Shi Zhongshan: "Ask the Vast Land" is a psychological suspense novel

Writer Shi Zhongshan.

On April 23, the famous writer Shi Zhongshan came to the WeChat group of the 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 to talk about military service, writing and life by the novel.

"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-to-sword 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 lecture, Shi Zhongshan specifically mentioned the shaping of the negative character "Old Master" in the novel, and frankly said that the writer often tied his hands and feet when writing about the positive characters, and there was no scruple in writing the negative characters, "it is easy to express different levels", so he can write flesh and blood characters, reflecting the complexity of his life 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.

The transcript of the lecture is the essence

Nandu: What is your reason for writing this "atypical" spy story?

Shi Zhongshan: Previously, I wrote spy novels "Mainland Island" and "Underground", which were adapted into TV series. Many writers and screenwriters have written spy dramas. It seems that the spy drama has been exhausted, and there are no more ideas. 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 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'm here to make an effort and an attempt.

Nandu: The main characters in the book, such as Bi Jian, chief of the Intelligence Section of the Social Department of the Northeast Bureau, "Lao Yezi", chief of the Northeast Suppression General Intelligence Department, Li Yinhe, Li Qiaolian, and Li Guilian, the transmitters of Jinzhou Radio, do they have a real historical prototype?

Shi Zhongshan: At the beginning of the liberation of the whole country, there were many Kuomintang agents lurking. According to incomplete statistics, from the northeast to Hainan, with the liberation of the whole country, there were as many as 50,000 or 60,000 Kuomintang lurking agents. Some were quickly excavated, some have been lurking for a long time, and even after that, some people have changed their minds and changed their identities, and they have not been found so far.

Writing such a story, the historical background is definitely real, as for the archetype, there will certainly be no, and the protagonists of the novel are a combination of many real character backgrounds. For example, when I checked the data, I found that the director of the Northeast Suppression Department, surnamed Xu, was also from Shanghai, and later returned to Nanjing after the liberation of the Northeast, which is a real historical figure and 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.

Under the real historical background, the character relationship created is very thick and solid, so that people can feel that the story is believable and realistic.

Nandu: In addition to the anti-special, "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, including the Korean War, three years of natural disasters, public-private partnerships and so on. The novel is full of details of daily 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 is not so tense, and what should be highlighted at this time is the psychological tension. Both the positive and negative characters have entered a relatively peaceful state of daily life.

At the same time, the "old man" this person, to hide himself, would like to become a most ordinary person. He was stubborn and lurked in Shenyang as a capitalist. After the privatization reform, he went from a shareholder to an ordinary employee until his retirement. 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 it is. But correspondingly, the more difficult it was for the arrest team led 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 beginning of this novel, the reader knows in his heart who is a decent person and who is a 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 there is no suspense, no ending, and the reader will see the end at a glance. Only through daily life, in the run-in, they all become ordinary people, write their emotions, write about their social relations, and the changes that society has changed them, as well as their respective lives, psychology, family, and emotional growth together.

Only these fireworks can change the two of them and realize the vicissitudes of life in the sinking of years. 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 authors themselves are integrated into their lives. 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 do you understand the character of "old man"?

Shi Zhongshan: Many writers have the feeling that villains are easy to write, but positive characters are difficult to write. Because when writing about the villain, there is not much inner concern, it is easy to express his different levels, including their shortcomings, psychological motives, healthy unhealthy, noble and despicable, can be shown without scruples. On the contrary, I am always afraid of destroying the image of the positive characters, and I feel restrained when writing. This is the role of the writer's psychological cues, which becomes a barrier for us to understand the positive characters.

I want to mold the "old man" into a flesh-and-blood person. First of all, he is not a fierce person, perhaps in the war years, when the two armies are opposed, he is a fierce character. But in peacetime, in the process of his hidden identity, he became ordinary again. Even after he hid, he basically did not do intelligence work, nor did he hurt anyone else. Including during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the whole country was responding to support the defense of the family and defending the country, and he and his wife also did many useful things. It was only when his identity was exposed 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 the heart, there is no absolute distinction between good and bad. 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 description of the positive image of the soldier, and everyone found that the original soldier could still 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 is meaningful. He is a functional figure, which is why I did not focus more on Bi Jian.

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. 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, and try to combine work and leisure as much as possible.

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 has thickness.

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 came from 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. However, when a writer cultivates on a familiar land, it is inevitable that he will have to repeat himself, which requires appropriate adjustments, such as the development of the subject matter, so I am also controlling the theme of military service, the theme of public security, the theme of espionage, and some local themes in society.

My next work is still related to military history, writing about the eighteenth army entering Tibet. After the Eighteenth Army entered Sichuan that year, it had been disbanded and transferred to work, but in order to support local construction, it suddenly received orders from the Central Military Commission, and the Eighteenth Army regrouped. This subject may not be heard of by many people.

This novel also spans a long time, starting from 1950 and continuing until the 70th anniversary of the world's anti-fascist victory in 2015, writing about three generations of soldiers entering Tibet, fighting on the border, and guarding the border, reflecting their dedication, sacrifice, and watchfulness in Tibet, including their family stories and emotional stories. I myself feel that this is a magnificent work with big themes and big scenes.

Moderator/Writer: Nandu reporter Huang Qian