Summary of Volume 3
First of all, let me say that this last chapter was actually written when I decided to scrap it and save it. If I had not asked for leave, this update would have been at six o'clock that afternoon, and the third volume would have officially ended.
But later I readjusted my thinking, scrapped the beginning of volume four, and added a detailed description of the transfer at the end of volume three.
But no matter what, I kept this chapter, but made some modifications, deleted some parts that conflicted with the existing plot, and added new paragraphs.
I probably revised, added, and deleted about five or six times to this chapter alone—still doing so until I added automatic updates last night.
Although there are a lot of changes, they are just additions and deletions. I am still very satisfied with the structure and theme. Everything that needs to be explained has been explained here, and everything that needs to be restrained has also been restrained. There is still hope for things that should be hopeful. .
In the previous leave chapter, a friend said that my description of the reactions of all parties after winning the championship was insufficient, like a running account.
Why didn't I focus on describing the reactions of all parties after winning the championship?
Because I want to describe everyone's reaction in the last chapter... If I wrote it after winning the league, wouldn't it be repeated if I wrote it now?
What's the point? One or two chapters for the sake of extra water?
After winning the championship, this volume is not over yet, but it is not far away. It is completely unnecessary to write the same thing twice in such a short space.
Originally, according to my original plan, this last chapter was supposed to be after I finished writing the move.
This volume starts with buying a new house, and ends with moving, which can be considered a perfect echo from beginning to end.
Unexpectedly, I had a problem with the choice of which team Hu Lai would go to in the end, and I had to overturn and rewrite the plot, so I added a transfer plot after the move.
Fortunately, I didn’t add much, just three chapters, otherwise the emotions would be incoherent...
However, because the update is not fast enough, the experience will be slightly bad if you catch up. But if you go back and read it again, it should be much better.
Let’s talk about the entire third volume.
I finished writing the third volume. As usual, I used WORD to check the word count. It was 717,000 words.
The number of words is about the same as the first two volumes, and the number of chapters is also about the same.
I didn't expect such a coincidence myself.
I didn’t deliberately control the word count or length. The plot ended wherever it was written.
Looking back now, in fact, this volume of 700,000 words didn’t even cover a few things.
The big plot is the U23 Asian Cup plot at the beginning, with the beating of Wang Xianke in the middle, followed by the Olympics plot, and the winning plot after the Olympics.
After writing about the championship game, everything that follows is actually the aftertaste. Including the transfer, it's just a small plot.
There are only these four important plots, and there are some small episodes in between.
According to the "no water" writing method, it might be completed in 400,000 words.
After the Olympics story, some readers were already eager to read the story after the transfer to Europe, but I still followed the plan and completed the subsequent league championship story.
Because if we don’t write it this way, how can we express the expectations of those in the book world for Hu Lai to go to Europe?
How could he be at the airport with so many people coming to see him off in the end?
After all, Hu Lai helped the team win the Chinese Super League championship this season. He also won the top scorer and broke the record set by Shi. Only with these achievements ahead can he highlight his status in the current domestic football world.
If the emotions laid out in a whole volume are to bloom in the final ending, it can't be too hasty.
Anyway, I like the ending of this volume very much. It not only concludes the third volume, but also summarizes the entire first three volumes.
The same is true for the last round of the league. I adopted the approach of describing two games in parallel. Many times I even made Hulay disappear from the description deliberately, just like his characteristics as a striker - most of the game you can Can't see him, don't care about him, forget him, but at the last moment, at the most critical time, he will definitely appear in the most critical position.
Someone said delay?
I don't think so.
Write two games together, from the kick-off whistle to the final whistle, a total of eight chapters, is it too late? This is the last game in this volume, the most important game, a game in which the fate of many people is intertwined.
I wrote 11 or 12 chapters for the Super Bowl in the early part of this volume.
There are multiple main characters to represent in this final round of the league, and I feel I've been concise enough to write about them in only eight chapters.
Why did I mention the change of coach of the national team in just one chapter after winning the championship? I solved the coaching change process with a news announcement. I didn’t write about Wilson’s confrontation with the Football Association. Writing about it would have improved the word count, but it would have ruined the final rhythm and cooled down the emotions that had been brewing since the last game. . It makes the story fragmented and blurs the focus - the transfer plot I added later is a bit redundant. If I write the transfer before the last league game, then the emotional effect at the end will be better. More concentrated.
It's a pity, this is the disadvantage of not having enough manuscripts saved... If I still have 300,000 words saved, then I may have completed self-adjustment and revision before everyone knows it.
Through this revision, I also want everyone to know the status of my writing and why I can’t save more articles...
Some people say that you only need to write two chapters, and one chapter takes an average of two hours. Can you still not finish it if you are given six hours?
I really can’t write it down.
Every day when I open the document, I first correct the typos I wrote yesterday. If there is something incorrectly described or the plot is wrong, I have to correct it as well - this time the revision is a major revision, but there are always minor repairs and corrections.
After revising what I wrote the day before, I think about today's content, how to start, how to start, where to end the chapter, what emotion to end with... these are all things that make me rack my brain.
Squid said that he often has to sit in front of the computer for a long time before starting to write every day.
I am similar to him, but he can write it smoothly once he thinks about it.
I can't. I get stuck every now and then.
When a character says something, I have to think about it for a long time, how to say it, and in what form it would be better to say it... What will be the consequences of the character doing this kind of behavior in this place, and what impact will it have in the future? Foreshadowing must be Don't you want to bury it here?
There is a ready-made way to express a meaning, but is there a better way to express it?
Just like when you play a game, when you choose A, the plot that will occur is completely different from the plot that will occur if you choose B. But is it better to choose A or B?
As an author, you have to keep doing similar multiple-choice questions.
The problem this time is that I chose A, and I wrote it according to the premise of option A. As I was writing, I found something was wrong, so I had to overturn it, make a new choice, and choose B. The subsequent plot had to be readjusted according to option B.
All the content that I had prepared and written before can no longer be used. Scrapping four chapters of the manuscript is simply making the situation worse for my already poor family...
When it comes to writing itself, the author has a creative peak, but in fact, my creative peak has passed. Now if I want to write high-quality things, I have to give up speed, spend more time in front of the computer, and compete with myself.
And thinking about it...I wish I had never been the kind of author who has both speed and quality.
When I was writing "We Are the Champions", I only updated two chapters a week, or even one chapter.
When I was writing "The Godfather of Champions", I updated it every day without fail - except when I took a leave of absence during the Wenchuan earthquake.
That is to say, the writing speed of "The Hero of the Forbidden Zone" and "The Winner Takes All" is faster, but the style is different and the way of writing is also different. Moreover, in terms of text quality alone, "The Winner Takes All", which was written the fastest, is definitely not the best among all my works.
I have been writing football novels for almost 18 years, and I have only focused on one theme for so many years. I don’t know how many authors out there can be like me. I also have to say that my creative career is indeed going downhill. Gradually, the quality and speed will not be improved. I will lose my sense of empathy for business writing and readers. I will write one book after another, and write another book after another. Ben, then quit the industry completely and disappeared...
If it hadn't been for the book Fox in the Forbidden Zone, I might actually be like this.
This is nothing to be ashamed of admitting. As you can see from the last book, the creative passion is fading.
I have been writing football novels for so long, and no matter how much I love football and writing, there will be a day when my passion is exhausted and I am tired of aesthetics.
This is also the reason why every time I finish a book, I take a long break. In the past, I could only take a break for a month. How could I take a break for half a year?
People must obey old age and respect objective laws.
Fortunately, I have rediscovered my feelings with the book "Fox in the Forbidden Zone". I can't say that my career has a second spring, but at least now I still have a lot to say.
The desire to talk is crucial for an author.
In the past, I wrote "Do You Care If I Play Football" and "We Are Champions" when I was 21 to 23 years old, and I wrote "The Godfather of Champions" when I was 24 to 26 years old. Here you go.
Now I want to tell you about my accumulated experience from 26 to 40 years old.
Hence the book "Fox in the Forbidden Zone". I believe you can definitely see a lot of my attitude and thoughts on life and football from it. These attitudes may be different from when I wrote "We Are the Champions" and "The Godfather of Champions."
For me now, at least writing this book well is far more important than breaking out - what I mean by writing well is to write a book that can stand the test of time and withstand repeated scrutiny. And not just how high the subscription is - I'm not saying the subscription isn't important. Of course it’s good to have high subscriptions, but if you ask me to put aside the burst of quality improvement to increase the subscription performance, then I really can’t do it. Since you have more than enough ambition but not enough energy, then make a choice and give priority to quality.
I know that it is difficult to sell the IP of online novels, and it is even more difficult to obtain the IP of sports and football novels. I cannot decide the copyright adaptation. As an author, all I can do is to write the book.
In the days to come, I will write this book with this idea in mind - quality first, quantity second.
Having said this, although I have said it many times, I still have to say it again: If you feel that chasing updates is too painful, you can turn on the automatic subscription to keep it, for example, keep it during important games, and wait until the update is finished. Look at the tone.
Hello, I’m hello, everyone.
Don't say anything like "It's obvious that the climax has been dragged out by you without any passion."
It’s not that I’m procrastinating, it’s that I can only write so much every day, and my output is limited, and it’s possible that even if I write, it will be in vain—all of it will be invalid.
In fact, if you go back and read the plot in one go, you will feel that it is not delayed at all, every word is not wasted, and every character who appears, what they say, and their descriptions are meaningful.
Now that I’ve talked about myself, let’s talk about the novel itself.
In this volume, Hu Lai ends his entire journey in China and sets off for Europe, starting a long journey in his life.
I have been listening to Yin Wu's song since the chapter about Qin Lin's retirement. I listened to it repeatedly. I only listened to one song for many days. I finished writing the third volume and re-wrote the end of the third volume. Part of it, I am still listening to as I write this summary to this day.
In fact, this song is not slobbery, and the melody cannot be called catchy. But I just love it.
When I wrote about Qin Lin's retirement, I had already decided to use this song completely to the end of the last chapter, because the lyrics of this song are really suitable for what I want to express, and it is a perfect reflection of this volume. The final part summarizes and looks forward to Hu Lai’s future. It just serves as a link between the previous and the next, just like the transition in a movie.
Hu Lai traveled far away with the expectations of so many people on his back, wasn't it just to chase the dream in his heart?
But traveling for a dream is not only a beautiful thing, it also has difficulties and obstacles. This is not an outing with singing and dancing, but a arduous journey that requires courage and luck.
As the song goes:
"But there are also hot summers and cold winters in the distance, windy and rainy nights, and muddy roads."
Similarly, despite so many difficulties and obstacles, those of us inside and outside the book will still hope that Hu Lai will have a safe journey, with more smooth roads, less twists and turns, more joy and less sorrow.
He is the "hope of the whole village" in the book.
They are also the children we watch grow up outside of the book.
From a middle school student who was ridiculed and excluded, he grew step by step into a "genius star" who can carry everyone's hopes.
I used 2.3 million words to show how he did all this and how he completed this transformation.
Looking at my last book "Greenery", this word count is almost completed, and now I have only just stepped out of the domestic football world...
But I don’t think the pace is slow. I personally feel that I wrote the first three volumes very well.
That's how it should be. A person's growth cannot be achieved overnight, and a genius does not just pop out of the stone.
He should have a way to come, so that he can have a way to go.
In 2.3 million words, I wrote about his origin, and next I want to write about his whereabouts.
I don’t know how many words I will write, but I will try my best to follow the feeling of the first three volumes and write it completely, thoroughly and convincingly, making people really feel that there is such a person or group of people in that parallel time and space. Man, those things happen.
And I am just a camera with no emotion, faithfully recording everything and showing it to the audience in front of the TV.
This is a large-scale reality show, and everyone in it is a real person with flesh and blood, not an NPC.
Just like I have repeatedly emphasized that Dong Wen must insist on asking European clubs to make an offer that he thinks is consistent with Hu Lai's worth, even if this approach is considered unnecessary by many fans in the book, involves great risks, and is unflattering. like.
But I wrote it anyway.
Because I think Fatty Dong should be such a person. He has his own position and perspective on issues, and he will stick to some things that he thinks he should stick to, instead of becoming an NPC who blindly serves the protagonist. As long as the protagonist is involved, everything is "good, good, good."
And Li Ziqiang. Some readers see Hu Lai now and feel that Hu Lai has a successful career and has proven himself. There is no need for Li Ziqiang to always look down on him.
But let me tell you, his dislike of Hu Lai is not about his football career, but his daughter Li Qingqing. As a father who was widowed early and raised his daughter alone, any man who tried to get close to his daughter would be regarded as an enemy by him. No matter how outstanding this man is, even if he has a huge fortune, is as rich as the country, and is famous all over the world... As a father, he will still get angry when he should.
This unhappiness has nothing to do with right or wrong, it is a person's feelings.
And feelings are unreasonable.
Don't say "This is wrong" or "It shouldn't be this way".
There is no right or wrong, should or should not be done.
Maybe until the end, Li Ziqiang will not sincerely like Hu Lai and accept Hu Lai. But what does that matter? Isn't it good for a person to maintain his independent personality and thoughts?
In short, this was my creative attitude when writing this book.
And I am also very happy to see that the performance of this book is always improving. Even if the progress is very slow, it is indeed getting better.
Now the high order is over 9,000, heading towards 10,000.
The average order has also exceeded 6,000, which is twice my original goal.
I think, as a purely fictional story that lacked a sense of substitution at the beginning, it can still achieve such results, which is enough for me to have the confidence to continue writing.
Thank you all for your support and tolerance.
I said this book was a willful work from the beginning, and you still allow me to continue writing it as I please, which makes me feel extremely satisfied.
This book was very tiring to write, and I often wrote until late at night. I racked my brains and only managed to write two chapters a day.
But I am very happy to see my results.
I would often turn over and re-read the plots I had written before, read everyone’s comments on this chapter, and then have fun alone with my phone in hand.
I feel that the greatest happiness for a creator is that the things he has conceived and created can be understood by others.
Obviously, you and I have this kind of tacit understanding.
Thank you all!
Thank you so much!
Please continue to look forward to and enjoy the scenery of Hu Lai's journey.
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PS, according to my own statistics, Hu Lai has scored a total of 121 goals in official games so far in his career. In his two-and-a-half-season career, including the league, FA Cup, national team, The Olympic team scored 121 goals in various official games. Is this efficiency pretty good?
There is an Easter egg chapter at the back to show you how I made statistics in the process of writing the book. (End of chapter)