Writer 1979: Writing for the People

At this moment, Children's Literature has just changed from a series to a bimonthly publication, and the demand for good manuscripts has skyrocketed.

In the last issue of the magazine, there was an article written by Zheng Yuanjie, which looked pretty good.

However, for this issue of the magazine, which will be published on September 15th, we haven't found a good enough article to hold our own!

It was precisely because of this eagerness that Liu Tinghua took the initiative to visit him.

He was actually worried that this so-called sequel would be a poor imitation, but he had no better choice at the moment.

Let's just hope this article will bring him some surprise!

The dormitory and office area were in front and back yards. Less than two minutes later, Xu Lu returned to the meeting room with the manuscript and handed it to Liu Tinghua, who was staring intently at him.

"Comrade Tinghua, this is the sequel to 'Calabash Brothers,' titled 'Calabash Little King Kong.' It's divided into six chapters and has about 16,000 words. Take your time reading it!"

"Okay!"

Liu Tinghua took it with both hands and then eagerly opened the main text.

Putting aside the overall quality of the article, Liu Tinghua thought the opening was quite good.

Firstly, while continuing the ending of the original work, it also directly points out the main content of this sequel, which is to defeat the snake spirit's sister, the green snake spirit.

With the introduction of new characters, the author has more room to "rewrite" the story, which gives Liu Tinghua more room for imagination.

Secondly, there is the issue of the reading threshold.

Liu Tinghua, who studied Xu Lu, not only read his "Calabash Brothers" but also his works "Wheat Harvester" and "Receiving the Precepts".

He knew that the other person had a strong writing ability and that their writing always made people feel as if they were there.

However, what is considered an advantage in adult literature can become a disadvantage in children's literature.

Because the language of children's literature must be simple!

The simpler, the better!

Ornate embellishments only increase the burden of reading for children.

  (Please remember 101 Reading Network to relieve boredom. 111k.com is a super reliable website for reading the fastest chapter updates.)

However, not everyone is able to realize and do this. Whether due to writing habits or simply wanting to show off their skills, many writers actually produce "pseudo-children's literature."

But Xu Lu is different!

He already did a great job in "Calabash Brothers", and he continues that style in "Calabash Brothers: Little King Kong".

The following passage is the best proof!

"From then on, the flowers in the valley bloomed more brightly, the streams sang and gurgled, the animals hopped and jumped in the woods, and the people lived a peaceful life."

Everyone says that as long as the Seven-Colored Peak stands, the monster will never be able to come out and harm people again.

Liu Tinghua finally began to believe that the other party genuinely wanted to write this sequel, and that it wasn't just because the previous work was popular that they wanted to extend the story!

He continued reading, eager to see how the story would unfold.

The "progressive" level-based adventure mode in "Calabash Brothers" is written in a very exciting way. It not only makes many children excited, but even adults like him can't help but look forward to the later plot.

He believed that as long as this article could also be written well in this regard, its quality would certainly not be too bad.

……

"Little one, do you want money? Here, take all of this!" the Green Snake Demon said with a smile.

The eldest son frowned: "Who wants your stinking money! I'm here to teach you a lesson!" He charged forward, but the coins beneath his feet suddenly began to move, stacking together to form a deep coin eye. The eldest son, not paying attention, missed his footing and fell "plop" into the coin eye.

The coin's eye was small and slippery; the harder the older boy tried to climb, the deeper he sank. He wanted to grow bigger, but the coin's eye grew bigger too; he wanted to shrink, but the coin's eye shrank. Before long, the older boy had no strength left, was firmly trapped by the money, and fainted.

……

The Green Snake Spirit, unperturbed, took a small bottle of dark potion from her brocade pouch and quietly poured it into the nearby stream. She called out to the Water Boy, "Little fellow, what kind of skill is it to just spray your own water? If you're so capable, why don't you drink all the water in this river!"

Water Boy, never one to back down, turned and started sipping from the river. Glug, glug, the water rushed into his stomach. But as he drank, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and doubled over in agony. It turned out the river had been poisoned by the Green Snake Demon with a foul-smelling, five-poison soup!

……

"Calabash Brothers" still uses a progressive level-based system, but since the abilities of the Calabash Brothers were revealed in the previous work, there is less anticipation during the "level-up" process.

Fortunately, the plot is exciting enough that the story's appeal hasn't diminished much.

As the seven Calabash Brothers were defeated one by one, Liu Tinghua couldn't help but wonder how they would manage to defeat the Green Snake Demon.

He continued reading!

Inside the alchemy furnace, the seven Calabash Brothers successfully merged into one, becoming the Vajra Calabash Brothers, and then began to chase after the Green Snake Demon.

During this process, he also encountered Little Butterfly, who had been captured by the Green Snake Demon.

Later, she tragically sacrificed herself to protect Calabash Brothers!

The ending of the story was not particularly surprising.

The Calabash Brothers defeated the Green Snake Demon, and in order to suppress the monster, they once again transformed into the Seven-Colored Mountain...

The story ends here.

After reading all the content, Liu Tinghua's face was filled with surprise and joy.

To be honest, although he really appreciated the story of "Calabash Brothers", he was quite worried about this so-called sequel at first.

I'm worried that the content will be poorly written and that Xu Lu's performance will be subpar.

Fortunately, it turned out that all his worries were unnecessary.

While breathing a sigh of relief, Liu Tinghua did not hold back his praise, immediately showering the article with compliments.

"Comrade Xu Lu, your sequel is exceptionally well-written; it's just as exciting as 'Calabash Brothers'..."

After praising it from every angle, Liu Tinghua finally set a price.

"Comrade Xu Lu, based on the quality of this article, our magazine is offering six yuan per thousand words..."

In fact, according to the normal procedure, the pricing should be decided by the editor-in-chief.

However, with the manuscript right in front of him, Liu Tinghua was worried that it would be snatched away by the people from the Shaanxi Daily, so he took the liberty of doing it himself.

It's alright, he can just explain it to the editor-in-chief when he gets back...

"Okay, then it'll be 6 yuan per thousand words."

Xu Lu was quite satisfied with the price.

"By the way, Comrade Xu Lu, our Children's Literature magazine would like to reprint your story 'Calabash Brothers,' which was previously published in the Shaanxi Daily. The price is 2 yuan per thousand words. What do you think?"

Liu Tinghua suddenly remembered this and quickly spoke up again.

He had originally intended to bring this up, but Xu Lu had written the sequel so quickly that the two of them almost forgot about it while chatting.

As for the price of 2 yuan per thousand words, since this is a reprint rather than a first publication, the price will definitely not be high.

And to be honest, the fact that Children's Literature magazine was willing to consult Xu Lu and offer him a fee shows they've already done a lot of respect.

In fact, at this point in time, even if someone reprints the article without his consent or payment, there's nothing you can do about it.

Because that's the current industry practice.

"it is good."

Xu Lu naturally wouldn't refuse to earn money twice for one article and agreed on the spot.