"Writing Lessons from Masters": Good writing comes from reading

Recently, many people in the Internet are teaching writing methods, but most people hold the same point of view: good writing is written, and it is also the so-called "practice makes perfect". Admittedly, this is a question. It is a good habit that people cannot refute, but when you click in and read the articles that teach you how to write, you will know that most people have no writing skills (including me). They just state their opinions clearly or tell others. I understand a truth, commonly known as dry information.

So at this time, a book appeared like "Timely Rain": "Writing Lessons from Masters" - Good writing can be read.

This book was recommended to me by a teacher and was only published this month. Logically speaking, I would not buy such a book that has not been tested by time, but Douban is full of good reviews. , and placed the order without hesitation. Another reason is that I wanted to do some writing-themed reading, but I couldn’t find particularly good books on Douban, so I put my hope in it. I received the express delivery the day before yesterday, opened it and read half of the contents, and I was not disappointed.

Now I would like to introduce you to this part of the article, which I like very much, and also recommend it to people who really want to improve their writing skills. If you want a quick and powerful pill, there is no one here, but I can recommend some books by masters for you to read and learn from. After all, good writing comes from reading.

Besides gray, green, red and blue, what else can we write about?

Lu Xun was a master who was good at using colors. He especially knew how to paint bright colors on a cold and cold background. As a reminder, please put aside the "preconceptions" you had about Mr. Lu Xun in middle school. Please watch the excerpt of "Weeds":

In the snowy fields, there are blood-red camellias, single-petaled plum blossoms with faint green in the white, and dark yellow bell-shaped wintersweet flowers; there are also cold green weeds under the snow. There are indeed no butterflies...but before my eyes I seem to see winter flowers blooming in the snowy fields...

Apart from the colors, he did not write too much about the "shape" of the scenery, but only the "single petal" There are several words like "Qingkou", and the reason why it can leave such a deep impression on people is that the wonderful coloring accounts for 70% to 80%. He used high-saturation colors in this section. The pure white crystal of the snow and the bright and dazzling flowers complement each other, bringing a strong visual impact.

There are many such examples in his works:

That cover was a new one last night. It was made of snow-white paper and folded into wavy patterns. Draw a scarlet gardenia. ...The little caterpillar that always lives on the white paper cover has a big head and a small tail, like a sunflower, only as big as half a grain of wheat, and the green color all over its body is so cute and pitiful.

Someone commented: This kind of coloring and composition is simply a standard Qi Baishi sketch.

Let’s take a look at the colors in Zhang Ailing’s paintings:

Cao Qiqiao did not sit down, holding the door with one hand and supporting her waist with the other, with narrow cuffs A snow-green crepe handkerchief hangs down from her waist, she is wearing a silver-red shirt, green and white thread incense rolls, and snow-green shimmering blue Ruyi trousers...

Zhang Ailing's painting is a splendid embroidery, overflowing with color, as if scattered. Like gold powder, it has the aura of happiness that the people love to see. Red gold, silvery red and flashing blue - it is gold, silver and shines like a gem. Who doesn't love these colors? There is another sentence in "The Story of the Golden Lock":

The old sun fills the air like golden dust. The slightly choking golden dust rubs into the eyes, making them dizzy...

You see, even the dust is golden, and Miss Zhang really spared no effort in creating the environment.

Recommended reading

Lu Xun: "Snow" and "Autumn Night"

Zhang Ailing: "The Story of the Golden Lock"

Kawabata Yasunari: " Flowers Never Sleep"

Naoko Anfang: "Fox's Window"

Wang Zengqi: "Butter Pancakes" "Order"

Flowers The four-step method of turning "scenery language" into "emotional language"

Let me first announce the four-step method to you, and then look at how the masters turned "scenery language" into "emotional language".

1. A general concern for objective things (other things) - curiosity

2. Gazing and observing a specific thing - admiration and intoxication

< p> 3. Grasping one or more characteristics of objects - mixed emotions

4. Anxiety and concentration - dealing with the relationship between thinking and words, words and music, existing texts and historical texts< /p>

When you want to express a beautiful mood, it should not be like "It's so beautiful!" Objects, considering language, paying attention to form, tracing back to the classics. Let’s take a look at Wang Zengqi’s writing about gardenias:

Gardenias are thick and big, and they are so fragrant that they can’t even be brushed away, so elegant people don’t take them, thinking that they are not of high moral character.

Gardenia said: "Fuck you, I just want it to smell like this. It smells so good. Do you fucking care?"

Wang Zengqi took a strange path in this article. Read Everyone laughed at the end, but most of the time he took the traditional route, risking it once, and not walking at night often.

In fact, the traditional way of writing is to explain everything in detail, such as what shape and color, how many petals and leaves of the flower, when to bloom and when to bloom. If your skills are not pure enough, then practice the third chapter. Just take two steps, don’t be in a hurry to take the third step. Let’s take Wang Zengqi’s example again:

There is something special about hibiscus, it is red and white. It blooms white at first, then gradually turns red on one side, and finally the entire flower is pink. The flowering period is long, and it is hidden in the thick green bushes as big as the palm of your hand. It is happy to have business.

I know Sophora japonica. It has branches and leaves similar to those of a Sophora japonica tree, with very long stems. It blooms purple flowers in early summer. The flowers are like wisteria but darker in color than wisteria. The flower spikes are smaller and the petals are also slightly smaller. The wind shakes the purple ears, which are lovely.

In order to successfully turn scenery language into love language, in terms of specific techniques, in addition to not abusing childish personification, one should also avoid using literary personification, forcing people's literary emotions to be placed on mountains and rivers. , extremely artificial, such as: lonely river, angry river, silent green mountain... This is probably a new writing method developed by Guo Jingming, which is popular among middle school and high school people, but often when these people grow up, they will dislike the writing of that time. Himself, this also shows that his methods are not clever and cannot stand the test of time.