On April 23, the third online activity of "Nandu Reading Month", the famous writer Shi Zhongshan came to the WeChat group of nandu book club with his latest novel "Ask the Vast Land", not only for readers to "spoil" the wonderful plots in the novel in advance, but also by the novel students to talk about military service, writing and life.
"Asking the Vast Land" was published in the "Selected Contemporary Novels" in 2021, No. 5, and the People's Literature Publishing House published it in March this year. The novel is written about a secret contest and silent passion after the smoke of gunfire 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 to exhaust his life's "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.
In "Ask the Vast Land", Shi Zhongshan tries to subvert the "routine" of traditional spy novels, and deeply depicts the changes in the psychology and fate of the characters in the torrent of daily life. After the novel was published, some critics called "Ask the Vast Land" an "atypical" spy novel, and some critics said that it was an "anti-special" novel, and Shi Zhongshan himself believed that it was a "novel with more psychological suspense". There are few sword-fighting duels between the positive and negative factions, but the still water is deep, "they have been fighting for decades in psychological emotions and atmospheres." ”
In the online lecture, Shi Zhongshan specifically mentioned the shaping of the negative character "Old Master" in the novel, frankly saying that writers often write positive characters with their hands tied, and writing negative characters has no scruples, "it is easy to express different levels, including their shortcomings, psychological motivations, healthy unhealthy, noble and despicable," so they can write flesh-and-blood characters, reflecting the complexity of their lives and psychology.
He also talked about his experience in writing for many years, believing that if a writer wants to maintain a strong creative force, he must first maintain a healthy attitude. Stay away from "negative, concave people and things" and "more contact with some positive, positive, sunny things and people", and write works that are healthy and long-term.
Partial transcript of the webinar
Challenge yourself and broaden your creative subject matter
Nandu: What is your reason for writing this "atypical" spy story?
Shi Zhongshan: Before writing this novel, I had written spy novels such as "Island on the Mainland" and "Underground", both of which have been adapted into TV series. Not only me, but many writers and screenwriters have written spy dramas. In my impression, the spy drama has been exhausted, and there is no more thinking. As a writer, you need to be challenged, and you must open up new fields and themes. So I created such a novel that is different from spy dramas and has the shadow of spy dramas.
In the novel "Ask the Vast Land", I not only wanted to challenge myself, but also wanted to broaden the subject matter. The persistence and expansion of a writer's subject matter is doomed to the breadth of a writer's writing. I want to make such an effort and an attempt here.
Nandu: The main characters in the book, such as Bi Jian, chief of the Intelligence Section of the Social Department of the Northeast Bureau, "Old Master", chief of the Northeast Suppression General Intelligence Department, Li Yinhe, a reporter of Jinzhou Radio, and Li Qiaolian, Li Guilian, sisters, do they have a real historical prototype? Are there any relevant documents and records on the situation of Kuomintang agents lurking on the mainland after the founding of New China?
Shi Zhongshan: At the beginning of the liberation of our whole country, there were many Kuomintang agents lurking. According to incomplete statistics, from the northeast all the way to Hainan, with the liberation of the whole country, there were as many as 50,000 or 60,000 Kuomintang lurking agents. Some people were quickly excavated, some have been lurking for a long time, and even after some people changed their minds and changed their identities, they have not been found so far.
Writing such a story, the historical background is certainly true, as for the archetype, there will certainly be no, any agent and the protagonist of this novel are similar. He is a combination of many characters. For example, when I checked the data, I found that the director of the Northeast Suppression Department, surnamed Xu, was also a Shanghainese, and later returned to Nanjing after the liberation of the Northeast, which is a real historical figure and a real background. The personnel of the Intelligence Section of the Ministry of Social Affairs, who were eventually transferred to the Military Control Commission and then to the Public Security Bureau, have been doing the work of suppressing bandits and finding spies, and this historical background is also real.
In such a real historical background, the character relationship created is very thick and solid, giving the reader a sense of immersion, making people feel that such a story is believable and realistic. However, the creation of any work cannot be separated from the big real historical environment, and it must be as close as possible to the characters and his fate, the times, and the environment. Only such works will make readers believe and have a sense of substitution, and with a sense of substitution, readers can invest in feelings.
Writers write about negative characters without too many inner concerns
Nandu: In addition to the story of lurking and searching, "Ask the Vast Land" also shows the changes in the lives of the people in the northeast from the eve of the liberation of the northeast to the 1960s and 1970s through several major characters, including the Korean War, three years of natural disasters, public-private partnerships, and so on. This novel is full of details of everyday life, why did you add so many pyrotechnic things to a "spy war" novel?
Shi Zhongshan: The plot of traditional spy novels has ups and downs, the relationships of the characters are intricate, and the rhythm is tight. "Ask the Vast Land" is not entirely a spy novel, especially after the liberation, the external environment has undergone great changes. When our external environment is not so tense, what should be highlighted when writing this is psychological tension. Both our positive and negative characters have entered a state of relatively peaceful daily life.
At the same time, the old man, this person, to hide himself, to wash himself white, he is eager to turn himself into a most ordinary and ordinary person. He was stubborn and lurked in Shenyang as a capitalist. After the privatization reform, he became a shareholder, from a shareholder to an ordinary employee until retirement. This is the common historical destiny that many ordinary people have experienced. In this process, his low-key, modest, hidden, etc., are all for the needs of his own identity.
The deeper his identity is hidden, the safer he is. But correspondingly, the more difficult it was for the arrest team headed by Bi Jian. The novel depicts this psychological, emotional tension. A lot of spy novels bury the character settings very deeply, and you don't know which faction and which gang he is. And the reader's psychology at the beginning of this novel is clear, who is the decent and who is the villain. It focuses on the establishment of this emotion, the establishment of tension.
If according to the traditional way of writing, two people are sword-fighting, and the plot is constantly ups and downs, I think the novel has no suspense, no ending, and such a novel reader will see the end at a glance. Only through daily life, in the run-in, they all become ordinary people, write about their emotions, write about their social relations, and the changes that society has made to them, as well as the growth of their respective lives. Their growth is not only psychological, not only family, but also their emotional growth together.
Only these fireworks can change the two of them and realize the vicissitudes of life in the sinking of years. Although I put it in a typical environment and write about typical characters, any character is inseparable from our lives, the most fundamental three meals a day, eating and drinking Lasa, and even their emotional entanglements, ideal ambitions and so on. This is the key to writing the characteristic character as an ordinary person, and it makes the reader feel that he has no distance from the character.
Even the author himself will be integrated into their lives, and write about their differences in this life feeling, especially their psychological differences. Strictly speaking, this is a novel with more psychological suspense. They have been fighting for decades in psychological emotions and atmospheres.
Nandu: Although "Old Master" is a lieutenant general lurking in the mainland of the Kuomintang and a "villain" according to our usual understanding, he is a very plump and wonderful character in this novel. How does Teacher Shi Zhongshan understand the character of "Old Master"?
Shi Zhongshan: Many writers have the feeling that villains are easy to write, but positive characters are difficult to write. Why? When we write about the villain, we don't have too many inner concerns, and it is easy to express his different levels, including their shortcomings, psychological motivations, healthy unhealthy, noble and despicable, we can all show it without scruples. On the contrary, when writing about positive characters, I always feel afraid of destroying the image of this positive character, and I feel restrained when writing. This is also true of some of our well-known TV series. This is the role of the writer's psychological cues, which become a barrier to our understanding of positive characters.
When I wrote about the old man, I wanted to portray him as a flesh-and-blood man. First of all, he is not a fierce person, perhaps in the war years, when the two parties are facing each other and opposing each other, in your state of death and life, he is a fierce character. But in peacetime, in the process of his hidden identity, he became ordinary again. Even after he went into hiding, he did not do a single piece of intelligence work, nor did he hurt anyone else. Including during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the whole country responded to support the battle to defend the family and defend the country, and he also did many useful things with his wife. It was only when his identity was broken that he killed Li Yinhe, also to protect the safety of himself and his family.
To be precise, in the concept of literature, in the writer's pen and in his heart, there is no distinction between good people and bad people. A good man is a good man in a certain state, maybe he changes an environment, he changes a state, and he becomes a bad person again. Different living environments and living conditions, as well as different psychological needs, have caused the transformation of good people and bad people. Perhaps this is the reason and reason why the old man disguises himself as a good person, the safer he is.
The most basic requirement of creation is to write about the psychological complexity of the protagonist's life. Only the more complex the protagonist, the richer he is. Sometimes I'm often reluctant to write about positive people, and it's hard to write. Why Shi Guangrong in "The Years of Burning Passion" was recognized by many people as soon as it was broadcast, it was because he broke our traditional praise and description of the positive image of the soldier, and everyone found that the original soldier could also write like this, he had shortcomings, seven passions and six desires, and beat his wife. Such characters are grounded and cute. That's why he came into our lives and became a typical example of literature.
After all, "Ask the Vast Land" is a genre novel, and the focus of my thinking is not on our protagonist Bi Jian. Bi Jian is just an act, a symbol, causing a kind of pressure on the old man, with Bi Jian, the old man's survival and self-help in adversity and danger are meaningful. He is a functional figure, which is why I did not focus more on Bi Jian.
Nandu: Do you name this novel "Ask the Vast Land", is there any deep meaning?
Shi Zhongshan: This is a sentence in Chairman Mao's poem, "Ask the vast earth, who is the lord of the ups and downs?" "After decades of fighting between the Kuomintang and the Communists, in the fifties and sixties, when the mainland was just liberated, the Kuomintang was trying to counterattack the mainland and regain the lost continent. This is their slogan and their philosophy. But in the contest of history, there is a process of mutual progress and retreat. In fact, this sentence of Mao Zedong's poetry is also standing at the height of a great man and a poet, experiencing history, and showing this kind of great talent and ambition. This is also a sentiment shared by all of us Chinese people.
My point of intention is on "who is in charge of the ups and downs", the old man is a representative figure who dreams of counterattacking the mainland, and Bi Jian is a righteous embodiment of stopping this kind of behavior from our standpoint. The struggle between the two men is also a microcosm of the bipartisan struggle.
The new work will write the story of the Eighteenth Army's entry into Tibet
Nandu: You are currently a professional writer in the Political Department of the Armed Police, please talk about your daily work and writing status.
Shi Zhongshan: As a professional writer, writing is definitely my mainstream life. I usually create in the morning, alternating between reading or writing. Because after writing to a certain extent, you do not recharge and do not replenish, it is easy to dry up, it is difficult to have new ideas and ideas.
In fact, the greatest desire of writers is to constantly have new ideas, have new experiences and feelings, constantly stimulate new creativity, and write new stories.
Famous writer Shi Zhongshan
So the writer seems to have a very loose life on the surface, but his heart is very tired. In order to relax myself, basically I read and write in the morning, work out in the afternoon, ask friends to talk about things, try to combine work and leisure, and enter a healthy state of life. Writing is not something that happens overnight, it accompanies your entire life. Therefore, writers should not eat a fat man in one bite, maintain their own state, maintain their own energy, and devote themselves to the writing of the next work.
In addition, I think that to maintain strong creative force, we must first maintain a healthy mentality. This involves a number of people and things. Some negative, concave people and things, you try to avoid, avoid, avoid, do not tangle with villains, more contact with some positive, positive, sunny things and people. Of course, writers must also worry about the country and the people, which is a writer's responsibility and a necessary effort. Only by taking on such responsibilities can the writer's pen have strength and the work you write has thickness.
I hope that all the friends in our group who love to read and write will try their best to create a healthy, happy, full, and energetic space for their hearts. In life, you try to find these like-minded friends of the three views, and try to stay away from people and things that make you unhappy and have negative energy. Make yourself healthy to ensure that your work is healthy and long-term.
Nandu: Can you reveal your latest writing plans?
Shi Zhongshan: My writing is divided into several pieces. The theme of military service is my main subject, because after all, I was born in a military family, joined the army as a teenager, and I am very familiar with and love the army, and I am also handy to write. But when a writer cultivates a familiar piece of land, he inevitably repeats himself, not only the story, but also the emotions, the characters, and the details. This requires writers to make appropriate adjustments, such as the development of themes, so I am also controlling the themes of military service, public security, espionage, and some local themes in society.
My next work is still about history, but it's a historical theme, about the eighteenth army entering Tibet. After the Eighteenth Army entered Sichuan that year, it had been disbanded, and many cadres and fighters had been transferred, but in order to support local construction, it suddenly received orders from the Central Military Commission and the Southwest Military Region, and the Eighteenth Army regrouped. This subject may not be heard of by many people, but it is really magnificent, and many efforts, sacrifices and costs have been paid.
This novel also spans a long time, starting from March 1950 and continuing until the 70th anniversary of the world's anti-fascist victory in 2015, spanning more than 60 years, writing about three generations of soldiers entering Tibet, fighting the border, and guarding the border. Through the two military families and their children and grandchildren, it reflects their fate with Tibet, as well as their dedication, sacrifice and watch in Tibet, including their family stories and emotional stories. I myself feel that this is a magnificent work with big themes and big scenes.
Nandu reporter Huang Qian