Chapter 85 postscript

The Chinese Writers Association conducted a survey at the beginning of this year, listening to the experience of writers from all over the world who "deep into life".I attended this meeting in Tianjin, and I heard a lot of insights from the speeches of my peers, and I was deeply inspired.There is just one thing, the topics everyone talks about are all focused on how writers go deep into real life, which is the problem of "going out". For this reason, I specifically talked about how a writer "goes home and goes deep into life". I am not talking about this topic for the sake of innovation, nor am I opposed to "going out" to go deep into life, but based on my personal experience, I found that writers can also go deep into life at home, and the content involved is quite extensive. The process can even be called interesting.

Generally speaking, in family life, it is natural for a writer to come into contact with various tedious matters such as family relations, marriage, love, childbirth, relatives and friends, daily necessities, housing, education, etc., but this is the normal state of life and shared by everyone. .What I mean by "going home and deepening life" specifically refers to writers "hands-on" to conduct experiments and practices for their own works.This matter cannot be said to be my own invention, but I have some experience in this area, and the concept is somewhat different from that of others, so I want to talk about it, in order to find friends.

Twelve years ago, when I was 37 years old, I put aside the history of ancient Chinese life and modern cities that I had been engaged in for many years, and began to learn to write novels under the "temptation" of my friends.A novice writing a novel naturally has to choose the content he is most familiar with, so I chose the period full of desire, conspiracy, betrayal, courage and hope as the background of the story. The world's largest international metropolis—Xijing Chang'an serves as the stage for the characters of the novel.I am very familiar with the characters and events in this period of history, and I have also mastered some methods of "throwing" fictional characters into real historical events, and various methods of making up models and telling stories. However, the simplest one in contemporary life However, such a trivial matter has become an insurmountable mountain for me, and that is the "urban geography" of Chang'an in Xijing.

The process of writing a novel is actually a process of persuading readers, and in this process of persuasion, the most important and the easiest to reveal flaws are the details.I have mastered the clothing, food, housing, transportation and various "fashionable" things in the Tang Dynasty during the study of ancient life history, but I lack a detailed understanding of the city of Chang'an in Xijing.Just imagine, a character in a novel moves around in a great capital city that once existed. If I can’t provide readers with some real “city information”, and use these “city information” to reproduce plots, dramatic scenes, or even produce Interestingly, then, this character is like walking in the void and acting in the "ghost land". Therefore, I have given up many powerful details to convince readers, and at the same time, the fun provided to readers has also been reduced a lot.

Fortunately, the scholars of the Suoyin school in the Qing Dynasty did countless in-depth and meticulous work on Chinese classics, but their achievements have always been underestimated by later generations.From their writings, I found a copy of "Tang Liang Jingchengfang Kao", written by Xu Song in the Qing Dynasty and supplemented by Zhang Mu.This was originally an old book I picked up at a second-hand book stand, and it only cost about 80 cents. Moreover, it is said that this book has not been reprinted until now.In this remarkable work, there are several sketches of the Xijing Chang'an, as well as textual research texts from historical materials.So, based on these sketches, referring to the text in the book and the relevant records that can be found in the historical materials of the Tang Dynasty, I first drew the palace city and imperial city map of Chang'an, and then drew the map of Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace ——This is the seat of the royal family and government agencies of the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the place where political changes and coups took place.With these maps, the characters in the novel will not get lost when they go in and out.

After these maps were successfully drawn, I began to draw a city map of Chang'an in Xijing, clearly marking the location of Chang'an's 100 single and eight squares, and marking the Qingming Canal, Yong'an Canal, Cao Canal, and Longshou Canal entering and leaving Chang'an. The route shows the conditions of the nine city gates, all important streets, and the locations of the eastern and western cities.After this work was done, I felt like I could finally grasp the context of the city with relative accuracy, but I still didn't grasp the subtleties of the city.So, I started another ambitious plan, intending to draw a detailed map of the eastern and western cities like the imperial city and Miyagi, and then draw a detailed map of each neighborhood, combining the shops recorded in historical materials. Palaces, mansions, temples and "celebrity former residences" are all marked on the map.However, I failed to complete this task in the end, because I suddenly discovered that for a novelist, the pursuit of truth in details is relative. He fell into the wrong path that caused the decline of the "Suo Yin faction" in the first place.

Therefore, relying on these maps, the characters in my novel act as if they are in a restored, vibrant city.Whenever it is necessary for him to enter a new neighborhood, I will study the neighborhood carefully, without delaying the process of writing the novel at all.As I accumulate more and more works, my understanding of the city becomes more and more detailed, and any research done before can often be used in new novels later.These maps have followed me to complete the writing of this collection of historical novels of the Tang Dynasty, and for me personally, it can be said to be a great contribution.

This hands-on experience provided a working method for my later writing, which is what we talk about today, "going home and deepening life".Since then, my novel creation has turned to the theme of Chinese revolutionary history, and the goal of "going deep into life" has naturally focused on relevant content.For example, I imitated the revolutionaries of the year to make earth bombs at home.That is to say, it was difficult for the revolutionaries to buy real explosives, and they all had to do it themselves and use legal materials to make explosives.Therefore, they need to buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer from a Japanese company, which is purified by dissolving water and then fried; they need to buy white sugar from a British company Taigu Company, which will be ground and used as a booster for explosives; they also need to buy diesel from Mobil Oil Company. Used as an accelerant for explosives.Because of this, I discovered a key detail when I was imitating it, that is, when ammonium nitrate was fried, the smell was extremely strong, and the neighbors complained about it.This also means that the revolutionaries of the year had to choose a place far away from the crowd for this operation.Similarly, if an inexperienced person actually operates in a residential area, then interesting stories should follow.

In addition to dynamite, in order to write Long March novels, I experimented with cooking leather shoes and leather belts by "fat bear's paws"; in order to write about a superstitious revolutionary, I waved "money divination" for him at home; But I have neither raw materials nor test subjects; I still raise crabs at home, make eel noodles, repair car tires, carve rocks, raise cacti to death, use my wife as a subject to experiment with quack tricks, or try to replace the United States that was shot down in China Pilots patch leather pants with chicken skin...Of course, I have been writing novels for more than ten years, and I have done a lot of nonsense, but the fun in it is by no means something that can only be obtained from reading and writing.My point is that to turn fiction writing into a battle, a college, an entertainment, or even a series of nonsense, only by doing everything possible to make the boring writing life fun, can it withstand the neglect and obscurity. Only by being lonely can we persevere until we consciously discover the slight value of this work, so as not to go crazy...

My working method is by no means orthodox, and it is by no means a "one size fits all" truth. In fact, it is more like a false truth.It's just, "If you don't do useless things, it's hard to survive the rest of your life", so I attach this so-called personal experience to the back of this collection of novels, so that those who are destined will smile knowingly.