尼爾·蓋曼是近十幾年來歐美文壇崛起的最耀眼的明星。其創作領域橫跨科幻小說、恐怖小說、兒童小說、漫畫以及歌詞。他的作品不但部部暢銷，更獲獎無數，他的奇幻佳作《美國眾神》為他包攬了科幻界最有名的雙獎——雨果獎和星雲獎。恐怖小說大師斯蒂芬·金稱讚他是一個“裝滿了故事的寶庫”。來聽聽他是如何創作的吧。
Let me give you some advice.
讓我給大家提一些建議。
The process of doing your second draft, is a process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.
在你做第二稿的時候，就是讓你表現出自己一直都非常清楚自己的故事內容的過程。
Writing a novel is like driving through the fog, with one headlight out.
寫小說就像是在霧中開車一樣，而且一個前大燈還不亮。
You can't see very far ahead of yourself.
你看不到前方很遠的位置。
But every now and again, the mists will clear.
但每隔一段時間，迷霧就會散去。
In my class, I'm going to tell you what stories are.
在我的課上，我會告訴大家故事是什麼。
I'm going to give you some tips.
我會給大家一些提示。
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.
我會讓大家做一些練習，最重要的是，我會幫大家完善一些你不曾掌握的技能。
Here we go.
開始吧。
I'll go through the whole thing, because it's fairly short, and it does a whole bunch of stuff with character.
我會從頭到尾過一遍，因為它本身很簡短，而且還能做很多對人物刻畫的工作。
And then I'll tell you what I did.
我會告訴大家我是怎麼做的。
I have writer's block.
我有寫作障礙。
I cannot write.
我不能寫作。
Sounds like something that you can do nothing about.
聽起來好像是無能為力一樣。
That, of course, isn't true.
其實，當然不是。
Why don't I take you through the process of plotting a comic?
為什麼不讓我帶大家經歷一個漫畫策劃的旅程呢？
Sandman 19.
《睡魔》第十九期。
I can give you how I do it and how I did it.
我會告訴大家我是怎麼做的。
You do it like this, your thumbnails will only be seen by you.
你像我這樣做，你的草稿插圖只會被自己看到。
You definitely don't have to show them to an artist who can actually draw.
你沒必要把它們交給那些擅長美術的藝術家。
Worldbuilding is honestly the joy of getting to play God.
誠懇地說，建立一個世界的快樂就在於能夠扮演上帝。
Every little detail that you can smuggle with you into your fiction, makes your world more real for your reader.
你可以把任何細節悄悄地帶入小說中，讓讀者看到的世界更加真實。
And you know, of course, that they're just smudges in the background.
你當然知道，這些只是故事背景中的汙點。
But that's OK, because it was informed, by you and an imagination.
沒關係的，因為這是你，和你的想象，想要表達的東西。
Human beings are storytelling creatures.
人是會講故事的動物。
Stories are vital.
故事至關重要。
We convey truth with stories.
我們用故事傳達真理。
That is the magic of fiction.
這就是小說的魔力。
You need that conviction that you are brilliant.
你要堅定相信自己是才華橫溢的。
This is the greatest idea that anybody's ever had.
這是任何人都沒有過的偉大想法。
And that by writing it, you will set the world on fire.
通過寫作，你就會點亮整個世界。
I'm Neil Gaiman, and this is my MasterClass.
我是Neil Gaiman，這就是我的大師課。
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