Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 613: "Wasteland" is "Gray": Gray World, Gray Life
"Brother Xu, I'm sorry, I can't give you this script, I want to shoot it myself," said Wong Kar-wai.

"Oh, you are planning to disrupt the timeline?!" Tsui Hark immediately understood what Wong Kar-wai meant.

The same script, with a disrupted timeline and those literary lines, it is indeed Wong Kar-wai's favorite.

“But, Kar-wai, if you really want to shoot it like that, it might fail again.” As a good friend, he had to give him a reminder.

"Failure? Well, that's possible. Well, let Zhenwei think of a solution." Wong Kar-wai said, touching his chin.

A week later, Fang Minghua received a letter from Wong Kar-wai in Hong Kong, thanking him for writing the script, and sent a remittance slip in the name of Zedong Film Company: 10 Hong Kong dollars in script fees.

Fang Minghua naturally didn't know that so many things had happened. It was only several years later when he went to Hong Kong to chat and drink with friends that he talked about this old story.

If Tsui Hark really made the film, would it be another "Ashes of Time", as exciting as "Swordsman"?
It was already late October, the weather had turned cold, and Song Tangtang had returned from Yinchuan.

The filming of "A Chinese Odyssey" is going relatively smoothly and is expected to be wrapped up in mid-December. It will then move into behind-the-scenes production and be ready to be shown after the Spring Festival next year.

At noon that day, the weather was good, and the long-lost sunshine finally appeared in the cloudy sky. His wife did not come back from work at noon, so Fang Minghua sat alone in the yard to bask in the sun after dinner. Suddenly, the phone in the living room rang, and he walked in and picked up the receiver.

"Which one?"

"Minghua, it's me, Pingwa."

"Hello, Brother Jia, are you not busy recently?" Fang Minghua greeted with a smile.

"Why aren't you busy? You're busy as hell."

It turns out that this year, Jia Pingwa founded the monthly prose magazine "Meiwen".

When the magazine was first published, he declared: "The purpose of publishing such a magazine is to use our strength to oppose the kind of sweet, flowery, and petty literary style, to advocate the grandeur and purity of prose, and to encourage the expansion of the path of prose, so that the prose that has become increasingly divided and degenerated into petty styles will have a broad path. Therefore, we shouted the word "big prose".

Fang Minghua admired his abundant energy.

"Minghua, my "Wasteland" has been officially completed. I'd like to give it to you to take a look at it and give you some suggestions." Jia Pingwa stated his purpose.

"Okay, I'll wait for you at home."

An hour later, Fang Minghua heard the doorbell. When he opened the door, he saw Jia Pingwa standing at the door with a briefcase.

Fang Minghua invited Jia Pingwa into the room and wanted to pour him some tea, but Jia Pingwa waved his hand and said, "No, I have something else to do. You can take your time reading the manuscript."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Have some tea and chat for a while." Fang Minghua tried to persuade him to stay.

"I'm not that leisurely. I have so many things to do at the company." Jia Pingwa declined and looked at Fang Minghua's courtyard again.

"I still envy you for having such a courtyard, a quiet place in a bustling city."

"Brother Jia, what are you envious of? Once your novel is published, you will have a yard."

"Haha, then I'll leave you with good wishes. I'll be leaving first."

After Jia Pingwa left, Fang Minghua picked up the manuscript and read it carefully.

There are not many changes from the first draft, and some details have been modified.

Fang Minghua read two pages and his eyes suddenly widened.

Oh my god
Why are there suddenly more “□□□□□□(the author deleted × hundred × ten × words)” in those erotic descriptions?

Fang Minghua originally thought that this was a gimmick created by the publishing house, but it turned out that Jia Pingwa did it himself!

It's really a bit unconventional.

Fang Minghua couldn't help but shake his head.

In the past two days, Fang Minghua has been carefully reading Jia Pingwa's manuscript. Apart from those eye-catching erotic descriptions, the literary and artistic quality of this novel is still relatively high.

The author uses the form of allegory and the techniques of deformation and exaggeration to conjure up the changes of intellectuals in the urban environment, successfully depicting a prosperous yet decadent urban picture.

The biggest feature presented by "Wasted City" is not "yellow" but "gray", a gray world and a gray life.

Fang Minghua suddenly felt that "Wasted City" was very similar to the life forms described by Keigo Higashino in "White Night Walk": on one side is sin, on the other side is love; on one side is black, on the other side is white; on one side is righteousness, on the other side is evil; one side is obvious, on the other side is hidden.

Everyone is afraid that the sun in his or her life will disappear, but some people's lives are always shrouded in darkness, just as the seemingly pure and beautiful Yukiho is sinful. The shadow of her dark childhood cannot be removed, so there is no sun in her life, like walking in the white night.

"Wasted City" at least shows us that in this special and unique era, there is a group of people walking in the daytime and at night - their world is dark; they create sunshine for themselves, superimposing day and night into a gray space; every clue and every aspect of their lives together form a gray mark of the times; their sweat, blood and tears merge into rivers, and their flesh and blood condense into walls, which is the "Wasted City".

There will be no problem with publication, and there will be no problem with it becoming a best-seller.

What Fang Minghua is thinking about now is how to avoid the historical mistakes of "Wasted City" and ensure that it is distributed smoothly after publication?

Should we reduce the erotic descriptions in books appropriately?

This is correct, but not enough.

You also need to have the right distribution strategy.

Fang Minghua thought about it and called Jia Pingwa to come to his house a week later.

The temperature has dropped today and there is a strong wind outside. Xijing stipulates that heating will not be provided until mid-November, but Fang Minghua's home is equipped with air conditioning, so it is still warm.

Soon the doorbell rang, Fang Minghua went out to open the door and welcomed Jia Pingwa into the living room.

"Brother Jia, it's so cold, I thought you wouldn't come."

"You called me, so how could I not come?" Jia Pingwa joked.

"Come, come, have some tea to warm yourself up."

Jia Pingwa sat on the sofa and took two sips of tea before asking, "Minghua, have you finished reading the manuscript?"

"After reading it, I would like to offer my personal opinion."

"You go ahead." Jia Pingwa leaned forward, looking like he was listening attentively.

"These □□□□□□ (the author deleted × hundred × ten × words) were filled in by you later, right?" Fang Minghua, the one who posted the article, turned to one of the pages, pointed and asked.

"Yes, I filled it in later, mainly to attract readers' attention." Jia Pingwa explained with a smile: "Don't think I really wrote these words, right?"

Fang Minghua shook his head and said, "It's over."

"pass?"

"Your original intention was to attract readers' attention, but I think this approach is a bit excessive. I think you should not only delete these □□□□□□, but also be more restrained in the erotic descriptions, because I am worried that the publication of your book will cause criticism and even anger from the public."

After listening to this, Jia Pingwa was silent for a while, and seemed a little unconvinced. Suddenly, he changed the subject and said, "Minghua, I read the "White Deer Plain" officially published by China Times."

"Oh?"

"The novel is well written, I admire it very much, and it has received good response from the society. Many critics have praised it and considered it an epic work. However, there are many erotic descriptions in his book, which is even more than my "Wasteland". Why are all his books reviewed positively?"

Fang Minghua did not answer but asked:
"Brother Jia, haven't you noticed the biggest difference between your two books?"

"What's the difference?" Jia Pingwa asked subconsciously.

(End of this chapter)