Article 1 of online writing: intention.
Concept, that is, choose a topic, choose the subject matter you want to write about.
Many authors tend to neglect topic selection. Instead, they want to write about such a topic after reading a book they liked recently. But topic selection is the foundation of the author's writing. Any author has his own style along with his writing. And this style will have a considerable impact on the popularity of the work due to the topic of the work. For example, Mr. Lan Jing's writing is beautiful and complicated, and he uses a writing style that is almost like a translation. His understanding of the history and culture of the European Middle Ages makes his writing style and his European-Chinese medieval theme structure achieve a complementary effect. Among online works, Mr. Lan Jing's works are the best in describing the political and cultural atmosphere of the European Middle Ages. His writing style has not yet been imitated by any author on the Internet. So even though he uses the vest Blood Coral, he writes the Demon Thief. But any reader who has seen his work can identify the author within a few chapters. As for Mr. Xuehong, the most popular author of Qidian, the most prominent feature in his works is a kind of arrogance and arrogance, just like Maradona’s attitude towards the fans. This sense of arrogance makes his works have the same type of protagonists as other people’s works. It can make readers feel more refreshed. But it also causes that in his works, whether they are gods and demons, ascending dragons or evil winds, whether they are Chinese, foreign, ancient or modern, the protagonists always seem to have the same character.
To this day, many new writers still hold the belief that Mr. Bloody was just written early and got lucky. If I had written a rebellious work at that time and written it so fast, I would still be popular. This mentality is like what Chinese directors often say, give me that much money and I can make Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. But our best directors can only make Promise after taking the money.
With a little more digression, back to the topic, how can newcomers choose a theme that suits them?
Theoretically, the theme does not matter to newcomers, but only to the author. It does not say what themes are suitable for the elderly and what themes are suitable for the newcomers. However, for new writers who aim at business writing, there are still some topics that are not suitable for them when they first enter the industry.
I personally believe that new authors who do not have certain writing experience and confidence should not touch the three major categories of martial arts, science fiction, and mystery for their first book. Most readers who read books grew up reading martial arts books. Martial arts jewels come first, and there are countless classics. But the most important thing is that most readers are familiar with the martial arts routines and character creation. I understand that newcomers all have a martial arts dream. After all, Jianghu is an eternal dream in the hearts of Chinese people. But it is too difficult for newcomers to write martial arts well, especially long-form martial arts. If you really can't let go of the dream of martial arts, then package the martial arts you write. For example, the essence of "Zhu Xian" is a martial arts romance, but it is packaged as a fairy tale. "Ultimate Hell" uses online games to package martial arts, and has achieved great success. Another shortcut to writing about martial arts is to write fanfics of well-known works. The advantage of this method of writing is that because the characters in the book already have a clear impression in the readers' minds, the author does not need to spend time describing the characters. The love for the original book and the longing for the characters will also make it easier for the work to gather a large number of readers.
Whether it is the famous "Young Qiao Feng" in the past, or "The Boy Here" in which Jiangnan used the names of people who shoot eagles. "The Eight Parts of Caprice", "I Am Zhang Wuji" and "The New Legend of Double Dragons of the Tang Dynasty", which have gained good popularity on the Internet, are all representatives. But the biggest problem with this kind of works is that they are fan works. To be honest, it is illegal to use fan works to obtain commercial benefits. However, the older generation of martial arts authors generally ignore online fandoms, and this has actually become a tacit behavior. Although Qidian generally allows VIPs to join martial arts fan works. But if it is recommended for publication, don’t count on it. The allowed fanfics are basically limited to early martial arts works and Huang Yi's works, as well as game fanfics, as well as works published more than fifty years ago. However, for fans of online works and Japanese anime, they are only allowed to publish, but not to sign contracts. If you want to gain business benefits, don’t spend too much effort on these aspects.
In terms of science fiction, firstly, the readership group is relatively small, and secondly, those who like science fiction works have certain requirements for the logic and rationality of the works. Although there are also unusual works like Xuan Yu's "Legend of Little Soldiers" that do not adhere to the rationality of science fiction works but are very popular, but overall, science fiction has very high requirements for the author's knowledge. And if you can't write a sci-fi feel, then you will get much better profits by writing in other genres.
As for reasoning, the requirements for logical rationality are higher, and the readership is smaller. If you write reasoning, it is best to practice your writing logic skills and write without any hope of commercial returns. .
It is not suitable for an author to write about subjects that he has absolutely no knowledge of and is not interested in. This does not mean that an author who does not understand computer technology cannot write about hackers. An author who doesn’t understand martial arts cannot write about the ring. Because most of the readers you face don’t understand either.
This is the scout team of ten thousand people in "The Naked Orchid", the army of millions fighting together, the 100 million gold coins in "Tiger Dynasty", some modern urban novels, the protagonist is worth trillions of dollars, and his pocket money is only hundreds of millions of dollars. These have already The flaws in the work that can be described as humorous or ignorant do not affect the popularity of the work.
The so-called subject matter that the author is not suitable for means that you cannot write the selling point of this subject matter. And this point can be said to be that you should not write works that you are not interested in.
You don’t have to understand, but you don’t have to be uninterested in your subject matter. For example, when writing about hackers, you don’t have to know what computer language is, or how to steal other people’s QQ passwords (by the way, the thieves I hate the most are those who steal passwords), but you must know what hackers can do, hackers What will the ability bring to the protagonist. . Because this is the tension, the conflict selling point of the story you want to write.
When choosing a topic, the most taboo thing is to follow the trend. No matter what others write, I don’t care whether I like the subject matter or not. I just feel that the subject matter is popular and I will write it quickly. As a result, the more I wrote, the more unhappy I became, and the more I wrote, the less distinctive it became. In the end, either because I couldn’t write the eunuch anymore, or because it was not popular enough, I gave up, or I couldn’t write anymore, so I copied other people’s works.
In online writing, the word YY is often ridiculed. But here I clearly tell new authors or authors preparing to join that YY is the essence of all works. YY is the salt and seasoning in the dish. Novel without YY has no reading value. Of course, a dish full of salt would be hard for others to swallow. Don't be tempted by the wrong remarks made by bored people who are always idle.
What is the essence of YY? My definition is that it is the description that brings me the most pleasure in that situation.
For newcomers, there is actually a very simple method to decide what topic they want to write about, what kind of topic they choose, and whether the topic is correct. When you think of a subject, then close your eyes and think in your mind, the protagonist of this world is me. As the protagonist, what do I want and what can I get in this world?
If you think like this, it is easy to get stuck mentally and even start thinking about how to speak. How can I feel more happy in this world? When I think of some things, I will be happy, angry and drooling about them. Then, this subject is the subject you want to write about.
Young people, especially those who write, often feel that they are unique and that what they think is different from others. But this is wrong. Human beings are group creatures, and you are the same as many other people. What you want, what you want, what you see will make you happy, what you see will make you angry, it's all the same.
So, in your mind, as the protagonist of this story, you have a very happy and interesting life. For example, you think about going back in time and becoming an emperor, with three palaces and six courtyards, playing with the maids, and having countless women kneeling there to serve you, which makes you extremely happy. Then you go write a subject about how to use your status as an emperor to enjoy beautiful women. If you think that you can go back in time and conquer the east and west, get happiness in the war, and make China the most powerful country in the world. If you feel happy like this, then write about the Great Emperor with war as the main line.
Remember, your story must make you feel happy, excited, and have tons of fun when you bring yourself into the role of the protagonist. This kind of subject matter is the subject matter suitable for you to write about. It doesn't matter whether you don't understand it, whether you have professional knowledge, or whether you can describe this feeling in words. What you write is a story that you hope will happen to you. This is the most effective and easiest way to succeed in choosing a topic.
When your subject matter can move you, you can also move others