” Why do you say that what I wrote is shit? Do you know how insulting this word is to an author?!”
” … Yes, you are the editor, I should trust your professional vision and judgment of the market, but that style is not what I am good at. Even if I want to transform, this step is too big!”
” … I think we should all calm down for a minute. Okay, I have something else to do.”
Clara hung up and turned to meet her daughter’s puzzled gaze. She smiled and said, “It’s okay. The editor at the publishing house will find it.”
“Are you really okay?”
“How could it be fake?” Clara hugged her with a smile, “The traditional publishing industry has been in a downturn in recent years. Many best-selling authors have transformed themselves into writing online novels and made a lot of money. Of course, some were not able to adapt to the market and were eliminated. The editor also hopes that I can transform myself and write online novels, but I haven’t made up my mind yet, so I am hesitant.”
“Online novel?” Myrna was a little surprised. “What type of online novel?”
Clara smiled unnaturally: “Urban romance.”
Myrna : ” … ”
Clara is a suspense novelist. When the suspense market was booming a few years ago, she emerged with a book “Killing Weapon”, which sold 500, 000 copies a year. In the second half of the year, she published the thriller “Deserted Village School”, which once again broke the sales record.
That year was called ” Clara ‘s Year” and her two books, a total of five volumes, directly occupied the top five of the annual book sales list.
It was at that time that the editor I have now came to me.
After a period of contact, Clara felt that she was very thoughtful and visionary, and was moved by her spirit of visiting her three times, so she signed a ten-year contract in one go.
After that, Clara ‘s works were handed over to the editor for revision, publication and sale.
However, her imagined wish to go further did not come true. On the contrary, after that, Clara seemed to have entered a creative bottleneck.
Her ideas were repeatedly rejected as not suitable for the market and having no selling points. She finally got the idea right and worked out the outline, and was eager to start writing. But then the editor called and said that the outline was not good and needed to be revised.
After revising the outline according to the editor’s suggestions, Clara no longer had the urge to write.
She herself was also very distressed about this.
Is the inspiration running out?
It’s obvious that she has a lot of stories, ideas and thoughts in her mind.
Is it because you have the will but not the strength, and it is difficult to start writing?
But she kept the habit of writing every day. Over the past ten years, she has accumulated nearly one million words, but all of them were ideas rejected by the editor, and she wrote them for fun as practice.
It was never released to anyone, not even Elton .
To say that there has been no output in the past ten years is not true.
According to the editor’s request, she wrote a campus youth literature. It was said that the publishing company wanted to help her promote the film and television rights. It happened that youth campus-themed TV dramas were very popular at that time.
But this was not the genre that Clara was good at, so she wrote it very unsmoothly and it took her two years to finish it.
Another year passed before the film was officially published and released, and the trend of film and television had already changed by then.
Youth-themed literature has become a common form of “whining literature”.
Clara was scolded badly for this.
Old readers said that she “flattered the market and reaped the consequences”, and book reviewers criticized her for having “problematic values”.
Netizens were even more ruthless, saying that she had run out of ideas, was obsessed with love, and gave up writing suspense and thrillers and turned to writing youth literature.
Some people even spread conspiracy theories saying that she was selling a pen name and that someone else had already replaced her.
During that time, Clara almost became depressed.
Fortunately, with the company of her husband and daughter, she slowly came out of the haze, but since then, she no longer goes online and even uses an old-fashioned mobile phone.
Clara published a youth campus novel and no other new works.
“Oh, let’s not talk about this anymore. Is it delicious?”
“Delicious, still tastes the same as before.”
Myrna looked at her mother’s face, wanting to say something but stopping herself, but in the end she said nothing, “It’s just that the soy milk is a little hot.”
“Really? Let it air dry for a while.”
…
Christmas approaches , the peaceful life in the small town becomes more festive.
Lanterns were hung on both sides of the street, and colorful lights were also hung on the roadside trees.
The small supermarket near her home was crowded and the goods were limited, so Clara simply drove to the large supermarket in the city center.
After parking the car, the mother and daughter took the elevator to the first floor.
Before entering the door, I saw big “Fu” characters written on two signboards on the left and right.
Looking further inside, people are crowded together, all buying New Year’s goods, and the atmosphere is full of joy.
There are no children at home, but during Christmas, we have to visit relatives from the Wagner Family , graduate students come to visit, and nearby neighbors occasionally come to visit, so dried goods and fruits are inevitable.
Passing by the snack area, Clara picked out some branded candies and chips and cookies.
Remembering that the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar at home were almost used up, I bought some bottles and cans.
When they walked to the seafood area and saw the lively Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Clara turned around and wanted to ask Myrna if she wanted to buy some shrimps to take back.
As a result, the person who had been following behind disappeared.
Clara raised her eyebrows and pushed the shopping cart two rows back. Sure enough, she saw Myrna putting cold raw chocolates into the shopping cart.
The chocolate is a little bitter, but being at home, turning on the heater, eating popsicles, and feeling the coolness from head to toe is definitely a unique experience in winter.
She originally wanted to take two secretly, but she didn’t expect to be discovered so quickly.
Clara pitifully : ” … Can I keep two?”
Clara was at her ease: “What do you think?”
In the end, Clara didn’t put all of them back and left one in the shopping cart.
“Mom, do you have to be so strict? One stick is not enough. There are also you and Dad!”
“Your father and I don’t eat it.”
“Then I can!”
Clara rolled her eyes at her: ” Don’t even think about it ! One, no more.”
Myrna : ” ?? Okay.”
“Hey, Clara ?” Suddenly, a voice came from behind.
The mother and daughter looked back together.
I saw a woman in her forties, wearing a white suit, with her hair combed into a bun at the back of her head and secured with a hairpin.
She has a business-like yet artistic air, an ordinary appearance, plain facial features, and even overly high eyebrows that make her look a little fierce.
” Ms Joule , what a coincidence.” Clara greeted with a smile.
“Yes,” the woman smiled and walked in front of the mother and daughter, her eyes fell on Myrna : “What is this?”
Clara : “My daughter.”
“She’s already this old?! I remember the last time we met, she was still in high school, right?”
“right.”
Salome glanced at Myrna ‘s face and said, ” You’ve grown into a big girl. So beautiful, just like you.”
Clara’s smile became more genuine.
There is no mother in the world who doesn’t like to hear others praise her daughter.
“By the way, what have you thought about the transformation we talked about on the phone this morning?”
Clara’s smile froze.
Myrna only realized at this point that the woman in front of her was actually her mother’s editor.