Dialogue post-85 writer Li Yudong: The secret of success lies in the burst of passion after a lot of reading

Li Yudong recent photo/photo: Tian Boming

Li Yudong was born in Taiyuan on October 8, 1988. He graduated in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Glasgow in June 2010. Post-85 best-selling author. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, the Chinese Essayists Association, a researcher of the Chahar Society, and a member of the Shanxi Writers Association. His works include the essay collections "Crazy As a Virgin", "The Thorny Shakespeare Dream", the novels "Night Case", "The Dragon", "The Dog Barks on Earth", "Out of Focus", and "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall". He has won the "Chinese Contemporary Prose Award" and the novel "Out of Focus" has won the "Zijin - People's Literature Star Award".

Bo ming: Hello! Yu Dong.

Li Yudong: Hello!

Bo Ming: Your study is so big, you have invested a lot in buying books over the years, right?

Li Yudong: Yes, this study was designed by myself when I was renovating my new home, and the purpose was to put books in large capacity. Over the years, I have invested a lot in buying books, and sometimes I go to the bookstore with my father to buy thousands of yuan of books.

BIRMING: So how long does your daily reading time take?

Li Yudong: I spend 6 or 7 hours a day reading. Whenever I explore a problem, a piece of history or a character, I need to do my homework, on the one hand, to grasp the historical facts more delicately and comprehensively, on the other hand, to use my own gradually improved system of ideological logic to interpret this history, and through the context of history, to explore the essence behind it.

Birmin: Are these sticky notes full of words your reading notes?

Li Yudong: Yes, in the process of reading, I saw wonderful passages, I recorded them at any time, and if I wanted to use relevant materials when writing, I could take out the notes and retrieve them.

BIRMING: When did this way of taking notes begin?

Li Yudong: After graduating from university, I felt that there was no shortcut to the accumulation of knowledge, and I could only do this.

Bo Ming: I see that your WeChat public account "Author Li Yudong" is serializing "The Game of the Overdraft World: The Past and Present Life of dollar hegemony", can you talk about the original intention of writing this work?

Li Yudong: Well, the original intention of this special article is to popularize some knowledge about US finance in the context of the current Sino-US game. Originally, I planned to write 40,000 or 50,000 words, but when I finished, I found that I had written more than 100,000 words.

Bo Ming: From the novels I know about "The Dog Barks on Earth" and "Out of Focus", to "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall", I feel that the span is a bit large, "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall" as your first historical novel, what experience or gains do you have?

Li Yudong: This historical novel was a way for me to explore the way, and at the beginning of the creation, my vision was to take the Sino-Japanese War as the core, center on Li Hongzhang's inner monologue, extend to the historical development of China, and finally leave sentimentally. I want to use this way to express the oppressive tones of the whole story, and then string them together in some stream-of-consciousness way. Now, there are some frameworks in the book that are relatively more flexible than the realist novels I originally created. If the next book writes a historical novel, there will be a big breakthrough in this regard.

Bo Ming: So, what is the difference between the Li Hongzhang you described in the novel "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall" and the Li Hongzhang in our textbook?

Li Yudong: Essentially, there is no difference. In the macro history, Li Hongzhang was a backward feudal scholar. His so-called progress is only fifty steps and a hundred steps of laughter. The main reason why the late Qing Dynasty did not have the same state of development as after the Meiji Restoration in Japan was because the feudal class was unwilling to stimulate the rapid development of the commodity economy through decentralization, so the progress of China's industrial civilization was very slow. Li Hongzhang's foreign affairs movement was still aimed at maintaining the backward feudal system, rather than taking the capitalist road like the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Therefore, Li Hongzhang, described in "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall", still respects history and respects historical materials.

Bo Ming: As a novel, how does "Three Thousand Years of Pen Fall" grasp the artistry and realism?

Li Yudong: As an author, I must maintain a kind of authenticity in the historical content, so the time, place, people, events, and nature of the book are all based on the facts recognized by the existing historians, and I have not made any fabrications. However, as a novel, in terms of artistic techniques of expression and analysis of the characters' hearts, you can see various inner monologues, various streams of consciousness and various contradictory entry points, which are more beautiful on the basis of not violating the principled issues.

BIRMING: Well, I'm also trying to get the reader to think a little bit about history, the present, and the future through light and straightforward text, right?

Li Yudong: Yes, that's right.

Birmin: I see that your desk is very high, do you usually just stand and write?

Li Yudong: Because I write for a long time for six or seven hours a day, I have some waist problems and can't sit for a long time, so I have a desk that can be lifted and lowered automatically, so that I can stand and create, and there is a sofa bed in the study, and when I am uncomfortable, I will lie down a little, relieve the pressure on my waist, and then continue to create.

Bo Ming: As a member of the Chinese Writers Association, can you reveal some of your writing secrets?

Li Yudong: Speaking of writing skills, in fact, from primary school to middle school, Chinese teachers have taught us all the writing skills in the world. Here is a very scientific and easy-to-operate training method that comes from a lesson taught to me by my elementary school Chinese teacher. Once in composition class, she randomly took out three things. These three things may be textbooks, may be kettles, or it may be school bags - then, she asks us to use these three items, we can use our imagination, we can consult materials, we can read history, we can explore the present - in short, summarize the internal connection and common logic of these three things, and go home to write. Later, I continued to train with this method for many years. The essence of this method is to train writing ability in the form of cultivating associative ability, record ideas when there are ideas, and read and consult materials widely when there are no ideas, so that it is easy to write a good article with time training.

Bo Ming: So, you read a lot every day, and the purpose of reading is to accumulate thick and thin hair.

Li Yudong: Yes, when we read, the entry point is our own interest, try to find some classic content to read, but it must be the type you like, and then gradually achieve the effect of expansion. When the reading system is established, a person's curiosity will naturally arise, and he will be interested in exploring things outside of my reading system. Writing and reading complement each other, he is the passion that bursts after reading to a certain extent, and when the passion reaches a point, he naturally wants to write.

BIRMING: So what are your next plans for creation? Can you tell us about it?

Li Yudong: I am a native of Shanxi, and the five thousand years of history look at Shanxi. In Chinese civilization, the history of Shanxi is highly representative. Therefore, I want to dig something out of the history of our Shanxi. As for what to dig, just keep it a secret for the time being.

BIRMING: Well, waiting for your new work. You are only 31 years old, the future can be expected, and the merits are not to be given up. Finally, I wish you a fruitful journey on the road to writing.