After having that unrealistic fantasy of a novel of nearly three million words, I took the time to comb through my previous writing, and found that I still put too little energy into this hobby, and the most important thing is that I have learned very unsystematically in any genre, and I write things very casually, far from the stage where I am handy.

Therefore, if you want to complete such a tome novel at such an age (this is not necessarily possible, the key is that the age is not forgiving) can only rely on the eight words "late bloomer, thick accumulation" in "Zhuangzi: The World Chapter" to encourage yourself.

For me, this "thick" is definitely more than just a word.

In particular, the "thick" in writing represents more things.

Writing requires a huge amount of material to be collected.

There is absolutely no end to collecting materials.

There is a famous saying in landscape painting called "search all the strange peaks to make drafts", the ancients cherished the words really like gold, and a "end" word expressed the unspeakable bitterness. The material has to be hard to find, to be discerned with a keen eye, to possess as much as possible.

Absolutely "thick" out of the realm.

The most speechless thing is that we already knew before we officially started the search that more than 90% of the materials collected in the end were useless and had to be discarded.

In the end, we can always only select the most representative and characteristic examples.

For example, the writer Mr. Wei Wei, most of his countless visits, countless materials, and countless touching plots could only be reluctantly abandoned, and finally only three of the most representative events were selected, the battle of Songgu Peak, the rescue of North Korean children, and the dialogue with the volunteer soldiers in the air-raid shelter.

It is these simple three examples that have made the loveliest person a special noun that has influenced generations.

Writing is like that, it's like casting a net to catch a fish, and even though we end up fishing with only a small part of the net, we can't just weave this small piece and use it to catch it, because then we won't be able to catch a single one.

Like Mr. Lu Yao, it took six years to write the book "Ordinary World", of which it took three years to collect it.

Before I knew it, it had been almost three years. The real novel has not yet written a word, and it has already tossed people half-dead. It's chilling to think about the formal writing you're about to begin.

It's really something that can be overwhelming just thinking about it, but that's what it takes to write a long scroll.

Writing requires distilling the material.

This is the same as a painting, and the material will never be found and will automatically become the plot of the book.

Art comes from life and is higher than life.

First of all, it must come from life.

Then refine in many life scenes, find out the most representative examples, and finally form something higher than life.

I think the refinement of the material is to find what Mr. Lu Yao calls the "plot".

Life itself is made up of various "plots". The choice of plot of a novel should be very selective. Only the following conditions can be considered, that is, whether it can play the role of lifting a belt like a climbing vine. A major plot (event) should create an opportunity for the author to make a broad description of life and reveal it in depth, and finally make the reader's interest in the plot (story) itself far less attractive than the revealed life content, at this time, the plot (story) is really important, if the reader only remembers a storyline in the end and has nothing more to gain, then the work will be superficial as we usually say.

The above passage is still from Mr. Lu Yao's "Morning Begins at Noon", which I have already said, and this book can definitely be used as a ceiling in the textbook of fiction writing.

It can be seen that this kind of refinement is extremely testing for the author.

The ancients in the south have long said that if you want to "refin" hard, you must "diligently" sharpen, cut off those useless branches and leaves, and diligently "sharpen" (learn) hard "refining" (practicing)!

Writing requires common sense in life.

Common sense writing mistakes can be said to be the hard wounds of writing.

The first thing I came into contact with was the "Primary School Model Essays" stage.

That is, the stage where idioms and adjectives are used extensively.

What is still very impressive is that the teacher specially talked about this problem and gave an example to illustrate that the moon is bound to be scarce.

And seriously reminds us that the common sense of life must not be written wrong, this is the earliest composition enlightenment I can remember.

At the same time, it also made the moon bright star rare and became the earliest and most impressive idiom I can remember now.

The common sense of life is absolutely not to be made up randomly, which is the first writing rule I knew.

And I've known it since I was in elementary school.

This teacher should be Ms. Mei Jingzhen, who is my fourth or fifth grade teacher in primary school.

At that time, the teachers were not as clear as the subjects they are now.

Chinese arithmetic (not called mathematics at the time) was taught by her alone.

What puzzles me the most is that she doesn't follow the schedule, which is the first person I can remember who didn't follow the rules.

I was very impressed that we didn't take books in every class, and when I heard her say that she was in Chinese in this class, and then there was a sound of turning books, and the whole class found the Chinese textbooks and put them on the table. If she says that she is doing arithmetic in this class, she will take out the arithmetic book and put on a herb (I don't know if the current students have this, that is, a blank blank paper or a book with words on the front and a book for arithmetic on the reverse), and then take the book as needed after the class until I graduated from elementary school.

But I don't understand her actions, and a lot of what she taught me is imprinted in my memory.

Because I was a blank sheet of paper at that time, I was deeply impressed by the first things written down on it, and I was deeply influenced by them.

Fortunately, the earliest contacts did not deviate.

Whether it's writing or drawing┄┄

But don't underestimate this deviation, it will really affect people's lives. For example, I occasionally saw my daughter writing, and the stroke order was wrong, and after paying close attention to it several times, it was terrifying to find that many of her words were written in the wrong stroke order. After asking, I found out that this is what their teacher wrote and taught them this way.

It has been corrected several times, and there are still many words that have not been changed.

Later, I saw a few students in the studio writing their names on the drawings in the same way, and I tried to ask them if they were from the same school as my daughter in elementary school, and I said yes.

That's not just a few people.

Writing needs inspiration.

If we can write good work just by working hard, then we should be rewarded for our hard work.

But that's not the case.

Many times, good articles, good verses need inspiration.

Yugong can only move mountains, not write.

You don't have to write 24 hours a day to write good work.

And inspiration is something that really doesn't know when it's going to be there.

came after a bucket of wine, Li Bai proved it; Some came after waking up, and Li Qingzhao proved it;

There are those who come on donkeys, and Jia Island proves it; If there is gout and then comes because of pain, Mr. Tian has proved it.

┄┄

Since there is no trace, I think it is better to leave it alone and try to write as often as possible and write "thick" on the manuscript paper!

Maybe sometime the inspiration will come.

Inspiration in the process of writing a novel can really be the finishing touch.

Writing takes hardship.

The aura of a finished book is something that readers can see. Out of sight of the reader, it is the hardships of the writer.

Arduous collection, arduous conception, arduous codeword, arduous troubles.

More often than not, I meditate and rack my brains in front of the computer, and then I can "get two sentences and three years, and two tears flow".

In the memories of countless writers, we can all feel that a good work embodies the writer's hard work, youth and even life. What is even more regrettable are those classic works that have exhausted the author's youth, hard work and life, such as "Dream of Red Mansions" and "History of Entrepreneurship".

Therefore, writing is really like drinking water, cold and warm and self-aware, and its hardships are not enough for outsiders.

Writing requires persistence.

Writing is definitely a long-term career.

To persevere, only with the enthusiasm of first love and the will of religion can one achieve something.

It's hard.

So I definitely admire the three young people of the Tang family.

It doesn't matter how many people are not convinced, but some people read and buy other people's books, and they can continue to update for 13 consecutive years, which is really not something ordinary people can do.

More than 4700 days.

8,000 to 10,000 words per day.

His goal is Ni Kuang, who has written more than 50 million words in his life.

It's very close now.

After these words are published and piled up, they must definitely be described as ten "thick", which is "thick" out of the realm.

And I've only been doing it for a month.

Even if it has not been interrupted until June 18, 2022, it has only lasted for 91 days, more than three months, and 350,000 words.

Nothing.

Writing is definitely not a good errand.

Seriously, writing is not a good errand.

I'm definitely not going to make a career out of this.

Because as I wrote earlier, I'm not going to give up my many hobbies to do something alone.

This reason alone is sufficient.

Writing requires mental abnormality.

I saw a female author on the Internet, and when I saw a boy waiting for the bus, I couldn't help but secretly write down his image and write it down. "I have to say, it's really too good-looking" (it should be cute, but I don't dare to confirm, who knows if young people nowadays write things like this), exactly what the protagonist of the novel looks like.

"Blue and white plaid shirt on the outside, white canvas shoes, washed white jeans, white T inside, black backpack on one shoulder, a little more casual ┄┄"

Just as people who like to draw are willing to carry a sketchbook with them to draw character sketches, the author is also willing to record the people and things around him anytime and anywhere, but one uses a pen to draw an image, and the other uses a pen to describe the image.

Different means to the same end!

But in the eyes of outsiders, it is a mental problem. Just like when Lu Yao was writing a book in the guest house in Gannan County, northern Shaanxi, he worked eighteen hours a day, unable to distinguish between day and night, and his whole body was like a fire. His facial features were ulcerated, his urine and urine were not smooth, and he walked in circles in the Ganquan County Guest House in northern Shaanxi in the middle of the night, so that the director of the guest house Bai became suspicious and called the county party committee, saying that this young man might be insane and afraid of looking for "impermanence."

This kind of spiritual problem can only be understood by those who are in the same path.

There are no shortcuts to writing.

Because of the love of showmanship, people often ask about writing!

I always answer very seriously that if you don't have enough reading, it won't do you any good to learn those writing skills.

No good essay is written by skill alone.

A good article, like a good painting, is precipitated or polished over time.

I recall a young painter complaining to another painter that it only takes him one day to paint a painting, but it takes a year to sell it.

The painter told the young painter to try it upside down.

Yes, if it takes a year to paint a picture, it may only take a day to sell it.

It's the same with writing, it takes not just a year, but a lifetime.

Accumulate!

Accumulate again!

Abstraction!

Refine!

Supplement!

And add more!

Search the intestines!

Scrape your belly!

It hurts!

Since writing a book is so hard, what is the author for?

It's very simple, just to draw a full stop at the moment when the whole book is finished.

Just for that full stop.

That's how I understand it.

I don't know what others think.

I think it's just to draw that full stop at the end, just like hanging a picture on the wall after painting.

So I started accumulating for this goal.

For example, you should read "Morning Begins at Noon" at least 10 times.

For example, we should read some long masterpieces carefully.

For example, it is necessary to record the thoughts that have flashed a lot of times as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, there were so many of them that I couldn't remember what I was going to write about when time passed, and once I missed it, I wouldn't be able to do it again.

Therefore, in the future, you must develop the habit of carrying a pen and paper with you.

Thankfully, there are many times when my inspiration comes from restaurants, so I can find a pen and paper in time for a meal at a small restaurant, and although the paper may be a small menu or a paper bag with dried sweet potatoes, it does not prevent me from recording what I thought at the time at the first time.

For example, the outline of the section I am going to write today is written on the menu of a small shop in Sinchun, and it is written that the date of May 1, 2022 will bring me unexpected joy when I accidentally turn it over one day in the future.

Another example is the full text "This year's reading journey starts with a collection of poems" written five years ago.

The last sentence written at the end could really be the end of this chapter.

All the accumulation is for thin hair, for the end of that novel, for my own insignificant sense of achievement!

┄┄

Words written in the back: For people who like to write something, I prefer manuscript paper, moving forward with a pen word by word, watching the blank manuscript paper slowly become full, and learning to count the words from time to time, its sense of achievement is indescribable. Even in the age of computers, I am still willing to set the page to manuscript paper mode, which shows the power of habit! For the goal of Chinese New Year's Eve 10,000 words today, let's crawl on the manuscript paper word by word, I don't know who gave writing a nickname of "climbing grid", which is really appropriate.

Tian Lianyu's first draft was inspired by the paper on which Chengfeng New Mart packaged sweet potatoes, and was completed in the early morning of February 5, 2017!

Occasionally, when I'm tired of writing, I'll wander for a while, and think about how good it is to climb the lattice, but sometimes it's really not as fun as photography, after all, no matter what photography is going to photograph, that thing is there, as long as you find a good angle and press the shutter.

It's not like writing things that sometimes have no clue.

As for the composition, color, and focus of the picture, this is what I have learned in painting, and there is nothing difficult about it.

Let's go photoshoot!!

Just do what you say.

~End of Chapter 4~