来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年1月8日
本文作者是Harlan Coben，这个名字在2022英语二完形填空中出现过。
In college I worked as a tour guide on the Costa del Sol. It was a weird scene. I saw some wild stuff; some violence I’d like to forget. I lived in one hotel room with four or five people for a while. I worked in a disco. But it inspired my first attempt at really writing. I needed to get it all down.
上大学的时候，我在太阳海岸做导游，那是一个很奇怪的场景。我看到一些野蛮的东西；有些暴力我想忘记。有一段时间，我和四五个人住在一个旅馆房间里。我在迪斯科舞厅工作。但它激发了我第一次真正写作的尝试。我需要把一切都记下来。
I think most writers have impostor syndrome. On the one hand you think, “I suck, I’ve got nothing to say, this isn’t working at all,” and the next moment you have the hubris to say, “I’m going to write 500 pages and people are going to pay me to read it.”
我认为大多数作家都有冒名顶替综合症。一方面，你会想，“我太逊了，我没什么可说的，这根本不起作用，”下一刻，你又会傲慢地说，“我要写500页，人们会付钱读。”
My advice for writers? Just get it out. You can fix bad pages. You can’t fix no pages.
我对作家的建议？写出来就是了。写的不好可以修改，但没写就什么都修改不了了。
There’s a lot of me in my stories. No writer likes to admit this, but when I started my Harlan Coben series a lot of it was wish fulfilment. He’s smarter than me, faster, stronger. I played basketball; he was a better player than me. As the series went on, I created a tension between us. His parents are alive. Mine died young. His dream in life is to get married and have kids. I did that. We’re jealous of each other.
我的小说里有很多我的影子。没有作家愿意承认这一点，但当我开始写哈兰·科本系列的时候，很多都是为了实现自己的愿望。他比我聪明，更快，更强。我打篮球；他是一个比我更好的球员。随着该系列的继续，我在我们之间制造了一种紧张气氛。他的父母还活着。我的父母死得很早。他的人生梦想是结婚生子。我已经做到这一点。我们彼此嫉妒。
I used to write in the back of Ubers. I can’t write in the same place for very long. I basically finished The Stranger over three weeks of Uber rides. Then that stopped working so I tried something else. Planes were it for a while. Not that I was taking planes everywhere, but I was drawn to long flights. Generally speaking, I like being disturbed a bit. It makes me focus harder.
我以前常打优步坐在后面写。我不能在同一个地方写太久。我基本上是用三周的优步打车完成了《陌生人》。后来这个方法不管用了，所以我尝试了别的方法。有一段时间是飞机。并不是说我去哪儿都乘飞机，而是我被长途飞行所吸引。总的来说，我喜欢被打扰一下。它让我更努力集中注意力。
I don’t know any writer who doesn’t like being alone. I’m an introvert. A socially adept one, but an introvert all the same. I can be fine in company, but when I go home I’m exhausted. I need to not see anyone for a while. If you’re a person who constantly wants people around you, writing probably isn’t for you.
我不知道有哪个作家不喜欢独处。我是个内向的人。一个善于社交的人，但仍然是一个内向的人。有人陪伴我可以很好，但当我回家时，我已经筋疲力尽了。我暂时不想见任何人。如果你是一个经常想要别人在你身边的人，写作可能不适合你。
Only one of my kids had any interest or talent in writing. That’s Charlotte, she’s a really good scriptwriter. She’s worked with me on my Netflix adaptations. The rest are all science-based, like their mother, a physician. One of my daughters is majoring in computational biology. I don’t even know what that means. My son just got a job in flight control at Nasa. I like bragging about that. I’m really proud.
我的孩子中只有一个对写作有兴趣或有天赋。那是夏洛特，她是个很好的编剧。她曾和我合作过Netflix的改编电影。其他孩子都是从事科学工作的，就像他们的母亲，是名医生。我的另一个女儿主修计算生物学。我都不知道计算生物学是什么意思。我儿子刚在美国宇航局找到一份飞行控制的工作。我喜欢吹嘘这一点。我很自豪。
The importance of my Jewishness changes. I’m secular, but it’s the world I grew up in. It’s in my makeup. I view my Jewishness as cultural. There’s a weird deal with Jews where they will define themselves as Jewish even if they don’t buy a word. You don’t see too many Catholics or Christians or anybody Muslim saying, “Oh, I’m a Catholic, but I don’t buy a word of it!”
我犹太人身份的重要性发生了变化。我是世俗的，但犹太教是我成长的世界。它是我的一部分。我把犹太身份视为一种文化。犹太人之间有一种奇怪的协议，即使他们一个字都不信，也会把自己定义为犹太人。你不会看到很多天主教徒、基督徒或任何穆斯林说，“哦，我是天主教徒，但我天主教的一个字都不信!”
I can’t tell you the secret to writing a great mystery other than to say I’m always asking, “What if?” It’s a fair criticism that I twist too much. If you don’t like a twist, I’m really not your guy! But really what I’m trying to do is make every paragraph, every page, every sentence and every word more compelling. How can I make you want to turn the page even more?
我无法告诉你写一部伟大的悬疑小说的秘诀是什么，除了说我总是问，“如果这样写会怎样呢？”我的小说反转太多，这是一个合理的批评。如果你不喜欢反转，那我真的对你不会有什么帮助！但我真正想做的是让每一段、每一页、每一句、每一个词都更有扣人心弦。我怎样才能让你更想翻开新的一页继续读下去？