8点画弧法
怎样去构建一篇小说：8点画弧法
（sibyl8694译）
我最喜欢的“怎么去写作”类书籍中的其中一本是Nigel Watts（奈吉尔。瓦茨）所写的《写一本小说并出版》。
我那本被翻得破破烂烂，用铅笔写满了笔记，经过这么多年我发现它是那么地有用，对我而言是本圣经。虽然封面看起来在脱落的边缘了，我还是冒险地再次打开这本书，以便带给诸位Watts瓦茨这本非常有用的“8点画弧法”—一种睿智，成功且经历住时间考验的架构一个故事的方法。
（即使你不是一名小说家，而是个短篇小说写手或者是个“闪小说”-微型小说/小小说作者，这个结构仍然可以适用，所以不要因watts瓦茨的书的标题而错过了。）
Watts瓦茨所列的8点依次如下：
停滞
触发
诉求
惊奇
关键选择
高潮
逆转
消退
通过讲述这些步骤他解释了每个经典情节，而他并没有试着试着用它们来构思一部小说，相反却在写作过程中使用这些要点：
我发现《八点画弧法》最有用的地方是作为一个一览表，来检测一部正在进行的作品。如果我感觉这个小说要出问题，我就去检查我是否不明智地漏掉了八点画弧法的其中一点。它可能不会确保你写出一个精妙的故事，却可以帮助你避免一个精妙的故事出现问题所落入的陷阱。
所以，这八点究竟指的是什么呢？
停滞
这是故事中设置的“日复一日的（枯燥）生活”。想想辛德瑞拉（灰姑娘）擦拭灰尘，杰克（《杰克与魔豆》中主人公，有着和豆子们 说话的名声）和他妈妈和一头奶牛住在一起的穷困潦倒的生活，或者是哈利。波特和德思礼一家住在一起。
触发
引爆故事的“触发点”是一些超越主角（男女主人公）控制的事情。一位神仙教母出现，一些人用魔豆而不是金子付钱，一封神秘的信来到。。。你知道那画面的。
诉求
触发导致诉求—一次不愉快的触发（比如。一个主人公丢了他的工作）可能会涉及一个回到现状的诉求；一次愉快的触发（例如：找到一张藏宝图）意味着一个去保持或者增加这种新的愉悦状态的诉求。
惊奇
这个阶段涉及了不止一个因素，而且占据了故事绝大部分的中间发展。“惊奇”包括愉悦的事件，但更经常地是意味着对主角而言的障碍，并发症，冲突和麻烦。Watts强调惊奇不应该太随意或者太具有预测性—它们得是不可预料的，但又是看起来合理的。读者们不得不去想“我早该想到会发生的！”
关键选择
在有些场景中，你的主人公需要作出一个至关重要的决定；一个关键的选择。这经常是我们 发现一个角色究竟是什么样的人的时候，在高度压力时刻所展示出来的真实人格。Watts强调这必须是这个角色去走一条特别的路的一个决定—而不仅仅是一些偶发的事件。
在许多经典小说中，这种“关键选择”包括了在一条善良却艰辛的路和一条邪恶却轻松的路之间挑选。
在悲剧中，不圆满的结局通常可以追溯到一个角色在该点作出的错误抉择—比如说，罗密欧在看到朱丽叶的诈死时服毒自尽。
高潮
由主角做出的关键的选择需要引导至高潮，在你小说中紧张的最高峰。有些故事里，可能是交战的队伍举起他们的枪进行扫射，一场战斗的开始，一场高速的追逐或者其他类似的戏剧化的场景。在另一些小说里，高潮可能是一对夫妇间一次剧烈的争吵，或者是操场上孩子们的一次打斗，或者是辛德瑞拉（灰姑娘）和她丑陋的姐姐试穿玻璃鞋。
逆转
逆转应该是这次关键选择和高潮的结果，应该改变角色们的状态（地位）—特别是你的主角。比如说，在被责骂后一位饱受欺凌的妻子可能离开了她的丈夫；一个受欺负的孩子可能为一个受害的同伴而挺身而出，然后意识到欺凌弱小者再也无法欺负他；灰姑娘可能被王子认出来。
你的小说的逆转应该是不可避免且可能的。任何事情的发生都是有缘由的，地位的改变不会冲天而降。小说应该象生活一样展开：无情的，执拗的，状似合理的。
消退
消退时对一个全新地位的回归—角色们应该被改变的一次回归，更睿智，更进步，而故事也得以被圆满的讲述。
（你总可以重起一部新小说，用另一次激发写一个续集。。。。。。）
这里，我只是简要地概算了Watts瓦茨的八点画弧法。在书中，他举出了好几个例子，针对不同的短篇小说讲述八点画弧法是如何应用的。 他也解释了一个更长点的小说（比如一部长篇小说）应该弧中带弧—统一的八点画弧法同样适用于次情节和场景，但在整部小说的一个更小的层次上的弧。
你可以从Amazon.com上买这本《写一本小说》–而且我热烈推荐你这么做，因为它对于任何的小说写作者来说都是一本极好的书，而且处理了这门手艺的方方面面（不仅仅是8点画弧法！ ）
原文：
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/
How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point Arc
One of my favourite “how to write” books is Nigel Watts’ Writing A Novel and Getting Published.
My battered, torn and heavily-pencil-marked copy is a testament to how useful I’ve found it over the years. Although the cover appears to be on the verge of falling off altogether, I’ve risked opening the book once more to bring you Watts’ very useful “Eight-Point Story Arc” – a fool-proof, fail-safe and time-honoured way to structure a story.
(Even if you’re a short story writer or flash fiction writer rather than a novelist, this structure still applies, so don’t be put off by the title of Watts’ book.)
The eight points which Watts lists are, in order:
- Stasis
- Trigger
- The quest
- Surprise
- Critical choice
- Climax
- Reversal
- Resolution
He explains that every classic plot passes through these stages and that he doesn’t tend to use them to plan a story, but instead uses the points during the writing process:
I find [the eight-point arc] most useful as a checklist against which to measure a work in progress. If I sense a story is going wrong, I see if I’ve unwittingly missed out a stage of the eight-point arc. It may not guarantee you write a brilliant story, but it will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of a brilliant idea gone wrong.
So, what do the eight points mean?
Stasis
This is the “every day life” in which the story is set. Think of Cinderella sweeping the ashes, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) living in poverty with his mum and a cow, or Harry Potter living with the Dursley’s.
Trigger
Something beyond the control of the protagonist (hero/heroine) is the trigger which sparks off the story. A fairy godmother appears, someone pays in magic beans not gold, a mysterious letter arrives … you get the picture.
The quest
The trigger results in a quest – an unpleasant trigger (e.g. a protagonist losing his job) might involve a quest to return to the status quo; a pleasant trigger (e.g. finding a treasure map) means a quest to maintain or increase the new pleasant state.
Surprise
This stage involves not one but several elements, and takes up most of the middle part of the story. “Surprise” includes pleasant events, but more often means obstacles, complications, conflict and trouble for the protagonist.
Watts emphasises that surprises shouldn’t be too random or too predictable – they need to be unexpected, but plausible. The reader has to think “I should have seen that coming!”
Critical choice
At some stage, your protagonist needs to make a crucial decision; a critical choice. This is often when we find out exactly who a character is, as real personalities are revealed at moments of high stress. Watts stresses that this has to be a decision by the character to take a particular path – not just something that happens by chance.
In many classic stories, the “critical choice” involves choosing between a good, but hard, path and a bad, but easy, one.
In tragedies, the unhappy ending often stems from a character making the wrong choice at this point – Romeo poisoning himself on seeing Juliet supposedly dead, for example.
Climax
The critical choice(s) made by your protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension, in your story.
For some stories, this could be the firing squad levelling their guns to shoot, a battle commencing, a high-speed chase or something equally dramatic. In other stories, the climax could be a huge argument between a husband and wife, or a playground fight between children, or Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters trying on the glass slipper.
Reversal
The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters – especially your protagonist. For example, a downtrodden wife might leave her husband after a row; a bullied child might stand up for a fellow victim and realise that the bully no longer has any power over him; Cinderella might be recognised by the prince.
Your story reversals should be inevitable and probable. Nothing should happen for no reason, changes in status should not fall out of the sky. The story should unfold as life unfolds: relentlessly, implacably, and plausibly.
Resolution
The resolution is a return to a fresh stasis – one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete.
(You can always start off a new story, a sequel, with another trigger…)
I’ve only covered Watts’ eight-point arc in brief here. In the book, he gives several examples of how the eight-point arc applies to various stories. He also explains how a longer story (such as a novel) should include arcs-within-arcs – subplots and scenes where the same eight-point structure is followed, but at a more minor level than for the arc of the entire story.
You can buy Writing a Novel from Amazon.com – and I highly recommend that you do, as it’s an excellent book for any writer of fiction, and deals with all aspects of the craft (not just eight-point arcs!)
译言真的还挺奇特的，明明出现在分类的文章，好像却没有输出feed，以至于收藏此文只能靠我的手动方法了。
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