一个“清华学霸”的悬疑之路

扬州籍作家周浩晖，当下中国最受欢迎的悬疑推理小说作家之一。21世纪初，中国提出了让本国文化“走出去”的战略方针。这些年，中国文学出海的路越走越宽，从科幻小说到网络武侠文学，海外读者体验中国故事的选择日益丰富多元。而以周浩晖为代表的中国悬疑小说作家们，又为西方读者开启了“探秘”中国文学的一个新入口。

“烟花三月下扬州”，见到周浩晖，正是在这样的好时节。

扬州曾经是中国古代最繁华的城市之一。而现在，这座江南古城，却悠悠地按照自己的步调慢慢前行。

周浩晖有着他的家乡带给他的温和气质，初见面时，很难将他与悬疑作家联系起来。不过很快就会发现，他同时还有理工科生的一面：理性、直爽。

他并不以畅销书作家自居。在周浩晖的真实世界里，作家身份似乎显得不那么要紧，他更多地是一个女儿的爸爸、一家公司的老板、一个走在大街上并不能被认出的普通扬州人。

The time we met Yangzhou-born mystery writer Zhou Haohui at his hometown, it was the best time of the year for the city, which was surrounded by misty spring blossoms.

Zhou has a gentle air about him – the first thing people would notice. But in a while, the other side of him, a man of rationality and straight manner, would unfold.

Rather than calling himself a best-selling author, Zhou seems more willing to embrace some other facets of his identity – a father of a daughter, a startup entrepreneur, or an average Yangzhou local.

别人家的孩子

周浩晖的成长是那一代人的典型写照。

1977年，他出生在扬州的一个普通家庭里，父亲是一名中学教师。由于天资聪颖，再加上受到了良好的家庭教育，周浩晖一直以来都是学校的佼佼者，15岁以全校第一的成绩考入扬州最好的中学，之后又顺利考进清华大学。

在大学里，周浩晖读的是环境科学与工程系。几年下来，他内心并不是特别喜欢，因为这个专业没有太多自由创造的空间。

就写作而言，周浩晖是一个意外的闯入者。2003年，即将毕业的周浩晖，在“水木清华”BBS上发表了自己的第一部中篇小说作品《套子里的人》。 

“我们宿舍的同学在看一部国产电视剧，然后我看了之后我就说，情节好像不是特别的好。他们就说‘你说别人编的不好，那你写一个故事我们看看’，然后我就真的写了。”

周浩晖的处女作意外地反响热烈，让他备受鼓舞，“就这样走上了写作的道路。”

小试牛刀成功后，周浩晖的悬疑写作开始一发不可收。2005年网络BBS推理小说大赛，他的第一部以罗飞为主角的长篇小说《凶画》获得第一名；此后又于2007年和2009年接连出版“刑警罗飞”系列第二部《鬼望坡》和第三部《摄魂谷》，相继受到读者的热烈追捧。

在顺利拿到硕士学位后，周浩晖进入了一家环保公司工作。彼时，周浩晖一直都在用业余时间进行创作。虽然每天朝九晚五的生活让他厌烦，但他了解，家人绝不能同意他舍弃稳定的工作。

作为妥协，他选择了去华北科技学院任教，也因此有了更多时间潜心写作。

在此期间，周浩晖出版了他的真正代表作《暗黑者》系列。百万字的作品，三部五本，周浩晖前后花了3年多的时间写成。这个系列是目前在国外版税最高、外文版本最多的中国犯罪小说之一。根据《暗黑者》系列改编的同名网剧，在口碑和收视率上也都获得了不错的成绩。

《暗黑者》成功被市场接纳，周浩晖也顺理成章地辞去了大学教师的工作，回到家乡扬州，开始专职创作。

Zhou was born in late 1970s, when China was about to open its doors to the outside world, and when its economy would grow exponentially. Like many others of his generation in China, Zhou spent his first two decades preparing for Gaokao, the country's national college entrance exam. And he proved to be a gifted examinee, making his way to Tsinghua University, arguably China's most prestigious higher institution of learning.

Zhou started his writing career quite accidentally in 2003. "My roommates were watching a domestic TV series, after watching it, I found the plot very dull," he said. Zhou, then a newly-minted graduate student, decided to do his own story and posted his first novelette on the message board of the university.

With some success in his maiden work of fiction, he has since published a slew of suspense thrillers, many of which have won him a loyal following in China.

Zhou switched jobs several times before becoming a full-time author. He spent nearly a decade teaching engineering in a university, when he committed most of his spare time to writing, and produced his most renowned series "The Death Notice."

An online serial adapted from "The Death Notice" has garnered impressive ratings as well as much praise from critics. It is also a Chinese crime series that is still a bestseller overseas and has been translated into many other languages.

“表达欲”

理工科出身的周浩晖对故事情节设计的逻辑缜密度和科学严谨性异常执着。在动笔写《邪恶催眠师》之前，他花了近两个月的时间专门学习催眠理论。

“这种技法叫做瞬间催眠。基本的原理就是用超量的信息进行瞬间冲击，让对象在思维短路的情况下接受催眠师的引导。一般来说，瞬间催眠比普通催眠要难很多，但他的精神原本就高度紧张，这对催眠师来说就事半功倍了。”凌明鼎总结一番，最后又道，“当然了，催眠这事说起来容易，但真正操作的时候还需要很多技巧，不光是指令和步骤设计，还有眼神和动作的配合等等。这些东西无法言传，要靠多年的功力慢慢积累。”

--节选自《邪恶催眠师》

对于读者就他的文笔给出的负面评价，周浩晖却不以为忤。他认为，自己的故事以情节取胜，文字只是表达故事的工具。周浩晖希望他的作品能够让读者产生对犯罪和人性的思考。

“所有的犯罪小说最后都会强调一个主题，那就是正义的伸张。天网恢恢疏而不漏，邪恶最终都要得到惩治，正义永远是这个世界我们所有人要追求的一个向往的目标。”

“那些资料在别人眼里可能就是一些文字、一些图片，记载了一些事情。可是对罗飞来说，那感觉却完全不同。他已置身于一幕幕如此真实的场景中，虽然已事隔多年，但那场景中的声音、画面，甚至所有气息都是如此的清晰，纤微可辨。当然，与那场景同在的所有情感亦没有减轻分毫。悲伤、沮丧、凄凉、愤怒，甚至还有恐惧……罗飞知道自己永远也忘不了这些。而获得解脱的唯一方法，就是找到那个可憎而又可怕的家伙，做个彻底的了结。”

“能给别人带来噩梦的人，他自己往往要承载着更多的噩梦。所以那既是一个怪物，更是一个可怜的受害者。”

--节选自《死亡通知单》

周浩晖认为，对于一个创作者来说，天赋远比科班出身重要。

“从写作本身来说呢，我觉得它并不是一个要通过文学训练能够达成的一个事情。它可能更多的还是需要一些属于创作者自身的一些天赋的一些东西。
我觉得可能对所有的创作者来说：首先第一个就是要有比较好的感知力，就是我们能敏锐地感知到生活中一些比较有意思的点；第二个就是有那种求知和探索欲。就是有些事情可能别人也感知到了，但是我们可能更有兴趣去再挖一挖它背后还有一些什么样的东西。第三个就是说要有一种表达的欲望。我们感知到了，而且我们探索到了，那么我们还想把这个故事讲给别人听。”

Zhou is more than rigorous when it comes to the scientific theories his works refer to. He spent nearly two months studying the theory of hypnosis, before writing a crime fiction featuring an evil hypnotist.

On the other hand, Zhou doesn't give too much weight to negative feedback concerning his writing, as some readers complained that certain phrasing feels off, although the stories hold up well.

In his view, words are just words till you give them some attachment. And for him, it's about telling a good story.

Zhou hopes that his suspense thrillers, most of which are detective stories, can evoke people's attention to criminal motives and the intersection of human nature.

As an engineering student, Zhou has a sharp mind. And he believes that studying a scientific subject doesn't mean that his writing skills are lacking.

"Writing ability is not a skill that must be acquired through training, it may be more determined by the talent of the writer," Zhou said. A good writer should be perceptive, curious and have the desire to express, he added.

“不务正业”

周浩晖不愿意用作家的身份禁锢自己，“我一直以来都在‘不务正业’。”

他早几年当过电影导演和编剧，虽然作品反响平平。最近他开始将工作重心转向剧本杀。周浩晖的工作室藏在了瘦西湖周边的一个城中村，是一栋不起眼的小楼，小楼的一层甚至专门设了几间对外开放的剧本杀游戏室。

而在周看来，无论是拍电影、抑或是剧本杀和悬疑小说创作，都是为了满足他的表达欲。

记者：“给作家周浩晖打多少分？”

周：“85分吧。”

Zhou would not confine himself to suspense writing. He has written screenplays for several movies and online serials. Once, he even tried his luck in doing a movie.

And now, he is running a creative studio in his hometown, with a team of seven writing scripts for Live Action Role Playing (LARP) games, a form of role-playing where participants act out their characters, which has become a hit among Chinese youths over the past few years.

Be it writing a suspense thriller, a screenplay or a role-playing script, it's all about fulfilling Zhou Haohui's desire for expression.

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