Chapter 13

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The creative writing workshop for the Fall Cup was an annual large-scale cultural event in Iowa.

All authors who published new books in the spring and summer were invited to a specific location according to the requirements of this year’s competition.

The authors would have to create a novel over a period of 14 days according to the required topic.

In the end, the judges would select the best works according to the quality of the text, and the winner would receive an invitation to the New York Book Fair.

It was indeed a very attractive prize.

Therefore, rookie and experienced authors all over the country would make a trip to Iowa to participate in this event as long as they met the conditions of publishing their works in the first half of the year.

Considering that the participants were all writers with publishing experience, and different writers had their own identities, reputations, and fan bases, it would be a little unfair to other contestants if great writers who had already achieved fame and success came to participate.

Even the judges would know how to judge.

After all, it was inevitable that everyone would have their biases.

If they revered a certain author, anything that the author wrote would naturally be a masterpiece.

Due to this, the organizers set up special rules.

Each author was required to enter the competition anonymously.

All authors were not allowed to sign their real names and were not allowed to use any of their previous pseudonyms. They were could only use a new pen name to submit their works.

This would basically ensure that the competition was fair and impartial, without the influence of other factors.

With their past glory wiped away, each author started with a blank slate.

They had to prove themselves with their writing.

This interesting condition also encouraged many young authors to join the competition. After all, this was a great opportunity for them to take down a legend!

..

Hearing Dunbar’s complaints and thinking of the rules of the competition, Walter looked around and suddenly thought of an idea.

This year, Penguin Publishing happened to be the sole sponsor of the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop.

Thus, they would have access to more information earlier.

They also had the jurisdiction to recommend judges.

Walter’s approach was simple and crude with two steps.

The first step was to arrange for himself and Stoner to be the judges in the finals.

The second step was to get the topic ahead of time so that Dunbar could make preparations before everyone else.

Since they would have colluded with each other, they would know which was Dunbar’s final draft.

When the time came, it would be a piece of cake as long as they worked together.

Entering the finals and upstaging Fang Yuan would also be a breeze.

..

One week later, the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop was held as scheduled.

Since Fang Yuan received the VIP pass from Hades early on, he was able to skip auditions and enter the official competition.

Sherry, the President of the University of Iowa, was in charge of the competition. 

She was also a well-known figure in American literature.

Born into a literary family, her father, Bourne, was one of the few Nobel Prize winners that were still alive in this world, while her mother was a famous critic of the Department of English Literature at Harvard University.

Sherry received a good literary education from a young age as she was born into such a family.

Some people even joked that she had been listening to Byron, Shelley, and Keats in her mother’s womb.

Her parents also intended to groom their only daughter towards literature.

Thus, they formulated a very strict study plan to cultivate her literary sentiment from an early age.

Eventually, Sherry lived up to her parents’ teachings.

At the age of 16, she graduated from UC Berkeley and became a famous talent in school.

Sherry was appointed by the Governor of Iowa to be the University of Iowa’s President.

She had won numerous awards since then, with her highest achievement being the Poet Laureate awarded by the Queen of the United Kingdom.

After all, no one ever received such an honor before the age of 30.

Once this title was awarded to her, she became a sensation in the literary world.

Critics claimed that she was a true genius.

Although Sherry had been called a genius countless times since she was a child, she did not believe in this word.

That was because she thought it was impossible for a genius to appear in the literary world.

Shirley knew that if she had not come from such a family background, she would not have been able to get to where she was today.

Therefore, this was definitely not innate talent, like what many outsiders thought. Instead, it was the result of rigorous training.

Recently, when Sherry heard that another genius named Fang Yuan had appeared out of the blue, she did not believe it either.

Sherry even looked through Fang Yuan’s student file through the university’s administration office.

He was an international student from China.

His previous classroom performance, exam results, and the professor’s impression of him were all just average.

Average meant that he was not bad, but definitely not excellent.

How did he suddenly manage to write a groundbreaking novel like “The Coiling Dragon”?

There must be something wrong with that guy.

This was also the reason why Shirley had taken time out of her busy schedule to be the chief examiner of this Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop.

She wanted to see for herself Fang Yuan’s performance in this competition.

Sherry thought, ‘I won’t let go of any signs. As long as he left any trace, I’ll definitely expose him…’