I am a literary giant in Japan

"Thank you, Beichuan. Thank you for always being with me like this."

Saito Rena stood up solemnly and bowed slightly to Kitagawa Hide to show her gratitude to him.

In fact, given the relationship between the two of them, there is no need for them to deliberately express gratitude to each other.

With just a glance, they can understand each other's intentions.

But Rena Saito still felt that she should express it formally to Kitagawa Hide.

The bond between people, just as what the father said to Hanzawa in "Hanzawa Naoki", requires mutual "care" and "maintenance".

No one will take it for granted to be nice to anyone else, and no one can accept others' kindness to themselves with peace of mind.

Love requires a two-way effort, and so does friendship.

"We won't talk about this between us."

Kitagawa Hide doesn't really care about these details.

He waved to Saito Reina and immediately took out a new manuscript from his backpack.
"By the way, this is the new book I plan to serialize in the next issue of Literature and Art. See if these settings can be used."

"A new book?"

Just now, Rena Saito was still worried about Kitagawa Hide not being able to publish his new book in "Wenyi".

Now Kitagawa Hide suddenly took out his new book.

It made her suddenly feel that her "resentful" behavior just now was very clownish.

She rolled her eyes at Kitagawa Hide, then took the manuscript curiously and began to read it impatiently.

In the past two days, after deciding to write a new book based on the Wakayama poisonous curry incident, Kitagawa Hide immediately sorted out the main characters, world view settings, and detailed story context.

He also posted the original plot of the movie "The Villain" in the form of an outline in this manuscript.

Seeing that the title of the book was "The Villain", Rena Saito became curious instinctively.

At this stage in Japan, a large number of women have begun to leave their families and enter the workplace, and some of them, like Rena Saito, have achieved good success in the workplace and have a certain voice.
Therefore, the national evaluation of women in the workplace has turned around, and the media and public opinion no longer dare to openly criticize women.

At first glance, the title of Kitagawa Hide's book "The Evil Woman" seems a bit "insulting to women", which makes Saito Rena quite curious.

She knew that Kitagawa Hide would definitely not be stupid enough to write like that, so how would he actually do it?
The content of the setting draft was not complicated, and she only took ten minutes to read it all carefully.

But then she spent half an hour, until Keigo Higashino returned from the contract department, before she finished reading the plot synopsis of the movie "The Villain".

Seeing that the two of them were discussing work, Keigo Higashino tactfully greeted Rena Saito quietly and indicated to her that the contract had been signed.

Without waiting for Rena Saito to persuade him to stay, Keigo Higashino quietly left the office, leaving the space entirely to the two of them.

"How is it? This seems to be the first time I see you with such a serious expression."

At least 50% of the book that Hide Kitagawa is going to write this time has to be written entirely by himself, so after making these settings, he himself did not feel very confident.

Reina Saito is one of the most professional editors in the industry, and her opinions are invaluable to Kitagawa Hide at this time.

"This novel is based on the Wakayama poisonous curry incident, right?"

Saito Reina rarely responded to him first, but asked back.

"Yes. The prototype of the 'villain' in the story is Hayashi Masumi." Kitagawa Hide answered truthfully.

"So how many of these story plots are taken from real events?" Saito Rena asked.

Beichuan Xiu glanced at the manuscript in her hand, thought about it carefully, and then said: "The plot of the story is basically adapted by me according to her deeds. If I have to say, nothing is taken from real events."

The movie "The Villain" itself is a rewrite of the Hayashi Masumi incident. Now that Hide Kitagawa has further processed it, there must be some differences from the real events.

After listening to Rena Saito's two questions, the intuitive Kitagawa Hide immediately realized what she meant.

"You mean the plot of the novel is fine, but it reads a little lacking in authenticity?"

Kitagawa Hide looked at her.

Saito Reina nodded with satisfaction.

It’s easy to communicate with the authors you are most familiar with.

Long-term editing work has made her subconsciously not to find fault in front of the author.

Authors are a very special professional group.

They seem free, casual and spontaneous, but in fact most of them are stay-at-home guys and girls who are fragile inside, desire recognition and seldom go out.

In the past, some authors would have a terrible stress reaction if they were simply urged to submit their manuscripts on time, let alone if the editor pointed out their novel’s flaws and shortcomings in person.

Writers who are more sensitive and outstanding than ordinary authors have a higher suicide rate.

Rena Saito didn't dare to provoke them with extreme words.

After reading the manuscript of "The Villain", her intuitive feeling was "It can be written, but it is difficult to write, and because it happens to be on the boundary between pure literature and popular literature, it is easy to be criticized if it is not written well."

Given Kitagawa Hide's current status in the literary world, Saito Rena really does not recommend that he continue to take such risks in trying various new themes and new writing styles.

"Hanzawa Naoki" was a success, so everyone was happy.

But if this new work of his that entered the field of popular literature failed, Saito Rena couldn't imagine how public opinion would criticize Kitagawa Hide, the "world's number one."

The current "The Villain" is even more experimental and tentative than "Hanzawa Naoki".

There was no way she wasn't taking it seriously.

The problem that Kitagawa Hide just pointed out was the biggest problem that she thought of as her first reaction.

The novel is a good one, whether in terms of subject matter, intention, or focus on hot social news.

The problem is that there is a subtle sense of disconnection between the Wakayama poisonous curry incident and the story line presented by Kitagawa Hide now.

The outline given by Hide Kitagawa is like duckweed on the water or a mirage in the sky. It is beautiful, but too illusory and makes people feel unreal.

The main reason for this unreality is what Kitagawa Hide himself said just now, that the story plot did not make detailed reference to real events and was somewhat distorted.

"Beichuan, you should know better than me that a truly good novel may seem fictional and detached from reality, but in fact it is an adaptation of real events and characters in the real world, rather than pure fiction."

Saito Reina turned the manuscript to the page with the plot outline, pointed at the content and said seriously,
“Your character design, world view and purpose are all very ingenious, leaving absolutely no room for criticism.

But I think this plot outline is a bit too dramatic.

Everyone knows that you are writing about Hayashi Masumi, so they will inevitably bring in the Wakayama poisonous curry incident. But as you read on, you realize that it doesn't seem to be the case.

Then readers will subconsciously feel that the plot of the novel is a bit too jumpy and distorted.

In this way, even if the novel is interesting and good to read, it will make readers feel less interesting. "

"So what we have to do is to keep the literary and storytelling qualities of the novel as close to real events as possible, so that readers can have a good reading experience and a strong sense of immersion."

Kitagawa Hide nodded thoughtfully.

Saito Reina also nodded, feeling that if all authors could be as smart and obedient as Kitagawa Hide, her job would be easier. Unfortunately, most of the authors under "Wenyi" are freaks and self-confidence freaks, with inexplicable self-persistence and strange literary youth diseases.

Now Kawade Shobo has also introduced a "mental rest leave" for its editorial staff, one day every month, allowing editors to rest at home with pay, in order to prevent the editors from becoming depressed, anxious, or neurasthenia due to these authors.

“That’s the theory, but how do you actually do it?”

Saito Reina stuck out her tongue embarrassedly.

In the short term, she could only give Kitagawa Hide this kind of advice. She herself had no idea how to avoid or solve this problem.

"Then it seems I should go visit Hayashi Masumi in prison soon."

Kitagawa Hide's mind was very bright.

Since we want to ensure that the novel story is as close to real events as possible, the best way is to go to the parties involved to collect materials.

No one understands herself better than Hayashi Masumi.

Hearing this plan, Saito Reina was shocked and subconsciously retorted: "Kitagawa, isn't this too risky? Many newspapers and magazines now say that she was so crazy about poisoning the curry rice because she watched Paradise Lost.

Even though we know that this matter has nothing to do with you, why do we go to visit her at this time?"

"it's OK.

You should know me very well when it comes to writing books.

As long as I can write a good novel, I don’t care about these details at all.

If she really chose to poison the child after watching Paradise Lost, then I should certainly shoulder the corresponding responsibility.

If not, I naturally have a clear conscience and am not afraid of what anyone says.

Those who want to slander me will not stop slandering me just because I didn’t visit.”

Beichuan Xiu took this matter very lightly and was not afraid at all of those people who hid in dark corners and were pestering him.

How could the scorching sun care about the tiny and dim stars around it?
"That's what you said. I was too anxious."

Saito Reina nodded slightly, then picked up the phone beside her and said,
"Then let me go with you to Tokyo Prison. With me as the editor-in-chief here, you will have a reason to explain if you are held accountable by the news media."

"Okay, let's see what happens tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Kitagawa Hide thought about it and realized that he had no connections with the Tokyo Prison, so he might have to contact them through the young policewoman Hikigaya Nako, or Miyamoto Juju of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

After the two reached an agreement on this matter, they got together to study how to highlight the core character of "The Villain".

There is no doubt that whether this novel will become a hit depends on whether the character of "Hayashi Masumi" can stand out.

While they were studying how to write a novel together, shoulder to shoulder and head to head, Saito Rena also felt for the first time the pleasure of writing a book with Kitagawa Hide.

It turns out that this is how it feels when his editing really plays a role.

Saito Rena secretly glanced at Kitagawa Hide's handsome profile, and a wonderful feeling she had never experienced before gradually rose in her heart.

1998 8 Month 18 Day.

The August issue of "Wenyi" has been released in major bookstores in Japan as scheduled.

Because it was known that this issue of "Wenyi" would not contain Mr. Hide Kitagawa's new book, the number of readers who came to the bookstore to buy "Wenyi" dropped sharply on the first day of publication.

The bookstore employees also realized how much impact the presence or absence of new books by Mr. Kitagawa would have on the entire Japanese literary market.

It was a drizzling day, which was totally unlike the weather in a hot summer.

Lead-gray clouds hung low, like a piece of rice paper soaked with water slowly spreading under the sky.

The rain was as fine as cow hair, weaving into fluttering gauze in the breeze, enveloping the whole of Tokyo in a hazy curtain.

Hiroki Ryuichi jumped down from the old pickup truck and stepped into the puddle, causing circles of trembling ripples to splash out.

He tightened his coat and walked straight to the nearest bookstore without even opening his umbrella.

In 1982, he independently directed his first film "Sexual Abuse! Violent Woman", thus starting his directorial career.

This debut film received good reviews at the time and had good box office sales, making him one of the most anticipated new directors in the Japanese film and television industry.

However, after that, his long twelve-year directorial career was filled with mediocre films.

"Chikan and the Skirt" in 1984, "Sawako no Koi: The Love Lecture of Perfect Lies" in 1990, and three other action movies in between all ended up with mediocre box office results.

In 1994, he directed the feature film "800 Meters, Two Middle-distance Runners", which won the "Film Junpo" Top Ten Best Films Award, giving him a little respite.

Then there was another four-year gap.

Now, Ryuichi Hiroki can hardly afford to pay his mortgage.

As Japan's economy was in a downturn, the film and television industry also fell into a slump. Old directors like him who had no representative works and had been in the circle for many years but achieved nothing were basically unemployed.

Many of his colleagues at the same time started setting up carts on the streets to make a living, but Hiroki Ryuichi refused to believe in evil.

Since I haven’t been invited to make a movie, I’ll find the script, find investment, and then shoot it independently!

Now his main way of finding scripts is to see if there are any new good books published in bookstores.

Walking into the small bookstore, the sparse flow of customers indicates that in the context of economic downturn, even Japan's most proud literary market has begun to decline.

Hiroki Takashi took a look around and was quickly attracted by the book "Literature and Art" on the top table.

"Wenyi" is the leading magazine in the publishing industry and is basically unrivaled.

But a big part of the reason for its popularity is due to Mr. Kitagawa, who has produced many excellent works.

Hiroki Ryuichi remembered that this issue of "Wenyi" should not have serialized Kitagawa's new book, no wonder the sales seemed far lower than before.

He reached out and picked up a copy of Literature and Art, on the cover of which was written, "This is a non-detective novel written by Keigo Higashino that is most unlike Keigo Higashino.

There is no crime, no death, no detectives here, only ordinary people with ordinary troubles, ordinary solutions, and eventually ordinary happiness. "

It was this promotional slogan that attracted his attention.

Keigo Higashino is currently Japan's leading master of mystery literature.

It is said that the copyright fee for a single copy of his mystery novel can be as high as 1000 million yen, far ahead of the mystery literature world.

But the irony is that all the pure literary novels he wrote were flopped. Not to mention the copyright fees, most of the time the publishing houses couldn't even make back the cost of their investment.

Therefore, after a year, the copyright fees for Keigo Higashino's pure literary novels fell to a bargain price.

Even though it was a magazine published by a leading publishing house, seeing that the book serialized was a pure literary novel written by Keigo Higashino, Hiroki Ryuichi was sure that the copyright fee for this book would be very low.

This might be a good opportunity to pick up a bargain.
After all, with his current financial resources and resources, he wants a script written by a well-known author, but also hopes that the copyright fee for the script is not high. It seems that he can only rely on this kind of luck.

He lowered his head to look at the magazine in the transparent film: "But this "Sorrowful Grocery Store" has a strange title." (End of this chapter)