After walking for a while, Yu Dong turned around and said to Liu Cixin with a smile, "Don't get me wrong, I saw you holding the magazine from 1991, and suddenly I remembered a lot of things from the past, so I wanted to call you down and have a chat without delaying you.
Time, right?”
Liu Cixin waved his hand and said: "No delay, I am here to attend the meeting."
Yu Dong nodded and looked at the magazine in his hand, "Why did you bring this magazine here?"
Liu Cixin explained, "Because it was in this magazine that I first read your novel. I like your novel very much. You control the rhythm of the story very well, which is difficult for ordinary authors to do."
Yeah. I sometimes write, but I always feel unsatisfied when I write it."
"Do you usually write novels? Is it science fiction?" Yu Dong raised his eyebrows and asked.
In fact, Yu Dong asked knowingly, but it was impossible for Liu Cixin to know the inside story. He nodded and responded, "Yes, they are all science fiction novels. I always feel that there are many things in my mind, but when I write them, I am not satisfied. Before I saw your novel,
I tried to write it, but in the end it was not published.”
"You think it can be better, so you want to wait until you are satisfied with the changes before publishing?"
"It's not just for this reason. In fact, I sent the novel to President Yang Xiao for reading, but then nothing happened."
Yu Dong looked at Liu Cixin with some surprise, because he didn't know about this, "Hearing what you said, I really want to read the novel you wrote."
"I brought it."
Liu Cixin blurted out, and then regretted it. Yu Dong probably just said it casually, and what he said made the other party unable to get off the stage. But if he said it, it would be difficult to take it back.
But what Liu Cixin never expected was that Yu Dong smiled and said, "Can I take a look?"
"I'll leave it in the hotel..."
"I live in Room 112. If you want, you can come find me at 8:30."
Liu Cixin nodded, "Okay."
…
It was the first time I met Liu Cixin, and it was not good to be too proactive. Yu Dong chatted with him for a few words and then left to go find Hu Changqing and the others.
As in previous years, there was a celebration party in the evening.
Halfway through the meal, Yang Xiao came over to Yu Dong with a wine glass.
"Are you going to stay in Chengdu for a little longer this time?"
Yu Dong shook his head with some regret, "The plan couldn't keep up with the change. I have something to do and I have to go to Gansu Province."
"What are you going there for?" Yang Xiao asked in surprise.
"Isn't this the China Art Festival about to start? My fiancée is helping there. I'll go take a look."
"Fiancée, I heard Jimmy say this. Is it such an unlucky thing? You will definitely let me meet my siblings next time I have a chance. I want to see what kind of girl can catch your eye as a great writer."
Yu Dong waved his hand, "Just kidding, what kind of discernment do I have? Speaking of which, Sister Xiao, you have met her before."
"I have seen..." Yang Xiao frowned and thought about it, then raised his eyebrows, "I really thought of such a person. When you first came to participate in the Galaxy Awards that year, we met in the hotel lobby.
A girl, it can’t be her, right?”
Yu Dong praised: "Sister Xiao, you have a really good memory."
Yang Xiao said with a smile: "It's not that I have a good memory, she is such a beautiful girl, it is easy for others to remember her, and she also has the same name as a Peking Opera star. I thought something was wrong with you two at the time, but I didn't expect that two years later, she
I have become your fiancée. When you get married, remember to send me an invitation and I will go to your wedding."
"It should be next year. The specific date has not been determined yet. I will definitely invite you then. Don't worry about that."
"That's good. Since I have to go to accompany my fiancée, I won't keep you here. Come, let's have a drink and wish you good luck with your new book."
"Okay." Yu Dong picked up the cup and clinked it with Yang Xiao.
After drinking, Yu Dong took the opportunity to ask Yang Xiao: "Sister Xiao, I want to ask you something, have you heard of Liu Cixin?"
"Liu Cixin." Yang Xiao patted his head, "Remember, he sent me a novel before. The manuscript was in my hands for a year, but in the end it was not published by him. Do you know him?"
"I met him today and heard him talk about submitting articles to you, so I asked."
Yang Xiao nodded, "He's here too. In fact, it's a pity that his manuscript is good, but it's too politically charged, and his writing skills are a little immature. I helped him contact several publishers.
In the end, no one was willing to publish it."
"Well, I understand."
"Okay, I won't tell you anymore. I'll go talk to other people. You can eat, drink and have fun."
After Yang Xiao left, Yu Dong stopped drinking. People who were familiar with him knew that he didn't drink much, so they didn't dissuade him. People who weren't familiar with him didn't dare to dissuade him. They came over with a cup, and Yu Dong responded with juice, and they didn't have any objection.
.
Although Yu Dong is young, few people here can force him to drink.
When the banquet ended, it was already early eight o'clock. Yu Dong returned to the room first and saw a person standing at the door from a distance. It was undoubtedly Liu Cixin.
When he arrived, Yu Dong looked at his watch, "We made an appointment at half past eight, and it's only early eight o'clock. You came so early, and you're not afraid that I'll be back late. Why are you waiting?"
Liu Cixin smiled and said, "I'm fine anyway."
Yu Dong nodded without saying anything. He opened the door and asked Liu Cixin to go in. "Come in and sit down. I'll get you a glass of water."
"Hey, no need..."
While talking, Yu Dong had already picked up the teapot, "I didn't prepare any tea, so I'll just order it and drink boiled water."
Passing the water to Liu Cixin, Yu Dong took the manuscript from Liu Cixin's hand.
It is a thick stack and seems to be quite long. Moreover, this manuscript has many signs of wear and tear. It must have passed through the hands of many people. This is probably the manuscript that was sent to Yang Xiao before.
The title of the book is written on the first page: The Supernova Era.
Yu Dong has read the book "The Age of Supernova". If I remember correctly, it was published two thousand years later. As for why it took so long for this book to be published, Yu Dong actually doesn't understand.
Of course, he guessed that there were only two reasons, either the book had changed, or the environment had changed. The former was more likely.
He flipped through the book and read it for a while. The front part was not much different from the later published version, but the problem might appear in the back part.
only……
This book seems to be over 300,000 words long, and although Liu Cixin's handwriting is not too sloppy, it is definitely not very neat, so it is impossible to read this manuscript in less than five or six hours.
.
After watching for about ten minutes, Yu Dong raised his eyes and looked at Liu Cixin, who was dazed with an empty cup, and said with a smile, "Well, you go back first, and when I finish reading, I will come over to find you, so you don't have to wait here.
."
He couldn't watch it for five or six hours, and let Liu Cixin wait here for five or six hours.
Liu Cixin was in a daze, but when he heard Yu Dong's words, he reacted, then quickly stood up and left, "Okay, okay, I won't disturb you anymore."
Seeing him turn around and leave, Yu Dong quickly called him, "You haven't told me where you live yet, how can I find you tomorrow?"
"Oh, I live in 202."
…
After coming out of Yu Dong's room, Liu Cixin stared at the "312" sign for a long time. He was somewhat disappointed because he felt that Yu Dong was most likely perfunctory with him.
I also blame myself for not clarifying the length of this manuscript to Yu Dong at the beginning.
I guess Yu Dong thought it was a short and medium story before, so he said he wanted to read it. Now that he saw that it was such a long novel, he didn’t want to read it, but he was too embarrassed to say so directly, so he said he would wait until tomorrow to find his own.
This is understandable. After all, Yu Dong would definitely have to finish reading this manuscript in the middle of the night.
He didn’t know why he came to the Galaxy Awards and brought his manuscript with him.
Want to see Yang Xiao again?
He did have this idea. He knew that Yang Xiao had been watching for a year and the outcome was already clear, but he just didn't want to give up.
In the afternoon, Yu Dong offered to read his manuscript, which rekindled his dying heart, but now it was almost extinguished.
Liu Cixin stood at the door and shook his head, then shuffled slowly towards his room.
…
Early the next morning, Liu Cixin was brushing his teeth in the bathroom when he suddenly heard a knock on the door outside.
"coming."
Liu Cixin shouted, rinsed his mouth quickly, and then went out to open the door.
I thought it was a hotel attendant, but I didn't expect Yu Dong to be standing outside the door.
"Looking at you, I'm very surprised." Yu Dong said with a smile.
"No, no, please come in, please come in." Liu Cixin gave way and asked Yu Dong to come in.
After entering the room, Yu Dong returned the manuscript to Liu Cixin, "I have read the manuscript, and overall it is quite good."
Liu Cixin didn't quite believe what Yu Dong said. How long had it been? How could Yu Dong stay up late working on his manuscript and then get up so early?
"Your idea is very good, but it is filled with too much political commentary, and some places are not handled properly. First of all, it makes people uncomfortable to read. Let's talk about the political color in it, some are too strong, such as
In the final exchange of the country, no editor can draft it for you."
When Yu Dong spoke again, Liu Cixin was stunned.
He actually looked at it!
If I hadn't really read it, I wouldn't have been able to say something like this.
But what surprised him was yet to come, when Yu Dong continued: "The exchange of territories is interesting to a certain extent, but don't you think it is very abrupt? Let's look at the whole novel as a whole.
, without the part about exchanging land, the science fiction nature of the novel has not been weakened, but without this part, the overall smoothness has dropped a lot."
"From a dramatic perspective, this part is nothing but abrupt. It has a dramatic reversal, but it has no dramatic rationality."
Yu Dong finished reading the manuscript of "The Age of Supernova" at close to two o'clock last night. After reading it, he found that this manuscript and the later published "The Age of Supernova" were completely two books, with many contents different.
.
In fact, Yu Dong could simply point out the contents of the published version of "Supernova Era" to Liu Cixin and tell him how to deal with it here and how to deal with it there.
But Yu Dong didn't do this. On the one hand, this level of guidance was a bit excessive and could easily arouse Liu Cixin's resentment. On the other hand, he felt that since it was Liu Cixin's book, it was better to leave it to Liu Cixin to manipulate it.
You need to encourage the growth by yourself.
You should believe Liu Cixin, he has the ability to write well.
So Yu Dong only talked about this book from two perspectives: literature and science fiction.
When it comes to literature, Yu Dong is a professional, and Liu Cixin was confused by a lot of what he said, but even if he only understood part of it, he still felt it was very useful.
Especially the dramatic interpretation made Liu Cixin suddenly enlightened.
When he was writing novels before, he always felt that something was awkward, but he didn't know what the problem was. Now after listening to Yu Dong's explanation, he finally knew where the root of the problem was.
In fact, Yu Dong would not have thought that one day he would guide Liu Cixin to write a novel, and it would also be a science fiction novel. But Liu Cixin is still very immature today. It can be seen that he has ideas, but his expression is not mature enough and there is no system.
You can even find in this 300,000-word novel that the writing style changes from the beginning to the end.
This is a reflection of the immature writing style, because novice authors will change a lot as they write, some of which are improvements and some of which are regressions.
At the end, Yu Dong concluded: "You have great ideas, but you still lack something to control a full-length novel. If this novel wants to be published, it must be revised, and it will be a major revision, maybe once or twice.
Even if it doesn’t work three times, you have to change it until you feel like vomiting after reading this book. So my suggestion to you is that while you are thinking of ways to revise this book, try to write short and medium-length novels to improve your control.
force."
When Liu Cixin heard that Yu Dong said that it could not be published, this time Liu Cixin was not disappointed, but instead ignited a fighting spirit from the bottom of his heart.
He looked at Yu Dong and felt incredible. Yu Dong was obviously only in his twenties, a few years younger than himself, but he didn't act like a young man in his twenties at all.
At that moment, listening to Yu Dong's speech, Liu Cixin even felt like he was back in a middle school classroom.
Maybe this has something to do with Yu Dong's profession. Isn't he a university teacher?
Yu Dong thought for a while and then said, "Let me introduce someone to you. He may be able to provide you with some help in your future creative journey."
Liu Cixin looked at Yu Dong with some gratitude and said sincerely: "Thank you, Yu Dong."
"You're welcome. I'll take you to find that person and bring the manuscript with you."
"good."
The person Yu Dong was talking about was Jimmy.
When Jimmy opened the door for Yu Dong, he was about to complain that Yu Dong disturbed his dreams early in the morning. Suddenly he saw another person standing next to Yu Dong, so he changed his professional smile and said, "Who is this?"
Liu Cixin looked at the foreign man wearing a white vest in front of him in surprise. His thick chest hair seemed incompatible with his authentic Mandarin. If you didn't look at the person and just listened to the voice, you would never have thought that this was a foreigner.
"This is Liu Cixin, a friend of mine."
——
——
Chapter completed!