Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 325 - 328: The Strange Vote

Los Angeles, inside the Television Arts Academy.

Some staff members were busily tallying this year’s Emmy Awards voting results.

Unlike the Tony Awards, the Emmys, like the Oscars and Grammys, adopt a non-onsite counting method similar to the presidential elections.

These ballots all had to be collected in one place for on-site counting and record-keeping.

At that moment, a young person looked at the computer and let out a soft "huh."

"What’s so surprising?" a middle-aged staff member asked disdainfully. "Since the first Emmy Awards in 1949, how many upsets have there been!"

"It’s not..." the young person shook their head vigorously, muttering to themselves, "It’s not just a matter of being an upset; this result is just too strange."

Hmm?

The middle-aged person approached the computer with curiosity and looked at the screen.

Immediately, they clapped their hands and said loudly, "Recheck the letters immediately!"

"The voting results for ’Anomalies’ for best original script and best television drama are highly irregular!"

Hearing this, everyone put down their work and gathered around.

"How could the votes for these two categories be so much higher than the other options, almost breaking records?"

"Did most of the judges vote for this award?" a seasoned staff member said with a serious expression. "What kind of joke is this!"

"Recount the votes!" he yelled.

A moment later, the tellers who were paying special attention to these two categories began to look odd.

"We... shouldn’t have made a counting error, should we?"

"This year, many judges who no longer vote sent their letters back."

"And... they only filled in ’Anomalies’ for best original script and best television drama."

"The rest of the options were left blank..."

What?

The supervisor picked up a few letters, disbelievingly flipping through them.

’Anomalies,’ ’Anomalies,’ ’Anomalies’...

He found that, apart from these strange ballots, ’Anomalies’ was the choice on most of the other ballots as well.

Critics, industry insiders, old money groups—they might have predictable tastes, but they are quite diverse!

What’s going on here?

The supervisor furrowed his brow, full of doubt and confusion.

"Uh..." a staff member raised their hand, "Rumor has it that Roger Ebert and ABC joined forces to influence a lot of people in the critical community."

Business as usual...

The supervisor nodded, putting down a letter.

"Some say that big directors like Woody Allen and Michael Bay also recommended ’Anomalies’ to many industry insiders."

Hmm?

It was normal for Michael Bay, since he was the director of ’Anomalies.’

But Woody Allen, the director highly respected in the world of art-house cinema, that’s a bit strange...

Directors like him and Eastwood in New York usually don’t care much for television awards, do they?

Half in doubt, the supervisor put down another letter.

Now in his hands, only the most bizarre letters remained.

"What about the old money crowd? Aren’t they still stuck in the golden age, scoffing at modern television dramas?"

"Could it be related to this?" a subordinate handed over a newspaper.

The supervisor picked up the paper and read quietly, "The Christian Monitor?"

Holding the same newspaper was Wang Jian, who had just returned to New York from Italy.

Upon entering his office, he first locked the agreement signed with the Church’s higher-ups into a safe.

"Shit!" Wang Jian picked up his coffee and sighed deeply.

"Finally solved the issues... At last, I can write ’King Arthur’ again!"

"Uh..." Tom said, sitting opposite with his coffee, "You were so submissive in the Vatican, I thought you were enjoying it!"

"Bullshit, you’d be very submissive too if thousands of people were shouting ’Hallelujah’ at you every day!"

As for enjoying it...

Wang Jian picked up a pen and, without a second thought, made a change to the outline of ’King Arthur.’

"I only wrote about the Church burning witches, but I forgot to include their greatest sin—the Inquisition!"

"Ha!" Tom glanced at the modified content, was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"As long as it’s not too much, you can write whatever you want now." He took out a newspaper from his bag and handed it over.

"In a sense, the Church has announced to its followers that you have judicial immunity!"

Wang Jian took the paper, glanced at it, and nearly laughed out loud. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

A beam of sunlight streamed from the sky, illuminating the dim church interior.

In the center of the sunlight was a young man staring devoutly at the statue of Jesus.

"Is that me? Add a pair of wings, and I could go play an angel!"

"Keep reading that article," Tom said, putting down his coffee and gesturing.

Wang Jian nodded and continued.

After a while, he shook his head speechlessly.

"Uncultured people wouldn’t understand what this is about!"

The journalist used the story of ’Exodus’ to subtly refer to "the dark Middle Ages."

He also likened the website and Wang Jian to an overlooked pagan who once pointed Moses in the right direction but was ignored because he was too young.

"I thought I’d be compared to the prophet Isaiah!"

"Pfft," Tom raised his middle finger in disdain, "Then you’d really be in danger!"

Wang Jian shrugged, unconcerned, and picked up the phone.

"Mr. Dan Brown, this is Wang."

"You can continue writing your ’Da Vinci’s Code’ now!"

"Really?" Dan Brown’s excited voice came through the receiver.

"I’ve been receiving some threat calls lately."

"Heh." Wang Jian laughed in response. "Go buy the latest issue of The Christian Monitor."

"As long as you don’t leave the website, those extreme believers probably won’t bother you anymore!"

After hanging up, Wang Jian sipped his coffee and his mind uncontrollably began to whirl.

"Apart from the support of the Writers Association, being able to write religious novels should be another significant advantage over the publishers, right?"

Hmm...

No matter what, he had to hold on to these advantages.

"Hollywood is very generous with the licensing fees for bestselling literary works with their own following!"

Wang Jian didn’t even bother to think about being foolish enough to serve as a tool for writers in the deep waters of the film adaptation industry.

Viacom Group alone was enough to keep him running ragged, not to mention an even stronger entity—Disney!

Just as Wang Jian imagined a future where he did nothing and climbed the Forbes ranking just on licensing fees, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

"Wang, an invitation to the Emmy Awards," James’s voice came from ABC, "Get ready to join the crew in Los Angeles!"

"The licensing agreement we signed has a clause for this."

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