Chapter 380: Colleagues Cursing
Wang Shuo felt that Lin Weimin was scolding him, and he had solid evidence. Unfortunately, he didn't dare to do anything to Lin Weimin, after all, he was still waiting for Lin Weimin to pay him the manuscript fee.
Little did people know that Lin Weimin's evaluation came from the heart.
When people in later generations mention Wang Shuo, the first two words that come to mind of all literature lovers are probably "ruffian literature".
Wang Shuo's early novels, such as "Stewardess", "Floating Out of the Sea" and "Half Sea, Half Flame", all achieved very good results after publication, making him famous in the domestic literary world.
But what really made Wang Shuo widely known and became a popular literary phenomenon is the novella he sent today - "The Troublemakers".
"The Troublemakers" tells the story of three unemployed young men, Yu Guan, Ma Qing and Yang Chong, who opened a "Three T" company with the mission of "solving people's worries, solving people's problems and taking the blame for people", and a series of absurd, ironic and sad stories that happened during the operation of the company.
From the original style that focused on the love between urban men and women to the black humor of "The Troublemakers", Wang Shuo completed a stylistic transformation. At the same time, it also represents to some extent that after entering the mid-1980s, literature was gradually letting go of its heavy social utilitarian purposes and turning to a sharp personal style.
Wang Shuo's writing career has since become unstoppable, with works such as "The Troublemakers", "The Fierce Animals", "Playing with Heartbeats", and "Die After Having Fun"...
Each of his works became a hit, and the film and television adaptations of his works further promoted the popularity and influence of these works and himself.
From the mid-to-late 1980s to the 1990s, Wang Shuo's name became synonymous with "ruffian literature."
No matter what the mainstream literary world says about him, he is popular.
"Look at this royalties..." Wang Shuo's face was full of smiles.
Lin Weimin said, "Are you crazy because of poverty? You want royalties just after the manuscript was delivered?"
"Isn't it that money is tight recently?"
"I really don't know where all your royalties went?"
Lin Weimin took out his wallet from his pocket and said, "After reviewing the manuscript, I'll ask the finance department to issue you a bill for the manuscript fee as soon as possible. You can spend the money first!"
Wang Shuo took the money skillfully, without any hesitation, as if he had practiced it thousands of times.
"If not, it has to be you..."
After getting the money, Wang Shuo uttered a few nice words.
"Let's go and have something to eat together!" Wang Shuo called Lin Weimin.
"Eat shit!" Lin Weimin cursed, "Can't you save money a little?"
"Money is a bastard!" Wang Shuo spat as he counted the money and said, "If you don't want to eat, then I can leave, right? Don't regret it!"
“Get out of here!”
Wang Shuo left the editorial office happily with the money.
Although both of them spend money lavishly, his style is somewhat different from Lu Yao's.
Lu Yao spends mainly on food, and is still a little short of spending on other things.
Wang Shuo's way of spending money is much more casual. He spends whatever he wants. No matter whether the money is worth it or not, he just enjoys it.
Time flies and it is April. A big event happens in the domestic literary world: Wang Meng was promoted to a very high position, which caught everyone off guard.
This incident directly topped the "Guowenshe Hot Search List" and continued to dominate the list for several days.
The fourth issue of "Contemporary" this year was also on the market at the beginning of the month. After the first three issues of the monthly magazine, both the editorial colleagues and the readers of "Contemporary" have adapted to the new changes and rhythm.
The sales volume of "Contemporary" also did not show any obvious decline, which meant that the sales volume and benefits doubled directly.
The leaders of the Guowen Society were all grinning from ear to ear and kept praising Lin Weimin for doing a great thing.
You should know that before the revision of "Contemporary", the sales of each issue were stable at 1.2 to 1.3 million copies. Occasionally, if an issue had a greater influence, the sales would jump to more than 1.5 million copies, or even reach 2 million copies.
Now that it has been changed to a monthly magazine, the annual printing and sales volume has doubled. The price of each issue of "Contemporary" is 1 yuan, which is equivalent to an increase of 7 to 8 million yuan in annual sales.
Seven or eight million RMB in 1986 was a huge sum for any domestic company.
The direct benefit of this incident is that the standard of royalties for Contemporary magazine has been raised again.
Wang Shuo came to the editorial department today to get his manuscript fee slip. He was shocked when he saw the payment standard of 15 yuan per thousand words on the slip.
Is my status so high now?
"It's not that high. We gave He Yunlu's "New Star" 20 yuan per thousand words." Lin Weimin said.
Wang Shuo was even more surprised when he heard this. "Twenty yuan for a thousand words? You are going to offend all your colleagues!"
As Wang Shuo said, the remuneration standard of Guowen Publishing House has always been the best in the country. Now "Contemporary" has raised this standard again, which is unique in the country. It is normal for colleagues to have opinions.
His words reminded Lin Weimin of the last time he went to a meeting at the Press and Publication Administration, when "Contemporary" was criticized as a negative example.
The country's standards for remuneration for authors are clearly stipulated. In the past, many publishing houses or editorial departments would generally raise the remuneration standards for some famous authors in order to get their manuscripts, but this situation was not common, and everyone just turned a blind eye.
But the approach of Contemporary Magazine is a bit like eating out and smashing the pot. They not only raise the remuneration standards for famous writers, but also for newcomers.
Now, even if it is a newcomer who publishes a work in "Contemporary" for the first time, the minimum remuneration standard is 8 yuan per thousand words, which is much higher than other publications.
Recalling the end of the previous year, the government issued a document requiring publications to be self-sufficient, which caused wailing in the domestic journal industry.
If two years pass, there will be publications going bankrupt almost every month in the country.
Times are hard, and everyone is tightening their belts to live a hard life.
Only this "Contemporary" magazine, this "Contemporary" magazine, had nothing to do with human affairs, it actually raised prices against the trend.
Isn't this going to pull the pants off our colleagues?
There were too many people complaining, and it was difficult for the higher authorities to deal with it. Regulations are regulations, and they are not against the law, but what Contemporary Magazine did was not fair after all.
The only option was to use the editor-in-chief Lin Weimin as an example to scare the monkeys at the conference. After the meeting, Director Bian Chunguang called Lin Weimin to his office again.
On the one hand, it was to appease Lin Weimin, and on the other hand, it was also to understand the people's sentiments.
During the meeting, Teacher Lin was criticized for acting like a grandson. He had to give his leader face and let his colleagues vent their anger, right?
When he got to the office, he started complaining.
"Leader, you have to understand us!"
"You don't know, ever since we changed the edition of Contemporary, the demand for manuscripts has increased exponentially!
Is it okay if I don't pay a little more for my work? Who will contribute to our work?
Besides, prices are rising so fast now! In the past, when only the prices of tobacco and alcohol rose, we ordinary people didn't feel anything.
But in the past two years, the prices of needles, thread, clothing and general merchandise have all increased. Only the royalties have not increased. Not only that, some publications have even decreased. The authors can’t stand it!
Our Contemporary magazine has good sales and benefits. The reason why we raised the manuscript fee is to increase the enthusiasm of our authors to submit manuscripts. After all, manuscripts are the foundation of our publication! "
Bian Chunguang felt helpless after hearing this. This was indeed a difficult and contradictory problem.
"You guys should keep a low profile and stop causing trouble, so that I don't have to call your names every time we have a meeting," Bian Chunguang said finally.
"Yes, yes, you are right, leader. We will pay attention to it in the future and never cause trouble for you!"
Let’s not talk about anything else, just look at Teacher Lin’s attitude. Can you find any fault with it?
I admit all my mistakes, but it’s impossible for me to change them!
The full text of "The Troublemakers" is 45,000 words, and Wang Shuo received a one-time royalty of 675 yuan. He immediately felt the benefit of the increase in royalties. Before that, he published "Air Hostess", which had a similar number of words as "The Troublemakers", but the royalty was more than half lower.
He first went to the post office to collect his royalties, and then came back to pay off the money he owed Lin Weimin. Wang Shuo counted the money in his hand and found that he had 150 yuan left.
He smacked his lips and felt that something tasted wrong.
"Damn it! Why do I feel like I'm working for you for nothing?"
Lin Weimin took the money and said, "Why didn't you say you worked for free when you spent the money? You are such a heartless person! You are paying back your debts. It's only natural. Do you understand?"
After exchanging a few "friendly greetings", Wang Shuo left the editorial office.
After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin had a quick meal and went to the People's Art Theatre.
"Teacher Lin!" Mu Sen arrived at the rehearsal room early and greeted Lin Weimin politely when he saw him.
At the People's Art Theatre, any play that bears Lin Weimin's name is a little special.
The special thing is that the rehearsal time for these plays is mostly in the afternoon and evening. Mu Sen only found out about this after he came to the National Theatre.
It is understandable if you think about it. Teacher Lin is the editor-in-chief of "Contemporary" and is so busy at work. It is a rare opportunity for him to participate in the rough rehearsal and revision of the script.
Sitting next to the director's seat, Mu Sen habitually observed Lin Weimin's expression. This was a habit he had developed over time.
When watching actors' performances, Mr. Lin's expression is usually very serious. Director Lin Zhaohua is in charge of whether the actors' performances are good or not, and he rarely makes any comments.
But once he felt that there was a sense of inconsistency between the lines and the plot, or something was unsatisfactory, he would frown, then lower his head and write down the details in his notebook.
Then after the actors have finished their performance, I will communicate and organize the work with the director and actors.
Every question raised by Teacher Lin is to the point, and the effect after the modification is even more outstanding.
Now, the rough rehearsal of "The Ming Dynasty 1566: Jiajing and Hai Rui" has been going on for a month, and the revision of the script is also coming to an end.
Sometimes Mu Sen couldn't help but flip through the script, and the dense annotations on it all showed signs of changes.
He used to be a director at Yanshi University, explaining plays and revising scripts to everyone, and he thought he had some experience. But when he looked through the changes in these scripts, he realized how far he was from becoming a truly excellent screenwriter, and he admired Teacher Lin's ability and vision in drama creation even more.
After the rehearsal, it was already nine o'clock in the evening.
Lin Weimin and Mu Sen walked out of the rehearsal room together, chatting as they walked.
Mu Sen mentioned that the National Theatre of China had just paid him the royalties for "Jiajing and Hai Rui" two days ago, which was a stable 300 yuan as always.
Although the standard of payment for articles was so low, Mu Sen could not suppress his joy when talking about it.
He hadn't graduated yet and had never even received a salary, so naturally he felt that 300 yuan in royalties was a lot.
"Teacher Lin, when are you free? I would like to treat you to a meal!"
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "No need to treat us. Let's wait for the performance and call everyone from the crew to come and have fun together!"
Mu Sen felt a little regretful and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you!"
(End of this chapter)
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