Thank you for the wonderful presentation of the arts. I think everyone here understands, as I do, that science fiction is the universal art form. And this is a wonderful campus. I am reminded of the classic science fiction show Max Headroom that took place “three minutes into the future.” I told my wife that the reason I few twenty two hours to get here was so I could visit a collage that was built three minutes into the future.
But I’ve got a secret I want to tell you, although I’m not sure I should. The international mentors are really happy to be here with you, but we feel a little awkward to be called masters. I’ll tell you why. We are professional writers who have worked hard and published a lot of books and stories. But so have our Chinese colleagues.
None of us feel like masters when we sit down to write. There are no marching bands leading us to our desks. Nobody applauds.
And we also are worried that what you mentees expect from us is not what we can give. What we hope to teach you is how to look at your work the same way we look at ours. We want to help you build on your strengths and to see your flaws. You might have to cut your favorite parts, or write a scene that is uncomfortable, or even scares you. This is hard. Hard on the mind, hard on the emotions.
When I was a young writer I had the crazy idea that writing might make me rich and famous, It hasn’t. Maybe some of you are thinking that we can teach you to write a brilliant story that will get published in the very best market and make you famous and get you ten million yuan and a movie deal and change the world. We are sorry. We don’t know how to do that.
When I was twenty-three I went to a program for writers a lot like this one. I worked with six writers whose work I had read and admired. They taught me how to be as honest with my stories as they were with theirs. I learned a lot, but this was the most important lesson. Try hard. Finish what you write. Try again.
One thing that surprised me though was that sometimes my teachers disagreed sometimes about how to write. We so called masters have been together for several days now and believe me, we disagree a lot. And you should be grateful if you hear us disagree, especially if its about your story. That’s because nobody has the one answer. The final answer. Remember that.
Let me tell you a story about writing and publishing. A couple of years ago I wrote a really good short story. I decided to send it to my friend Neil Clarke, the editor at the American magazine Clarkesworld. Neil has bought lots of my stories and I thought I should send this one to him because I didn’t want him to forget me.
And he rejected it. I was hurt. Confused. I didn’t feel like a master that day. But that happens when you are a writer. But did I give up on the story? I did not. I sent it to Jonathan Strahan at Tor.com which is the highest paying American magazine. Very prestigious. And he bought it for three times what Neil would have paid. Later, when I told my friend Neil – and he is still my friend – about this, we both laughed. Now maybe you wonder, who was right? Neil or Jonathan. Neither of them were. They just disagreed.
For many years, I taught at that same program that helped me become a writer. When I sat in those same rooms where I sat as a student, I remembered the way my six teachers used to talk about stories. And this happens all the time when I’m writing my own work. I hear their voices. Jim, start start your story in the middle. Jim, what does your character want? Jim, don’t write so much at the end. It is a very pleasant kind of haunting.
So I’m hoping that long after this week is over, maybe something we say will make so much sense that you will hear our voices in your head when you write. And then we will have done our job!
译文：
我有一个秘密想告诉你们，尽管我不确定是否应该说。国际导师们很高兴能和你们一起交流，但我们都觉得被称作“大师”有点别扭。的确，我们是专业的作家，努力工作并出版了许多书籍和故事。但我们的中国同事也是如此。
当我们坐下来写作时，没有人觉得自己是大师，没有乐队为我们引路，没有人鼓掌。
我们担心你们对我们的期望超越了我们能给予的。我们希望教你们的是用我们看待自己工作的方式看待自己的作品。帮助你们发挥自己的长处，并看到自己的缺点。你可能需要删掉自己最喜欢的部分，或者写一些让自己不舒服的场景，甚至是感到害怕的东西。这很困难，不管是对大脑，还是情感而言。
当我还是个年轻作家的时候，我有一个疯狂的想法，那就是写作可能会让我变得富有和出名。但事实并非如此。也许你们中的一些人认为我们可以教你们写出一部精彩的故事，让它在最好的市场出版，让你变得出名，赚取1000万元人民币，并获得电影合约，改变世界。很抱歉。我们不知道如何做到这一点。
当我23岁的时候，我参加了一个类似于这个工坊的作家培训项目。我与六位作家一起工作，他们都是我非常欣赏的作家。项目中，他们教会了我如何像他们一样对自己的故事诚实。我学到了很多东西，但这是最重要的一课。努力尝试，完成你所写的内容。再试一次。
然而，让我感到惊讶的一件事是，有时我的老师们会对如何写作产生分歧。我们这些所谓的大师已经在一起几天了，相信我，我们经常意见不一。如果你听到我们意见不一，尤其是关于你的故事，你应该感到庆幸。因为没有人有唯一的答案，最终的答案。记住这一点。
我想分享一个关于写作和出版的故事。几年前，我写了一篇非常好的短篇小说。我决定把它寄给我的朋友尼尔·克拉克（Neil Clarke），他是美国杂志《克拉克世界》（Clarkesworld）的编辑。尼尔买过我很多故事，我想我应该把它寄给他，因为我不想让他忘记我。
但他拒绝了。我感到受伤和困惑，那一刻我并不觉得自己是个大师。但对于作家来说，这种情况时有发生。那我放弃了这个故事吗？没有。我把它寄给了托尔出版社（Tor.com）的乔纳森·斯特拉汉（Jonathan Strahan），这是美国支付稿酬最高的杂志。非常有声望。他以尼尔愿意支付的三倍价格买下了它。后来，当我把这件事告诉我的朋友尼尔（他现在还是我的朋友）时，我们都笑了。也许你现在会想，谁是对的？尼尔还是乔纳森？他们都没错，只是意见不同。
多年来，我在同一所学校任教，这所学校帮助我成为了一名作家。当我坐在那些读书时曾上课的教室时，我会想起我的六位老师过去谈论故事的方式。每当我写自己的作品时，这种情况都会发生。我会听到他们的声音：吉姆，从故事中间开始写。吉姆，你的角色想要什么？吉姆，别在最后写得太多。这是一种非常愉快的萦绕心头的感觉。
因此，我希望这周课程结束以后，当你们再写作时能够回想起我们现在所说的一些内容，这个工坊的目的就达到了！
撰文：James P. Kelly
文字编辑：梁 蕾
美术编辑：程 倩
审核：李 懿
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