Author: Zhang Zhiyi
Writer Lan Xiaolong's latest novel "Winter and the Lion" was recently published by the People's Literature Publishing House, and the new work tells the combat story of the "Seventh Company of Steel" in the Battle of Chosin Lake in the Korean War, in which the protagonists are Wu Qianli, Wu Wanli, Mei Sheng, Tan Ziwei, Lei Gong, Yu Congrong, Pinghe... The story shows the cruelty and greatness of the Battle of Chosin Lake with the portraits of the characters, and interprets the brotherhood, comradeship, and family conditions of the birth and death.
Winter and the Lion
Little Warrior photos inspire creative desire
The main setting of the story of Winter and the Lion is the Battle of Chosin Lake on the Eastern Front of the Second Battle of the Korean War. At the turn of the autumn and winter of 1950, the Ninth Corps, where the Seventh Penetration Company was originally stationed in East China, was urgently requisitioned to the Chosin Lake Battlefield in Korea. Because there was uninterrupted air reconnaissance by the US army during the day, in order to avoid exposure, the soldiers of the Ninth Corps traveled for three weeks in the extreme cold of nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius, covertly engaging the enemy, and completing the division and encirclement of the US army. Before the 100,000 volunteer soldiers launched a general offensive, the American army was unaware... In the end, our volunteer army relied on great sacrifice spirit and war wisdom to defeat the Ace Unit of the US Army, the First Marine Division.
In the preface to "Winter and the Lion", Lan Xiaolong reveals that his father participated in the Korean War as a military doctor, but he has always lacked a deep understanding of the true meaning of the Korean War. By chance, he saw a photograph of an 18-year-old volunteer soldier, "this soldier holding an orange (maybe a pastry), holding on to the pleasure, a little confused, full of life, a little jumpy." This photo made Lan Xiaolong have a strong desire to create. Lan Xiaolong sighed, "He's really young. They're so young. ”
A few days ago, the People's Literature Publishing House organized a live broadcast event, inviting book critic Shi Hang and Lan Xiaolong to talk to readers about the story behind the creation of "Winter and the Lion". Talking about the title of "Winter and the Lion", Lan Xiaolong said that his knowledge of this story is in the title. "Lions don't belong to winter, but lions in winter are still lions."
In order to write "Winter and the Lion", Lan Xiaolong read a large number of historical materials about the Battle of Chosin Lake. He found that the relevant historical materials were relatively scattered, "After seeing it, I felt that no historical material could fully summarize this battle, because from the beginning, more than 100,000 people were reduced to zero, even in platoons, so they were scattered into stars." How to make statistics and generalizations in this case? So in the end I can only use the words of the talk when I went to blow up the bridge - 'Does victory need to be proven?' Such a less blunt sentence to sum up. In the creation, he simply continued to poeticize this way," the title of the book "Winter and the Lion" is actually such a poetic refinement. ”
Engage in creation
Continue the story in the scrap
15 years ago, Lan Xiaolong's screenwriting work "Soldier Assault" was launched, and the image of the "Seventh Company of Steel" Xu Sanduo, Shi Jin, Gao Cheng, Wu Liuyi and other soldiers created in the play, as well as the battle song of the "Seventh Company of Steel", "A thunderbolt and a sword, a group of fierce tigers and seven companies of steel; the will of steel, iron blood to defend the country and defend the homeland..." has touched countless audiences and touched people deeply. Since then, Lan Xiaolong's "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", "Life and Death Line" and "Good Guys" have been highly recognized by readers and audiences.
Lan Xiaolong said that at first he did not expect that the military theme would form his creative vein, "when writing "Soldier Assault", he absolutely, absolutely did not expect the things behind." Writers don't want to repeat themselves, "I especially hate self-plagiarism, which is a scarier thing than plagiarism." So, I would somehow scrap a manuscript. ”
Talking about the scrap draft, Lan Xiaolong said half-jokingly that he planned to find time to put the scrap draft together and have a "collection of scrap drafts." "I'm going to borrow the power of scrapped manuscripts to create, and let a character from another play continue in this place." In this way, the world of the story will become larger and larger. I feel a bit like I'm digging a huge cave right now. ”
Big conundrum
I wanted to play the game while writing
It is understood that Lan Xiaolong's way of decompression when writing is to play games.
"In fact, he is still refining, practicing, and feeling the ethics of the game in the middle of the game." Shi Hang revealed that when filming "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", Lan Xiaolong revised the script in the crew, but at 8 o'clock every night, he "closed" on time to go to another "battlefield". "At 8 o'clock, he can't talk to you." Why? He's going to fight Warcraft. If he wasn't there, he would 'die' a lot of people. Although the netizens over there did not know that he was Lan Xiaolong, he felt that he must appear at that moment. Shi Hang said, "As long as you have played team battles, you will know what is 'not abandoned, not abandoned'." ”
Talking about the biggest challenge encountered in writing, Lan Xiaolong said, "While writing and wanting to play games, this is the biggest problem. However, Lan Xiaolong has his own way of self-discipline, "Recently, because I have to write something, I have begun to return to turn-based games." Lan Xiaolong said that the benefit of turn-based system for him is that he can work in two lines: while playing turn-based system, he writes the script.
War and Sacrifice
Saved when I wrote Winter and the Lion
It is also understood that in the "Winter and the Lion" published by the People's Literature Publishing House, an excerpt from Lan Xiaolong's new work "War and Worship" is attached to the book.
Shi Hang revealed that the main characters of "War and Worship" are eight people, and their surnames are the top eight of the hundred family names - Zhao Qiansun Li Zhou Wu Zheng Wang, and the story will unfold from their perspective.
Lan Xiaolong said that "War and Worship" was also saved up when accumulating materials for "Winter and the Lion". "It is very strange that at that time, many of the materials I saw in the creation of the story of Chosin Lake were not used on Chosin Lake, but were used in "War and Worship". Readers who watch Winter and the Lion may find that there is a lot of material being 'patched'. But whenever the author explains the mental journey in a large section, it is actually 'patching'. "War and Worship", I don't have to patch. ”
In Lan Xiaolong's view, the author does not need to explain that it is the best state of creation. However, Lan Xiaolong also asked readers not to be too anxious, and "War and Worship" will take some time to meet with readers. (Zhang Zhiyi)
Source: Beijing Youth Daily