British writer

It was decided that Lu Shi would go to the United States.

He first went to Buckingham Palace to bargain with King Edward VII, trying to get as many gold coins as possible from His Majesty the King.

Later, he went to the Langting Hotel to discuss with Verne and others to see if they could set off by boat together, and then split up when they arrived at the Port of Calais.

The carriage stopped slowly in front of the hotel door.

In the lobby, the crowd is bustling and lively.

The air is filled with the faint scent of perfume and coffee, stimulating the sense of smell.

Among those people, there seemed to be many Verne fans.

They all held Verne's works and hoped to get his autograph after meeting the real person.

Lu Shi asked the hotel front desk to take him to Verne's room.

The door was open a narrow crack, seemingly to disperse the smell, because a faint smell of cigarettes was wafting from inside.

Lu Shi widened the crack in the door and looked in.

Inside the room, several French people were shaking their glasses of red wine and talking.

Unexpectedly, Bernard Shaw and Professor James of Cambridge were also there,

The smell of smoke comes from Bernard Shaw's pipe.

They are reviewing articles,

"The more foreshadowing there is, the more real it becomes. I would say, this is a good way to write it."

"However, I always feel that this style will be gradually phased out."

"I also think I will be eliminated. Not to mention Professor Lu's popular novels, in the United States, O. Henry and Mark Twain will not have such a lengthy beginning."

…

Because they were completely focused, they didn't notice Lu Shi.

Lu Shi knocked on the door and cleared his throat.

"Ahem..."

Several people turned around.

"land?"

George Bernard Shaw put out his pipe with fire-proof cotton, went to the door, introduced Lu Shi into the house, and said, "Why are you here?"

Lu Shi told him his travel plan.

Poincaré said: "Let's set off together? Of course!"

Then, he sighed with some emotion,

"well……"

He patted Lu Shi on the shoulder and said: "I'm sorry for you. In order to get the gold coins from His Majesty the King... to get the sponsorship for the establishment of the Edouard Lu Shi Goncourt Literary Prize, you have to run around. In fact, this This thing has nothing to do with you."

Lu Shi smiled and didn't answer.

Poincaré was right,

In fact, promoting the impact factor indicator to major American journals does not require Lu Shi to go to the United States to lobby.

George Bernard Shaw said: "It is a pity that the literary journals of the day are somewhat incomprehensible."

Don’t say anything else, everyone understands.

In the 21st century, the world’s three top academic journals,

"Nature\

,""Science\

,""Cell\

,"It is not difficult to see that they are all science and engineering majors.

It is difficult for literary journals to achieve "universal ownership" because aesthetics is subjective.

Verne said: "Instead of setting up a literary journal, it is better to make the literary award more authoritative and promise to publish the works of writers who have entered the final round. We can also set up a magazine to conduct literary evaluation."

This is indeed a way,

This is how most literary awards end up doing.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Lu Shi changed the topic,

"By the way, what were you discussing just now?"

James handed over a manuscript,

"this."

That's a handwritten manuscript,

It can be inferred from this that the author is relatively old-school and is not used to relying on equipment such as typewriters.

Title: "Empty Mirror Frame\

,"It seems to be a full-length horror novel.

Lu Shi asked: "Is it the work of Professor James?"

James nodded,

"Look at the beginning, what do you think?"

Lu Shi began to read.

The novel begins with a fictional farm and a lot of explanations, which makes it a bit boring to read.

But after all, Lu Shi was a translator who had experienced many battles, so he read it patiently.

Afterwards, he said, "It's pretty good."

James was a little embarrassed,

"Actually, you haven't finished reading the beginning. Just count the number of pages in the manuscript. The part you just read is at most three-thirds of the beginning...er...one-half."

Lu Shi's head was full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

I didn't expect it to be true.

In fact, stacking a large number of background descriptions is a popular technique in the 19th and 20th centuries, which can make readers believe that what they are reading is not a fantasy work, but documentary literature or even a report of real events.

To a certain extent, drawing the reader into your own narrative is also a narrative trick.

The application of this technique is particularly prominent in horror stories.

For example, the masterpiece of Cthulhu——

"Gloom over Innsmouth".

The introduction to the local features in the opening chapter is quite lengthy and makes people doze off while reading it.

James's "The Empty Frame" is even better than "The Haze over Innsmouth".

Lu Shi asked: "Lao Zhan, why did you come to a friend in France to help evaluate it? Did you encounter any problems?"

James shook his head,

"I can't tell what the problem is. After all, everyone writes long horror stories using similar techniques. But ever since I read your "Harry Potter", I felt that those long opening chapters were a bit weird."

Lu Shi understood instantly,

The beginning of Harry Potter:

"The Dursleys who live at No. 4 Privet Drive always say proudly that they are a very well-behaved family..."

The novel tells the story right from the beginning, without mentioning a word about the background.

Then use fragmented narration to gradually release the background to the readers.

This contrast between fast and slow pace is like traditional literature and online novels.

The former is still laying the groundwork and brewing;

The latter has already completed one round of pretending to be slapped in the face.

The early 20th century was precisely the time when readers changed.

They have gradually become more targeted when buying books. Before reading, they will first understand the nature of the novel.

Therefore, once they know that "The Empty Frame" is a horror novel, they will clearly understand the goal of reading in their hearts——

Looking for excitement.

Too much background introduction can easily make the novel look like news.

No one looks for excitement from the news.

Lu Shi said: "There are some benefits to setting up suspense at the beginning and creating an exciting and thrilling segment."

Next to him, Proust had a different opinion.

"When I read horror novels, I like to follow the guidance of the author's writing style. I walk freely through the streets and listen to the local ghost stories. I don't see the thrilling plot until the last few hundred words."

This guy wrote the stream of consciousness "In Search of Lost Time\

,"In the book, a character suffers from insomnia and can write three thousand words while tossing and turning in bed, which is indeed suitable for a slow pace.

Compared with him, many Internet writers are nothing.

Bernard Shaw chuckled,

"I don't even write dramas like this anymore."

Proust asked: "Why?"

Bernard Shaw said: "Because it is difficult to be accepted in the market. After all, there are many people in this world who are aimless and confused... Most of the time, I am one of them and need the comfort of literature and art."

Everyone at the scene couldn't help but chuckle.

Poincaré took over the conversation,

"So, the core of horror works must be to make people scared."

He turned to James,

"Lao Zhan, what do you think is the most scary?"

James pondered for a moment and replied: "Terror comes from the unknown. The abyss is scary, the jungle is scary, the depth of the universe is scary, and these terrors all come from the fact that you don't know anything about them."

This answer is quite philosophical.

Everyone discussed,

"It's too big to be transformed."

"Yeah, maybe some people still want to complain, 'It's unknown, why are you still writing novels?'"

"Hahaha! It will indeed be regarded as being pretentious."

…

When Lu Shi listened to their discussion, he couldn't help but think of the Cthulhu Mythos.

In modern times, many Cthulhu works on the market have become various stacked elements:

Flesh, tentacles, bugs...

As the most superficial things of the Cthulhu mythology, blindly emphasizing these will only run counter to the original work of the master of Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft).

But the key point is:

They spread easily!

The person who made Cthulhu truly become popular culture (still a very niche one) was August William Derleth.

He is called the "culprit of all times" because he perfected and systematized Cthulhu, making the originally indescribable things easy to understand, and making the unknown knowable.

James was curious,

"Professor Lu, what do you think?"

Lu Shi replied: "Fear is subjective. Horror novels are as difficult to write as comedies. A story that can make one person collapse or scream may be boring or indifferent to another person. For different cultural backgrounds For people, the things they fear are definitely different.”

There is a very famous saying:

"There are no ghosts in Africa."

What I’m saying is that Africans are completely indifferent to Chinese horror.

Because there is no ghost culture, they subconsciously feel that they are not scary at all.

The Egyptian Museum also held a paper-making exhibition. Not only did it not feel unlucky, it was also considered "Chinese-style romance".

But if you perform a voodoo ritual on them, they might jump up and hit you.

Another example is Love Craft Master,

He especially likes to use repetition rhetoric - using two pre-adverbial clauses and post-adverbial clauses with the same meaning to modify an object.

It is difficult for ordinary translations to translate this kind of writing style.

Therefore, many non-English readers cannot feel the horror.

This is also the impact of cultural background.

James nodded,

"I think I understand. Because of different cultural backgrounds, everyone has a certain inherent perception. If you want to make people feel scared, you have to break this perception. For example..."

His eyes scanned the people in the room,

Finally, he said to Roland: "Mr. Roland, are you white?"

Roland:? ? ?

I don’t understand why the other party suddenly started talking nonsense.

But an ominous feeling gradually rose in his heart.

He coughed lightly all his life,

"Professor James, I advise you, it is best not to speak when you have not thought of what to say."

James said: "I have thought about it fully. Now, Mr. Rowland, please answer my question, are you white?"

"Gu..."

Roland swallowed.

"yes."

James continued: "If you suddenly find out that you actually have black blood..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Roland:

"do not talk!"

He even shuddered.

There was no way, the story James told was indescribably terrifying.

The place was eerily quiet,

"..."

"..."

"..."

The others tried their best to keep their faces from laughing.

Roland said: "If you want to break the inherent perception, you can't tell such a scary story, right?"

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"But I think Lao Zhan touched on the essence of horror works. Of course, the question he just asked is also the essence of satirical literature."

After all, everyone couldn't hold it back and laughed.

Lu Shi continued: "In short, we need to understand the things that everyone is generally afraid of or unwilling to face, so..."

He paused,

At some point, the others all took out their notebooks and pens and started recording.

Although Lu Shi was used to similar situations, he was still a little speechless.

After all, these people in front of me are all great writers.

It still feels a little weird to let them listen to their own nonsense.

James looked up,

"Professor Lu, why don't you talk anymore?"

Lu Shi said: "What else are you talking about? It's not a lecture in a university, it must have a theme."

Proust next to him said: "Let's talk about the emotion of horror~ I think that as long as it is reflected in the story, the writer's words will definitely attract readers."

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"Look~ look~ haven't you finished speaking?"

"Ah this..."

Proust just shut up.

Verne said: "Lu, you can continue to share. For example, if you were to write a horror novel, how would you arrange the scenes?"

Lu Shi pondered,

"Maybe the arrangements will be more ordinary."

Everyone present was a writer, and they immediately understood,

Ordinary scenes can create contrast,

The more ordinary it is, the easier it is to create new horrors.

Verne asked again: "Is there any more?"

Lu Shi replied: "What else? It should be similar to mystery novels, using a relatively closed space. Because horror novels and mystery novels must make the storyline tense enough and suspenseful. Just like "No Survival", if Everyone can leave the island by boat, and the story may turn into a happy trip."

James agreed: "It's true that limiting the characters' actions so they have to face their fears and then try to solve them is a common trope."

As he spoke, he looked up at Lu Shi,

"Professor Lu, can you give some examples?"

Lu Shi said: "That's a lot. For example, the basement and the coffin appeared in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"; another example is the lonely island, "Lord of the Flies" and "No One Survived"; and There are abandoned hospitals…”

I haven’t finished giving examples yet.

suddenly,

Snapped--

James closed the book and looked at Lu Shi with sincere eyes,

His eyes Bling~Bling~

It seemed like a starry eye.

Lu Shi coughed slightly,

"Lao Zhan, what I said is just casual and cannot be believed at all. You have much more experience than me and you must have your own judgment."

James nodded,

"Of course I have my own judgment. My judgment is that everything you said is right!"

Lu Shi: "..."

Nothing to say.

James continued: "Lu, do you want to try to create horror literature? After all, the types you write are diverse enough to suit the situation. It seems there is no problem if you expand the scope of Yididian."

At the beginning of the 20th century, literary classification was not refined;

Science fiction like "The Country Teacher" and fantasy like "The Lord of the Rings" are both in the category of "fantasy novels".

The same is certainly true of horror literature.

But Lu Shi just complained about the slow pace of James's works, and then turned to the equally slow-paced works of Cthulhu Mythos or Stephen King. The boomerang came too fast.

He lowered his head and thought,

"I don't have time recently. "Harry Potter" has only been serialized for a few chapters, and there is still more content to come~"

James said: "Then you write a short story~ Anyway, you are a quick shooter. A short story can be finished in a few days. It would be good to write it on the ship and then publish it in the United States."

Lu Shi was puzzled: "America? Why America?"

James shrugged and answered honestly: "Because my "Empty Frame" will be published in London. By then, if you also publish novels with the same horror theme, I am worried that I will become Dr. Doyle and be unable to recover. .”

Then everyone burst into laughter.