評(píng)論
打印
Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a creative writing class.
獨(dú)白:請(qǐng)聽下面一部分的創(chuàng)意寫作課程。
Professor:Alright everybody, the topic for today is,
教授:好的，我們今天的要討論的話題，
well, we're gonna take a look at how to start creating the characters for the story you're writing.
就是我們來(lái)看看怎么樣為你們寫的故事創(chuàng)造一個(gè)角色。
One way of doing that is to come up with what's called “a character sketch”,I don't mean a sketch like a drawing, I guess that's obvious.
其中一種方法就是想出一個(gè)“人物草圖”，我并不是指像畫畫那樣的草圖，這個(gè)你們肯定都了解。
It's um…it's a…a sketch as a way of getting started on defining your characters' personalities.
嗯，一個(gè)草圖就是一開始定義你人物性格的一種方法。
To begin, how do we create fictional characters?
首先是我們?cè)鯓觿?chuàng)作一個(gè)小說(shuō)角色呢？
We don't just pull them from thin air, do we?
我們并不是空想出來(lái)一個(gè)角色，是這樣吧？
I mean we don't create them out of nothing.
我是說(shuō)我們并不是憑空捏造一個(gè)角色。
We base them, consciously or unconsciously,
我們會(huì)有意或無(wú)意的建立基礎(chǔ)，
we base them on real people,
我們會(huì)基于一個(gè)真實(shí)的人創(chuàng)作角色，
or we blend several people's traits, their attributes into one character.
或者融合好幾個(gè)人的特點(diǎn)、性格在一個(gè)人身上。
But when people think fiction, they may assume the characters come from the author's imagination.
但當(dāng)人們提到小說(shuō)，會(huì)認(rèn)為角色們都是作者想象出來(lái)的。
But the writer's imagination is influenced by… by real people,
但是作者的想象是受到真實(shí)人物影響，
could be anyone,
可能是任意一個(gè)人，
so, pay attention to the people you meet,
所以，注意一下你們所遇見的人，
someone in class, at the gym, that guy who is always sitting in the corner of the coffee house,
班里的、健身房里的、經(jīng)常坐在咖啡館角落里的、
um… your cousin, who's always getting into dangerous situations.
還有經(jīng)常處于危險(xiǎn)境地的你的表兄弟。
We're pulling from reality, gathering bits and pieces of real people.
我們從現(xiàn)實(shí)中獲取素材，從真實(shí)的人物身上一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)獲取。
You use these people,
你使用這些人物，
and the bits of behavior or characteristics as a starting point as you begin to sketch out your characters.
使用他們行為特征的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴作為構(gòu)思你人物草圖的起始點(diǎn)。
Here is what you should think about doing first.
下面是你應(yīng)該首先考慮的。
When you begin to formulate a story, make a list of interesting people you know or have observed.
當(dāng)你決定開始策劃一個(gè)故事的時(shí)候，列個(gè)單子寫下來(lái)你認(rèn)識(shí)的或者你見過的那些有意思的人。
Consider why they're unique or annoying.
考慮一下他們?yōu)槭裁椽?dú)特或者招人討厭。
Then make notes about their unusual or dominant attributes.
記下來(lái)他們的不同之處及身上顯著的品質(zhì)。
As you create fictional characters,
當(dāng)你在創(chuàng)作小說(shuō)人物時(shí)，
you'll almost always combine characteristics from several different people on your list to form the identity and personality of just one character.
你經(jīng)常是把列在單子上這些不同之人的一些性格特征結(jié)合在一起塑造一個(gè)人物的身份和性格。
Keeping this kind of character sketch can help you solidify your character's personality,
用這種人物草圖的方法能幫助鞏固你的角色性格，
so that it remains consistent throughout your story.
這樣就能使你的整個(gè)故事保持一致。
You need to define your characters,
你需要定義你的角色，
know their personalities so that you can have them acting in ways that are predictable, consistent with their personalities.
了解他們的性格特征，這樣你就能讓他們?cè)谝粋€(gè)與他們性格保持一致的可預(yù)測(cè)范圍內(nèi)表演。
Get to know them like a friend,
像一個(gè)朋友一樣去了解他們，
you know your friends well enough to know how they'll act in certain situations, right?
你很了解你的朋友，你知道他們?cè)谀承﹫?chǎng)合會(huì)有什么樣的表現(xiàn)，是這樣吧？
Say you have three friends, their car runs out of gas on the highway.
比如說(shuō)你有三個(gè)朋友，他們的車在高速公路上拋錨了。
John gets upset.
約翰很生氣，
Mary remains calm.
瑪麗很平靜，
Teresa takes charge of handling the situation.
特麗莎則負(fù)責(zé)處理這個(gè)情況。
And let's say, both John and Mary defer to her leadership.
咱們打個(gè)比方，約翰和瑪麗都聽從她的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。
They call you to explain what happen.
他們給你打電話說(shuō)明發(fā)生了什么事，
And when John tells you he got mad, you're not surprised,
當(dāng)約翰告訴你他很生氣的時(shí)候，你并不吃驚，
because he always gets frustrated when things go wrong.
因?yàn)槌鰡栴}的時(shí)候他總是很受挫，
Then he tells you how Teresa took charge, calmed him down,
然后他告訴你特麗莎是怎么處理的，怎么讓他平靜下來(lái)的，
assigned tasks for each person and got them on their way.
又是怎樣給每個(gè)人分配任務(wù)然后重新上路的。
Again, you're not surprised.
你還是一點(diǎn)都不吃驚，
It's exactly what you'd expect.
因?yàn)檫@些和你想到的一樣。
Well, you need to know your characters, like you know your friends.
嗯，你需要了解你的角色，就像你了解你的朋友一樣。
If you know a lot about a person's character, it's easy to predict how they'll behave.
如果你對(duì)一個(gè)人的性格了解的很多，就就很容易預(yù)見他們接下來(lái)會(huì)做的事情。
So if your character's personalities are well defined,
所以，如果你的人物性格已經(jīng)確定好了，
it will be easy for you as the writer to portray them realistically…er… believably, in any given situation.
那身為一位作家的你就能夠很輕松的把這些描述的很逼真，嗯，無(wú)論在什么情況下都很可信。
While writing character sketches, do think about details.
當(dāng)你們?cè)趧?chuàng)作角色草圖的時(shí)候，一定要想想細(xì)節(jié)。
Ask yourself questions,
問自己一些問題，
even if you don't use the details in your story,
即使你在你的故事里用不到這些細(xì)節(jié)，那也還是考慮一下。
um…what does each character like to eat, what setting does each prefer, the mountains, the city,
比如說(shuō)，每個(gè)人物都喜歡吃些什么，他們都喜歡什么樣的環(huán)境，山啊，城市啊，
what about educational background, their reactions to success or defeat, write it all down.
教育背景如何，他們對(duì)于成功與失敗的反應(yīng)啊，把這些都寫下來(lái)。
But, here I need to warn you about a possible pitfall.
但是，我也要提醒你們一個(gè)可能的陷阱。
Don't make you character into a stereotype.
不要讓你的角色變得老套。
Remember the reader needs to know how your character is different from other people who might fall in the same category.
一定要記住，讀者需要知道你的人物是怎樣和其他那些類似的角色有所不同的。
Maybe your character loves the mountains and has lived in a remote area for years.
可能你的人物熱愛高山，在一個(gè)遙遠(yuǎn)的地方住了很多年。
To make sure he is not a stereotype, ask yourself how he sees life differently from other people who live in that kind of setting.
要確保你的人物不是很老套，問問你自己他是怎樣與生活在同樣環(huán)境里的人有著不同的生活觀念。
Be careful not to make him into the cliché of the “ragged mountain dweller”.
一定不要讓他成為陳詞濫調(diào)的一個(gè)“衣衫襤褸的山居者”。
Okay, now, I'll throw out a little terminology.
好的，現(xiàn)在我來(lái)講點(diǎn)術(shù)語(yǔ)。
It's easy stuff.
這很簡(jiǎn)單。
Major characters are sometimes called “round characters”.
主要角色通常被叫做“圓整人物”，
Minor characters are sometimes called, well, just the opposite, “flat”.
正好相反，次要角色通常被稱為“扁平人物”。
A round character is fully developed;
一個(gè)圓整人物是需要充分描述的；
a flat character isn't, character development is fairly limited.
而扁平人物卻不是，他們角色發(fā)展是相當(dāng)有限的。
The flat character tends to serve mainly as a motivating factor.
扁平人物大都是作為一個(gè)刺激因素而存在。
For instance, you introduce a flat character who has experienced some sort of defeat.
比如說(shuō)，你引出一個(gè)扁平人物，這個(gè)人經(jīng)歷過一些失敗。
And then your round, your main character who loves success and loves to show off,
接下來(lái)，你的主角圓整人物，一個(gè)愛成功愛顯擺的人出現(xiàn)了，
comes and boasts about succeeding and jokes about the flat character's defeat in front of others, humiliates the other guy.
他在眾人面前吹噓自己的成功，并且笑話扁平人物的失敗羞辱其他人。
The flat character is introduced solely for the purpose of allowing the round character to show off.
引入這個(gè)扁平人物的主要作用就是為了讓圓整人物吹噓炫耀。
