How to write short stories?

Materials are very important. As long as the materials are right, it can be said that the short story is half the battle. If I summarize my materials in one sentence, it is to write articles where there are no articles. In real life, this is an independent field. In reality, I wrote only a little short stories. This little thing is called the seed of short stories. Everything in the world has seeds, and everything has seeds. This seed is something that all things in the world have survived and passed down from generation to generation. Only when this seed is passed on will the world continue. Corresponding to the material world, I think short stories also have seeds. Some people call it an eye, some people call it a support point, some people call it a core, and some people call it a golden point. There may be seven or eight opinions, but I like the word seed, which gives people a full, round and beautiful feeling. The fundamental factor that may grow into a short story. This is my definition of seed. We often read some short stories when we are writing. Of course, reading some novels is also good, with lush foliage. Of course, we also see some dirty things, lacking the elements of short stories. Compared with a seed in nature, it is easier for us to find a seed in nature. When we plant cucumber fields, we should leave a label on the reserved melons, indicating that they can't be picked, so it's easier to find. It is sometimes difficult for us to find the seeds of short stories in real life. This is very difficult before entering the creation. Let's take an example, Shen Congwen's husband. This is a wonderful short story. Probably the story is about a kind of life in the past, saying that his wife went to the boat to do some reception business when she was idle. She doesn't think such a thing is ugly. At this time, when the husband goes to see his wife, he must be close with a longing and nostalgia. As a result, he got on the boat and was taken away from his wife again and again under his nose. The husband is in the front warehouse. He heard two soldiers, an earth guard, etc. Dealing with his wife, he was depressed and his wife didn't want to give him money. A man buried his face in grief and sobbed, and his wife returned to her hometown the next day. The seed of this novel, I think, finally cried. The whole process of the novel was born from this seed, and all the processes were crying away from it. Very touching. Of course, there are also rich social analysis and emotional factors, so I won't talk about it here. What I'm saying is that everything comes from this cry in the end. Seeds are sometimes at the beginning, some may be at the end, and some may be in the middle. And the seed of this novel is in the middle. Seeds are buried and have a germination process. Followed by the process of flowering and fruiting. Cultivate in front and grow in the back. Because of the seeds, the novel will stand up and the mood will be full. We have heard many practices and sayings about short stories, and we have also heard that short stories are the fate of life, which can be met but not sought. We should still have it. Only by constantly asking and asking can we be satisfied. Otherwise, we often miss such an opportunity to meet. Because I work in a newspaper and often go to the mine, many people talk to me about some strange things. What I want to say is that no matter how strange things are, if there is no seed of short stories, everything is a blind alley. I sometimes go to some places and run for many days, but without the seeds and potential of short stories, there is no need to write. The seed of this short story may be a topic, a sentence, a detail, an idea, an idea and so on. And there are all kinds of situations. One thing, a story, may exist in our minds for several years. We think we may write a short story, but we can't start writing yet, maybe we just haven't found the seeds yet. Maybe one day, we will find out where the seeds are and we will feel happy. It is time. The novel is mainly not reasonable, but reasonable. But the novel is the result of rationality, and it needs an idea to express the beauty of thought, not the truth itself. It is the expression of thought, not the thought itself. No matter how profound the novel is, it can't infect people without full feelings. Finally, the emotional world is constructed, which is the aesthetic level. In fact, at this point, I have already said another meaning. The seeds of short stories are in life, in my heart and in these two places. In real life, it can also be said that real life provides us with material and inspiration. For example, creation needs imagination, and imagination needs the foundation of life, not the plane. Real life is the land and air on which our imagination depends in our novel creation. It is impossible for each of us to pull out our hair and leave the land, so we should pay attention to real life. Having said that, we need to clarify. The novel comes from real life, but it doesn't correspond to real life. This seed needs to be found from the heart, and the seeds in real life should be put in the heart to ferment and sublimate, and finally put their own brand. What comes from real life, I think it should be divorced from real life. In real life, there is often a creative entanglement. Stop in front of us and say that I am wonderful and have a selling point. Write me out as soon as possible, because I won't suffer, and I won't even pester customers like girls. What is written in this way may be fragile and cannot be read. Some people say that today's real life is so rich that writers only need to bring it here to become novels. No matter what real life looks like, copying does not meet the artistic requirements of the novel. Because it has not entered the artistic level, there is no spiritual and artistic treatment. This kind of treatment needs to be explored in addition to psychotherapy. There is a saying that you write novels because you don't understand reality. At first glance, this is very new. Later, I think this statement may be a kind of humor played by some writers. Sometimes we may not think through a novel. Write it out and the critics will see it. If you don't think it through, it is impossible to keep writing and write a lot. How can you make people shine with your own weakness? Therefore, we still have to study a work and think. In the seed theory of short stories, Wang Anyi is quoted as saying: some novels look like predictions ... short stories are the fruits of reason ... this is just an idea. Very vague, not very clear; It's a train of thought, not a prophecy. This should be called looking for the seeds of short stories, looking for them in reality and in the heart. When you enter the inner world, you will find a lot of space. Only by entering the spiritual world can our creation be balanced. Just because we found the seeds of short stories doesn't mean that we can write good short stories. This requires a very hard process, just like planting corn, which requires plowing, sowing, fertilizing, mowing and watering ... If one link is not reached, the fruit will not be harvested. This is the growth of short stories. It can be said that each of us has a seed. For the creator, every seed is very precious. Let it grow into a big fruit, be worthy of readers and be worthy of yourself. We have heard many ways to write short stories. One more way is to say that short stories should be written by subtraction, which means refining. Many characters, many details are full of novels, and there is no space, which leads to the subtraction theory of giving up what one loves. Short stories should be written in a growing way. In other words, from life and memory, just take a little seed, cultivate it and let it thrive. Or just a cell, in the process of growth, continuous growth, combination, and finally grow. For example, a short story is a six-petal flower. If you cut off a petal, it will be incomplete. I also heard a saying that writing short stories mainly depends on control and balance. There is some truth in this statement. Let's compare it. Let's compare novels and short stories. The story is long and has many details. Can you dig out a passage from it and turn it into a short story? Not at all! Totally different. Just as sheepskin can't be put on rabbits. This is the uniqueness of short story style. It emphasizes the uniqueness of style and the requirement of short story writing skills. There is a great demand. Some people can write long stories and let them write short stories, but it is very difficult. There are emotional and technical reasons for exercising. As we said, short stories are written by growth method. Where does it grow? At this point, talk about the relationship between novel and mind. Anything written by any writer will come out as a standard part if it is not branded with spirituality. There is no value in existence. Of course, we mean a sincere heart. It can be said that each of us lives in this world. When we have a sense of life, we have a sense of mind. The so-called life consciousness is a kind of death consciousness. When people are more and more aware of this, most people tend to show that they want to grasp some material things, and feel that the more they grasp, the more they grasp the world. This kind of consciousness is wrong, which can be seen from Cao Xueqin's good songs. What we need to grasp is to grasp the heart. When literature grasps the heart, it grasps the heart and our world. Who captured people's hearts in the history of China? Cao Xueqin. There are many emperors in ancient and modern times, but how many like Cao Xueqin let us remember? Only he will not disappear. With the passage of time, history is sharpening, showing its treasure value more and more. Grasping the heart, of course, is a sincere heart. Whether a writer is sincere or not can be seen from a work. A writer has been writing for a long time, and his words bear the writer's breath, his breath and his temperament. Mo Yan said that writing is the secretion of a writer. I think every work is like a child born to a writer. I can't bear to pull it out when I'm finished. Just like marrying a daughter, I want to choose a good husband's family. I hope others will treat your children well, otherwise I will feel distressed. This requires us to be very careful and pay more attention! When I said this, I entered the spiritual world, one is the heart and the other is the heart. Focus. At ordinary times, we have some illusions that the world is very important and we can't live without ourselves, and that's not right. What is really inseparable from oneself is one's own novel. If you don't write this novel, you won't be born. Only by paying attention, only by paying attention to one thing in a person's life, is this life worthwhile. Into the heart. The real world we see is rich and gaudy, and we often feel that there is nothing to write about. If we want to write, only by going deep into our hearts can we write good works, just like lighting a jade fire. Some news, society and events are far from novels. Novels can't be disturbed by news at all, and the language of news can't be brought into novels at all. Be sure to remind yourself not to write news novels, and let the news facts ferment in your heart before writing novels. In that case, the novel grows in the heart, and besides the imagination of the brain, the whole body and mind should be devoted to this creation. The vision must be very broad, so as not to be limited, so as not to let a road go limited. If a person is weak and old, it is difficult for him to write. In his later years, Wang Zengqi wrote something that was not pleasing. They are strong, inflexible and have no feeling of flying. When people reach a certain age, if they are physically exhausted, novels can't be written at all. Just like a tree has a fruiting period, once it has passed this fruiting period, it may bear some fruits, but it will not be very big. For another example, just like a woman has a reproductive period. Novels are growing, so we should write more while we still have the ability. Novels do not engage in family planning, write more, so as not to feel tired and regret when you want to write. The novel should grow and be fine, so fine that even the fluff on the flowers is fine ... If you don't even need to be good and use it subtly ... everything you write is meticulous and meticulous. No matter who the writer is, they all have something in common psychologically. As Zhang Wei said, some excellent male writers have feminine things. The plot of the story is like a branch, and the details are like a tree full of flowers. Our novels by China pay special attention to a kind of charm. Comparing the novels of Lu Xun and Shen Congwen, Lu Xun is the beauty of thought, while Shen Congwen is the beauty of charm. Every novel should be written despite difficulties. No novel is easy and is not afraid of difficulties. When we write a novel, we don't have to read many literary books, but we can read them. We should also read some other books, such as society, photography, art and so on. Many novels promote its development through logical plots, not empirical plots. Regional culture is very important for the growth of a novelist. One is mother, the other is nature, and the other is childhood, which are the three most important aspects of a writer. The main productivity of novels is imagination, and a writer without imagination cannot be a writer. With imagination, there is room for artistic creation. Refinement is the essence of improving the quality of short stories. When it is used in short story creation, it is to pay attention to the accuracy of "white cloth", that is, to express the richest content with the most economical words, which makes people feel that their meaning is still unfinished. To write a good short story, you must have the superb skill of "being concise" (Gorky). If you can make it clear in one sentence, never use two. If you can use one word, never leave one more word. Novel creation might as well draw lessons from Zheng Banqiao's bamboo painting sentence: "redundant and thin." Only by "cutting off" and "redundancy" can we leave a "slim" that shows charm. Lu Xun said: "It is not a pity to read it at least twice after writing and try to delete unnecessary words, sentences and paragraphs." All the famous works in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad have gone through some efforts of "cutting" and "deleting". In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu opened the first draft of Zuiwengting Ji, with dozens of words, and finally cut it into five words: "Surrounding Chushan". This is to illustrate the importance of simplicity, not to require everyone to be five words in novel creation. With the accelerated pace of modern life, people have a sense of urgency about the flow of time. Coupled with the diversification of art forms, the group reading novels is relatively inferior to before. Therefore, short stories, short and pithy, are more attractive to aesthetics. Short and pithy, the key lies in high generalization ability and high pen and ink conciseness. Many of Lu Xun's works are worth seeing and learning. For example, "Debate" vividly depicts several characters with different personalities in a few sentences. Let people hear their voices and see their people. It is really a word to see personality, and a word to convey expression. There are both plots and characters here, and everyone's personality is distinct and clear, and there is a thought-provoking philosophy. It can be seen that without highly vivid, vivid, accurate and concise pen and ink, it is impossible to write such a short and pithy, meaningful and profound short story. For us novelists, it is easy to be loose and compact, and the length of tens of thousands of words is easy to spread, but it is not so easy to express a short article with the same capacity in the shortest space. Even if you can't, at least don't talk nonsense and play aimlessly. Chekhov once proudly said, "I can make a long story short." To make a long story short, it is the performance of the novel quality and the author's talent. It's a pity that some writers do the opposite now, and they are used to or prefer to write short stories, which lengthen the length of their works and make them dull and tasteless. This not only affects the refinement of novels, but also affects the tempering of the author's own thoughts and art. Gorky once said that "learning to write should start with short stories", and almost all the best writers in Western Europe and China do so. Disdaining to write short stories and starting with long stories often results in "creating a lot of language garbage". Therefore, it is helpful to learn to improve materials, language and structure for writing short and pithy novels. Tolstoy said, "short stories, this is the best school to train writers."