Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 571 Copyright Protection
In the main room, on the Eight Immortals table.

Chen Fan pressed a stack of manuscript paper and wrote down a set of English words: "True Force".

Zhou Yali frowned deeply, "True power?"

Chen Fan looked up. "It can also be called True Power, but I think Battle Qi is more appropriate, though there isn't a suitable English equivalent."

As he spoke, he wrote the two characters "fighting spirit" on the paper.

When later generations translated Chinese fantasy novels into English, they mostly used direct transliteration for specialized terms such as fighting spirit, magic power, and magical power, and then explained the concepts to foreigners to make them understand.

However, that's because everyone knows that these novels were translated from Chinese works, so they were already psychologically accepted when they read them.

Chen Fan dared not gamble now on whether Western readers would accept a Western fantasy concept created by a Chinese person. After all, in the eyes of many of them, we still have queues and bound feet. It's hard to say how many people would read it. So he tried to use words they could understand and reduce the feeling of "imported goods".

Zhou Yali still had a furrowed brow. After a couple of seconds of contemplation, she asked, "Have you seen Star Wars?"

Chen Fan was taken aback. "Science fiction?"

Of course he knew what Star Wars was, but he couldn't say.

Seeing that he hadn't heard of it, Zhou Yali explained, "It's a science fiction movie. I won't go into the specific plot, but apart from using the universe as the background, I think it's a story somewhat similar to our martial arts films, with supernatural powers involved, but they call it 'The Force'."

She shook her head as she spoke and laughed, "It's a bit like the name you gave me."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow slightly. "This term can be translated as divine power, or it can be called primal force, or original power. If we follow our custom and give it a two-character name, then it would be primal force."

Zhou Yali snapped her fingers and laughed, "This name is good, much better than names like 'Power,' 'Original Power,' or 'Divine Power.'"

Then he looked at the words on the paper and murmured them twice, "True Force? True Power? Battle Qi?"

He then pursed his lips and said, "I think fighting spirit is better; it has more of a Western feel to it."

He then chuckled, "But this word is only for Easterners; Westerners can't understand it."

Chen Fan smiled and wrote down another phrase, "Magic power".

Before he could speak, Zhou Yali clapped her hands and laughed, "I know that, it must be magic!"

Chen Fan gave a thumbs-up in praise, "Smart."

He then explained, “The core of martial arts novels is internal strength. If you were to write Western fantasy, you could use fighting spirit instead. In our culture, besides martial arts, there is also magic power in mythology. Correspondingly, the West also has legends of alchemists, magicians, vampires, and werewolves. So we can refer to magic power to create the concept of ‘magic power’.”

Zhou Yali was completely captivated and quickly pressed for details, "What else? Is battle qi also measured in time, like internal energy? For example, ten years of battle qi, a hundred years of battle qi? The magic power of a magician and a vampire must be different, right? How are these things set up?"

Chen Fan smiled but did not answer. Instead, he wrote down the breakdown and explanation of the power system on the paper.

Zhou Yali leaned closer, her eyes growing brighter as more words appeared on the paper.

Wow, you can play it like this?
In wuxia novels, new-style wuxia writers created internal energy cultivation systems from different schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and demonism.

Different schools of thought produce different additional effects from their internal energy cultivation. Confucianism excels at self-cultivation, while Buddhist internal energy has a restraining effect on unorthodox practices. Taoism excels at longevity and understanding the universe, and also enhances its destructive power against evil spirits and heretics.

The same applies to magic. In addition to the different effects of different factions, magic also comes with elemental attributes. For example, those who focus on water and wood are good at healing, those who focus on earth are good at defense, and those who focus on fire are good at offense.

Now Chen Fan has adopted all of these methods and applied them to the Western fantasy power system.

However, instead of using the traditional metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, it uses the elemental attributes that are familiar to people in the West.

For example, a six-pointed star is composed of two opposite equilateral triangles.

Its six dots represent fire, water, air, earth, life, and spirit, respectively.

Then, the two triangles are decomposed, which has a different meaning: the upright point represents light, and the inverted point represents darkness.

The other four dots represent the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire.

Look, you can create so many different patterns with just one set of six-pointed stars.

Besides the well-known six-pointed star, Western alchemy, or rather magic, also includes heptasyllabic stars, the sun, the earth, inverted triangles, wings, rings, and so on.

Chen Fan could assign a unique sect to each pattern.

In addition, the level of strength cannot be directly expressed using the time-based model of internal force, such as ten years of skill or a hundred years of skill, as that is not precise enough.

He created a unified unit of measurement, but he hadn't decided whether to use π or Ω yet; he was sure he would make it sound real.

With standardized units, not only can the level of fighting spirit be clearly expressed, but the varying effects of different fighting spirit techniques can also be intuitively demonstrated.

There was so much to write about, so he simply listed a few examples and then provided explanations.

Even so, he still wrote four large sheets of manuscript paper.

Seeing that he had put away his pen, Zhou Yali reached for it and asked, "Are you finished writing?"

But before her fingers could touch the manuscript, Zhou Zhengdong snatched it away.

She was startled. "Daddy, Mommy, when did you come out?"

"We've been out for quite a while."

Zhao Wanru was still holding the photo album in her arms. She turned to Chen Fan and whispered, "Xiao Fan, your uncle and aunt have a favor to ask."

He paused for a moment, looking a little embarrassed, and said, "We don't have any photos of your mother from later periods at home. Could you please send us two photos from this album?"

Without hesitation, Chen Fan replied, "Sure."

He then smiled and said, "Anyway, we're all family. It doesn't matter where you put them. Mother will definitely be happy to come home and visit. You can take whichever one you like."

Zhou Zhengdong looked up from the manuscript and nodded with satisfaction, "Good boy."

Chen Fan smiled but didn't say anything.

Zhou Zhengdong took a deep breath and gave his wife a look. Zhao Wanru immediately turned around and went into the study to retrieve the photos from the album.

He then turned to look at Chen Fan, waved the manuscript in his hand, and asked curiously, "Are you planning to use this for creative writing?"

Chen Fan nodded, about to speak, when his talkative cousin couldn't wait to recount everything that had just happened. Then, pointing to the manuscript in her father's hand, she said, "This is the outline of the cultivation system written by my cousin. I like it very much just from reading the outline. If it were written into a story, it would definitely be very exciting."

Zhou Zhengdong nodded in agreement, “The occult has always been very popular in the West. Even people who don’t understand the occult are interested in things like magicians and vampires. It’s just that very few people can actually write good stories about these things.”

Even classic fantasy novels like *The Lord of the Rings* primarily use a fictional fantasy story to depict the social realities of the time, without delving too deeply into occultism. Yet, it's captivating enough.

If you could write a novel set in Western mythology,

As he spoke, he looked at the manuscript in his hand again, his eyes filled with amazement. "If I add this stuff in, as long as the story isn't too bad, I only have one worry after the book is published."

Zhou Yali's eyes widened immediately, and she asked curiously, "What?"

Zhou Zhengdong sighed, "This thing is written as if it were the real thing."

He looked at the manuscript and read aloud, "By training the body, one can unleash the power hidden deep within the flesh and blood. Then, following the methods of cultivating battle qi, this power can be enhanced and strengthened. Using this power as a catalyst, one can break down the barrier between the human body and the world, absorbing the magical power between heaven and earth..."

Reading this, Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but shake his head in admiration, "It's written so realistically, I have a strong suspicion that some people will try to practice this method. If they can't develop battle qi, they might come to the publisher and demand an explanation from the author!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yali burst out laughing. "Hahaha, that's too exaggerated."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, not at all thinking that Zhou Zhengdong was exaggerating.

In fact, it's the same both in China and abroad. When Jin Yong's novels spread to the mainland, many people searched everywhere for martial arts manuals to practice internal energy, adding fuel to the already raging qigong craze.

Even after Harry Potter became a global bestseller, countless people still practice meditation using the methods described in the books.

These people aren't all children; a large portion of them are adults who constantly clamor to become magicians.

In the end, if they couldn't master it, they could only accept that they were Muggles and stubbornly refused to believe that magic didn't actually exist in this world.

Of course, there are also people who criticize Rowling, waving their flags and shouting that Rowling is a fraud and that people should not believe her.

Well, if it were my turn to write a Western fantasy novel, Rowling probably wouldn't be the one to take the blame.

Zhou Zhengdong looked at the manuscript in his hand, thinking about how to "monetize" it.

Although his main profession is as a lawyer, he still makes the decisions regarding the Zhou family's businesses. However, the businesses are usually managed by a few loyal servants and descendants who came with Old Master Zhou, but the final decision-making power is still in his hands.

Publishing is not a prominent part of the Zhou family's business. It was just something the old man invested money to build in order to pass on Chinese culture in Chinatown or to enhance his own voice.

Fortunately, compared to many other Chinese-language publishing companies of the same type, this publishing company has been quite lucky. It has basically not lost money over the years. Later, under his management, it successfully entered the English publishing market, grew and developed, and even established a nationwide distribution network in the United States.

Although he didn't pay much attention to this area, the situation is different now.

First of all, this was written by my nephew. If it can be published smoothly and win the market, it will be of great benefit to my nephew in terms of both fame and fortune.

For this reason alone, he decided that he had to do it.

Another reason is that, as a publishing company, if you can publish a super best-selling book, you can enjoy the benefits for a lifetime.

Most importantly, once the publishing house gains fame, it will inevitably drive the development of other businesses in the Zhou family.

That's how big companies are; even a small opportunity can create a ripple effect, causing profits to snowball.

Not to mention, from Zhou Zhengdong's perspective, this opportunity was no small matter; for the entire Western publishing industry, it could be described as "earth-shattering."

We must seize this opportunity!

After a two-second pause, Zhou Zhengdong looked at Chen Fan and asked, "When do you plan to write this book?"

Chen Fan scratched his temples, thought for a moment, and said, "This is just a sudden idea of ​​mine today. If I were to create a full version of it, it would probably be a rather slow process."

He shrugged as he spoke, “I need to read some materials about Western history and geography, as well as some heroic biographies, before I can start writing.”

He paused for a moment, then looked up and said, "So, I have two ideas. The first is that I will write it myself, but the deadline will be longer, at the earliest by the end of this year."

The second one,..."

He pointed to the manuscript in the other person's hand as he spoke, "I'll use these ten days or so to try to perfect the outline and then write one or two story outlines."

When you return to the United States, you can take the outline with you. Find a skilled author there, pay them a fee, and have them write a novel based on my story outline and cultivation system. However, the novel must be credited under my pen name.

He'd have to be crazy to let go of a fantasy novel like this, which is clearly a goldmine. But he could always find a few people to work for him and make money.

As for pen names, American authors certainly use pen names. Mark Twain did, his real name was Samuel Langhorn Clemens, and Charlotte Brontë, the author of Jane Eyre, used the pen name Keller Bell when she published the book.

He'll also adopt an English pen name, Versailles Augustus.

The dagger that Master Zhang gave as a gift when he became an apprentice was the same one used by Emperor Augustus of ancient Rome. It's normal to borrow the name, right?

After listening to Chen Fan's words, Zhou Zhengdong pondered for two seconds before speaking.

At this moment, Zhao Wanru came out of the study and said loudly, "My suggestion is to use the first option. You can write it yourself. It doesn't matter if it takes a long time; the important thing is to keep it confidential."

Zhou Zhengdong nodded in deep agreement and said seriously, "That's also my idea."

He looked at Chen Fan and said in a deep voice, "You've always been in the mainland, so you might not be very familiar with the situation outside. First of all, you need to understand that the cultivation system you designed for this novel is a huge treasure, and it's the most crucial element."

It can immediately attract young people, and even many people interested in the occult. Once they are attracted, the novel will have readers and a foundation for becoming a bestseller.

Therefore, this design system cannot be seen by anyone else before the book is published. Otherwise, the designer of this system might be someone else, and if someone takes your work, they have countless ways to circumvent relevant patent laws, leaving you with no recourse, and you might even be unable to write novels on similar themes forever.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Wanru approached and said, "The United States has strict intellectual property protection laws, including copyright. However, this law also has countless loopholes. Before you are confirmed to be the copyright holder of this design, you can claim it as your own simply by hiring a professional copyright lawyer."

However, if you are the one to publish it first, the effect will be completely different. Not only will the fame be entirely yours, but your uncle and I will also design a complete copyright protection system to prevent your designs from being copied.

Even if someone wants to use your settings, even similar ones, they must pay a copyright fee!

Chen Fan's eyes darted around slightly. Even the setting has copyright protection?
However, this matter was entirely beneficial to him, so he naturally nodded in agreement, "Okay."

Zhou Zhengdong smiled, looked at the manuscript in his hand, pondered for two seconds, and then decisively took out a lighter and lit it.

Then, looking at Chen Fan, he asked, "Where's the stove?"

Chen Fan was somewhat surprised. Hearing his question, he pointed behind him and said, "It's behind the house."

Zhou Zhengdong immediately turned around and walked out.

Zhao Wanru smiled at Chen Fan and said, "To be on the safe side, it's better to burn it."

(End of this chapter)