The literary era since 1979

"boom!"

"boom!"

As soon as the sound of firecrackers stopped, Fang Yan pushed Shi Tiesheng's wheelchair, and Gong Xing, Chen Ximi and others came in one after another and took their seats.

Wang Shuo handed over "Half Flame Half Seawater". Fang Yan did not read it immediately, but cast a questioning look:
"I remember that you were planning to use this manuscript as the graduation work for the creative writing class of Lu Xun Academy of Literature, right?"

"Teacher Fang, the instructor assigned to him by the academy thinks that this novel is too negative and dark, and wants him to revise it."

Yu Hua suddenly said, "He just refused to agree, and neither side was willing to give in, so the manuscript was not published."

Wang Shuo curled his lips and said, "Why is it called 'darkness'? I am at most 'gray'."

Fangyan flipped through the novel casually and found that the novel "Half Flame Half Sea" was indeed more sunny than the movie. It was just that a female college student fell in love with a scumbag gangster, but the gangster was just playing around and after he succeeded, he only thought about how to get rid of her. The plot of the movie was quite explicit and explosive. The pure girl fell in love with a pimp and blackmailer, and because of her obsession with love, she was willing to be led into the abyss by the pimp.

The theme and content were completely inconsistent with the publication requirements of People's Literature, so the manuscript was rejected without a second thought.

"Look, if you want to publish it, you still have to make it brighter."

Yu Hua winked at Wang Shuo.

Wang Shuo said: "This world is not black and white. Most of the time, we are in the gray area."

"You're getting a little dark."

Fangyan said that not only "People's Literature", but all mainstream literary magazines would not publish "Half Flame and Half Sea Water".

Wang Shuo still had hope and asked, "Teacher Fang, is there really no chance at all?"

"Either you do what Yu Hua said and become positive from beginning to end, or you can try submitting it to a magazine like Woodpecker."

Fangyan handed it back, "Perhaps it can be publicized as a typical negative case to raise readers' awareness..."

Seeing Wang Shuo sighing, Yu Hua patted him on the shoulder, said a few words of comfort, and then took out "The Mistake by the River" from her bag:
"Teacher Fang, please look at mine."

“You haven’t published this one either?”

Fangyan raised his eyebrows, very surprised.

Yu Hua rubbed his head and said, "Teacher Fang, I was able to write such a work of illusionary realism entirely because of your shoulders. You are the first person to read this novel, and you are the only one who is most qualified to evaluate and decide in which magazine it should be published."

Fangyan said, "Then leave it here for now. I'll take a look at it on my way to northern Shaanxi."

"You're going to northern Shaanxi?!"

Yu Hua, Wang Shuo, Zhong Acheng and others were all surprised.

Fang Yan nodded and said that when he came back from accompanying Gong Xing to visit her parents, he received a letter from Lu Yao in the mailbox, saying that the novel he had agreed to write was finally completed and he had to go to Chang'an in person. Of course, this was also the hope of him, the Shaanxi-Gansu Writers Association, and his comrades at the Xi'an Film Studio.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise and doubt. What kind of extraordinary manuscript did Lu Yao write that was worthy of Fang Yan's attention?

"It's called 'Ordinary World'. When I bring it back from northern Shaanxi, I'll let you guys enjoy it."

The corners of Fangyan's mouth kept rising.

Shi Tiesheng asked: "Yanzi, when do you plan to go to Chang'an?"

"It was originally scheduled for the 25th. It just so happened that Editor-in-Chief Qin and Zhou Changyi of Contemporary Magazine were also going to northern Shaanxi, so we agreed to go together so that we could look after each other." Fang Yan knocked on the table. "But unfortunately, that day happened to be the day when Renwen Press was holding a farewell party for Professor Wang Meng to send him off to the cultural department. Editor-in-Chief Qin, Zhu Wei and I had to stay behind, and let Zhou Changyi go ahead and paved the way for us."………………

December 12, Chang'an.

The Shaanxi Writers Association received a request from People's Literature and Contemporary Magazine to send representatives to Shaanxi to collect manuscripts, and everyone from top to bottom attached great importance to it.

Lu Yao, Jia Pingwa, Mo Shen and others arrived at the train station early and, together with the leaders of the Shaanxi-North Writers Association, warmly welcomed the comrades from Renwenshe Publishing House.

But surprisingly, only Zhou Changyi came.

"Teacher Qin and Teacher Fang had something urgent to do, so they will come back a few days later. They asked me to apologize to you on their behalf."

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."

The leaders of the Shaanxi-North Writers Association had received the notice long ago, but Lu Yao, Mo Shen and others were kept in the dark.

This was Zhou Changyi's first visit to northern Shaanxi, and also his first time to meet Lu Yao, Jia Pingwa and other mainstays of northern Shaanxi literary world. After a brief greeting, he got straight to the point and hoped to get some works from northern Shaanxi writers for Contemporary Magazine, especially novels.

The first novel that everyone recommends is naturally Lu Yao’s first novel, "Ordinary World", which he claimed took three years to complete.

Zhou Changyi suddenly became alert, "Teacher Lu, can you let me take a look at this manuscript?"

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"You can watch it."

Lu Yao said that his novel had already been taken by someone, who had agreed to give it to Fang Yan to be published in People's Literature.

When Zhou Changyi heard that it had been reserved by Teacher Fang and would be published in People's Literature, he was full of curiosity and anticipation.

The leaders of the Shaanxi-North Writers Association smiled at each other, each of them with a look of pride on their faces. They were ready to wait until they met Fangyan, hoping that he could publish "The Ordinary World" on the front page of "People's Literature", and it had to be in large font, and the full text had to be published in one issue.

Zhou Changyi did not think the conditions were harsh. Although there was an oversupply in the literary world today and manuscripts were endless, good manuscripts and manuscripts from famous writers were still rare luxuries. Therefore, as long as the conditions of the great writers were not too excessive, even if it was to increase the manuscript fee, the magazine would almost always agree.

Lu Yao waved his hand and handed the manuscript to Zhou Changyi generously. Zhou Changyi then hurried back to the hotel with the manuscript.

I was extremely excited and couldn't wait to turn the page of the manuscript of "Ordinary World", but as I read on, my interest gradually disappeared.

When I read 10 words, I was already skimming through it. I found the pace was slow, the writing was wordy, and the plot unfolded too slowly.

When I read more than 20 words, I felt like I was eating a piece of chicken ribs. It was tasteless, but it was a pity to throw it away. It had no nutrition and no meaning. No matter how you looked at it, it was just a mediocre realist novel. The story had no suspense and the plot was all within my expectations.

When I read about 30 words, my boiling blood completely cooled down. I couldn't read on before I could even feel moved.

"Lu Yaojiang has run out of ideas."

Zhou Changyi was greatly disappointed and no longer had any interest in "Ordinary World".

In the literary world these days, traditional realistic literature is already in decline. Although Fangyan initiated a debate on avant-garde literature, magical realism, realistic novels, etc. at the National Youth Writers Symposium last year, which temporarily stopped the decline of realistic literature and showed signs of resurgence, most of the attention is currently on the "illusionary realism" pioneered by Fangyan, rather than traditional realism.

The traditional realism ideas expressed in Lu Yao's "Ordinary World" may be considered "too old-fashioned and stereotyped literary works" not only in his eyes, but perhaps in the eyes of the entire "Contemporary" editorial department, as outdated and outdated, and the manuscript is directly rejected.

When he thought of this, Zhou Changyi no longer looked at "Ordinary World" and just lay down on the bed with his arms and legs spread out:

"After spending three full years on this project, the new work still hasn't gotten over the shadow of Life. Lu Yao's three years were wasted."

"The world is still so ordinary and romantic. I wonder what Mr. Fang would think when he sees Lu Yao's work?" (End of this chapter)