On Writing Well -Day5 (Ch9)

Content：

Part I | Principles

1. The Transaction

2. Simplicity

3. Clutter (Writing clean English Sentence)

4. Style (Preserving your identity)

5. The audience (Who am I writing for)

6. Words (The only tools you’ve got)

7. Usage (What is good usage)

Part II | Methods

8. Unity (Anchor of good writing)

9. The lead and the ending

....

Words and Expressions:

1 Coax the reader a little more; keep him inquisitive..

  coax有三种用法，但使用原则 ：When you coax, you have to be nice about it – you can’t threaten or force.

【释义】

1. If you coax someone into doing something, you gently try to persuade them to do it.

    After lunch, she watched, listened and coaxed Bobby into talking about himself.

2. If you coax something such as information out of someone, you gently persuade them to give it to you.

    The WPC talked yesterday of her role in trying to coax vital information from the young victim.

3. If you coax a machine or device into doing something, you make it work by operating it very slowly and gently.

    He would stride on stage then proceed to coax the sweetest possible sounds out of his violin.

2. it was asked by the poultry industry to relax the conditions under which the ingredients might also include chicken.

    Relax 这里指make less formal or restrained, 也可以用于rules， 比如“Rules governing student conduct relaxed somewhat in recent years.”

3. Probably no other museum is so personal a pilgrimage to our past.

pilgrimage指朝圣者的旅程，但也可以指 "fans often visit the places that are — or were — significant to their heroes."，本章描述棒球粉丝的片段应该是后者的含义。

【释义】

A pilgrimage is a journey that someone makes to a place that is very important to them

4. the end that’s in sight turns out to be a mirage

mirage是海市蜃楼的意思，但也可表示 “sth not real or true, although it may seem to be.”

Thoughts:

钓鱼最重要的步骤之一是什么，让鱼上钩。

让鱼上钩的秘诀是什么：鱼饵。

那写作的鱼饵靠什么，a good lead。

在这个可以“先尝后买”，处处是distraction，每个人的attention span只有140字的年代，鱼饵的作用有多重要？

问问自己，有多少次在试读章节以后，放弃一整片森林。又有多少次，在看到“熬过前两章，后面很精彩”的点评以后，不愿意去尝试一本书。

原因可能有很多种，但归根结底，开头不够吸引人，不足以吸引读者读下去。

学着做鱼饵，先从学会讲故事开始。积累素材来讲一个好故事，总会有人来听。

那么，钓鱼的另一个重要步骤是什么：收线。

写作中的收线靠什么：a good ending。

收线讲究的又是什么，timing。

收早了，鱼钩咬的不够紧，鱼会跑；收晚了，鱼挣扎的太厉害，线会断…

ending也是同理，该收就收，讲完该讲的，完美谢幕。

Use your bait, with the perfect control, you'll hook the fish.