I Write, I Suffer

I Write, I Suffer

Nikki Gemmell: The thing that I worry about when I write is, and I think its one of the hardest things to do, is keeping people's attention. I'm 1)paranoid that I'm going to be boring and I think one of the hardest things is keeping people turning the page. And one of my, one of my favorite writers is Tim Winton and I just love his narrative¹ drive. I can remember I'm picking up The Riders and you know I'm starting to read it about eight o'clock one night and then 4 a.m. the next morning I was still there, I just had to finish it before I went to sleep even though I had work the next day. And, uh, I just love. You know when you find a book and 2)ferociously² you want to devour³ it. And so for me, I'm constantly trying to paid back my writing and to increase the narrative pull on it, pull of it, so that you know people are just going through it like a 3)steamroller. So in that way I'm thinking of the audience, I don't want to lose them.

Anson Cameron: I think the hardest thing about writing and this is probably 4)appropriate for any form of art or any huge project you take on in life is, is the thought in the back of your mind all the while, sometimes, and I suspect that books don't change the world very much, that's what I find hardest about writing but then at other times I think it does matter and it has got the power to change people. And if I look at myself I think most of my moral and ethical⁴ makeup⁵ comes from books. So if I look back at that, it fills me with a sense of self-worth but there are many hours when you're writing a book when you, wonder what you're doing, but what's the point of it all, does it matter.

Janet Evanovich: For me it's definitely 5)transition, I find the transition to be very difficult. Once I'm in a scene I'm fine, you know once I'm writing about action, once I'm doing dialogue I'm ok I can run with that, but I spend a lot of time sitting and finding out how to get from one place to the next. And I think it's critical because this is what really holds it together, this is what makes it easier for the reader to move on, and this is, this is really where I spend all of my time.

Roger Mcdonald: There was a, a 6)bricklayer working across the road and the bricklayer started in the morning at seven o'clock and finished at five o'clock and by the end of the day he had the front wall up. And I was working on a poem that day and by the end of the day I was exactly where I'd began, basically you know the draft after draft and I was facing a blank sheet at the end of the day. I said, "Look at that, wouldn't it be fantastic to be a bricklayer, at least there's something concrete at the end of the day!?So I can relate to Markay's statement and "it is 7)frustrating⁶ 8)grappling with 9)intangibles, trying to give shape and form to intangibles," matter.

Nikki Gemmell (from her book SHIVER): The touch of an iceberg⁷, a blizzard⁸, a lover, of a camera stuck to the skin on my face, of cold-like glass cutting into my skin, of a 10)snowflake, of a dead man, of a tongue on my eye.

注释:
1) paranoid [5pArEnCid] a. 类似妄想症的  
2) ferociously [fE5rEuFEsli] ad. （口）十分强烈地，极度地
3) steamroller [5sti:mrEJlE(r)] n. 压路机
4) appropriate [E5prEupriit] a. 适当的
5) transition [trAn5ziVEn] n. 转变，过渡
6) bricklayer [5brIkleIE(r)] n. 砖匠
7) frustrating [frQs5treiti] a. 令人灰心的，令人沮丧的
8) grapple [5^rApl] v. 格斗
9) intangible [in5tAndVEbl] n. 无形的东西
10) snowflake [5snEJfleIk] n. 雪花

写并苦恼着

妮基·格默尔：写作之时，我所担心的也觉得最难的事情之一就是：要吸引住读者。我总是胡思乱想：我又开始写得沉闷起来了。我想其中最难的一件事就是要让读者一页页地翻下去，不停下来。提姆·温顿是我喜爱的作家之一。我就是喜欢他叙述的推动效果。我记得有一晚，我拿起《骑手》，从八点左右起开始阅读，到次日早上四点我还在看。尽管第二天我还有工作，我还是要看完了才去睡觉。嗯，我就是喜欢。你知道，当你找到一本好书，你就极想一股脑儿地把它吞下去。因此，对于我自己，我一直不断地努力使自己的写作有所回报，努力增加作品叙述过程的吸引力和作品自身的感染力，让读者可以不停地，像压路机一样，一页页地翻阅。所以，就是这样，我一直想着我的读者，我不想失去他们。
安逊·卡美伦∶对于写作，我觉得最痛苦的是常常潜伏在你脑子深处的想法，这一难点可能对于任何艺术形式，或是你一生中承担的任何庞大工程而言也是一样的。有时候，我疑心书籍并不能怎样改变世界，那也就是我认为写作中最痛苦之处; 然而，其他时候我又觉得书真的举足轻重，它真的有改造人类的力量。要是我审视自己，我会觉得我的道德和伦理的结构组成多源自书本。因此，当我回想于此，我便觉得自己的工作很有价值，不过，也有很多时间在写作之时充满疑惑：我这是在干吗？做了这么多，为的是什么？有关痛痒吗？
珍妮特·伊万诺维奇∶对我来说，最难的肯定是过渡，我觉得过渡真的很难。要是我在写一个场景，我写得很顺，嗯，你知道，要是我在写行动方面，写对话，我写得是很顺利的。那些方面我都能处理好，但我却要花上大量时间坐想如何从一个地方切换到别处。我认为这是至关重要的，因为这一点才是真正把整本书连成一体的关键；正是这一点，让读者能够更容易地继续看下去。这实在是我耗尽时间之处。
罗杰·麦克唐纳∶那天，有个泥水匠在马路对面砌墙。他从早上七点开始干活，下午五点完工，日落之时，他已经把那堵前墙砌好了。而我那天一直在写一首诗。日落时，我还在刚开始的地方琢磨，基本上就是，你知道，改了一稿又一稿，太阳下山了，我面前的还是一张白纸。我说，看看吧，当个泥水匠还快活些，至少天黑了还有些实在的收获。因此，我可以引述马凯说的话，“与无形之物作斗争，为无形之物雕身塑形，教人沮丧，”了不起。
妮基·格默尔(出自她的书《颤栗》):冰山，风雪，情人，照相机紧贴于我脸上的肌肤，这些感觉，仿如冰冷的玻璃扎入我肌肤，仿如雪花，仿如死人，以及舌头贴在我的眼睛上。

1 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

2 ferociously   

野蛮地，残忍地

参考例句：

• The buck shook his antlers ferociously. 那雄鹿猛烈地摇动他的鹿角。
• At intervals, he gritted his teeth ferociously. 他不时狠狠的轧平。

3 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

4 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

6 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

8 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。