Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 480 The Impact Continues

The news that the electronic manuscript fee for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" exceeded 11 yuan last month has reached the ears of countless people and continues to have various effects.

For example, the teacher who wrote "The Reincarnation of the Heavenly Emperor" and is currently serializing "Seventy-Two Transformations" on Qidian.

"Teacher" is his pen name; his real name is Xue Ping.

He was originally a Chinese language teacher at a rural middle school. Although he was very knowledgeable, his voice always became high-pitched when he spoke loudly, which earned him the nickname "eunuch" from his students.

In the original timeline, he had never written any online novels.

But in this time and space, influenced by Cao Sheng's works and deeds, he has tried to embark on the path of writing online novels.

His writing style is not lighthearted.

His writing style is closer to that of traditional literature.

However, he had indeed read a great many books since childhood and was very knowledgeable.

The writing style is also quite good.

He was also quite lucky with his writing; his first novel, "The Reincarnation of the Heavenly Emperor," was published in traditional Chinese characters in Taiwan.

The novel "72 Transformations," currently being serialized on Qidian, has also been published in Traditional Chinese. However, due to its more serious and less lighthearted writing style, it is not very popular on Qidian.

However, his book is now available on Qidian.

However, the subscription data is not outstanding.

Currently, this book has an average of only 600 subscribers.

When he saw online that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's electronic manuscript fee for last month was 11 yuan, he was surprised and then repeatedly examined the book "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

I want to figure out why the royalties for this book were so high.

And in what ways is this book better than my own "72 Transformations"?
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated...

With this in mind, he reread the title, introduction, table of contents, and main text of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Ever since Cao Sheng published this work on Qidian, Xue Ping has been following the updates.

But he hadn't carefully reviewed it before; he was simply enjoying the surprises the book brought him from the reader's perspective.

Recently, he began to carefully analyze the reasons for the book's success.

"Original idea?"

"style of writing?"

"Tight plot?"

While rereading "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" in front of the computer, he muttered to himself from time to time.

He used to teach Chinese.

Looking at Cao Sheng's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" from the perspective of his Chinese teacher, one can actually find many problems.

For example, the paragraph breaks are too arbitrary; often a single sentence is treated as a paragraph.

For example, the description of the scenery is too brief and lacks detail.

For example, some supporting characters are poorly described, and their characters are too stereotypical.

and many more.

However, what made him frown and wonder was that despite having so many problems in "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," he felt very comfortable and enjoyable while reading it.

What is the principle?
After pondering for a long time and comparing it with his own "Seventy-Two Transformations", he gradually realized that although the division of "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was very arbitrary, often using only one or two sentences as a paragraph, it did not meet the standard of paragraph division.

However, when viewed on a computer, the segmentation makes my eyes feel comfortable.

In contrast, my own novel, "Seventy-Two Transformations," often has long paragraphs of hundreds of words, which are very uncomfortable to read. Every time I blink, I have to find where I was just looking.

And the description of scenery?
From the reader's perspective, it seems they don't like long, drawn-out descriptions of scenery?

As for the problems of insufficient description of supporting characters and overly stereotypical character portrayals, he gradually figured out the reasons.

In "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts", the main characters are actually very well portrayed and do not feel stereotypical. Those stereotypical characters are basically just there to create atmosphere.

Making these characters stereotypical actually saves a lot of space and allows the plot to move forward quickly, rather than making the story seem drawn out.

The more Xue Ping read "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," the more he felt he was gaining.

However, these were not his biggest gains.

Rather, it is a completely new training system created by the book "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts".

Overt strength, covert strength, neutralizing strength...

Training methods and fighting techniques.

and many more.

The brand-new cultivation system was extremely attractive to him, and he believed that it would also be extremely attractive to other readers.

And what about his own "72 Transformations"?

Upon seeing this book title, readers will immediately think of Sun Wukong's seventy-two transformations. For readers who like Sun Wukong, this title should be somewhat attractive, but it is by no means a completely new cultivation system.

"What if I could also create a completely new cultivation system?"

Xue Ping muttered to himself thoughtfully.

Then, he began racking his brains, trying to come up with a new cultivation system that was attractive enough.

But how easy is that?

Innovation has always been extremely difficult.

As time went by, he would spend his free time thinking about new cultivation systems, hoping to find inspiration and write a completely new cultivation system that would appeal to a wide range of readers.

While eating, watching the children running around on the ground, he was reminded of the atomic bomb that bombed Japan years ago—The Little Boy.

So he came up with a completely new cultivation level: fetus, little boy, teenager, middle-aged, old man...

Of course, such inspiration is useless; it sounds ridiculous.

He burst into laughter.

……

While using the toilet, he thought of the maggots in the latrine when he was a child, which led him to a new cultivation system: larvae, moths, mutated birds, high-flying eagles, legendary roc, and the four divine beasts.

……

When he encountered students and teachers leaving school on the way, looking at their figures, Xue Ping was inspired again and thought of another completely new set of cultivation levels.

—Students, teachers, principals, education commission leaders…

He shook his head after thinking for a while, banishing the thoughts from his mind.

Smile to yourself.

I thought to myself: This is unreliable! No way!
……

One evening, while he was having sex with his wife, he thought of two new cultivation systems.

One set consists of: a moment, an hour, a day...

Another set is: one, two, three, ten kills, one hundred kills...

As he thought about it, his expression turned quite bitter.

He felt that his inspiration was too scarce, and the inspiration he produced was becoming more and more incoherent. He seriously doubted his ability to create a completely new cultivation system.

"Snapped!"

His wife suddenly slapped him across the face, pulling him back to reality.

"Why did you hit me?"

He asked in a low, annoyed voice.

Wife: "How dare you ask? What was that expression on your face just now?" "I..."

Xue Ping was furious but had no words to reply.

Feeling down, he suppressed his anger, got up, put on his coat, reached for the cigarette case and lighter on the bedside table, left the bedroom, walked through the living room and kitchen, opened the kitchen door, came outside, sat on the threshold, lit a cigarette, and looked up at the starry sky while smoking.

Thankfully, air pollution isn't as severe in this era.

The night sky was still dotted with stars.

As he watched the countless stars twinkling in the night sky, Xue Ping's expression gradually calmed down, and the anger in his heart subsided.

Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with his wife and they often had minor conflicts, he had no intention of getting a divorce.

From the day his wife gave birth to their son, he lost interest in other women.

No matter how beautiful a woman is, she can't make him even think about divorce.

Because he felt that all women were pretty much the same.

It's all the same with the lights off.

As for her temper? Although my wife's temper isn't the best, how many women have exceptionally good tempers? Does a woman with an exceptionally good temper have no other flaws?
Therefore, he had no intention of getting a divorce.

He just wanted to earn more money to improve his family's life and create a better future for his son. Compared to changing wives, he believed that he had a better chance of improving his life through his own efforts.

If changing wives doesn't make life better, then what's the point?
Finished a cigarette.

He didn't want to go back to sleep, so he lit another one.

As he continued to gaze at the starry sky, memories seemed to take him back to his childhood.

He remembers the summers of his childhood, when the weather was very hot. Every household would go out to cool off after nightfall. The family would sit on a bamboo bed, chatting with the neighbors while enjoying the cool air. He liked to lie on the bamboo bed, blinking his eyes and staring blankly at the starry sky.

He once tried to count exactly how many stars there were in the sky.

But I could never count more than a few dozen before I got them all mixed up.

countless!
There are simply too many to count.

He remembered that his grandfather told him, "Aping, actually, there is a star under our feet, just like the star in the sky."

This led him to make many associations with the starry sky.

I thought that many people lived on every star in the sky.

Those stars were like the neighbors of the star beneath their feet, and he wanted to visit those "neighbors."

But when he grew up, his teachers told him that no planet with extraterrestrial life had been discovered yet.

Tonight, as he gazed at the starry sky, he suddenly thought of a new cultivation system, an immature one: meteorite level, satellite level, planetary level, stellar level, constellation level, galaxy level, galaxy level...

Suddenly realizing this cultivation level, he paused for a moment, then his eyes widened considerably, and his expression became excited.

He felt that this cultivation level seemed pretty good, and it sounded very appealing.

Especially the later levels, which should make readers feel the power of these levels.

only……

As he thought about it, he frowned again.

He suddenly realized that such a cultivation level might not be suitable for writing stories set in ancient times.

It seems that stars were not classified in this way in ancient times.

It seems more suitable for writing stories about a futuristic science fiction world.

But he has never written any science fiction about the future.

I had no experience and little confidence.

After all, he had mostly read his grandfather's books since he was a child, and there were basically no science fiction works among them.

"Aren't you going back to your room to sleep?"

Suddenly, his wife's scolding came from behind him.

He turned around and saw his wife walk into the bathroom, and soon he heard the sound of the toilet flushing.

He smiled, got up, threw the extinguished cigarette butt on the ground, stomped on it, went into the house, closed the door, and headed to the bedroom.

As I walked, I thought to myself: What does it matter if I can't write science fiction? As long as I have the perseverance to see things through, read more science fiction stories, put more effort into making the outline of my new book, and put more effort into writing it, I don't believe I can't write it well. As the old saying goes, "The most important thing is to be serious. There is nothing that cannot be done well if you are serious."

……

Another city.

A young man surnamed Yang usually enjoys reading novels online, and recently he has been frequently looking for books to read on Qidian.

That evening, after finishing Cao Sheng's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," he suddenly felt inspired and went to the book's review section to see what other readers thought and to offer his own opinion.

However, I saw several posts in the book review section discussing the news that the electronic manuscript fee for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was more than 11 yuan last month.

He was stunned.

I can hardly believe my eyes.

This book, "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," earned over 11 yuan on Qidian last month.

How can this be?

Didn't Qidian only recently implement paid reading?

It's only been a few months?
Such a high royalty rate for a single book?
He couldn't help but click on these posts discussing the royalties for "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts," and carefully read through each one, including the replies below.

After reading it, he believed that what these readers said was true.

But he still found it incredible.

He had long known of Zhongyuan Yidianhui's reputation and had read his other works. He was familiar with Zhongyuan Yidianhui's abilities and industry standing.

Therefore, he already knew that Zhongyuan Yidianhui must have earned a lot of royalties.

Because Zhongyuan Yidianhui has already published many books in mainland China and Taiwan, and each book seems to have high sales, the royalties are naturally substantial.

He had also considered trying to write novels himself and submitting them to publishers in Taiwan or mainland China to earn some royalties.

These days, who doesn't want to earn money from writing?
That's not just about money!

This era still retains the lingering influence of the last century's cult of intellectuals in China.

In the last century, or rather in the 1970s and 80s, including the 1990s, the general public in China held writers and poets in high regard.

Many young people are crazy about those writers and poets.

Some "literary youths" who can only write doggerel, though poor, always have beautiful women throwing themselves at them; some middle-aged men who write articles, even if they are bald and overweight, still have many young girls chasing after them; even some guys who can sing and play guitar, even if they are dirt poor, can still win the hearts of many women.

Not to mention in real life, these writers and poets are highly regarded wherever they go, and are objects of envy and praise.

Therefore, even in the early 21st century.

Many young people in mainland China still view writers differently.

Many people dream of becoming a writer or poet.

This young man surnamed Yang also had such ideals.

However, he had failed to produce a satisfactory work in his previous attempts, managing to write only a few thousand words each time before he could no longer continue.

I always felt that there was no chance that my writing would be noticed by a publisher.

But tonight, he saw that Zhongyuan Yidianhui's "The Romance of Chinese Martial Arts" was earning 11 yuan in electronic royalties in a month on Qidian. He was shocked and the idea of ​​writing a book came to him again.

This time, his desire to write a novel was stronger than ever before.

Thinking to myself: the chances of my novel being published are slim, but if it's just listed on Qidian, the chances should be much better, right? After all, listing my book on Qidian doesn't require the same costs as publishing a book with a publisher.

He had already thought of a pen name: Broken Blade.

(End of this chapter)