"Online writers have a mind of 'the great man of the country', and their initiative and enthusiasm for paying attention to reality, writing reality, and reflecting the new era have been significantly enhanced." This was the deepest feeling of the guests at the National Internet Literature Work Conference held in Zhengzhou not long ago. .
After more than 20 years of development, online literature has entered a stage of high-quality development, and the process of mainstreaming and quality is unstoppable.
Looking back on the past year, the Chinese Writers Association released the "2021 Chinese Internet Literature Blue Book" (hereinafter referred to as "Blue Book"), which aims to clarify the development pattern of Internet literature from five aspects: writer creation, organizational construction, theoretical commentary, industry development, and overseas communication. Analyzing the authoring situation of web writers provides a guide.
The creation of realistic themes is further deepened
When faced with emergencies such as drowning of teenagers, serious illness of the elderly, premature delivery of pregnant women, injuries in car accidents, or being trapped in snow disasters, the first thing people think of is to call 120 in time.
In the novel "Top of Life" by Internet writer Mai Su, such thrilling scenes emerge one after another, because the protagonists of the work are a group of medical ambulance team members.
They take it as their duty to protect the safety of people's lives, and use their excellent psychological quality, professional rescue methods and superb medical technology to turn the crisis around for the helpers; language spoken.
"The Top of Life" is a novel that I serialized on Migu Reading website from April to October 2021. In the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the majority of medical workers are undoubtedly soldiers, heroes, and a new era. The cutest person. I wanted to show the normal working conditions of medical workers, and show their professionalism, dedication and sacrifice, so a novel about 120 medical rescue came into being." Maisu said.
There are many more web writers like Maisu.
Bandit Jia has been engaged in aerospace work. The Beidou Stars he created focuses on the research and development of the Beidou satellite navigation system, showing the ardent feelings of contemporary scientific researchers to serve the country through science and technology.
"After reading some online novels, I especially want to use this fresh literary form to tell the story of my aerospace work to readers. After all, it is the rapid development of national science and technology that provides me with the most vivid material. Bandit Jia said, "After I started writing, I had new thoughts on the creation of realistic themes of online literature. For example, I learned from the character growth model and story structure of other more mature themes to shape the image of the characters. For example, in the interaction with readers, I realize the importance of a sense of life, popular words, concise and straightforward expressions, etc. to the creation of real-world online literature."
Reviewing the creation of online literature with realistic themes in 2021, "Century of vicissitudes of life and Huaxing Village", which reflects the century-old history of the founding of the party, "Love in Three Lanes and Seven Alleys", which records the urban transformation of Fuzhou's Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, and shows the role of state-owned enterprise reformers. Please Long Ying”, “30,000 Miles of the River East into the Sea” and “The Era of Pentium—Going South to North”, which describe the hard work of ordinary entrepreneurs, and “Veteran” and “Shan Ren Xing”, which portray the images of veterans, rural teachers, and animal protection volunteers. ""The Crane Guard", a series of masterpieces, emerge one after another.
According to the "Blue Book", in 2021, major literary websites across the country will add more than 270,000 realistic works, a year-on-year increase of 27%, and the stock of realistic works will exceed 1.3 million.
"Post-90s" have become the main force of online literature creation with realistic themes, accounting for nearly 50%.
In terms of the subdivision of themes, reform and opening up, struggle and entrepreneurship, technological innovation, rural education, life, marriage and love are all the content that real-world online literature is keen to express.
In order to further play the role of guiding creation, the Chinese Writers Association released a guide to the selection of key topics for online literature for the first time in early 2021. Themes such as the pioneer of the times, the dream of a strong country, the people's better life, technological innovation and science fiction, Chinese culture, and a community of shared future for mankind have attracted the attention of online writers.
Among the 34 selected topics supported, there are more than 20 realistic works, which have effectively played a guiding role.
Theoretical reviews flourish
Literary criticism is a mirror and a good medicine for literary and artistic creation.
This is especially true in the field of online literature.
In 2021, the Central Propaganda Department and others will issue the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Work of Literary and Art Criticism in the New Era", and the online literature community will work together to promote good works, in-depth exploration of literary laws, establish a comment standard system, and build on the site of online literature. Play the power of comment and promote the high-quality development of creation.
"After more than 20 years of development, the academic community has reached a consensus that 'Internet literature can tell history', marking that Internet literature has entered the field of literary history. There are more and more researchers who are on the scene, who read and understand Internet literature. Deeply excavating theoretical propositions, the academic achievements obtained have been noticed, recognized and valued by creators, and played a role in guiding creation." said Xia Lie, executive vice chairman of Zhejiang Internet Writers Association and a professor at Hangzhou Normal University.
In the past year, the issue of "origin" of online literature has received particular attention, starting from 1991 as the "Origin of the Internet", from 1996 as the starting point for the "Origin of Forum", and from 1998 as the starting point for the "Origin of Phenomenon". The emergence of viewpoints such as "multi-origin theory" reflects the vitality and potential of online literature history research.
The popularity of online literature calls for researchers to broaden their horizons and come up with new theoretical tools that can match the literary scene.
“In terms of research methods, interdisciplinary research is becoming more and more in-depth. Due to the media nature of online literature, it is closely related to digital technology, and researchers have comprehensively used theoretical tools from various disciplines. The research on the impact of , platform and industry often uses interdisciplinary research methods comprehensively.” said Xu Miaomiao, a professor at Capital Normal University.
Looking back at the research on online literature in 2020, "sense of presence" is a key word. Theoretical critics summarize the development status of online literature in a timely manner, which effectively promotes the enrichment and improvement of the category, content quality, and ideological connotation of online literature.
Research reports such as "2020 Blue Book of Chinese Internet Literature", "Chinese Internet Literature Yearbook" and "Annual Selection of Chinese Internet Literature Review" provide researchers with inspiration for topic selection from a macro perspective.
"At the micro-work level, critics comment on online literature works in a timely manner, and put forward constructive criticisms on issues such as artistry, writing tendencies, and cultural values. More and more people hope to use online literature creators to understand and easily absorb the discourse. In addition, by participating in online literature lists and award selections, experts scrutinize and salvage outstanding works and characteristic works, and play a role in guiding creation through generalized commentary behavior.” Xia Lie said.
In terms of the promotion of works, the "Mao Dun Newcomer Award - Internet Literature Award" of the China Literature Foundation and the annual list of online literature by the Chinese Fiction Society also focus on standardizing the promotion procedures, correctly handling commercial interests, literary and artistic value, and social responsibility. It opposes data-onlyism, resists deformed aesthetics, and improves credibility.
The scale of online articles going overseas continues to expand
In 2021, the overseas market size of online literature will exceed 3 billion yuan, with 145 million overseas users.
As of 2021, China's online literature has exported more than 10,000 online literature works overseas, with more than 100 million website subscription and APP users, covering most countries and regions in the world... Behind the series of numbers, is Chinese online literature going global sonorous pace.
From the early days when overseas netizens established websites to translate fantasy and martial arts works, to the popular online literature adaptation dramas in Southeast Asia, to the domestic leading online literature companies to build overseas platforms, create a localized operation ecology, and attract local authors to create, China's online literature has become a major player in China's online literature. The overseas localization communication system has been initially established.
"Blue Book" shows: In terms of authorized publication of physical books, Jinjiang Literature City has exported nearly 3,000 works; in terms of IP adaptation, the TV series "Sito" won the championship of the Thai broadcasting platform, and the TV series "You Are My Fortress" was released to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and other countries and regions; in terms of overseas platform construction, the international version of iReader covers more than 150 countries and regions around the world, and the number of registered users of the overseas platform TapRead reaches 1 million; in terms of local author training, Qidian International There are currently 115,000 overseas authors and 200,000 online works.
"From spontaneous translation and reading of works to creation in their native language in the online production mode, the acceptance of Chinese online literature by overseas readers and authors is not only an acceptance of online literature as a literary form, but also an appreciation of Chinese culture. Recognition and acceptance of the Chinese spirit and Chinese values contained in the production mechanism. Behind this is the strong attraction of contemporary China to the world's attention." said Xue Yu, a member of the Network Literature Committee of the Chinese Writers Association.
So, what kind of groups will be attracted to Chinese online literature?
"Blue Book" found through the survey that overseas readers have a diverse composition and a high level of education. 58.7% of them have a bachelor's degree or above, and most of them are women.
In terms of focus, overseas males mainly focus on fantasy novels, while females focus on romance novels. Horror, suspense and sci-fi themes are also relatively popular.
In terms of subject matter, overseas readers are most interested in Chinese Kung Fu, followed by Chinese cuisine and traditional Chinese medicine, and about 20%-25% of readers pay attention to traditional Chinese literature and calligraphy.
Although China's online literature has not yet established a systematic international communication mechanism, "Internet literature going overseas" has become an industry consensus, and various platforms are accelerating their deployment.
"I believe that with the continuous improvement of the communication chain from author creation, selection and translation, overseas promotion to landing distribution, the number of works reflecting the reality of China in the new era is gradually increasing, and the overall coordination between various platforms is increasingly strengthened. The ability to 'break the wall' in the layer will be further demonstrated." Xue said.