There is nothing wrong with the training method of the Justice Messenger

"I think the same thing." Kasumigaoka said coldly, "I'm almost beginning to suspect there's something fishy going on."

"Xiao Shi, you can't say that." Ms. Machida, who had always had a bright smile, immediately turned cold: "You are doubting the library, the judges who are in charge of the review of this essay contest, and you are also doubting... my judgment?"

"I do have doubts." Kasumigaoka did not back down and argued: "I have read Li Nian's manuscript. It is a work that shows great writing skills in terms of story structure, background structure, overall rhythm, emotional changes, etc. The result is that it wrote a story that makes people feel sad and cry, but unexpectedly happy. It can have this effect because in addition to this, the discussion about justice, society, individuals, and spirit is quite natural and deep enough, which adds more points... It is impossible for a high school girl to catch up with the strength and experience."

Li Nian was stunned after hearing this, thinking to himself, how come I don’t know how awesome I am. He also wanted to raise some objections, but now he didn’t know what to say.

Kasumigaoka continued to ask, "Ms. Machida, do you think I was wrong?"

"I think what you said is right, Xiaoshi." Machida sighed, as if he had no idea what to do with Kasumigaoka. "Just as you said, Xiaoshi, in terms of story structure, background structure, overall rhythm control, emotional changes - these are all aspects of an author's hard power, that kid is indeed not as good as Teacher Muzi."

"So."

"But, again, let's just talk about the results." Ms. Machida applied in a very serious tone, and said softly, "The child narrated the entire story in the first person, describing the scenery, events, characters, and psychology bit by bit, and finally portrayed an emotion that was almost desperate, so thick that it could suffocate people's hearts. It was not just a story that could be seen everywhere, but it was like an autobiography of a girl in reality. When you read the text, you will feel that someone is shouting at you desperately with their heart. The further you read, the louder the voice becomes, until you feel that every word is hitting your inner soul. Even when you close the book, you will still feel the voice lingering in your ears, and your mood will not be able to calm down for a long time..."

Finally, Machida made a summary.

“This is what is called a very spiritual author, writing very spiritual words.”

Li Nian and Xia Zhiqiu both fell silent.

In the end, it was Li Nian who spoke first, with a sense of helplessness.

"This is indeed impossible to win..."

Chapter 211 The important issue is to continue writing

Ms. Machida came to this conclusion after reading the manuscript, so its authenticity can be guaranteed. If her impressions are really as she said, then we must admit that the winning works of this grand prize are indeed excellent.

All writing techniques are just to express the word "emotion". No matter what the plot and writing style are, as long as people can be aroused to resonate emotionally when reading the text, it is a successful writing method.

Occasionally, there will suddenly appear such an author who, even if he is a novice, can use spiritual words to write stories that touch people's inner emotions.

"…You said it feels a bit autobiographical?"

Li Nian was somewhat concerned and frowned as he asked,

When asked this question, Ms. Machida showed a helpless look on her face. She understood what Li Nian was really concerned about, and whispered, "I heard that the teacher is not doing well in school..."

"……Yeah."

If the content is truly taken from one's own life and comes from one's inner feelings, then even with an immature writing style, one can write content that is touching enough. It is understandable to Li Nian that a girl in the first year of high school can write a good book and surpass herself with a "deeply touching story".

At this point, Li Nian no longer questioned the results of the review and accepted the fact indifferently. At this time, he was more concerned about what the winner of the grand prize had experienced.

According to Ms. Machida, the emotional tone of the whole book is "despair and sadness", and it was written to such an amazing effect - does it just mean that the author's own mental state is not very good?

It is said that he did not have a good time in school...but it is not hard to imagine that he encountered some bad things.

Kasumigaoka looked at Li Nian out of the corner of his eye. His frown showed a hint of anger. This one look made Kasumigaoka understand that this boy was angry about the unfortunate experience of someone he had never met.

If there is a chance, I have to do something - Li Nian really thought so, and he also clearly understood that this was not a normal thought.

While feeling pity, he realized that being an outsider is powerless, which is what a normal person should think. This cannot be condemned, but ordinary people have clear boundaries in their abilities - but this does not apply to him, Li Nian. The purpose of practice is to have the means to solve problems. Li Nian has strong enough self-confidence, and the sword given by God needs to fulfill corresponding obligations. After he had the subconscious thought of "I can't control anything", he denied it and demanded that he must do something.

Having the ability but not doing it is not a betrayal of others... However, having the ability and desire to do something but not doing it is a betrayal of yourself.

"What kind of person is he? I'd like to meet him." Li Nian asked meaningfully.

"Of course there is a chance." Machida smiled when he heard Li Nian say this: "According to convention, the award ceremony for this year's essay contest will be held later, and the winning teachers will be present."

"Really? I'm looking forward to it..." Li Nian secretly made a note and decided to confirm it with his own eyes. He stopped asking further questions and deliberately calmed down his mood at the moment. His brows relaxed: "Let's get back to the topic. Ms. Machida, you said that after reading the Grand Prize works, you found that the content of my manuscript needed to be revised. What's the reason?"

"In order to be officially published, everyone's manuscript needs further revisions. It goes without saying that the most basic polishing and proofreading to correct typos are necessary. Depending on the situation, the content may also be significantly added, deleted, or modified. This is not surprising."

The waiter had already brought the drinks. Kasumigaoka sipped her oolong tea and spoke casually, not taking it seriously.

"Hiss... But with your level of completion, there shouldn't be much need for changes."

"No." Unexpectedly, Ms. Machida flatly denied it: "I'm sorry, I think Mr. Muzi's manuscript needs major revisions."

The person at Kasumigaoka stopped moving for a moment and asked immediately.

"Daigai? Ms. Machida, are you serious?"

"Of course I am serious."

Ms. Machida said this and looked at Li Nian with a more serious expression.

Li Nian was not surprised. When this person said that there were some things that needed to be changed, he had already felt it. At this time, he just had a thoughtful expression.

Without waiting for him to ask anything, Ms. Machida herself understood that the editor who made such a request would need to give detailed reasons and corresponding plans - she had already thought about what to say.

"Before reading the works of the Grand Prize winners, I read Muzi's manuscript first. My reaction at that time was the same as that of the poem. I felt that it was amazing enough and indeed had a terrifyingly high degree of completion. It only needed a little polishing and modification, and after a good formatting, it could be published. At that time, the only thing I felt was a flaw was the ending - it's not that it was not well written, but it was because Muzi's ending was well written, successfully summarizing the previous content and sublimating the theme, that the whole book had moving emotional ups and downs. But how to continue the ending with the protagonist's death is a big problem."

"Continue writing...?"

Xia Zhiqiu looked at Li Nian. This is indeed a problem.

"Continue writing, right... um... continue writing..."

Li Nian repeated the word as if chewing over it. He really hadn't thought about this question much before, but he suddenly realized it after Machida said this.

Novels are commodities after all. There are works that are completed in one book, but they are too short and have too low commercial value, making it difficult for them to accumulate enough influence. To put it more bluntly, an author's income is basically equal to royalties x number of prints x price. There is really not much profit to be made from a completed book, and the same is true for library services.

Of course I have to continue writing, the question is how to continue writing...

After thinking about it for a while, Li Nian said directly.

"It's not that there is no solution."

Miss Machida obviously had something else to say, but at this time she still asked with interest: "Have you come up with a plan so quickly?"

"Let's say that after the Demon King dies, there are still warmongers who want to destroy peace." Li Nian began to talk about the continuation plan in a torrent of words: "Dig his body out of the grave and revive it, and want to use him to start another war. Our Demon King agrees on the surface, and then he goes to find the brave lady and lives happily for a while, but he knows that this resurrection is time-limited, so he will rebel in the end and stand against the world again - in fact, he wants to stimulate the warmongering forces to surface, and then uproot them completely to prevent future troubles, and finally have a fateful duel with the brave lady. This time our Demon King can successfully fulfill the promise of reunion in the future, and die completely at the hands of the brave lady with his true identity..."

Kasumigaoka looked at her with horror.

Li Nian noticed it and hummed with pride.

"How is it? A perfect ending, right? The war is completely ended, the aftermath is wiped out, and the promise made when leaving is fulfilled. It perfectly points out the theme and atones for the sins, so that the hero can finally reveal his identity to the person he likes. Perfect."

"I just think that you must be the reincarnation of the devil to drag this character out and flog him as if nothing happened."

Chapter 212 Good and Better

However, we have to admit that the plot that this guy came up with in a short time has indeed completed a very good closed loop. By utilizing several of the points, it can easily achieve a sensational effect. Using "reaching an agreement" as the theme has also changed the previous imperfect and tragic ending and provided an explanation.

——Although our Demon King still has to die in the end, and he will die completely.

I can imagine that if the story was really written along this line, it would make the readers cry a lot.

Miss Machida obviously listened to Li Nian's words carefully, thought about it, and thought it was a good proposal, so she nodded with a smile.

"As expected of Mr. Muzi, he came up with a very good plot development in such a short time."

"There's nothing I can do. The main character has already died. If I want to write a sequel, I can only call him out of the coffin. The subsequent development is not very novel and is quite clichéd."

Li Nian himself actually knew that this plot development was not a very amazing one. It would be better to say that the reason why he came up with it so quickly was because he had seen similar routines too many times before, the corpse-whipping type of writing where the character dies, comes back to life, and dies again. Who hasn't seen it before?

"The important thing is, if the author is Mr. Muzi, he will definitely be able to handle the details well... As long as the next volume can maintain the quality of the first volume, just thinking about it makes me feel that it will be another story that will make people cry."

"I think so too. That's the effect we want. Old-fashioned but effective."

Even if the plot is old-fashioned, it still has the power to easily hurt readers, and it is precisely because of its enduring popularity that it can be passed down from generation to generation.

The point is not the routine, but how to write it. For example, the information that "resurrection is a time-limited event" is concealed, and on the basis of not mentioning it at all, it is exaggerated that the devil's life is so comfortable and happy, giving readers the illusion that the protagonist is really resurrected completely without sequelae, until it is revealed at the end...

Routine x routine x routine = endless routines that are hard to see through. Don’t have too many ways to play…

Thinking of this, Li Nian smiled, but then spread his hands, expressing a kind of helplessness, "…But I just said it casually, knowing that if it is really written like this, and then there is nothing else, Ms. Machida probably thinks it is not okay?"

Li Nian knew that this method of whipping the corpse could only be used once, and if the plot continued to develop in this way, it should be finished in two more volumes at most, and no more than three volumes in total.

"But so what." Kasumigaoka frowned and said, "A story should end when it is appropriate to end it. It is much more free and easy than making up stories and adding a bunch of miscellaneous plots to ruin a good story that has finally been completed."

After a pause, perhaps thinking about the quality of some of the new works that have recently come out in the light novel industry, Kasumigaoka had a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Or what, Ms. Machida, do you think this guy's book lacks a pretty girl who looks like a vase and a protagonist who speaks a lot like an ass?"

“How could it be…” Machida also recalled his past struggles and tapped his lips in distress. “I know what you are thinking, Xiaoshi. At the beginning, I had the same idea as Xiaoshi. I thought that it was a rare good story. Is it really necessary to make major changes in order to continue writing it, risking damaging the viewing experience? At that time, I came to the conclusion that [it was not necessary]…”

"Until you have read the original manuscript of the grand prize-winning work." Li Nian said what she wanted to say for her.

"exactly."

"I'm really curious about what the editor saw. From what I heard from you, you think the story written by that person is of sufficient quality. But on the other hand, you also think that this lady's writing style is very different from mine. What reference is there?"

According to Ms. Machida, the grand prize winner seems to be a girl. The manuscript she wrote was probably a school story from a female perspective. The theme... was probably "school bullying." In the end, it successfully portrayed the girl's despair and sadness.

Based on this information alone, Li Nian could conclude that this author's writing style was very different from her own.

Words reflect a person's mentality. Men and women have many different perspectives on things, and their accustomed narrative methods are even more different. Therefore, it is difficult for men and women to have similar writing styles - in this case, the point is not to make such a universal statement.

"Teacher Muzi, you are right. First of all, the emotional tone of your works is different. The works that won the Grand Prize reflect the delicate inner world of the girl. The writing style is soft and there is a kind of repressed sadness from beginning to end. The focus is on the inner pain and entanglement..."

Kasumigaoka had a thoughtful expression on her face, having realized why Ms. Machida said that the grand prize-winning work was of a similar type to her own.

Ms. Machida continued.

"Mr. Muzi, your work focuses on reality. The writing style is neat and tough. The content focuses on grand battles and realities close to life. It emphasizes the relationship between justice and stance, which can move people to tears. It creates a sense of "reality as if it is happening right next to you" in various details, making the flesh and blood of the characters appear unusually full. In summary, it can be found that your writing style and that of that teacher are not only not similar, but almost completely opposite. To sum it up, it is the difference between emotional authors and rational authors. One focuses on writing about emotions, while the other focuses on writing about things. One uses an emotional way to depict mental images, while the other uses an objective and realistic perspective to analyze facts."

Kasumigaoka listened carefully to Machida's words, nodded as if suddenly understanding something, and muttered, "I see... yes... that's it."

Li Nian narrowed his eyes slightly.

As expected of a professional editor, he is much better than An Yi and the others. His words are very intimidating, and it is so enjoyable to listen to him... It feels like I have met a bosom friend - because I think he really hits the nail on the head.

"So what did Ms. Machida see from these two works with almost completely opposite styles?"

"I have asked several judges for their opinions. In fact, all the teachers have given unanimous praise to your work, Teacher Muzi. After comparing your work with the works of this Grand Prize, and after a heated debate, they still reached a unanimous opinion that the other teacher is better. Among various reasons, on the one hand, the emotions in the Grand Prize works are indeed so sticky that they are suffocating, reaching the extreme of the [emotional school] - on the other hand, they feel that compared with them, Teacher Muzi's work has not reached the extreme of the [rational school] style."

"I haven't reached the pinnacle of style?" Li Nian asked back, very confused.

"The lack of comparison will make people have further expectations. Since you have the ability, why not do better? So from the perspective of readers, I will be angry at your lack of efforts. I hope that you can continue to write your works, because we want to see more charming and powerful characters, more interesting or profound plots, and hope that the story can continue and expand until it finally presents a complete world! Instead of stopping at one volume and ending only between two people."

"..." Li Nian fell silent.

"As an editor, I immediately understood from this feeling that this is the ultimate you should do, Mr. Muzi, and the further possibilities. If everything goes well, at the key point of that road, you will become the pillar of this library and stand at the top of the industry!"

Ms. Machida pressed the tabletop and slowly approached Li Nian. She became more and more excited as she spoke, and her eyes were so fiery that people couldn't help but want to dodge... Li Nian couldn't help but lean back, smiled awkwardly and said, "Wait a moment, I'm just a newbie..."

"You are kidding me." Machida denied it flatly, with disdain: "The winner of this essay contest can be a newcomer, but you can't be Mr. Muzi. Your style is almost complete, which requires clear enough ideas, enough reading, and enough rich writing experience to accumulate strength. So don't even think about using your lack of strength as an excuse to let this editor Machida lower his expectations of you."

"Teacher Muzi, you performed very well in this essay contest, but I hope you can do better in the future!"

Chapter 213: The More Capable, the More Work

The words sounded very nice, but when Li Nian heard them, she selectively ignored those passionate but unrealistic remarks.

"...In short, you want me to transcribe a long article?"

It is easy to draw this conclusion, because Li Nian heard her editor, Ms. Machida, summarize her expectations for herself.

Miss Machida didn't expect this guy to react so indifferently. She couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, but after hearing the conclusion drawn by Li Nian at this time, which was exactly the core opinion she wanted to express, she quickly adjusted herself, smiled again, and nodded slightly.

"Teacher Muzi understands things very quickly, that's it."

"There are so many things to do..."

Li Nian was not blinded by the seemingly good-looking pie that was painted in a few words. What he thought of immediately was that if he really decided to transcribe a long novel, he would need to implement the content afterwards.

He initially decided to write this book because he was intrigued by Gogen and decided to write for fun on a theme similar to hers, so he never thought about writing a grand worldview at the beginning. Instead, in order to control the main content to the most local part of the opposition between the two worlds and shrink it to the two most critical characters, he deliberately avoided adding various elements. It was originally a story that was completed in one volume and he didn't intend to make it long.

Now I am told that I have to rewrite and expand it into a long novel, which is quite troublesome.

Unlike writing short stories, if you decide to write a novel from the beginning, then there are a lot of things you need to prepare. Not to mention that the content of a volume needs to be considered again from beginning to end, but more importantly, you need to dismantle and rebuild the original big framework, deleting, modifying, adding and supplementing many things.

The most basic plot arrangement, background layout, and character settings have to be changed... There is also the corresponding combat system, and even the construction of the political system and economic system, etc...

Once he started thinking in the direction of "perfecting the entire worldview", many things naturally came to his mind. He immediately had a few general directions. Li Nian unconsciously began to try to initially construct a large worldview in his mind...

Perhaps she misunderstood Li Nian's silence at this moment, thinking that this promising new star was backing out, Ms. Machida gave a bitter smile.

"...Actually, I understand your difficulties, Mr. Muzi. I know that my request is a bit presumptuous. To rewrite a long novel, you have to rethink the entire story from the very beginning. It is not impossible that you need to rewrite the entire first volume. With such a huge revision, the article may lose its original excellent quality. This is not impossible. For you, Mr. Muzi, it will inevitably bring a considerable workload and great risks. So if you really want to refuse, I will accept it. According to the original arrangement, the manuscript will only need to be slightly proofread and polished before it can be published."

Li Nian was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses after deep thought. After listening to Miss Machida's words, he did not clarify the misunderstanding for a while, but continued to ask with interest.

"Ms. Machida knew that there would be these risks and troubles, but she still made the proposal. I guess she saw more benefits than the costs?"

"Of course!" Machida was excited when he heard Li Nian's words loosen up. "Although short stories have their advantages, if you look at it from a higher perspective, the best-selling works are often those long works. As they are published one volume after another, their influence will increase exponentially as the length of the works expands. Relatively speaking, the number of copies sold will also increase... From an editor's perspective, it must be said that the overall commercial value of long works is higher than that of short stories... For authors, they will also earn more."

Just as Machida said, books that sell well for a long time are basically written to more than ten or twenty volumes. Although there are some that are completed in three or four volumes and become hot-selling newcomers due to their excellent quality, overall, long novels still sell much better.