[Comprehensive Classics] Detective Mary

"One thing I have to admit is that you handled it very skillfully," said editor-in-chief Hall. "That is, you never planned to make Ms. Grace fall in love with Luther."

"..."

Hey?

this one?

Mary did not expect that the editor-in-chief of Hall would praise herself for this setting. She looked blank, and the two stared at each other for a while, before the editor-in-chief said helplessly: "Is this surprising to you, Miss Mary?"

of course!

Love elements are indeed involved in "The Check Lady", which changed Mary's original intention of not describing Luther's emotional life - but she didn't think it was her own setting or slap in the face, and she didn't intend to describe Luther's detective love at first. , because Mary felt that she was not very good at describing delicate emotions.But now with Inspector Patton's story as a template, she has confidence.

In the story, Philip Luther was also directly "attracted" by his wife. Although Luther was not as romantic as Inspector Patton, he was still attracted by his wife's boldness and courage.Even after seeing through her "fraud", the two still walked into the church hand in hand and remained in love for more than ten years until Mrs. Luther died of illness and left.

The same is a fraudster, Grace is as smart and bold as Mrs. Luther, and even makes Philip Luther feel sympathetic. She is a rival that cannot be underestimated.But Mary did not arrange an affair for Luther. In "The Check Lady", Luther and Grace have always been rivals, and there is no ambiguous plot that attracts reverie or has a charming atmosphere.

However, this doesn't need to be named specifically, does it?

"I thought you would praise me for handling the plot of recruiting Angress well." Mary said truthfully.

Editor-in-Chief Hall was taken aback, then laughed out loud.

"At the end of the investigation, Ms. Grace became a government employee instead. This ending is really unexpected," editor-in-chief Hall responded with a smile, "But you have already sent me the outline in advance in order to forge the details of the check. The plot is no longer a surprise to me.”

Ok.

In fact, recruiting Ms. Grace is Mary's favorite plot in "The Check Lady". In her personal opinion, Frank Abagnale's life experience would not be so legendary if he ended up in prison.In the end, he became a special consultant of the fbi, which undoubtedly sublimated his legendary life.

It seems that the spoiler is really lethal, and Mary thought that the editor-in-chief Hall wanted to praise the ending.As for the emotional handling he said...

"I really didn't think that it would be worth mentioning that Ms. Grace and Detective Luther didn't have feelings," Mary couldn't laugh or cry, "It doesn't mean that every pair of men and women who cherish each other must be in love. This is too narrow."

"In reality, I agree with you."

Editor-in-chief Hall nodded seriously: "But in the story, once the male protagonist has a female rival who is evenly matched, what readers want to see is often a relationship between them."

Isn't it, well into the 21st century, this is still the case.The hero is responsible for taking risks, detecting cases, and saving the world, but what about women?The gentle girl is either the object waiting to be rescued, or the hero's interpretation flower; the strong woman is either labeled as "unfeminine" or is a vicious but provocative villain, no matter what, she has to fight with the hero An affair.

Mary has no idea about this. In her eyes, emotional entanglement is the best solution for characters to connect and conflict, so portraying the emotions of characters is not a problem.But thanks to the experience of Mr. Frank Abagnale, the prototype of the character himself, Mary claims that the storyline of "The Check Lady" is very compact, and there is no need to use emotional drama to attract readers.

"The Love Story is also described in "The Check Lady." Mary emphasized.

"Naturally," Editor-in-Chief Hall nodded, "Comparing Ms. Grace and Mrs. Luther together strengthens Detective Luther's description of the feelings of his dead wife. You don't intend to write about emotional entanglements because you think it's unnecessary. But From an editor's point of view, I think Grace is legendary, and if you raise her to such a high position, if there is a relationship entanglement, it will inevitably fall into the cliché of a hero conquering a beautiful woman, which is a bit of a waste of the role. If there is a chance in the future, I think Ms. Grace can still appear in the following article."

As he spoke, he paused, then shook his head as if remembering something: "Although you don't like this point of view, Miss Mary, I have to say that just because the readers may want to see Detective Luther and Detective Luther Ms. Grace develops emotions, and the more you keep them from developing emotions, the more readers will look forward to what's next."

To sum up, from a commercial point of view, editor-in-chief Hall believes that the role of Ms. Grace still has room to appear. In "The Check Lady", the two have feelings for each other, which will lower readers' expectations.

It's better to let them look forward to it, even if Mary still doesn't describe any emotional color in the end, it will become a kind of missing beauty.

"Thank you for your affirmation," Mary said bitterly, "I really don't intend to describe what happened between the two."

To be honest, does a smart man and a smart woman have to have sexual attraction?Not necessarily!From Mary's point of view, Ms. Grace's husband died and she was living a happy single life, so she might not necessarily look down on Luther.

Fortunately, Editor-in-Chief Hall and Mary have different ideas, but the ultimate goal is indeed the same.So Mary didn't make any "shocking" remarks on this, but just nodded: "I will also conceive the next story well, and try to focus on the suspense factor. Then, sir, I boldly assume that you are very satisfied with the quality of "The Check Lady" Are you satisfied?"

Editor-in-Chief Hall said with some curiosity: "Would I say that I am not satisfied?"

Mary: "..."

Editor-in-Chief Hall laughed again: "Don't be nervous, Miss Mary! I just think you are too polite and a little unconfident. We have cooperated twice, do you want to continue to be so polite?"

As he said that, he picked up the manuscript again: ""The Check Lady" is also a good story, in Philip Luther's consistent style: it is topical, and it is also suitable for real life. In addition, this is a brand new serial after your identity is revealed , I believe that the attention will not be low. Because of this, I think the remuneration for "The Check Lady" can be raised a little bit higher."

In the last "Carnival King", the editor-in-chief Hall promised that as long as it is Mary's manuscript, once the manuscript is passed, the remuneration for each issue will not be less than 10 pounds.But this is still not a stable guarantee for an author like Mary who has just started writing for a year-if it weren't for the end of the Illuminati case, Mr. Mycroft waved his hand and embezzled Blackwood's stolen money to advance the whole of Sepentine Street. Ten years' rent, Mary still has to worry about next year's rent.

So before confessing to Mr. Bennet, Mary had been thinking about it.In the end, the plan she came up with was inspired by Sir Conan Doyle himself.

Therefore, when editor-in-chief Hall mentioned the remuneration, Mary knew that she should express her own ideas.

"About the remuneration."

Mary restrained the smile that had been hanging on her face, and said seriously: "I have a suggestion, Mr. Editor-in-Chief."

Editor-in-Chief Hall paused slightly, but the experienced editor-in-chief was not surprised. Instead, he continued: "Thanks to "King of Carnival", the sales of the magazine in the first three months can be called skyrocketing. It is reasonable for you to plan to raise the price." Among them. But the operation of "Seashore Magazine" is far more than receiving manuscripts, printing and selling, so if you have a psychological price, Miss Mary, feel free to raise it, but I probably need to discuss it carefully with you."

Mary shook her head: "I don't mean to be a lion."

Editor-in-Chief Hall: "Oh? So what's your proposal?"

Mary: "As you said, sir, we have cooperated twice, both as a cooperative relationship and as a friend. Thanks to your kindness, I also met a man of insight like reporter Franz Harvey. Although There was an accident of identity leakage during the cooperation process, but you are not responsible, and the magazine has also corrected the loophole. So as long as you are here, editor-in-chief, based on my trust in you, I also trust "Seaside Magazine"

"so?"

"So," Mary cleared her throat, "on the basis of mutual trust, we can definitely sign a contract."

Speaking of which, Editor-in-Chief Hall had already vaguely guessed what Mary was going to say.

He had a clear expression, but he didn't stop Mary, but took out his glasses without haste: "Please continue."

"It's a contract with an advance remuneration."

Mary summoned up her courage and expressed her thoughts: "I can provide the magazine with manuscripts for at least three stories within twelve months, and under the legally effective guarantee, the magazine will advance my remuneration for a whole year."

Although Mary didn't know if there was a precedent before—she was a novice author, and she hadn't mixed into any circle of literary or magazine writers. The only author she knew was Watson, so she could only rely on her future memory to make her request.But Mary felt that even if there was no precedent, such an approach would not be difficult to understand.

"I see," Editor-in-Chief Hall really understood, "So, in your mind, how much should we pay you?"

"Given the response to The King of Carnival, I don't think £[-] a year is too much to ask."

"Okay."

"..."

Um? ?

Mary blinked blankly. Seeing Editor-in-Chief Hall's calm expression, she once thought she was hallucinating.

That's what I promised, right? ?

Editor-in-Chief Hall looked at her seriously, forcing Mary to bite the bullet and speak carefully: "Well, sir, 'yes' means agree, right?"

Editor-in-Chief Hall: "..."

"It doesn't mean agreeing," Editor-in-Chief Hall said calmly, "How could it mean not agreeing? Your request is not too much, Miss Mary, and I can even relax the conditions for you, two hundred pounds for ten months Serialization does not require three complete manuscripts. As long as your work can be published and serialized in "Seaside Magazine" for ten months. However, the contract cannot be taken out casually. I have to hire a lawyer to complete it. Here you go."

For a moment Mary didn't know what to reply.

Before her visit to the magazine, Mary had a lot of rhetoric in mind.She envisioned countless results, but no editor-in-chief readily agreed to this one.

He didn't say a word, just said "okay" and went directly to the stage of waiting for the contract?Too simple, right?

Perhaps it was because Mary's expression was too obvious. Editor-in-Chief Hall couldn't help but laugh: "Do you think I'm trading at a loss, Miss Mary? It's not that my bottom line is too high, but that you underestimated your own potential."

"Really?" Mary was very skeptical.

Ten months of serialization is [-] pounds, which is double the price of "The King of Carnival".

"I have seen too many new writers," said the editor-in-chief Hall. "It is not uncommon for the first and second articles to be amazing, but the level of the three consecutive articles is stable, and they can maintain their own characteristics and topicality at the same time. A little progress is very rare. Three consecutive serials are enough to prove that you have the ability to continue to conceive a story. "The King of Carnival" occupies the right time, place and people, and it has greatly promoted it in the mouth of Barnum. Miss Mary , this is only your second serial. Have you ever thought about the next year, if there is another "King of Carnival"? Ordinary writers will definitely ask for several times the price, but you have to advance the payment in advance , I’m too happy to be in time.”

Mary: "..."

With that said, why does she still feel that she is at a loss? !

Editor-in-Chief Hall didn't give Mary a chance to go back on her word. He said kindly, "I won't let you suffer, Miss Mary, "The Check Lady" has [-] to [-] words."

"Ninety-eight thousand," answered Mary.

"Nearly [-], we can complete the serialization in five installments. This has already taken up half of the ten months. "The King of Carnival" is hard to come by, as long as you write another story later, and the level is maintained." good."

So strictly speaking, the actual advance payment of Mary's manuscript fee by "Seaside Magazine" is only five months, one story capacity.

Two out of the five serials have exploded. If Mary has this level, why would she worry about not being able to pay the rent.

"In that case," Mary said, "is that what we agreed on?"

"I will contact a lawyer." Editor Hall promised.

Then he paused, and said again: "Besides, Miss Mary, I think Philip Luther's story can be compiled into a book, and while PT Barnum is still on a world tour, this is a good opportunity. "

The three stories add up to nearly 20 words, and the response to the serialization is not bad, and the discussion is mixed.Mary also felt that she had the confidence to talk to the publisher.

only……

"I don't know any publishers," Mary said modestly, "Editor Hall, I might trouble you about this."

"You said we were friends."

The editor-in-chief of Hall is generous: "Helping a friend find a publisher is just a matter of effort."

And publishing is a real payment.

Calculated in this way, Mary was even a little flustered - after moving out for a year, the manuscript remuneration she got was one-third of her dowry, not to mention the income from the two cases.As for the future livelihood, as editor-in-chief Hall said, as long as she can guarantee the quality of her serialization, if nothing else happens, the manuscript fee will only become more and more expensive.

Now, no matter how much her mother dislikes that Sherlock is not a prince or a nobleman, and has no title of title, Mary has more confidence to refute her: she has money herself, and is capable of making more money, and she doesn't need a dowry to guarantee that she can be raised with a man, so she wants to be with him. Mary had the right to make her own decisions about who to marry.

Thinking of this, she finally let go of the burden that had been weighing on her heart.

"Although publication is next year's plan," Mary said sincerely, "thank you for your help, sir."

After leaving the magazine, Mary only felt that her mood was as cloudless and bright as the rare clear sky in London.

She returned home happily and shared the good news with Catherine and Lydia.While the two younger sisters were happy for her, good news also came from Mr. Holmes.

On the second day after the draft of "The Lady with a Check", Serena Wiggins rushed directly to Serpentine Avenue, and pulled Mary out of the apartment with great excitement: "Miss Mary, Miss Mary! Let's go find Miss Morstan, Mr. Holmes Take back the treasure that belongs to her!"