1980 My literary era

The column "Writer Interviews" has existed since the birth of "The Paris Review". It has been the most popular column of the publication for many years. It has also become an indispensable information for many American readers to understand many writers. It enjoys a high reputation in the European and American literary circles. prestige.

Christian Salmon is the editor and reporter of "The Paris Review" and has been in the industry for more than ten years. He is not responsible for this interview program alone. A rough calculation shows that he has interviewed more than 20 famous literary figures over the years. , but he has never seen a writer like Lin Weimin.

When it comes to those famous writers, Christian Salmon has many impressions of them: taciturn, sensitive and fragile, irritable, acerbic, humorous...

When it comes to the writers he has interviewed, Christian Salmon has a lot to vomit about.

Because of their filters, readers will always feel that these writers are of noble character and high moral standing, but Christian Salmon is familiar with the virtues of this group of people, and naturally knows that they are actually ordinary people, and even the character and character of some people are... His personality is not up to the average standard of the crowd.

Compared with so many writers he interviewed, Lin Weimin conquered everyone around him with his talent and character. While completing his own work, he always insisted on efficient creation and actively participated in charity activities.

Christian Salmon felt that he really saw in Lin Weimin the ideal style of a writer who valued both talent and moral character. After so many interviews, he no longer felt that this image was false, but felt that becomes more and more real.

At the same time, after so many interviews, Christian Salmon's curiosity about Lin Weimin has not weakened, but has become stronger. He is eager to have a deeper understanding of Lin Weimin's life and more detailed creative experience.

At the Capital Airport, Christian Salmon was about to board the plane back to America. After hugging Lin Weimin, he said: "Lin, if you want to write a biography in the future, you must leave this task to me!"

"My friend, I am less than thirty years old this year, your idea is too advanced!" Lin Weimin laughed.

"It doesn't matter, I call it advance booking!" Christian Salmon said easily.

"no problem!"

"It's a deal!"

Christian Salmon held Lin Weimin's hand tightly.

It was late October when I bid farewell to Christian Salmon. The weather in Yanjing was getting colder day by day, and in a few days it would be winter.

Lin Weimin received a call from Yu Hua that day.

After graduating from the National Institute of Liberal Arts, Yu Hua returned to Zhijiang. He was first transferred to the editorial department of "Misty Rain Tower" as an editor. After the publication of his first novel "Shouting in the Drizzle", he gained success in writing. After writing a long work, Yu Hua was transferred to the JX City Literary Association and became a professional writer, writing full-time.

Yu Hua called Lin Weimin today, mainly because he wanted to tell him good news.

He just got a house of more than 30 square meters this month. There are no commercial houses these days, and employee housing depends entirely on housing allocation by the unit. Yu Huacai was assigned a house not long after he was transferred to JX City Literature. For him, it is A gratifying thing.

Yu Hua was full of excitement when he talked about it on the phone.

"Teacher Lin, when do you have time, come and play with us? We haven't seen you for a long time. How weird!" Yu Hua extended a warm invitation to Lin Weimin.

Lin Weimin said perfunctorily: "I will go when I have time."

Then he asked about the novel again, and Yu Hua said in a brisk tone: "It's coming soon, it's going very smoothly."

Lin Weimin would definitely not believe such nonsense, so he urged Yu Hua a few words.

"I know, don't worry, I will finish it as soon as possible." Yu Hua promised, and then said: "Teacher Lin, this novel is finished, should your editorial department send someone to sort it out?"

The editorial department sends people to pick up manuscripts as a sign of respect and respect for writers. In recent years, it has gradually become a way for writers to compare themselves with each other.

"If you don't want to come to Yanjing, the editorial department can send someone to pick it up."

Lin Weimin's words made Yu Hua hesitate. He just had nothing to say and made a joke. Lin Weimin answered seriously, so he hesitated.

After finishing the work, it was to be sent to Yanjing. This was a good excuse to go out for a wander. If the editorial department sent someone to pick it up, wouldn't he have no chance to wander around?

Thinking about it, I felt so embarrassed, "Forget it, I'll give it to you."

Yu Hua's answer did not meet Lin Weimin's expectations, "Okay, let's write it down!"

"knew!"

It's frost today. It's time to get off work in the evening. The sky outside is already gray. As the weather gets colder, the days get shorter and shorter.

Colleagues left the unit on bicycles. There were several motorcycles among the many bicycles, but Lin Weimin's black Mercedes was still the only one.

Driving back home, Tao Huimin was cooking.

Since her marriage, except for a few months when she went to the United States, Tao Huimin has been steadily staying in the entertainment industry, occasionally acting in roles when she gets them.

While eating, Tao Huimin hesitated and seemed to have something to say.

"If you have something to say, just say it. Isn't it uncomfortable to hold it in?" Lin Weimin said.

Upon seeing this, Tao Huimin said: "For the people, a TV series found me and asked me to play the heroine."

"TV series? Which channel produced it?"

Tao Huimin said: "It was staged in Shanghai, but it was filmed in Yanjing."

Lin Weimin knew that Tao Huimin specifically emphasized that the TV series should be filmed in Yanjing, just because he was afraid that he would disagree.

"You can take it if you want. Even if you finished filming "Dream of Red Mansions" last year, you have been free for a year. It would be great to have this opportunity to film."

Tao Huimin asked happily: "Do you agree to my filming?"

"This is your job! Why don't you agree?"

When Tao Huimin heard what he said, she let go of the burden in her heart and smiled on her face.

After eating, Tao Huimin cleaned up the kitchen, while Lin Weimin went to the study.

His efficiency in writing novels is now much slower than before. It's not that his level has dropped, it's just that his life is too happy and he lacks motivation.

The novel at hand has been written intermittently for more than half a month, and I have just finished half of it.

At work the next day, Lin Weimin received a call from Roger Strauss. The English version of "The Hunt" will be released in the United States in early November.

In addition to "The Hunt", Roger Strauss also selected "The Wind" from Lin Weimin's spy trilogy. However, because this novel needs to be translated by FSG itself, the publication speed is much slower.

In terms of print runs, Roger Strauss had high hopes for "The Hunt", with an initial print run of 200,000 copies, while the print run of "The Wind" was much more conservative, with only 50,000 copies.

If compared purely with the print run of "The Hunt", this number appears to be very small.

But if you put this number into the entire book market in the United States, it is actually not that small. Many novels with mediocre sales may not have sales of 50,000 copies after being sold for several years.

Of course, this number is not much. The tail end of the New York Times bestseller list every year is sales of 100,000 copies.

Lin Weimin has no objection to this print run. The novel itself is published in a bundle. Lao Mi is usually not very interested in the old events of World War II that took place in the Far East.

In other words, the sales prospects of this novel should not be very good. If more than one-third of the 50,000 copies printed fail to sell, FSG Publishing House will have to lose money.

The publication of "The Wind" was a matter of mutual consent, and it was also one of the key factors that enabled Roger Strauss and Lin Weimin to reach a cooperation.

The two novels have a total print run of 250,000 copies, bringing Lin Weimin a little over 300,000 in royalties.

A few days later, it was already the end of October, and Lin Weimin received a call from Cheng Zhongshi from Shaanxi.

"Weimin, the novel is finished!" Lin Weimin let out a long breath when he felt Cheng Zhongshi say these words.

He stood up in surprise, and was so excited that he couldn't control his volume, and said loudly: "Is it finished? That's great!"

From the idea in 1983 to the completion of the first draft in 1988, and nearly a year of revision, it took Cheng Zhongshi six full years to finally complete the first novel in his life, which he also used as a "head rest" brick".

Lin Weimin also knew very well that this would be the only novel in Cheng Zhongshi's life, but this did not affect the historical status of Cheng Zhongshi and his novel in the Chinese literary world.

"Are you still in your hometown in Xi'an now?"

"exist."

"Okay, just stay at home and don't move. Our editorial department will send someone to pick up the manuscript!"

"I'd better send it to you!"

During the creation process of Cheng Zhongshi's novel, he received a lot of help from Lin Weimin and the editorial department of "Contemporary". It was embarrassing for them to travel thousands of miles to pick up the novel.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, just think of it as going to compile a manuscript, and by the way, I can meet some of your Shaanxi writers!"

Lin Weimin's tone was unquestionable and somewhat suspicious.

"Well, I'll wait for you here!"

"good!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin hurried to the big office of the editorial department.

"Lao He, come with me to Shaanxi!" Lin Weimin said eagerly.

He Qizhi was a little surprised, "What happened? Are you in such a hurry?"

"Good thing. Lao Cheng has finished writing his novel. I'm going to pick up the manuscript!" Lin Weimin said with a smile.

Colleagues all looked at Lin Weimin. Cheng Zhongshi had been writing a novel for five or six years. Lin Weimin would be more concerned about it from time to time and had high hopes for that novel. Everyone knew it.

"It's almost finished!" He Qizhi sighed.

He expressed what his colleagues were saying. A writer may not publish a work for five or six years, but to say that he writes one work every five or six years is indeed an exaggeration.

Cheng Zhongshi has never written a long novel, and colleagues occasionally worry about the quality of his novels when chatting.

However, out of trust in Lin Weimin, no one said these words publicly. After all, they were optimistic about Lin Weimin.

"For the people, you don't need to go in person to pick up the manuscript!" He Qizhi said.

"It's okay. I'm going to meet other writers in Shaanxi by the way. Now the editorial department is short of good manuscripts, so let's just think of it as compiling manuscripts!"

Seeing that Lin Weimin was determined to go, He Qizhi stopped trying to persuade him.

Early the next morning, the two boarded the train to Shaanxi.