Elephant News Andying.com reporter Liang Xinhui
Since publishing his debut novel in the People's Liberation Army Literature and Art at the age of twenty, the famous writer Shi Zhongshan has published more than 100 novels and novel collections, and is a contemporary writer loved by readers.
His novel "Father Goes to Town" was adapted into the TV series "The Years of Burning Passion" to cause a sensation, and since then a large number of novels have been adapted into film and television works, and he has also begun to cross-border film and television, serving as a screenwriter and producer. His representative works such as "The Years of Burning Passion", "Shi Guangrong and His Children", "Happiness Like Flowers", "Brothers under heaven", "Military Song Loud", "Mainland Island", etc., have won various awards such as the "Five Ones Project" Award, the Feitian Award, the Golden Eagle Award, and the Beijing Municipal Government Literature and Art Award of the Central Propaganda Department.
In March this year, the famous writer and screenwriter Shi Zhongshan's novel "Ask the Vast Land" was launched by the People's Literature Publishing House, and the online launch ceremony of the new book was held on March 20. At the launch ceremony, Shi Zhongshan admitted that he always felt that it was difficult for writers to find themselves, even if they found themselves and opened up their own subjects and fields, it was also a very high learning.
[1] Write about the secret contest and silent passion after the smoke of war has dissipated
Shi Zhongshan's latest novel, "Asking the Vast Land", was published in the Selected Contemporary Novels in Issue 5, 2021, and published by the People's Literature Publishing House in March this year, which is a secret contest and silent passion after the smoke of war has dissipated.
On the eve of the liberation of Northeast China, Bi Jian, chief of the intelligence section of the Social Department of the Northeast Bureau, and the Kuomintang agent code-named "Old Master" began a lifelong "cat and mouse game," and the one who was ordered to pretend to be the wife of "Old Master" was Actually Bi Jian's long-lost sister, and the fates of several characters were entangled with each other, stirring up a string of waves in the tide of the times.
At the launch ceremony of the new book, Zang Yongqing, president of the People's Literature Publishing House, said that the work is another excellent masterpiece in the current spy war novels, and provides many new elements different from similar works in the past, from the eve of the liberation of Northeast China to the reform and opening up, such a long time span has brought a heavy sense of history. He hopes that "Ask the Vast Land" will be as popular as Shi Zhongshan's past popular masterpieces, which will be loved by the majority of readers, and there will be the next step of film and television adaptation.
Shi Zhongshan himself called "Asking the Vast Land" an "atypical" spy war novel, because this work does not focus on the ups and downs of the plot and the intricate character relationship like a typical spy war drama, but focuses on the contest between people and the fate of the characters in the context of the big era. He believes that the fate of each character in this work is inseparable from the times.
"As an old writer, it's not easy to write. I dare not say how good my book is, but it certainly won't disappoint you, and you're not wrong to read it. Shi Zhongshan also revealed that "Ask the Vast Land" will also be made into a TV series, which can be started around next year, and will not exceed the following year at the latest.
[2] Its creative volume is huge, and it is rare among writers of the same generation
The famous critic Meng Fanhua has long been concerned about the current literary creation, and he commented that Shi Zhongshan is a very characteristic writer, whose creative volume is huge and rare among writers of the same generation. He agreed with the judgment that Shi Zhongshan's creation had the characteristics of genre novels, and stressed that there is no hierarchy between genre novels and serious literature, and in recent years, genre novels have been learning from various other novel writing methods, and provide a very good reference for serious literature.
Meng Fanhua believes that Shi Zhongshan's previous military-themed novels have contributed to shaping a new military image, such as "Shi Guangrong" in "The Years of Burning Passion", which is different from the character image of the past that is strict and flawless; at the same time, the film and television drama adapted from Shi Zhongshan's novel has made such theme works more lifelike, thus winning the love of the majority of audiences.
Talking about Shi Zhongshan's new work "Asking the Vast Land", Meng Fanhua said that he would prefer to see it as an "anti-special novel". Because of the success of a series of works from "Latent" to "Cliff", spy dramas have become a trend, such works are written by our personnel to break into the enemy's interior, and Shi Zhongshan's new work continues the tradition of "anti-special themes" in classic works such as "Yangcheng Dark Sentinel" and "Secret Drawings", which is also a type that readers and audiences like to hear.
Regarding the title of the novel, he made a unique interpretation, "Ask the vast earth" comes from Chairman Mao's poem, and the next sentence is "who is the lord of the ups and downs", although there is no positive mention in the novel, but the reader can naturally get the answer in reading, and in the general trend of the times, "who is the master of the ups and downs".
[3] I want to break the solidified result of spy novels
Born into a military family, Shi Zhongshan was the youngest of his father's five children. In 1981, Shi Zhongshan worked as a radar soldier at Chifeng in Inner Mongolia. In 1984, at the age of 20, Shi Zhongshan published his first novel, "Hot Snow," in the journal "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art."
From 1984 to 2022, for 38 years, Shi Zhongshan has always been engaged in novel creation, while also serving as a screenwriter, director, and producer, but his favorite identity is still a novelist, and every novel has a feeling, and "Ask the Vast Land" is no exception.
Shi Zhongshan said that "Ask the Vast Land" is a continuation of his previous spy novels, which have previously published "Underground Land" and "Mainland Islands", which is strictly speaking the third.
Many readers have said that "Ask the Vast Land" is an "atypical" spy novel. Shi Zhongshan said that what he wants to achieve in this work is to break the solidification of spy war novels, and put the protagonist, especially the "old master" who is the anti-number one and pseudonym Wang Shouye, a resourceful and old and treacherous figure, in the context of the political climate of the new era. At first, the "old man" was ambitious, expecting Taiwan to counterattack the mainland at an early date, but in the end he lost his faith and rationality and wanted to change himself into a good citizen and whitewash himself. But in the context of history, he had nowhere to hide, nowhere to hide.
"Of course, the protagonist of the novel, Bi Jian, is also for a kind of faith, he went from the chief of the intelligence section of the Social Department of the Northeast Bureau to the public security bureau after liberation, and he has not given up the clue of 'old master' for so many years, and has been tracked until the reform and opening up. I think what stands out more in this book is the belief of a group of people. It is precisely because of this belief that we have come to the end and let the story have such an ending. ”
No matter which line you do, there is a technical threshold
Writers becoming screenwriters are rare in the Chinese literary world.
"I think that if a writer has the opportunity, it is better to be a screenwriter a few times, and when you go back and write a novel, it is very good for the ability to tell a story." Fiction is individual, while television dramas are popular and consider all aspects. When you write a script, you must not only consider the scene and props, but even the sense of picture, otherwise the director will shoot and the actor will act. Conversely, after writing a novel after being a screenwriter, the ability to restore life will be greatly improved, including the ability to control complex character relationships. ”
As for whether there is a technical threshold for novel creation, Shi Zhongshan bluntly said that in fact, many writers do not have too many concepts in their minds when writing, and often slowly develop their own writing habits and methods in creation. Because everyone knows that the pig arches forward, the chicken runs forward, and everyone has their own way.
"At the beginning of writing, when conceiving a work, it is conscious, but it is unconscious to really enter the scene of the novel. In this society, no matter which line you do, there is a technical threshold, and no technical threshold can not step through this door. After you really master this technology, when you do this thing, you forget about the technology itself, and you can't even think that you will still have this technology. From this point of view, when you write a novel, you may not do it that way, you may not be so pretentious. Shi Zhongshan revealed that his creation has never had the habit of writing an outline, basically after the first paragraph is set, he knows how to write the second paragraph, which is a kind of experience writing and life writing.
[5] The process of going from a novelist to a good screenwriter is difficult
The screenwriters of the TV series "The Years of Burning Passion", "Military Songs Are Loud", "Happiness Like Flowers", "Shi Guangrong and His Children", and "Mainland Island" are all Shi Zhongshan, and these TV series are adapted from Shi Zhongshan's novels.
Shi Zhongshan bluntly said that the process of changing from a novelist to a good screenwriter is difficult. This is because many writers try to be screenwriters by electrocution, but few succeed.
"I'm a writer, I have a lot of screenwriting friends; I'm an editor, and I have a lot of writer friends. I think it's a unique advantage for me. Shi Zhongshan said that in the creation, he often wanted to adapt his works into TV series, although he was in a hurry, but because of his own advantages, he added a few patience.
The first electrocution was in the 1990s, when the TV series "No. 10 Glory Street" was filmed, which was later broadcast on CCTV, and then won the "Five Ones" Project Award.
This time it was Shi Zhongshan's first time as a screenwriter, and in his words, he finally tried what it was like to be a screenwriter. Later, he did his own screenwriting and adapted his own novels "Military Song Loud" and "The Years of Burning Passion", so he changed several plays, slowly ran in, and came all the way, not a competent screenwriter as soon as he got started.
Working as a screenwriter and a fiction writer is naturally very different. "As soon as the environment begins, it immediately enters the content of that misplaced, content-contained drama, which is an exercise for writers to be a screenwriter." When the screenwriter can not have nonsense, come up to explain the details to explain the details, should explain the environment to explain the environment, as soon as you come up, you must use the story to catch the reader first, if the first three episodes of a TV series can not catch the audience, the TV station has no one to buy, the audience has long run. Therefore, I often say that the experience of being a screenwriter is very beneficial to the distillation of my ability to tell stories. ”
Literature and film and television are a process of feeding back
Talking about the relationship between literature and film and television, Shi Zhongshan said that this is a process of feeding back.
In the early 90s, Zhang Yimou once said that literature drives film and television. His first few works, the response is relatively good, are based on literary works, after adaptation, he got a lot of benefits in the original work. ”
Shi Zhongshan said that when Zhang Yimou filmed "Happy Time", he studied the script at Shangri-La. A screenwriter in Guangxi wrote ten drafts in one go. "I thought to myself, how much money does Zhang Yimou have to give you, and write ten drafts in one go." As a result, the other party said, just give 100,000 pieces. I asked again, ten thousand pieces of a script? The other party said that he wanted to use Zhang Yimou's fame to change his fame and life, which I could understand. In fact, film and television practitioners hope that literary works will give them a higher promotion. ”
More than 30 of Shi Zhongshan's works have been adapted into film and television dramas, and many people have asked him whether he is satisfied after the adaptation.
"Writers have writers' expressions, and TV dramas have the expressions of TV dramas. I think that a good film and television drama adaptation must do two things: one is to restore useful things, and the other is what you have not expressed, and there is a good grafting and continuation on top of your emotions and foundation. As long as that's done, it's a very good adaptation. ”
Shi Zhongshan said that after the adaptation of his work, even if he is not his own screenwriter, he will watch each episode and episode, and feel which piece is better, which piece is not good, which point can give himself a wake-up call and tips. It's important to do this because both art forms are a process of back-feeding. Not only TV dramas, but also movies, dramas, musicals and other artistic disciplines are all connected and complementary.
[VII] We must have the courage to try and challenge, so that both sides can achieve each other
"A few years ago, many of our writers were very unconvinced by people in the film and television circle, saying that some of you people who have no culture, our novels are Yangchun Baixue, you are the people of Xialiba, for the old men and women to see, we show to the public. To this day, I find there no doubt about this argument. Shi Zhongshan said that whether it is a novel or a film and television drama, it has its own nutrition.
In recent years, Shi Zhongshan, as an old writer and screenwriter, has always encouraged young writers to open up the relationship between literature, film and television. If one day it is not only film and television, if you can still do some stage plays, do some plays, after these trainings, it will be too good for the improvement of writers.
"But on the other hand, I know a lot of screenwriters, from big screenwriters, small screenwriters to gunmen, their biggest flaw is that their literary skills are not enough, the excavation of human nature is not deep enough, they code stories, code structures, code plots are no problem, but some scripts are worse than that taste, this taste is the taste of culture, the taste of cultural heritage, the taste of life, society, and human understanding, which is the charm of literature." If one day they do some training in novels, I think our TV series, film and television dramas will have a higher level and a higher level. Therefore, Shi Zhongshan encourages young writers who have time and energy to do some such attempts and challenges, starting with adapting their own works, and then adapting other people's works, so that literature and film and television can achieve each other.
For decades, Shi Zhongshan has been writing across lines and styles, not only earning some scattered silver and silver, but more importantly, broadening the road for the direction of his own literature and style.
[VIII] It is difficult for writers to find themselves
In his 38-year literary career, Shi Zhongshan has written about the father series, the legendary series of the northeast, the brothers and sisters series, the relatives series, the police bandit series, and the public security series. To outsiders, Shi Zhongshan's material seems inexhaustible, what is his secret?
"I have a principle, that is, to try to cultivate as deeply as possible without repeating myself, that is, to write as many articles as possible on the same subject. Of course, sometimes it is written and written, and after a few years I have a new understanding of the subject matter that I used to write, and I have a new angle of development, and I think there are more ideas to expound, so I take it out and write it again. Shi Zhongshan said that writers have their own familiar fields, just like his creation, try to put the characters and backgrounds of the works in the north and in the northeast, because the language, patterns, and living habits of the north have a feeling when they are written. If you ask him to write about a southern matter, write about a Guangdong thing, he doesn't know what people say, what tea he drinks, what soup he cooks, everything is very strange. And when it comes to the north, how to live in Dakang, how to burn briquettes, go out in the morning to smell the smell of carbon dioxide soot, and feel quite fragrant, this is a process of restoring life scenes.
Shi Zhongshan has always felt that it is difficult for writers to find themselves, and even if they find themselves and open up their own subjects and fields, it is also a very high learning. The so-called secret, one is to have patience, and the other is to have a different perspective. "Just like the same kind of subject, I think although I have written it, but after ten or twenty years and then I go back to write it, and I have a new understanding, which is a process of a writer's integration into life and rolling with life." 」