Chapter 399: Writer From Shu Province

Shu Province, Da County Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Tian Yanning looked at a letter from Xijing, which was handed over by his friend.

The letter was a handwritten letter from the general manager of Xijing Shengshi Book Publishing Company. The general message was that after reading this book, "Female Leader", I thought it was acceptable and could consider publishing it. The author himself was invited to come to Xijing to discuss it in detail.

Tian Yanning is 37 years old this year and is from Chongqing. She once joined a team in Dabashan. After the college entrance examination was resumed, she was admitted to a technical secondary school and was assigned to the Daxian Regional Literary Creation Studio after graduation.

He began to publish works in 1979. He has published a large number of literary works with the theme of Daba Mountain in major literary journals across the country, which has attracted much attention from the literary world. Joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1985.

The novels "Sketch of Small Town Characters" and "Big Sword" won the first and second outstanding works awards of Shu Province respectively. He can be regarded as a rising star in the literary world of Shu Province.

However, the novel he wanted to publish this time was not a serious literature, but a popular novel. He took the letter and thought about it for a while, then walked to the next office to find his friend and partner Tan Li.

Tan Li is Tian Yanning's fellow villager and a native of Chongqing. He is 5 years younger than him and is only 32 years old this year. They knew each other when they joined the team in Daba Mountain. They were admitted to Daxian Normal School together and were assigned to the same school after graduation. The regional literary creation room can be said to be brothers and sisters.

Tian Yanning waved to Tan Li at the door, and the other party immediately understood and followed him out of the office building, standing under a ginkgo tree beside the wall.

The ginkgo tree in October has golden leaves and is very beautiful.

Of course, the two of them were not here to enjoy the scenery.

Tian Yanning gave Tan Li a cigarette, lit one herself, and then said: "There is a letter from Xijing. Shengshi Company asked me to go to Xijing to negotiate the contract."

"Okay, Brother Tian, ​​go quickly."

Tian Yanning didn't say anything, but took a puff of cigarette and sighed slightly.

"Brother Tian, ​​are you still worried? Didn't the Provincial Writers Association call on us to expand our ideas in creation? Doesn't Secretary-General Zhang also support it?" Tan Li said.

Secretary-General Zhang is Zhang Shiyong, Secretary-General of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

The reason why the Provincial Writers Association supports it is because there is a grim reality: now the Writers Association can no longer afford to support so many expert writers!

After the reform and opening up, the enthusiasm for writing aroused among the people, and writers became one of the most fashionable professions in society. Countless young people devoted themselves to creation and wrote many excellent works, and the team of professional writers became larger and larger. Various provinces, cities, and even some counties started to run magazines and set up literary creation rooms, especially in Shu Province.

But on the other hand, popular literature, represented by martial arts novels from Hong Kong and Taiwan, is rapidly spreading in the mainland and becoming more and more popular. In the early 1980s, the enthusiasm of the people to read pure literature began to recede.

This has led to a very embarrassing fact: many purely literary magazines have experienced declining sales or even closed down, while a large number of young writers cannot publish their works and cannot receive royalties.

Tian Yanning and the others faced this problem.

Although he has made some achievements in the literary world, he cannot support his family with this amount of royalties. As a professional writer, the Writers Association must pay a certain salary, but the Writers Association is also poor and cannot afford to support these writers.

Especially in economically backward areas like Da County, where the wages of party and government cadres are a problem, how can you still ensure your income as a writer?

As a last resort, the Provincial Writers Association encouraged everyone to try commercial writing.

Look, how popular are martial arts novels? You can write martial arts.

Romance novels are also good. Can lesbians write romance?

Under this circumstance, Tian Yanning created the film "Female Leader" based on Hong Kong's police movies.

Serious magazines would naturally not want this kind of novel. By chance, he heard from a friend in Xijing that Xijing Shengshi Book Publishing Company specializes in publishing popular novels such as martial arts and romance, so he asked his friend to give it a try. It was handed over to the leaders of Shengshi Company, and unexpectedly it was adopted very quickly.

Now that she got the invitation letter from the other party and heard the congratulations from her good brother, Tian Yanning felt mixed emotions in her heart and couldn't be happy.

He took a moment and then said: "Tan Li, I think we all loved literature at the beginning, so we were admitted to the Normal University together, and got our wish by being assigned to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. We thought we could write a literary masterpiece like Lu Yao and Fang Minghua, but unexpectedly, Finally write something like this!”

Tan Li also fell silent after hearing this.

Who doesn’t have a literary dream?

But, you have to live.

I saw other people living in commercial suites, while my family was still crowded in the tube building allocated by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Some other people's families had already bought color TVs, but my own family didn't even have a black and white TV.

The children need money to go to school. The parents in their hometown hope that they can send some money back. The wife is nagging that she hasn’t bought a new dress for a long time.

This annoyed him.

He suddenly remembered the helplessness of an ordinary middle-aged man named Yin Jiahou in a novel "Troubled Life" published by Yanhe magazine this summer.

In fact, why am I not another Yin Jiahou?

In this society, I wonder how many Yin family members there are?

Thinking of this, Tan Li comforted him: "Brother Tian, ​​don't think too much. Let's get over the current difficulties for the time being. When we have money in the future, we can then pick up the pen and write real literary works!"

Tian Yanning laughed after hearing this.

"I know, I'm just feeling a little emotional today and don't talk about it. Tan Li, didn't you write a book called "From Female Star to Death Row"? Give me the manuscript. I will bring it to Xijing this time and try to get it published!"

"Okay, just wait." After Tan Li finished speaking, he hurried back to the office building and returned within a few minutes with a thick stack of manuscripts.

"Okay, don't tell anyone about this yet!" Tian Yanning warned.

"Don't worry, we only know each other."

"Yeah." Tian Yanning said, threw away the butt of the cigarette that was about to be finished, and turned around and entered the office building.

Tian Yanning left Daxian that night. Although he crossed Bashan to reach Hanzhong in Qin Province, it was not easy to actually reach Xijing. He wanted to take a train to Rongcheng and then go north over Bashan and Qinling Mountains.

It was already noon on the third day when Tian Yanning arrived in Xijing.

At Shengshi Book Company in Duanlumen, Tian Yanning met Zhao Hongjun, the general manager of the company.

In the general manager's office, Zhao Hongjun greeted him warmly: "Writer Tian, ​​please sit down, would you like some tea or coffee?"

"You're welcome, tea."

Tian Yanning sat on the sofa with some restraint.

If someone usually calls him a writer, he would agree generously, but today.

Is this thing I wrote worthy of the muse?

Zhao Hongjun didn't care about this. After asking the newly recruited female secretary to pour tea for Tian Yanning, he sat on the sofa next to him and crossed his legs: "Writer Tian, ​​your novel has been carefully evaluated by our company and is considered suitable for publication. What about the royalties? It’s calculated as 13 yuan per thousand words, and the remuneration for the number of printed copies is in accordance with relevant national regulations. What do you think?”

Thousand words 13?

The remuneration standard is higher than that of the novels I wrote before.

So, Tian Yanning immediately agreed: "Mr. Zhao, I will do as you say. But I have a small request."

"Oh, you said?"

"Don't mention my name in the book, and don't write my profile."

"Oh, I understand." Zhao Hongjun smiled: "The work must have a name, right? What pen name did you choose?"

"Just call me Liba people."

On the train, Tian Yanning thought of a pen name.

This thing I wrote is from a lower class person, so that’s what my pen name is.

But Zhao Hongjun shook his head.

"No, I'll think of a pen name for you."

"what is it call?"

"Semily"