Back to 80: My Literary Life

The weather was nice today. After lunch, Fang Minghua had nothing to do. He simply sat at the door of the guard room chatting with Zhang Baofu and basking in the sun. He saw Lu Yao hurriedly walked into the unit door.

"Brother Lu!"

Fang Minghua greeted.

"Xiao Fang, you are so leisurely. I am going to find you."

"What's up?"

"I heard that you and Editor Sun had a fight?"

"It's true that good things don't go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles." Fang Minghua joked.

"The quarrel was nothing, and we didn't start a fight. I just want to know what kind of article that novel that you admire so much is, and I want to take a peek."

"Come on, I'll take you to see the manuscript."

The two came to the editorial office and found the manuscript from the archives that had been manually proofread and sent a copy to the printing factory for printing. Lu Yao read it carefully.

He read the novel of only about 8,000 words for half an hour, and finally said with emotion: "It is really well written. It is hard to believe that it was written by a female college student. In a work about young people and young people, such a look... It’s really rare!”

"Generally, what appears in front of readers are eyes that are critical, hurt, and deeply painful. Sometimes they are still passionate and persistent, sometimes they are cold and serious, and sometimes they are even "malicious". But this novel is completely different!"

"Haha, Brother Lu, your evaluation is very high. I am going to write a reply to the author and include your evaluation of her!"

Fang Minghua really wrote it in.

Yu Shan, who was far away at Wuhan University, received a handwritten reply and remittance order from Fang Minghua, editor of the editorial department of "Yanhe".

The letter told her that the novel had been accepted by the editorial department and would be published in the December issue. It also spoke highly of the novel, quoted Lu Yao's words, and encouraged her to submit more articles to "Yanhe" in the future.

"Wow Fang Minghua, Lu Yao!

The girl's face flushed with excitement.

These are all writers I like and admire!

Um!

Come on!

The girl secretly waved her fist

At this time, Fang Minghua was sitting at Lu Yao's house without leaving.

It turned out that Lu Yao had recently written a novella "Yellow Leaves Falling in the Autumn Wind". Fang Minghua found out about it and immediately ran to his house and asked him to submit the novel to "Yanhe".

Lu Yao was a little embarrassed after hearing this and said:

"Xiao Fang, I'm going to submit my manuscript to "Novel World", and I also talked about it with their editor-in-chief Liu. He asked me to send the manuscript to Yanjing as soon as possible."

"Brother Lu, did Editor Liu ask for a manuscript?" Fang Minghua asked.

"no."

"Then what are you worried about? Just say that President Huang of "Yanhe" magazine saw it and immediately intercepted it! Put the responsibility on President Huang!"

Linda, who was sitting next to him, suddenly laughed after hearing this.

"Xiao Fang, I really have you, so President Huang is left to shoulder the blame."

"He is the leader. He can recite it. He can't let me, a little editor, recite it, right?" Fang Minghua chuckled.

Seeing that Lu Yao was still hesitating, Fang Minghua continued: "Brother Lu, as long as you vote for "Yanhe", I promise that I will never mess up your tiles when we play mahjong in the future, and I will also let you play!"

"Is this what you said? I've been having bad luck lately and I keep losing." Lu Yao said.

"Of course, a gentleman's words are hard to follow!" Fang Minghua said with enthusiasm.

But I was thinking in my heart.

Hehe, Brother Lu, with your bad poker skills, you can't catch your luck when it comes.

Therefore, the article "Yellow Leaves Falling in the Autumn Wind" was snatched away and arranged to be published in the first issue of the magazine in January next year.

This novel later won the second National Outstanding Novella Award.

Following the same pattern, Fang Minghua went to Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa again and snatched the "Kang Family Courtyard" written by Chen Zhongshi. Jia Pingwa said that he had no works at the moment, but promised that next year he would go back to his hometown to "retreat" for a while and would write a novel. A series of anthologies, among which there will definitely be novels that will be handed over to him.

Fang Minghua knew that one of Jia Pingwa's masterpieces, "Shangzhou Chulu", was about to be born.

The December issue of "Yanhe" magazine was released as scheduled. The two short stories published in the magazine, "Red Dresses Fashioned on the Street" and "Female College Students' Dormitory", aroused the interest of readers. These are very few novels about female subjects in the literary world!

And they are also a very representative group of women - textile workers and college students!

Letters from readers about these two novels quickly flew to the editorial office like flakes.

Fang Minghua and Bai Miao were eating in the cafeteria at noon today. Li Tianfang excitedly sat down at his table with a bowl in his hand and said:

"I have some good news for you. Magazine sales have started to pick up this month!"

"Really? Can't we get more bonuses this month?" Fang Minghua joked.

"You have so much royalties, why do you still care about these ten yuan?" Li Tianfang rolled his eyes at her.

"Look what you said, Sister Li, ten yuan is a lot, right? Besides, I am saving money now."

"Saving money? Are you planning to marry a wife?" Li Tianfang immediately became energetic when he heard this: "Hey, Xiaofang, the female soldier who often came to see you some time ago is named Song Tangtang. I think she is good. When are you going to treat us to dinner? Wedding candy?"

This woman

It’s just natural to gossip.

"The eight characters haven't been written yet." Fang Minghua quickly changed the subject: "Sister Li, have you decided on the novellas and short stories recommended for the outstanding novels this year?"

"It's settled, I'm about to tell you." Li Tianfang said:

"For the medium article, I am going to recommend the article "Into the Dust" and Huang Jianguo's "Meeting with Friends" written by you. For the short story, I recommend Lu Yao's "Sister", Chen Zhongshi's "Standing Up" and Yu Shan's "Female College Dormitory" and You just published "The Popular Red Dress on the Street."

"Isn't it good to recommend two of my novels?" Fang Minghua was very modest.

"The problem is that your two novels are very popular. Needless to say, "Into the Dust", the movie has been released and is very popular with the audience."

I just wrote this article "Red Dresses Are Popular on the Street" and received very good feedback from readers. Who wouldn't I recommend it to? Moreover, two newspapers reprinted the full text and gave it high praise. Li Tianfang said with a smile.

The current literary world is somewhat similar to the Internet in later generations. As long as a relatively popular article appears, it will be reprinted crazily, and readers and critics will join in to comment.

This is how the article "The Sun Also Rises" became so popular.

Of course, reprinting also requires payment of royalties.

Bai Miao interrupted after hearing this: "Okay, Xiao Fang, two novels have been recommended, you want to treat me!"

"You haven't won a prize yet, why are you treating me?!"

"This is called a pre-invitation. When I win the prize, I will officially treat you. I don't have high requirements. How about a bowl of mutton steamed buns?"

All right

This guy just loves being treated to treats!

It’s certainly a good thing that magazine sales picked up at the end of the year. At least the welfare bonuses are there!

As 1982 is coming to an end, another major event occurred in the literary world: the first Mao Dun Literature Award Ceremony was held in the Great Hall of the People in the capital. Nearly 600 people from the literary and art circles gathered to participate in the ceremony.

The six writers who won the Mao Dun Literature Award held copper medals in their hands and greeted those who came to congratulate them.

Zhou Keqin (author of "Xu Mao and His Daughters"), who just came from the countryside of Sichuan Province and walked onto the podium smelling of earth, said: "I don't feel the joy of success, but more of shame and uneasiness. I just feel The burden on our shoulders is heavier and our tasks are heavier.”

Wei Wei, the author of "Eastern", only has one sentence in his heart: "Serve the people."

Yao Xueyin, who has been devoted to the creation of historical themes for decades, takes rewards as a spur. He said: "The second volume of "Li Zicheng" is not finalized yet, I want to revise it better.

Li Guowen (author of "Spring in Winter"), who has experienced ups and downs in his creation and life, said at the ceremony: "I was not disappointed in the suffering because I did not leave the party and the people. From now on, he will use his own pen to To answer the care and honor given by the party and the people."

Fang Minghua did not attend the live ceremony, but saw the introduction of the entire awards ceremony in the People's Daily.

Solemn and grand.

It's enviable.

Do you want to write a long novel yourself and try your luck?

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