Chapter 143 Great Friendship
Ning Chunyan was attracted at first sight.
Wang Zixu’s writing style is as solid as ice and like fire. Just reading the words can hook your eyes. After reading the first paragraph, Ning Chunyan seemed to go back to the time when he first read Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude".
But his writing style is not like Marquez. His style is more like a combination of Lu Xun and Wang Zengqi, cold, sophisticated, particular about sentence structure and rhythm, and a little playful.
Wang Zixu has actually given her the spoilers just now, but obviously Wang Zixu’s summary is an extremely abstract summary, giving people a completely different impression from the story itself.
When reading a story, you can’t just read the synopsis. If you put all the synopses of historical masterpieces in a row, at a glance, it’s just a meeting of bloody plots.
The "bloody" plot is precisely derived from the "classics". If you watch too many "classics", you will become "bloody". In academic terms, "classics" are essentially a story framework paradigm that all human beings can sympathize with. If it follows this framework too much and lacks the charm and details of the masterpiece itself, it will turn into "dog blood".
For example, "Twins" is a classic motif in literature. Due to their different personalities, the two brothers eventually embarked on completely different life paths - this is true in Yu Hua's "Brothers" and the same is true in "The Ordinary World". Guo Jing and Yang Kang in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and Xiao Yu'er and Hua Wuque in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" are all extensions of this theme. If I just summarize it, the content is essentially the same.
Reading the synopsis of the novel is like looking at a vast ocean from a distance. On the surface, it only looks blue. Reading the text is like diving into the bottom of the ocean, seeing colorful corals, migrating fish schools, rugged continental shelves, and sea turtles suddenly appearing in the deep black in the distance - these magnificent scenes are far from being summed up by the phrase "blue sea". The value of the novel lies here, not on the blue sky.
Wang Zixu’s novel gave Ning Chunyan the illusion of diving: marine creatures appeared one after another, dizzying, and they were all species she didn’t recognize.
The characters in his novels are very special, and they make her feel very kind and flesh-and-blood, as if they are people she has met around her, but they cannot be identified with the specific people.
Not only the first-generation male and female protagonists, but also other characters appearing, such as private school teachers, long-term workers, parents, and cowherd boys, are all impressive. Until he finished reading the first chapter, Ning Chunyan couldn't figure out how this story progressed to the anti-Japanese, war, and espionage plots in the following chapters.
Therefore, even if she has been spoiled, it does not affect her impulse to read at all. The more she reads, the more she wants to read.
Lu Qingxuan sat beside her intently, her two dark eyes staring at the manuscript paper, just like a student in high school who read the same article with her deskmate. Sometimes when Ning Chunyan turned the page too fast, she would take the page and lower her head to read it backwards.
…Wang Zixu walked out and lit a cigarette.
This is the first time he has shown this work to others. Because he had read his own works too many times, he had lost his ability to judge the quality of his works. At this time, his mentality was affected by Xiao Mengyin, and he was eager to hear readers' comments.
But he is afraid of hearing comments from readers. If Ning Chunyan has a negative opinion of his work after reading it, he is likely to make major cuts, even delete the four generations of protagonists, leaving only one generation - which may be more appealing to the judges and have fewer words.
Wang Zixu stood nervously outside the door. For a long time, Ning Chunyan and Lu Qingxuan in the room finally finished reading the manuscript paper in hand.
As soon as he walked in, Ning Chunyan raised his head and stared at him: "There are only 80,000 words, what about the rest?"
Wang Zixu said: "This part is a revised draft. It has been revised 12 times. The rest has not been revised much. It is saved in my computer and has not been typed out."
Ning Chunyan blinked: "Revised it 12 times? No wonder I felt so refined when I read it! How many times do you plan to revise it in total?"
"Get up Code it 20 times. "
"Don't change it, don't change it, I'm afraid you will lose the essence."
Wang Zixu asked: " What do you think of this part? ”
Ning Chunyan took a sip of water, turned to the first page of the manuscript, and spoke very quickly:
“As far as this part is concerned, it can be said that it is perfect. Not a word can be deleted, the plot is interlocking, the characters are not nonsense, and the plot is always tense. I really don’t know how to change it.”
"That's the problem."
Wang Zixu sighed and sat down: "Writing four generations in 120 years is actually a bit sparse. In fact, I originally planned to write five generations. The fourth generation was actually two sons who became love rivals. It was not until the fifth generation that they finally came together. This way, this 120-year history can be more comprehensively displayed, and the plot can be more compact and continuous. With vigorous and youthful hope..."
Ning Chunyan was stunned: "Then why not write it like this? It feels more interesting and reasonable."
"Don't delete it!" Ning Chunyan slapped the table, "What a good idea, what a pity it is to delete it? Such a good work, can you bear to let it become imperfect?"
Wang Zixu said: "But if the number of words is too long, the Feishi Literary Award..."
"Don't worry about the Feishi Literary Award!"
Ning Chun Banquet He waved his hand, took his hand, and said sincerely: "The Fei Shi Literary Award is selected every year, and there are winners every year, but your idea can only appear once in all the history of the world from now on. Once you have written it, it is finalized. After many years, even if you want to rewrite it, you may not have the ambition and energy today. If you don't write this idea to perfection now, you will never be able to make up for this shortcoming."
Wang Zixu fell into deep thought. After a long time, he said: "In this case, if I write another 100,000 words, I will have to rush to 600,000 words, which is already more than twice the number of "One Hundred Years of Solitude"."
Ning Chunyan said: "It doesn't matter, if you think about it this way, even if you write 600,000 words, it will only be enough for one-fifth of "In Search of Lost Time"."
"What I mean is I think, I wrote 600,000 words, who can send it to me?"
Ning Chunyan puffed up his chest and patted it on his chest: "Have you forgotten what I do?"
Wang Zixu said: "You mean, publish it in the "New Appreciation" magazine? I thought, it won't work. You see, I am the editor here and publishing my own manuscript will cause people to gossip."
Ning Chunyan said: "The quality of your work is here, who can gossip?"
Wang Zixu lamented that she was still young after all, and was not sensitive to the dangers of the world: "People really want to make things difficult for you. They don't need the truth. They will only believe in small essays on the Internet. No matter how good my novel is, others will not read it. Even if they read it, they will only say, this person writes very well. , but your character is not good. You can’t defend yourself yet, and the more you defend your character, the worse it will be.” Lu Qingxuan said quietly from the side: “Sister Xiaochun, the magazine "New Appreciation" is launched. The number is actually very important. In any case, publishing a 600,000-word long serial is too risky, not only for your magazine, but also for this work.”
Ning Chunyan became melancholy: "That's true. Whether my "New Award" can be included in first-class magazines is still a question. If it fails, the reputation may be ruined, and your novel will be held back."
Wang Zixu He smiled: "I'm not worried about this. Your magazine will definitely become a first-class magazine. Didn't you invite Chen Qingluo to be the editor-in-chief?"
When he mentioned the three words "Chen Qingluo", his voice trembled slightly, but fortunately he concealed it well. Then, he pretended to be nonchalant and asked:
“Why isn’t Chen Qingluo here?”
Ning Chun Yan did not even raise his head: "She is in seclusion again now. She can't come to work in the near future, so she just put her name on the magazine. We will cover it for the first two months of the magazine's release."
Lu Qingxuan glanced at her. Just now, we were so aggressive about asking for an interview, but now it’s “us”, and Sister Xiaochun really doesn’t have any dignity at all.
Wang Zixu didn’t ask any more questions. Ning Chunyan added: “600,000 words does sound a bit too much. How about you find a way to reduce it, even to 590,000 words or 490,000 words, it will give people a different feeling. . ”
Wang Zixu looked troubled: “Actually, I wrote the first version very concisely, and according to the revision method of 80,000 words, it will be reduced from more than 600,000 to 600,000 at most.”
Ning Chunyan said: "Then don't worry about the publishing issue. Don't you have the phone number of the editor of "Yangtze River" over there? It would be best if you can publish it in "Yangtze River", they will care for you as a writer they have cultivated. If you can't publish it, I will help you contact other magazines."
Ning Chunyan spoke very well and reassured Wang Zixu. Wang Zixu couldn't rest assured. You can’t think too much about this issue, and you can’t not think too much about it. If you think too much, your mind will become confused, and you will hesitate when typing. Small hesitations will continue from word to word, and eventually lead to big disasters, causing the entire novel to fall into grade.
Ning Chunyan is right. This idea was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him, and it was the final word. If he couldn't write it well now, he wouldn't be able to make up for it in the future.
At present, there is no such a large-scale polyphonic novel in the history of Chinese literature: geographically, from the eastern coast to the northwest desert, from cities to rural areas; in terms of time, from the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of China a hundred years ago to dancing in JK at the Comic Exhibition a hundred years later; in the microcosm, there is midwifery of cattle, selling screws and getting rich by speculating on A-share quilts, and in the macrocosm, there is the feeling of family and country, sacrificing one's life to revolutionize the old country.
These worldly situations are so naturally stuffed into the same novel. Various ideological trends, countless kinds of people, and the era of drastic changes. There is no need to be mysterious, and it naturally has the flavor of magical realism. It is exciting to think about it.
The older generation of writers cannot write because their vision cannot see the present; the younger ones are too immature. Only he can write. If he writes it, he will be the first in the history of Chinese literature, and all those who come after him will follow suit. Can't be copied.
In fact, he didn’t dare to do anything. This idea has been in his mind for a long time. He has always felt that he has not enough experience. If it were not for the Fei Shi Literary Award, he rushed to 500,000 words with all his energy, otherwise he would not dare to start it for at least 10 years. Now that we have taken action, we cannot retreat. To retreat would be defeat.
Wang Zixu withdrew his gaze and said: "Then I don't want to publish it first. There must be a road to the mountain. I will write this work to perfection first."
Ning Chunyan was very excited, yes, that's how it should be. If we can't get Feishi, we'll get Mao Dun.
Wang Zixu wanted the chicken blood he had finally injected into his heart to stay warm longer, so he deliberately changed the subject and asked: "How many stories have you prepared for the first issue? When are you going to publish them?"
It’s easy for Ning Chunyan to talk about others, but when she talked about her own affairs, she suddenly felt frustrated and said: "There is not even one article."
"Huh?"
"No, at least there is one article." She said, "With my people I can at least get one of the little prince's articles."
"Oh?" Lu Qingxuan stood up and asked, "Sister Xiaochun, do you know the little prince?"
"We have been friends for a long time."
Wang Zixu secretly thought that she had used the wrong word. Divine friendship refers to two people who know each other without communicating. She even sent several private photos of herself and reported daily life trivial matters. He even knew the style of her stockings. What kind of divine friendship is this?
In order to be more disguised, he pretended to say: "The little prince writes about speech therapy. What are you going to publish in his book? A collection of saucy stories?"
Ning Chunyan was a little annoyed at his disdain and said angrily: "What is saucy?" What? You should severely criticize the little prince for your misunderstanding, which is not in line with the tone of our magazine. I am running this magazine just for the little prince, so don’t influence my thinking."
Wang Zixu sighed in his heart that the groupies can't be offended. He said, "Then what kind of manuscript will he submit? Have you discussed it?"
Ning Chunyan didn't say yes or no, just said: "It depends on what he wants to write. It would be best if he can give me a serious novel. If not, a prose will be fine."
Wang Zixu said: "Then what if he gives you a random script to fool you and let you figure out what to do?"
Ning Chunyan said firmly: "He won't."
...
She guessed correctly, Wang Zixu really couldn't.
He is the kind of person who will turn around and reciprocate tenfold or a hundredfold if others are kind to him. But he won't say it in words, he will only put it into action. He hopes to use actions to prove his sincerity. It's like the "great friendship" mentioned by Wang Er in "The Golden Age".
If he says, "Be good to me first and I will repay you a hundredfold later," and you say this as if there is an exchange of interests, is that still a "great friendship"? Great friendship should be selfless. Great friendship comes from great tacit understanding.
On the way to the lecture hall of Nanjing University, Wang Zixu’s mind was full of ideas. What kind of novel should he write for Ning Chunyan? It should be interesting, show strength, and preferably be able to establish the overall style of the magazine.
"Zixu!"
He turned around and saw Xu Rongrong running over panting:
"Why didn't you agree to my call for a long time? Have you seen Zhao Peilin?"
Wang Zixu said: "No."
"I had a quarrel with him, and he said it was all my fault for missing you, and he went to find you. Didn't you see?"< /p>
“He didn’t bring his mobile phone?”
“His mobile phone is out of battery.”
Wang Zixu glanced at his watch: "He must go to the symposium. If you want to find him, just go there and wait." He has no character. He asks for girls’ contact information every day, and he acts like a gentleman in school. I don’t like to play with him. If it weren’t for the fact that he helped me review for the postgraduate entrance examination, I wouldn’t want to talk to him. ”
Wang Zixu said: "Didn't you recommend me?"
"But he helped me with my advice before recommending him."
Wang Zixu thought, maybe this is also an alternative form of "great friendship".
He looked at his watch again: "Then I'll go by myself. Goodbye."
Xu Rongrong followed perseveringly: "I also want to attend the symposium."
"Are you also interested in contemporary literature?"
"I am also from the Chinese Department. I estimate that all students from the Chinese Department will go. That is Yanzi Mountain. No students from the Chinese Department would dare to allow themselves the opportunity to miss Yanzi Mountain."
(End of this chapter)