Chapter 25 The power of the killer!
Chapter 25 The power of the killer!
What could be more shocking than a new writer with a clean slate suddenly emerging out of nowhere and taking the world of pure literature by storm?
That is, this writer can also produce novels of the same quality at a high speed!
In 1995, there was no saying in the Japanese literary world that "the writers are as productive as sows", because the writers nowadays were like constipated when writing books. Not to mention publishing novels continuously, even writing one book a year was a difficult task.
For some writers who can frequently produce manuscripts, the quality of their manuscripts is generally very low, and they cannot even meet the publication standards, let alone be published as a single book.
Now, while saying "I'll give you some confidence", Kitagawa Hide suddenly threw out the manuscript of the sequel. This kind of action left Muramatsu Tomomi and Yasuhara Akira dumbfounded.
When he saw the envelope, Muramatsu Tomoshi's mind went blank instantly.
Let’s put aside the royalties, paperback editions, and the Ministry of Culture for now. He needs to take a good look at what Mr. Kitagawa’s new work is about!
This is the official sequel to "Hear the Wind Sing"!
He took the envelope tremblingly, opened it, and a pile of draft paper fell out. It was the cheapest kind of paper. It seemed that he was really short of money.
"Pinball in 1973". When he saw the title of the book, he couldn't help but get a little excited again. The handwriting was as bad as ever, but the familiar feeling came up all at once.
This time there is a chapter title! It is no longer the perfunctory writing of Section 01.
Prologue: 1969~1973.
Muramatsu Tomoshi couldn't wait to read it.
After simply reading the first few hundred words, he was absolutely certain that this was Kitagawa Hideichi's consistent writing style, and it still had that flavor, fascinating!
There are jokes like "As a prize, you'll probably get at least a box of cooking matches," and there are also very personal, unrealistic and exaggerated statements like "One of the people I talked to was born on Mars and the other was born on Venus."
It is as concise and clear as ever, and still avoids the complicated "classical" style that is most respected in the current Japanese literary world.
Muramatsu Tomoshi stared at the manuscript paper intently, wishing he could print every word into his head.
Hide Kitagawa I forgot who once said that if a book can grab the reader's heart in the first five minutes, it will successfully capture a die-hard fan.
There is no doubt that "Pinball 1973" does this perfectly.
Muramatsu Tomo acted as if no one was around and spent ten minutes reading the entire prologue of more than 10,000 words.
An Yuan, who was standing nearby, felt itchy and his heart tightened at the same time.
From Muramatsu Tomoshi's expression, it can be seen that the quality of this manuscript will not be much worse than "Hear the Wind Sing", and a mere security guard has written such a series of masterpieces in just a few months.
This is even more unbelievable than the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack.
When did pure literary creation become as simple as drinking water and eating?
"Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu, this manuscript..." An Yuanxian couldn't help it.
Muramatsu Tomoshi ignored him, and probably didn't hear what he said at all. Instead, he looked directly at Kitagawa Hide, his eyes shining: "Teacher Kitagawa, you did it! You really did it!"
"Uh" Beichuan Xiu was shocked. What did I do? Is it necessary to be so excited?
In fact, "Pinball in 1973" becomes more and more exciting as it goes on. In addition to the prologue, there are eight chapters. He is now in the middle of the third chapter, but this time he only includes the prologue.
If things don't go well, he would consider taking a few more chapters to Kodansha, but he would never reveal everything.
In case they don’t cooperate, the manuscript will have to be sent to other magazines for review!
But now it seems that the prologue has deeply shocked Muramatsu Tomomi.
"That's what you mentioned in your acceptance speech for Hear the Wind Sing. You wanted to be like the famous American writer Fitzgerald and write novels with a strong sense of the times and era," Muramatsu Tomomi reminded.
Kitagawa Hide suddenly realized, oh, this is what you mean.
In his previous life, he liked this American writer who wrote "The Great Gatsby" very much. Mentioning this in his acceptance speech can be regarded as a small tribute to his idol.
"Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu, you are too kind. I am far inferior to Mr. Fitzgerald." Kitagawa Hide said truthfully. Only then did he notice that Muramatsu Tomoshi's way of addressing him had changed.
He used the more respectful "you" and added honorifics, which seemed to show that he was completely impressed.
Muramatsu handed the draft paper to Yasuhara Akira, and while he was reading the manuscript, he continued to say to Kitagawa Hide: "Teacher Kitagawa, let me take back what I said just now. Judging from the writing ability you have shown now, it would only be a loss for the Akutagawa Prize if it is not awarded to you."
This evaluation is very high.
Although the Akutagawa Prize has had several selection results that were not recognized by the public, it has basically been in the first tier of new human literary awards for sixty years since its establishment, and has been consistently in the top three.
It would be a loss for the Akutagawa Prize if it was not selected for a work. If such an evaluation were to get out, it would be condemned and questioned by the industry.
Muramatsu Tomoshi is obviously a relatively stable editor, and he would probably only say such things when he is extremely excited.
An Yuanxian, who was reading the manuscript, was also frightened by these words and looked up at him.
Muramatsu Tomoshi continued, "As you said, if you insist on asking the Ministry of Culture for a royalty contract, I am willing to discuss it with the top management immediately and will definitely help you achieve your wish."
"Muramatsu!" When An Yuanxian heard this, he became anxious and stopped reading the manuscript. There were so many good manuscripts anyway, but Muramatsu Tomo thought that this was like putting the editorial department on the fire.
What does it mean to negotiate with senior management to help Kitagawa Hide get a royalty contract?
Is he crazy?
Regardless of whether the Ministry of Culture will grant it or not, if the paperback edition fails immediately after its release, without the endorsement of the Ministry of Culture, who will bear the responsibility?
Even if the manuscript is excellent, there is no guarantee that the paperback edition will be a hit.
The price of a single issue of Gunzo is 850 yen, and the price of a single issue of a paperback novel is 2000 yen or more. Although many readers bought this issue of Gunzo because of Listen to the Wind Sing, they are all loyal readers of Gunzo, and the high quality over the years made them willing to pay for it.
Where does Kitagawa Hide get such a large readership base?
"Muramatsu, have you forgotten? Mayumi Aso's novel, which won the award last year, was also a sensation at the time, but what happened? I went against all odds and helped her publish a single volume, but in the end, I didn't even sell 1000 copies!"
Yasuhara was furious. He didn't want to reveal his shameful past in front of Kitagawa Hide, but he couldn't let Muramatsu Tomosuke do such a stupid thing.
He was not willing to have the entire editorial department join Kitagawa Hide in offending the Ministry of Culture, and then share the blame for the plummeting sales.
Last year, he was optimistic about Mayumi Aso and spent a lot of money to build connections to make an exception and publish a single volume. Then he was slapped in the face and he hasn't recovered yet.
"I will personally discuss this matter with President Noma and Section Chief Amuro." Muramatsu Tomomi also showed determination, and it was obvious that he thought Kitagawa Hide was worth a gamble.
Since he said so, An Yuanxian could only sit back and start thinking about how to remove the responsibility from himself.
It's all crazy.
This was the case with Saito Rena, and now it is the same with Muramatsu Tomoshi. They all treat publishing a pure literature magazine as a gamble.
"Thank you very much, Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu." Kitagawa Hide stood up and bowed slightly, convincing Muramatsu Tomo that it was enough to just regard the big king as he was. As for the opinion of the small king An Yuan Xian, it was not important.
The two of them didn't get along well to begin with, so he didn't expect An Yuanxian to help him.
"I will go to discuss this matter with President Noma right away. Can you please wait a few days?" There was another reason why Muramatsu Tomoshi was so anxious. He saw Kitagawa Hide's determination today. This young man would not give up until he achieved his goal.
If Kodansha drags its feet or rejects him, he might just switch jobs without looking back.
It's already a loss for such a potential writer to change jobs. If he were to change jobs with this article "Pinball in 1973", it would probably leave an indelible stain on his editing career.
Go and talk as soon as possible, the sooner the better!
"Uh" Kitagawa Hide pretended to be embarrassed.
Muramatsu Tomoshi quickly added: "I will give you a satisfactory answer within three days."
"Okay, I'll wait another three days." Beichuan Xiu nodded, "But I have a request."
"Please speak." Muramatsu Tomoshi said immediately. Now it has come to this point, as long as the request is not too excessive, he is willing to meet it.
"I hope that the bonus for the group portrait newcomer award will arrive in the next few days." Kitagawa Hide didn't blush and started to ask for money directly. "Also, Mr. Saito said that there will be royalties for the publication of "Hear the Wind Sing", right? Can it be sent together?"
"." Muramatsu Tomoshi didn't react for a moment.
Because of this new beginning, he has placed Kitagawa Hide on the level of Oshima Hikaru.
Such writers will become famous and charming figures in the literary world in the future.
Few people would talk about money like this.
It turns out that he really cares about bonuses and royalties.
Muramatsu Tomoshi felt that he could understand more and more why Kitagawa Hide was so determined to fight for a royalty contract.
"Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu?" Kitagawa Hide's calm expression changed slightly. Is the process of paying for manuscripts really so complicated?
Last month's loan had already overdrawn Mengzi's piggy bank. If he couldn't come up with the money by the 20th of this month, he might have to run away to places like Shikoku Island or Hokkaido to hide.
"Ah, no problem, there is no problem with this. I will go directly to negotiate with the Finance Department. Mr. Kitagawa, is this your only request?" Muramatsu Tomoshi replied quickly.
Kitagawa Hide nodded heavily: "If it can be faster, the faster the better, please!"
"I see." Muramatsu Tomoshi breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that An Yuanxian had no intention of reading the manuscript, he carefully took it, packed it, and handed it back to him. Then he suddenly remembered something and asked again,
"By the way, Mr. Kitagawa, you just mentioned the Youth Trilogy, so..."
"Yes, there are three parts in total. They are somewhat related and the style will be relatively unified. The third part is called "A Wild Sheep Chase", and it is already being planned here."
Kitagawa Hide pointed to his head and said with a smile,
“Also, I hope to be able to start serializing “Pinball 1973” directly from the next issue of “Group Portrait”.”
He doesn't have any literary problems. Why drag on when he can make money as quickly as possible? As long as the products sell well, what's wrong with turning into a ruthless typing machine?
"Okay, okay, then I'll notify Saito-san to prepare the contract later." Muramatsu Tomoshi was overjoyed. He also liked this kind of action-oriented writer.
After being reminded by Kitagawa Hide, he remembered that the other party was still on a rookie contract, and he had to get a long-term contract as soon as possible to tie this potential stock of the future to Kodansha!
(End of this chapter)