A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

Tuesday, January 18th.

The last day of classes this semester. Final exams start tomorrow and will last for three days, after which winter break will begin.

When Lin Shubai arrived at the school, he found that the banner at the school gate had finally been removed.

During the last self-study period in the afternoon, he went to room 204 of the administration building.

This was the last literary society meeting of the semester. Exams were tomorrow, and he wasn't sure how many people would come, but the meeting still had to be held. When he arrived, almost everyone had already arrived, except for a few who couldn't come because they were studying.

Yu Xingzhi sat on one side of the long table, with a thick folder in front of her. Su Wan sat next to her, holding the notebook that had been with her for several months, and was flipping through it.

Zhao Lei sat opposite him, his military green shoulder bag bulging at his feet—probably containing all the science fiction manuscripts he had received this semester.

Zhou Yutong sat next to Zhao Lei, with only a folded A4 sheet of paper in front of her. Her expression was more tense than usual.

Zhao Lin had something come up and couldn't come, but Shen Yue brought her notebook.

Lin Shubai sat down and flipped through the notebook. Zhao Lin had made a list of all the manuscripts received by the Book and Film Review Group. The title, author, class, word count, and initial review comments for each manuscript were clearly written. The last line read, "A total of six articles, including four book reviews and two film reviews." Lin Shubai closed the notebook and put it aside.

"Today is the last meeting of this semester. We will mainly discuss two things: first, each group will report on the manuscript submission status; and second, we will discuss the task arrangements for the winter break."

After speaking, he looked at Yu Xingzhi, who opened the folder and pulled out a form. "Campus Story Group, from the start of the call for submissions on January 3rd to today, we have received a total of 24 submissions, including 12 recommended by teachers, 8 submitted by classes, and 4 submitted independently. 12 of them passed the initial review, and 12 were rejected. The reasons for rejection were mainly three categories: insufficient word count, vague content, and suspected plagiarism."

"Plagiarism?"

Yu Xingzhi nodded. "Yes, I looked at it carefully, and it's basically copied from 'Story Collection' magazine."

"Thank you for checking it carefully."

"It's alright. Then there are the twelve articles that passed the initial review. The themes are quite scattered—five about family, four about campus life, and three about personal growth. I've already categorized the manuscripts by theme, and we're just waiting for the final review during the winter break."

Lin Shubai nodded: "Aside from plagiarism, have the reasons been explained to the authors of the other rejected manuscripts?"

"I said that those who could be contacted wrote down their feedback, and those who couldn't be contacted were relayed to their respective class representatives."

"The campus story team did a very thorough preliminary review; thank you all for your hard work."

The second is Zhao Lei. "The Hoshino Group received a total of eleven manuscripts, including nine science fiction short stories and two fantasy stories. Six of them passed the initial review, and five were rejected. The main reason is that the writing threshold for science fiction is indeed high - many manuscripts have ideas, but the execution is not good, the setting is not clear, or there are logical loopholes."

He divided the manuscript into two stacks: "I've sorted the six that were approved by quality. I think the best one is called 'The Last Earthling,' which is the one you gave feedback on last time. The author revised it based on the feedback, and it's much more concise than the original."

"I also gave feedback to the five rejected papers. Most of them were writing science fiction for the first time, and the problems were mainly in the setting. I told them not to be discouraged, that they could continue writing, and that they could submit their papers again next semester."

Lin Shubai glanced at him: "I'll review this batch of manuscripts again during the winter break to determine the final selections. You keep an eye on the authors whose manuscripts were rejected. If they have revised versions, they can resubmit them."

"it is good."

"The Poetry and Youth Group received a total of 47 poems. Nine of them passed the initial review, all of which were modern poems. The main reason for rejection was that they were too poorly written."

Someone chuckled softly in the activity room.

Lin Shubai glanced at Zhou Yutong: "Your reason for rejection is even more standard than the standard answer, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's indeed quite difficult to write a good poem."

Zhou Yutong nodded: "That's what I said to the people who rejected my manuscript."

"Of those nine poems, are there any you particularly recommend?"

Zhou Yutong thought for a moment: "There's a song called 'Winter Trees,' which is about the row of bare sycamore trees on campus. I think it's pretty good."

"Then please highlight the key points in this song."

"Okay, I've divided the nine poems that passed the initial review into three categories based on their themes—youth, nature, and growth. I'll organize them for you in the next couple of days."

Lin Shubai made a note in his notebook, then looked at Shen Yue.

Shen Yue flipped the drawing paper in her hand over and held it up for them to see: "First draft of the cover, take a look."

The drawing depicts the profile of a boy, head tilted back, facing a starry sky. The image is simple, a pencil sketch without color, but the composition and lighting are well done.

Lin Shubai glanced at it: "This direction is good. Continue to refine it and finish the final draft during the winter break."

Shen Yue nodded and put the drawing paper away.

Lin Shubai closed his notebook.

"Now that we have a clear understanding of the manuscript submission status, let's talk about the winter break arrangements. There are two things to discuss."

"First, the final review. During the winter break, I will read all the manuscripts that have passed the initial review in each group and determine the final selection. Each group leader should give me the manuscripts that have passed the initial review within the first week of the winter break."

"Second, revisions. After the final review results are released, each group leader is responsible for contacting the authors to make revisions. All final drafts must be submitted before the end of the winter break."

He paused, looking at everyone present.

"This is the inaugural issue of Hope magazine, and it's my first time doing this kind of work, so please feel free to point out any problems you may have."

The activity room was quiet for a few seconds.

Yu Xingzhi spoke first: "There are no problems with the campus story group. I'll screen them again during the winter break, and remove any that don't meet the requirements in advance."

Zhao Lei nodded: "The Hoshino group too."

Zhou Yutong nodded in agreement.

Lin Shubai stood up: "That's settled then. The exams start tomorrow. Good luck, everyone."

Zhao Lei paused as he passed Lin Shubai. "Lin Shubai, have you finished writing that short story you were planning to publish in Xingye?"

"Finished writing."

"Um... could you send it to me so I can take a look? I'd like to learn from it."

Lin Shubai glanced at him: "Okay, I'll send it to you when I get back."

Su Wan didn't rush to leave. She sat in her seat and waited until everyone had left before closing her workbook and looking at Lin Shubai.

Lin Shubai bent down to pack his schoolbag, stuffed the notebook inside, and zipped it up.

Su Wan leaned against the table, looked at him, and suddenly smiled.

"Editor-in-Chief Lin is doing a better and better job."

Lin Shubai paused for a moment, looked up at her, and saw Su Wan with that unique, ambiguous smile on her face.

"The way you were in the meeting just now was exactly like Old Chen."

Lin Shubai slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Then I guess I've been influenced by my surroundings."