Teng Xiaolan
Zhang Ying
"There are often accidents in life, some are gimmicks, the icing on the cake; some are fatal, and it is difficult to turn over if you lose." In Teng Xiaolan's novel "Heart Residence", this is a sentence that moves too many readers.
Today, the novel has become a TV series, and Teng Xiaolan has changed from a novelist to a screenwriter. How do you translate this sentence to the audience? Therefore, there is the question of how to grasp the measure between authenticity and drama.
In the words of Teng Xiaolan, it is: "On the one hand, of course, I hope that it is very, very real, so that the reader, the audience, after reading it, will say that it is right, this is the day we are living now, and I hope to be able to achieve such a state." On the other hand, as a drama, there must also be conflict and drama in it. ”
It's a tough balance. Interestingly, few people can see that "Heart Residence" itself is a story about how to grasp the sense of proportion and how to find balance: some people persist and realize themselves; some people have a bad idea and go to rout.
Life is no longer black and white, because there are so many factors that determine fate, it makes all life a changeable X. Between trade-offs, the variables are so varied, relying on tradition, relying on experience, relying on parental intersection, relying on the intuition of goodness in the heart... It is not enough to rely on, and even insisting on itself has become a luxury.
The realism of "Heart Residence" comes from the complicated presentation of this helplessness, and the adaptation of "Heart Residence" itself has also withstood the impact of infinite complexity.
It's hard to tell who the Shanghainese are
Zhang Ying: When you wrote the novel "Heart Residence", what made you think of creating a work with the house as the core theme? When you wrote this work, apart from the house, what else did you want to express about society or the family?
Teng Xiaolan: When I wrote "Xinju" at that time, I actually wanted to write a work that can reflect the lives of ordinary people from all walks of life in Shanghai at present, and I hope to be able to reflect the living conditions of the urban people's lives in recent years as realistically as possible. The house should be said to be an entry point. We all know that in Shanghai, the house is a topic that cannot be bypassed. I take the house as an entry point, because almost everyone will have something to do with the house to a greater or lesser extent, and using the house as the entry point will be more appropriate and easier to intervene, so there is "Heart Residence".
"Heart Residence" is a drama that reflects the living conditions of ordinary people from all walks of life in Shanghai at present, its "heart" and "residence", "residence" is the house, I put the "heart" in front of the "residence", that is to say, the house is the entry point, but I want to write more about the relationship between people, I want to write about the various people derived from such a big family as the Gu family, their hopes for the future, and how they want to struggle and how to work hard for their lives for what they think and wish in their hearts - this is what I want to write.
What I want to write is how ordinary people continue to work hard for the ideal in their hearts, and how to grasp the sense of proportion of this effort... I want to write like this, to write about the living conditions of ordinary people from all walks of life, and how they work hard for the dreams in their hearts.
Zhang Ying: In the novel, there are two groups, "new Shanghainese" and "old Shanghainese", among them, there will also be some conflicts. As far as you are concerned, what are the characteristics of "new Shanghainese" and "old Shanghainese"?
Teng Xiaolan: Actually, I think that today, when we talk about "new Shanghainese" and "old Shanghainese", these two groups are becoming more and more difficult to define. When I was young, the difference was particularly obvious, Shanghainese people are Shanghainese, if you don't speak Shanghainese, we think you are definitely not Shanghainese. But now it is completely different, because now Shanghai is a city with a variety of rivers, new talents are constantly entering, people from all walks of life come to this city, the structure of urban people is becoming more and more diversified, and Shanghai is also an increasingly inclusive city. So, it's hard to define right now.
At first, you came from somewhere else, but you quickly integrated into the city, relatively new people come to Shanghai, you become "old Shanghainese", this concept was originally constantly changing, and now "old Shanghainese" are difficult to say that the "old Shanghainese" who speak Shanghainese are "old Shanghainese". The different people's ideas, and all aspects, have been fully integrated into the city, but they may not be able to speak Shanghainese so well. The concepts of "new Shanghainese" and "old Shanghainese" are difficult to define.
Zhang Ying: You should also be a Shanghainese, "Heart Residence" wrote that such a Shanghai family, there are more than a dozen people, often family gatherings, very lively, there are all kinds of parents short, such a family situation in the current Shanghai often appears?
TENG Xiaolan: Yes. At least our family, which is a big family, will often be like this. Aunts, uncles, their juniors... All together, every time they get together, there are almost a dozen to twenty mouths. As far as I know, such a large family does not necessarily live together, but there will be regular dinners, there will be a time to get together, I think quite a lot of people are like this. Usually, we may not live together, but at a certain time, after a week or two, or every New Year's festival, get together, spread out the round countertops, and now more do not eat at home, may be in restaurants, or in other forms of gathering. I think that for many Shanghai families at present, this habit is retained.
Zhang Ying: Is the family concept of Shanghainese particularly heavy?
Teng Xiaolan: I think for all Chinese, the concept of family is there, this is not easy to compare, I don't know if Shanghainese are particularly heavy, anyway, what I see around, I learned, Shanghainese do care more about family affection, there will be such a sense of ceremony - relatives want to be together, or how, chat, eat a meal, that feeling is still there. A considerable number of people have retained this habit.
Zhang Ying: With the adaptation of classic literary award-winning works such as "White Deer Plain", "Ordinary World" and "Human World" into film and television works, the combination of literary works and film and television works is becoming more and more close, what impact do you think this will have on literary creation?
Teng Xiaolan: I think this should be a relatively good ecological transformation, in fact, it is a process of mutual achievement and win-win results. Good literary works provide such a template for film and television, film and television with a more diverse, richer, and wider audience, present it, this is actually a process of mutual achievement, I think it is still very good.
For Shi Yuan, I have a little empathy
Zhang Ying: What is the core part of the script "Heart Residence" that retains your original work? What parts were discarded? What are the considerations behind such a trade-off?
Teng Xiaolan: From novel to script, there is a situation of secondary creation in it.
In the novel, I start with a big family dinner, all the characters come up at once, the novel is my subjective point of view, so I can write out the relationship between all the characters through my pen, but this is definitely not ok in the script. If there are so many people in the script at once, it is impossible to report to the family like the novel, and many things will be more concentrated in the script. Novels will be written more casually and the pace will progress more slowly. But the script is not good, the first few episodes, the changes are relatively large, our entire creative team will think, what is the entry point in the end? You have to have this core that quickly gets the audience to know what you're going to show them. Consider more things.
Novels are eloquent, more of a catharsis of my subjective emotions. The script is more objective, to take into account the audience's acceptance, we will give more characters, events, as far as possible to explain clearly, in the form of pictures.
Zhang Ying: When creating "Heart Residence", in addition to the big family just talked about, what else is from your personal experience, or the stories of the people around you?
Tscherny: There are not a lot of completely personal experiences. I may see the lives of the people around me, or maybe a certain point in my daily life has touched me... Generally speaking, it is not that this is my personal experience, nor is it the experience of the people around me.
When I write about Shi Yuan in "Heart Residence", I feel a little empathy. I am also a child of Zhiqing, my parents went to other places in the early days, I grew up in Shanghai when I was a child, but his situation is not the same as mine, he is much worse than me, but I can feel that he and his parents are eager to return to Shanghai, which is the part of empathy. Compared with the natives of Shanghai, he has an extra emotional component to the city. When I write about Shi Yuan, I myself will be particularly sad, including the script about how hard he studied in order to return to Shanghai, hoping to be able to return to Shanghai, and finally because of his mother's misoperation, it was really an unintentional and very tragic misoperation, resulting in him not being able to return to Shanghai. Writing this, I will feel a little empathy. Our young children also feel that our father's generation left Shanghai and went to other places, desperately hoping that the leaves would fall back to their roots. If there are any of my own personal feelings in "Heart Residence", it may be biased towards the Shi Yuan part.
Zhang Ying: You wrote about the contradiction between Gu Qingyu and Feng Xiaoqin in "Heart Residence", the dramatic tension is still relatively sufficient, how do you grasp the relationship between these two women? The relationship between the two of them is delicate, neither completely hostile nor completely intimate, how can it be presented well?
Teng Xiaolan: This drama is a double heroine, and at first glance they are naturally hostile - Feng Xiaoqin is a daughter-in-law from abroad, very capable, and in gu Qingyu's eyes, this sister-in-law seems to be particularly capable and has a lot of ideas. I wish it wasn't just the two of them, all the characters in the play, I wish they weren't conflicting for the sake of conflict.
The construction of each character, especially in this kind of family drama, if there is a person who is particularly provocative, then all the conflicts arise because of his provocation, then I don't think it is very strong. The more appropriate state is that everyone just wants to achieve an ideal state in their hearts, and they are constantly working hard for this, and I don't want to touch others and infringe on the interests of others. But everyone is in the process of trying to make themselves better, and inevitably intersects with others, and there will be conflicts in the intersection. I think all the characters in the play are like this, and none of them are bad people in the traditional sense.
Feng Xiaoqin and Gu Qingyu, everyone is a woman, from the perspective of women, I think they are more reasonable, they are not the kind of people who are very noisy. Including Feng Xiaoqin, she is a daughter-in-law from abroad, she is not aggressive, she really wanted to live a good life in Shanghai at the beginning, and wanted her family to be well. Her husband is relatively cowardly, and she hopes that through some of her supervision, she can make this husband more motivated and let their small family live a good life.
Gu Qingyu herself has no ill will towards Feng Xiaoqin, this sister-in-law is very capable, she feels that Feng Xiaoqin has paid a lot for this family and for this brother, she is all in her eyes, so she and Feng Xiaoqin did not exist at the beginning" "Because you are a foreign daughter-in-law, I want to go through with you", or Feng Xiaoqin felt that "you are the sister-in-law of Shanghai, high above", these are basically nothing. They are also in the latter series of things, inevitably "rushing things", and there will be some conflicts slowly. But in the beginning, everyone's starting point was for the good of the family, and what they showed was still reasonable, and even more peaceful. Feng Xiaoqin has more respect for Gu Qingyu, and Gu Qingyu knows that Feng Xiaoqin is more powerful and generally does not bother with her. The relationship between the two heroines is such that.
Novels are more emotional, and scripts require rational thinking
Zhang Ying: You are the author of the novel "Heart Residence" and the screenwriter of the TV series, from novel to TV series, two different creations, what is the difference?
Teng Xiaolan: Because novels and screenplays are, after all, two different art forms. Novels can be told and more willful, while the script should grab the audience in a short period of time and think more. I am a person who is willing to try new things. I am used to writing novels, and I also want to try to write a script.
The script creation process of "Heart Residence" is still relatively smooth overall. The director, producer and planner and other main creative team are very professional, the efficiency is also very high, every time the manuscript is handed over, there will soon be feedback, give very specific advice, even if it needs to be modified, it is not simply a denial, but will help me think about the details and bridges together, re-structure, give me this "new person" a lot of help.
I am very grateful to them, especially director Teng Huatao, who can quickly guide the screenwriter into the state and find the feeling. Everything is difficult to start, and the first five episodes of the script have the most changes. I wrote about six or seven drafts before and after, and then it was slowly smooth, and the changes were relatively small.
Zhang Ying: From its birth to its final draft, how many versions of this script have undergone revisions? What opinions did the directors, producers and platformers give on the script, and what changes did you make later?
Teng Xiaolan: I can't remember how many versions I changed. In my impression, the first few episodes have been changed a little more times, and the back is actually fine. The first ten episodes or so, because it is the beginning, everything is difficult at the beginning, and the novel is different from the script, the novel is more freehand, and the script needs to be specifically implemented how to cut in. In the early stages, we tossed back and forth a few drafts. I remember that in the first few episodes, I wrote about five or six drafts, some of which were relatively large, and some of which were not very large, almost five or six drafts.
Zhang Ying: Many readers have read your novels and found the dialogue of the characters in them wonderful because you use some Shanghai dialects. What do you think are the characteristics of the local dialect in Shanghai? What role do you think the use of dialects plays in the novel?
Teng Xiaolan: The use of dialects can make the work look more regional, that's for sure. I have more novels, but in the script it's fine, because it involves actors reading lines. After all, the TV series is not a novel, the novel may be written in more dialects, and the actors in the TV series are speaking in Mandarin, and it is impossible to let him express it in Shanghainese.
When I write my lines, I try to use a little dialect as much as possible, but this dialect is not to say that it must be spoken in Shanghainese, and some things may be spoken in Mandarin, but this word is not often said by northern audiences - it can indeed be spoken in Mandarin, but when I listen, I feel that this is indeed Shanghainese. I would use this Kind of Mandarin with Shanghainese characteristics more than the very obvious, completely local Shanghainese.
Zhang Ying: When writing this novel, and later writing the script, were there any stages that you felt were very difficult and challenging, and which ones were particularly impressive to you?
Teng Xiaolan: I think the beginning is a little troublesome, how to cut in, how to let the audience clearly understand what this play wants to express, but it also has to lay the groundwork.
I think the first few episodes will be a little more difficult. After all, the novel is not the same as the script, many novels are the catharsis of the author's subjective feelings, I am relatively casual, how to write how to write, some places do not have an explanation in front, the back of a stroke, will not appear particularly abrupt, the script will be more clear and clear, a lot of things I have brought in the novel, I may not explain the causes and consequences very clearly, these things should be written in the script to be particularly clear. I feel like I'm constantly asking myself as I write the script, why is he doing this? What the hell was going on with him? What is his traction? After you do this, what are the consequences... There will be lots of special places.
The novel is more emotional, the rational thinking of the script will be a little more, and the novel is an individual creation, the script is the result of the discussion of the main creative team, I think the novel is still different from the script. For me, how to get into the opening part, I will think a little more.
Zhang Ying: How is this kind of realistic theme script creation different from other dramas?
Teng Xiaolan: I have not created works on other subjects, and my novels are generally realistic. Realistic themes still have to grasp the problem of the balance between authenticity and drama, especially to write novels about ordinary people's lives, on the one hand, I certainly hope that it is very, very real, so that readers, let the audience, after reading it, will say yes, this is the day we live now, I hope to achieve such a state. On the other hand, as a drama, there must also be conflict and drama in it, which is also a measure to consider, how to be both real and arouse the interest of the audience, and find a balance between the two.
As far as I am concerned, I think it is actually true in the final analysis. When I write about each character, I will stand in his point of view, think about what he will think, and think about each character more thoroughly. After every character has thought it through, everything that comes out is reasonable—after all, everyone's behavior is reasonable from their own point of view. However, his rationality may be in the eyes of the other party, and it will touch his red line, and the conflict will come from this. Everyone's actions are actually within their own reasonable range.
To make the conflict seem both real and reasonable, is one of the places I think about a lot.
There are no good guys or bad guys, just a difference in proportion
Zhang Ying: There are many female characters in "Heart Residence", such as Feng Xixi, who is also quite distinctive, and she may have undergone some changes in the middle of the plot. Do you have a preference for women's themes in your creation? Or how to show the spirit of these new age women through novels?
Teng Xiaolan: In addition to the two heroines of this novel, there are also Feng Xiqian and Ge Yue... There are several young women, and I have a deep pity for them, including Feng Xixi, who is a negative character, and I still have a deep pity for her. Because at the beginning, Feng Xixi just wanted to realize her dreams, her own family conditions are not very good in all aspects, but she is a very hard-working, very smart girl, including I also said in the lines, if she can study well in Shanghai, her situation is not like this at all, people in different circumstances, the choices made are sometimes really quite helpless. Including the difference between Feng Xixi and Feng Xiaoqin's two sisters, they are both very hard-working and very smart sisters, but in the end, why Feng Xiaoqin realized herself - through a very positive way to achieve herself, Feng Xixi was a bit lost in herself. In the script, the two sisters finally have an element of communication in it, that is, a sentence - how do you grasp the measure of effort, and what is the difference between hard work and unscrupulous means? This may also be a problem that the work "Heart Residence" has been exploring from beginning to end. The starting point of everyone in it is not bad, it is all positive, and many times, it is not grasped well. At the beginning, everyone thought that Feng Xiaoqin would be like such a woman, but she just grasped that measure, she was really very hard, very kind, and finally got the value of her life, but Feng Xixi was a little worse, one step wrong, one step wrong, it was a measure here.
Ge Yue is a pampered big lady, in the early part of the series, it is also not shocking, her personality is relatively honest, but it is precisely such a woman, her specific encounter, will also trigger her vitality - vitality is also a keyword about women in "Heart Residence". Women are full of vitality, no matter what kind of situation, no matter what kind of personality women, to a certain time, there will be a choice for her, the choice of her life value, there is a part of her vitality.
Zhang Ying: Regarding love, in the novel, there is some contemplation of if there is a seemingly innocent love and emotional relationship, and in the end they are not completely together, I want to ask you, what is the meaning of this arrangement?
Teng Xiaolan: It is not deliberately not to let them be together, for example, Gu Qingyu in the end, after experiencing so many things, she has mastered, it should be said that she has loved and loved, and has been hurt and hurt. But at that time, her whole person is no longer the angular "White Rich Beauty" role before, from her point of view, she is mature, by this time, she is more accessible, no need to force love through love, "reunion", no need, because she is already a mature, has reached the spiritual reconciliation of herself, the perfection of herself, she has reached such a state.
Feng Xiaoqin is also like this, I did not deliberately want her to be with whom, of course, there will be a little love in it before, and finally I think that in fact, many things are natural, in other places to get their own value, love this piece is natural, I did not say very obvious.
For the two heroines, they are all going with the flow, finding their own life, after listening to the inner arrangement and finding the home of the heart, many things are the feeling of going with the flow.
Zhang Ying: You also mentioned that this is a double-female drama, which also explores a lot of women's growth issues, I want to know, how do you think about the popularity of this kind of female theme drama, and what kind of female theme drama do you think the audience really wants to see now?
Teng Xiaolan: I don't see many dramas in this regard, and I may not be able to answer them very completely. From my own point of view, there is no need to deliberately label women's works as to be how to write about women, and it seems to be how to write about women. I think a lot of times, every woman will naturally grow up as her situation changes. Here, for example, Feng Xiaoqin and Gu Qingyu, they seem to be completely two parallel lines, their family background, their educational status, the class identity they belong to... It's all completely different. They are all along the way, and eventually will find the most suitable for themselves, whether it is life, career, value... They are different, but each has found a way of life that suits them best.
The creation is first of all real, and the second is to be appropriate with the person. I don't like how the women's theme drama must be, in love, will there be something different, in terms of values, how must it be. I think it's more of a fitting and comfortable state for each woman to be with herself, and I think it should be the case.
I don't know if it's appropriate to say that, and I don't watch a lot of dramas.
Zhang Ying: At present, some young people's attitude towards big cities is relatively fragmented, and some people are very eager to take root here, and some people want to escape. In your novel, these two types actually exist, such as Feng Xiaoqin took root and lived through hard work, but Feng Xixi's ending is not very good, when you write the novel, have you deliberately thought about this problem?
Teng Xiaolan: Shanghai is a relatively inclusive city overall, and Shanghai families are also more inclusive. In the play, the environment in which Feng Xiaoqin is located, you say Gu Shihong or Gu Qingyu, they are very kind, they regard her as their own, but only after a more extreme accident, there is a contradiction. I think that many times, the contrast between Feng Xixi and Feng Xiaoqin, Feng Xixi wants to be like Feng Xiaoqin, relying on her own efforts to take root, she has an advantage over Feng Xiaoqin, she is a reader, her education level and all aspects of the conditions are higher. But in the end, there was no way, in order to cover up a mistake in front of her, she had to make a mistake step by step, and in the end, it was really difficult to end. She came to that step, and I think it was helpless, every city will be like this, many people want to take root in big cities, some people succeed, some people fail. For every big city, many outsiders will have this experience, some people succeed, some people do not succeed.
Zhang Ying: I see that many netizens have a very high evaluation of this novel, saying that it is a masterpiece after "Blossoms", inheriting the style of "Blossoms", have you yourself been influenced by writer Jin Yucheng? Your writing is also known as "Xinhai School Writing", how do you understand "New Hai School Writing"?
Teng Xiaolan: In fact, I am ashamed, I don't dare to compare it with Teacher Jin's "Flowers", which is a false praise. To say "new Haipai writers", perhaps the publishing house has their considerations, put forward such a concept, for the writer, I have not thought about what style of author I am, at least I will not think about this.
Writing Shanghai, just now you said that Teacher Jin Yucheng, he is a senior, I am his fan, I think Teacher Jin's "Flowers" is really fantastic, his stick is eaten from north to south, many works written about Shanghai may be seen in jiangsu and Zhejiang areas of the reader will be more, but the language is good, the values are good, the living conditions between people are good, to the north, readers may not like it. But I think Teacher Jin's "Blossoms" has really done it, which is very local and also eats from north to south, so that the audience in the north can also get the feeling of Shanghai and the taste of Shanghai, I think this is particularly rare, and I want to learn.
I want to write about Shanghai, and I also want to express the characteristics of Shanghai, as much as I can write about Shanghai as far as I can see. Of course, I don't want my Shanghai story to be only read by readers in Shanghai or around Shanghai, I prefer that readers across the country like it, which should be a direction for my efforts.