A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

Thursday, March 16th.

In the activity room, every member of the literary society was present.

Lin Shubai stood in front of the blackboard, glancing at the people present. He knew in his heart that today might not be too easy. If the theme of the second issue could not be decided, all the subsequent calls for submissions, commissions, and layout would have to be postponed. Each group had its own little plan, which was only natural. But he had to find a balance between "each serving their own interests" and "the best overall outcome".

"Today we'll decide on the theme for the second session. Each group, please share your ideas first, and then we'll finalize it. Who wants to go first?"

Yu Xingzhi was the first to raise her hand. As the leader of the campus story group, she already had several manuscripts on the theme of family affection on hand, just waiting for a suitable theme to be released. If the theme was different, those manuscripts would either have to be revised a lot or be scrapped, which she was unwilling to do.

"The campus story group's suggestion is 'family affection.' First, everyone has something to say about this topic; second, it's easy to write about genuine feelings; and third, the submission threshold is low, so we can receive enough submissions."

Zhao Lei immediately retorted, "Family affection is too narrow a topic. Hoshino Group writes about aliens, future worlds, and artificial intelligence, so family affection isn't a good area to explore."

Yu Xingzhi glared at him. "You can write that aliens miss their home planet; that's also a kind of kinship."

Seeing this, Lin Shubai quickly interrupted them, "Alright, alright, let's remember Yu Xingzhi's suggestion. Zhao Lei, what are your group's thoughts?"

Zhao Lei sat up straight. He was actually a little anxious. Hoshino Group had been receiving fewer manuscripts recently. If the theme couldn't be "future" or science fiction, they might not even be able to gather four articles for the second issue. So he had to try.

"The Hoshino group suggested 'future.' Isn't science fiction all about writing about the future? This theme is most advantageous for us. Other groups can also write about it. Campus stories can be about future schools, poetry can be about our future selves, and 'Book and Film Review' can be about reviewing science fiction movies. It has a wide coverage and is still unique."

He felt that his reasoning was sufficient.

Zhao Lin rolled her eyes. She thought Zhao Lei's proposal was even less reliable than Yu Xingzhi's. What was "the future"? Nobody had ever seen the future. Anything written would be either wishful thinking or cliché. And what was the Book and Film Review Group reviewing? Books that hadn't even been written yet?

"The 'future' is too abstract. Writing about schools of the future? What's the difference between that and writing about the present? Changing desks and adding robots doesn't make it the future. And how do you review books about the future? Books about the future haven't even been written yet."

"We can review existing science fiction classics."

"What does that have to do with the 'future'? It's a review of books written in the past."

Lin Shubai tapped the blackboard. "Zhao Lin, where's your group?"

"The suggestion from the Book and Film Review Group is 'classics,' reviewing classic books and classic movies without limiting the subject matter. Everyone has their own 'classics,' so this theme is very flexible, and submissions from all groups can lean towards this direction."

Yu Xingzhi couldn't help but interject, "What does 'classic' have to do with school stories? You can't exactly write 'My Classic Workbook,' can you?"

"You can write about your grandma's classic braised pork."

Yu Xingzhi paused for a moment. Her grandmother did indeed make excellent braised pork. Every time she visited her grandmother's house, she would eat two bowls of rice. This angle... didn't seem so bad? She quickly considered in her mind that if she shifted the focus from "classic" to "family memory," those stories about family affection could be used with slight modifications.

Zhao Lei muttered under his breath across from him, "So it'll turn into a food program soon?"

Zhao Lin glared at him. "Why can't food be used in literature? Haven't you heard of 'Suiyuan Shidan'?"

Zhao Lei was speechless; he had never heard of it before.

Zhou Yutong finally spoke up, "The poetry group didn't offer any suggestions; you can write anything."

Lin Shubai glanced at Zhou Yutong. "So you're abstaining?"

"Abstain".

"Okay." Lin Shubai put down the chalk, turned around, and looked at the three words on the blackboard—family, future, and classic.

Each of these three proposals was put forward by each group based on their own interests. Yu Xingzhi chose "family affection" because she had some material in reserve, Zhao Lei chose "future" because the Hoshino group was most comfortable writing about this, and Zhao Lin chose "classics" because the Book and Film Collection group had the most advantage in this theme. Choosing any one of them meant that one or two groups would have to force themselves to fit the theme, resulting in awkward writing that would also be awkward for the readers.

It's not that they're selfish; it's human instinct. Everyone wants their part to be easier, less strenuous, and more outstanding. If it were him, he would do the same.

He must choose a topic that everyone can write about, a topic that cannot favor any particular group, so that every group feels "I can write about this too," rather than "I can only force myself to write about this."

Lin Shubai thought for a moment, picked up the chalk, and wrote a word on the blackboard.

"Set off".

"The three themes you proposed—family, future, and classics—are all good, but they all have one thing in common: they are only most advantageous to one or two groups. If you choose family, the campus story group wins; if you choose the future, the starry sky group wins; if you choose classics, the book and film collection group wins. If you choose any one of them, there will be groups that have to write something."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"A publication is not a publication for a single column, and the second issue cannot only have the voice of one column, so I propose a theme that everyone can write about and can write well—'Departure'."

He wrote a few lines of text below the word "departure" on the blackboard.

"Campus Story Group: You can write about someone leaving their hometown to go far away, you can write about taking a train alone for the first time, or you can write about your parents moving from the countryside to the city when they were young. 'Setting off' is an action and a decision that everyone makes."

"Hoshino Group: Spaceships depart for unknown star systems, humanity sets off to migrate to Mars, a civilization sets off to find a new home. 'Departure' is the most classic beginning of science fiction."

"Book and Film Review Group: Reviewing Classics Centered on 'Departure' - The protagonist of a book embarks on a journey, the protagonist of a movie leaves their comfort zone, 'departure' is the engine of the narrative."

"Poetry and Youth Group: Youth itself is a synonym for 'departure,' leaving childhood, moving towards adulthood, leaving familiar places, and heading towards the unknown world. Poetry is naturally suited to this."

Yu Xingzhi spoke first after listening, "That's acceptable."

Zhao Lei and Zhao Lin both nodded, while Zhou Yutong didn't care. In any case, the poetry group's theme was quite difficult for a group of high school students.

Lin Shubai turned his gaze back. "Does anyone else have any objections?"

No one spoke.

"Then it's settled. The theme for the second issue is 'Departure.' Don't worry too much, 'Hope' is a bimonthly publication, so you have more than a month to prepare."