Chapter 237 When can I reach the level of Teacher Lin?
After dinner, Lin Weimin was planning to leave after chatting with Mr. Wan for a few minutes, but as luck would have it, the old man asked him what he was writing recently.
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment, but still said, "I'm currently writing a novel on avant-garde literature."
Mr. Wan was stunned for a moment, then asked, "What about your romance novel?"
Lin Weimin argued, "I have no inspiration, so I'll put it aside for now."
With Mr. Wan's understanding of Lin Weimin, how could he not see the hidden thoughts behind his expression? He warned: "If you don't have any inspiration, it's okay to put it aside, but you can't let other things delay your creation."
Lin Weimin nodded in agreement.
Mr. Wan asked, "You spent so much time promoting a group of authors and created this so-called 'avant-garde literature', just to increase the influence of your Contemporary, right?"
Mr. Wan's words touched upon Lin Weimin's pride. "Teacher, the influence of our Contemporary magazine among young people is definitely greater than that of Harvest."
Mr. Wan warned again: "The influence and authority of a publication are built up over time, but it may only take one issue to destroy it. Don't just pursue influence and authority, but bring good works and influence to readers. If you do this for a long time and continuously, you will naturally have everything."
There are two types of doing things: regular and unusual. Lin Weimin's previous efforts were unusual, and they could bring him temporary fame, but a person cannot always use unusual tricks to conquer the world throughout his life. There are not so many unusual tricks for you to use. If you use them too much, they often become opportunism.
What Mr. Wan said is the positive, after you have used up the strange methods, you have to take the upright and correct path to keep the results you got by using the strange methods.
Lin Weimin understood what Mr. Wan said, and the smugness on his face disappeared. He said seriously, "Thank you for your teachings, teacher. I have remembered them all and will correct them in the future."
"Yeah." Mr. Wan nodded.
Lin Weimin said goodbye and left Muxidi.
The next day, in the back building of the Guowen Society.
Lin Weimin went out to the water room to pour tea leaves, and when he came back he saw a familiar face in the editorial office.
"Teacher Lin!" Ma Dudu stood up and greeted.
"Madudu?"
Ma Dudu's eyes narrowed as she smiled, "Teacher Lin, you have a really good memory!"
"Haha, did you come to see me specially?" Lin Weimin asked, picking up the thermos on the table and making a cup of tea for Ma Dudu.
Ma Dudu leaned forward to take the teacup. After they sat down, he said, "Yes, I came to see you specially. I want to ask you for an article."
Lin Weimin paused for a moment as he picked up the cup of tea. "Ask for an article? That's not easy. I have a lot of unfinished articles on hand."
Ma Dudu seemed to have expected this and said, "Teacher Lin, I'm not here to ask you for a manuscript for my novel."
Lin Weimin looked at him unexpectedly, "That is..."
"I am currently working in the scriptwriting department of Youth Literature, as you know. Our publication is mainly aimed at young people. Recently, many readers have written to us wanting to know more about 'avant-garde literature' and what other literary works of this style are there.
You were the first to propose this concept, and I happen to know you, so I wanted to ask you to write an article to popularize it for readers who are interested in "avant-garde literature."
After listening to Ma Dudu's words, Lin Weimin fell silent. Of course, he hoped to do as much as possible to popularize avant-garde literature, but after Mr. Wan's reminder yesterday, he also realized that sometimes publicity alone was not enough.
The reputation of "avant-garde literature" is getting bigger and bigger, but there are not many decent works. If we want to truly make the majority of readers accept this type of literary works, we should produce more works.
Lin Weimin had actually realized this problem before, but Mr. Wan’s reminder made him feel more urgent.
He thought for a moment and felt that Ma Dudu's arrival was actually a good thing. He might as well publish the novel he was writing with a strong "avant-garde" flavor in "Youth Literature".
The level of "Youth Literature" is definitely not as good as "People's Literature", but it always uses its own propaganda platform, which inevitably gives people a feeling of talking to itself and entertaining itself.
Besides, "Youth Literature" is a magazine published by China Youth Publishing House. Its readers are largely young people, which highly overlaps with the audience of avant-garde literature.
Thinking of this, Lin Weimin asked Ma Dudu to wait for him for a while while he packed his briefcase.
"Come on, I'll treat you to dinner tonight and we'll talk about the commission."
Ma Dudu realized something when Lin Weimin packed his briefcase, but she still felt flattered when he said this.
"Teacher Lin, you..."
"Don't bother talking about yours. We can talk over dinner if we have anything to say."
Lin Weimin led Ma Dudu to Donglaishun.
"It would be most comfortable to eat some mutton hotpot while the weather is still warm," said Lin Weimin with a smile.
Ma Dudu squinted his eyes and complimented, "Teacher Lin, you really understand life."
"Don't be so polite all the time, be more casual." Lin Weimin's expression relaxed, and he took the initiative to talk about the manuscript, "I'm writing a novel..."
Ma Dudu's eyes lit up. Teacher Lin took the initiative to mention the novel he wrote at this time. Could it be...
"It has a bit of avant-garde literature flavor. Would you be willing to publish it in Youth Literature?"
Ma Dudu was delighted and said, "Of course I agree! Teacher Lin, so many publications across the country are vying for your work!"
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Don't be so quick to make promises. It won't be too late to go back and ask your editor-in-chief."
Lin Weimin's attitude made Ma Dudu a little confused. Is Teacher Lin willing to give the manuscript?
Seeing his expression, Lin Weimin just pointed out: "It's been so long since the first issue of Contemporary. Have you seen any major publications publish works with avant-garde literary style?"
Ma Dudu thought about what Lin Weimin said and was horrified, "Teacher Lin, this..."
"Just wait and see. Isn't this always the trend?"
Lin Weimin's words woke Ma Dudu up.
The first issue of "Contemporary" this year has been well received by readers since it was released in January. The avant-garde literature led by Ma Yuan's "The Temptation of Gangdise" has a sense of coming out of nowhere, and countless readers are discussing this article and the avant-garde literature behind it.
But the rise of avant-garde literature this time was indeed a bit strange. "Contemporary" sold well, and Teacher Lin also published an article in "Wenyi Bao" and privately went to Yenching University to promote it.
It’s not that publications in various places don’t publish avant-garde literary works, but it seems that no major publications have any.
Ma Dudu recalled that when "scar literature" first emerged a few years ago, the situation seemed to be similar to the current one.
Everyone is waiting for someone else to take the first shot, eager to try and ready to go, and then finally a brave warrior stands out and the trend becomes popular.
Ma Dudu was a little puzzled again and asked, "But your article was published in the Literary Gazette..."
"So what if the article has been published? Isn't it reasonable for the publication to wait a little for the sake of safety?"
Lin Weimin had a smile on his face. He now basically understood the psychology of many publications.
It is better to miss it than to make a mistake.
Avant-garde literature is a new thing that will not disappear in a short time. We can take this opportunity to see how many readers are willing to accept this style, or whether there is any pressure from other aspects.
With Lin Weimin's advice, Ma Dudu figured out the twists and turns involved and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
As a small person like me, I still have no idea about the real situation in the literary world. It’s all thanks to Teacher Lin’s advice.
Although he already knew the inside story, Ma Dudu still felt that the opportunity to get Teacher Lin's manuscript was not to be missed.
After all, this is Lin Weimin!
"Teacher Lin, please believe in our "Youth Literature". I will definitely put your manuscript in the best position in our magazine." Ma Dudu said earnestly.
He had already made up his mind that if the editor-in-chief really had doubts about publishing Teacher Lin's work, he would kneel down before the editor-in-chief to get the editor's approval. If the editor-in-chief did not even agree to this, then he would quit this job. He would never let Teacher Lin down.
Lin Weimin threatened Ma Dudu a few times, and seeing that he looked like he was facing a great enemy, he chuckled and said, "Don't be so nervous. I'm just reminding you that my work is not so unpopular that no one wants to publish it."
Ma Dudu felt that Lin Weimin's words were very domineering, but not annoying.
Because what he said was the truth, Ma Dudu agreed with it from the bottom of his heart.
Then, Lin Weimin talked to Ma Dudu in detail about the content of his work.
As Ma Dudu listened, he felt that his brain capacity was not enough.
After reluctantly listening to the story, Ma Dudu took a long time to react, then frowned and concluded, "So, this is a story about a criminal who disguised himself as a police officer, but because he lost his memory, he thought he was a real police officer, tracked himself down, and finally found out that he was the criminal?"
Lin Weimin nodded slightly. "That's right. What I just told you is roughly my writing technique and story outline. Basically, I use flashbacks and circular narrative techniques to create narrative traps."
Ma Dudu tried desperately to recall what Lin Weimin had told him, and slowly extracted the subtleties from it.
"In the beginning, he was an image of a righteous police officer who desperately pursued the murderer, but in the end he became a vicious criminal. Finally, he escaped. It was a wonderful irony that the butt determines the head." Ma Dudu was complacent with his analysis.
Lin Weimin shook his head and said, "I don't intend to tell readers Zou Zhengdao's final choice at this ending."
Ma Dudu frowned, and then he understood the intention of Lin Weimin's open ending. He thought of Lin Weimin's definition of "avant-garde literature" which was reprinted in Yan University's "Wenming Lake" that he had read before.
Teacher Lin is truly the first person to propose the concept of "avant-garde literature" and to promote avant-garde literature writers such as Ma Yuan and Yu Hua to the public.
This story, with its open ending, is simply a template for avant-garde literature.
Ma Dudu thought back to how Teacher Lin had handled the novel with such ease and how hard he had racked his brains to understand it, and he felt more and more in awe of him.
We are both editors and writers, so when will I be able to reach the level of Teacher Lin?
(End of this chapter)
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