Writing Web Novels In America

Chapter 1: The Chinese Kid in the Bronx

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bang! The loud slamming of a door resounded, jolting Wang Jian awake from his deep sleep.

He glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was 7:40.

He sighed and slowly put on his clothes before walking into the bathroom.

He was silent as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, studying his appearance which looked completely unfamiliar to him.

This 180 centimeter tall, well-proportioned and youthful body seemed to be the only perk of interdimensional travel at the moment.

A month ago, he was still working a triple-shift pipeline job in China. However, when he woke up, he had arrived in New York City in the year 1995, as a 17-year-old Chinese teenager named Wang Jian.

As he searched through the memories of his host body, he couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.

Abandoned by his parents at a young age, he was thrown around several foster homes.

Furthermore, due to a few factors such as his personality and the environment that he was brought up in, he was never able to properly integrate into society. And not too long ago, he was sentenced to 50 days of community service for theft.

During his time in community service, he met his current roommate, Al, a Black kid who had been apparently following some unknown hip-hop artist around the Bronx.

How could he take on the identity of a criminal when he had never even been to a police station in his past life?

And how did he end up in the States?

In his past life, he never paid attention to money-making opportunities in the States.

“Hey, Wang, here’s the address of that new restaurant. You should check it out.” A skinny Black man with dreadlocks poked his head out and said to Wang Jian, “Just tell them Al sent you.”

“Thanks,” said Wang Jian, fist bumping Al, “You’ve been on time, coming back at seven-thirty every morning.”

“Can’t help it, the big guy I’m following is about to debut,” Al said, “Now he’s hitting up a bunch of nightclubs to build up his fan base and make connections.”

“Okay, I’m going to bed. Still have to go out tonight.” Al said waving, before walking towards his bedroom with a yawn.

Wang Jian looked at the note and turned it around in his hand gently.

Being Chinese in a mainly Black and Latino ghetto made him have to pull some strings to get a measly job as a waiter.

If it weren’t for the fact that his past parents would still be middle school students in this timeline, he would have wanted to sneak back into his previous life.

Wang Jian pondered over the thought as he walked into the living room.

After hastily snarfing down two slices of bread, he threw on his jacket and walked out of his gloomy apartment.

The April weather in New York was still a bit chilly.

In a vacant lot not far off, some drunkards were drinking booze as they sat on concrete pipes. Last night’s leftover booze, or perhaps booze they had bought today.

A few of the homeless were scattered around in small alleyways. They consisted of drug addicts, people with failed marriages, and people who had failed businesses and investments.

They were men mostly, but there were a few women too.

Even the gangsters in the ghetto wouldn’t make an effort to rob them, they mostly robbed each other…

Around the curb, there were a couple of Cadillac SUVs. He could hear the sound of a kingpin shouting from one of them inside.

They were the slumlords, the real kingpins.

They were enjoying one of their favourite pastimes, cocaine and gangster rap, as they waited for business.

Wang Jian sped up, wanting to get as far away from those people as possible. He was mentally assessing how long he had before he would finish his community service so he could get away from this place.

Soon, he arrived at a restaurant.

Wang Jian carefully checked the address. He took a deep breath before he pushed the restaurant door open and walked in.

“You are?” An old White man asked.

“I was sent by Al. I’m looking to apply for the waiter position.” Wang Jian said quickly.

“Oh, Al sent you.” The old man looked a little embarrassed, “I thought he’d send me a Black guy so we could connect with the customers more.”

‘A Black guy?

‘To connect with the customers?’

Wang Jian was an optimist so he asked with a hint of hope, “A Chinese guy can help you guys connect with the customers too, no?”

“Most of the Chinese have gone to Chinatown, the other few have gone to Manhattan. How many of them actually stay in the Bronx?” The boss sneered at him.

As he said that, he pulled three twenties out and handed them to Wang Jian, saying, “Sorry.”

Wang Jian didn’t want to take the money, but then he thought, ‘Why not?’

‘After all, I was rejected because of the color of my skin, not because of my work experience.’

All he had to do was record his words, take him to court, sue for racial discrimination and win.

It was perfectly reasonable to accept such compensation.

So he took the money, and without saying anything more, he turned around and left.

On the way back, he began to do some calculations in his head.

There was no way he could leave the Bronx until he completed his community service.

50 days of community service would mean he would be here for two months.

With the apartment rent at $500 a month and various living expenses cut to the bone would be about $300. So he would need at least $1,600 for the entire community service duration.

He had $2,100 in savings. He would use most of his savings just to survive the entire community service period. So when his community service is finally over and done with, would he only be left with $500?

Would he not be able to fulfil his dream of going to college?

He couldn’t even afford to go to the cheapest community college without spending thousands of dollars in tuition.

In the future, would he only be able to work as a waiter or courier or some kind of job along those lines?

Wang Jian’s thoughts clouded his mind as he walked back to his apartment.

Sitting on the sofa, he thought of ways he could make a quick buck. Of course, excluding things that broke the law.

After pondering for an eternity, he still hadn’t come up with any ideas. Wang Jian sighed helplessly.

‘As expected, I was a poor man in my past life. Do I have to be a poor man in this life too?

‘With these systemic challenges in place, I’m really stuck, I seriously need to think about this.’

He scratched his head vigorously and decided to take a break. He would figure it out later.

So, he picked up the manga that Al had put on the table. He heard that this comic was quite popular as of late.

Wang Jian took a glance at the name of the comic.

“Aquaman”?

As he flipped through the first page, he found that the artwork wasn’t too bad. He continued reading the rest of the comic.

The comic was about a kid named Arthur Curry, a boy with Atlantean blood, who had various superpowers. His most potent superpowers were all water-related. He used them to fight pirates, whalers and other villains who were armed with state of the art weapons, protecting the world.

Wang Jian finished it in only ten minutes and remained silent.

This comic did not explain the origins of the protagonist and his superpowers as it would in hard science fiction, nor did the protagonist have extraordinary superpowers and the fighting scenes of a Hollywood blockbuster.

It was not the kind of plot that Wang Jian expected, where the protagonist would blend into the crowd because no one knew about his secret superpowers, silently pretending to be just another regular human being.

This comic was all about a protagonist who just declares that he’s there to protect them, to protect the entire world. Then, all the humans from across the globe join forces with the protagonist to exterminate the villain. And just like that, the story ends.

That’s it?

This is what it took to be famous nowadays?

Wang Jian couldn’t help but think of the web novels he used to read in his past life.

Although his mind couldn’t remember the specific plots of those web novels, he still knew the general narrative structure of the stories.

Generally, the first chapter would be about a strange encounter.

It was unimportant to explain the origin of the encounter or the reason behind it. What made the story interesting was the entire process of the protagonist painstakingly trying to conceal his identity.

All sorts of scenes could follow the exposition; maybe a fiancée calling off a wedding, or the protagonist becoming a son-in-law, or the protagonist suddenly finding out his daughter lived in a doghouse.

Then, the protagonist would snap, go on a rampage and launch his counter attack.

The story would then unravel the details of how he would reveal his identity to the world and a series of revenge scenes would occur. He would find retribution from those who humiliated and criticised him, regardless of who they were.

That’s how an exciting story should be portrayed.

As these thoughts clouded his mind, several rows of long bookshelves suddenly appeared in Wang Jian’s mind.

At the bottom of the first shelf, a book slowly took shape.

As his eyes focused, he realized it was an incredibly thick book with a yellow cover.

Wang Jian picked up the book in his mind and saw that there were several large words written on the cover.

“I’m a Grand Master”?