Literary Master 1978

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang received a letter while he was at work. The sender and address were familiar to him. It was from Harvest.

It had been more than a month since Lin Chaoyang sent out his novel. The letters had been sent back and forth, plus the review time in between, so the efficiency was not slow.

He opened the letter. The content was very simple. Li Xiaolin first praised his novel. It was simple, plain, but warm and moving. It was completely different from many popular novels with strong accusations, revelations and criticisms. It was somewhat similar to the style of Little Shoes published in Yanjing Literature and Art in the first half of the year.

However, compared with the humanism of Little Shoes, this novel has a distinct light comedy color, like a humorous tune, which makes people smile after reading it and has a long aftertaste.

Li Xiaolin's evaluation of the novel is not low, but there is also a problem. His father, Mr. Ba Jin, was not very satisfied after reading the novel.

He believed that Comrade Wang Qinglai should adhere to the realism he insisted on in Qiu Ju's Lawsuit and further develop the spirit of satire and criticism.

Ba Jin did not think that the current novel was bad, but he felt that it was a pity that Lin Chaoyang had given up his previous style.

Li Xiaolin conveyed her father Ba Jin's views in the letter, but at the same time told Lin Chaoyang not to feel pressured, the novel itself was very good, the editorial board had reviewed and approved it, and it was scheduled to be published in the issue in January next year.

Another novel was about to be published, Lin Chaoyang was very happy, it didn't matter whether it was famous or not, the most important thing was to get the royalties.

His novel had nearly 120,000 words, which was basically a short novel. According to the previous royalties standard, the royalties would be at least several hundred yuan.

Thinking about the royalties that were about to be received, Lin Chaoyang continued to read the letter, but he didn't expect Li Xiaolin to give him a surprise.

Li Xiaolin revealed at the end of the letter that the Publishing Bureau might raise the domestic royalties standard in January next year. If the newly revised regulations can be implemented before "Harvest" is listed in January, the editorial department will pay Lin Chaoyang the royalties according to the new royalties standard.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's royalties system can be roughly divided into three periods.

Between 1949 and 1957, the domestic royalty system developed very healthily, basically borrowing from the Soviet Union's method of paying royalties based on the number of copies printed. For writers, this royalty system can earn a considerable amount of money.

During this period, the literary world gave birth to such sayings as "struggling for 30,000 yuan" and "ten thousand yuan households", which shows how rich the income of writers was at that time.

After 1958, the domestic royalty system began to regress. The amount of royalties was repeatedly reduced, and the domestic royalty system basically existed in name only. Writing officially entered the era of zero royalties, which lasted until 1976.

However, the royalty standards in recent years are still somewhat different from those before, which is only one-third of that in the 1950s, and it is still a one-time payment, without royalties based on the number of copies printed.

Many people publish a novel for hundreds of yuan, or even hundreds of yuan, which seems a lot, but it involves a problem of unit time and creative efficiency.

Many manuscripts are revised and submitted, and it may not be possible to publish one or two works in a year. The large amount of mailing time and revision costs have invisibly diluted the real income of the manuscript fee.

Coupled with the pressure of rising prices, the literary community has been calling for an increase in manuscript fees in the past year or so, so there was an adjustment in the manuscript fee standard this time.

Good editor! Good editor!

This news from Li Xiaolin immediately made Lin Chaoyang happy. This is really anxious about the author's worries and thinks about the author's thoughts.

The increase in manuscript fees made Lin Chaoyang feel much more comfortable when he saw Li Xiaolin's reminder at the end of the letter.

Originally, he did not plan to reply to Li Xiaolin on the day he received the letter, but after reading the letter, he felt that it would be disrespectful to Sister Xiaolin if he did not reply immediately.

Two days later, Tao Yushu returned home and told him about the preparations for the drama.

With the support of Huang Huilin, Tao Yushu and other key members fully demonstrated the terrifying execution ability of contemporary college students, and it took only three or four days to set up the crew of "The World's No. 1 Restaurant".

Although the crew members were 100% amateur, everyone's enthusiasm was 100%.

Tao Yushu and her colleagues mobilized dozens of students from departments including philosophy, history, and education, and the reason why they were able to gather students so smoothly was inseparable from the relationship with "The World's No. 1 Restaurant".

These people recruited people by relying on acquaintances to recruit people. They didn't talk nonsense when they went there, and directly took out the script. Anyone with a little literary and drama appreciation level can see the awesomeness of this thing.

Being able to participate in the creation of such an excellent drama script, in this era of drama fever, no college student can refuse.

Even at the end, some students came here to sign up to participate in the crew, but Tao Yushu and her colleagues had to refuse because the crew was too large, even more than the professional crew of the theater.

After listening to Tao Yushu's description, Lin Chaoyang was happy for them and admired the execution ability of college students of this era. Whether they were students of Yanda or Yanshi University, everyone seemed to be able to quickly unite for a goal.

"Chaoyang, tomorrow is Sunday, go and tell us about the script."

Lin Chaoyang could not refuse Tao Yushu's request, not only because of their relationship, but also because the success of the drama is inseparable from the on-site polishing of the director, screenwriter and actors.

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu braved the cold wind and came to Yan Normal University together.

She led Lin Chaoyang into the second floor of the teaching building. The two of them walked into a large classroom and saw rows of students.

Lin Chaoyang was startled and asked Tao Yushu: "Why are there so many people?"

"When we were recruiting people, we always asked everyone to read the script. When everyone heard that you were coming to talk about the script, they all came to listen."

Dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at Lin Chaoyang under the podium, many of them with envy, admiration, and admiration. This not only gave Lin Chaoyang a sense of accomplishment, but also made him feel a lot of pressure.

He has gradually become accustomed to talking about his creative experience and feelings in front of outsiders. This kind of thing is very different from thinking after the fact. Anyway, you wrote the work first, so you are right no matter what.

Except for some arrogant people, no one will refute it. Even if someone refutes it, those sober people will refute it for you.

"Some time ago, Yushu said that students from Normal University should follow the example of Yan University and also create a play. She is good at writing reviews, but she has no experience in scripts, so she begged me to write a script. This is what I wrote about "The First Floor in the World" 》The origin of this script.

But to talk about the initial thoughts about the emergence of this script, we may have to set the time back a few months ago.

At that time, I had just finished writing "Little Shoes" and sent it to the editorial department of "Yanjing Literature and Art". Everyone knows the location of Yanda. It’s not easy for us country people to enter the city once..."

When Lin Chaoyang said this, the students below burst into good-natured laughter at his self-deprecation.

"I just wanted to buy something for my family, so I walked around Yanjing City and ran to the front door. Everyone knew that Quanjude was a century-old store when they saw the front door. The roast duck is a specialty. Used by leaders to receive foreign dignitaries.

I thought to myself that I could buy it for my family to try. When I walked in, the roast duck was ten yuan apiece. I touched the money in my pocket and thought the roast duck tasted just average..."

Lin Chaoyang's tone of speech was relaxed and humorous, especially when talking about the embarrassment he encountered in Quanjude, there was no embarrassment at all, but full of self-deprecation.

The students below felt happy when they heard this, and at the same time they couldn't help but admire his mentality of enjoying life despite hardships. He was worthy of being a writer who could write a work like "Little Shoes".

Lin Chaoyang came to YNU today not only to tell you about the script creation process, but also to help you sort out various problems in drama creation.

These students had no experience in drama creation, so they recommended Huang Huilin, a teacher who teaches drama studies, to be the director. Now that the screenwriter Lin Chaoyang is also here, the two naturally have to have a good exchange.

Stage design, scene changes, actor selection of roles, modeling and costume design...

Lin Chaoyang spent the whole morning at Yan Normal University and discussed with Huang Huilin all aspects involved in the crew.

Although Lin Chaoyang is a layman in drama, because he has the experience of watching dramas in later generations, when communicating, he often describes it in very specific ways, which made Huang Huilin deeply admired after listening to it.

I thought to myself that it was no wonder that Lin Chaoyang could write such a good script. It turned out that he had already sketched out such a vivid and clear dramatic world in his mind.

At the end of the chat, Lin Chaoyang asked worriedly: "I didn't think carefully when I wrote it. In fact, the scale of "The First Floor in the World" has exceeded the scope of the students' control. Thanks to Teacher Huang for your help, At the helm. But stage settings, props, and costumes all cost money, so..."

Huang Huilin understood what he meant and said: "I just submitted a report to the school yesterday and asked for 2,000 yuan in funding. With your strong support and the enthusiasm of the students, the school will definitely support it."

Funding was not something Lin Chaoyang could worry about. Seeing that Huang Huilin was confident in what he said, he nodded.

The money is not in place, but the actors are already in place, and they are all literary and art activists from various departments of Yantai Normal University.

"The First Floor in the World" is a three-act play. There are fifteen named characters such as Lu Mengshi, Luo Datou, and Chang Gui. There are also supporting roles such as the police, the deacon of the Baoha Bureau, and the adjutant of the presidential palace guard. There are nearly thirty actors.

In the past few days, almost all the students who participated in the drama are almost familiar with the script, and many of them can almost speak the lines in the drama.

Witnessed by Huang Huilin and Lin Chaoyang, the students began their first rehearsal that was not a rehearsal.

The reason why I say "not a rehearsal" is because these students have almost no performance experience. They recited the lines and tried their best to imitate the drama performances they had watched. Their body movements were even stiffer, and even their expressions changed due to nervousness. Gotta twist.

Fortunately, Huang Huilin is here. Although she is not a professional drama director, her years of drama research have made her familiar with directing drama performances.

A group of people used the classroom as a rehearsal venue, and one row lasted an entire afternoon.

The students have no acting skills or experience, but they have enthusiasm and belief. Those who can get into college these days are smart people who can do many things easily.

After dinner in the evening, many people slowly found the rhythm of the performance. Although their limbs were still stiff and overwhelmed, at least their lines were smooth and their expressions were gradually in place.

After a busy day, everyone dispersed at around eight o'clock in the evening.