Generation Z Artists

Chapter 112 What? New book signing?!

Han Han’s sudden popularity has continued Fang Xinghe’s popularity.

At first, everyone was surprised by Han Han's sudden surrender, but soon someone calculated the profit Han Han could get from "Triple Door".

The cost of the first print run of 50 copies was paid by Fang Xinghe, so the Writer's Publishing House directly gave Han Han a profit share that a newcomer would never get, a 12% royalty.

Therefore, just for the first batch, Han Han received 100 million yuan in royalties.

Next, Writer's Publishing House will continue to print more copies and maintain the 12% royalty rate, bringing Han Han a steady stream of wealth.

But do you feel guilty about taking this money?

Anyway, Han Han couldn't say that he was completely calm.

From the initiation of the project, to the promotion and publicity, to the hype from all sides, to the final release, it was almost always Fang Xinghe who came up with the ideas, and Wang Yali and Wang Charlie who executed them. They themselves did nothing and just waited for the pie to fall on their heads after writing the book.

So he was helpless and really couldn't say anything more forceful.

Han Er is different from Guo Si. He has always been a man who cares about his reputation. Although he talks tough, he would never do such a thing as repaying kindness with enmity.

On the 3rd, when sales undoubtedly exceeded 50 and all products were sold out, Han Han took the initiative to call Fang Xinghe.

"Hello, um, Xinghe, I'm Han Han."

He struggled a lot with how to address Fang Xinghe, and finally it was his father who helped him decide, calling him by his name.

"Old Han, what do you mean?"

Fang Xinghe was very casual and natural, and even took the initiative to help him: "Thank you? You don't have to be so pretentious, right?"

"Uh, not really... but also... I just, uh, feel a little uncomfortable and want to talk to you."

It's really hard to chat with such an awkward child.

Fang Xinghe simply guided him along the way: "You succeeded, but you are more confused?"

"Oh, yes!" Han Han's tone became more intense. "I just feel that everything right now is so boring. I don't know how to describe it to you. Anyway, anyway, huh..."

"You can describe it in any way you want, I'm sure I can understand it."

So Han Han began to talk for a long time - don't forget, he is just a child now, even until he was 30 years old, Han Han was always a big child.

"In fact, I envy your current life, which is so intense and wonderful. Of course, the most important thing is not how you do it, but I can feel that you enjoy your current life.

I'm different. I don't enjoy what I have now. It's boring and so fucking empty!
Going to that crappy school every day makes me so fed up. My classmates, teachers, parents, and even my girlfriend are fed up with it!
Um, not really. Actually, my girlfriend is pretty good and I’m very happy with her. But we always have conflicts when we chat. It’s not that she can’t understand me at all, but it’s just… Oh, I don’t know how to explain it.

Triple Door became popular, but I found that I was still unhappy. Well, let me put it this way, I don’t seem to love literature as much as I thought. When I saw some people praising Triple Door to death, the sense of accomplishment was like a gust of wind, which quickly blew away, and I began to feel anxious again...

In fact, when I just finished writing it, I felt so awesome. I was a big, shining piece of gold, and no one was worthy of pointing fingers at me!

But I'm not afraid to tell you the truth. After I finished reading "Cang Ye Xue", I couldn't help but think when I lay in bed at night: should literary works be closer to life, or should they be as close to trial as possible? As I thought about it, I felt that it was too fucking boring. What the hell is literature? Which kind of shit is what I wrote and what you wrote?
When I get tired of thinking, I get up and write a new book, but there is nothing in my mind to write. I feel that my life is too pale, do you understand? It is not pale compared to you, but compared to all the great writers, it is too pale.

I really don’t know what to do now. Every day at school is torture. My new book made money and the situation seems to have improved, but in fact it’s even more torture!

Uncle Lu thought I should strike while the iron is hot, and made a whole set of plans for me—I think he learned it from you—but I think it’s completely boring. I can’t even write my next book, so what’s the point of doing all that crap?”

Fang Xinghe quickly extracted the key points from the long chatter and asked, "Are you not satisfied with Triple Door?"

"Uh..." Han Han was stuck for a while, and finally admitted with difficulty, "It's indeed not satisfactory. I have already forced out my maximum anger, but compared to your anger... Alas, I'm afraid I'm not a very angry person."

Fang Xinghe ignored this and continued to ask: "When did you realize that you didn't love literature? Do you have anything you love now?"

“No, I don’t know what I love.”

Han Han answered the latter question first, and then thought hard.

"Well, maybe I've always known this, right? I think I'm pretty good at writing, and I really like the feeling of using words as a knife to slash people. But when I was writing a novel, it was very painful, and then I was completely sure that I don't like literature itself, I just like the feeling of venting through writing..."

Oh, no wonder this guy never wrote a long novel after 09. He can’t squeeze out any emotion anymore.

If you force a person who doesn't love literature to write a novel, he can certainly squeeze out some money for the sake of money, but when he runs out of milk and starts bleeding, it will be too painful.

"Then you should write more essays and fewer novels in the future. Your novels aren't that good anyway."

Fang Xinghe simply and directly stabbed forward with his knife, breaking his good brother's defense on the spot.

"Is it that bad? By the way, you didn't say the same thing when the reporter interviewed you, did you?!"

Haha, he's nervous!
It's rare to see Han Han so uneasy, but this is actually quite normal.

Fang Xinghe couldn't help laughing: "No, I must praise you. There are so many peers behind you. Isn't scolding you the same as destroying my own stage?"

"That's fine, that's fine..."

Han Han let out a sigh of relief, then asked again: "So what should I do?"

In fact, Fang Xinghe knew what he wanted to do, but he didn't intend to stop him.

For a young man who has capital and is willful enough, obstruction or pushing from outsiders will never be the reason for him to make the final decision.

Fang Xinghe's principle as a friend is: on major issues, he only advises once and then again, and on non-major issues, he only provides a neutral opinion and does not advise at all.

As for Han Han... he didn't think that they were friends now, so he didn't even mention it.

"I don't have any advice for you. You are the master of your own life. I think you have enough ability to live your own life."

"it is good!"

Han Han was very excited, as if he had really gotten motivation from Fang Xinghe.

However, it was of no use, and he still felt miserable for the whole next month.

Because the massive criticism came as expected.

The literary criticism community, which is mainly composed of Chinese departments in major universities, completely disapproves of the level of Triple Door.

This kind of thing has happened in history, but not on the scale of what it is now. There has not been a more outstanding book like "Cang Ye Xue" in history, so many people are very tolerant of young children.

It’s different now. Fang Xinghe has raised everyone’s standards by more than 3 or 5 points.

Well, it is difficult to prevent the excessive flattery from arousing a considerable degree of rebelliousness, which is also an important reason.

In short, the scale of the criticism is a bit excessive.

"Can you call it a novel just by forcing some paragraphs together? When did our standards become so low?"

"As a professor of Chinese, I must be fair and say that the writing level of this novel is not as good as our students' class assignments. Han Han is more suitable for writing something short and sharp. His ability to handle long novels is too poor."

"I immediately listed Triple Door as material for the literature appreciation class and gave it to students to discuss. The result was probably quite unsatisfactory for Han Han - 100% of the students thought it was a mediocre work, the writing quality was above average, the writing was scattered and not like a novel, the structure was brittle and could be easily broken. Even if Fang Xinghe was used as a background, it still seemed like a whining story. I don't understand how it could sell so many copies."

"Compared with Cang Ye Xue, Triple Door doesn't deserve to be called youth literature!"

"It's just a bored teenager's teenage depression. Maybe it's more realistic, but it's also too boring."

"The expectations that Fang Xinghe had raised for us are being wiped out by Chen Jiayong and Han Han."

"It can be concluded that Fang Xinghe has surpassed his time, and the rest are just mediocre people in the era."

Han Han never imagined that when he hung up the phone, it would be the last time they talked in recent years and also the moment when they were closest emotionally.

The opposition created by the media, family, team, and the ill-intentioned and difficult to defend system is like a mountain. On this side of the mountain, there are the grievances and unwillingness in his heart, and on the other side of the mountain is Fang Xinghe.

A gap formed naturally, making the awkward boy regret making that call, and then regret not making another call. But Fang Xinghe was calm and composed, no matter how the situation developed.

In mid-March, Han Han, who was overwhelmed by the criticism, finally wrote an article to publicly respond to those who used Fang Xinghe to belittle him.

“Thank you for your pessimism, but Triple Door has sold 100 million copies. When I heard this number, I said “oh” and continued to tinker with my motorcycle.

Many comments say that I am a child obsessed with literature, but that shows that people don’t understand me. I am obsessed with basketball, football, art, photography, and traveling, but not literature.

I can understand why everyone is so keen on criticizing me. Criticizing me now can attract traffic, and linking Fang Xinghe and me to it can attract even more traffic. I really like this word coined by Fang Xinghe, and I feel sorry for having laughed at him for being hugged and rubbed hard by someone at that time.

Now, I was also hugged and rubbed by a group of strange people, and I finally understood what this feeling was - like being stuck to my body by an ugly woman with strong body odor under her armpits. She tried desperately to search my trouser pockets, and for a moment I couldn't tell whether she wanted to rob me of my money or to rape me.

I have the money, but if I want to rob you of your sex, please go find Fang Xinghe.

He and I have different paths, and there is no need to compare us. When the noise dies down, he will probably study hard and make himself stronger, while I will still be that puddle of mud, continuing to be a free-spirited gangster who 'does not seek to make progress and does not work properly'. You should go back to him, continue to revolve around him, and let me wander around quietly by myself.

Those who want to see us quarrel or even fight with ulterior motives will probably be disappointed. We are two trains running in opposite directions. We met at the New Concept Competition and then drove in our respective directions. We will never collide. "

When Fang Xinghe saw it for the first time, he had only one feeling - the team had finally convinced Han Han himself.

At first glance, this article may not seem very powerful, but it expresses a very subtle attitude.

The first is to create a persona for Han Han as a "literary prodigal". The phrase "I don't like literature" is essentially a distinction between him and Fang Xinghe, meaning that I like everything except literature. Even though I can sell hundreds of thousands of dollars by just writing something, Fang Xinghe and I are different and we are not on the same track.

The second point extends from the previous one, further clarifying Han Han’s positioning.

His team targeted the group of angry young people who were opposed to the exam-based education system and all of Fang Xinghe's black fans.

"Completely opposite and going in opposite directions" is the stance, and "free and easy and quiet" is the attitude. When the target group sees this, they will definitely regard Han Han as a close friend.

Nowadays, young people who don’t like studying and long for freedom are not a minority. Han Han has many fans in universities and even in society.

The third is that it conveys the implicit signal that he is unwilling to compete directly with Fang Xinghe.

The meaning of never crashing into each other is very clear. I will walk my own Yangguan Road, you walk your single-plank bridge, we each have our own fun, and no one will hinder each other.

This was obviously not Han Han's work. It seemed that as his personal value grew, Han's father and Uncle Lu finally started to make him an idol.

In his previous life, Han Han’s popularity was largely due to coincidence and operational factors.

Fang Xinghe's true evaluation of Triple Door, which was not published in newspapers, was: "A top joke teller used the most contemporary confused core to piece together a stream-of-consciousness novel that can fully resonate with urban teenagers. Compared across generations, it is a mediocre work. In the current window period, it effectively hits the hearts of the target group."

Collecting information from newspapers every day, Fang Xinghe discovered that the explosive popularity of Triple Door had aroused resentment in almost all Chinese departments across the country.

Compared to "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Triple Door" is indeed far inferior, giving people a clear feeling of "I can do it too".

In fact, the level of Chinese major students in top 985 universities in writing individual paragraphs is really no worse than Han Han’s. After they are put together into a novel, it will probably be very scattered, but "Triple Door" is not much better in this regard - so they are really capable of it.

However, this is a special opportunity bestowed by the times. Han Han participated in the first New Concept, and he benefited from the popularity of an essay published at Peking University. He was established as a model for the theory that studying is useless, and the character carefully created by Mr. Lu just hit the pain points of the times, so "Triple Door" became a huge hit.

If someone with a higher level of ability wrote "Nine-Layered Gate", it would most likely not become popular.

It is damn difficult to make a cold start in the field of literature. Shuang Xuetao's level is two miles higher than Han and Guo. How many children in later generations know this?
Therefore, Han Han is the best example of a perfect match between the opportunities of the times and personal ability. Both are indispensable, but it is precisely because his personal ability is not enough to crush all dissatisfaction that the agency team behind him is eager to cut ties with Fang Xinghe.

If you can't afford to offend, just stay away.

It is roughly this kind of thinking that led to the emergence of response articles.

In response, Fang Xinghe generously gave his blessings.

He specially wrote a short article to directly support Han Han.

“I accept any criticism directed at me, because the world is used to looking at any kind of outliers with strange eyes, but I do not accept criticism of any of my companions in the youth literature publishing project. I think they are good, but you think they are not. Am I blind?
"Triple Door" certainly has problems of one kind or another, but so does "Cang Ye Xue". These are the superficiality, emptiness, shallowness and omissions that we must experience. It is even possible that we will never get out of those writing traps. However, this is by no means a reason for some ill-intentioned people to use "Cang Ye Xue" to criticize and belittle "Triple Door" and then expand and belittle Han Han.

Han Han and I grew up in completely different environments. The things that I am good at writing are not what he can do. I also don’t understand the melancholy and entanglement that he writes about.

So which is good and which is bad? Both are good and bad.

I always say: I am the best in the world, but I never say that my work is the best. Any work is just a one-sided expression of the author. It is unreasonable and dark to elevate the author himself from the work.

Some people seem to be happy to provoke a fight between Han Han and me. Maybe one day, he will do something that I can't stand, and I may scold him, but it's definitely not now. What did he do wrong now? Nothing. "Triple Door" is a youth novel with a lot of boundaries and attitude.

So feel free to come to me if anything happens. I will take on all the bad things related to the youth literature publishing project.

If there are good things, come to them; if there are bad things, come to me.

I would like to specially call out the 13 ugly people who are eager to create chaos in the world, as well as the teachers and students in the Chinese Department who maliciously belittle "Triple Door" without mentioning my name based on the novel itself.

I know that what you learn in the Chinese department is literary appreciation, and evaluating literary works is your job, but you are not tolerant when you should be, and not tough when you should be. You replace objectivity and fairness with sour words, and use flattery and stepping on others to cover up your bullying of the weak and fear of the strong. Students taught in this way will probably only be able to suck blood from literature and will not be able to create real value.

I don't need you to praise my articles. There is no reserved seat for you in this new youth literature feast initiated by me. Just sit at the table with the kids next to you and leave as soon as you have had your fill.

Don't eat my food and then put down my guests. You don't deserve it.

I solemnly apologize to those of you who want to sit at the main table, want to have an equal conversation with me, and write your class assignments at the level of "Sex".

Or you can choose any one of my essays that will be released soon, and criticize me in a meaningful way until I am convinced, and I will apologize to you all the same.

The question is, can you guys do it?"

Fang Xinghe seemed very stressed and very protective of his son.

Because good brothers always protect their children.

As the initiator and leader of the post-80s youth literature publishing plan, with many works to come, he must be tough enough both publicly and privately.

Supporting Han Han is not the goal; the key is to ensure that labels such as the first figure in post-80s literature, the pioneer of new youth literature, the number one in the new concept system, and a natural leader are widely recognized.

Fang Xinghe’s goal was fully achieved. As soon as the new article came out, the phenomenon of malicious slander and comparison was immediately stopped for the most part.

It's not that he always follows his words, but that his influence is great enough to make enough readers feel disgusted with double standards and slander. When the writers see that the disadvantages of continuing to do so outweigh the advantages, they naturally stop.

As for the young writers, they were all extremely grateful to Fang Xinghe.

The first prize winner of this year's New Concept Writing Competition often mentioned the senior brother of Xinmen, my brother Fang, in interviews.

Girls like Lan Yao, Cao Ling, Ying You Jia and others were so yearning that they submitted their works to "The Strongest Voice of Post-80s" magazine as soon as possible.

Friends who have publishing projects lined up are no exception, and they speak well of Fang Xinghe to everyone they meet.

Public opinion has long been accustomed to Fang Xinghe's outbursts, and this time it gave great praise, because he indeed has the mind and sense of responsibility of a leader, and also expressed optimism about the subsequent works of the publishing plan.

Of course, the most important thing is the highly anticipated new book, the essay collection "Young Me".

Strictly speaking, this collection of essays is even more anticipated than his first novel, because the level of Fang Xinghe's short essays is... um, I can't say higher.

Anyone who knows about "Cang Ye Xue" knows how difficult the single and double cycle structure is, because one must skillfully master two styles of writing to achieve the opposition between single and double chapters, and then use sophisticated writing to reduce the sense of separation and keep the whole text smooth.

However, Fang Xinghe's short articles obviously have a lower reading threshold and a higher reading experience. They are full of vigor, with emotions at the forefront, without any abuse or depression, and are very refreshing.

Those who are in tune with the radio waves can gain great spiritual enjoyment from it.

And this time, Fang Xinghe gave a preview in advance - there will be a signing session.

Young girl fans, older sister fans, and mother fans across the country are all going crazy.

**********
It is very difficult to write. If there are any problems, I will update it first and then make changes.

(End of this chapter)