Chapter 65 Invitation from the Radio Station
It is not new to publish lyrics as poems. Bob Dylan even won the Nobel Prize. Moreover, the lyrics of "Where the Poinciana Blossoms Bloom" are indeed well-written and fully meet the standards for publication. They can also help promote the next issue of the magazine. Why wouldn't the editor-in-chief do it?
The royalties for poetry are not calculated based on the number of words, otherwise all poets in the country would starve to death.
Ten lines count as one thousand words, and anything less than one thousand words counts as one thousand words. So, in Gu Cheng's poem "A Generation": The night gave me black eyes, but I use them to look for light; twenty-three words can get the remuneration for one thousand words. From this point of view, the cost-effectiveness is extremely high.
The full text of "The Crossroad Where the Phoenix Flowers Bloom" has a total of twenty-three lines, which is 3,000 words. According to the standard of 18 yuan per thousand words, Gao Jialin received 54 yuan, which is equivalent to a worker's entire month's salary.
When receiving his royalties, Gao Jialin felt a little regretful. If he had known this earlier, he would have split the original line of lyrics such as "the ups and downs of growing up, the moments of sharing", "sometimes happy, sometimes lonely" into two lines. This way, he might have been able to get an extra 18 yuan in royalties.
I guess Gu Long also got paid by the number of lines, otherwise who would write such lines?
“You’re here.”
"Yes, I am here."
"You shouldn't have come!"
"But I'm already here!"
Such words appear endlessly in Gu Long's novels. Just a few words can get a whole line of royalties. The three words "cost-effectiveness" really make him play with them in a variety of ways.
It was said to be the third day, but the next day Niu Xinliang called Gao Jialin and said that the revision opinions had come out and asked him to take leave from school and go to Julu Road to revise the manuscript.
Gao Jialin hurried to Zhang Changqing to ask for leave. When Zhang Changqing heard that he needed to revise the manuscript, he approved it without saying a word and said that it would take as long as necessary, so he could revise the manuscript on Julu Road without worry.
When they arrived at Julu Road, the house where he had revised the manuscript last time was empty, so Gao Jialin moved back in. For the next ten days or so, Gao Jialin lived a very carefree life. He would have breakfast first when he woke up in the morning, take a walk to digest the food, and then come back to start revising the manuscript.
We stopped changing the schedule at noon and called Niu Xinliang to have a good meal. Then we rode his bicycle around the city, using his newly bought camera to take pictures of any interesting scenes. Years later, these would be precious materials for recalling the 1980s.
When it was almost time to get off work, he would come back and call Xie Chao. If there was a suitable house available, they would go to see it first and then have dinner together. After having a few meals together, Xie Chao became more passionate about his work and even went to housing exchanges in other districts to help Gao Jialin find villas.
Ten days later, Niu Xinliang's belly was noticeably bigger, and Gao Jialin's manuscript was finally revised. It was quickly reviewed and approved, and the editorial department decided to publish it in the next issue of the magazine.
This time, Gao Jialin wrote 128,765 words and received 2,340 yuan in royalties.
When the editor-in-chief told him the good news, he also talked about the lyrics. "This issue of the magazine has only been published for a few days, and we have received many letters from readers. They like the lyrics of "The Crossroads of Magnolia Flowers" very much, and they also asked how to sing it since it is the lyrics.
"Even the city radio station called me and said that this song is especially suitable for graduation season. They plan to give this song to all graduates in Shanghai during graduation, so they want me to ask you if you can provide them with a tape?"
"I've only written the lyrics, I haven't composed the music yet!" Gao Jialin was a little embarrassed. He had made rapid progress in learning guitar with Ma Chuanjie and could now play and sing by himself. However, composing music involves a lot of things, which he doesn't know yet.
"Do you have an idea of the general melody? If so, I can introduce you to a few composers." The editor-in-chief is a cultural person, so he naturally knows a lot of people in the cultural circle, so it is easy for him to find a few composers.
"Yes, I can hum the general idea, but I'll have to ask them for help with composing and arranging the music!"
"Okay, I'll call and see who's interested, and then set a time for you to meet and chat."
After making several phone calls, he finally found a teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. After hearing the lyrics, she was very interested and immediately invited Gao Jialin to discuss it.
No. 675 Julu Road is only a little over one kilometer away from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Ten minutes later, Gao Jialin appeared in teacher Liang Wanting's office with the lyrics.
Liang Wanting was quite interested in the lyrics when she heard them on the phone just now, so after sitting down and chatting for a while, she asked Gao Jialin to hum it once. After listening, she commented, "The singing technique is very rough, but I basically understand the general melody."
She didn't find it strange, because the teachers at the Conservatory of Music often went out to collect folk songs. During the collection, she had seen many folk artists who could compose and sing songs without knowing musical notation.
"Come on, follow me to the piano room, and then I'll sing for you. If there's anything wrong, just point it out." Liang Wanting took the music score that she had just recorded and took Gao Jialin out.
When she arrived at the piano room, she tested the pitch first, and then began to play and sing. Every time Gao Jialin pointed out a mistake, she would patiently try each note one by one until she found the most suitable tune.
After working for an afternoon, the main melody of the song was basically finished. It still needed to be refined and modified, which would take time, so Liang Wanting asked Gao Jialin to come back at this time next week.
After going there several times, the song was finally completed. Liang Wanting also arranged the music and found several students to play musical instruments to help Gao Jialin record a formal tape.
Gao Jialin took the tape to Shanghai Radio Station, thinking that he would just hand it over to them, but the head of the radio station told him something else. "Gao Jialin, your work "Young Friends Come to Meet" is very popular with readers, so we want to adapt it into a radio drama and broadcast it during the graduation season. What do you think?"
Hey, IP is developed so soon?
Gao Jialin was secretly delighted when he heard this. If the radio station wanted to develop IP, would it have to pay me for the adaptation? However, he was just a student, and he was also a student who was going to work in the government after graduation. It would be easy to leave a bad impression if he talked about money directly with the radio station, so Gao Jialin did not agree immediately.
"I'm of course happy that you're willing to adapt my work into a radio drama, but 'Mengya' is also planning to publish the two parts together as a book. If you broadcast the latter part before the book starts selling, I don't know if it will affect the sales of the book, so I have to ask 'Mengya' for their opinion first!"
Since Gao Jialin himself is not in a position to negotiate, then he lets Mengya step in. He is very familiar with Niu Xinliang, so he can ask Niu Xinliang to help him get the money.
(End of this chapter)
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