WITH the success of several TV dramas that had been adapted from online novels, the overlooked online novelist circle has now been pushed into the spotlight.

    Statistics show that the number of active online novelists in Guangdong Province ranks fourth in the country, slightly lower than that of Beijing, Hunan Province and Sichuan Province.

    More than half of those online novelists are residing in Shenzhen, which outnumbered other cities in the province, said Yu Aicheng, vice chairman of Shenzhen Writers’ Association.

    Among them are some famous names like Helianbobodawang who is famed for his historic novels, Conglinlang who writes military fiction, Caidaoxingli who delves topics like military history, and mystery and suspense novelists Hongniangzi and Laojiagelou.

    For many people, the behind-the-scene online novelists are a mysterious group who are rarely known by the public. Even those who have already become top writers with tens of thousands of loyal readers rarely reveal themselves to the public.

    What makes a novelist successful? One of the key criteria is to write many thousands of words a day.

    “This year is the sixth year of my online writing career. In these past six years, I have to write at least 3,000 to 5,000 words a day and sometimes I can write more than 10,000 words a day,” said Caidaoxingli.

    Caidaoxingli is one of the top online novelists based in Shenzhen with several popular novels such as “Cold Steel” and “Informant.” His works were selected as the Top 80 Books for Mao Dun Literature Prize, becoming the first online novel on the list.

    “It is not an easy job. When I was in Shenzhen, I had to write at least 3,000 words a day, which was very stressful. If I could not complete the task on time, I would not get paid,” said Hongniangzi, a popular online novelist who moved from Shenzhen to Wuhan, Hubei Province, two years ago. “To me, these pressures have become my motivation. And now I can work about two hours a day and write 5,000 words. On average, I can make about 10,000 yuan (US$1,550) a month and sometimes even more.”

    A lot of these novelists describe their lives as “staying at home all day long to write on a computer screen until dawn.” “We don’t even need to dress up and live on fast-food takeout,” a novelist said.

    “This is a stressful job,” said Caidaoxingli. “In the past, I always stayed up really late and wrote until the early morning. But I stopped working like this because health is also important.”

    Caidaoxingli said that many online novelists die young because of the unhealthy lifestyle and heavy pressure. “Most online novelists are young people and young people don’t see health as an important thing in their lives. So many of them are living in a relatively unhealthy state and suffer from many occupational diseases,” he said.

    The unhealthy working environment has already become an issue among many online novelists.

    “Many online novel websites care more about profits brought by the novelists than their lives. I think it is an issue that should be taken seriously by both the websites and the writers’ association. Otherwise, the online novelist will soon become a ‘sick novelist,’” said Caidaoxingli.

    Compared to many “late night writers,” Hongniangzi lives a much healthier life. “I write horror stories, so I am too scared to write at midnight. Therefore, I get up at 8 a.m. every day and finish my work before night,” she said. “I think this job has a high requirement for self-control. If one cannot control themselves, it would be better not to do this job because they will easily destroy their health and life.”

    In many people’s eyes, it is easy for an online novelist to make lots of money, but in reality, most of these novelists have to live on their “real jobs.”

    “It is very difficult to make a living on writing online novels for most people. Firstly, you need to be an excellent writer so your work can attract thousands of readers. Secondly, you need to work really hard and write really fast so that you can update your novels every day. Last but not least, you need to attract the websites’ attention so that they will promote your novels on their platform,” another popular novelist Tiantangyu said.

    Because of all these requirements and pressures, many novelists’ ultimate career goal is to become a screenwriter once they have a chance. “Screenwriting is a more respectful and stable job and can make a writer far more money than writing online novels. Many well-known online novelists have left this industry and become professional screenwriters,” Tiantangyu said.

    “This will become a trend in the industry as more drama production companies have also started to pay close attention to us. Compared to normal novelists and screenwriters, online novelists are very forward thinking and can write extremely fast, which are very suitable for the fast-paced production industry,” Caidaoxingli said.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)