I am a literary giant in Japan

Kitagawa's bust will be printed on the 2000 yen banknote.

This big news spread rapidly throughout Japan through the channels of the six major television stations.

In less than 20 minutes, almost all people from all walks of life who were friends with Kitagawa Hide called to congratulate him.

In order to facilitate paging, Kitagawa Hide and Yumeko each had two mobile phones, and there was also a landline in each room of the house.

Even so, the countless bombarding calls still overwhelmed his home line.

After discovering that Beichuan's phone was always busy, some people were worried that their congratulations would lag behind others, so they turned their attention to Beichuan Entertainment's customer service department.

January 1999, 1 was probably the most lively and busiest day since the establishment of Beichuan Entertainment.

Employees in the customer service department are constantly bombarded with phone calls from readers, and their lives are miserable.

But compared with today's work intensity, they suddenly felt that their usual work intensity was nothing but child's play and not worth mentioning at all.
Beichuan Entertainment's customer service department also fell within an hour.

After their fall, the next to suffer were the customer service staff of Kawade Shobo.

Seeing the bombardment of phone calls one after another, although they looked depressed, they were happy in their hearts. They felt that they were able to participate in such a historical event and that they would be able to brag about it to the younger generations in the future.

The crazy phone bombardment did not subside until the evening of the 30th. During this period, Kitagawa Hide and Yumeko's phones never stopped ringing. The high-frequency vibration and sound effects made Kitagawa Hide feel that the calls were worse than "ghost calls."

When it comes to "The Call," Kitagawa Hide immediately thinks of the film trilogy of the same name written by Yasushi Akimoto.

Speaking of which, it seems that Akimoto Yasushi, the fat man with a lot of clever ideas, was also blown away by the wings of the butterfly effect.

Once he was gone, AKB48, an indispensable part of Japanese idol culture, also disappeared.

It is a pity that many classic horror and cult films also failed as a result.

Given Kitagawa Hide's current status in the Japanese literary world, if he wrote "The Call", even if he was just a nominal screenwriter, he would probably be scolded to death. It would definitely be inappropriate.

However, thinking that he has five major disciples under his command, Mayumi Aso, Keigo Higashino, Shiro Dango, Shunji Iwai and Kaoru, it seems like a good idea to hand over some of the original historical resources to them.

By the way, Mengzi actually likes creation and writing scripts. In the past, because she had to run a company and take care of her children and family, she could never spare some time to devote to her hobbies.

Now that Beichuan Group is listed, it has a very mature board of directors and senior executives to assist in operations, so Mengzi basically doesn't need to worry too much about the company's affairs.

By October this year, the two little ones will be two years old.

According to the customs here in Japan, you can send your child to a preschool parenting class and mingle with other children.

At that time, he and Mengzi would only need to pick them up and take them out to play on weekends and holidays.

In this way, Mengzi will definitely have a lot of free time, and it is indeed time for her to write something and fulfill her dream.

Before going to bed at night, Kitagawa Hide shared this idea with Mengzi.

To his surprise, Mengzi, who had never dared to express her desires, nodded for the first time, excitedly expressing her approval and expectation.

"Honey, I really want to write something myself. That's it." Mengzi smiled embarrassedly.

"What is it?" Kitagawa Hide looked at her curiously.

Come to think of it, how could a top student who graduated from the Faculty of Literature of the University of Tokyo and was previously a disciple of Professor Osamu Takeuchi not have his own literary dream?

If she had not met him and married him, Mengzi would probably be a young female author struggling to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and literary artist.

"That's right. I've been writing secretly, and even submitted manuscripts when I wasn't doing well."

Mengzi smiled shyly and buried her head in his chest.
“And then it was rejected.”

"Your anonymous submission was rejected?" Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but smile, then curiously asked, "Which magazine did you submit it to, and which editor did you submit it to?"

"Oh, don't say it. It's so embarrassing." Mengzi rolled her eyes at him and didn't want to continue talking about her embarrassing experience.

Kitagawa Hide has been with her for four years, but this is the first time he has seen Yumeko with such a shy expression. He immediately starts asking questions in a "mean" way and finally gets the truth out of her.

It turned out that Mengzi was worried that the acceptance rate of pure literature was too low, so she tried to submit her manuscript to "Da Zhong" first.

The editor chosen was naturally Yasushi Ishida, who was familiar with them.

However, this submission fell on deaf ears and there was no news for three months. It was not until the end of last month that she received a reply letter from Yasushi Ishida.

The letter praised her writing style and ideas, but the plot of the novel was too vulgar and boring. Ishida Yasujun felt that it did not meet the contract standards and rejected the manuscript.

Mengzi still treasures the handwritten reply letter in her makeup box, together with a bunch of luxury cosmetics. It is obviously an item she values ​​very much.

The first submission failed, which greatly reduced Mengzi’s confidence. After that, he only wrote occasionally and never dared to submit again.

"Although it may be discouraging, Mr. Ishida's response is still very sincere and pertinent."

Mengzi pinched the corner of Kitagawa Hide's clothes and still clearly remembered all the comments in the reply letter.

At the end of the letter, Ishida Yasujun told her truthfully that he was going to be transferred to work in Yamanashi Prefecture and was afraid that he would not be able to accept her new manuscripts in the future.

He recommended that Yumeko continue to submit her works to the female editor-in-chief, Misa Ochiai, who liked Kitagawa Hide's novels.

Misa Ochiai was the female editor who was designated by Japan's Ota Publishing House to work with Shinichiro Azuma.

She and Rena Saito are completely two different types of people. She relied purely on her body and looks to get to the top.

When Shinichiro Azuma was writing "Zekuka", Misa Ochiai also tried to help him revise it.

However, Shinichiro Higashi was so conceited at that time that he did not allow Misa Ochiai to interfere with his book, and rejected Misa Ochiai's suggestion of "at least go to visit the victim's family and apologize."

After "Zetsuka" was crushed by "Kanbai", Ochiai Misa also left Ota, Japan, and went to live in Izu for a year. Then she joined "Dazhong" with a new attitude and worked her way up to the position of editor-in-chief.

Kitagawa Hide did not let the company take a blanket punishment against those industry insiders with a "criminal record".

After all, the Japanese workplace is a big melting pot. If you look deeply into it, you will find that no one has a clean bottom.

Misa Ochiai did not help the evil, and she decisively left when Shinichiro Azuma collapsed and Ota of Japan could not figure out the situation.

After joining Dazhong, her reputation and ability have always been good and she is very popular, so Kitagawa Hide no longer cares about her.

Come to think of it, Ochiai Misa does have a lot of reliable female authors under her. Maybe it’s because same-sex attracts!
"Humph! Fortunately, this guy didn't just sit there and do nothing. Otherwise, even if he went to Yamanashi Prefecture to open up wasteland, I would still skin him alive!"

Since his little wife's manuscript was rejected, Kitagawa Hide of course stood on Yumeko's side and "criticized" Ishida Yasujun with a smile.

"Oh~ dear, you can't make things difficult for Mr. Ishida!" Not to mention that Ishida Taijun is Kobayashi Tomoyo's boyfriend, as an editor, he is indeed dedicated and responsible, without any slackness.

Yumeko gently hit Kitagawa Hide and told him not to make things difficult for Ishida Yasujun.

Kitagawa Hide agreed readily, but he still felt a little uncomfortable.

After the man's inexplicable desire to win was aroused, he decided to guide his little wife like he was guiding a few disciples, so that she could submit her manuscript successfully, and preferably have a big hit!
After seeing Kitagawa Hide personally instructing Aso Mayumi and others, Yumeko has always wanted similar guidance.

But she also felt that this was a professional exchange and communication between famous writers, and it would be inappropriate for a half-baked person like her to interfere, and it might also embarrass Kitagawa Hide, so she never said a word.

Now, hearing what Kitagawa Hide said, I nodded continuously, wishing he would get up and talk about his ideas and creative thoughts right away.

Feeling his young wife's unprecedented excitement, Kitagawa Hide smiled with relief, thinking that this was the right thing to do. It seemed that he would have to pay more attention to his young wife's emotions and thoughts in the future.

"Well, dear, what kind of subject do you think can be written? Is it a workplace novel like "White Tower" or "Hanzawa Naoki"? "

Mengzi pouted. She loved reading these two novels, but if she were asked to write a workplace article, she would probably not be able to write a single word for a long time.

Popular literature on workplace themes requires the creator to have very profound workplace experience and knowledge. It is best if they have worked in related industries, but at least they have to have a good understanding of all kinds of things.

Otherwise, if you have no experience or research in this type of novel, it will inevitably be exposed as soon as you write it, and readers will run away in an instant.

It is precisely because of these highly professional details and an understanding of the industry that is different from the general public that this type of novel can stand out from the popular literature market where the subject matter has been over-repeated.

"No. Writing about the workplace requires too much experience from the creator. It's not suitable for you."

Kitagawa Hide shook his head decisively.

If you insist on asking Mengzi to write a workplace novel, he already has a reserve of works such as "A Society Without Retirement", "I, Get Off Work on Time", and "The Undertaker".

But after "White Tower" and "Hagane Naoki", Japan's workplace-themed novels have basically been written out.

In this parallel universe, after Kitagawa Hide wrote these two novels, countless popular literature writers followed suit, and their works were so exaggerated that they almost explored every industry in Japan.

This is a topic without future and depth, and it is not worth it for my little wife to spend a lot of time and effort to write about it.

And just as they thought, without corresponding life experience, unless one is as talented as Kitagawa Hide, it would be hard to get the writing right no matter how one writes it, and it would most likely fail.

"Then what should I write?" Mengzi tilted her head.

"Write a horror novel." When he thought of "The Call," Kitagawa Hide immediately had several good ideas.

Horror novels, like detective novels, are an indispensable category in popular literature.

Moreover, the horror element is timeless and can be matched with any subject matter.

"Horror novel?!" Mengzi looked surprised.

"Horror novel?!"

Tokyo International Airport, in a VIP waiting room.

After hearing Kitagawa Hide's new book idea, Saito Rena almost jumped out of her seat.

1 month 31 day.

After almost finishing everything, the two of them prepared to fly to Bangkok, Thailand, to go to Thailand for a photo (public) photography (paid) and sightseeing (tourism) tour in the name of a Japanese literary investigation group.

The trilogy "Disabled but Determined" does not have any rating system in Thailand. It is far ahead with a total sales volume of 120 million copies, and has become a best-seller that every junior and senior high school student in Thailand has a copy.

Thailand, a country that has never paid much attention to literature, unexpectedly had an overseas novel become popular. As a result, the entire Thai literature market seemed to have recovered, and several new books took advantage of the situation.

In particular, "Children of the Dark", which is set in Thailand, not only saw its sales soar, but it was also revealed that it would be filmed in Thailand, which immediately caused a sensation across Thailand.

Mr. Kitagawa is coming to Bangkok and will be a visiting professor in the Faculty of Literature at Chulalongkorn University, and will give a literature class to students this weekend.

After this news was released by Thailand's "Thai Rath (Thai Daily)", it immediately attracted a large number of people to come and observe and wait to listen.

Before Kitagawa Hide and his companion boarded the plane, the flow of people in Bangkok had already exploded, and they had to adopt a level one alert status to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation.

Before boarding the plane, Saito Rena asked Kitagawa Hide about his ideas for his new book as usual.

Only one novel, The Crucible, is still being serialized, and it looks like it will be finished soon.

Based on her understanding of Kitagawa Hide, he must have an idea for a new book, and it will most likely be put on the agenda.

But after all her calculations and considerations, she never imagined that Kitagawa Hide would be involved in a completely new and extremely controversial subject!

Horror and suspense novels have always occupied an awkward position in the history of world literature.

Among the same types, detective and thriller novels are more popular and popular. When comparing different types, novels with core elements of "shock", "deliberately scaring", "lowering intelligence to advance the plot", and "selling sex without excitement" are the least liked and favored by readers.

Japan's popular literature is now basically monopolized by light novels and mystery literature, and other themes are almost non-existent and not even considered as scraps.

Horror novel, Saito Rena didn't know how long it had been since she last heard this term.

"To be precise, it should be a horror science fiction novel," Kitagawa Hide added.

He could have written pure horror novels that are meant to shock people, or novels that appeal to people with blood, violence, and novelty, when he was not yet famous and needed money.

After all, this thing, like the timeless erotic novels, has always had a fixed audience group, and they are very happy to pay for it.

But if we expand the scope to the entire literary circle, this type of novel is no longer enough.

Even Stephen King, who is famous for this type of subject matter, no longer sticks to writing only horror and suspense in his later years, but instead wants to go in a more lofty direction.

Kitagawa Hide certainly wouldn't cut off his own arm right away, or have an unknown old age.

When mentioning "Call Me If You Can", he couldn't help but think of the "Ring series" which is equally famous and even more famous worldwide.

This series is adapted from the horror science fiction novel "Ring Series" by Suzuki Koji!
But anyone who has read the original novel knows that "The Ring" and "The Ring" are completely different things.

The latter only borrowed some of its settings and skins, and created a completely original horror story that simply stimulates the eyes and senses.

But even if only some of the settings and appearances are stripped away, "The Ring" still became a monument in the history of world horror films.

This is all thanks to the fact that "Ring World" has a very solid setting and plot, which can become a hit even if it is casually modified.

As for the original novel, it was once rated as "the most underrated science fiction classic, bar none" by several internationally renowned science fiction writers! (End of this chapter)