On April 13th, Zhang Yiwei, Associate Professor at Fudan University, was invited to deliver a lecture entitled, “The Rubik’s Cube of Stories: How to Write a Good Story.” Professor Zhang teaches creative writing and literature at Fudan University; she is also an accomplished author who has published over 20 books. Her latest work is a collection of stories entitled, Harmony and Happiness (Sihe ruyi), published last year by the People’s Literature Press.
In her lecture, Professor Zhang portrayed storytelling both as a community of sentiments and as a possible way of exploring the world. She began with the question, “Why stories are important”, whereby she illuminated the relationship between stories and memory as well as human emotions. She then illustrated the elements of a good story, including overlapping scenes, complex characters, creating suspense, and the use of story prototypes. She also explained the difference between novels and essays, stating that “stories in novels are presented as a magician’s performance, while in essays they are presented as an editing technique.” She emphasized that good stories must surprise their readers, and authors must be able to understand and present complex human emotions and desires. Finally, Professor Zhang encouraged students to start cultivating their own storytelling skills, such as writing a personal autobiography, and expressed the hope that authors from various disciplines would join the creative writing endeavor.
