"Alright, esteemed viewers, we've just seen our two distinguished judges draw the themes for this round of the writing competition!
Now, let's all witness together what the theme for this competition will be!"
As Bingbing spoke, she gestured for the cameras to focus on the slips of paper in the judges' hands.
As the papers were slowly unfolded, several large words appeared before tens of millions of netizens:
[ADVENTURE] [INTERACTION] [CHILDREN'S LITERATURE] [SUSPENSE]
"There you have it, viewers! The keywords for this competition have been revealed!
Adventure and Interaction, Children's Literature and Suspense!
As we all know, globally, the development and research into children's literature are still relatively underdeveloped.
We hope that this competition will bring more wonderful reading material to children everywhere!
Now, I'll ask our staff to send these two keywords to all our contestants.
And with that, I declare!
The Global Youth Cultural Creation Competition has officially begun!"
Bingbing gave a slight bow to the camera.
Immediately, one hundred smaller video feeds appeared alongside the main broadcast screen, each clickable for individual viewing.
Live Chat Stream:
[Whoa! Check it out!]
[Adventure, huh? That keyword should be pretty easy to write for!]
[Almost a bit cliché, even!]
[Yeah, I can already think of a few off the top of my head, like knights saving princesses!]
[Or a journey to the center of the Earth, stuff like that!]
[Adventure is a super straightforward keyword!]
[But 'Interaction'... how do you write for 'Interaction'?]
[Yeah, seriously!!]
[I have an idea!]
[What idea? Spill it!]
[A protagonist group! Multiple main characters!]
[Hey! You know, that's not a bad shout!]
[If it's not just a single protagonist, but several...]
[Then the 'Interaction' keyword is cleverly woven right in!]
[Exactly!]
[Smart! Nicely done!]
[Looking forward to seeing what the other contestants come up with!]
[Children's Literature... isn't that just fairy tales?]
[Pretty much!]
[So, if it's Children's Lit + Adventure + Suspense = ???]
[That feels like a bit of a weird mishmash! lol]
[How does Children's Literature even connect with Suspense?]
[Horror stories for kids! 😂]
[Gonna 'complete' their childhoods with nightmares, are we? 💀]
[Hahaha! Savage!]
[This is getting interesting!]
...
Room 99 Live Stream.
Leo Maxwell stared at the keywords sent by the event organizers:
[ADVENTURE]
[INTERACTION]
[CHILDREN'S LITERATURE]
[SUSPENSE]
Countless literary works began to automatically filter and match in his mind!
Suddenly, an opening line that had accompanied him throughout his entire childhood surfaced in Leo's thoughts:
This book is dedicated
To the memory of my childhood,
A time of happiness, tinged with small regrets.
...
Leo's mind began to rapidly recall the entire story, various thrilling, terrifying, and magnificent scenes flashing before his eyes. A look of deep nostalgia spread across his face.
Live Chat Stream (Watching Leo's Feed):
[Wait, is the Dragon Kingdom contestant... like, high or something?]
[No way! Impossible!]
[There isn't a single speck of that stuff allowed in the Dragon Kingdom! Strictly controlled!]
[True that! You literally can't find any DRUGS in the Dragon Kingdom.]
[So, this contestant... what's with him then?]
[Drunk maybe?]
[Could be! I heard a lot of old-school writers in the Dragon Kingdom like to have a drink before they start writing!]
[Same in the Britannia Empire! Many classic authors enjoyed a glass of red wine before writing!]
[Ooh~]
[No wonder! I thought this Dragon Kingdom guy was wasted for a second! lol]
...
Broadcasting Studio.
"Professor Tomkins, Professor Chen, what are your thoughts on these four themes?" Bingbing asked curiously.
"Well, to speak of it, it's quite simple. Superficially, it indeed appears simple," Professor Chen began, taking the lead. "But in actual practice, it's not particularly difficult either. One merely needs to grasp the keywords, and the problem can be readily solved, thus resolving the difficulty..."
He launched into an eloquent, rambling discourse.
"Ahem!" Professor Tomkins cleared his throat, interjecting smoothly when Chen paused.
"These four themes are relatively standard, I'd say.
As long as the approach is fitting, there generally shouldn't be major issues.
It primarily depends on how well each contestant has constructed their outline framework.
If the outline itself is slapdash, then as the story progresses into its later stages,
it will likely be very difficult to maintain plot stability.
This can lead to a large-scale collapse of the narrative – what everyone commonly refers to as a 'botched ending' or a 'ruined work.'"
As a veteran author, Professor Tomkins shared from his wealth of experience.
"An outline?" Bingbing looked intrigued. "Professor Tomkins, is an outline truly necessary?"
"Indeed. Most experienced authors will write an outline. Some even spend a considerable amount of time perfecting just the outline. Without an outline to provide overall structure and constraint to the entire text, it is very difficult for a good work to emerge..."
Live Chat Stream:
[Hey, look! Look quickly!]
[The Dragon Kingdom contestant has already started writing!]
[Whoa! You're right! He has!]
[The Dragon Kingdom guy didn't even make an outline! He just dived straight into writing!]
[This is... Professor Tomkins just got his face slapped, hard! Ouch! 😂]
[ROFL! Look at Professor Tomkins' face! It just darkened instantly!]
[Well, no kidding! He was just talking about how important outlines are!]
[And then BAM! Proven 'wrong' the very next second!]
[Hahahaha! This is gold!]
[Tch!]
[That's the Dragon Kingdom contestant for you, huh?]
[Just as unimpressive as they say!]
[Figures. Just like people say online, he doesn't understand literature at all!]
[Yeah! The Dragon Kingdom's literature has long since declined!]
[Nowadays, you have to look at our Sakura Empire's literature! That's the best in the world!]
[And our Kimchi Kingdom's K-Novels! Don't forget us!]
...
Room 99 Live Stream.
Under the watchful eyes of millions of netizens, Leo Maxwell directly opened the main document page for the story.
Those other template pages for outlines, character settings, and whatnot – Leo didn't even glance at them.
'Come forth!'
'Charlie IX!'
'Let this world witness your brilliance!'
This work from Leo's previous life had, due to frequent complaints from certain anonymous parents, suffered an unfortunate decline!
Now, Leo was determined to let it unleash its true potential in this parallel world!
In Leo's eyes, this series was in no way inferior to Harry Potter!
It was hailed as the "Eastern Harry Potter"!
As for those "anonymous parents"...
Leo scoffed at the thought!
What anonymous parents? More likely the meddling of foreign powers and those whose loyalties were skewed, pulling strings behind the scenes. After all, if even basic school textbooks could be so easily infiltrated with their biased agendas...
It truly was something that made one ponder deeply!
Live Chat Stream (Seeing the Title):
[Charlie IX?]
[Why does that sound a bit like a name from our Britannia Empire?]
[Exactly! 'Charlie' is a classic Britannian name!]
[Could it be? Is this Dragon Kingdom contestant planning to write a novel with a British protagonist?]
[Possible! Highly possible!]
[Haha! Brilliant!]
[Quick, look at Bingbing's screen! Look at Professor Tomkins!]
[Professor Tomkins' face is absolutely black! He looks furious! LMAO!]
Broadcasting Studio.
"Nonsense! This contestant is engaging in utter nonsense!" Professor Tomkins exclaimed, his voice tight with disapproval. "How can one possibly start writing without first constructing an outline?! Only when the outline has provided a preliminary direction can a good piece of work be produced!"