I should start writing, as she rated my speaking articulate and elegant. Oh how surprised and flattered I felt. English wasn't even my first language. So I could write, and write in English? I guess writing is a natural extension of improvised speaking and a stepping stone to refined and prepared public speaking. The two are so intertwined as you have to go through the same processes to bring about expressions with clarity and power, except writing takes the mental effort a step further so things can be revised.

Write often, then you are a writer.

But why do we have to write? Why do we want to write even?

No, I am not gonna list out the required exams or processes where you need to write a substantial piece in order to make the mark, for example, GRE writing or TOFEL writing or your term papers or degree thesis. To write well as a purpose supersedes the need to pass exams and to write well as a means leads to much greater ends of life.

Again, why should we write?

Before I persuade you on the necessity to pick up writing, I need to tell you about ballet. Have you ever watched Ballet? I don't know if there are any other forms of art that could present such a rich view of beauty in such an all-encompassing manner. The audience's enjoyment stems from the dancers' ability to portray beauty and strength both at once, through movements cadenced with music. The ballet training works on almost all senses and faculties: hearing the music and rhythm, seeing the stage setting and connecting with the setting and the other dancers, and flexing almost each fine muscle. When strength, beauty and music are fused together, you experience the highest and most well-rounded art discipline, when human potential gets to be intensely tapped and elaborately displayed.

Writing is exactly the ballet for our mind. Imagine your mind starts to practice ballet from now on. In a few years, your mental capacity will resemble a taut, lean, agile and beautiful ballerina, with not an ounce of flabby flesh, making harmonious and rhythmic flow of expressions that function to inspire and enlighten.

Wouldn't that be awesome? Writing exercises literally firm up and make flexible your mind-muscles so they are getting fitter every day. It combs through your sprawling ideas and distills meanings out of clouds of information. It is the most effective mental exercise albeit the most arduous. But you can't go back to mediocrity in mental sports now you have written a few times, having tasted exquisiteness of your exacting mental work. Similarly, despite injuries and probability of life-long obscurity, ballerinas still love their tough drills to death.

Writing about things you have read or observed is also active learning. You have heard about passive learning versus active learning, right? Active learning takes the initiative to make connections between vertices in the knowledge architecture, therefore creating deep and permanent traces on your cortex. Especially when you are learning a language, say English, what can be better than this intensely engaging method- writing? You write to weld words into memory (as you never could forget a word you attempted to write with), you write to think more effectively in English, to communicate more clearly in English and ultimately to produce impactful works in English.

Writing changes the world because it changes minds.

Nothing works on the mind as much as words. You can argue for the occasional advantage of graphic portrayals of ideas like movies or drawings, but words can touch a person's reasoning compartment. People follow their reasoning to make decisions; and other times, they follow their emotions. Neither do words fail to have the biggest impact on people's hearts. The best scene you remember is always a line, from a movie or a book. It is not really the tears, the faces, the actions you see but the words you hear or read that we later fondly recall, so as to cherish ourselves or encourage others.

Those dissidents politicians and officials fear the most are usually writers, because written ideas spread the fastest and can influence minds irreversibly. Now I am scaring you now. What I am trying to say is, being a writer bears great responsibility because writing is too powerful.

Last and least, yes, least, if you don't write for the above reasons, write to make money then.

Writing is the most profitable "business" activity because the overhead is minimal and the production can scale up easily. Intellectual properties are the most precious commodity on the market, because it can improve the quality of other businesses directly by working on the knowledge base of people. Sure, there is a standard for printable and publishable writing, but that could be said for any thriving business.

Writing is an elite task, a responsibility for the noble, an exercise for the high achievers, the ultimate peak of creativity and teaching，all the while being the best way to learn.

It seems all I have been talking about is why to write. Now is the how. You find a topic, you think, you write, you critically compare your writing to a model piece, then you show it to people who can give sincere critiques and you rewrite.

And what to write? Well it depends on our stage of learning this craft. For most of us English learners, the easiest trap to step into is being too exam-oriented, a.k.a, you zero in on persuasive or expository essays but often not standing on a solid foundation in the narrative style. Think about how we practice writing with our first language: we did looking-at-the-pictures-and-telling-stories exercises for a while as a young kid and then started to write sentences or even paragraphs to describe what we see, hear, touch and feel. The object we grapple with was first the physical senses, then upgraded to understanding and feelings, and at last reasoning was tackled. But trying to achieve a good command of a second language, we somehow swooshed by the physical stations and the narrative hills, only clinging to the cliffs of persuasive writing. Not to mention, narrative writing is the solvent for all other writings, while descriptions of physical matters sets the stage for everything else. You never graduate from the basics.

So let's come back to the basics and start to write a bit on a down-to-earth topic every day.

如何成為一個(gè)寫作者

Annie

我最恨寫作了。寫文章真的太難了，大概是世界上最難的智力活動(dòng)了：你要做前期調(diào)查研究，你要吸收信息，總結(jié)大意，理順規(guī)律，結(jié)晶出條理清楚的觀點(diǎn)，最后還得找到合適的表達(dá)。沒(méi)有任何數(shù)學(xué)奧賽，任何競(jìng)技項(xiàng)目，任何要背的樂(lè)譜或者計(jì)算機(jī)算法能夠給人類大腦帶來(lái)如此結(jié)合了分析深度和創(chuàng)造性的挑戰(zhàn)。人們?yōu)榱吮苊鈱懽?，什么都能干。你自己想想吧，是否寧可花費(fèi)三個(gè)小時(shí)車轱轆話的討論，也不愿意靜心寫一封電郵把事情簡(jiǎn)明扼要說(shuō)清楚。你寧可在微信上長(zhǎng)篇錄音，也懶得小小構(gòu)思幾句話，明知道談話的對(duì)方聽(tīng)錄音要比看文字困難的多。文字可是一目了然。

僅僅想想要把自己要說(shuō)的事情記錄到紙上就讓人嚇出一身冷汗了，因?yàn)檫@意味著對(duì)們表達(dá)的更高要求。說(shuō)出來(lái)的話語(yǔ)很快就擴(kuò)散消失，無(wú)所循跡（希望那之前好歹還能讓對(duì)方聽(tīng)懂，留下點(diǎn)印象），但白紙黑字可就讓你的想法永存歷史了。這么一來(lái)，你就非得認(rèn)真思索才敢下筆，而思索本身就是一件費(fèi)勁無(wú)比的事情。人們痛恨動(dòng)腦子.

可是你一定要成為一個(gè)寫作者，你需要開(kāi)始寫。

于是你這會(huì)開(kāi)始抗議了：你覺(jué)得自己根本不是寫文章的料。寫東西是給那些深?yuàn)W有學(xué)問(wèn)的人準(zhǔn)備的行業(yè)，而你不是他們。這種概念也曾經(jīng)深植于我的潛意識(shí)里。直到有一天，我去了神學(xué)院，每天對(duì)著二百多美國(guó)人演講有關(guān)生命有關(guān)人性的深刻話題，我的一個(gè)加州舊金山大學(xué)英語(yǔ)文學(xué)畢業(yè)的白人好友對(duì)我說(shuō)："你怎么不寫作呢？你講話清晰又優(yōu)雅。" ??？我寫作？用英語(yǔ)？英語(yǔ)根本不是我第一語(yǔ)言，我也行？我想，寫作是即興講演的自然延伸，同時(shí)也是帶稿演講的預(yù)備，寫作和演說(shuō)交織的如此緊密一致，因?yàn)樗鼈冋{(diào)用同樣的思維功能，只不過(guò)，寫作更往前一步把思維記錄了下來(lái)從而使得修改成為可能。

常常寫，你自然就是個(gè)寫作者了。

但是你為什么一定要寫作呢，你問(wèn)？甚至我們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)想要寫作？

我是不會(huì)列出一堆你求學(xué)過(guò)程中必過(guò)的考試或者畢業(yè)要求來(lái)說(shuō)明寫作的重要性的。是的，GRE有寫作大塊，托福也有，以及我們的各種期末或者畢業(yè)論文都需要寫作能力。這不是我主要的依據(jù)，因?yàn)閷懽髯鳛橹橇顒?dòng)的目的遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超越了考試的層次，而作為達(dá)到目的的手段，它帶領(lǐng)我們通向的是更大更華美的格局。

然后再問(wèn)一次，為什么我們需要寫作？

在我就寫作必要性勸說(shuō)你之前，我需要講講芭蕾。你看過(guò)芭蕾表演嗎？世界上沒(méi)有第二種藝術(shù)能夠給人帶來(lái)如此全面的審美震撼了。舞者身體的力與美融合在音樂(lè)中，而觀眾的視覺(jué)和聽(tīng)覺(jué)得到充分的伸展。舞者們需要訓(xùn)練身體的每一塊肌肉，以及他們對(duì)音樂(lè)的感受，對(duì)韻律的知覺(jué)，和周圍布景及其他舞者的配合。當(dāng)力量，美感和音樂(lè)相融時(shí)，你就找到了最高自律性的藝術(shù)形式,體驗(yàn)人之潛能最充分強(qiáng)烈的釋放和展示。

寫作就是你思維的芭蕾。想象一下，你的大腦練習(xí)芭蕾幾年，變得像一個(gè)芭蕾舞者一樣靈活有力，沒(méi)有一塊肥肉，沒(méi)有一塊無(wú)用的肌肉，而且充滿了美感，順著音樂(lè)翩翩起舞，流淌出源源不斷的精彩表達(dá)，開(kāi)啟人心，光照蒙昧。

這是不是太美了？真正是逆襲。寫作確確實(shí)實(shí)會(huì)使你的思維肌肉結(jié)實(shí)有力。它梳理你的散漫的思路，從原始的信息里提煉出意義和精粹。這是最有效的提高智商的方法，因?yàn)樗彩亲钯M(fèi)勁的。然而，寫過(guò)幾段字的你，是不可能回到那個(gè)混沌的智力時(shí)代了，就像芭蕾舞者一樣，寧可傷病，寧愿一生寂寂無(wú)名辛苦萬(wàn)分，也要跳舞，也不愿中斷訓(xùn)練。你再也不愿回到平庸無(wú)奇無(wú)創(chuàng)造的"文盲"年月了。

對(duì)你所學(xué)的東西寫下總結(jié)就是積極學(xué)習(xí)。你大概聽(tīng)過(guò)積極學(xué)習(xí)和消極吸收之間的區(qū)別吧？積極學(xué)習(xí)采取主動(dòng)，在知識(shí)點(diǎn)之間建立聯(lián)系，構(gòu)建大廈，從而在你大腦皮層中形成最持久深刻的印象。尤其是在你學(xué)習(xí)一種語(yǔ)言的時(shí)候，還有什么比寫作更有效更快的使你精通此種語(yǔ)言呢？你寫文章來(lái)把詞語(yǔ)焊接到你的系統(tǒng)里，來(lái)有效地思考，來(lái)清楚表達(dá),并最終創(chuàng)造出具有感染力影響力的作品。

寫作改變世界，因?yàn)樗軌蚋淖內(nèi)说南敕ā?/p>

沒(méi)有什么能夠像文字話語(yǔ)這樣深刻改變他人的想法。你或許可以辯論說(shuō)有時(shí)候，圖像畫面似乎更有作業(yè)，但文字卻能觸摸到人們大腦中的理性決策部門。有人喜歡依據(jù)理性做決定，但也有人隨著情感行動(dòng)，那么我要告訴你，文字同樣也是打動(dòng)心靈，觸及情感的利器。你記得最清楚的那些感覺(jué)，往往都是一句話，無(wú)論是電影里的臺(tái)詞也好，還是書本里的一句話也好。不是眼淚，不是面目，也不是動(dòng)作，而是文字是我們溫暖回憶里清晰的樹(shù)木，在陽(yáng)光下矯健生長(zhǎng)，安慰我們的心或鼓勵(lì)他人的魂。

政客們最恐懼的政敵通常都是會(huì)寫文章的人。因?yàn)槲恼聜鞑ニ俣忍欤瑢?duì)人們的思想產(chǎn)生的痕跡無(wú)法消除。是不是嚇到你了？我只不過(guò)想說(shuō)，一個(gè)會(huì)寫文章的人背負(fù)了太多的社會(huì)責(zé)任，因?yàn)樗蛘咚奈淖至α繜o(wú)窮。

最后一點(diǎn)，也是最低的一點(diǎn)，是，如果你不肯為了以上種種理由寫作，那就寫了發(fā)大財(cái)吧。

寫作可是利潤(rùn)最高的商業(yè)項(xiàng)目：它運(yùn)作成本最低，又最容易擴(kuò)大產(chǎn)量。知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)是市場(chǎng)上最貴的產(chǎn)品因?yàn)樗苯痈纳破渌袠I(yè)的人力資本質(zhì)量，甚至直接影響社會(huì)的質(zhì)量。當(dāng)然了，發(fā)表的要求是很高的，但同樣，任何成功商業(yè)都是有門檻的。

寫作說(shuō)白了，是精英們的任務(wù)，高貴者拾起的責(zé)任，高能人士的訓(xùn)練秘訣，既是最有效的學(xué)習(xí)方式，也是教授知識(shí)和創(chuàng)造的頂峰。

看起來(lái)我一直在討論為什么要寫作?，F(xiàn)在我要說(shuō)怎么練習(xí)寫作。你找到一個(gè)主題，你思考，你寫，對(duì)照范文，然后拿給能夠給出修改意見(jiàn)的人看，然后修改。

寫什么呢？主題怎么找？這取決于我們訓(xùn)練寫作的階段。對(duì)大多數(shù)英語(yǔ)為二外的英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者來(lái)說(shuō)，最容易掉進(jìn)去的陷阱就是以考試為導(dǎo)向的寫作，于是就過(guò)早集中于議論文和說(shuō)明文的領(lǐng)域。但是想想我們母語(yǔ)寫作的成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程吧，很小的時(shí)候有好幾年是在練看圖說(shuō)話，然后開(kāi)始寫句子最多段落，來(lái)描述所看所聽(tīng)到所感覺(jué)到的。我們總是從物理肢體感受開(kāi)始，到達(dá)理解和情感，最后到達(dá)議論的層次。但是如今在學(xué)二外的這條路上，我們卻越過(guò)了描述性寫作，繞開(kāi)了直觀感受，直接去爬議論文的懸崖峭壁了。當(dāng)然了，更不用提的是，描述性部分為其它一切風(fēng)格和元素設(shè)定背景和基調(diào)。我們永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法從基礎(chǔ)功課上畢業(yè)。

光風(fēng)霽月 暗室不欺

the dark room will not hold up the moon's luminance and the wind's lucid breeze

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