The author is now
Today, I recommend the interview with Ding Yan in the second column of the third issue of The Novel Monthly in 2022, "Writers now".
Ding Yan was born in Lintan, Gansu province at the end of 1990. He has published short stories in publications such as "Flower City" and "Everyone", and some works have been selected in selected publications. "Home with Grain" was selected into the 2019 Harvest Literature Rankings, won the 2019 Excellent Work Award of Beijing Literature, and the Second "Star of Zhong Shan" Annual Youth Masterpiece Award.
Q: Novel Monthly A: Ding Yan
Q
What was your motivation or inspiration for starting a novel?
A: There is no motivation, only a source of inspiration. I have a relatively big heart, I do not insist on the tenacity of writing, the most said sentence in the past two or three years is: too painful, after writing this article, I will not write it again. But to be able to write until now, it is really a steady stream of inspiration. Just like when I see a huge pit and understand that it is an ancient granary, I can instantly set a title of "The House of Grain", and I will constantly think about what kind of people live around it, and what kind of history they have experienced.
What is your favorite work so far?
A: Smog Town. This is a novella, and the idea is very clear when it is written. I am most satisfied with the state after I wrote it, as if something in my heart has been opened, and a lot of new thinking has been generated in clear thinking, entangled, I can't put them together again, it is a new space for writing that is newly generated, indicating that I continue to explore.
Which of your own works, because the creative process is unforgettable, makes you have a special feeling for it?
A: The process of writing "The House with Grain" is the most memorable. In order to experience hunger, I starved myself to the point of shivering, nausea, pain on both sides of my ribs, and finally I was so hungry that I couldn't even get down the stairs. This is to respect the characters in my novels, the first time I have done this, the process of creation is the process of dialogue with them, empathy, in order to talk about comfort.
Please describe your relationship with the city you live in now.
A: I live a little more in Lintan now, it is an ancient city on the plateau, and because it is a border town in history, it is the only way to pass through the Tea Horse Ancient Road. Lintan people have always had a good history, and in Lintan even the grandfather who sat on the steps of the city gate and basked in the sun would tell history, and it was the detailed history of a certain year of a certain dynasty and a certain person of a certain dynasty. Living in a place like this, it is difficult not to be interested in history. I like to go through all kinds of historical materials in Lintan, and the records of historical materials often make me, a person who does not know much about the reality of Lintan, feel that it is not a town built out of the wasteland, it is an old city that has been seriously destroyed, deeply traumatized, and lost its soul. The more I regret it, the more I want to know about it.
Novel monthly WeChat special article
Novel Monthly, No. 3, 2022
eye
record
Short Story
Pan xiang li foraging for food
(From Jiangnan, No. 1, 2022)
Liu Qingbang hung the strings on the wall
(From Hibiscus, No. 1, 2022)
Li Qingyuan begged ZhuYe
(From October, No. 1, 2022)
Zhang Lulei dream butterfly
(Excerpted from Chinese Writers, No. 2, 2022)
Fu Xiuying paper boat
(From Xiangjiang Literature and Art, No. 1, 2022)
Zhi Ah Wei Wu Xiang letter
(Excerpted from Guangzhou Literature and Art, No. 1, 2022)
Novella
Sun Pin seaside magician
(Excerpt from Harvest, No. 1, 2022)
Love in the war to the east
(Selected from Jiaodong Literature, No. 1, 2022)
Chen Jiu Du Zonghan's case record
(Selected from Tianjin Literature, No. 1, 2022)
Cheng Qingyue is hazy
(From Beijing Literature, No. 2, 2022)
Sister Wu Jun'a is still in Truth Street
(From Man seed, No. 2, 2022)