Interview with writer Chen Qiufan： Has the craze for science fiction literature arrived？ I’m not that optimistic.

　　Beijing, June 15 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) "Has the craze for science fiction literature come?" In fact, I am not so optimistic. " Recently, Chen Qiufan, a science fiction writer, put forward the above views when interviewed by a reporter from Zhongxin.com (WeChat WeChat official account: cns2012).

　　Not long ago, his short story "Fear Machine" was shortlisted for the 10th Global Chinese Science Fiction Xingyun Award, along with works by writers such as Liu Cixin and Liang Qingsan.

　　Love reading science fiction has been rejected.

　　Like science fiction, Chen Qiufan has been interested since he was a child.

　　"I read science fiction when I was in kindergarten, but I can only read simple plots, and some contents are not very understandable." He remembers reading a series of classic works by Verne and Wells, which "felt like entering a particularly magical world".

　　When he was in junior high school, he tried to write some science fiction novels and then contributed them everywhere. At the age of 15, he sent the novel Bait to the competition and won the prize successfully. When the certificate was sent to the school, it was handed over by the class teacher. Chen Qiufan still remembers the students’ surprise at that time.

　　However, his writing career didn’t start there: after winning the prize, another novel was rejected, which made Chen Qiufan feel somewhat depressed. In addition, to prepare for the college entrance examination, in about two years, he pressed the "pause button" of writing.

　　"I tried to pick up my writing after I was admitted to Peking University. At that time, I took the path of pure literature. " But write to write, those articles can’t satisfy Chen Qiufan, "always feel not attractive enough. So I changed it to writing science fiction. "

　　Since then, he has published sci-fi works such as Fish in Lijiang and Year of the Rat, and won the Global Chinese Science Fiction Nebula for nine times. The Ghost Trio has also been included in the sci-fi anthology "Future People Don’t Exist".

　　It is not easy to add "hard science fiction" elements to novels.

　　Talking about his own creation, Chen Qiufan thinks that the more difficult thing is the combination with scientific and technological elements, that is, the "hard science fiction" elements that people often say.

　　"Not as long as ‘ Have a brain hole ’ You will be able to write good science fiction. " Chen Qiufan explained that when writing, science fiction writers also need to know the most advanced science and technology and scientific facts, and the novels will look better.

　　He feels that if there is an opportunity, science fiction writers can communicate with scientists who work in the front line. "Scientists know the most cutting-edge technology, and writers have a big brain hole. If the two are combined, there may be good results."

　　However, sometimes, some misunderstandings will make Chen Qiufan feel a little helpless. He said that some readers will confuse science fiction with popular science works to varying degrees. "The latter should be particularly accurate about all kinds of knowledge and not allow fiction; The former is still full of literary color, and the two are not the same. "

　　"The fields involved in science fiction literature are not narrow, not just aerospace, space and so on." Chen Qiufan said that it also includes anthropology, ethics and other disciplines. "For example, in The Wandering Earth, when people discuss whether it is feasible to put an engine on the earth, they also think about ecological environment protection and human ethics.".

　　Science fiction literature craze has come? may not

　　After writing science fiction for many years, Chen Qiufan has a deep understanding of the "minority" situation of this literary type: the number of writers is relatively small, and the audience is also small.

　　However, with Liu Cixin winning the Hugo Award in 2015 and the sci-fi movie The Wandering Earth showing in early 2019, this situation seems to be slowly changing. Especially after the The Wandering Earth fire, many people think that "science fiction literature fever" has come.

　　"It seems that science fiction has become a slogan, capital, IP… … A lot of people poured in at once. The film has a relatively wide audience, and The Wandering Earth’s popularity has indeed opened up a more popular market. " Chen Qiufan does not deny that people’s attention to science fiction literature has increased, but he thinks this is not enough to be blindly optimistic.

　　He gave a good reason: "The well-known sci-fi writers such as Hao Jingfang and Liu Cixin won the grand prize, and more people don’t know much about writers like me and Han Song;" There are still few publishing channels for young writers’ works in the traditional sense, and it is difficult to get ahead. "

　　"For example, Mo Yan’s teacher won Nobel Prize in Literature, and his novels are very popular, but the sales of other pure literature writers are good? No. " Chen Qiufan said that at present, the situation of science fiction literature is similar, and the publishing market only prefers great writers who can guarantee a certain sales volume, "said ‘ Science fiction literature craze ’ Come, in fact, not necessarily. "