"Captain Ju, there are four promising works today, please take a look."
The chief editor of Group 7 at Lingdian Chinese Web had the surname Zhou, with the pen name Call Me Captain.
Of course, editors like Wuyue and Feiyuan were also pen names.
Since they worked in writing-related fields, their real names were rarely used. In daily communication, pen names were generally used instead.
As for why these editors had pen names, the reason was simple.
Most people engaged in editorial work were also a group that loved writing.
Among them, a large portion had transitioned from being authors to becoming editors.
"All right, I'll take a look."
Call Me Captain was quite satisfied with the new editor, Wuyue.
After half a year on the job, Wuyue had performed well in all aspects and had also discovered quite a few new talents.
However, due to the signing process, even though he trusted Wuyue and acknowledged his judgment, literature was something that could sometimes be misjudged. Therefore, after the managing editor selected potential works, they still had to go through the chief editor for final approval on whether to sign them.
The high-standard signing system was precisely Lingdian's hallmark in competing against Huanyue and Lianheng.
The Way of Heaven, not bad. Putting everything else aside, the prose alone was enough to warrant a contract.
Martial Path Supremacy, this one was also good. Approved for signing.
Great Tang Hegemony, the data performance was solid. Can be signed.
Wuyue's reviewing skills have clearly improved lately; it seemed he should be properly praised sometime.
Uh, this one… How a Bad Guy Is Made…
Seeing how a Bad Guy Is Made, Call Me Captain hesitated for a moment.
Just from the title alone, his brows knitted together.
Generally speaking, novels with titles like this were mostly gag-oriented, and authors who leaned heavily toward gag writing usually didn't produce particularly good novels. So most of the time, novels like this weren't signed. Of course, there were exceptions; some genuinely talented authors had such quirks.
Thinking this, Call Me Captain patiently began reading the work.
A few minutes later, he shook his head.
He had just been thinking of praising it, and in the blink of an eye, it committed such a major flaw.
Such a blatantly "noob-style" novel, what was the point of signing it?
"Wuyue, come over for a moment."
Using the internal phone, Call Me Captain called Wuyue over.
"Wuyue, how's your work been lately?"
Novel editors, like novel authors, were relatively scarce resources in the industry.
Cultivating an excellent editor required a great deal of time and effort.
When Call Me Captain called Wuyue over, he didn't immediately bring up How a Bad Guy Is Made. Instead, he intended to have a proper talk with him.
"Captain Ju, everything's been fine. I really enjoy being an editor."
"That's good! I was worried you might not be used to it. By the way, if I remember correctly, you were a professional author before."
"Heh, Captain Ju, don't laugh at me. I know you were an author back then, and you were even a platinum author on Lingdian Chinese Web."
"Ah, what platinum author, nothing like that. I just want to ask, how do you feel being an author compares to being an editor?"
"Well…"
Wuyue thought for a moment and said, "As an author, you feel freer, but after a long time, your thinking can start to lag. As an editor, you don't have as much freedom, but you get to read all kinds of novels every day. Each has its own advantages."
"That's true."
Call Me Captain nodded, then asked again, "So when you come across a novel you really like, what would you do?"
"Of course I'd sign it."
Wuyue blurted it out.
Only after answering instinctively did Wuyue realize he had made a mistake.
Yes, a serious mistake.
Editors were different from authors, and also different from readers.
Although editors read books, authors read books, and readers read books, an editor was still an editor. The way an editor reads is completely different from how an author or a reader reads.
The reason an editor was an editor was that they didn't read a book because they liked it, but because they believed it had commercial value.
Therefore, when editors read, they generally don't bring their personal tastes into it.
If an editor reads with the same personal preferences as a reader, then they would be unable to evaluate other genres.
For example, if you only liked fantasy and disliked urban fiction, then when reading an urban novel, no matter how well it was written, you wouldn't be able to see its strengths. Conversely, if you loved fantasy, then even if a fantasy novel wasn't particularly good, you might still feel it was acceptable just because it fit your taste.
If that were the case, you'd be better off just being a reader. Being an editor wouldn't suit you.
"Captain Ju, did you reject How a Bad Guy Is Made?"
Wuyue now understood what the chief editor was getting at.
"Not yet, I just wanted to know why you wrote 'strongly recommended' for that book, but now I understand. Still, I've decided to sign it. I hope you'll treat this novel as a lesson."
After being given a lecture by the chief editor, Wuyue left the office feeling somewhat dejected.
"What the chief editor said makes sense. As an editor, I can't treat myself as a reader anymore; at the very least, an editor is no longer a purely ordinary reader."
As he walked, Wuyue reminded himself of this.
Yet no matter how much he reminded himself, many scenes from How a Bad Guy Is Made kept surging through his mind again and again, the frail boy who awakened and made his resolve, the student who was more ruthless to himself than to others.
Could it really be that his personal taste had subjectively caused him to like this work?
That didn't seem possible.
Wuyue knew very clearly that he didn't actually like noob-style fiction.
So why was it that, even though Bad Guy's prose was so simplistic, he didn't feel anything wrong with it at all?
His thoughts were a mess, and Wuyue really wanted to find a reason to refute the chief editor.
But no matter how he searched, he couldn't find one.
…
Walking leisurely out of the homeroom teacher's office, Huang Yifan felt pretty good.
Luckily, he'd been quick-witted. Otherwise, he really might have gotten scolded.
"Huang Yifan, Teacher Lin scolded you, didn't she?"
Just as he entered the classroom, Jiang Weiwei shot him a glare and said.
"She scolded me?"
Huang Yifan shrugged, indicating that wasn't the case.
"No?"
Jiang Weiwei didn't believe him. "Didn't Teacher Lin say you deliberately wrote ghost stories to scare us?"
"Jiang Weiwei, when did I ever write ghost stories to scare you? Weren't you the one begging Zhang Huiping to tell you ghost stories?"
"Oh, spare me! Aren't you boys always trying to scare us girls to get our attention? But I'll say this: your behavior is really childish, even Xia Cixiang doesn't use tricks like that anymore."
"Get your attention?"
Huang Yifan found it amusing.
It was one thing for the homeroom teacher to say that, but now even Jiang Weiwei was saying the same thing.
What kind of spoiled child was this, with such an inflated sense of self?
Both amused and irritated, he said, "Tell me, Jiang Weiwei, are you more beautiful than Xi Shi, or lovelier than Wang Zhaojun? What a joke, why would I want your attention?"
Mocked by Huang Yifan, Jiang Weiwei's face stiffened. Used to being doted on since childhood, how could she tolerate his sarcasm? She snorted and said. "Then tell me, where did you copy that ghost story from?"
"Why do you think I copied it?"
Huang Yifan raised an eyebrow and asked back.
"Hah, if you didn't copy it, could you really write such a good ghost story?"
"I find it strange, why are you so sure I couldn't write such a good ghost story?"
"Fine, if you say that ghost story was written by you, then how do you prove it?"
"Prove it?"
Huang Yifan couldn't help laughing. "Do I really need proof for something I originally wrote myself?"
"Of course you do, without proof, that proves you copied it."
"Then why don't you provide so-called proof to prove that I copied it?"
"Anyway, you just copied it."
"…"
All of a sudden, Huang Yifan didn't want to argue with Jiang Weiwei anymore.
He had already figured out her personality.
She was just a proud peacock; anything that hurt her self-esteem, she would outright deny.
Girls like this had overly strong vanity; not only did Huang Yifan not want to prove anything, even if he did produce proof, Jiang Weiwei would probably find some other excuse to argue with him.
Who knew how she developed such a personality?
Because she was pretty?
Maybe a little.
But Huang Yifan had zero interest in girls this young anyway.
"No comeback?"
Seeing Huang Yifan fall silent, Jiang Weiwei became rather smug.
"Fine, you win! Just like you think, that story really was copied by me, and I really did want to get the attention of 'Great Beauty Jiang.' Satisfied now?"
Huang Yifan was truly fed up with her and couldn't be bothered to continue.
"Haha, you finally admitted it."
Jiang Weiwei seemed to have won a great victory. Then she turned smilingly to Zhang Huiping and said, "Huiping, see? I told you, he copied it from somewhere, you just wouldn't believe me."
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