Chapter 2 Written before "End of the World · Bright Moon · Knife"

In the minds of many people, martial arts novels are not only literature, they are not even novels.For a person who writes martial arts novels, this is really a sad thing.Fortunately, there is another fact that no one can deny - if something can exist, it must have its value. Martial arts novels not only exist, but have existed for a long time! There are many different theories about the origin of martial arts novels: "Since Tai Shigong's biography of knight-errants, there have been martial arts novels in China." many. Because martial arts novels are legendary, it would be a bit self-deceiving if one must compare them with the serious biographical literature of Tai Shigong.

In Tang Ren's novel notes, there are only some stories that are relatively close to martial arts novels. In the fifth volume of "Tang Ren Shuo Hui", in Zhang Gong's "Ear and Mu Ji", there is a story that is very "martial arts". "At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Zhuge Ang in Shenzhou, a heroic man, was built by Gao Zan in Bohai after hearing about it. It was just for setting up chicken gizzards. Zan is small for its use, and it will be set up tomorrow. Dozens of people in Qu Ang cook pigs and sheep that are eight feet long. Pancakes It is more than ten feet wide, and the inside is as thick as a courtyard pillar. The plate is made of wine bowls, and it is patrolled.

"Ang to the day after tomorrow, Gao Zan's guests are hundreds of people. They set up a large set, drive wine, horses perform moxibustion, crush vertebrae and chop meat, eat garlic and garlic, sing yaksha songs and lion dances. "Tomorrow Zan will re-cook a pair of twins who are over ten years old. They present their heads, siblings, and all the guests spit out their throats. "Ang Hou Daily set up, shilling the beautiful concubine to drink, the concubine laughed for no reason, shouted down, and steamed for a while. The concubine sat on a silver plate, still decorated with makeup, and dressed in brocade. Then he broke his legs and meat to eat, and everyone covered them up. Eyes, pinch the fat in the milk room and eat it until you are full.

"Zan was so ashamed that she ran away at night." This story describes Zhuge Ang and Gao Zan's wild and cruel, which is incredible.This method of description is also very close to the cruel descriptions in modern martial arts novels. But this story is fragmented, and its form is still far from the novel. In the folk novels, legends, commentaries, and silver characters at that time, there were also many stories that were very "martial arts". Typical characters in the novel. The most important weapon in martial arts novels is the sword, and the description of swordsmanship since Tang Dynasty has been more magical than the descriptions in modern martial arts novels.

The red line, General Da Li, Aunt Gongsun...the swordsmanship of these people has been exaggerated to be close to the mythical Du Fu's "Watching Aunt Gongsun's Disciples Dance with Swords", in which the description of Aunt Gongsun and her disciple Li Shiriniang's swordsmanship, Of course more vivid and expressive! The great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty known as the "Sage of Grass" also said to himself: "At the beginning, I heard that the princess was fighting with the bearer, and the meaning of the brushwork, and later saw Gongsun's sword dancing, and I got the spirit."

Although the "sword tool" is not a sword, the essence of it is undoubtedly connected with swordsmanship.It can be seen from this that the descriptions of swordsmanship and martial arts in martial arts novels are not entirely groundless. These ancient legends and records, bit by bit, are the origin of martial arts novels, and then gradually evolved into the current form through the changes of folk commentary, Tanci and storytelling. "Peng Gong's Case", "Shi Gong's Case", ... are written based on "storytelling", and they can be regarded as the earliest martial arts novels that our generation can come into contact with.

However, most of the heroes in this kind of novels are not real heroes who can make people excited, because in the social environment in the late Qing Dynasty, people were not encouraged to be heroes at all. This at least proves a little value of martial arts novels - from a martial arts novel, we can also see the author's background at that time. What about modern martial arts novels? Modern martial arts novels can be roughly divided into three eras starting from Pingjiang Buxiaosheng's "Legend of Heroes of the Jianghu". The Pearl Returning Lord is the leader of the first era.Zhu Zhenmu who wrote "The Monument of Seven Killings" and Wang Dulu who wrote "Iron Rider Silver Vase" can be regarded as representatives of the second era.

When Jin Yong wrote "Shooting the Condors", it brought martial arts novels into another situation. This era is undoubtedly the most popular era of martial arts novels. There were as many as three hundred people who wrote martial arts novels. Just because too many martial arts novels have been written and readers have read too many, many readers can already predict the ending after reading the first two books of a book. Best of all, the weirder the story, the more the reader can guess the ending. Because the same "weird" story has been written countless times.Disguise, poison, fake death, the kindest woman is the "devil head" - these traps are hard for readers to take the bait.

Therefore, the weird changes in the plot can no longer be regarded as the biggest attraction in martial arts novels. But the conflict in human nature is always attractive. In martial arts novels, it is no longer necessary to write about gods and monsters, but to start writing about people, living people, people with flesh and blood! The protagonist in a martial arts novel should have his strengths, his weaknesses, and even more his temptations. The great writer Flaubert once boasted, he said: "After the nineteenth century, there will be no novels." Because he believes that all the plots of the story, all the emotional changes, have been written by the great writers of the nineteenth century.

But he was wrong. He overlooked a point! Even if it is the same storyline, if you look at it from a different angle, the novel you write will be completely different. Human concepts and opinions are constantly changing!Change with the times! Although martial arts novels are written about ancient things, it is not impossible to inject the author's own new ideas. Because novels are fiction! Writing fiction is not writing historical biography.The biggest purpose of writing a novel is to attract and move readers. If the plot of martial arts novels can no longer be changed, why not change it a bit, write about human emotions, the conflicts of human nature, and create climaxes and actions from emotional conflicts.

How to write actions is indeed a major problem in martial arts novels. I always think that "action" does not necessarily mean "strike"! The action in the novel and the action in the movie screen can give people a kind of fierce stimulation, but the action written in the novel does not have the bright and exciting power in the movie screen. The description of actions in a novel should be simple, short and powerful, vigorous and unconventional. The description of actions in a novel should first create conflicts, emotional conflicts, event conflicts, and try to pile up all kinds of conflicts into a climax. Then you create an atmosphere, a tense atmosphere, a chilling atmosphere. Use the atmosphere to heighten the excitement of the action. After all, martial arts novels are not guides to martial arts. Martial arts novels do not teach you how to beat and kill people! Although blood and violence will always have its appeal, too much blood and violence will make people sick. Recently, I have a bad stomach and a bad mood, so apart from maintaining the two continuous stories of "Seven Weapons" and "Lu Xiaofeng", I haven't started a new draft for a long time. "The Tribulation of Rivers and Lakes" and "The Order of the Golden Sword and Remnant Bones", which have been serialized in newspapers and periodicals in recent months, are both my old books from fifteen years ago.I am not opposed to republishing "old books", because learning new things by reviewing old books can at least let readers see a change in a writer's writing route! , is my latest manuscript.I don't know if it can give readers a little "new" feeling, I only know that I am trying my best to go in this direction! Before writing a new manuscript, I always like to write some of my views and feelings on Wu Zao's novels, and I have written a lot of bits and pieces.I hope readers can also write some of their own thoughts, so that martial arts novels can take a step forward. Take a big step. Cologne Nineteen seven four, four, seventeen, night, late at night.