Thursday writing class | writing characters to write interesting souls

Author: Man Tang

Song Baoying/Cartography

In "My Mother", Feng Zikai began to recall the past:

"My mother sat in the eight immortals chair in the northwest corner of my old house, her eyes glowing with seriousness and a loving smile on the corners of her mouth. The eight immortals chair in the northwest corner of the old house is the mother's old seat. From the time I was a child until a few months before her death, my mother always sat in this chair when she was empty, and it was a very uncomfortable seat..."

My father died early, and all the hard work went to my mother. She is a mother and a father at the same time, and there are too many things in her life to be remembered. But after Feng Zikai opened the chapter, the core of each paragraph was these few words:

The mother sat in that chair;

A serious glow shines in the mother's eyes;

The mother's mouth showed a loving smile.

The rest of the things, roughly in chronological order, are intertwined and melted in the cycle of these few words.

For example, after the death of Feng Zikai's father:

“...... After that, she sat in that chair more and more time. Workers often came to sit on stools inside and talk to their mothers about household affairs; shopkeepers often came to sit in chairs outside and talk to their mothers about the shop; father's friends and relatives and neighbors often came to sit in the chairs opposite and negotiate or socialize with their mothers. I came home from the school holidays, and as usual, I went to the chair in the northwest corner and asked my mother for a copper plate. Sometimes the four groups of people came at the same time, so that the mother was overwhelmed, so she commanded, warned, or negotiated with the serious brilliance of her eyes; at the same time, she used the loving smile on the corner of her mouth to exhort, caress, or socialize. At that time, I was accustomed to this kind of situation, thinking that my mother was born in this chair, and that there were four classes of people in Tiansheng who were entangled with her. ”

It is written at the end that his mother died when he was thirty-three years old. On the eight immortal chairs in the northwest corner of the old house, there is no longer a mother sitting. But every time he saw this chair, his mind must have surfaced—his mother sat on the chair, her eyes glowing with a serious glow, and a loving smile on the corners of her mouth.

The essays we read about our fathers and grandparents are so many that we can't leave a deep impression—except for Feng Zikai's writing of this and these few words about his mother, because he has countless times of chants that have been repeated over and over again.

So, let's think about it: when he finished writing, he expected such an effect? Maybe he thought in advance that writing about parents who have passed away is a serious topic, but writing it is for the reader, your parents are not the readers' parents, they do not have to bear your heaviness, then it should be easier to write about the interesting soul of the parents?

It's hard to write characters compared to narrative. Further, it is more difficult to write interesting souls than to describe the external image of man, and to write about man's inner soul.

In ancient China, there was a standard that poetry and literature should be emotional and interesting. The weight of love and fun is almost the same, and writers who are funny and ruthless or uninteresting are not welcomed. In the contemporary era covered by the Internet, people's daily lives have become fragments, and over time, many people have begun to reminisce about a sentence, "The good-looking skin bag is the same, and the interesting soul is one of the best."

Some people also remember what Feng Zikai said: "Fun, in my life is an important nourishment, its importance is almost bread... You can also save half a loaf of bread in exchange for a little fun. ”

Not only My Mother, but also his other works, including most of the comics and essays, I read about his pursuit of fun, which clearly surpassed that of the people of his time.

Or we say that Feng Zikai has an interesting soul, and will write an interesting soul in prose.

He writes about his own heart, so vivid because it is interesting.

"A foot square window, the bed across the window, downstairs business, firewood is booming, the small attic is smoky and there are no five fingers." A tile roof without imagination outside the small window. I was reading the English literature section of The Outline of World Literature edited by Zheng Zhenduo when I saw an oil painting of the supposed sixteen-year-old poet Chattetton committing suicide, reclining on a low bed, with a fragment of the manuscript in his outstretched right hand, and a small window in the front. I almost jumped up! I'm also sixteen years old and I have a window too, oh my god! Am I going to die? ”

Writing about his various lives, they are all lively because they are interesting.

“...... There is a big window against dozens of acres of meadows and woods, and the sun is shining every morning! Fog! Elementary school students singing! Chickens crow! It all poured into my window hole without a window frame. My girlfriend also works at the People's Education Center, and early in the morning when I saw her coming from afar, I blew up the French trumpet to welcome her. My colleagues gradually understood that my girlfriend's work was very much related to my trumpet. ”

For example, a stranger written in three words and two words is also vivid and interesting. There was a period when he lived in a partition room, and the sound of the neighbor's house came clearly, "The guy who lives next door is a guy who is afraid of his wife, twenty-four hours a day, and every time cell is soaked with a word of fear, so it makes us very happy to see and hear every day." ”

Feng Zikai was one of the pioneers of the New Culture Movement, and as early as the 1920s, he published works such as "Introduction to Art", "Introduction to Music", and "Tour of Western Famous Paintings". In the decades since, he has published more than a hundred books, more than a dozen collections of essays, and many among modern prose writers.

A writer commented: People only know that his comics are fascinating, but they do not know that his prose collection is quiet and mysterious, and the flexibility is far above his brush. Another writer's evaluation is: On the one hand, Feng Zikai integrates prose with life, prose is life, life is prose, on the other hand, it integrates readers and authors into one, and readers read his prose as if they were talking to him.

It should be taken a step further: this kind of conversation is an interesting conversation, can talk deep inside, and is enough to attract the reader.

Let's take a popular example.

Many people's essays have written about Li Shutong, the legendary cultural person, who is legendary in terms of horizontal and vertical views. But Feng Zikai was different, writing about his mentor Li Shutong and those ordinary little things.

There was a person who did not sing in music class and read other books, there was a person who spat on the floor when he went to music class, Mr. Li did not immediately blame, after class, when the other students were out, he said in a light and serious voice to this so-and-so classmate: "Don't read other books next time you go to class." Or: "Next time don't spit on the floor." After saying that, he bowed slightly, saying, "You go out." Most of the people who came out were red in the face. Once, Mr. Li was demonstrating the piano playing, and a classmate let out a fart, and most of the classmates covered their noses or made nasty sounds. Mr. Li frowned and played the piano by himself. The ammonia qi was scattered, and his brow was stretched. The bell rang at the end of class. Mr. Li stood up and bowed, and said in a very light and serious voice, "After farting, go outside the door, don't put it indoors." Then he bowed again. The classmates all laughed and ran to the distance after going out to laugh.

"Mr. Lee teaches us music with this attitude, so when we take music lessons, we feel more serious than all other lessons. At the same time, for Mr. Li Shutong, a music teacher, I have more admiration than other teachers... In our normal school, the music teacher is the most authoritative, because he is Mr. Li Shutong. Why can Mr. Li Shutong have such authority? Not only for his good learning, not only for his good music, but mainly for his serious attitude. Feng Zikai wrote.

Such a sentence, "Mr. Li said to him in a very light and serious voice", Feng Zikai wrote three times, all describing Li Shutong's gentle and extremely serious inner character. This kind of meaningful repetition, we just saw in "My Mother".

Writing prose characters to write interesting souls, this is a general direction.

This method can be extended to writing about living animals and plants other than people.

For example, Feng Zikai wrote in an essay:

"Once I drew a man leading two sheep and drawing two ropes. A gentleman taught me, 'Just draw one rope.' Lead a sheep, and the ones behind will follow. ’

I realized that I had too little experience. Later, I carefully observed and saw that sure enough: a sheep was led in front, and dozens of sheep would follow behind. No matter where they go to the slaughterhouse, no sheep is willing to leave the masses and find another way to survive.

...... When they collected a flock of sheep in the countryside and were to be loaded into a boat and transported to Shanghai for slaughter, the flock often refused to go on the boat.

And they led the old sheep out. The old sheep called out to the flock a few times, walked valiantly to the riverbank, squatted down and jumped, jumping into the boat first. When the flock saw that the old sheep had boarded the boat, they imitated it and jumped into the boat in a hurry. When the flock of sheep had all boarded the ship, they brought the old sheep ashore and returned them to the shed. Every time you load a sheep, you must be guided by this old sheep. Because of this, the old sheep had to save his life.

I think that this old sheep who did not kill turned out to be a damned 'sheep traitor'. ”

It can be seen that the author's understanding of animals and the animal world, which has been transferred from man and human society, is equally deep and equally interesting.

"Inuyasha flowers and plants are living creatures with souls that can cry and laugh in the world of beauty." Feng Zikai thought so.

Guest Editor: Dong Xueren

Source: China Youth Daily client