Chapter 8 is not about signing a contract, but directly putting you on the shortlist!

Chapter 8 is not about signing a contract, but directly putting you on the shortlist!

Chapter 8 is not about signing a contract, but directly putting you on the shortlist!
This is another great charm of the novella "Hear the Wind Sing".

The novel gives people an illusory sense of the passage of time through the changes in perspectives of different characters, real and imaginary stories and settings.

Whenever you immerse yourself in it, chew it over and over again, and come to new insights, the details condensed bit by bit in the text will make you feel a trembling feeling as if your soul is being questioned.

Rena Saito was reminded of the famous work "The Well on Mars" by the American writer Heartfield mentioned in the book.

This is a bizarre, absurd and terrifying story.

The story goes that a young man drilled into one of the countless bottomless wells on the surface of Mars.

These wells were estimated to have been dug by Martians tens of thousands of years ago. What is strange is that they all cleverly avoid water veins.

The young man continued to explore aimlessly like this, and he didn't know how long he had been walking.

By the end of the walk, the watch had stopped, perhaps two hours, or maybe two days, and I no longer felt hungry or tired.

At a certain moment, he suddenly noticed the sunlight. It turned out that the horizontal cave was connected to other wells.

He climbed up the wall of the well and returned to the surface.

At that moment, he seemed to feel that something was wrong, and he began to talk to the wind.

And at the end of the story, the atmosphere trembled slightly, the wind smiled, and in an instant, the eternal silence once again enveloped the surface of Mars.

The young man pulled a pistol from his pocket, put the muzzle to his temple, and gently pulled the trigger.

It was this little story that hit Saito Rena hard in the chest last night.

Because of the conversation between the young man and Feng, and his final suicide, she felt the same way.

Listen to the wind singing, listen to the wind singing. Before she met Beichuan Xiu, she had been thinking about a question.

Be puzzled.

What did the wind say?

Looking at Kitagawa Hide at this moment, I saw a faint smile on his handsome face, and heard him say very naturally, "I made it all up."

An indescribable feeling of loneliness that comes over me like a tsunami, a landslide, or a torrent.

"We are wandering in time, from the birth of the universe to its death. So we have no life and no death. We are just wind."

Whispering these words from the novel, Saito Rena felt like she couldn't breathe.

For those of the baby boom generation, what they feel most deeply in this post-bubble era is the increasing sense of loneliness.

This loneliness erodes them all the time, and they can do nothing about it.

Kitagawa Hide's novel uses a love story that has a beginning but no end and an absurd and bizarre fictional story to narrate and deconstruct loneliness.

People are born lonely.

But we don’t mind being alone.

Because these deep wells underground on Mars are connected.

In the end we can still walk to the ground and hear the wind saying all this.

"Teacher Saito?" Kitagawa Hide looked at Saito Rena who was suddenly stunned and felt a little panicked.

After she heard what he said, she was shocked, and then she started mumbling sentences from the novel, gradually becoming a little out of control, which made Kitagawa Hide a little at a loss.

When I first read this novel, I was actually more impressed by the writing style and highly personal style of the novel.

On the contrary, I was not deeply touched by the loneliness and confusion portrayed in the novel.

But one work, one era.

Didn't he choose this novel and submit it at this time just to attract the young people of the baby boomer generation?

It seems to be successful.

But Rena Saito's reaction was a bit too much.

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Saito Reina came back to her senses and quickly wiped the corners of her eyes, apologized and said, "I was distracted, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, please continue." Kitagawa Hide said with a smile.

"So those words were said by Feng, right?" Saito Rena couldn't help but ask.

Kitagawa Hide suddenly realized that it was probably because he mentioned Hatfield that reminded her of "The Well on Mars" and then she thought of this sentence.

"You can say that, but actually it is a very holistic thing. I should say that the whole novel is actually expressing the theme of 'what is the wind saying'."

Kitagawa Hide replied with a smile, otherwise why the book would be called "Listen to the Wind Sing"!

"I see. This is truly a rare masterpiece, well worth savoring many times." Saito Rena put away the manuscript. Many of her doubts were answered, and she was very satisfied with this brief interview.

Her evaluation is actually very high.

After all, Rena Saito is the official editor of "Gunzo", one of the top five pure literature magazines, which is equivalent to a pyramid-level practitioner in the industry.

To get a word of praise from her is like taking half a step towards debuting.

"Thank you very much for your review." Kitagawa Hide stood up and bowed slightly.

Saito Reina quickly stood up and returned the greeting.

The two sat down again, and Saito Rena paid more attention to Kitagawa Hide and looked at him carefully again.

He sits well, speaks well, and looks very handsome, comparable to a TV star.

To be honest, if it weren't for the uniform, it would be hard to associate him with a job like security guard.

"Mr. Kitagawa, excuse me, is this really your first time writing a novel?" Saito Rena glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 8:42. A pleasant conversation always made time pass especially quickly. She had to make a choice.

"Yes. To be honest, my Chinese grades were quite poor when I was in high school." Kitagawa Hide smiled shyly. These are personal information that can be easily found out. It's better to say it now than for Saito Rena to find it out herself later.

"So. What's your educational background?" Saito Rena felt a little more favorable towards him.

There are quite a few new writers with potential. When many of them talk to the editor for the first time, they always like to exaggerate themselves and magnify their various advantages, for fear of being passed by the editor.

Kitagawa Hide was very honest and said something bad about himself.

"I graduated from high school." Kitagawa Hide answered truthfully, "I studied at Aoyama High School and graduated in 92."

"I see." Saito Rena lowered her head in thought, supporting her chin with her hand again, while her right hand unconsciously turned the pen.

She looked very serious when she was thinking, and her intellectual beauty became more prominent.

After hesitating for a while, until the tea in the cup had cooled down a little, she slowly raised her head and made up her mind.

Kitagawa Hide sat upright, feeling that copying a book was a difficult task. It was nothing like the online novels he had read in his previous life, where the protagonist just copied something and the editors would worship it as a god, readers would enthusiastically follow it, and then the sales would take off and the novel would win various awards.

It seems that just the first step of debut: signing the contract, made Saito Rena hesitate for a long time.

She seemed to be about to speak, and her life or death depended on it!
Kitagawa Hide sat up straighter.

"Mr. Kitagawa, as an editor, I would like to recommend your novel to the editorial department and directly enter it into this year's Group Portrait Newcomer Award."

This is a very bold attempt.

The official editors of "Qun Xiang" all have one internal recommendation quota, and can recommend their favorite novels to the judging committee of this Newcomer Award.

As long as you get their approval, the recommended novel can go directly to the shortlist of the Group Portrait Newcomer Award!

This is equivalent to having one foot halfway into the door of "Group Portrait".

Originally, this spot for Saito Rena was reserved for Yomiuri Okata's "The Remaining Epidemic".

Yomiuri Okata is also a new writer, only 19 years old. He suffered from congenital quadriplegia (no hands and feet) since childhood and has always loved writing.

At the age of 17, he began to frequently contribute to "Group Portrait", but his manuscripts were all ignored.

Last year, his manuscript was picked out by Rena Saito from countless submissions, and the work was successfully shortlisted for last year's Group Portrait Newcomer Award.

Although he ultimately failed, his strong character and writing ability were recognized by the editorial department of Gunzo, and the editors unanimously agreed that he had a high chance of winning this year's Newcomer Award.

This was the new writer that Rena Saito had been looking forward to for a long time and paid close attention to, but he stabbed her in the back a few days ago.

Somehow Okatake Yomiuri got to know Tanaka Aoi, and submitted to her the article "The Remaining Epidemic" which he wrote after a long discussion with Saito Rena.

At yesterday's editorial meeting, Tanaka Aoi brought out this manuscript and dealt a heavy blow to Saito Rena, and the internal recommendation position she had originally reserved for Okatake Yomiuri was left vacant.

"I am willing to sign a contract with Gunzo." Kitagawa Hide answered without hesitation.

He was halfway through his words when he saw Saito Reina's smile and realized his mistake.

Then, a rare ripple appeared in the calm lake of heart.

Directly on the shortlist?

If he remembered correctly, there were more than 5000 submissions to the Newcomer Awards every year, and only 50 were finally shortlisted.

Although in the end only the winning novel can be published in the latest issue of the magazine, it is also remarkable if you have a resume shortlisted for the Group Portrait Newcomer Award.

The lowest bottom line in Kitagawa Hide's heart is to be included in the shortlist.

He also didn't dare to guarantee that the literary world in Tokyo, Japan would really accept Haruki Murakami's style as it did in his previous life.

But as long as he is shortlisted, he can continue to submit articles to small and medium-sized magazines with this resume.

There is a high probability that the article will be selected, and then you can earn some royalties, and then continue to prepare for other newcomer awards, or come back next year.

This is the last resort.

But life is like this sometimes, it is impossible for everything to go smoothly.

If he can't debut successfully, become famous and make a lot of money like what is written in those online novels, then he will have to endure it slowly.

Even if he fails to get one of the five newcomer awards, he still has to consider other newcomer awards.

In short, his goal was very clear, he had to balance income and expenditure first, and then let my wife Mengzi stop working three jobs to supplement the family income, at least let her have enough food and clothing!

However, he would definitely not choose other newcomers until the last step.

Because even if you win the award at that time, you will no longer be a new writer. If you want to publish in the five major pure literature magazines, you have to submit your work as an old author.

The treatment of other people's children and your own son will definitely be different.

But now all problems are solved.

"Teacher Saito, you said direct qualification, did I hear it right?" To be cautious, Kitagawa Hide confirmed it again.

Saito Reina nodded solemnly: "Yes. I will recommend your novel for the shortlist in my name. Of course, this is not 100% successful, but in comparison, the probability will be much higher."

In fact, being recommended by an editor is basically equivalent to being directly shortlisted.

The review committee rarely blocks such internal recommendations. After all, everyone works together. If you object in your real name, it will be equivalent to ruining the relationship in person. Who would do such a stupid thing?
But this referral also means that the editor and the author are strongly bound together.

If he doesn't achieve anything in the future, it means your editorial vision is not good.

Now is the post-bubble era. In an economic downturn, if you make repeated mistakes and have no editorial vision, you will be optimized out.

To be honest, Kitagawa Hide was a little touched.

Saito Rena's decision seems simple, but it is actually risky and means gambling her own career.

"I do, Teacher Saito." Kitagawa Hide looked into her eyes and said word by word.

(End of this chapter)