Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 108: Increase in Manuscript Fees (Today's Third Update)

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang received a letter while he was at work. The sender and address were very familiar. It was from "Harvest".

It took more than a month for Lin Chaoyang's novel to be mailed out, including the time for correspondence and the review process, so the efficiency is not slow.

He opened the letter and found its content was very simple. Li Xiaolin first praised his novels, saying they were simple, plain, yet warm and moving. They were completely different from many popular novels with strong accusations, revelations and criticisms. Instead, they were somewhat similar in style to "Little Shoes" published in "Yenching Literature and Art" in the first half of the year.

However, compared with the humanism of "Little Shoes", this novel has a distinct light comedy color, like a humorous tune, which makes people smile knowingly after reading it and leaves a lingering aftertaste.

Li Xiaolin's evaluation of the novel was quite high, but there was also a problem. His father, Mr. Ba Jin, was not very satisfied with the novel after reading it.

It is believed that Comrade Wang Qinglai should adhere to the realism he insisted on in "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" and further develop the spirit of satire and criticism.

Ba Jin did not think that the current novel was bad, but he felt it was a pity that Lin Chaoyang had abandoned his previous style.

In the letter, Li Xiaolin conveyed her father Ba Jin's views, but at the same time told Lin Chaoyang not to feel pressured. The novel itself is very good, and the editorial board has reviewed and approved it and it will be scheduled for publication in the January issue next year.

Another novel is about to be published, Lin Chaoyang is very happy. It doesn’t matter whether he becomes famous or not, the most important thing is to get royalties.

His novel has nearly 12 words, which is basically a short novel. According to the previous standards for royalties, the royalties should be at least several hundred yuan.

Thinking about the royalties that were about to come, Lin Chaoyang continued to read the letter. Unexpectedly, Li Xiaolin gave him a surprise.

Li Xiaolin revealed at the end of the letter that the Publishing Bureau might raise the domestic remuneration standards in January next year. If the newly revised regulations can be implemented before "Harvest" is published in January, the editorial department will pay Lin Chaoyang royalties according to the new remuneration standards.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's remuneration system can be roughly divided into three periods.

Between 1949 and 1957, the domestic royalty payment system developed very healthily, which was basically based on the Soviet Union's method of paying royalties based on the number of copies printed. For writers, this royalty payment system could earn them a considerable amount of money.

During this period, expressions such as "struggling for 30,000 yuan" and "ten thousand yuan household" emerged in the literary world, which shows how lucrative the income of writers was at that time.

After 58, the domestic remuneration system began to regress. The amount of remuneration was repeatedly reduced, and the domestic remuneration system basically existed in name only. Writing officially entered the era of zero remuneration, and this situation lasted until 1976 when it changed.

However, the remuneration standards in recent years are still somewhat different from those in the past, which is only one-third of that in the 50s, and are still paid in one lump sum without any remuneration based on the number of copies printed.

Many people earn a hundred or even several hundred yuan for publishing a novel. It may seem like a lot, but it actually involves the issue of unit time and creative efficiency.

Many manuscripts are revised and submitted over and over again, and perhaps only one or two works can be published in a year. The large amount of time spent on mailing and revision costs invisibly dilutes the actual income from the manuscript fees.

Coupled with the pressure of rising prices, the literary community has been calling for an increase in royalties over the past year or so, which led to this adjustment in the royalties standards.

Good editing! Good editing!

Lin Chaoyang was immediately delighted by Li Xiaolin's news. This really reflected the author's concerns and thoughts.

The increase in royalties made Lin Chaoyang feel much more comfortable with Li Xiaolin's reminder to submit at the end of the letter.

Originally, he had no intention of replying to Li Xiaolin on the day he received the letter, but after reading it, he felt that it would be disrespectful to Sister Xiaolin if he did not reply immediately.

Two days later, Tao Yushu came home and told him about the preparations for the drama.

With the support of Huang Huilin, Tao Yushu and several other key members fully demonstrated the terrifying execution ability of contemporary college students, and set up the crew of "The World's No. 1 Restaurant" in just three or four days.

Although the crew members are 100% amateurs, everyone's enthusiasm is also 100%.

Tao Yushu and her colleagues mobilized dozens of students from departments including the Philosophy Department, History Department, and Education Department. The reason why they were able to gather the students so smoothly was closely related to "The World's No. 1 Restaurant".

These guys recruit people through their acquaintances. Once they get there, they don't waste any time and just take out the script. Anyone with a bit of appreciation for literature and drama can see how awesome this thing is.

In this era of drama fever, no college student can refuse the opportunity to participate in the creation of such an excellent drama script.

Even at the end, some students came and signed up to join the crew, but Tao Yushu and his colleagues had to refuse because the crew was too large, even larger than the professional crew of the theater.

After listening to Tao Yushu's description, Lin Chaoyang was happy for them and admired the execution ability of college students of this era. No matter whether they were students of Yanjing University or Yanshi University, everyone seemed to be able to quickly work together for a goal.

"Chaoyang, tomorrow is Sunday, please go and tell us about the script."

Lin Chaoyang couldn't refuse Tao Yushu's request, not only because of their relationship, but also because the success of a drama depends on the on-site joint polishing of the director, screenwriter and actors.

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu braved the cold wind and came to Yanshi University together. She led Lin Chaoyang to the second floor of the teaching building, and the two walked into a large classroom, where rows of students came into view.

Lin Chaoyang was startled and asked Tao Yushu: "Why are there so many people?"

"When we were recruiting, we often asked everyone to read the script. When they heard that you were coming to talk about the script, they all came to listen."

Dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at Lin Chaoyang below the podium, some with envy, respect, and adoration. This made Lin Chaoyang feel a sense of accomplishment, but also a lot of pressure.

He has now gradually gotten used to telling outsiders about his creative experiences and feelings. This is almost the same as hindsight. Anyway, you wrote the work first, so you are right no matter what you say.

Except for some stubborn nitpickers, no one will refute it. Even if someone refutes it, those sober people will refute it for you.

"Some time ago, Yushu said that students from Normal University wanted to imitate Yanda University and also put on a play. She was good at writing reviews, but had no experience with scripts, so she begged me to write a script. This is the origin of my script "The World's No. 1 Restaurant".

But to talk about the idea behind this script, we may have to go back a few months.

At that time, I had just finished writing "Little Shoes" and sent it to the editorial department of "Yenching Literature and Art". Everyone knows the location of Yenching University. It is not easy for us country people to go to the city..."

When Lin Chaoyang said this, the students in the audience burst into good-natured laughter at his self-mockery.

"I was just thinking about buying something for my family, so I wandered around Yanjing City and ran to Qianmen. When I saw the front of Quanjude, everyone knew that Quanjude was a century-old restaurant, and its roast duck was a specialty, which was used by leaders to entertain foreign dignitaries.

I thought to myself, I can buy some for my family to try. When I walked in, I saw that the roast duck was ten yuan each. I touched the money in my pocket and thought that the roast duck tasted average..."

Lin Chaoyang spoke in a light-hearted and humorous tone, especially when he talked about the embarrassment he encountered in Quanjude. He did not look embarrassed at all, but was full of self-mockery.

The students below felt happy while listening to this, and at the same time, they couldn't help but admire his ability to find joy in adversity. He was worthy of being a writer who could write a work like "Little Shoes".

Lin Chaoyang came to Yanshi University today not only to tell everyone about the script creation process, but also to help everyone sort out various problems in drama creation.

These students had no experience in drama creation, so they unanimously elected Huang Huilin, the teacher who taught drama studies, as the director. Now that screenwriter Lin Chaoyang has also arrived, the two naturally have to have a good exchange.

Stage design, scene changes, casting, styling and costume design...

Lin Chaoyang spent the whole morning at Yanshi University and discussed all aspects of the crew with Huang Huilin.

Although Lin Chaoyang was a layman in drama, he had experience in watching dramas in later generations, so when communicating, he would often describe things in great detail, which made Huang Huilin deeply admire him after listening to him.

I thought to myself, no wonder Lin Chaoyang could write such a good script. It turned out that he had already outlined such a vivid and clear dramatic world in his mind.

At the end of the conversation, Lin Chaoyang asked worriedly: "I didn't think it through when I was writing. In fact, the scale of "The World's No. 1 Restaurant" has exceeded the scope of what students can handle. Thanks to you, Mr. Huang, for helping to steer the ship. However, stage sets, props, and costumes all cost money, which..."

Huang Huilin understood what he meant and said, "I just submitted a report to the school yesterday and asked for 2000 yuan in funding. With your strong support and the enthusiasm of the students, the school will definitely support us."

Funding was not something Lin Chaoyang could worry about. Seeing that Huang Huilin spoke with confidence, he nodded.

The money has not arrived yet, but the actors are in place. They are all active literary and artistic figures from various departments of Yanshi University.

"The Best Restaurant in the World" is a three-act play. There are fifteen characters with names such as Lu Mengshi, Luo Datou, and Chang Gui, as well as minor roles such as policemen, deacons of the Baoha Bureau, and adjutants of the presidential palace guards. The number of actors alone is nearly thirty.

In the past few days, almost all the students who participated in the drama have become familiar with the script, and many of them can recite the lines in the play almost fluently.

Witnessed by Huang Huilin and Lin Chaoyang, the students began their first rehearsal that was not a rehearsal.

The reason why we say “not a rehearsal” is because these students have almost no acting experience. When reciting the lines, they emphasize “make a miracle happen with great effort” and try their best to imitate the drama performances they have seen. Their body movements are stiff and even their expressions are distorted due to nervousness.

Fortunately, we have Huang Huilin. Although she is not a professional drama director, her years of drama research have made her familiar with directing drama performances.

A group of people used the classroom as a rehearsal room and rehearsed for the entire afternoon.

The students have neither performance skills nor experience, but they have enthusiasm and faith. Those who can get into university these days are all smart people and can understand many things at a glance.

After dinner, many people slowly found the rhythm of the performance. Although their bodies were still stiff and they were at a loss, at least their lines were smooth and their expressions were gradually in place.

After a busy whole day, everyone dispersed around eight o'clock in the evening.

(End of this chapter)