尼尔·盖曼是近十几年来欧美文坛崛起的最耀眼的明星。其创作领域横跨科幻小说、恐怖小说、儿童小说、漫画以及歌词。他的作品不但部部畅销，更获奖无数，他的奇幻佳作《美国众神》为他包揽了科幻界最有名的双奖——雨果奖和星云奖。恐怖小说大师斯蒂芬·金称赞他是一个“装满了故事的宝库”。来听听他是如何创作的吧。
Let me give you some advice.
让我给大家提一些建议。
The process of doing your second draft, is a process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.
在你做第二稿的时候，就是让你表现出自己一直都非常清楚自己的故事内容的过程。
Writing a novel is like driving through the fog, with one headlight out.
写小说就像是在雾中开车一样，而且一个前大灯还不亮。
You can't see very far ahead of yourself.
你看不到前方很远的位置。
But every now and again, the mists will clear.
但每隔一段时间，迷雾就会散去。
In my class, I'm going to tell you what stories are.
在我的课上，我会告诉大家故事是什么。
I'm going to give you some tips.
我会给大家一些提示。
I'm going to give you some exercises, and most of all, I'm going to give you a little push forward that you might not have had.
我会让大家做一些练习，最重要的是，我会帮大家完善一些你不曾掌握的技能。
Here we go.
开始吧。
I'll go through the whole thing, because it's fairly short, and it does a whole bunch of stuff with character.
我会从头到尾过一遍，因为它本身很简短，而且还能做很多对人物刻画的工作。
And then I'll tell you what I did.
我会告诉大家我是怎么做的。
I have writer's block.
我有写作障碍。
I cannot write.
我不能写作。
Sounds like something that you can do nothing about.
听起来好像是无能为力一样。
That, of course, isn't true.
其实，当然不是。
Why don't I take you through the process of plotting a comic?
为什么不让我带大家经历一个漫画策划的旅程呢？
Sandman 19.
《睡魔》第十九期。
I can give you how I do it and how I did it.
我会告诉大家我是怎么做的。
You do it like this, your thumbnails will only be seen by you.
你像我这样做，你的草稿插图只会被自己看到。
You definitely don't have to show them to an artist who can actually draw.
你没必要把它们交给那些擅长美术的艺术家。
Worldbuilding is honestly the joy of getting to play God.
诚恳地说，建立一个世界的快乐就在于能够扮演上帝。
Every little detail that you can smuggle with you into your fiction, makes your world more real for your reader.
你可以把任何细节悄悄地带入小说中，让读者看到的世界更加真实。
And you know, of course, that they're just smudges in the background.
你当然知道，这些只是故事背景中的污点。
But that's OK, because it was informed, by you and an imagination.
没关系的，因为这是你，和你的想象，想要表达的东西。
Human beings are storytelling creatures.
人是会讲故事的动物。
Stories are vital.
故事至关重要。
We convey truth with stories.
我们用故事传达真理。
That is the magic of fiction.
这就是小说的魔力。
You need that conviction that you are brilliant.
你要坚定相信自己是才华横溢的。
This is the greatest idea that anybody's ever had.
这是任何人都没有过的伟大想法。
And that by writing it, you will set the world on fire.
通过写作，你就会点亮整个世界。
I'm Neil Gaiman, and this is my MasterClass.
我是Neil Gaiman，这就是我的大师课。
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