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Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a creative writing class.
独白:请听下面一部分的创意写作课程。
Professor:Alright everybody, the topic for today is,
教授:好的，我们今天的要讨论的话题，
well, we're gonna take a look at how to start creating the characters for the story you're writing.
就是我们来看看怎么样为你们写的故事创造一个角色。
One way of doing that is to come up with what's called “a character sketch”,I don't mean a sketch like a drawing, I guess that's obvious.
其中一种方法就是想出一个“人物草图”，我并不是指像画画那样的草图，这个你们肯定都了解。
It's um…it's a…a sketch as a way of getting started on defining your characters' personalities.
嗯，一个草图就是一开始定义你人物性格的一种方法。
To begin, how do we create fictional characters?
首先是我们怎样创作一个小说角色呢？
We don't just pull them from thin air, do we?
我们并不是空想出来一个角色，是这样吧？
I mean we don't create them out of nothing.
我是说我们并不是凭空捏造一个角色。
We base them, consciously or unconsciously,
我们会有意或无意的建立基础，
we base them on real people,
我们会基于一个真实的人创作角色，
or we blend several people's traits, their attributes into one character.
或者融合好几个人的特点、性格在一个人身上。
But when people think fiction, they may assume the characters come from the author's imagination.
但当人们提到小说，会认为角色们都是作者想象出来的。
But the writer's imagination is influenced by… by real people,
但是作者的想象是受到真实人物影响，
could be anyone,
可能是任意一个人，
so, pay attention to the people you meet,
所以，注意一下你们所遇见的人，
someone in class, at the gym, that guy who is always sitting in the corner of the coffee house,
班里的、健身房里的、经常坐在咖啡馆角落里的、
um… your cousin, who's always getting into dangerous situations.
还有经常处于危险境地的你的表兄弟。
We're pulling from reality, gathering bits and pieces of real people.
我们从现实中获取素材，从真实的人物身上一点一点获取。
You use these people,
你使用这些人物，
and the bits of behavior or characteristics as a starting point as you begin to sketch out your characters.
使用他们行为特征的点点滴滴作为构思你人物草图的起始点。
Here is what you should think about doing first.
下面是你应该首先考虑的。
When you begin to formulate a story, make a list of interesting people you know or have observed.
当你决定开始策划一个故事的时候，列个单子写下来你认识的或者你见过的那些有意思的人。
Consider why they're unique or annoying.
考虑一下他们为什么独特或者招人讨厌。
Then make notes about their unusual or dominant attributes.
记下来他们的不同之处及身上显著的品质。
As you create fictional characters,
当你在创作小说人物时，
you'll almost always combine characteristics from several different people on your list to form the identity and personality of just one character.
你经常是把列在单子上这些不同之人的一些性格特征结合在一起塑造一个人物的身份和性格。
Keeping this kind of character sketch can help you solidify your character's personality,
用这种人物草图的方法能帮助巩固你的角色性格，
so that it remains consistent throughout your story.
这样就能使你的整个故事保持一致。
You need to define your characters,
你需要定义你的角色，
know their personalities so that you can have them acting in ways that are predictable, consistent with their personalities.
了解他们的性格特征，这样你就能让他们在一个与他们性格保持一致的可预测范围内表演。
Get to know them like a friend,
像一个朋友一样去了解他们，
you know your friends well enough to know how they'll act in certain situations, right?
你很了解你的朋友，你知道他们在某些场合会有什么样的表现，是这样吧？
Say you have three friends, their car runs out of gas on the highway.
比如说你有三个朋友，他们的车在高速公路上抛锚了。
John gets upset.
约翰很生气，
Mary remains calm.
玛丽很平静，
Teresa takes charge of handling the situation.
特丽莎则负责处理这个情况。
And let's say, both John and Mary defer to her leadership.
咱们打个比方，约翰和玛丽都听从她的领导。
They call you to explain what happen.
他们给你打电话说明发生了什么事，
And when John tells you he got mad, you're not surprised,
当约翰告诉你他很生气的时候，你并不吃惊，
because he always gets frustrated when things go wrong.
因为出问题的时候他总是很受挫，
Then he tells you how Teresa took charge, calmed him down,
然后他告诉你特丽莎是怎么处理的，怎么让他平静下来的，
assigned tasks for each person and got them on their way.
又是怎样给每个人分配任务然后重新上路的。
Again, you're not surprised.
你还是一点都不吃惊，
It's exactly what you'd expect.
因为这些和你想到的一样。
Well, you need to know your characters, like you know your friends.
嗯，你需要了解你的角色，就像你了解你的朋友一样。
If you know a lot about a person's character, it's easy to predict how they'll behave.
如果你对一个人的性格了解的很多，就就很容易预见他们接下来会做的事情。
So if your character's personalities are well defined,
所以，如果你的人物性格已经确定好了，
it will be easy for you as the writer to portray them realistically…er… believably, in any given situation.
那身为一位作家的你就能够很轻松的把这些描述的很逼真，嗯，无论在什么情况下都很可信。
While writing character sketches, do think about details.
当你们在创作角色草图的时候，一定要想想细节。
Ask yourself questions,
问自己一些问题，
even if you don't use the details in your story,
即使你在你的故事里用不到这些细节，那也还是考虑一下。
um…what does each character like to eat, what setting does each prefer, the mountains, the city,
比如说，每个人物都喜欢吃些什么，他们都喜欢什么样的环境，山啊，城市啊，
what about educational background, their reactions to success or defeat, write it all down.
教育背景如何，他们对于成功与失败的反应啊，把这些都写下来。
But, here I need to warn you about a possible pitfall.
但是，我也要提醒你们一个可能的陷阱。
Don't make you character into a stereotype.
不要让你的角色变得老套。
Remember the reader needs to know how your character is different from other people who might fall in the same category.
一定要记住，读者需要知道你的人物是怎样和其他那些类似的角色有所不同的。
Maybe your character loves the mountains and has lived in a remote area for years.
可能你的人物热爱高山，在一个遥远的地方住了很多年。
To make sure he is not a stereotype, ask yourself how he sees life differently from other people who live in that kind of setting.
要确保你的人物不是很老套，问问你自己他是怎样与生活在同样环境里的人有着不同的生活观念。
Be careful not to make him into the cliché of the “ragged mountain dweller”.
一定不要让他成为陈词滥调的一个“衣衫褴褛的山居者”。
Okay, now, I'll throw out a little terminology.
好的，现在我来讲点术语。
It's easy stuff.
这很简单。
Major characters are sometimes called “round characters”.
主要角色通常被叫做“圆整人物”，
Minor characters are sometimes called, well, just the opposite, “flat”.
正好相反，次要角色通常被称为“扁平人物”。
A round character is fully developed;
一个圆整人物是需要充分描述的；
a flat character isn't, character development is fairly limited.
而扁平人物却不是，他们角色发展是相当有限的。
The flat character tends to serve mainly as a motivating factor.
扁平人物大都是作为一个刺激因素而存在。
For instance, you introduce a flat character who has experienced some sort of defeat.
比如说，你引出一个扁平人物，这个人经历过一些失败。
And then your round, your main character who loves success and loves to show off,
接下来，你的主角圆整人物，一个爱成功爱显摆的人出现了，
comes and boasts about succeeding and jokes about the flat character's defeat in front of others, humiliates the other guy.
他在众人面前吹嘘自己的成功，并且笑话扁平人物的失败羞辱其他人。
The flat character is introduced solely for the purpose of allowing the round character to show off.
引入这个扁平人物的主要作用就是为了让圆整人物吹嘘炫耀。
