Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 80 Meimei, two more good news

"Today at the book signing event in Nanjing, I saw the author. He is so damn handsome! He is so handsome and his novel is doing so well. It is totally unfair! I am so fucked!"

"The pen name Zhongyuan Yidianhui is very misleading! It makes people think that this guy is not good-looking. Only after seeing his real face can you know that this guy should be called Zhongyuan Yidianshuai!"

"Zhongyuan Yidianhui! I like you. Do you have a girlfriend? If so, do you mind changing her? If not, do you want to have another one?"

"Damn! I've read most of the first volume online. I didn't buy the book at all! But the plot later on is still exciting. If I think about it carefully, it doesn't seem to be a bad deal."

"When will the second volume be published? Taiwan has already published up to the tenth volume, so the simplified second volume should be available anytime, right? Hurry up and publish it! What are you waiting for?"

"Brother! I'm Meimei. You've become a famous writer. I was shocked when I saw your photo on the news. It's a pity that you didn't come to Hangzhou for the book signing event, otherwise I would definitely go to support you. I told my coworkers that you were my cousin, but they didn't believe me. They said I don't look like someone who has a famous writer cousin. I was so angry! Cousin, can you please reply to me? I'll show it to them!"

……

In front of the computer, Cao Sheng was a little surprised when he saw this book review.

Cousin? Meimei?
He does have a cousin named "Meimei". After graduating from junior high school, she seemed to have gone to Hangzhou to work. So, was this post really posted by my cousin?

After thinking for a while, he logged into his author account and replied to Meimei: "Take my advice, don't prove this to your coworkers, otherwise they will force you to treat them."

He has a say in this.

When his roommates knew that he had published a novel, they started to urge him to treat them.

After replying to this message, Cao Sheng continued to read other posts.

at the same time.

In an Internet cafe in Hangzhou.

Meimei, who had posted a message in her cousin's book review section a few minutes ago, refreshed the book review section again. When she saw Cao Sheng's reply, she was surprised, but her brows frowned.

He looked very hesitant.

Reason told her that what her cousin said made sense. If I really proved to my coworkers that he was my cousin, they would probably force me to treat them.

It's not easy to make money, so she is a little reluctant.

But in her heart she really wanted to prove that she was not bragging and that Zhongyuan Yidianhui was really her cousin.

Should I show them my cousin's reply?

She was in a dilemma.

……

The next morning, Cao Sheng returned to the school classroom. As soon as he sat down in the back seat, his former lower bunk roommate Song Chao came over and sat next to him with books, notes and other things.

Cao Sheng looked over and Song Chao smiled and placed a soft-cover copybook in front of him. He said in a low voice with a bit of embarrassment: "Cao Sheng, I wrote a novel and have already written quite a few words. Can you help me take a look at what I wrote? Please take a look."

Song Chao had previously told Cao Sheng that he wanted to write a novel, and at the time he hoped Cao Sheng could teach him how to write.

Cao Sheng had some impression of this incident.

However, after such a long time, Song Chao still hadn't started writing, so Cao Sheng thought that Song Chao had given up the idea of ​​writing a novel.

I didn't expect that the novel would be brought to me suddenly today.

Cao Sheng looked at Song Chao, smiled and nodded, "Okay, wait a moment."

Cao Sheng opened Song Chao's soft cover copy. Song Chao had a good relationship with him, so he was willing to spend some time reading what Song Chao wrote.

It can be seen that Song Chao wrote this novel seriously. His handwriting is clear and not sloppy. Unlike Cao Sheng's original handwritten manuscript, his handwriting was flamboyant and many words were difficult to recognize.

only……

After reading for a while, Cao Sheng found that Song Chao had made the common mistake of most novices - he got to the point too slowly, and there were no highlights in the first five or six hundred words. More than half of these five or six hundred words were descriptions of the environment, followed by a description of the protagonist's psychology.

Is this way of writing okay?
Actually it is possible.

If Song Chao already has a certain degree of fame and a group of die-hard fans, then he can write whatever he wants at the beginning of his new book, and his die-hard fans will have the patience to continue reading.

But does Song Chao have any die-hard fans of the book?
However, Cao Sheng thought that there were very few authors writing novels at present, and readers who liked to read novels did not have many works to choose from, so Song Chao's opening was not a big problem.

Unlike around 2020, if a new author could not quickly come up with a sufficiently attractive gimmick within the first three to five hundred words of the work, then his work was basically doomed to fail.

Because readers at that time had too many works to choose from.

Each one is more impatient than the other. For most books, I glance at the title and turn my eyes away without being interested.

Cao Sheng patiently read two more pages, then closed the soft copy and turned to Song Chao beside him and said, "Well written! But there is still a lot of room for improvement. If you really like writing novels, then keep working hard! Come on!"

In fact, he just found a lot of problems.

For example: the plot at the beginning is too bland, the plot progresses too slowly, there is a suspicion of showing off literary talent, there is a misunderstanding of the definition of writing style, etc.

Song Chao made almost all the mistakes that a new author might make.

But Cao Sheng knows what new authors want to hear most.

——It is encouragement and recognition.

Perhaps his encouragement will allow Song Chao to keep writing for a long time.

If he told the truth and pointed out all the mistakes Song Chao made, Song Chao would probably immediately lose the motivation to continue writing.

He also went through the newcomer stage and understands the psychology of new authors very well.

"Really? You really think my writing is good?"

Song Chao was very surprised and a little bit unbelievable.

Cao Sheng smiled and nodded.

Song Chao's eyes lit up. "Do you think my book has a chance of being published?"

Cao Sheng: “…”

After being silent for a few seconds, Cao Sheng shook his head slightly, "I'm afraid it won't work for now. I just said that you still have a lot of room for improvement. If you really want to publish, try to write 100,000 words first!"

Song Chao wrote twenty or thirty pages this time, which is estimated to be about 10,000 to 20,000 words. According to Cao Sheng's experience, this number of words has reached the limit for a new author.

Only if you can break through this limit and persist in writing more than 100,000 words, can you have a chance to make a living as an online writer. If you can't break through, then there is nothing to say.

When Cao Sheng and Song Chao were talking about this, several classmates came over with smiles and sat around Cao Sheng. After the National Day holiday that just passed, Cao Sheng took another week off. The key point is that everyone knows that he went out to hold a book signing event again in the past week, so everyone has a lot of questions to ask him.

For example: Which cities did the book signing event go to?

For example: How many copies of "I Want to Become an Immortal" have been sold in mainland China?
For example: Were there any particularly beautiful female book fans at this book signing event?

and many more.

……

That afternoon, Cao Sheng's class had only two classes.

School was over after two classes, and it was still early for dinner.

Cao Sheng rode his bicycle to the vegetable market.

Since he bought a house on Binjiang Road, he bought this bicycle for the convenience of commuting to school every day.

I went to the vegetable market and bought more than a pound of ribs. I returned to the yard on Binjiang Road, cleaned the ribs, added water to a casserole, and stewed them on the stove.

After stewing, add some rice noodles and that will be his dinner for the day.

evening.

He carried the bubbling casserole of pork ribs and rice noodles to the study, placed the casserole in front of the computer, and prepared to eat while surfing the Internet.

It's pretty boring living here alone for a long time.

Gradually, I developed the habit of surfing the Internet while eating.

Time passed little by little.

When half of the pork ribs and rice noodles in the casserole were eaten, Cao Sheng logged into his email to see if there were any new emails.

It turns out.

It was from Wang Jing again - "Cao Sheng, I have two good news for you. The first is that the 20 copies that Huacheng Publishing House printed previously have been sold out, and they have recently printed another 20 copies. I heard that the sales of your book have surged recently. I guess it was your recently released book "I Want to Become an Immortal" that stimulated the sales of that book. By the way, Huacheng Publishing House has remitted the advance payment for the 20 copies that were recently printed, so remember to check it.

Another good news is that the sales of "I Want to Become a Fairy" in the past few days have given Changjiang Literature and Art great confidence. They are ready to strike while the iron is hot and prepare to publish the second volume of this book as soon as possible, so please give me another 15 words of manuscript! By the way, Changjiang Literature and Art has also transferred the manuscript fee for the first volume to you, please check it out."

(End of this chapter)