Back to 80: My Literary Life

The National Excellent Novels and Short Stories Selection is sponsored by the Chinese Writers Association. The Excellent Short Stories are held once a year and have been held for three consecutive years since 1977. A large number of outstanding short stories have won awards.

For example, Liu Xinwu's "Head Teacher", Jiang Zilong's "Director Qiao's Account", Chen Zhongshi's "Trust" and Zhang Xianliang's "Spirit and Flesh" have all won this award.

The Excellent Novella Competition has been held for one session. Among the many national novellas from 1977 to 1980, 15 were selected and won the first, second and third prizes.

Five novels including Zhan Rong's "Middle Age" and Wang Meng's "Butterfly" won the first prize, among which Lu Yao's "Thrilling Scene" won the third prize.

Like the biennial national awards for outstanding novellas, it has become a major event in the domestic literary world. Due to the limited number of recommendations, each magazine is carefully prepared to recommend the best two to three novels they publish.

Seeing everyone talking, Editor Zhang quickly knocked on the table and said, "Be quiet, comrades, and listen to President Huang continue to speak!"

The conference room fell silent, and President Huang continued:

"In this session from 1977 to 1979, among the outstanding short stories, there were also works recommended by our "Yanhe". However, in 1980 and 1981, for two consecutive years, none of the novels recommended by our agency had won the award."

"The novella is not recommended by Yanhe! What does this mean? It means that we have fallen behind!"

After President Huang finished speaking, everyone started talking again, pointing the finger directly at the novel team. They all said that there was a problem with the quality of the novel team's selection of manuscripts, which resulted in not even one of the works winning the award.

Li Tianfang did not defend himself.

Although she was not the leader of the novel team before, she was still the editor of the novel team after all, which had something to do with her.

Bai Miao was young and energetic and couldn't help it. Anyway, he was just transferred this year and had no burden. He stood up and said loudly: "You can't blame our novel team completely, can you? Look at the quality of the submissions! No good writer can write good works Submission of works, what can we do?”

"I have long proposed to the editorial department to hold a novel essay contest, with first, second, and third prizes, as well as several excellence awards. As long as the bonuses are in place, I don't believe that the big writers will not be interested, but the agency said there is no money! Then we have any solution?!

President Huang was a little embarrassed when he heard this.

This proposal was rejected by him.

Because, there is really no money.

The end of the year is coming soon, and a lot of employee benefits have not been cashed out. Thinking about this makes my head hurt. How can I still have money to hold an essay contest?

Set up bonuses and invite big names in the literary world to serve as judges - only in this way can you be authoritative, but this all requires money.

Fang Minghua, who was sitting next to Bai Miao, couldn't help but shake his head slightly after hearing this.

No money?

Isn’t this easy? Go get some sponsorship.

There are a lot of well-known state-owned enterprises in Xijing.

Butterfly Watch Factory, Northwest Optical Instrument Factory, which produces Huashan brand cameras, Xijing Daily Chemical Co., Ltd., which produces Shandandan washing powder

Just find a company and write a XX Cup Novel Essay Contest. Isn’t it easy to make tens of thousands of dollars?

But Fang Minghua didn't dare to say that he would get hit by bricks if he was too forward.

However, this subtle movement was noticed by President Huang who was sitting at the leadership table, and he immediately named him? "Xiao Fang, what do you think?"

"I just came to the editorial department and I don't understand a lot. Now I just listen to everyone and learn by myself." Fang Minghua is very modest.

President Huang said nothing more.

But President Huang, who already knew him well, could tell from his subtle expression just now that this guy must have some idea!

I'm just embarrassed to say it in front of everyone.

Go down and ask.

The meeting lasted for more than an hour, but nothing came of it. At the end, Editor Zhang also made a concluding speech, asking everyone to work hard, stick to their posts, and strive to discover outstanding works of potential writers.

Correct bullshit.

After the meeting, Minghua returned to his office. Before he could sit still, his colleague informed him: "Xiao Fang, President Huang asked you to come to his office!"

Fang Minghua went to the second floor and knocked on President Huang's office. When the other party saw him coming in, he went straight to the point: "Xiao Fang, I just saw that you were hesitant to speak at the discussion meeting. Do you have any good ideas or suggestions that are not convenient at the meeting?" Say? Then let’s say it here.”

Fang Minghua didn't hesitate and told President Huang his thoughts.

He thinks President Huang is a good person. At least he won't slap you in a big way.

President Huang was stunned when he heard this.

"What? Sponsoring an essay contest? Advertising?"

After a while, he slowly said: "Xiao Fang, your method is good, but it is not suitable. Nowadays, people are arguing about advertising and sponsorship. Our "Yanhe" is a serious literature, how can it be compared with Tongxi?" Where’s the flavor hook?”

However, President Huang felt very embarrassed after he finished speaking.

You are obviously short of money, but you still have to act like you regard money as dirt!

"Maybe it will be OK in a few years, but it's not suitable now." President Huang expressed his conclusion and looked at Fang Minghua: "Xiao Fang, you are smart, see if there is any other way?"

Fang Minghua was not surprised at all by President Huang's attitude.

Everyone praises the courage of the first person to eat crabs.

But who knows how much pressure this person was under?

We are all mortals, so there is no need to criticize President Huang too much for being conservative.

"There is another way. We can publish a call for manuscripts in a newspaper, preferably the People's Daily, and welcome literature lovers to submit manuscripts to "Yanhe" with favorable royalties," said Fang Minghua.

President Huang's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"Well, this is a good idea! Spend a small amount of money to do big things! I will immediately contact the "People's Daily" reporter station in Qin and try to get it published in the newspaper as soon as possible!" President Huang was very excited.

This is actually advertising in disguise.

But President Huang doesn’t seem to care?

The magazine also acted very quickly. Four days later, a piece of news about the acceptance of the article was published in an inconspicuous corner of the literary section of the People's Daily.

It's not long, just a few lines of words, like a block of tofu.

Fang Minghua read the newspaper.

I wonder if the young man named Yu Hua in a small town in Zhejiang Province, thousands of miles away, saw it?

If you see it, please submit it to "Yanhe" as soon as possible. I guarantee that you will never come to Xijing to revise the manuscript. The article will be published immediately and it will not be bright from beginning to end!

You can come here to revise the manuscript. Why not come to Xijing for some fun? See the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, go to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, etc.

But what Fang Minghua didn't know was that Yu Hua, who was thousands of miles away, had never seen this "People's Daily"!

The only copy of "People's Daily" in the health center was still sleeping in the dean's office. He, a small dentist, was not qualified to see it.

At this time, Yu Hua was sitting at his desk, carefully revising a newly written short story "The First Dormitory".

Looking at the messy manuscript that had been revised, I couldn't help but sigh.

Not long ago, my submission to "Yenjing Literature" failed.

Forget it, lower your goal.

This time, he targeted "West Lake", a municipal magazine in the province.

As the saying goes, "Deliberately planting flowers will not bloom, but unintentionally planting willows will create shade." This notice for submissions published in the "People's Daily" did not let the dentist in the south who wanted to be a writer see it, but it attracted the attention of a female college student in Hubei Province. of attention.

Hubei Province, Wuhan University.

Thanks to Deadwood Little Crow, Shui Youhen, Porcelain Capital Xi Lao, Return of the Imperial Master, and jiamy1111 for their monthly votes.