Literary Master 1978

Lin Chaoyang wanted to say that you editors are really boring, but we are all friends, so we can't be too disrespectful, so he said a number.

"1 million copies!"

Liu Xinwu's face, which was originally full of joy, suddenly drooped, "How can you guess like that? It's impossible for Harvest to sell 1 million copies in a week!"

"Then just say it straight, you are not a child, why are you playing guessing games." Lin Chaoyang complained.

Liu Xinwu shook his head. Being interrupted by Lin Chaoyang, most of his excitement was gone, and he said: "300,000 copies."

300,000 copies a week, even if this momentum is maintained, it will only be 1.2 million copies a month.

"That's not a lot!"

Lin Chaoyang's tone was careless, but it stimulated Liu Xinwu enough.

"300,000 copies are not enough? We are a bimonthly magazine. We sold 300,000 copies in a week. Even if the sales are slow, 1.2 million copies is a sure thing. More than that depends on luck.

I see that you have cooperated with "People's Literature" and "Harvest" for a long time, and you have no idea about sales."

Although people always say that the 1980s was a golden age of literature, this "golden age" is only relative. Even in this era when literature was the hottest, the peak sales of traditional literary magazines were only more than one million copies.

You should know that other popular magazines such as "Popular Movies", "Story Club" and "Wulin" have sales of millions of copies.

As one of the leaders in the domestic literary magazine industry, "October" sold 550,000 copies in its first issue.

It has been less than four years since its establishment, and its sales have been steadily increasing. The sales of a single issue are generally maintained between 600,000 and 800,000 copies. It is already a leader in the domestic literary magazine industry.

If we take the sales and influence of magazines into consideration, the only two heavyweight magazines that could suppress October were People's Literature and Harvest, two heavyweight magazines in the literary world.

However, the situation has changed in the past two years. Due to the continuous publication of many works by Lin Chaoyang, the sales and influence of Contemporary and Yanjing Literature have been rising rapidly, and they have to suppress October from time to time. This situation occasionally gives October a headache.

This time, October has also published Lin Chaoyang's works, and it has been proved that Lin Chaoyang's works do have an appeal that ordinary writers cannot match among the readership.

Each magazine has its own base. The sales of October in the past two years have been as low as 600,000 copies and as high as 800,000 copies. The difference of 200,000 copies is the difference in the quality of the works and the appeal of the writers in the current period.

The 1.2 million copies mentioned by Liu Xinwu is naturally not groundless, but a reasonable guess based on the previous sales of October.

Therefore, today, the first week sales of the magazine were counted, and the editorial department of October was jubilant. After several years of publication, the sales of the magazine are finally about to reach the million level. Everyone feels proud.

"You didn't come here today just to tell me this, did you?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"There is something else."

Liu Xinwu looked at Tao Yushu as he spoke. Lin Chaoyang was curious. Could this matter be related to Tao Yushu?

Tao Yushu said, "The Yanjing Literary Association and our Yanjing Literature jointly organized a Yanjing Literature Institute, opened classes, trained new literary talents, and provided guidance to our city's amateur creative team. Old Liu was invited to be a lecturer, and I want to invite you to be a lecturer as well."

Liu Xinwu added, "There is a lecture fee."

Lin Chaoyang glanced at him. What do you think of me, Old Liu?

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang didn't speak, Liu Xinwu introduced him to the situation of the Yanjing Literature Institute.

The Yenching Institute of Literature is jointly organized by the Yenching Association for Literature and the Yenching Literature magazine. The novel writing workshop is also jointly run by the two organizations.

The workshop is scheduled to start in early April, recruiting 200 regular students, and the number of auditors will depend on the situation.

Anyone with a high school education or above, who has published novels, essays, and reportage in provincial and municipal newspapers and magazines and is interested in learning novel writing, can apply to become a regular student with published works and a letter of introduction from the unit.

Beginner writers or literature enthusiasts can apply to become auditors with a letter of introduction from the unit.

The courses of the workshop mainly include literary theory and creative practice. Lectures are given once every two weeks at the Cinema of the Labor People's Cultural Palace, and the teaching time is one morning.

The Yenching Association for Literature and Yenching Literature intend to invite writers, critics, university teachers and editors in Beijing to be the main speakers. The lectures will also be published in the summary of BJ Literature. The exercises of regular students will be selected and published by Yenching Literature after guidance.

Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang asked: "After talking for so long, your workshop is not free, right?"

"How is that possible? 12 yuan for formal students and 7 yuan for auditors."

"Oh, it's not cheap! Other classes are free, and they also provide food and drinks, but you charge a fee."

Liu Xinwu smiled bitterly: "Those magazines hold creative classes for creators who have published experience and have certain potential, and they are small-scale.

Although we also require formal students to have published experience, there is no threshold for general enthusiasts. We can't lose money to gain publicity, right?"

He added: "The workshop will be held every two weeks and is expected to last for a year. If the effect is good, it will continue next year. You are responsible for giving a class, which is enough for a morning, and you will be paid 30 yuan for the lecture."

30 yuan is equivalent to half a month or even a month's salary for ordinary people today. Lin Chaoyang joked: "You are really willing to spend money."

"The invitations are all famous people, but the ones given are too little and they can't do anything with them!"

When Lin Chaoyang heard this, he casually asked who was there.

"We have already invited Wang Meng, Qin Chaoyang, Deng Youmei, Lin Jinlan, Wang Yuanjian, Tang Yin, plus you and me."

The names Liu Xinwu counted are indeed well-known in the literary world. With such a lineup of lecturers, this kind of workshop can be called a conscientious one.

The tuition fee of 12 yuan is really not expensive, not to mention that it only costs 7 yuan to audit.

30 yuan was nothing to Lin Chaoyang, but with Tao Yushu and Liu Xinwu's favor, it was not convenient for him to refuse.

"Okay, then I will go to the classroom. Are there any requirements in this regard?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"No. You can talk about whatever you want. Just submit it to Yushu three days before the class starts."

After Liu Xinwu left, Lin Chaoyang asked Tao Yushu: "I think you don't seem to support this workshop?"

“I can’t say that I don’t support it, I just think that the leaders take things for granted, and the effect of this model of creative class will definitely not be very good.

When I was at work, I talked to Editor-in-Chief Yang. Our magazine was only assisting in this matter. The main reason was that the Literary and Art Association wanted to make some achievements. "

Hearing what she said, Lin Chaoyang nodded and said: "The original intention must be good. The effect depends on whether the person attending the class is Wukong."

Tao Yushu couldn't help but smile, "That's right. If you really have wisdom, you might be enlightened after listening to a class and it will be of endless benefit."

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang finished writing the script of "Garland Under the Mountain" and called Xie Jin to send the script.

But Xie Jin disagreed and insisted on going to Yanjing to get it himself.

Nowadays, it occasionally happens that writers mail manuscripts to be lost. For more important manuscripts, many writers will deliver them themselves or ask friends to deliver them, and some editors will pick them up in person.

Not two days after making the call, Xie Jin came to Yanjing.

"It came quickly enough!"

Xie Jin came directly to the Overseas Chinese Apartment, and Lin Chaoyang teased him.

"You write the script very slowly!" Xie Jin retorted.

"Old comrade is really angry."

After a few jokes, Xie Jin asked: "Where is the script?"

Lin Chaoyang took out the script, and Xie Jin sat on the sofa and read it carefully, without moving for a long time.

Movie scripts are generally about 30,000 words, and the same is true for "Garland Under the Mountain". This word count is only equivalent to the content of a novella with a smaller number of words, but the amount of information is not the same.

Especially from the perspective of director Xie Jin, he will think about the scenery, camera movements, and character performances...

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening, and Xie Jin was still sitting on the sofa motionless. Lin Chaoyang was already ready for him to stay overnight.

"Lao Xie, if you feel sleepy, go to the north room. The bedding is ready for you."

Xie Jin had no reaction when he heard this, and Lin Chaoyang didn't rush him and went back to his room with Tao Yushu to sleep.

Early the next morning, Lin Chaoyang got up and saw Xie Jin lying on the sofa in his clothes. He went up to shake Xie Jin awake.

"Why don't you go to sleep in the room? Everything is done for you."

Xie Jin shook his groggy head and said, "I'm getting older and don't get much sleep. Just lie down for a while."

"Don't take it hard if it's not hard. What's the difference if you go to sleep in the room?"

Xie Jin ignored his sarcasm and reached for the script on the coffee table. "I've finished reading the script. It's very well written. What suggestions do you have for actors?"

"You are the director, you have the final say."

"What do you think of Zhu Shimao playing the character Zhao Mengsheng?"

Zhao Mengsheng's early image was that of a pretty boy who came to the army to be gilded, greedy for life and afraid of death. Later, under the influence and sacrifice of his comrades, he completed his character transformation and grew into a iron-blooded warrior who has experienced the baptism of blood and fire.

He is the most full-bodied and arc-shaped character in the novel. He can also be said to be the soul character of "Wreaths Under the Mountain", tying together the plot of the entire novel.

As the original author, Lin Chaoyang can be said to have restored 100% of the novel in the script. Zhao Mengsheng is naturally the protagonist in the script.

Xie Jin chooses actors when making movies, and rarely works with the same actor in multiple works.

The reason why he asked this question was not because of the friendship between the previous film, but more because he thought that Zhu Shimao's image was somewhat consistent with the character of Zhao Mengsheng.

When he chooses actors, he never cares whether the actors are famous or not. Because regardless of whether you are famous or not, if you act in one of his movies, you will become the most dazzling star in the Chinese film industry. This is the confidence of a famous director.

"Shi Mao has a good image and is upright. If he plays Zhao Mengsheng in the later stage, he will be very good, but his temperament is too tough. In the early stage, Zhao Mengsheng is just a pretty boy, so there is still a certain gap."

Xie Jin was not sure that Zhu Shimao would play Zhao Mengsheng, but he just asked tentatively. After listening to the suggestions of Lin Chaoyang, the original author and screenwriter, he gave up.

"We have to look hard for this leading actor."

Xie Jin also talked to Lin Chaoyang about the preparations of the crew. He is a meritorious director of Shanghai Film Studio. Naturally, Shanghai Film Studio will fully support him if he wants to make a new film.

The script of "High Mountain" has not yet been released, and the behind-the-scenes team of the crew has been set up, but only the actors are needed.

Now that the script is out, Xie Jin plans to call the deputy director Wu Zhennian and photographer Zhu Yongde, who are responsible for the casting, to Yanjing for the casting.

After the roles are confirmed, they will go to the border to scout the location. During this period, the actors can be placed in the army to experience life.

Xie Jin talked about his plans and arrangements for the film for a long time, but only got a response from Lin Chaoyang.

"You always think about paying the royalties when you have time!"

Xie Jin was furious when he heard this. It was really talking to a cow!