Chapter 195: Top treatment
Zhang Wei originally thought that at McCarthy’s age, it would take him five days to a week to read “The Thirst Game”!
However, what he didn't expect was that two days later, he received a call from McCarthy, inviting him to have afternoon tea.
According to the agreed time, Zhang Wei came to McCarthy's residence. As expected, the old man had prepared refreshments and was waiting for Zhang Wei's arrival.
"Zhang, I have finished reading "The Thirst Game" you wrote, three times!" McCarthy said.
"Watch it three times? In such a short time?" Zhang Wei was a little surprised. He felt that the old man was lying.
McCarthy's son, who was enjoying afternoon tea next to him, said: "I haven't seen my father so addicted to a work for a long time. In the past two days, apart from eating and sleeping, he spent all other time Looking at your work."
"Mr. McCarthy, it seems that you are still young and energetic!" Zhang Wei said with a smile.
"It is your work that makes me feel the vitality of youth. Although this is a doomsday theme, it should also be regarded as a young adult novel!"
McCarthy continued: "This The plot of the novel is very fascinating. You perfectly combine the survival game with the struggle of youth, showing the complexity and cruelty of human nature
Your plot design is wonderful, and your character creation is also very fleshed out. Your work is very tense. I can feel the helplessness and bravery of the characters in the book when they face the test of life and death.
At the beginning, it was just the thrilling game settings that attracted me, but then I discovered that through the growth and struggle of the protagonist, you showed the brilliance of human nature and profound thoughts about survival and dignity. .
In the cruel game, she not only fights for survival, but also fights to protect the people she loves and her inner dignity. Moreover, You's description is very delicate, making me feel like I am in a world full of dangers and opportunities, and experiencing the joys, sorrows, and joys with the protagonist. "
Zhang Wei smiled and nodded. The author of the original book is a woman, and the description is naturally much more delicate than that of the male author.
McCarthy continued: "I can feel it. , you skillfully blend social criticism and realistic reflection. Through the class struggle and power game in the game, the inequality and oppression in the real world are revealed. There is no doubt that this is a novel with profound thoughts and rich emotions that is worth reading again and again.
Especially the protagonist in it impressed me deeply. She showed amazing wisdom and courage when facing the challenge of life and death. More importantly, she always maintained her faith in humanity and respect for life in this cruel game, which touched me deeply! "
After McCarthy finished speaking, he took out an envelope, handed it to Zhang Wei, and then said: "Please accept my gift! I almost never write reviews for other people's books, but your book "The Thirst Game" deserves an exception. "
Zhang Wei took the envelope and opened it. It was a letter of recommendation written by McCarthy himself. In the letter of recommendation, McCarthy did not hesitate to praise "The Thirst Game" and even used " "Great work".
"Unexpectedly, you gave such a high evaluation. "Zhang Wei looked happy.
"That's because your work is excellent enough. Excellent works should be praised! ”
McCarthy paused before continuing, "Among the scientists I know, there are many who like to read various types of books, and many have tried to write. But if I can write something with such connotation and philosophy, I still This is my first encounter.”
For a work, getting a letter of recommendation from a literary master is definitely the top bonus.
When we buy books, we often see the words recommended by a certain celebrity on the cover of the book. Even the first few pages inside are not the content of the work, but the evaluation of the work written by celebrities. This makes It is an excellent advertising effect.
Many readers do not know the type of the work, nor the content of the work, nor the author at all, but they will buy this book because it is recommended by a bunch of celebrities. Book.
For example, if you want to read a book about stock investment, then you see a book that says "Highly recommended by the God of Stocks, Warren Buffett", and your desire to buy will instantly increase.
Especially for new writers who are not well-known in the first place, a recommendation from a celebrity may become the only reason for readers to buy.
For the same two unknown writers, one is recommended by a celebrity and the other is not. Readers will definitely choose the one recommended by a celebrity first.
With this letter of recommendation from McCarthy, when "The Thirst Game" is published, you can write the words "Highly Recommended by Literary Master Cormac McCarthy" on the cover and place it at the first page of the novel. Page, you can also attach a letter of recommendation from McCarthy. By then, many of McCarthy's readers will definitely be willing to buy it.
McCarthy's status in the American literary world, if placed in China, although not as good as Mo Yan, would still be on the level of Yu Hua and Jia Pingwa.
McCarthy definitely has tens of millions of readers across the United States. Even if 1% of people are willing to give McCarthy some slack, then "The Thirst Game" can sell 100,000 copies, which has already entered the threshold of a bestseller.
Zhang Wei expressed his gratitude to McCarthy, carefully put away the recommendation letter, and then took out the script of "No Country for Old Men".
"Mr. McCarthy, I also give you a gift."
"What is this?" McCarthy took the script, opened it, and suddenly showed a surprised expression on his face.
"Is this the script of "No Country for Old Men"? Did you write it?"
Zhang Wei then said: "After I watched "No Country for Old Men" in your study that day, I was very satisfied. My mind is filled with the plot. Pictures of provincial cities keep appearing one after another, which keeps me awake at night!
I feel that such an excellent work should not only be presented in the form of text, but should be turned into a film and television work, displayed in front of the whole world, so that the whole world can understand it!
So I tried to write a movie script based on what I had seen before. I've been doing this for the past two days. Now I give you this script, I hope you like it! ”
“Thank you very much, this is really a very special gift. "McCarthy accepted the script.
Although Zhang Wei changed "No Country for Old Men" into a script without McCarthy's consent, Zhang Wei firstly did not publish it publicly, and secondly, he did not make any profit from it, so he did not It cannot be regarded as infringement.
What's more, Zhang Wei also sent the script directly to McCarthy. In McCarthy's view, this is probably like an enthusiastic fan making a peripheral and giving it to the idol
...
In addition to being a novelist, McCarthy is also a playwright, and he is no stranger to scripts.
After dinner, McCarthy took out the script written by Zhang Wei and read it carefully.
"Huh? Why is there even a description of the split shots? This is not the job of the screenwriter. Normally this kind of thing should not appear in the script, but there will be an independent split shot script."
McCarthy thought about it and felt that this might be the difference between Eastern and Western scripts. Perhaps Chinese screenwriters would write the scenes in the scripts.
Looking further, a scene concept map appeared in front of McCarthy again.
“There are also scene concept drawings! This drawing is really good. It should be drawn by someone with sketching skills. It seems that being a screenwriter in China is much more difficult than in the United States. Not only does it require To design the shots, you need to have a certain level of painting!”
McCarthy sighed. He obviously didn’t know that this was done deliberately by Zhang Wei. There were no shot descriptions or scene concept drawings in the script written by the Chinese screenwriter. .
However, the shot descriptions and concept drawings of the scenes make the script look more vivid and give people a feeling of being deeply involved.
What makes film and television works more vivid than literary works lies in the presentation of the camera. For the same story, it will definitely be faster to read the text description, but in terms of sensory output, film and television works are definitely better.
Just like when the audience watches a comedy, they will often be made to laugh out loud by the storyline and performances.
As for reading the text, even if you specifically pick out the jokes, most of the time you just find them interesting and laugh out loud, rarely making you laugh out loud.
Like many touching plots, film and television works are more intuitive. The actors cry in the camera, coupled with the background of the soundtrack, it is easy to make the audience cry.
In literary works, it is not an easy task to make readers cry. It requires the author to fully brew and mobilize emotions, plus a lot of delicate and emotional descriptions, to achieve it.
For those who are literate in film and television, just by looking at the shots, they can outline a rough visual effect in their minds, and they will have a feeling of being involved in it.
"No Country for Old Men" was written by McCarthy. He knew the plot very well, and every line was written by him.
Therefore, the shot description, coupled with the concept drawing of the scene, can also make him more involved in it. In traditional scripts, the psychological activities of the characters are not directly described. The screenwriter mainly shows the psychological state of the characters through dialogue and actions, rather than directly describing their inner thoughts. Actors need to understand the character and show the character's psychological activities through expressions, movements, etc.
However, through lens description, the psychological activities of the characters, as well as the emotions and themes of the story can be shown.
As he read the script page by page, McCarthy also sketched out pictures one after another in his mind. When these pictures were connected together, the characters and scenes in them moved, gradually forming a movie scene. Tell a complete story.
And this story is exactly what McCarthy hopes to bring to readers.
“This script is well written, and everything I want to show is clearly described. If I were the director, I would probably make a movie directly with this script!”
McCarthy sighed as he walked to the safe. He opened the door and put the script in.
Although "No Country for Old Men" has not yet been published, it is still far away from being adapted into a movie.
But with McCarthy's reputation, his works are worthy of adaptation, not to mention that his previous works have also been adapted into movies.
McCarthy thought that if one day a director really came to the door and wanted to adapt "No Country for Old Men" into a movie, then he would just take out this script.
For writers, they definitely don’t want screenwriters to change their works beyond recognition. They even hope that their works can be presented to the audience as they are.
The market response to the adaptation of literary works into film and television dramas has been good, and everyone is happy. Even if your adaptation is completely unrecognizable, the original author can tolerate it.
If the market response is not good, the audience does not buy it, and there are many people who criticize the work as bad, and then the author will also suffer the consequences, then the original author will definitely not be able to bear it!
My work is obviously very good, but your adaptation is terrible. Why should you blame me?
Therefore, when an adaptation works hits the market, it often happens that the original author is not satisfied with the adaptation and criticizes the director and screenwriter.
McCarthy, a literary master, obviously cannot tolerate his works being randomly altered. If the director cannot express the connotation of the work according to his own intention, McCarthy would rather give up the adaptation and keep his own. reputation.
The script submitted by Zhang Wei obviously maintains the authenticity of the original work as much as possible. For the original author, this is obviously the script he most hopes to see adapted.
At this time, McCarthy has decided that if a director wants to adapt "No Country for Old Men" in the future, he must follow this script, so that the real "No Country for Old Men" can be shown to the audience.
……
After saying goodbye to McCarthy, Zhang Wei left Santa Fe and flew directly to Los Angeles.
Then the plane was indeed delayed.
Fortunately, Zhang Wei was rich. He bought a business class ticket and had a VIP lounge where he could stay, so he simply lay down on the sofa in the VIP lounge to sleep.
The security in public places in the United States is not as good as in China. The larger the airport in the United States, the more chaotic it is. You don’t know how many pickpockets are mixed in the crowd. If your luggage leaves your sight, it will disappear soon. without a trace.
It takes a certain amount of courage to sleep in a place like this. If you are unlucky, when you wake up, all the valuable things on your body will be gone!
What's more, Zhang Wei still has an oriental face, which should be the easiest target for pickpockets in the United States.
Many pickpockets will weigh the opponent's force value before attacking black people; before attacking white people, they will also analyze whether the opponent is easy to deal with.
But when it comes to attacking yellow people, there is no pressure at all, either mentally or physically.
So Zhang Wei simply bought a business class class and went to sleep in the VIP lounge. This way he could at least ensure safety and prevent his things from being stolen and pitifully ask Professor Shi for help.
This is also the reason why Zhang Wei chose to sleep fourteen hours a day when exchanging the script, because in the next ten days, he will make many long-distance trips, whether on the road or waiting for transportation. He can take a nap at any time.
From New Mexico to California, it is equivalent to flying over one-third of the United States, and the distance is not actually close. After that, Zhang Wei had to return to New York from California, which was another longer flight.
And Zhang Wei went to California this time to find Amazon to publish "The Thirst Game". Amazon publishing also needs time to review the manuscript! During this period, Zhang Wei basically had nothing to do, so he might as well sleep.
What's more, in big cities in the United States, there are generally only two types of people walking on the streets at night, those who rob and those who are robbed.
Even if you are Batman, you can't protect your family and watch your parents die.
So if nothing happens, it’s best not to go out after dark. Staying in the hotel is definitely safer than going out for a wander.
...
Published by Amazon, the person responsible for receiving Zhang Wei was a young white man named Evans, who looked less than thirty years old.
This is also in line with the characteristics of Amazon. After all, it is an Internet company, and it recruits young people.
"Mr. Zhang, our editor has reviewed your work. The editorial department has rated this work very well and has reached the standards for publication. We at Amazon are also happy to provide you with publishing services!
As a new author, the market price is 5% royalty, but you are a consultant of our Amazon Group, so we will definitely give you a more favorable price, 6% royalty!
At the same time, we can also give you free recommended traffic for one day. When users purchase books on Amazon, they will see your "Hungry Game" first. "Evans said.
Zhang Wei nodded. If he can give a price of 6%, Amazon Publishing can be considered sincere. At least his identity as a consultant is relatively useful.
However, this is still 2% short of Zhang Wei’s expectations!
So Zhang Wei took out McCarthy’s letter of recommendation
“Mr. Evans, please. Take a look at this. ”
Evans took the letter of recommendation, opened it, and his expression suddenly changed.
“Oh my God! This is Cormac McCarthy’s personal letter of recommendation! Cormac McCarthy almost never writes letters of recommendation to other writers. How did you get his letter of recommendation?”< br>
Zhang Wei smiled slightly and said: "A few days ago, I made a special trip to visit Cormac McCarthy. He liked my work "The Thirst Game" very much and wrote me this letter of recommendation. "
Looking at the recommendation letter in his hand, Thomas still looked incredulous. McCarthy is not an ordinary big-name author. He can be called the only successor of Hemingway and Faulkner. This is a brand in the American literary world. The noodles are definitely full.
What’s more important is that McCarthy usually lives in seclusion and rarely shows up. Even the media has a hard time interviewing him, let alone asking him to write a letter of recommendation!
"This young Chinese can become a consultant to the Amazon Group because he is really good at it. He was able to get a recommendation letter from Cormac McCarthy!"
Look at the content of the recommendation letter again! , McCarthy even praised "The Thirst Game" and even called it a "great work"!
It is difficult enough to get a letter of recommendation from McCarthy, and it is even more difficult to get McCarthy to praise him so much.
Obviously, this letter of recommendation is very valuable. Just based on McCarthy's recommendation, even if it is poorly written, tens of thousands of copies can be sold.
What's more, the feedback from the editorial department said that the quality of "The Thirst Game" is very good, and publishing it will definitely make money. It's just a matter of making more or less.
Thomas carefully put down the recommendation letter. After pondering for a moment, he re-quoted a number: "We at Amazon can give you 9%. This is the highest price we can offer!
I don't Knowing how much you know about our publishing industry, in our industry, more than 10% is the remuneration that best-selling writers can get. Ordinary writers, even senior writers, can only get 9% at most. Sir, as a new author, you can get 9%. It is no exaggeration to say that it is already the top treatment for ordinary writers. Believe me, this is definitely the most sincere price!”
(This chapter! End)