Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 252 - 257: Self-Portrait?

Wisconsin, inside an ordinary farm.

Two middle-aged male farmers were cheerfully drinking whiskey.

"Ha, I never thought that our grandfather would die in poverty but leave us a huge fortune."

"Indeed, George McCarthy is basically our family’s Van Gogh."

"From 1960 to 1985, that novel brought us about a hundred thousand dollars in copyright income."

The older male, somewhat tipsy, said, "When I was a child, I thought I could live off royalty money all my life."

"Who knew that no one would come seeking to adapt it after that."

"Ha," the younger one laughed, "I never expected that now some fool is willing to pay one million dollars just to buy the rights to that obscure novel."

The two clinked their glasses and laughed together.

"Excuse me, are you the descendants of George McCarthy?" a young man in a suit walked in, led by the hostess.

Hmm?

The two farmers turned their heads simultaneously to look at the opposite side.

"Let me introduce myself, I come from New York, and I am a lawyer."

A lawyer?

The farmers’ eyes lit up, and they asked in unison, "Are you also looking to buy the rights to ’Brewer’s Million Gift’?"

"Also?" The lawyer’s heart skipped a few beats, anxiously asking, "Have you already sold it?"

"No, but we won’t sell for less than one million dollars."

Seeing the greedy look of the two, the lawyer felt reassured.

"One million dollars is indeed too cheap."

"Do you know how much profit the person who wants to buy the rights has made because of this work?"

"How much?" Two rednecks’ eyes seemed to flash with "$."

"The person buying the rights is named Wang Jian, an Asian bestselling author."

"He owns two websites, one is a digital media tool ’twitter,’ valued at eight hundred million dollars. The other is a literary website, expected to be valued even higher."

The lawyer sat down, his voice sounding enticing, "The moment he released his new work, it caused a sensation, bringing massive traffic to these two websites."

"Though, if just charging fees, it wasn’t much. But the intangible wealth is immeasurable."

"Please think about it, taking only one million dollars from a billionaire, are you content?"

"Billionaire?" The two farmers looked at each other, shaking their heads simultaneously, "We can’t afford to offend such big figures."

"One million dollars is enough for us."

Uh...

Why did this have the opposite effect?

The lawyer paused for a moment, then decided to reveal his company.

"I’m actually from Viacom Group, which is NBC, Paramount."

The two farmers looked at the lawyer, their expressions a bit baffled.

"’Star Wars,’ you must know about that?" the lawyer held onto his last hope.

"We know that." The farmers nodded.

The lawyer pondered for a moment, then decided to speak in the most straightforward terms.

"Our boss is worth over fifty billion dollars; you don’t have to worry about that billionaire."

"We believe ’Brewer’s Million Gift’ is worth at least twenty million dollars, and we are willing to represent you in court against the other party."

Twenty million dollars?

The figure was so large that it overwhelmed the farmers.

"We can sign an agreement; Simon & Schuster Publishing House guarantees you one million dollars as long as you’re willing to sue the other party."

"Think about it; a guaranteed one million dollars, aiming for twenty million," the lawyer’s voice grew deeper, like the whisper of a demon.

...

Meanwhile, in the office building in New York’s Flushing.

Wang Jian and Tom were carefully comparing the published parts of ’I’m Too Rich’ with ’Brewer’s Million Gift.’

"From my university education and publishing house work experience, these two works do not have any relationship of plagiarism," Tom raised his head, speaking seriously.

"Creativity is not protected, only the mode of narrative is." He paused, then added, "This 1905 novel focuses more on the absurd things the protagonist experiences after gaining money, it can be classified as ’dark humor’."

"’I’m Too Rich’ focuses on fulfilling wishes and the different attitudes of those around him, reflecting what you described as ’cool’."

"It’s typical of website style."

"But the main drive is too similar," Wang Jian shook his head, "Legally it may not be deemed plagiarism, but authors and most readers wouldn’t think so."

"One million dollars to secure the adaptation rights is quite appropriate."

He thought for a moment, not regretting his decision.

Just then, the phone rang.

"Wang, the other party is asking for twenty million dollars and refuses to settle," Matthew’s voice came through.

"How much, twenty million dollars? They must be crazy!" Wang Jian sounded astonished.

"Shall we continue the negotiation?" Matthew asked.

If this sets a precedent, would Tolkien’s descendants also be able to claim that ’Arcane Throne’ plagiarized ’The Lord of the Rings’?

After all, both have elements like magic and dragons.

But if so, am I just working for those past authors?

"Come back," Wang Jian pondered for a moment and said slowly.

"So... should we delete all the information about ’I’m Too Rich’ on our websites and twitter?" Tom asked.

"No," Wang Jian shook his head, "Doing that at this stage of rapid development would hurt our popularity too much."

"Besides," he sighed, "If I’m not mistaken, NBC has already started taking action."

"If we delete, the other party will have solid evidence of plagiarism."

Wang Jian clicked the mouse, entering the topic area.

Seeing that, apart from a very few people who mentioned ’Brewer’s Million Gift’, most were discussing the billion-dollar daily life of the rich.

"Ah, now we need to address how most readers will perceive it after NBC’s report," Wang Jian said to himself as he scrolled through with his mouse.

Suddenly, he noticed a message sent by Stephen King.

"In a way, this work is more like a self-portrait of Wang, isn’t it?"

Stephen King is now using twitter?

Wang Jian initially felt a sense of discomfort which then seemed like a flash of lightning struck his mind.

Creativity, mode of narrative, self-portrait?

"Tom, you said I projected myself into the character, and all the protagonist’s actions can find traces of me," Wang Jian muttered.

"Wouldn’t the readers also think that there isn’t even a hint of plagiarism?"

"Ah," Tom was taken aback, "Are you saying, you want to become Carl?"

"To live completely in the style of the ’godly rich’ narrative you mentioned, for a while?"

"Yes," Wang Jian thought for a moment, nodding.

He then picked up the phone to call Sarah.

"Sarah, that beautiful German girl who looked down on us as kids and fawned over our foster parents, can you still contact her?"

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