Chapter 203 Teacher Lin teaches you how to write
"How is it? Are you interested?"
Lin Weimin interrupted Mo Yan's recollection by asking again. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven teeth. "Of course I'm interested."
"That's good. Do you have any new works recently? Take them out and I'll take a look at them for you."
Lin Weimin was like an extremely experienced prostitute. He started taking off his clothes as soon as he entered the room... No, he went straight to the point.
This was also the first time that Mo Yan had come into contact with an editor. Seeing Lin Weimin being so straightforward, he took out a stack of manuscript paper from the drawer of his desk with some fear.
"Teacher Lin, this is a novel I wrote some time ago."
Lin Weimin took the manuscript. It was a short story, not long, and he finished reading it in a short while.
Lin Weimin smacked his lips. Mo Yan was looking at him expectantly.
“Almost.”
Mo Yan's face was immediately filled with disappointment.
"Teacher Lin, what do you think is inappropriate? I can change it again." Mo Yan asked without giving up.
Mo Yan is a very goal-oriented person, and also has a resilient character.
When he tried to join the army, he was rejected several times because of his family background, but he never gave up.
In the end, it was his good friend who took the initiative to suggest that Mo Yan write a letter, which was then handed over to his friend's father who was a minister. Only then did Mo Yan finally get his wish and become a soldier.
"You can revise it. But the foundation of this novel is too poor. Even if you take the trouble to revise it, it may not be very good."
Lin Weimin's words made Mo Yan's heart sink.
“Are there any other manuscripts?”
Mo Yan shook his head. This was the only manuscript he had finished writing, and he had been planning to submit more to Lian Chi.
"Is that so?" Lin Weimin's tone was filled with regret.
Mo Yan felt a little desperate.
Is my talent really that bad? Am I going to let this opportunity slip away?
At this time, Lin Weimin said, "Do you have any ideas that you haven't written yet? Maybe I can help you with some reference."
Mo Yan's eyes lit up, but then he became a little lacking in confidence.
If even my well-written works are not favored by others, how can those immature ideas be welcomed?
But that's Mo Yan's character. He won't give up until he reaches the Yellow River. Now that the opportunity is in front of him, he must try again.
"There is indeed an idea, but it is not very mature."
"As for ideas, there are no mature ones. You might as well speak out boldly."
Mo Yan was grateful for Lin Weimin's calm and approachable attitude. He sorted out his thoughts and told Lin Weimin about his ideas.
Mo Yan spoke for about ten minutes, during which time Lin Weimin listened to him quietly without interrupting him.
Lin Weimin remained silent until Mo Yan finished speaking, and Mo Yan felt uneasy looking at his expression.
"This structure seems familiar!" Lin Weimin said softly.
Mo Yan's heart skipped a beat. This idea of his was completely imitating the "Ballad of the Sad Cafe" by the American writer MacArthur. He didn't expect that Lin Weimin would recognize it at once after just listening to him for a few minutes. While feeling a little regretful, he couldn't help but admire Lin Weimin's erudition.
The plot of "The Sad Song" is roughly as follows: A hunchback suddenly came to the town at night, claiming to be Miss Emilia's relative. He entered Miss Emilia's shop, arousing the curiosity of the whole town. So Emilia's coffee shop catered to everyone's curiosity and opened lively.
The idea proposed by Mo Yan is basically the same: a homeless blind man came to a hotel in a small town at night and asked for a place to stay. Hua Moli, a divorced single lady who runs the Jasmine Hotel, took him in, which aroused people's curiosity. The blind man brought business to Hua Moli with his flute and erhu.
Mo Yan added the element of music into the structure, and removed the scene in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" where Miss Emilia's ex-husband Marvin Macy seduced the hunchback after he was released from prison.
Instead, he turned blind and left silently after Hua Moli took the initiative to express her love, leaving her lost and melancholy.
Just when Mo Yan was secretly regretting his recklessness, Lin Weimin said, "But the idea is still good, you can try to write it down."
Mo Yan heard this as if hearing heaven's voice, "Really? Teacher Lin?"
Lin Weimin said with a smile: "There is a lot of plagiarism in the world. It's okay if the structure is similar. It just depends on who writes the best."
Mo Yan said ashamedly: "Don't say that, MacArthur is a great writer."
“Not all works written by great writers are the best!”
When Lin Weimin said this, there was a look on his face that made Mo Yan look up to him.
Perhaps only a gifted genius like Mr. Lin would be so confident when facing MacArthur, who is also known for his genius.
As Mo Yan thought about this, he suddenly felt a little ashamed of himself.
"I think this idea can be tried out in writing. What do you think?" Lin Weimin said when Mo Yan was stunned.
Mo Yan came back to his senses and said, "Then I'll write it down and send it to you later."
"Don't look back, write now."
Mo Yan looked at Lin Weimin with a little surprise in her small eyes.
"Write it now?"
"Yes, it's done. I've just finished reading it. If there's no problem, I'll take it back." Seeing that Mo Yan still looked a little surprised, Lin Weimin explained, "Although there are still more than two months to the January issue, manuscript compilation is a big project. We still have to review, proofread, and typeset when we get back. Time is already very tight, so we have to hurry up."
Mo Yan didn't understand the content of an editor's job, but when he heard Lin Weimin say this, he felt a little frightened and nervous.
"Then I'll write it right away."
"Okay, hurry up."
Lin Weimin thought of an interview he had seen in later generations, which said that Mo Yan only took 43 days to write "Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out", and the novel has a volume of 500,000 words.
His eyes fell on Mo Yan, who was writing quickly at his desk.
Xiaomo, you won’t let Teacher Lin down, right?
Lin Weimin was sipping tea, and the only sound in the office was the rustling of pen tips on paper.
After an unknown amount of time, the office door was pushed open from the outside.
A middle-aged man in military uniform came in and laughed heartily before he could say anything.
"Haha, I heard that the great writer Lin Weimin is here. Xiaomo, why didn't you tell the camp?"
Mo Yan, who was immersed in the creative atmosphere, was interrupted. When he saw the middle-aged man stand up and was about to speak, he heard Lin Weimin, who was sitting, say: "Comrade, Xiao Mo is working on his creation, please don't disturb him."
The middle-aged man walked in with full momentum, but he didn't expect to be directly retorted by Lin Weimin.
When Lin Weimin entered the military gate, he showed his ID and letter of introduction, and explained his purpose to the sentry. The sentry on duty had naturally heard of his name.
After handing over the post, I immediately ran to the company headquarters to report. When the company headquarters saw that such a great writer had arrived, they had to notify the leadership!
When the camp leaders heard the news, their first reaction was to report it higher up.
But I thought that it would take a while for the leader to arrive, so I went to find Mo Yan first after making the call. I couldn't leave him alone.
The middle-aged man didn't expect to be given a show of power by Lin Weimin as soon as he entered the door. He didn't know how to express his attitude, and at this time Lin Weimin stood up.
"Xiao Mo, you write first. I'll go out and chat with your leader."
Mo Yan nodded, sat down and continued to concentrate on writing.
The middle-aged man had the stairs, so he and Lin Weimin walked out of the office.
Lin Weimin smiled apologetically, "Comrade, I'm really sorry for what I said just now. I was worried that Xiaomo's creative state would be disrupted."
The middle-aged man didn't take what happened just now to heart. "It doesn't matter. People in our army are used to being straightforward. I was too reckless just now. I didn't even knock on the door."
The two chatted for a while, and Lin Weimin learned that the middle-aged man's surname was Guan, and he was the commander of Mo Yan's battalion.
Guan also knew the purpose of Lin Weimin's visit and said with emotion: "It seems that we made the right decision to keep Xiaomo here. Since your Contemporary Magazine actively asked for his manuscripts, Xiaomo will surely become a great writer like you, Writer Lin."
"Don't say that. Being a writer is just an ordinary job, just like you are a soldier."
After praising each other for a while, Lin Weimin was invited to sit in Officer Guan's office for a while.
The door of the room was pushed open again, and there was still a burst of hearty and thunderous laughter.
"Haha, you must be Mr. Lin Weimin, right? I've heard a lot about you!"
The old man with gray hair came in and went straight to Lin Weimin. He shook his hand enthusiastically, squeezing it so hard that Lin Weimin's palm hurt.
This style is really consistent!
Our country abolished the military rank system in 1965 and did not restore it until 1988. Nowadays, you cannot tell the rank of a military officer by looking at the epaulettes, but the old man was wearing an officer's uniform with four pockets, so his status must be high.
"Hello, Chief!"
Commander Guan stood up and saluted, then introduced Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin, this is our division commander."
Lin Weimin was very surprised. Did he even alarm the commander by coming here?
After the introduction and we started chatting, I found out that this division commander was not only a loyal fan of Lin Weimin's spy novels, but also had seen the performance of "The Intouchables" in Yanjing.
Yanqing is so close to Yanjing, it is not surprising that the commander has seen this drama.
"Teacher Lin's novels are well written, and they are very exciting! He also writes good plays. A few years ago, I applied to go to the front line, but was rejected by the higher-ups. Qin Yun writes well!"
The teacher was excited for a long time, but unfortunately his vocabulary was limited and the most he said was "well written".
Looks like a real fan.
It was almost noon, and the commander invited Lin Weimin to have lunch. Lin Weimin declined but had to have the meal and also called Mo Yan to come along.
The luncheon banquet was very sumptuous. Mo Yan was a little excited. His leader, his leader's leader, his leader's leader's leader... were all there.
For a moment, Mo Yan felt that he should really stay in the army until he died.
But he immediately came to his senses and realized that all these courtesies were not for him, but for Teacher Lin.
Teacher Lin is the role model he should learn from.
Because of the prohibition law, no alcohol was allowed at the luncheon.
After the meal, Lin Weimin asked the commander to ask for a few days off for Mo Yan, and the commander readily agreed.
In this way, Mo Yan got a rare vacation since he joined the army, and he could even go out alone at night.
Knowing that Mo Yan was still living in a dormitory with others, Lin Weimin specially booked a room for him in the guesthouse so that he could concentrate on his creation.
"Just focus on writing here for the next two days and don't worry about anything else." Lin Weimin reminded.
Teacher Lin’s version of the Little Black Room is online again, and Mo Yan is happy to accept it, even with a heart full of gratitude.
Teacher Lin is so thoughtful!
After dinner, Mo Yan wrote in his room for two hours and then knocked on Lin Weimin's door.
"Teacher Lin, I have a question. I would like to ask you something."
Lin Weimin put down the book in his hand, looked at what Mo Yan had written that day, and patiently analyzed the problems to Mo Yan.
One was talking and the other was listening, and they unknowingly forgot about time.
By the time the two came to their senses, it was already late at night.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I have forgotten the time. You should also go to bed early."
Mo Yan listened to Lin Weimin for a long time. There were not many opportunities to listen to a popular writer personally impart his writing experience and insights, and he didn't want it to end like this.
"Teacher Lin, please tell me more."
Lin Weimin looked at Mo Yan's eager expression and said reluctantly: "Okay, let's talk for a while."
Many years later, Mo Yan will never forget this night.
That night, Teacher Lin taught me how to write step by step.
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(End of this chapter)
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