British writer

Two weeks later,

The second "Harry Potter" movie, "Chamber of Secrets," has come to an end.

The whole London went into carnival,

Children walked through the streets wearing homemade wizard hats and wizard cloaks, holding magic wands, or carrying modified "flying" broomsticks.

The scene was very lively, like Halloween had come early.

The party lasted all day.

The next day, early morning.

The streets are bathed in soft morning light,

Occasionally, students rush by with relaxed and contented smiles on their faces, as if they are still reminiscing about yesterday's carnival.

Doyle House.

Arthur Conan Doyle woke up from his sleep and stretched himself refreshed.

He slept very well last night,

First, because the completion of "Secret Room" relieved his anxiety about catching up on updates;

Second, the manuscript of his new work has been initially completed.

The new work is called "Gradient".

The novel uses a narrative trick to narrate from the first perspective of a color-blind patient, and then completes the reversal in the last chapter.

Structurally, Doyle almost completely copied "Roger Mystery";

Now he no longer cares about the so-called "master's style", but creates with the attitude of "first imitate, then surpass".

As for the person he wanted to surpass, it was naturally Lu Shi.

Doyle got out of bed, came to the desk, looked at the manuscript, and showed a satisfied expression.

Nothing happens and I feel light,

This is the state I'm talking about.

He called out the door: "Ruth, I'm up. Is breakfast ready?"

His wife Louise Hawkins responded outside,

"Right away! Wash up quickly!"

Doyle got up, washed himself, and entered the front hall.

There is already food on the table,

The bread slices are toasted until golden and crispy, and the grilled sausages with cracked skin are paired with mushrooms and tomatoes. It looks delicious at first glance.

Hawkins came out with the teacup and handed it to her husband.

"Warm your stomach first."

Doyle took a sip.

The Earl Gray tea was mixed with slight bitterness and sweetness, making him unable to help but exhale,

"Huh~"

He lazily picked up the bread and began to spread the jam.

Hawkins said: "Arthur, look at today's newspaper. There is an interview with Lu, the topic is "Harry Potter"."

With that said, he placed the interview page of "Mirror" in the center of the dining table.

Doyle asked vaguely as he chewed the bread, "Is there anything interesting about it?"

Hawkins thought for a while,

"I think they are all very interesting. Lu is undoubtedly a funny person, and he is also very candid and does not hesitate to talk about his creative skills."

"Tsk..."

Doyle was speechless, his eyes locked on the newspaper, and he muttered: "Of course Lu is a great and interesting writer."

He has noticed,

Many of the questions in this interview were raised by readers in their letters, and there were many who were sharp, and some even looked like they were deliberately making things difficult.

It is very rare for Lu Shi to dare to respond directly.

Of course, this is also a manifestation of extreme confidence.

Doyle asked, "Ruth, what's your favorite question?"

Hawkins thought for a while,

"The third one...it's the one about Slytherin. The question was very direct. Lu's answer was also good, without any hesitation."

Doyle gave a shallow "hmm\

,"The question is sharp:

"Sir Lu, does the Harry Potter series portray Slytherin in too much a bad light?"

It does feel that way.

When Doyle was reading the novel, he discovered that all the bad people in the book were Slytherins, stuffed in like garbage.

Needless to say, the villain Voldemort;

There is also the trio of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, and Rocky in the first film;

Then there's Snape...

Just looking at it makes one's stomach churn and make one want to feel sick.

Hawkins said: "When I was studying, I thought Slytherin was a training center for bad guys, and students could be sent directly to prison as soon as they graduated."

"puff!"

Doyle burst out laughing involuntarily.

"What you said is too outrageous! According to what you said, Gryffindor is the protagonist of ten thousand years, and good people gather together."

"That's what it is."

Hawkins spread his hands,

"As for the other two colleges...um...what are they?"

Doyle rolled his eyes at his wife and said, "Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. However, these two colleges are indeed like backgrounds. There seem to be only a few named characters."

That's right,

But Doyle didn't think Lu Shi had done anything wrong.

children's literature,

The most important thing is to clearly distinguish between villains and good guys.

In many cases, people's stereotypes are even used to make the characters look familiar, and then establish the opposition between good and evil.

Slytherins are smart, but cunning and self-interested, making them the most suitable villains.

What Doyle was curious about was,

Will Lu admit it in public?

After all, admitting to Facebooking is equivalent to stating that what you write is not profound.

Doyle looked down;

After a moment, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Shit!"

Hawkins glared at her husband.

"I'm eating, be careful with your words. Keep the dining table clean and hygienic~"

Doyle was embarrassed,

"Sorry. I just..."

He still read the newspaper in disbelief and whispered: "Lu is an extremely sincere person. I admire him. Ruth, look at his answer."

Hawkins was puzzled;

"No need to read. I've already read it before."

Doyle said: "I was just shocked that Lu would analyze it deeply and consciously put the shallow side of Harry Potter under the eyes of the public."

In the interview version, Lu Shi gave a direct answer to Slytherin's question,

He believed that the fault was not with Slytherin, but with the House System.

He used his "Lord of the Flies" as an example,

In the story "Lord of the Flies", children are divided into two factions, giving names to their factions and making them hostile to each other.

Soon, hostility turned to hostility,

From cursing to ostracism, it later evolved into fights, arrests, and even murder.

Lu Shi said in the interview:

"Now think about it, in the same situation, what will happen if the two teams are expanded to four teams, that is, the four academies in "Harry Potter"? An 11-year-old minor is thrown into the sky every day. Slytherins who are defined as bad people by other houses, no matter how normal they are, will become bad after staying for a few years. Moreover, this will also cause negative feedback, making those who can go to Slytherin but have choices, Will insist on killing the idea of ​​going to Slytherin because Slytherin has such a bad reputation."

This kind of negative feedback is reflected in the novel,

When the protagonist Harry puts on the Sorting Hat, he repeats: "No Slytherin... No Slytherin..."

Ironically, the Sorting Hat also listened to Harry's wishes.

Finally, Lu Shi made a joke when answering:

"So, what I am vilifying is not Slytherin, but Hogwarts. After all, ordinary schools will not use a hat to divide students into multiple groups and then let them "agree with the party and oppose the dissenters."

After reading this sentence, Doyle was in awe,

"Okay! Well said!"

Hawkins was curious,

"how?"

Doyle glanced at his wife and complained: "Can't you see that Lu is mocking Daying~"

As he spoke, he crossed a few phrases with his fingers,

"'Dividing by one hat', 'Multiple groups', 'Parties agree with each other and oppose differences'."

Hawkins was stunned for a moment and suddenly realized,

"I understand! Sir Lu is indeed an educator. This is satirizing the unfairness of British education and the current dual-track system...well...not necessarily. Do you think he is mocking the House of Lords and the House of Commons? It feels so That’s right to understand.”

After all, there are more cases of partisanship and dissent in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Doyle said: "Many people only regard Harry Potter as children's literature, but now they see it as a shallow book."

Hawkins was convinced,

"As expected of Lu."

The couple couldn't help but feel quite emotional.

After a while, Hawkins was curious again,

"Arthur, you asked me what my favorite interview question was. What about you? Which one is your favorite?"

"I?"

Doyle quickly scanned the interview version,

"I definitely pay more attention to writing skills. Like how to write fantasy stories well, how to write children's literature well, how to write long novels well..."

Hawkins said: "You can at least write long stories."

Doyle smiled bitterly upon hearing this,

He thought so too before,

It wasn't until the Sherlock Holmes series confronted Lu Shi's works that he realized the problems in his writing.

For long stories, the story should be created as linearly as possible from the perspective of the protagonist.

This is also the direction his new work will strive for.

Of course, Doyle couldn't tell the truth to his wife;

Pride will never allow it.

He changed the subject,

"Look at the last question, 'How to write Harry Potter in the style of Cthulhu?', it's obviously a joke~"

This is indeed a spoof,

Because the tone of the entire interview was serious, the editor of "Mirror" persuaded Lu Shi to add such a question at the end.

Lu Shi was not a rigid person;

To this kind of question, his answer is naturally nonsense.

Ravenclaws thirst for knowledge and are followers of Yog-Sothoth;

Slytherin has Ig blood;

Voldemort is actually the King in Yellow;

…

The answer was very confusing.

However, Lu Shi finally solemnly recommended Henri Bergson’s book review——

"Looking at Humanity from the "Brain in a Vat".

Bergson wrote this in England.

After visiting Lu Shi, he went directly to Cambridge to communicate with famous philosophers, and finally polished this book review, which combines novels and philosophical thought experiments.

Doyle also read "Weird Night". He couldn't help but be curious, turned to the book review page, and started reading.

The book review begins with a clear statement,

——

Thought experiment is an imaginative means,

They are useful tools for education and entertainment, and are a great way to apply complex concepts to real-world situations.

Obviously, "Brain in a Vat" shocked many readers.

I will give more examples here,

The Paradox of Color Blindness, Ship of Theseus, Return from Eternity...

——

Doyle felt bad when he saw the word "color blindness".

Because the central plot of the next novel is color blindness!

He quickly looked down,

Not long after, he sank into his seat as if paralyzed, muttering: "It's over! It's over! My trick has been completely exposed! Why do you have to mention color blindness again!?"

Hawkins said indifferently: "Hasn't it been missed before? You are still full of confidence~"

Lu Shi once wrote a long book review called "Sherlock Holmes, the setter of detective novel standards and the practitioner of mystery novel standards".

It gives examples of subterfuge construction ideas and mentions color blindness.

"It's not the same thing," Doyle said.

He shook the newspaper,

"In that article, Lu just talked about it roughly; in this article, it was so detailed that it even took my pants off!"

Hawkins stepped forward quickly.

"show me!"

Bergson's book review gave a detailed explanation of the paradox of color blindness:

If a person has viewed red as green and green as red since he was a child, then he will know from his childhood that green blood is red in his eyes, and leaves are green.

Therefore, his knowledge of red and green does not hinder him from communicating with others at all.

Hawkins was stunned,

She thought for a long time and asked, "That seems to be the case~ But how were those color blind people discovered?"

Doyle was furious;

"I don't care how they were discovered!"

He finished his breakfast in a few mouthfuls and got up to get dressed.

Hawkins asked, "Where are you going?"

Doyle said: "Fleet Street! I have to go to the Mirror office!"

…

Fleet Street.

A crowd of people gathered in front of the Mirror newspaper office.

"Increase the amount of updates!"

“I won’t give up until I see the third part of Harry Potter!”

"Additional update! Additional update! Additional update! Additional update!"

…

There were children and adults gathered,

They had been blocking the door for more than an hour.

Charles Preswich Scott, the editor-in-chief of the Manchester Guardian, was in Lu Shi's office, looking at the situation outside from the window, his face filled with gloating.

He suppressed his laughter and said, "Dear Lu, you are playing with fire this time~"

Lu Shi was speechless for a while.

I really didn't expect that just by revealing the existence of the third part in the interview page, so many readers would block the door.

Their slogan is also outrageous:

"Lu, you have to be responsible for me!"

According to their high standards and strict requirements, any online writer who updates little is a scumbag.

Scott said: "Lu, you are a little foolish this time."

Lu Shi was too lazy to pay attention to him and just said "hmm".

Scott laughed,

"It seems that you are not convinced that you are being stupid. You should know that for a serialized best-selling book like "Harry Potter", you absolutely cannot tell readers that you have already made an outline for the next one. This is the most Basic principles.”

He sighed,

"But the matter has come to this, and it's useless to talk about it. What do you think?"

Lu Shi immediately smashed it.

"Of course I'm pretending not to know~ It's impossible to add more updates. It's impossible to add more updates in this life."

Scott pointed outside,

"It's like this, why don't you add more updates? Didn't you just add more updates to "The Little Prince" before? At that time, "Mirror" published twice a day and broke the daily sales record."

Lu Shi said: "How can it be the same? How long is "The Little Prince"?"

With the size of "Harry Potter", if there were really more updates, Lu Shitie would definitely be able to knock the typewriter into smoke.

This alone may not satisfy readers' appetites.

Scott said: "But it's not a big deal that the door of the newspaper office is always blocked by people. If the sales of "Mirror" hadn't been affected, I would have suspected that the gang outside was sent by that bastard Buckle. That’s it.”

George Earl Bakker, editor of The Times.

Lu Shi said: "According to plan, I plan to start the third serialization of "Prisoner of Azkaban" one month after the completion of "Chamber of Secrets"."

Scott waved his hand,

"A month? You'd better stop thinking about it. Just keep writing and don't think about vacations or anything like that."

This old man's tone is darker than the most evil capitalist.

Lu Shi complained: "Brother, I am the boss of "Mirror"!"

"Ah this..."

Scott was slightly embarrassed,

"As a journalist myself, I really can't see such a good opportunity to increase sales being lost."

He was deep in thought,

"It's not impossible not to update more. You can make a big news to distract readers. Otherwise, I won't be surprised at all if you are really tied into a dark room to write a book one day."

Lu Shi said: "Don't always think about making big news, let's..."

Before the words fell,

Dong dong dong——

There was a knock on the door,

Then came the voice of the clerk: "Editor-in-chief, Dr. Doyle wants to see you. Say yes...say yes..."

Lu Shi went over and opened the door.

"say what?"

The clerk lowered his voice and said, "He requires you to be responsible for him."

Lu Shi:? ? ?

"Am I responsible for him?"