我们的十二国記～

版权声明：转载时请以超链接形式标明文章原始出处和作者信息及本声明
http://beibeidu.blogbus.com/logs/7274314.html

2007年3月18日《十二国记》英译本出版，作者小野不由美接受了访问，英文访谈内容如下：

原址见：http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2007-03-18/fuyumi-ono-author-of-the-twelve-kingdoms

Fuyumi Ono, Author of The Twelve Kingdoms

Mar 18 2007

When did you know you wanted to write professionally?

Fuyumi Ono: I never really gave much thought to becoming a professional novelist. It was only after I'd become a writer that I wanted to do it professionally.

I've read that you have a degree in Buddhist Studies. How did you end up becoming a novelist?

When I was in the middle of my career at graduate school, my tuition suddenly ran out and I had to drop out. I was without a goal and felt completely lost. It was then that an editor who had read some novels I wrote when I was in college suggested I try writing for a living.

Is your career what you imagined it would be? What things would you change if you could? What are you most proud of?

I'd never imagined myself becoming a writer, so everything's really turned out quite unexpectedly. There's no part of that I'd like to change, and I'm quite happy with how things are.
As for what I'm most proud of, it happened back when I was first writing novels aimed at young girls. It made me happier than anything to hear so many of my small readers say that it was the first time they'd read a novel all the way through to the end.

What fantasy writers inspire you? Why? What other genres and authors do you enjoy reading?

I'm embarrassed to say this, but I hardly ever read fantasy novels. It was mostly because I was asked by publishers to write fantasy novels that I somehow ended up in this genre. It was once I started writing that I discovered books like C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, and found the kind of ideal fantasy series that I strive to achieve.
In any case, because I'm a bit tone-deaf when it comes to the fantasy genre; I honestly consider Twelve Kingdoms to be more of a mythic story. Or maybe more like a historical drama set in a fictional world. That's why I'd say that the biggest influence I got was from novels about Japanese history.
But my favorite type of genre to read is mystery.

In your opinion, what is the hardest part of writing a novel? Why?

The hardest part is evaluating your own work. When you're trying to decide if the book will really be amusing, or if you're actually connecting with your readers, no matter how many times you reread it and analyze it, you'll never find the correct answer. That's because you can never really gain the proper perspective necessary to evaluate your own creation. Now that I understand how impossible that task is, I can't trust my own judgment. And as long as I can't trust in it, it's terribly difficult to simply say “It's good enough as it is.”

Can you tell us about what you are working on now?

I'm currently rewriting a girls’ horror series I wrote long ago.

How did you create the wonderfully complex world of The Twelve Kingdoms? How long did it take you to develop all the history and character in the universe?

Originally, the world of Twelve Kingdoms was created for a previous series of mine, Demon Child (Masho no Ko). This was another series created at the request of the publisher when they wanted more fantasy, but now I'm not too sure it could be classified that way, but rather as a horror story with fantasy elements (at least, I hope so). That's when I roughly created the world and its history.
Ever since my childhood, I've enjoyed thinking up stories that had a strong link to plausible reasons. (For example, because a river flows here, the country would be invaded from there. Or, because of this certain event in the world's history, this sort of legend was left behind.) Part of it was just for fun, so I'd play around with maps and timelines I drew, so I'm not sure exactly how long I actually worked on it. Even after I've finished an important work, I still recall adding onto it and playing around more with the idea. The real reason I do series is because with every story I write, I add more and more details.

How did you keep track of events while writing such a long series?

I wrote the story while creating a timeline. I also compiled dictionaries with the terminology that appears in the story.

Who is your favorite character? Why?

There are a lot of different meanings to the word “like,” but as for which character I enjoy writing the most, it'd have to be the townsfolk who rarely have names. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it may be because I feel that they are the most similar to me, and down-to-earth. They're fun to write, and I get the greatest feeling of accomplishment when I pull them off well.

Having read the first volume, Sea of Shadow is for me an incredible story about a young girl who is pushed beyond her limits physically, emotionally, and mentally. Was the character based on anyone you know and/or have you ever been in a similar position as Yoko?

Yoko wasn't based off anyone in particular, but if I had to choose, I'd say that all my readers that wrote me letters served as the mold.
Recently I've been writing novels aimed at young girls. Many of my readers end up writing to me and they often share their personal problems. I was never able to write back to them, so instead, I wrote Sea of Shadow. As for the events that befall Yoko, I feel that all people end up experiencing, to a greater or lesser extent, the kinds of mental and emotional trauma that Yoko does as they grow and establish themselves in the world. I've experienced the same things in the past, and I was able to overcome them somehow. There's no set answer, but I just hope to arouse the feeling that you, too, have been like that some time.

What went through your mind when you learned that Twelve Kingdoms became a huge success? Did you celebrate? If so, how?

I never had a single moment of realization that it was a success. I had my first story published back in 1992. When I first finished writing it, I was told the story was too heavy for readers, and it was rejected. After several ups and down, it finally made it to publication, and I was so happy to receive the overwhelming support of my readers. Thanks to that, I was able to write the continuation, and here I am now. It's been almost 15 years since that day, with my readership slowly growing to the current level, little by little, so overall it doesn't feel like anything terribly surprising has happened regarding Twelve Kingdoms.

The last novel, so far, was released in 2001. Do you plan to revisit the world of The Twelve Kingdoms and write more stories for it?

Yes, I do.

Since the anime was released in the U.S. several years ago, what are the differences between the anime and the novels that readers should know about?

Aikawa-san wrote the script to the anime, and being the amazing scriptwriter he is, he excels at being very aware of the differences between the unique characteristics of the media he's working with as well as those of other mediums. The best of a novel is not necessarily the same as the best of an anime. If you aim for the best, you cannot avoid changing the original work. I think it's best for fans of the series to keep that point in mind.

Interview courtesy of Tokyopop

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

网友JacieNL翻译内容如下↓↓↓

（谢谢JacieNL的翻译及授转，让更多同好得以分享^^）

《十二国记》作者：小野不由美

2007年3月18日

你是在什么时候认识到自己想进行职业写作的？

小野不由美: 对于成为一名职业小说家，我真的从没想过太多。我只是在成为一名作家之后，才开始想以这个工作为职业的。

我曾在材料上读到你有一个佛学学位。你最后怎么会成为一名小说家的呢？

小野不由美: 当我在研究生院的学业进行到中期的时候，我的学费突然用完了，我不得不放弃了学业。我没有目标，觉得希望全无。就在那时候，一位曾读过我大学时期几篇小说的编辑建议我尝试以写作谋生。

你设想过你的事业会是现在这样吗？如果可以的话，有什么是你想要改变的？什么是最令你骄傲的？

小野不由美: 我从没设想过我自己会成为一名作家，所以一切的发生都是相当出人意料的。对于过去我并不想改变什么，情况这样发展，我觉得非常快乐。
至于什么是最令我骄傲的东西，得数我最初开始写作针对年轻女孩的小说那时候的事。听到那么多小读者说这是他们第一次由始至终地读完一本小说，这比任何事情都更叫我开心。

哪些奇幻小说家曾给你启发？还有什么其他流派和作家的作品是你喜欢阅读的？

小野不由美: 这么回答我觉得很不好意思，不过事实是我几乎从没读过奇幻小说。主要是因为我是被出版商要求写作奇幻小说的——我不知怎么就在这个流派里了。开始写作以后，我发现了一些书，比如C.S.刘易斯的《纳尼亚传奇》和罗杰?泽拉兹尼的《安珀九王子》，然后得到了对我现在努力完成的奇幻系列的几分概念。
不管怎么说，因为在提到奇幻流派的时候我有点茫然，所以我实际上还是把《十二国记》更多地归为一个神话故事。或者更像是一部架空世界的历史剧。那就是为什么我会说，我受到的最大影响来自和日本历史相关的小说。
但我最喜欢阅读的类型是推理小说。

以你的观点来看，一部小说的写作中最困难的部分是什么？为什么？

小野不由美: 最困难的部分就是对你自己的作品进行评价。当你试着判断那本书是不是确实有趣、或者你自己是不是确实考虑了读者的时候，不管你把它重读并且分析几遍，你都不会找到正确的答案。因为当必须评价你自己的创作物时，你是不可能真正得出客观的看法的。既然我明白这个任务多么的不可能完成，那么我就很难信任我自己的判断。而只要我无法信任它，就连简简单单说一句“它现在的样子就够好的”也成了可怕的困难。

你能告诉我们你现在进行的写作项目是什么吗？

小野不由美: 我目前在重写很早以前打稿的一个少女惊悚系列。

你是如何创造出十二国那惊人复杂的世界的？你是如何发展出设定体系中所有的历史和人物的？

小野不由美: 最初，十二国的世界是为了我早先的一个系列《魔性之子》而创造的。这是另一个应出版商要求而创作的系列，那时候他们想要更多奇幻，不过现在我不大确定它是不是能归到那一类，它更接近一个带有奇幻元素（至少，我希望是那样）的惊悚故事。就是在那时候我大略地创造了那个世界和它的历史。
早在童年时代，我就喜欢虚构那些有着似乎可能的因果关系的故事。（比如，因为这里有一条河流泛滥，所以这个国家会遭到来自那里的侵略。或者，由于世界历史中的这个特定事件，后世会留下这种传说。）这有一部分纯粹是为了好玩，我会以自己绘制的地图和时间线为乐，所以我很难说我实际上是从什么时候开始真正致力于此的。即使是在一部重要的作品完成之后，我仍会去回想它，往上面添加情节，更多地把那主意在脑海里把玩。我写作系列小说的真正原因是，每写下一个故事，我都往体系中加入了更多更多细节。

在创作这样长的系列时，你是怎么保持事件线索有序的呢？

小野不由美: 我在创造出时间线后才进行故事的写作。我也会编撰词典纪录故事中出现过的专有词。

谁是你最喜欢的角色？为什么？

小野不由美: “喜欢”这个词有很多不同含义，但要说哪个角色是我最乐于写的，肯定是那些常常没有名字的平民们。我不确定该怎么解释，但这有可能是因为我觉得他们和我最为相似，而且现实。书写他们很有趣，努力把他们刻画出来的时候我能获得最大的成就感。

我读过第一卷，《月之影》对我来说是一个令人难以置信的故事，它讲述了一个被迫超越自己身体、感情和精神极限的年轻女孩。这个角色是否是基于任何你认识的人创作的，或者你也曾处于和阳子相似的位置？

小野不由美: 在具体细节上，阳子并不是基于任何人的形象创作，但如果我必须做一个选择的话，我会说所有致信给我的读者们都提供了原型。
我近期一直在写针对年轻女孩群体的小说。许多读者最后都会写信给我，她们也常常倾诉她们个人的难题。我不可能一一回信，所以作为替代，我写了《影之海》。至于阳子所遭遇的那些事情，我觉得所有人在成长、使自己适应这个世界的过程中，多多少少都会经历阳子在精神和感情上遭受的那种创伤。我过去也经历过一些相同的事情，我还是这样那样地克服了它们。固定的答案是不存在的，但我只是希望能唤起那样一种感觉——你，在某个时期，也曾经是那样的。

当你发现《十二国记》取得巨大成功时，你脑海中闪过的是什么念头？你庆祝了吗？如果有的话，是怎么庆祝的呢？

小野不由美: 我并没有在哪一个特定的瞬间认识到它取得成功。我在1992年发表了第一个故事。当我最初完成它的时候，我被告知这个故事对读者来说太沉重，于是它被退稿了。几起几落之后，它终于出版了，读者的支持潮水般势不可挡地涌来，我开心极了。多亏那样，我才能够继续写作，到达如今这个位置。那一天到现在差不多15年了，我的读者人数渐渐增加到现在的水平，一点儿接一点儿，所以总体来说《十二国记》的情况感觉上并不像什么极其令人惊讶的事。

迄今为止的最后一部小说出版于2001年。你是否打算重游《十二国记》的世界，为它写出更多的故事？

小野不由美: 是的，我有这个打算。

几年前动画就在美国发行了，在动画和小说间有什么读者应该知道的不同之处吗？

小野不由美: 哀川先生撰写了动画的剧本，作为一位令人惊叹的编剧，他有杰出的才能，他相当清楚自己所从事的领域同其他领域之间不同的特性。对一部小说来说最适合的东西不必和一部动画中最适合的东西相同。假如想达到最佳效果，你就无可避免地要对原作进行改动。我想，这个系列的爱好者们最好把这一点记在心里。

Interview courtesy of Tokyopop