On the Narrative Prose Writing of People

The Writing of Narrative Prose: the Concept of Prose

Broad sense: as opposed to "verse". Any article that doesn't rhyme or pay attention to parallelism is prose.

Narrow sense: a literary form with short length, wide subject matter and flexible style except novels, plays and poems. It can remember people, narrate, visualize, write scenes and express requests. It is more free and lively in material, form and expression, and closer to people's real life.

Classification of narrow sense prose: Generally speaking, it can be divided into: personal prose, narrative prose, lyric prose, landscape prose and discussion prose. The main content of narrative prose is to describe events and introduce characters, such as Mr. Fujino by Lu Xun. Lyric prose pays more attention to the expression of the author's personal feelings. He expressed his will by touching the scene, associating with the description of real things and scenes, and expounding philosophy, such as Mao Dun's Praise for Poplar. Landscape prose is usually expressed in travel notes. Argumentative writing aims at discussion, but it is different from political and ideological criticism or academic papers. It is full of literary color in words and means, such as Lu Xun's essays, Han Yu's essays and Bacon's essays. Various essays sometimes overlap, but the emphasis is still different.

Second, an overview of Remembering People and narrative prose

People-remembering and narrative prose includes characters, stories and details, which seem to be short stories or communication features. In fact, the difference between it and a novel or a newsletter feature is that, generally speaking, the story of a novel is relatively complete. Although it has a real life foundation, the characters and plots are often fictional, while the characters are mainly characterized by typical descriptions. Through the shaping of characters and the twists and turns of stories, the author's thoughts and opinions are expressed in a relaxed way. The characteristics of communication should have universal authenticity, emphasize authenticity and timeliness, and have news value. Writing characters and narrative prose does not need to pay attention to the concentration and integrity of characters and events like novels, nor does it need to emphasize the news value of the subject matter like spreading close-ups Instead, the author's thoughts and feelings or emotional experiences are used as the link and motivation of the structure of the work, and the specific materials are connected in series for observation, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling things with emotion or helping others.

Prose has a long history and rich heritage in China. Spring and Autumn Annals is the oldest narrative prose. Zuo Zhuan and Guo Ce in the Warring States period further embodied the characteristics of remembering people, vivid narrative twists and turns and vivid description. The Historical Records written by Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty, as Lu Xun said, is "a historian's swan song, and Li Sao has no rhyme". It is concise, auspicious and informative, telling the facts accurately and vividly, portraying the characters vividly, analyzing things, infecting and inspiring readers. After the May 4th New Culture Movement, a large number of vernacular prose emerged after absorbing the essence of foreign literature and combining with the quintessence of Chinese culture, and suddenly emerged in the literary world and became a heavyweight in the literary world. Writers such as Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Bing Xin, Zhu Ziqing, Mao Dun and Huang Zongying all have many excellent prose works, which are well known by people.

Third, remember people and write narrative prose.

1, photo record, good at giving examples.

Visualization and lyricism are naturally very important in the selection of prose materials and artistic expression requirements, and more attention should be paid to recording facts. Some people say that poetry has turned rice into wine, and the shape and nature of materials have undergone fundamental changes; Prose is to cook rice into rice. The shape and properties of the material have changed to a limited extent, but its essence has not changed. Some people say: poetry is a dance, and prose is a stroll. The former has artistic deformation and exaggeration; The latter is a leisurely display of human natural ecology. It is the unique documentary function and practical means of prose that makes it more convenient and free than other literary styles, and requires its writing to become an "art without art". Gorky said: "In my opinion, prose is more difficult than poetry. It requires a particularly keen eye, insight, and the ability to see and discover things that others have not seen. "

It is precisely because of the emphasis on fact description that prose is not easy to weave tortuous, sensational and complete stories, nor can it rely solely on lyricism and discussion to replace facts. The ideological and artistic appeal of the article basically depends on the author's approval, the choice of materials and the description of relevant details.

For example:

Hui Yuyu's "Remembering Comrade Huang" starts from the shortcomings of the other party, whether to suppress before promoting or to suppress before promoting. This is not only a stereotype, but also a refreshing feeling. On the contrary, when writing his shortcomings, it reflects the other party's loyalty to the revolution, integrity and selflessness. This is not only the writing skill, but also the result of the author's in-depth understanding of Huang Ming, which makes his writing more real and touching.

The essays in Lu Xun's Flowers in the Morning and Flowers in the Evening vividly depict YanTaitai's cheating behavior and the image of a villain who takes pleasure in fooling and hurting others. Seemingly trivial past events have serious themes and profound social connotations.

Xinmin Evening News Luminous Cup? Decameron column once published a group of anecdotes about generals, including a story about General Han Xianchu 198 1 returning to China, which was very vivid and exciting, and triggered a thought-provoking social and practical significance from the dialogue between words and deeds.

It can be seen that being good at drawing materials is the most basic condition for writing memorable and narrative prose.

Paying attention to the social cognitive significance and aesthetic value of the material itself is the main significance of this kind of prose. This is different from the typification of general literary works. Fiction and drama can achieve the unity of fiction and truth through the artistic generalization of "taking all people from others and synthesizing them into one" Writing people and narrative prose should give full play to the characteristics similar to photography, and show the original beautiful things and phenomena worth pondering in life with the author's keen observation and accurate and meticulous brushwork.

At present, the so-called "style of writing" among a few young people, that is, to get rid of the "mainstream discourse" and express their humble passion and mortal desire with "I" as the center, is called "new humanistic value" This is undesirable and extreme individualism, and it is an evil road to liberalization.

The famous old writer Gong Liu wrote in the preface of the famous writer Liu Xiangru's prose collection Moon and Stars:

The central question is: What is good prose? Personally, I think it can be summarized in eight words, namely: sincerity, sincerity, simplicity and accuracy.

Honesty refers to the conception of a proposition, which runs through the whole process of conception and embodies a serious attitude towards life.

Sincerity means that there can be no falsehood and affectation emotionally. Can't "play" prose.

Simple, of course, is highly skilled, or has no skills, or opposes "obscenity."

Accuracy means repeatedly screening and refining words and expressions, which is not easy and irreplaceable.

If we go further, we might as well point out that the most fundamental thing is honesty and sincerity.

Ancient papers were all about "love". I think the so-called emotion is honesty and sincerity. Or write down the trivial things around you, or like flowers, birds, fish and insects ... you can express your feelings and wishes anywhere. Because emotion is really the soul and spirit of the article; Emotion and ambition, prose will reach the perfect state of scattered form but not scattered spirit.

Liu Xiangru's Poems on the Stars and Moon, Essays on Yingxi, Comet, Fan Hua, Notes on Yuhuatang and Wei Nian all come from the author's heart: without exaggeration, they move the truth, contain philosophy without preaching, from the outside to the inside, see the big picture from the small, and the pen tip is full of the author's own true blood, tears and dribs and drabs.

2, "people" see personality, "things" have waves.

Narrating events and portraying characters are the basic contents and main tasks of narrative prose. The narrative should be clear, natural from beginning to end, with vivid details and turbulent plots to increase the readability of the works. The narration of things should serve the expression and description of people, because things are made by people. The evolution of things is always influenced by people's thoughts, personalities and living environment (including the interaction of interpersonal relationships). Remember people, narrative prose can't invent stories, nor can it create people's images by the author's imagination; Only by combing and tailoring the real things can we find out the story and context, as well as the specific reasons why the relevant people did something, and then give an accurate and vivid expression.

Both Chunqiu and Zuozhuan describe the same case, but their differences are quite distinct. One is very brief, the other is very detailed, ups and downs, and the characters are vividly portrayed.

There are only a dozen words in the narrative of Spring and Autumn Annals: (Zhuang Gong) In the spring of ten years, he attacked me and lost in Changshao.

However, the "Cao Gui Debate" in Zuo Zhuan was reported and described in a completely different way:

In the spring of ten years, the army of Qi attacked our country of Lu. Duke Zhuang is going to fight. The king asked to see Lord Zhuang. On the festival of his fellow villagers, he said, "What's the matter with meat eaters?" "Those in power are short-sighted and unable to think deeply," Cao Gui said. "Then they went to the court to see the duke.

"What are you fighting for?" Cao Gui asked. "Gongri:" I have no worries about food and clothing. If I dare to specialize, I will divide people. "To Tian:" Small profits are not exhausted, and the people are smooth. Zhuang Gong said, "I never dare to exaggerate the number of pigs, sheep, jade articles, silks and so on. I must tell God the truth." . Cao Gui said: "Mix has no credit and cannot be trusted by the gods. The gods will not bless you." . "..." Qi Huangong said, "Although a small prison cannot be sacrificed, it must be treated with affection." Yes, he said, "Loyalty belongs to you. You can fight a war. If you fight, please follow (Cao Gui asks to participate in the war). "

Multiply it. The battle is in the long run. People beat drums (drum March). "Not now," said Cao Gui. "Wait until after Qi Jun drummed three times. Hey hey: "Not bad. "Qi Jun was completely defeated. The public will catch up (send troops to catch up). "Not now," Cao Gui said. Then he got out of the chariot, looked at the tracks of Qi Jun's wheels, climbed into the chariot, propped up the front railing of the chariot, looked at Qi Jun's formation, and said, "You can chase." . "So the pursuit of Qi Jun was pursued.

After winning, the king asked him why he won. To Japan: "It takes courage to fight. High spirits, then decline, three exhausted. I am tired, I am surplus, so I will overcome it. Great powers are unpredictable and frightening. I regard it as chaos and look at its flag, so I chase it. "

Write first why you fight, then why you can fight, then write the battle process, and finally write the reasons for defeating the enemy. The author highlights Cao Gui's main personality characteristics: attaching importance to political mobilization before the war and understanding the importance of people's hearts; Pay attention to research in the face of war and be good at grasping fighters; Summarizing the victory after the war shows his foresight and alertness to know yourself and yourself. This is a vivid and detailed historical record of a famous war case in history, and it also leaves a good article with rich literary value.

People's social life is not a stagnant pool, and it is inseparable from contradictions and conflicts. Choosing such a theme can not only attract readers, but also reasonably expand and resolve contradictions, making the article ups and downs, vivid plot and rich ideological connotation. Such as Sima Qian's Historical Records? The "Hongmen Banquet" in Biography of Xiang Yu is an example, which has become a well-known story.

Some essays do not necessarily contain contradictions that are difficult to reconcile between opposing sides, but they can also be written with ups and downs and twists and turns. This is based on the author's description skills and writing techniques. The expression of this kind of theme can be written in the way of "wanting to promote first and restraining first" or "wanting to restrain first and restraining first", which causes the exaggeration of the atmosphere and the change of readers' psychology, so as to examine the change and ending of the promotion event; The last "breakthrough", the finishing touch, makes readers suddenly realize that they are full of interest. For example, there is an article "Going Home" which is a good example. Obviously, this article can attract and impress readers more than the article that announces "new things and new practices" at the beginning, making the theme of the article more profound and meaningful and infecting readers for a long time. This is the writing skill of "relaxation".

In addition, you can also use contrast, contrast, etc., so that people and things can form contrast, set each other off, or complement each other, and all can receive good results.

3, reasonable imagination, real reproduction

On the premise of depicting real people, the author correctly exerts his imagination, realizes image analogy and detail reduction, and realizes the unity of life and art.

We must distinguish between fiction and imagination. Remember people, narrative prose does not advocate fiction, but it cannot be without imagination. Because of the complexity of life, it is often difficult to obtain accurate and specific first-hand information for every link or detail of its whole development process. In order to show that the long life chain will not be blurred by the defects of some links, it needs appropriate and realistic imagination to supplement it, especially the psychological activities of the characters.

There is a wonderful description of the reason in The Sword of Eyebrows: ... Xiao Luan Finn slammed his sword and hit the opponent's sword outward, and the tip of the sword threatened the opponent's chest. Each other instinctively inward sword, defensive action, this is exactly what Xiao Luan expected. She immediately turned to the second tactical intention. Before the first move was completed, her wrist shook and she drew her sword back. The sword drew a fan in the air, winding from the inside out, pointing directly at the exposed space of the other side. At the same time, lunge forward and put the sword down straight. This series of skillful and delicate swordsmanship, accompanied by strength, depth and accuracy, broke out instantly, such as a snake spewing flames and flashing silver light, hitting the opponent's abdomen directly.

The author spent half the interview asking the coach for advice, and then simply had a slow-motion game with the coach. Without such in-depth and hard study, it is impossible to write such vivid and extended words.

Xu Chi's Goldbach Conjecture is an excellent prose which enjoys a good reputation in the literary world. He wrote:

He trudged on the mountain road of mathematics, struggling forward ... he only knew how to climb and transcend the abyss; He just climbs, between infinite scenery. A piece of combat manuscript paper, flying like slow snow, covered the earth. Numbers, symbols, lemmas, formulas, logic and reasoning are all piled up on the floor, three feet deep. Suddenly it became a mountain under my knee, with thousands of snow lotus. He finally reached the only way to climb the summit. ...

For example, I have written such an imagination as a necessary supplement to psychological description, such as Breaking the Family, A Funny Peep, The Sea and Impression of Camellia Festival.

The author's artistic skill and creativity are mainly reflected in his careful identification, clever tailoring and vivid description of real people and events with typical significance in real life.

4. Blend sense with reason and deepen the theme.

Emphasis is placed on factual photography, but it is not the accumulation or recording of original materials. Whether it is a character or an event, the author should not only master enough materials, but also have some unique opinions and emotional experiences to reflect the central idea of the article. The treatment and reappearance of this theme is like sending out the dim light of candles and axes, and digging for stones to get jade. In this way, loose materials are combined into an organic whole, and fresh and profound meanings are excavated from ordinary things.

For example, Wu Boxiao's essay "Remember a Spinning Wheel", based on his personal experience, put the ordinary monotonous spinning wheel into the historical picture of's doing it yourself in response to the Party's call in Yan 'an base area, having ample food and clothing, persisting in the war of resistance against Japan, and transforming China, so that this ordinary spinning wheel has an unusual meaning, so: wheels and spindles can play strings. The posture of the yarn-visiting workers has the momentum of "white cranes hanging their wings", which makes people feel that "it is hard to say whether it is production, dance or physical exercise". Even the ugly spinning wheel shows the imposing manner of SHEN WOO, a symbol of "good bow" and "good horse", and its owner is full of romantic revolutionary struggle spirit.

In order to highlight the social significance of people and events and deepen readers' understanding and sensibility of the theme, we can adopt a visual expression technique to create an atmosphere of blending scenes and attract readers to the people and things praised by the author with beautiful brushstrokes.

For example, Meng Xiaoyun's Tears of Populus euphratica (published in the 4th issue of Wen Hui Monthly, 1984) is one of the representative works. First of all, he wrote about Hu Yangshu's valuable qualities of resisting salt and alkali, sandstorm, high temperature and cold. "Three thousand years of immortality, one thousand years of death and one thousand years of falling to the ground". If you cut the bark, it will shed tears and soon become a crystal called Populine, which can be eaten, washed and made into soap ... Then, the author thought of Mr. Qian Zongren from Tarim Agricultural University. The author wrote: "Qian Zongren told me about the bumpy experience of self-taught examination for 20 years. ..... I always remember, remember, his words seem to be a drop of tears from the Populus euphratica tree. " This kind of faithful description makes Qian Zongren's description and notes not only add image brilliance, but also convey emotional brilliance; The article seems to be organic, and its ideological implication is more meaningful and profound.

Another example is Huang Zongying's Beautiful Eyes (Stars, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House), which has a profound theme and exquisite conception. Its content is based on the rescue of severely burned patients in hospitals, involving the struggle between patients and pain, the moral and emotional tests of patients' relatives and the enlightenment and education of medical staff through their work. For these materials with different contexts and staggered perspectives, the author outlines the life silhouette of "eyes" one by one and connects them organically and freely. Readers can not only understand the whole story, but also feel the philosophical enlightenment and poetic beauty through the "window of the soul".

On Yu's prose;

Take his "cultural journey" as an example. Among them, there is only 2,500 words of "Hidden Springs in the Sand Garden", which is purely a lyric prose of mountains and rivers, but picturesque. The main content of this article is the process and feelings of the author climbing the sand mountain alone in the desert land of Huangxian County, and then going down to enjoy the clear spring. In the article, Yu described the beauty of the sand mountain like this: "Light and shadow are separated by the straightest lines, and gold and indigo are pure and mottled, as if they had been screened by a huge sieve. The wind of day and night shapes the ridges and slopes into waves, which are extremely gentle and gentle, without a ripple ... "In the works of aestheticians and writers," light ","shadow "and" line "are no longer purely theoretical and lifeless words. After Guo Moruo was born, he praised Mr. Yu and often lamented that "I am not as good as you." .

5. How to write a good composition

(1) Correct mentality: The Olympic spirit of "Faster, Higher and Stronger" advocated by Coubertin is to let go of your dreams, surpass yourself and limit yourself, so as to achieve "perseverance", "ambition" and "heart", despise and attach importance to it, and constantly climb to new heights in writing.

(2) Grasp the main points of the theme, that is, explore the intersection of the author's thoughts and emotions that are most touched, touched, infected and lamented, and even produce an impulse to stop writing. Otherwise, it is difficult to act according to the rules, and often fall into the old stereotyped writing or new dogma. The monotonous red tape makes readers "chew wax" and loses the readability, appreciation and appeal of literature. For example: "If you don't cut it, it will be chaotic".

(3) It is necessary to master first-hand materials in detail, but it is not limited to this. As long as you have some feelings and basic materials, you can make a good draft, set an outline, determine the writing method, concentrate on writing, and devote yourself to it at one go, as if you were the protagonist in the work. If the author is listless, listless and reluctant to go, how can he expect the reader to be moved? Although a good article strives for beauty in wording and sentences, it cannot be stuck in the mud. Even if the article is unpretentious, it may be a good work if it has true feelings and bright spots.

(4) Ask for advice with an open mind, be diligent in revision and keep polishing. As the saying goes, "a good article is not written, but revised" is the truth. Just like Gai Lou, if there is no interior and exterior decoration, no matter how tall and big it is, it will not be pleasing to the eye. But the basic premise is that there must be a basic framework of architecture. Articles are no exception. You have to have a first draft before you can revise and polish it and make a good article.

(5) Flexible and appropriate use of contrast, contrast, contrast, rendering, metaphor, exaggeration and other techniques to increase the wonderful degree of characterization and plot description.

(6) On the basis of truly remembering people and narrating, mainly narrating, comments, poems and descriptions can be appropriately added to increase the richness of the article and give readers beautiful enjoyment.

(7) Improve observation and start digging up valuable topics in details. Lu Xun said that "all joys and sorrows become articles" is the truth. What I'm afraid of is that I don't worry about the theme without my heart. Examples: the sea, interesting peeping, and so on.

(8) The Analects of Confucius says that "if a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools." With the increasing popularity of computers, many writers and literary lovers are good at writing with computers. This has too many advantages: extensive and convenient access to information on the Internet, quick writing, simple modification, safe storage, portability, easy printing, convenient mailing, twice the result with half the effort, and increased the fun of writing.