But......

A blank paper writer who has never won any awards is extremely unlikely to qualify for serialization.

According to Kei Fujiwara's prior research, in the decades of history of the Spring and Autumn Literary Awards, only thirty or forty non-award-winning writers have been qualified for serialization, and half of them have had their works cut in half.

Kei Fujiwara clutched the manuscript of "White Night Walking", took a deep breath, and walked into the door of Chunqiu Co., Ltd.

Kei Fujiwara came to the front desk, and the female front desk looked up at him with a sweet smile: "Welcome, is there anything wrong?" ”

"Hello, I'm from the manuscript." Keido Fujiwara added, "I have already made an appointment in advance, and it is Mr. Shimada from your company who contacted me. ”

"Shimada editor? Okay, please fill out the visit form first, and this will help you get in touch. ”

Kei Fujiwara bowed his head and wrote the visit form, saw the "company" column, hesitated for a moment, and wrote "Tokyo University of Literature and Art (current student)".

The front desk called, and after saying a few words, Kei Oki Fujiwara smiled and said, "Please wait a little longer, Shimada editor will be here soon, please wait in the waiting room." ”

Kei Fujiwara walked to the waiting room, which looked like a humble café with seventeen or eighteen square tables, and there were already people in the waiting room.

An inch-headed man in a suit was reading the manuscript paper carefully, and sitting opposite him was a slightly chubby young man with glasses, who was looking at each other with some uneasiness.

After three or four minutes, the man in the suit put down the manuscript paper, shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry, but this kind of manuscript doesn't meet our serialization standards." ”

The young man looked extremely disappointed: "Where it doesn't match, I changed it completely according to what you said...... Please take another look, please! ”

"It's a pity. You can see that you've tried to revise it, but the story is still not interesting. You're writing a mystery novel, right, but murder tricks or something is too naïve. The reader can guess the method of killing at a glance, can such a ruse give the reader the patience to see the end? Let's study harder! ”

After speaking, the man in the suit pushed the manuscript to the young man's chest, stood up, and walked away without looking back.

The young man pinched the manuscript in his hand, and Fujiwara Kei sat behind him, faintly hearing sobs, only to see the man slowly stand up and leave with a disappointed face.

Kei Fujiwara watched his figure go away, looking at the other contributors and editors in the waiting room, something like this must have happened countless times in this waiting room.

"Hello, I've been waiting for a long time, it's Fujiwara-kun, right?"

A man with chestnut hair who looked to be in his thirties walked over, and Kei Fujiwara stood up and bowed to the visitor: "Hello, I'm Kei Fujiwara." ”

Shimada sat down in the chair across from him, "It's from the manuscript, right?" ”

"Yes, this is the first four chapters of my novel, as well as the plot outline of the novel, please take a look."

Kei Fujiwara handed over the brown paper bag and said.

"Okay." Shimada took the paper bag, pulled the manuscript out of it, and looked down: "White Night Walking...... Well, the name is kind of like a fantasy novel. I remember you told me that your work is a mystery and suspense, right? ”

"Yes."

"Maybe the name needs to be changed...... Forget it, I'll look at it first. ”

Kei Fujiwara bound the manuscript and outline of each chapter of the novel independently, and Shimada picked up the text of the first chapter and read it.

The sound of the clock hands turning on the wall of the waiting room rang in Kei Fujiwara's ears, and although he had great confidence in the work "White Night Walking", he couldn't help but get nervous at the moment.

After reading the first chapter, Shimada didn't continue to read the second chapter, but picked up the outline and plot summary and read it.

"Ahh Shimada was a little surprised, but this is a bit new!

Shimada continued to watch, and the general context of the whole story was sorted out by Fujiwara Kei, and the direction of the plot was clear at a glance, and Shimada looked at it, but couldn't help frowning.

"What's the problem?"

Noticing the change in Shimada-like expression, Kei Fujiwara asked directly.

"Well, there's something wrong." Shimada put down the manuscript directly, "Fujiwara-kun, I want to ask a question, what genre of mystery novels do you write?" ”

In Fujiwara's memory, the genre of mystery fiction is broadly divided into three categories:

The logical supremacy of the ontology school is also the most traditional school, which mainly focuses on deducing and solving puzzles;

A social school that focuses on the depiction and analysis of human nature and reflects social problems;

and a declension that focuses on depicting perverted psychology, creating a terrifying atmosphere, and even having fantasy elements.

In the world of Kei Fujiwara, these three genres appeared in sequence, each leading the trend of mystery fiction for decades.

However, after the turn of the millennium, the mystery novel entered an era of pluralism, and works of various genres bloomed.

"It's social." Kei Fujiwara replied.

"Sure enough." "Fujiwara-kun, with all due respect, there is no market for socially school mystery novels. ”

Kei Fujiwara didn't speak, and pursed his lips.

"As we all know, the most popular genre of mystery novels at the moment is declension, whether it is the popular rookie writer Watanabe Ikema or the ace author of the main agency, Mika Miyano, both are declension novel authors. It is the reader's choice, and the reader prefers the thrilling genre of fiction to those that reflect social reality. After all, reading a novel is not reading a newspaper, right? ”

Shimada stacked Kei Fujiwara's manuscripts on top of each other and shook gently: "If you want to be a good fiction writer, you can't just work behind closed doors, you have to always pay attention to the preferences of readers." ”

"What do today's readers like to read? A pervert with a twisted personality, a handsome detective, or a superpowered criminal. If it's a realistic theme, there must be a trick that people can't see through even if they scratch their scalps, and wait until the mystery is revealed and suddenly realized. ”

"But in your book, there is no such best-selling element. Well...... It may be a novelty to have a villain as the protagonist, but readers may not like it. And the trick design in your book is too simple. ”

"The deceased died in a building that was locked from the inside, with only a narrow ventilation duct that could pass, and adults could not pass at all. As soon as the reader sees these prompts, he immediately thinks: It can't be a child who kills people, right? This kind of trickery, which can be seen through at a glance, will not arouse any interest in the reader, and will make the reader look down on the author of the novel. ”

"- Please, is that the only way? What kind of novel does such a person write...... Haha, don't mind, after all, some readers really say that, and I've seen a lot of poisonous comments in readers' letters. Whether you're an author or an editor, you have to have a big heart. ”

I was mocked...... Fujiwara Kei looked at Shimada and said in his heart.

However, before coming here, Kei Fujiwara was also mentally prepared not to be recognized, even if "White Night Walking" was a great success in the parallel world, it may still be unpopular.

Although "White Night Walking" achieved extremely high sales and frequent praise at the beginning, after all, Keigo Higashino had already sold well before writing "White Night Walking".

The same work, from the hands of famous artists and from newcomers, may have completely different responses.

As for the argument that there is no market in social reasoning, Fujiwara Kei has long expected it.

In fact, there is a slight difference between this world and the original world of Kei Fujiwara in terms of cultural changes.

In the original world, it is said that because of the emergence of the socio-school mystery novelist Matsumoto Kiyohari, the literary world of speculative novels was ruled by the socialists for 30 years.

It was not until the appearance of Shimada Koji, Ayatsuji Yukito and others that the rule of the socialist faction ended and entered the era of declension.

In this world, in the development process of Yuben's mystery novels, there is no such thing as Matsumoto Kiyohari, and there are no particularly excellent social novels.

So nowadays, the Socialists are still a virgin land that no one has explored, which makes many people take it for granted that the Socialists have no market and are not popular with readers.

The thirty years of the reign of Matsumoto Kiyohari in the world of reasoning literature are a history that did not exist for these people, but for Kei Fujiwara, it is something that really happened.

Moreover, with the bursting of the bubble era, the crime rate in this society has risen, and many social problems that had been hidden in the boom era have resurfaced, and the times are calling for a social mystery novelist to appear.

The social faction must have a lot to offer! It was with this idea in mind that Kei Fujiwara chose "White Night Walking" from the many novels in his mind.