To be entertained, to find out who done it, to travel to strange new planets, to be scared, to laugh, to cry, to think, to feel, to be so absorbed that for a while we forget where we are.

為了娛樂自己、為了找出嫌疑犯、為了旅行到一個陌生的新星球、為了被嚇、為了開懷大笑、為了放聲大哭、為了思考、為了感受、為了沉浸其中而暫時忘記身處何處。

So, how about writing fiction? How do you suck your readers into your stories?

那麼來寫篇小說如何？要怎麼樣才能吸引讀者進入你的故事？

With an exciting plot? Maybe.

精彩的情節？可能吧！

Fascinating characters? Probably.

迷人的角色？或許吧！

Beautiful language? Perhaps.

優美的文句？大概吧！

"Billie's legs are noodles. The ends of her hair are poison needles. Her tongue is a bristly sponge, and her eyes are bags of bleach."

「比莉的腳像麵條一樣，她的髮梢是毒針，她的舌頭是乾硬的海綿，而她的眼睛是兩袋漂白劑。」

Did that description almost make you feel as queasy as Billie?

這樣的敘述有沒有讓你覺得跟比莉一樣想吐？

We grasp that Billie's legs aren't actually noodles.

我們都知道比莉的腳不是真的是麵條。

To Billie, they feel as limp as cooked noodles.

但對比莉來說， 它們癱軟得和煮熟的麵條一樣。

It's an implied comparison, a metaphor.

這是一種隱晦的比較，叫做「暗喻」。

So, why not simply write it like this?

那為什麼不直接這樣寫就好？

"Billie feels nauseated and weak."

「比莉感到噁心又虛弱。」

Chances are the second description wasn't as vivid to you as the first.

第二種說法很可能對你來說沒有第一種來得生動。

The point of fiction is to cast a spell, a momentary illusion that you are living in the world of the story.

小說的目的就是要施點魔法，讓讀者有置身於故事中的短暫幻覺。

Fiction engages the senses, helps us create vivid mental simulacra of the experiences the characters are having.

小說會驅策你使用數種感官，幫讀者在心中產生生動的擬像，就跟故事中角色所感受的一樣。

Stage and screen engage some of our senses directly.

舞台劇和影片直接運用到我們的幾種感官。

We see and hear the interactions of the characters and the setting.

我們能看到和聽到角色與佈景間的互動。

But with prose fiction, all you have is static symbols on a contrasting background.

但對於散文式的小說來說，你只有躺在白紙上的靜止黑字。

If you describe the story in matter-of-fact, non-tactile language, the spell risks being a weak one.

如果只是平舖直述的描繪故事，你的文字魔法可能會弱上不少。

Your reader may not get much beyond interpreting the squiggles.

你的讀者可能只是看懂描述的文字而已。

She will understand what Billie feels like, but she won't feel what Billie feels.

他會知道比莉的感覺，但無法感同身受。

She'll be reading, not immersed in the world of the story, discovering the truths of Billie's life at the same time that Billie herself does.

他只是在看閱讀文字，但難以融入故事去發覺比莉當下那刻的生活真實面。

Fiction plays with our senses: taste, smell, touch, hearing, sight, and the sense of motion.

小說運用到我們各種感官：味覺、嗅覺、觸覺、聽覺、視覺、和動態的感覺。

It also plays with our ability to abstract and make complex associations.

它同時運用到我們的抽象力和產生複雜聯想的能力。

Look at the following sentence.

看看下面文句。

"The world was ghost-quiet, except for the crack of sails and the burbling of water against hull."

「世界如幽靈般死寂，只有風帆啪啪作響和水撞擊船身所發出的嘩啦聲。」

The words, "quiet," "crack," and "burbling," engage the sense of hearing.

「寂靜」、「啪啪作響」和「嘩啦聲」等字運用到了聽覺。

Notice that Buckell doesn't use the generic word, "sound."

注意 Buckell (作者) 並沒有用到「聲音」這個概括性的字眼。

Each word he chooses evokes a particular quality of sound.

他所選的每個字都可以喚起腦中一種特定的聲音。

Then, like an artist laying on washes of color to give the sense of texture to a painting, he adds another layer, motion, "the crack of sails," and touch, "the burbling of water against hull."

接著，如同畫家在畫布上層層堆疊色彩以增加筆觸一般，他又增加了動感─ 「風帆啪啪作響」，以及觸感─「和水撞擊船身所發出的嘩啦聲」兩個層面。

Finally, he gives us an abstract connection by linking the word quiet with the word ghost.

最後，他給了一個抽象的連結，把「寂靜」和「幽靈」做結合。

Not "quiet as a ghost," which would put a distancing layer of simile between the reader and the experience.

他不是寫「和幽靈一樣安靜」，因為這樣可能會使讀者感受到的和你想表達的比喻產生距離。

Instead, Buckell creates the metaphor "ghost-quiet" for an implied, rather than overt, comparison.

反之，Buckell 用了「如幽靈般死寂」這個比喻作為暗示，而不是直接地比較。

Writers are always told to avoid cliches because there's very little engagement for the reader in an overused image, such as "red as a rose."

作家們都會避免寫出陳腔爛調，因為讀者對這種司空見慣的畫面興趣缺缺，例如「如玫瑰般鮮紅」。

But give them, "Love...began on a beach. It began that day when Jacob saw Anette in her stewed-cherry dress," and their brains engage in the absorbing task of figuring out what a stewed-cherry dress is like.

但如果我們說：「愛情... 就此在海灘上萌芽。愛萌生於雅各看見安妮特穿著燉櫻桃色洋裝的那天。」讀者就會融入這引人入勝的思緒之中，想像燉櫻桃色洋裝到底長什麼樣子。

Suddenly, they're on a beach about to fall in love.

突然間，讀者便來到了海灘上，即將墜入情網。

They're experiencing the story at both a visceral and a conceptual level, meeting the writer halfway in the imaginative play of creating a dynamic world of the senses.

他們會在內在和概念層面同時體驗到這個故事，並與作者富於想像力所創造出來的感官世界相契合。

So when you write, use well-chosen words to engage sound, sight, taste, touch, smell, and movement.

所以當在你動筆時， 用些精心挑選出的字來增加視、聽、味、觸、嗅和動感的體驗。

Then create unexpected connotations among your story element, and set your readers' brushfire imaginations alight.

接著在故事之中，設計些讓人料想不到的內容，來點燃讀者如熊熊烈火般的想像力吧！