Literary Master 1978

On May 21, the Chinese men's badminton team won the Thomas Cup for the first time, and a badminton fever was set off in newspapers and on television, but the momentum was far less than that of the women's volleyball team winning the championship.

That evening, Lin Chaoyang stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching a red motorcycle running around in the alley of Xiaoliubukou, like a red mouse.

It's rare to ride a good motorcycle so obscenely.

"If you want to speed up, speed up, if you want to slow down, slow down, why do you keep speeding up and down?"

"Brother-in-law, I'm scared!"

"Are you still riding if you're scared?"

"I won't ride it, it's a waste to leave it there."

Lin Chaoyang was speechless, "There are so many unused rooms at home, I haven't seen you living in each room?"

"Brother-in-law~"

Lin Chaoyang didn't let Tao Yushu ride this Yamaha 125 since she got pregnant. Tao Yumo had been eyeing it for a long time. During this period, she got her driver's license and came here eager to try to be a female rider, but unfortunately she was a little too ambitious.

After riding shakily for more than half an hour, Tao Yumo finally rode more steadily. She almost shouted out in excitement.

Just as she was about to ride out of the alley, an old man suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley, and she immediately stepped on the brakes.

Xie Jin looked at the little girl in front of him and remembered that she was Lin Chaoyang's sister-in-law, "Is it Yumo? Be careful when riding a bike!"

Tao Yumo nodded, "Director Xie, are you here to see my brother-in-law?"

"Yes."

At this time, Lin Chaoyang had already run over. Seeing that there was nothing to do, he greeted Xie Jin, "Why are you free today? Aren't you busy with casting?"

"Hey, I'm done."

"What do you mean?"

"The actors have been selected."

Lin Chaoyang said in surprise: "Didn't several main actors have no place before? How come they are selected now?"

In fact, Xie Jin couldn't believe it. That day, Lin Chaoyang recommended Tang Guoqiang to him, and he was very satisfied after seeing the real person.

Then, Wu Zhennian, who went to the Northeast to look for actors, brought good news one after another. She found two male actors whose image and temperament matched Liang Sanxi and Jin Kailai in Changchun Drama Troupe and Shenyang Drama Troupe respectively.

She just brought them back to Yanjing yesterday, and they really met Xie Jin's psychological expectations.

So far, the casting problem that has troubled Xie Jin for three months has finally been solved.

It just so happens that the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards will be held the day after tomorrow. Xie Jin felt relieved to solve the casting problem before the awards.

After attending the awards ceremony in Shaanxi, he returned to Shanghai to pack up and rushed to the filming location.

In a good mood, Xie Jin couldn't help but think of Lin Chaoyang again.

The first collaboration between the two in "The Shepherd" set a new high in Xie Jin's career. This time they collaborated again in "The Wreath under the Mountain", and the casting problem that was originally a headache was immediately solved after Lin Chaoyang appeared.

This made Xie Jin's heart inevitably rise with some feudal superstition.

"When choosing actors, you can pick and choose when you don't meet them. Once you meet them, the problem will be solved naturally." Xie Jin and Lin Chaoyang walked side by side to the gate of the courtyard. "I'm going to Shaanxi tomorrow, and I'll come over to have a drink with you."

"You're getting honors right away, and "High Mountain" is about to start filming. It's a double happiness!"

Lin Chaoyang joked, then remembered something, turned around and shouted to Tao Yumo who was still lingering at the entrance of the alley: "Stop riding, go home!"

Tao Yumo, who was about to go out of the alley to explore, was disappointed and moved his motorcycle back.

A few people entered the courtyard and just sat down for a while, another guest came to the house. It was Liu Xinwu who came to give Lin Chaoyang a sample book of "The Chess Master".

Originally, Yanjing Publishing House was going to publish "The Chess Master" in April, but it happened that "Shutter Island" was published in the second issue of "October" this year, and the magazine sold out that time.

It directly affected the publisher's topic selection work in the second quarter, causing the publication of many books to be postponed.

By this month, the third issue of "Contemporary" had been published for more than half a month, and the sales were stable. On the other hand, the sales of the second issue of "October" also reached a record 1.55 million copies, basically exhausting its potential.

The publisher finally had the spare capacity to consider the publication of other books. "The Chess Master" was one of the key books of Yanjing Publishing House this year, so it was naturally the first to be scheduled.

"The paper consumption this quarter must have exceeded. The publishing house temporarily coordinated 60 tons of paper, which allowed the smooth publication of "The Chess Master", otherwise it would have to wait until July. Most of the 60 tons of paper coordinated were given to "The Chess Master."

In the publishing industry, the 28 rule is very prominent, whether it is sales or printing.

The top best-selling books occupy most of the printing resources of the publishing house, and the remaining small part of the printing resources will be evenly distributed to dozens or hundreds of books.

The first print run of "The Chess Master" was 200,000 copies, not because of the blind confidence of the publishing house, but because of the strong confidence given to them by the sales of Lin Chaoyang's previous works.

The day after Liu Xinwu came to deliver the sample book, Lin Chaoyang received the manuscript fee bill from Yanjing Publishing House.

The basic royalty for the publication of "The Chess Master" is 14 yuan per thousand words, plus a 5% royalty for every 10,000 copies, so this publication brought Lin Chaoyang 3,640 yuan in income.

It doesn't seem much, but considering that "The Chess Master" is a short novel with only 130,000 words, this royalty income is already quite a lot, not to mention that as long as it sells well, there will be follow-up income.

A few months ago, Renwen Publishing House published "The Death of Van Gogh", which was enthusiastically sought after by readers as soon as it was released, with sales of nearly 500,000 copies in one and a half months.

It has been four months now, and the momentum has slowed down, but sales have easily exceeded 1 million copies.

According to the agreement between Lin Chaoyang and Renwen Press, if the sales of the novel exceeded 800,000 copies, the printing fee would be settled at 5% of 10,000 copies.

The printing fee is settled every three months. In mid-April, Lin Chaoyang received more than 11,000 yuan in printing fee from Renwen Press.

This is the largest amount of printing fee Lin Chaoyang has received since the publication of his novel.

In the future, as long as "The Chess Master" sells well, printing fee will also be indispensable.

At this time, the newspaper published the results of this year's Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, which will be held in Xi'an, Shaanxi.

The award ceremony was held on the evening of May 23 at the SX Provincial Gymnasium. That night, the newly decorated gymnasium was flying colorful flags and brightly lit. There were as many as 2,500 people on the scene, and many enthusiastic people gathered outside the venue, making the venue bustling with people inside and outside.

"The Horse Herder" won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor and Editing, and the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Feature Film and Best Supporting Actor.

The Horse Herder swept the Chinese film industry in early 1982. Both industry insiders and ordinary movie fans had high hopes for the film's performance at the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards.

Putting aside the actor award won by Niu Ben, the film deserved to win the Best Feature Film Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Because the Hundred Flowers Awards is a film award hosted by "Popular Films" and is a mass film award voted by the general audience, The Horse Herder's winning of the Best Feature Film Award fully proves the people's love for this film.

But the result of the Golden Rooster Awards seemed to be somewhat cold. You know, after the release of The Horse Herder, it can be said that it was well received in the film industry, but when it came to this professional award, it only won the Best Editing Award.

The next day, Xie Jin couldn't help but call Lin Chaoyang to complain, thinking that this was the jury trying to balance.

Last year, the Golden Rooster Awards were held for the first time. Xie Jin won seven awards including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Writer and Screenwriter, and Best Actress with Legend of Tianyun Mountain.

This year, The Horse Herder is even better than The Legend of Tianyun Mountain. Both the industry evaluation and the audience's reputation are impeccable, but the performance in the awards is far inferior to The Legend of Tianyun Mountain. How can Xie Jin balance this?

"We Chinese judge awards in this way. You can be good, but not too good. Since everyone is here, you can't come empty-handed. Even if there is no credit, there is hard work.

The excellence of The Horse Herder is obvious to all. Don't you still have a Hundred Flowers Award?"

Lin Chaoyang comforted Xie Jin like this.

"I don't think my film is so good that I have to win this award, but it's not so bad that I can only win the Best Editing Award.

Besides, I have won all the honors I deserve, so it's nothing.

It's just that the story of "The Shepherd" is so brilliant, but you don't even have the Best Screenwriter Award, which is really unreasonable."

Xie Jin's complaint made Lin Chaoyang laugh, "I'm just an amateur screenwriter, what does it matter if I win or not?"

Lin Chaoyang really didn't take the Golden Rooster Award seriously, firstly because he knew what the award was like, and secondly because he didn't consider himself a screenwriter, and whether he won or not was really irrelevant to him.

"I advise you not to take this award so seriously, gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people, making a good movie is worse than anything else." Lin Chaoyang said.

"Do you still need to teach me? Finally, I'm done with it, and next I have to put all my energy into "The Wreath Under the Mountain"."

Xie Jin's tone was full of confidence on the phone.

Two days later, it was almost the end of the month, and the one-year "May 4th Youth Literature Award" essay solicitation activity launched by "China Youth" was also coming to an end. Lin Chaoyang came to the "China Youth" magazine in Beisanlitun, Chaoyang District, for a meeting this morning.

The number of judges for the May 4th Youth Literature Award was not large. Including Lin Chaoyang, a young man, there were a total of six people, but they all had some connection with him. In addition to him, the remaining five judges were Ding Ling, Feng Mu, Wei Junyi, Wang Meng, and Liu Xinwu.

In the past year, "China Youth" has published dozens of excellent short stories, all of which have been carefully selected by the editorial department. Several of them have also formed a considerable influence and won national awards.

After some discussion, everyone determined the final list of winners.

Nowadays, many literary awards at this time are of the nature of "excellence awards", and there is no ranking of the first, second and third places. As long as the selection requirements of the jury are met, the award can be won, and the May 4th Youth Literature Award is also the same.

The final list of winners of this May Fourth Youth Literature Award is as many as 23, such as Han Shaogong's "Flying Over the Blue Sky", Wang Anyi's "Ordinary People", Chen Cun's "Blue Flag", Jin Dai's "Rain and Snow" and other excellent works have won awards.

A week after the award results were announced, the "China Youth" magazine held an award ceremony.

"China Youth" magazine has a profound background. It was established in the 1920s. It has been suspended and resumed three times in half a century. It can be said that it has experienced ups and downs.

This time, the magazine has put in its best efforts to organize the May Fourth Youth Literature Award, and even invited deputy F-level leaders to attend.

"... To build our country well, we need all kinds of talents, and we also need writers. In the construction of the four modernizations, literary workers are an indispensable team..."

The leader on the stage was speaking, and Lin Chaoyang was also whispering to Wei Junyi.

"The response after the publication of "Shutter Island" was very good!"

"It's okay, it's all supported by readers."

"Why did you choose "October"? Didn't you have a pleasant cooperation with our "Contemporary" before?"

Of course, Lin Chaoyang couldn't directly say that the royalties were high, he could only express tactfully, "October is more interested in my novel."

Wei Junyi nodded slightly. She knew something about Lin Chaoyang. She had already figured out the reason why "Shutter Island" was not given to "Contemporary". What she said just now was just to find a reason for conversation.

"The influence of "October" is still a little bit behind. Our humanities club has always given you a good treatment. If you have any requirements, you can communicate with us."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said nothing. "October" did not ask me to take the initiative to raise the standards. Instead, it raised the standards itself.

Looking at Lin Chaoyang's expression, Wei Junyi secretly cursed the naughty boy in his heart.

"It's been a while since "Shutter Island" was published, and the publication should be put on the agenda. Come to our agency tomorrow and we'll talk in detail."

Seeing that there was something negotiable in the old lady's words, Lin Chaoyang nodded calmly, "Okay."

While the two were talking, the leader on the stage had finished speaking, and the next step was the award-giving session.

First, more than 20 young writers took the stage. Many of them were no longer young writers, but middle-aged writers.

After the writers stood still on the stage, Lin Chaoyang and several other judges came on stage to present awards to everyone.

Most of the six people on the jury are respected old comrades. Liu Xinwu, the second youngest, looks a little older than his actual age, but he can hold his own.

Only Lin Chaoyang, a judge in his twenties, was particularly eye-catching when he stood on the stage.

Especially when awarding awards to writers, Lin Chaoyang stood together with writers who were older than him, making people who didn't know the inside story think that Lin Chaoyang was the winning writer.