Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 513 has a terrible plot but decent writing.

Jin Hezai was one of the authors who had a good relationship with Cao Sheng.

During holidays, Cao Sheng would usually receive a blessing text message from him, but they didn't talk on the phone very often.

Therefore, Cao Sheng was quite surprised to see Jin Hezai as the caller ID.

I subconsciously looked at Qian Zhenyu beside me, "Should I take this call?"

Qian Zhenyu smiled and said, "Go ahead and answer it!"

Cao Sheng answered the call.

Jin Hezai: "Ah Hui, did you see that post in your book review section? Are you planning to respond to that guy?"

Cao Sheng frowned. "What post?"

Jin Hezai: "You don't know? It's that guy who claims to be the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition! You'd better go online and take a look! That guy's writing isn't very good, but he's got quite the nerve. He actually dared to say that his lousy book is better than your latest book, and he's even waiting for your feedback! I suggest you ignore him! What New Concept Writing Competition champion? He's only written a few thousand words! He dares to compare himself to you? I'm speechless!"

The champion of the New Concept Writing Competition?

He claims his book is better than mine in my new book?
Waiting for my review?
Cao Sheng stopped and said with amusement, "Did he cause trouble in my book review section?"

Jin Hezai: "Yeah, right! He claims to be the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, his name is Zhang Shuang. Maybe he's been too proud of himself and gotten arrogant! But his post is very popular right now, and a lot of people are waiting to see your reaction. I suggest you deal with it quickly! Either delete his post directly, or give his lousy book a good thrashing and make him look bad! What are you planning to do?"

Cao Sheng gazed at the dark river under the night sky, thought for a moment, and said, "No rush! I'm outside now. Let me read his post first."

Jin Hezai: "Oh? Is that so? Then you'd better hurry up! Although that guy has no self-awareness, posting something like that in your new book review section is really disgusting. I feel disgusted just looking at it."

Cao Sheng: "Okay, thank you for letting me know. I will handle it as soon as possible."

……

call ended.

Cao Sheng put away his phone. Qian Zhenyu, standing beside him, asked curiously, "What happened?"

Cao Sheng glanced at her and laughed, "A guy who claims to be the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition is challenging me in the book review section of my new book. It's fine! Don't worry!"

Qian Zhenyu was slightly surprised. "Oh? The champion of the New Concept Writing Competition? That sounds impressive! You have a grudge against him?"

Cao Sheng chuckled, "No! I've never even heard of this person."

Qian Zhenyu: "Then why is he challenging you?"

Cao Sheng continued walking forward, saying as he went, "Who knows? Maybe they're trying to scam me!"

"Stealing an accident? What does that mean?"

These days, the concept of staged accidents for insurance fraud is not yet widely known.

Cao Sheng: "What do you think is the fastest way for a new author to become famous?"

Qian Zhenyu followed closely beside Cao Sheng. Upon hearing this, she thought for a moment and said, "Write a wildly popular book?"

Cao Sheng chuckled, "What you said is one way, but it's definitely not the fastest way to become famous, because it takes at least one or two months for our online novels to become a hit."

Qian Zhenyu asked curiously, "Then what do you think is the fastest way to become famous?"

Cao Sheng: "It's what I just mentioned, the kind of 'touching the spotlight' thing! This so-called competition champion openly challenges me in my book review section. If I can have a back-and-forth argument with him, he might become famous in the industry and be remembered by many colleagues and readers. It's like how minor celebrities in the entertainment industry like to create scandals with major celebrities. Whether the scandal is true or false doesn't matter. As long as they can create a scandal with a major celebrity for a while, they will naturally become famous."

Qian Zhenyu seemed thoughtful. "I see! So what do you plan to do? Now that you've guessed this person's purpose, are you going to ignore him?"

Cao Sheng smiled slightly, "Let's take a look at the contents of his post later!"

Qian Zhenyu nodded, turned to look at Cao Sheng, and asked, "Hey! What do you think of the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition? In terms of writing style, who is better?"

Cao Sheng was amused.

Qian Zhenyu asked, puzzled, "What are you laughing at? Do you think their writing is inferior to yours?"

Cao Sheng: "We're not writing the same thing at all, so how can we compare? The writing style required for a long novel is not the same as that required for an essay of a few hundred or a few thousand words. Can we use the same standard?"

Before Qian Zhenyu could respond, Cao Sheng continued, "Let me give you an example. Can the writing style required for writing classical poetry be the same as the writing style required for writing prose?"

Qian Zhenyu suddenly realized.

"That makes sense! So... what do you think are the standards for good writing style when you write online novels?"

As she asked the question, she stared intently at Cao Sheng.

She was really curious.

She had read a few of Cao Sheng's books on online novels and had some understanding of them, but since she didn't write online novels herself, she was completely clueless about the industry.

Cao Sheng wanted to laugh.

This isn't the first or second time I've been asked this question.

"There is no unified standard, but it is definitely not the same as the standard for short essays or novels. When writing short stories, you can consider the introduction, development, climax, and conclusion of the whole text, and you can make some ingenious designs in the structure of the whole text. But for long texts... especially long texts like the ones we write that are often one or two million words long, it is ridiculous to play with such ingenious structures! First of all, it is difficult to play such tricks in such a long text."

Secondly, most readers don't actually finish reading a whole book. Most of them lose interest in continuing for various reasons while reading. So, playing these tricks is meaningless because many readers don't see them.
Thirdly… online literature is basically written and published simultaneously. Authors can see readers' opinions on each chapter, so the subsequent plot will be constantly adjusted based on reader feedback. To put it simply, almost every book deviates from the author's initial design by the middle to later stages. In this situation, even if some ingenious structure was set up before starting the story, it cannot be maintained.”

Qian Zhenyu nodded frequently as she listened.

Hearing this, she thought for a moment and pressed, "Then what do you think is the standard for good writing in your field?" Cao Sheng: "As I just said, there is no single standard!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "For example, if you're writing about fantasy and cultivation themes, you need to capture the essence of fantasy. If your writing doesn't capture that essence, then it won't work."

If you're writing historical fiction online, and your writing style can't convey the weight and depth of history, then your writing style is inadequate.

If you're writing about urban life and you can't capture the feeling of modern city life, then your writing style is definitely not very good—it's that simple!
In short, writing style serves the work itself. A work needs a certain level of writing style, and you must be able to capture that feeling to be considered good; otherwise, it's not good.

Qian Zhenyu was very surprised.

"So, there really isn't a unified standard? In that case, you web novel writers can only write novels in one or two genres? If you switch to another genre, you can't write well?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

"Pretty much! Most authors can only write stories on one or two themes well. If they switch to another theme, the story might just not feel right. This is actually similar to actors in the entertainment industry. Think about it! Even if someone is a movie star, can they act well in every type of film? Can an actor who is good at serious dramas necessarily act well in comedy? Can an actor who is good at historical dramas necessarily act well in modern urban dramas? Can an actor who is good at playing ordinary people necessarily act well in important roles?"
But can you say they lack acting skills because of that?

Qian Zhenyu nodded and smiled, "I understand! Your examples are very good, I really understand!"

……

Cao Sheng accompanied Qian Zhenyu for a walk along the riverside road for more than an hour before taking her back to her hotel.

This time, he didn't escort her upstairs.

Go to sleep early! I have something to do, I'll come see you again tomorrow.

Before Qian Zhenyu got out of the car, Cao Sheng held her hand and said this.

Qian Zhenyu nodded, "Okay, you should go to sleep early too! Good night."

"good night!"

……

After watching her get out of the car and walk into the hotel, Cao Sheng instructed Qu Hai to drive back.

Back at the villa, Cao Sheng made himself a cup of tea and went to the study on the third floor.

turn on computer.

Sure enough, in the book review section of Qidian's "Cultivation Chat Group", I saw a post by Zhang Shuang, who claimed to be the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition.

Cao Sheng noticed that the post had already been viewed more than 1700 times and replied to more than 400 times.

It has become the most popular post in the book review section.

Zhang Shuang?

The champion of the New Concept Writing Competition?

Out of curiosity, Cao Sheng found Zhang Shuang's book, "The Aura of Immortality," and patiently read through the first chapter, unable to help but chuckle.

He saw many problems in this first chapter.

For example, the segmentation follows the segmentation principles taught in junior high school Chinese classes.

This cannot be called wrong.

However, when used in online articles, it is not very user-friendly to readers.

Long passages of hundreds of words at a time can be exhausting for most readers; they can't even keep track of where they left off after blinking.

For example, there is too much description of scenery and characters' inner thoughts.

This wouldn't normally be a big problem, but having such lengthy descriptions in the first chapter of a work really tests the readers' patience. How many readers would want to read these descriptions?
and many more.

Looking at the contents of this first chapter from Cao Sheng's perspective, he found a lot of problems.

The biggest problem Cao Sheng discovered was that it was too much of a show-off!
Showing off skills isn't a big problem in itself.

The problem is that Zhang Shuangxuan's writing skills are lacking.

If he's just showing off his formulaic writing techniques, Cao Sheng has seen some exceptionally well-written formulaic stories before and can appreciate them.

But Zhang Shuangxuan's writing style is what's impressive!

Zhang Shuang may have thought that as the champion of the New Concept Writing Competition, his biggest advantage was his writing skills, so he subconsciously showed off his writing skills at the beginning of this new book.

The writing style is impressive, but the most important element—the plot—is inevitably overlooked.

Online novel readers mainly focus on the plot; who has the patience to watch you show off your writing skills?

A good plot combined with excellent writing makes for a superb work.

A good plot but mediocre writing makes for a decent work.

The plot is terrible, but the writing is good. What is that?
The beginning of this book, "Immortal Aura," gave Cao Sheng this impression: the plot was terrible, but the writing was good.

That's it.

(End of this chapter)