Chapter 279
unedited
Out of all the topics they talked about, the most important thing Chu Xiang learned from Zhuo Yu about writing novels was the creation of the characters, or more specifically, the character development throughout the story. As for what to include and what not to include, it all depends on whether or not it serves a purpose within the plot of the story. If not, then you should not bother including it in the story as it will only serve as a sort of diversion from the main plot of the story.
Having thought everything over, Chu Xiang felt much more refreshed as all her ideas were now starting to piece together like a puzzle. Furthermore, she immediately discarded anything the majority of ideas that did not serve any purpose in the development of the plot.
Moreover, Zhuo Yu also suggested making her story more dramatic and exaggerated to grasp the attention of her readers. Each of the character’s actions must have some sort of motive as it would allow for smoother developments. However, if your characters keep acting solely according to “common sense,” your readers will also slowly lose interest in your story. Now, take a moment to think why gossip news had always been popular these days and even throughout history in general. It is because the majority of humans love hearing about interesting drama.
If you take a look at all the hottest topics in the popular search query, how many headlines include stupid, irrational behavior or even ridiculous, exaggerated stories? Unfortunately, only such articles with the most absurd headlines ever receive traction and views on the Internet. As for the articles that actually deal with the more relevant daily news, they could never even dream of getting the chance to rise up to the top of the search query. Thus, what’s the point of writing about such topics?
At first, Zhuo Yu only intended to explain the basics of writing to Chu Xiang. However, he never expected someone who had just entered the field to be able to grasp so many of the concepts he was teaching her. Seeing how she could comprehend every single one of the things he explained, he would feel too embarrassed if he only ended up explaining the basics to her.
The two enjoyed their meals while chatting for two whole hours. During that time, Zhuo Yu gave Chu Xiang quite a lot of useful advice such as not going into too much detail with her characters or even too little so much so that the readers would end up losing their immersion in the story. Furthermore, he advised her to even out the distribution of main characters and side characters and to create deep, memorable relationships between them so that it would more likely receive the opportunity to be adapted into a film or TV series.
The longer Zhuo Yu talked, the more attentive Chu Xiang became. Feeling his mouth start to dry up, Zhuo Yu took a sip of water and laughed, “Were you able to remember everything I said? Perhaps I may have spoken too much and overloaded you with too much information.”
Chu Xiang replied confidently, “Not at all, I’ve already memorized everything you mentioned.”
“Eh? You’ve already memorized them?” Astonished, Zhuo Yu burst into laughter. “I hope I was able to help you. When it comes to writing novels, no matter how much experience you have, you’ll inevitably have to go about things slowly. In fact, one’s journey in this industry may be completely different from yours as there’s simply no set path for achieving success. Only by writing consistently and persistently will you improve as an author. Just remember that you should always write about something that interests you. Otherwise, your lack of interest will definitely show in your writing, and it won’t come across very well to your readers either. After all, a story written without passion will surely not feel alive.”
Chu Xiang nodded. “Alright, I understand now. Let’s go, it’s already getting quite late. I shouldn’t hold you back from getting enough sleep. Besides, I have some ideas that I would like to write down. Oh right, could you tell me about the three golden chapters of a story? I heard that the first three chapters of a novel are extremely important.”
“Sure.” Zhuo Yu stood up and walked out of the restaurant with Chu Xiang. On the way back to their apartment, he gave her tips on how to write the first three chapters of a novel, how to project the unique traits of the main character, and how to set up the main conflict of the story properly.
From Chu Xiang’s perspective, everything she learned from him was completely fresh knowledge, topics that she had never come across before. However, she does indeed know very well what kind of characters can be easily adapted into a film and TV drama. After all, she had worked within the entertainment industry as an actress during one of her previous transmigrations. Having shot countless films and TV dramas back then, she had a pretty good understanding of just what kind of stories people usually enjoyed in an adapted series.
As such, she attempted to combine her previous knowledge with her newly-attained ones. Although there was certainly apparent differences between the two field, it nevertheless allowed her to understand Zhuo Yu’s explanations more easily.
Upon returning home, instead of rushing to jot down her ideas, she searched up Zhuo Yu’s work and took a quick look through them. Comparing everything she learned from him to the things written in his novels, Chu Xiang was able to slowly but surely grasp the main idea behind the first three golden chapters. Not only did she have a greater understanding of how to express the main traits of her main character, but she was even able to see how the plot needed to be connected like pieces of a chain as to not confuse the readers too much while keeping up the suspense of the story.
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