I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 176 A New Writing Style

5 month 18 day.

The May 1996 issue of "Wenyi" was placed on the shelves of major bookstores as scheduled.

However, this time there was neither a new book by Mr. Kitagawa nor any attractive new writers.

In order to fill the gap between Master Kitagawa Hide and his three apprentices, the editorial department specially called on many veteran authors of Kawaide Shobo to come back and write short stories.

Even so, this issue of "Wenyi" still leads "Qunxiang" and "Qunxing" in sales with only a slight advantage.

The latter two are as dead as can be. The May issue of "Qun Xiang" even published the winning works of the new round of Qun Xiang Newcomer Award, but they still failed to make any splash in the market.

Nowadays, when people talk about the appreciation of new group portraits, the first thing that pops into their minds is "Hear the Wind Sing".

It can be said that "Hear the Wind Sing" has become a synonym for appreciation of group portraits by newcomers, and it is also a peak that later generations will never be able to surpass.

The sales of this issue of "Wenyi" are only slightly better than those of these two pure literature magazines. Naturally, it is impossible for this issue of "Wenyi" to trample on "Wenxuejie" and punch "Xinchao" like the previous issues.

The poor sales performance this time also caused the board of directors to completely stop talking about the matter of Shizuko Kawaide giving up her shares to Hide Kitagawa.

Now they only hope that Mr. Kitagawa can serialize a new book as soon as possible to boost the sales of "Wenyi".

As long as they can see the new book, let alone the small amount of shares, I guess these people would be happy to be given another 3%.

While the pure literature publishing industry was in a slump, news newspapers were bustling with activity.

"Drunkard Rose Saint" was arrested, and his real identity turned out to be a minor!
Because of the protection afforded him by the Juvenile Law, newspapers could not disclose his identity information, nor could they report or make excessive comments on the case - everything depended on the uncoordinated family court releasing information bit by bit, like squeezing toothpaste.

News emphasizes timeliness and popularity.

Therefore, most newspapers directed their criticism at the police force that failed to provide adequate social security, and the education system that had long been criticized by the media.

[It is the deformed education system that caused this tragedy! ]

[If society, school and family had not neglected the mental health of juvenile offender A, how could he have become like this? ]

【Take a step back and say, don’t the guardians and police have any responsibility at all? 】

Eye-catching reports like these appear frequently.

These days I have been busy with my internship on the copyright operations of "Border" and "Paradise Lost". On a rare day off, I went back to the cafe to give Kitagawa Hide a massage. When Yumeko, who was doing housework, saw the news in the newspaper, her mouth immediately fell.

Mayumi Aso and Rena Saito are also extremely dissatisfied with this.

Because Aso Aiko, Saito Lili and Saito Nene all attend kindergarten and elementary school in Kokubunji City.

As she has been busy with work recently, Rena Saito often asks Hide Kitagawa to help pick up her sisters.

Now she was frightened.

If Kitagawa Hide wasn't a careful and reliable person, what would he do if the "Drunken Rose Saint" targeted his family?
Women are as resentful as they are compassionate.

Once you provoke a woman, be prepared to receive endless bombardment!
After this case happened, all junior high schools, elementary schools and kindergartens in Kokubunji City announced a three-day suspension of classes.

Rena Saito happened to bring her two younger sisters to the cafe today to play, and to take a look at the progress of the new book by Master Kitagawa Hide and his three disciples.

The one who wrote the fastest among the four was Keigo Higashino, who was usually taciturn.

The story of "The Wandering Blade" quickly took shape in Keigo Higashino's mind after Kitagawa Hide gave him the inspiration that day.

For some reason, he always felt that he was born to write this book. With the plot outline and character settings given by Mr. Kitagawa, Keigo Higashino wrote very quickly. He finished the first chapter with a total of more than 2 words in just a few days.

At this time, while he was writing the second chapter, he was secretly observing Saito Rena's expression.

Kitagawa Hide had read the first draft, and also provided guidance and revisions. The version that was now in Saito Rena's hands was an advanced version that had been revised several times.

I don’t know if it was affected by the “Drunken Rose Saint War” incident.

When Saito Rena saw the protagonist's daughter, Nagamine Ema, being knocked unconscious and taken away by three bad boys, and finally turned into a miserable corpse floating on the river, she always felt that her breathing became difficult.

Although Kitagawa Hide had hinted before she read the manuscript, this "Wandering Blade" would continue to maintain Keigo Higashino's personal style - using a powerful opening to attract readers.

But now, this opening seems too strong.

She has read so many manuscripts that, except for the super high-quality manuscripts written by Kitagawa Hide, there are very few novel openings that can stimulate her nerves.

I didn’t expect that Keigo Higashino’s second work could achieve this.

The ending part of the first chapter is the reasoning part that Keigo Higashino is best at, and Rena Saito was quite enjoyable to watch.

This part was also the plot that Kitagawa Hide asked him to revise many times.

Keigo Higashino's first draft was also in the hands of Rena Saito, which made it convenient for her to compare the two drafts.

Originally, she couldn't feel much from just reading the new draft.

But in comparison, the part modified by Kitagawa Hide stands out.

In Keigo Higashino's first draft, the two policemen were just constantly conducting mechanical reasoning, which was hardcore enough, but lacked in interest and literary quality.

After Kitagawa Hide made the revision, the length of the reasoning was appropriately reduced, and the characterization and core intention were replaced. For example, the police officer Hisazuka asked his subordinate Oribe, "Why didn't you tell the male protagonist that her daughter was injected with X drugs?"

The experienced Hisatsuka replied, "What good will it do if I tell you?"

"Remember, the victims' families want to know everything, including things they shouldn't know. But the more they know about the case, the more painful it is. So try not to let the families know bad things and alleviate their pain. This is also the duty of the police."

Whether Hisatsuka's words were made out of the police's humanitarian concern for the victims, or simply to facilitate his own investigation, or to alleviate the victims' resentment towards the police, is actually worth pondering.

What particularly shocked Saito Reina was that at the end of the first chapter, the junior detective Oribe curiously asked: "Has the team leader ever considered the possibility that the murderer is a teenager?"

Another detective, Mano, stared at the junior for a long time, then put his index finger on his lips and said, "It is because the team leader is sure of this that he dares not say it out loud. And we, too, have to pretend to be ignorant of the situation, just like the team leader."

This brief conversation immediately hit Saito Rena's heart.

This is also a small plot added by Kitagawa Hide, which immediately makes the beginning of the whole novel different!
"How is it?" Kitagawa Hide didn't look up, his hands were still typing on the keyboard.

After a long period of training, he can now easily type and talk to others at the same time.

This seems to be a very outrageous and magical thing.

But Kitagawa Hide relied on persistent training to truly achieve the goal of multitasking.

Reina Saito, who is very familiar with his working style, does not think he is impolite. Instead, she admires him from the bottom of her heart and hopes that one day she can also learn this unique skill.

"Very. Great! But also very. Unpleasant and suffocating." Saito Rena said truthfully.

She let out a long sigh, then held the manuscript and said with emotion: "As an editor, I hope to continue to receive manuscripts like this, but as a sister and an ordinary citizen, I hope that similar manuscripts will never appear in the Japanese literary world in the future."

Because such books were written to criticize Japan's imperfect legal system and its dark social aspects.

"I hope so." Kitagawa Hideya nodded. "Since you think it's okay, let's serialize it in the next issue of "Wenyi". Keigo, is it okay to serialize 5 chapters at a time?"

"No problem, Master! I will definitely finish these 10 words before the deadline next month!" When Keigo Higashino heard Kitagawa Hide calling him, he knew that "The Wandering Blade" had been approved, and he rarely expressed his opinion in a loud voice.

His manuscript review also inspired Mayumi Aso and another author who were also working hard on their creations.

They looked at Keigo Higashino with envy, and then devoted themselves seriously to the creation of the new book.

Saito Rena looked at Kitagawa Hide again.

She is even more looking forward to his new work.

What kind of work is a novel that can tell the public how to punish juvenile offenders?

At present, she only knows that the title of the book is "Confessions".

In Japan, the word "confession" can be used to express love between men and women, and can also be used to express emotions such as family love and friendship.

In addition, confession has another meaning, which is "monologue".

Kitagawa Xiu didn't say much to her, but just asked her to come to the cafe today, saying that he would be able to write the first chapter for her to see soon.

The original work of "Confessions" was written from a POV perspective.

Various psychological monologues are given from the perspectives of several key characters, including a female teacher, a male teacher, two juvenile delinquents, a female student, and the juvenile delinquent's biological brother.

Through these monologues, readers can piece together the inner thoughts of different characters and the true course of events.

The advantage of this writing style is that it looks grand and can analyze human nature more deeply, but the disadvantages are also obvious. If the story is serialized in this way, readers will only be confused.

It's like when people read novels, who would like to read the contents of your diary that you write every day?

Doing it once or twice occasionally will give you a sense of freshness.

Doing this every time will only lead to boredom and tiredness.

Therefore, Hide Kitagawa plans to write a new novel based on the movie "Confessions" and the story line.

Then insert those interesting psychological monologues at the end of each chapter.

This ensures the high-end feeling of the POV perspective without affecting the reader's reading experience.

However, if this were to happen, Kitagawa Hide's workload would increase exponentially, and there would be a lot of revisions to be made.

After all, movies are pictures, not words, and to convert them into novels requires a certain level of writing skills.

However, thinking that "Drunkard Rose Saint" would be transferred to a reformatory, he would be acquitted in a few years and continue to live in anonymity.

And the children he killed no longer have a tomorrow.

Kitagawa Hide suddenly became very motivated to write a book.

This time, not only will he be targeting the damned juvenile offender directly, he will also rely on the influence of the novel and his own status in the literary world to make the incident even bigger.

We must not let him get away with it so easily!

Just when he was about to insert the monologue of the heroine Moriguchi Yuko into the end of the first chapter, an even more sensational event occurred at the Family Court!
(End of this chapter)