Claire Sinclair was a bit embarrassed by the praise. "I still have a long way to go. I don’t even know how to write a novel."
"Haha... you’re so modest. There’s no barrier to entry for writing novels these days. The stuff those so-called ’web romance divas’ write is a total ss. If you were to break into the literary world, you’d absolutely crush those plagiarists."
’It seems Hughes, just like Editor Hartwell, has a prejudice against those web romance divas?’
Claire Sinclair couldn’t resist probing, "Hughes, it seems you and Editor Hartwell aren’t big fans of those web romance novelists?"
The topic clearly got Hughes worked up. "You have no idea. Many of the articles our paper publishes are targeted and plagiarized by a few of those ’web romance divas,’ and their websites do nothing about it. It’s not just the articles; they’ve stolen many of my illustrations to use as book covers.
"Seeking legal recourse is expensive, and we have limited ti and energy, which makes it incredibly difficult to fight back. Eventually, we just gave up. When a work you’ve poured your heart and soul into gets stolen, you’ll understand why we hate those online copycats so much."
"That sounds... really awful."
Claire Sinclair stared at the proofreading draft in her hands, a flicker of worry in her heart. ’The piece I wrote is a romance story... surely it won’t be targeted by those copycats, will it?’
Hughes seed to read her mind. She patted Claire’s shoulder and said with a smile, "Don’t worry about it. If it gets copied, it gets copied. Sooner or later, those copycats will crash and burn. Anyway, I’ve gotta get back to work."
Watching Hughes walk away, Claire Sinclair let out a long sigh and went back to proofreading her draft.
...
The June 1st edition of the Astoria Daily was finally published.
The mont Claire Sinclair got to the office, she couldn’t wait to grab a copy of the latest edition and take it back to her desk to read.
She read it from cover to cover, her heart swelling with glee. ’I have to keep this paper as a souvenir. Hehe...’
Just as she was basking in her triumph, Phoebe Lockwood appeared out of nowhere to rain on her parade. "Editor Hartwell was laying the praise on so thick yesterday, I actually thought you’d written sothing inspiring and high-quality. Turns out it’s just so childish love story. You’re dragging down the whole standard of the Astoria Daily. Just wait for the online readers to tear you apart."
With that, she turned and sashayed away.
Claire Sinclair raised an eyebrow, her gaze automatically falling back to the newspaper.
’Although the main storyline is a romance, it also has a hidden, more profound subplot. Set against the backdrop of a changing era, it touches on the environntal crisis of endangered species.’
’Anyone reading it carefully should be able to see that subplot. It can’t be that childish, can it?’
’What if today’s readers, who are used to mindless, low-brow parody videos and junk-food web novels, just ignore a serious article like this? If that happens, what’s the point of my piece?’
’No, I shouldn’t be thinking like this.’
’People who enjoy reading sothing with depth will at least give it a glance. Besides, my writing isn’t bad. Why should I let Phoebe Lockwood get to ?’
’Whatever. To hell with her.’
Claire Sinclair carefully put the newspaper away, turned on her computer, and got to work.
The Astoria Daily always posted the contents of its latest edition to its app and social dia accounts at ten o’clock sharp.
Right on the dot, Claire Sinclair logged onto the social dia site.
After several minutes, the official account finally posted her article!
She took a deep breath, waited a mont, and refreshed the page...
Ah, a comnt finally appeared.
[Whoa! I can’t believe the Astoria Daily is publishing this kind of story. It’s actually really good. I even read the whole thing.]
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