Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 297: Revelation from the "King of Terror" (Part )

"Hello, Mr. Jin!" Zhang Chao suppressed his inner excitement and extended his hand to the old man in front of him who was wearing glasses and had a bright and kind smile.

If there is one writer that Zhang Chao is most looking forward to on this trip, it is undoubtedly Stephen King, who is known as the "King of Horror". As for Kiran Desai and Li Yiyun, one has a "dispute" with him, and the other, although Chinese, is completely unfamiliar to him.

It was also the first time that Stephen King met this young writer whom he admired. He stood up, shook hands with him, and joked, "Your novels have made my wife want to divorce me."

David Miller and Zhang Chao both laughed out loud. David Miller also said, "Then you should hurry up and write the eighth book of The Dark Tower, so that Tabitha will not let you become a murderer." Tabitha is Stephen King's wife and also an excellent writer.

The male and female protagonists of "Gone Girl" Nick and Amy are both writers. The conflict between the two arises from the fact that the husband Nick's writing career has been hindered and his financial income has seriously declined.

The fact that Stephen King could use this as a joke shows that he has indeed read the book, so his recommendation and support a year ago were not just for money.

For David Miller, having "Gone Girl" snatched away by Random House was one of the worst mistakes in his editing career, so he had to prove his vision through "The Great Doctor".

After saying hello, Zhang Chao and Xu Ruya sat opposite Stephen King, while Susan sat with Stephen King; the photographer set up the camera at the door.

Fortunately, it was a large box where the bed could be spread out, so it wouldn't seem crowded even if so many people sat in. The four of them each took a corner on the bed that was folded into a sofa, leaning leisurely on the backrest, and there was a cup of coffee on the small table in front of each of them.

Stephen King spoke first: "Your journey has just begun, how do you feel?"

Zhang Chao said: "The scenery is beautiful... uh, but after hearing a little about the history of this place, I feel a little heavy in my heart."

Stephen King is also a well-educated person. He knew what "history" was after a little thought, so he said: "For individuals, or a small group, violence from the state or a larger group is often the real terror.

Zhang Chao asked, "So, in fact, those vampires, monsters, resurrected corpses, demons from other dimensions, and undead spirits in your novels are all reflections of some kind of horror in reality?"

Stephen King did not answer, but said: "The individual is like a beetle, and you don't know when it will be crushed by a shoe. What is the greatest horror? The unknown is the greatest horror."

Zhang Chao took over the conversation and said, "The sad thing is that the beetle didn't even know until it died that it was not the leather shoes that crushed it, but the human wearing the leather shoes. Crushing it might be intentional, such as a mischievous child grabbing it from a branch, throwing it to the ground and crushing it;
But most of the time it was unintentional - it just crawled over a certain road, and it had passed by it countless times before without any problems, but this time a person also passed by there. After crushing it, the human would shout "bad luck", and then find a step to scrape its body off from the sole of his shoe.

For a beetle, when it is caught by a child or when someone passes by on the road are all unpredictable unknowns. We humans in this universe, or when individuals face a group, are like a beetle with a glittering golden shell, but we are powerless against the power that can destroy us. "

Stephen King looked at him with some surprise and said, "Your English is very good...Have you read my novels?"

Zhang Chao said frankly: "Not many of your novels have been translated and published in China, and I have only read a few of them. But the movies adapted from your novels are very popular on the Internet.

Carrie, The Shining, Pet Sematary… oh, and the great Shawshank Redemption.”

Stephen King hummed, then said: “Many of the movies in it are actually very different from my original works…well, after all, the movie is the work of the director, not the writer.

I heard that your "Gone Girl" will also be made into a movie? "

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Yeah. But I didn't control the script, and I didn't control how to shoot it. You're right, that's the director's job. But..."

Stephen King asked curiously, "But what?"

Zhang Chao said: "If we only look at it from the perspective of viewing, it is much more enjoyable to be a viewer of your work than to be a reader of your work."

Stephen King asks: "Why? Is it because of the different cultural backgrounds?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said frankly: "It is indeed the difference in cultural background that caused me to be often confused by your tedious and somewhat nagging narration when reading your novels - sorry, I used this word, but it is by no means derogatory, but to express my true feelings -

It's so distracting that I can't concentrate on the plot. Your novel contains too many elements of American culture - small towns, bands, movies, celebrities, advertisements, slang... They almost take up most of the chapters.

These are too strange to me. But the movie is different, these elements are visually placed in different corners of the picture, and they will not disturb our appreciation of the characters and plot.

That’s why I say that being your audience is more enjoyable than being your reader.”

Stephen King laughed heartily and said to Zhang Chao: "Actually, this is what I expected. In most of my novels, I first create an America that belongs to my memory, and then I can give the characters reasonable motivations and choices.

This is probably why your "Gone Girl" is so "clean" and "The Great Doctor" is so "complicated."

Zhang Chao was choked. He didn't expect that Stephen King would outwit him so quickly - the older you get, the wiser you become.

Zhang Chao could only nod his head in agreement, "That's true. I wrote the details of rural life and legal issues in Gone Girl with the help of others, so I could only briefly touch upon most of them."

Stephen King continued: "The Great Doctor is about history, culture and people that you are familiar with, and you can depict details without restraint, so this novel feels more real and has more texture to it."

Zhang Chao said self-deprecatingly: "This is why The Great Doctor can't sell as well as Vanishing Girl."

In more than a year since the publication of "Gone Girl", sales have exceeded 200 million copies in English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia alone.

In comparison, the sales of The Great Doctor in the corresponding regions were less than 100 million copies, which is indeed a bit "not good enough". The reason is of course that the story is set against the background of modern Chinese history, and readers in English-speaking regions are generally not very interested in it.

Stephen King asked meaningfully: "Will you give up this more textured narrative in the future? The benefits that the American book market can bring to writers are unmatched by any other region.

Judging from Gone Girl, you can become a regular on the US bestseller list if you want to.”

Zhang Chao said without hesitation: "Impossible. Will you give up your nagging for the Chinese market? You know, the Chinese market is also huge, and the revenue it brings may be second only to that of the United States."

Stephen King also said: "Impossible."

After saying this, the old man and the young man both burst into laughter.

In order to sell more books, unknown writers often think hard about the market's taste and constantly adjust their expressions. However, famous writers hardly consider this because their works are the market itself.

Stephen King, who was sitting in front of Zhang Chao, was such a writer. Many of his readers rarely bought books, but once they saw his new works, they would pay for them without hesitation.

Given Stephen King's high output of at least one book per year, it is impossible for all his books to be good, but no matter how bad he writes, the minimum sales volume is 200 million copies. So as early as 1987, his "Dark Tower II" set a record of 100 million copies in the first print run. In a way, JK Rowling is not as good as Stephen King - after all, she has not yet proved her market appeal outside the "Harry Potter" series.

Judging from sales alone, Zhang Chao has a tendency to get closer to Stephen King. Even if he writes pure literature now, his "die-hard fans" in China will directly sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

For many readers, the only "pure literature" works they have bought in their lives are those by Zhang Chao.

So neither of them explained the reason, nor did they sing any high-sounding slogans like "a writer must stick to his beliefs."

As a professional translator and an employee of "Midnight Tide", Xu Ruiya had long been numb to the sales of Zhang Chao's novels and did not feel much about it; but Susan, who was taking notes at the side, understood the tacit understanding between the two and was extremely envious.

She now contributes to several newspapers and earns about $1 a month, which is a solid middle-income level after paying taxes. Now she no longer has to rent a loft in the black area of ​​Brooklyn, but has moved to a more decent middle-class community.

In the American circle of "writing workers" with generally low incomes, she has already made it into the top 10%.

But compared with Stephen King and Zhang Chao, who also make a living by writing, Susan's annual income is roughly equivalent to the royalties of a few pages of their manuscripts.

Thinking of this, Susan's pen trembled and she recorded more seriously - Zhang Chao appreciated her and let her move from the attic to the apartment; what if Stephen King appreciated her too...

Susan was even more grateful to Zhang Chao in her heart, and she couldn't help but secretly think - what if, what if she had succeeded in "seducing" Zhang Chao...

Zhang Chao naturally didn't know how rich Susan's inner drama was at the moment, and was completely immersed in the communication with the senior writers who could "echo" him. To some extent, Stephen King may understand himself better than Wang Meng. After all, the best-selling works of both of them are the result of marketization.

Taking advantage of the good conversation between the two, Zhang Chao asked the first key question of the day: "Stephen, I have always been curious about what motivates you to keep writing horror novels. What is so fascinating about scaring readers?"

Stephen King laughed first, then said: "Of course the charming thing is the check from the publisher..."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, “Come On…Stephen, you know this answer can’t fool me!”

It was then that Stephen King asked back, “What do you think fear is?”

Zhang Chao pondered for a moment and said, "Fear is one of the most instinctive and fundamental emotions of human beings, taking precedence over love, hate, sadness, curiosity..."

Stephen King continued, "Anything else?"

Zhang Chao thought for a while and said, "Fear comes from people's survival instinct. It is an emotion that humans need to avoid danger and preserve their lives. So it's not even an emotion, right?

It is a behavioral consciousness engraved in the genes of almost all living things. As long as there is consciousness, it will be driven by genes to stay away from or eliminate the source of its fear. "

Stephen King nodded and said, “This is why fear fascinates me. Fear is a deep-rooted instinctive reaction. It is not only an emotion, but also a survival mechanism.

Even if we still define it as an 'emotion', it is almost the highest priority. Whether it is love, hate, sadness, curiosity... in my opinion, they are all born around 'fear'.

Because we fear loneliness and being destroyed by stronger external forces, we must use "love" to connect different individuals.

We develop hatred because we fear loss and being abandoned, as a defense mechanism, trying to protect ourselves from harm through rejection and attack.

Zhang Chao said thoughtfully: "We feel 'sadness' because we fear the unknown and uncertainty. It allows us to release emotions when we lose something or face difficulties, so that we can better adapt and adjust.

The same is true of 'curiosity' - it is based on an emotion that arises from a desire to overcome fear."

Stephen King smiled and said, "You are very smart."

Zhang Chao was extremely happy and satisfied at the moment. Any writer who wants to build characters from the "bottom" and build the characters' behavioral logic to make the characters appear real and credible must have a deep understanding of the emotional dynamics that humans follow.

As for the emotion or feeling of "fear", how many people understand it more thoroughly than Stephen King? With just a few words, he illuminated a blind spot in Zhang Chao's creative thinking.

Zhang Chao said with emotion: "It turns out that you write 'fear' not to scare readers, but to arouse other emotional reactions in them."

Stephen King nodded and suddenly said, "You know what? I did a small survey and found that the suicide rate of my loyal readers is much lower than the average in the United States. This is scientific data obtained after taking into account race, class, income, gender and other factors."

Zhang Chao was stunned and asked, "Why?"

Stephen King: “It’s strange. My novels are full of death, but they don’t make my readers die more.”

Zhang Chao thought for a while and said, "It's because your novels constantly arouse strong and complex emotions in them, and their negative emotions are also vented at the same time..."

Stephen King shook his head and said, "This explanation is too 'literary'. When people are afraid, they subconsciously release adrenaline to overcome fear. This is an escape mechanism.

When adrenaline 'ebbs', people will feel relaxed and happy, which is the dopamine and oxytocin secreted by the brain to soothe the body. My readers are often 'soothed' in this way, so they are naturally less likely to commit suicide.

I literally write horror novels for checks—and in order to keep the amount on the checks from shrinking, I have to make sure my readers outlive Jimmy Carter.”

This joke successfully made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere in the box became relaxed and lively again.

Zhang Chao laughed and said, "I never thought that reading horror novels would be more useful than eating boiled broccoli every day!"

Stephen King said: "If I eat that stuff every day, in about two weeks I'll do Hemingway and blow my head off with a shotgun."

Zhang Chao's first doubt was answered, but he wanted to ask Stephen King more than just this question. Seeing that the atmosphere was so lively, he asked another question:
"Stephen, I know you also wrote many novels full of redemption and compassion, such as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. The motivation behind these works should not be 'fear', right?

How do you balance these two completely different creative works? Or are The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile your most desired works?

After hearing Zhang Chao's words, Stephen King did not answer immediately, but fell into deep thought.

(Two more chapters with 9000 words, please give me a monthly ticket)
(End of this chapter)