1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 400: Brother, who made you like this?
When Zhu Wei first heard the content, he felt it was not very serious.

Look at the title of the novel again
--"stewardess"

Well, this is too inappropriate.

The novel "Stewardess" has a total of 130,000 words. Zhu Wei read probably tens of thousands of words while sitting at Wang Shuo's house.

".
I tried, but finally I couldn't stand her habitual frivolous tone and the faint confusion that always shrouded my heart. It was like walking into a house with a complicated layout and wanted to enter this room but walked into another room instead.

"

Zhu Wei stopped at a paragraph, closed the manuscript, and put the stack of manuscripts back on the table. The movement attracted Wang Shuo.

He looked at Zhu Wei with anticipation.

"Have you finished reading it?"

Zhu Wei shook his head slightly, “I read part of it.”

"What do you think?"

".Too immature." Zhu Wei pondered for a while and gave this four-word summary.

The story of this novel is rather dry and the language is dry, like a tasteless "Fulée" biscuit.

However, Zhu Wei could read some of the flavor he had read in Jiang Xian's novels.

A feeling of being able to talk.

"Are you imitating Jiang Xian?"

"imitate?"

Wang Shuo was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood what Zhu Wei meant and shook his head like a rattle.

"Well, I didn't do it on purpose, but no matter how I write, I always feel like I can't escape, I'm restricted, as if I'm living in Jiang Xian's shadow."

Seeing that Wang Shuo himself sounded quite depressed, Zhu Wei probably understood that Wang Shuo's style was probably similar to Jiang Xian's, but his writing skills and accumulation were not as profound as Jiang Xian's, so his writing was not as good as his.

But it can be seen that he is a good seedling.

No wonder Jiang Xian specifically asked him to come and look for this pretty boy.

"What kind of job are you doing now?" Zhu Wei asked him.

"I?"

Wang Shuo pointed at himself and said, "I'm unemployed. I opened a restaurant before, but it didn't work out. Now I'm an unemployed young person."

"I'll take this manuscript of yours and show it to our editor-in-chief Jiang. I'll ask him to decide whether to use it or not." Zhu Wei said.

In his opinion, the novel "Stewardess" is not very similar to traditional literature and has a flavor of what is commonly known as "rogue literature."

However, Zhu Wei also thought of the eight-character principle of publishing proposed by Jiang Xian:

Fresh and cute, truly touching.

This article "Stewardess" seems to be in line with the style indicated by these eight-character guidelines.

"Hey, did you get this novel from him?" Jiang Xian was also pleasantly surprised when he got Wang Shuo's "Stewardess".

This novel is considered Wang Shuo's debut work.

In later generations, Wang Shuo was honored as Master Shuo, but he was not without immaturity when he was young.

This book "Stewardess" is the best proof.

Although Jiang Xian thought the love story in the novel was a bit "cliché", Wang Shuo also played with the sentimentality, but it felt like he couldn't be sentimental enough.

But I have to admit that this novel is still very well written.

Ma Weidu once said that the prototype of this novel is part of Wang Shuo's own experience, and it does have a prototype.

This novel well depicts Wang Shuo's extremely immature stage of life:
I want to be sincere but I can’t be. I try hard to tell a story to move others but I can’t even move myself.

Alas, the odyssey of every author.

No matter how successful you become in the future, you cannot avoid your past youthfulness and immaturity.

"Take this manuscript to Contemporary Magazine and ask them if they want it," Jiang Xian said.

"What about us?"

Zhu Wei was a little anxious. Is it still reasonable to get the manuscript and then give it to others?
"You should adjust your thinking. We are publishing an abstract, not a literary journal. Just post a few highlights from the novel. The full text of the novel has so many words that it cannot be posted."

"This"

"Okay, time is running out, let's do it."

Jiang Xian waved a palm-leaf fan and smiled, looking like Zhuge Liang, as if he had already made a plan and everything was going according to plan.

Zhu Wei had no choice but to follow his instructions and send the manuscript to Contemporary Magazine.

I didn’t expect that Contemporary Magazine would take a liking to this novel right away.

The reform and opening up period was not long ago, and most of the works edited still reflected the life in the countryside and factories. This "Air Hostess" reflects the theme of contemporary urban youth and writes about emotions. The text is also very fresh and tasteful, mixed with a bit of affectation.
In short, the people at Contemporary Magazine liked the manuscript very much and thought the author had great artistic talent, so they immediately called Wang Shuo to Contemporary Magazine to discuss the manuscript.

Wang Shuo was so excited, thinking that Jiang Xian was really reliable and it would be great if he could follow this guy.

Before he could be happy for a while, the editor poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"Your novel is too long. 130,000 words is too many. I think you should delete 100,000 words. 30,000 words will be just right."

Wang Shuo was both sad and happy when he revised the manuscript for "Stewardess".

It needs to be changed faster.

Because People's Digest wanted to excerpt a passage from The Stewardess and publish it before the novel was released.

It is both an appreciation and a preview.

Zhu Wei went to find a number of people that Jiang Xian had asked to ask for manuscripts, including Liang Zuo, who is now a university teacher at Beijing Language Institute. When he knew it was Jiang Xian who asked for the manuscript, he readily agreed.

There are also some people, basically all writers from Beijing, including Liu Heng and Wang Anyi, editors of Beijing Literature, Shi Tiesheng, a writer who just joined the Writers Association this year, and Wang Zengqi, who has recently become famous in the literary world with his "root-seeking literature".
Zhu Wei basically encountered no difficulties and easily obtained manuscripts from these people. Moreover, often when he visited them and mentioned Jiang Xian's name, these people would take out their long-treasured manuscripts and let Zhu Wei choose from them.

"The editor-in-chief's name is so useful." Zhu Wei was surprised.

The only person who encountered setbacks for him was a children's literature writer named Zheng Yuanjie.

"Don't tell me anymore. I will never give my manuscript to other magazines again." Zheng Yuanjie said angrily.

Today, Zheng Yuanjie is not only married and has children, but also has great success in his career.

Compared to the fledgling Zheng Yuanjie a few years ago, he has become much more mature, and his status in the industry is also different from before.

Now, whenever domestic children's literature writers are mentioned, Zheng Yuanjie's name will definitely be mentioned.

His novels are really popular.

Just this year, super IPs such as Pippi Longstocking, Luxixi, Shuke and Beta, which have influenced generations of people born in the 70s, 80s and 90s, have all come out.

There are 16 newspapers and periodicals across the country serializing different works of Zheng Yuanjie at the same time!

However, even though his status in society had risen, Zheng Yuanjie found himself still forced to live in a tube-shaped building next to a factory, where the living conditions were very simple.

Looking at the gas stove and pressure cooker in the house that seemed like they could explode at any time, Zheng Yuanjie felt that as a father, he should provide his children with a safe and comfortable environment in which to grow up.

He wants to change his house.

However, he made a sad discovery.

I have absolutely no financial means to support myself to move to a new house.

He had so many works being serialized at the same time, but his income from royalties was very small, not enough to improve his family life.

Zheng Yuanjie felt it was unfair. The sales of the magazines he serialized were increasing every month, but his royalties had not increased a penny.

He ran to the editorial department and asked the editor to increase his royalties.

The editor asked: "Why do you raise the fee?"

Zheng Yuanjie said: "Your magazine sales have increased because of my novels."

The editor asked: "How do you prove it?"

Zheng Yuanjie was speechless because he found that he could not prove it.

So he made a vow that his novels would never be published together with other people's works in the same publication.

In the future, he wants a journal to publish only his works.

"A journal only publishes your work?" It was the first time that Zhu Wei met an author with such an arrogant idea and he was a little surprised.

After returning to Cuihua Hutong, Zhu Wei quickly started talking to Jiang Xian about Zheng Yuanjie.

"If a person writes a magazine, how many words does he have to write every month to keep the magazine going?" Zhu Wei said in disbelief.

He calculated that if one issue of a literary journal contained 20 words, he would have to write about words every day.

And I didn’t type out those 7,000 words on the keyboard; I wrote them by hand.

"I have never seen such a hardworking author. How much motivation does it take to keep writing?"

Contrary to Zhu Wei's expectations, Jiang Xian did not show any surprise.

"The reason why writers' creative passion is declining nowadays is that they lack creative motivation. As long as there are factors that can stimulate their creative motivation, every writer will be a field that can't be plowed or a cow that can't be tired to death."

Jiang Xian certainly knew that Zheng Yuanjie's "Fairy Tale King" had been serialized for 35 years since its inception.

Perseverance is certainly important for being able to write for such a long time alone, but in Jiang Xian's opinion, there is another important reason.

It is said that Zheng Yuanjie met the president of a children's publishing house. The president was very ambitious and wanted to turn this small publishing house in the south into a successful publishing house. He asked Zheng Yuanjie to give him advice.

Zheng Yuanjie said that he believed some young authors nowadays had promise, but were not taken seriously and had difficulty in publishing books. He suggested that the president support a group of young children's literature authors.

The president asked, "Can you give me a list of young authors you think have a bright future?" Zheng Yuanjie gave the president a list of more than a dozen authors he thought had potential, and then suggested that the president invite these authors to form an editorial committee to publish a collection of fairy tales, which he would be the chief editor.

The president agreed.

The results of it.

After the president met with a writer recommended by Zheng Yuanjie, the writer said that Zheng Yuanjie was just a worker, with little talent and knowledge and no creative potential, so he could not be the editor-in-chief. Another female student who had just graduated from college should be the editor-in-chief.

The president listened to the writer's advice again and did not tell Zheng Yuanjie.

After waiting for a few months, the authors held an editing meeting, and the organizer suddenly announced at the meeting that the editor-in-chief of the series had been changed, and Zheng Yuanjie would be replaced by the girl who had never written a fairy tale.

Zheng Yuanjie was confused.

However, he wasn’t just backstabbed by the authors he recommended.

Another author he recommended, xxx, even made sarcastic remarks about him at the meeting: "Some people overestimate their own abilities and write a magazine by themselves."

Finally, when the writers took a group photo, they all looked down on Zheng Yuanjie's elementary school education and did not let him show his face in the photo.

In short, this incident was a huge blow to Zheng Yuanjie.

If anyone can tolerate this kind of humiliation, he is this (thumbs-up).

In short, from that time on, Zheng Yuanjie kept xxx's name on the wall in front of his desk. He doesn't smoke, drink tea or coffee, and relies on this name to refresh his mind.

I have been writing like this for 35 years.

It is said that this person's name has always been posted there and has never been taken down.

In a word:

To be successful, you need friends.

If you want to be extremely successful, you have to have enemies.

xxx should take some credit for Lao Zheng becoming the fairy tale king.

"Alas, I just lost one enemy." Jiang Xian couldn't help but sigh.

There is no way. He wants to have enemies, but unfortunately these trash are so weak.

"Okay, I'll go talk to Zheng Yuanjie in person tomorrow. His fairy tales are very important to our digest." Jiang Xian said to Zhu Wei.

Zhu Wei scratched his head.

He talked so much today that his lips were almost broken, but Zheng Yuanjie remained indifferent.

Can it be done if you go instead?
Your face is too big.

Zhu Wei didn't think it would be helpful to replace Jiang Xian. He could see that Zheng Yuanjie was a stubborn person.

This kind of person is stubborn and it's useless for anyone to go to him.

Zhu Wei thought so.

The next day, Zhu Wei did not go out to collect manuscripts. Instead, he sat alone in the spacious office with the air conditioner on and read the manuscripts.

After reading for a while, I felt a little sleepy, so I straightened my back, yawned, and looked around the office.

Their courtyard in Cuihua Hutong covers an area of ​​800 square meters, and he is basically the only one there most of the time.

So, in the crowded and expensive city of Yanjing, Zhu Wei actually felt a little lonely at this moment.

This quietness is such a luxury.

After all, the average living area of ​​Beijing residents is only 4.5 square meters.

It is basically impossible to be alone and enjoy a moment of peace.

Therefore, the loneliness that Zhu Wei felt in his heart was a feeling that ordinary citizens could never experience.

"Zhu Wei, Zhu Wei, come out and say hello."

"coming."

Hearing Jiang Xian's call from the yard, Zhu Wei put down the manuscript, opened the door, and quickly walked into the yard.

He first saw Jiang Xian, and then immediately saw the person Jiang Xian asked him to greet.

It was none other than Zheng Yuanjie.

"Comrade Yuanjie, you are here. I will pour you some tea."

"Thank you, Editor Zhu Wei." Zheng Yuanjie also greeted politely.

"Go inside and sit down first."

Jiang Xian pulled Zheng Yuanjie into the main room, and waited for Zhu Wei to come over with a cup of tea. Jiang Xian then pulled him to sit down.

"I have something to announce. Comrade Zheng Yuanjie will be a member of our People's Digest from now on. He will be responsible for the fairy tale section of the digest. We have a new member in the People's Digest."

"Oh, huh? Welcome!"

Zhu Wei greeted them warmly, but at the same time he was surprised.

What evil trick did Jiang Xian use?

He remembered clearly that Zheng Yuanjie looked like he was keeping people at a distance and not approachable yesterday.

Why are you so obedient today?
How to adjust it?

(I didn’t get a date on a blind date a few days ago, so I’ll just spend Valentine’s Day writing honestly, and wish everyone and I can find a partner soon.)
(End of this chapter)