Full interview with Annie Baby in City Pictorial.

Annie Baby is a name that makes too many urban petty bourgeoisie crazy. For many people, she is the sad and silent girl, always wearing a linen dress and barefoot sneakers, which is the other side of everyone.

Recently, Anne Baby's third novel "Lotus" was finally written on her way to Tibet in 2004, "However, we called it a thousand times before she started coming to us". The meaning of "lotus" is "some people say that all beings are like lotus flowers in a pond: some lotus flowers bloom detached, while others are deeply submerged in the dark mud." Some lotus flowers are close to opening and need more light. " Anne Baby emphasized that the theme of the novel is actually a kind of exploration of life trajectory and people's reflection.

Insecurity in life

Reporter: You "

Reporter: Do you enjoy life? A firm, decisive and independent personality and lifestyle may expose your anxiety. Of course, it may be material, spiritual, or both. Is that so?

Annie: I tried to express and analyze the shadow of some kind of insecurity in my life in the February 23 incident. "This kind of shadow urges a person to treat life in a more intense way. Because he urgently needs makeup, exploration, exploration, discrimination and transformation. He can't be sure and believe everything ... then I remembered that I was pursuing the love and security that I lacked for a long time with uncompromising and wandering. Pursue disappointment. Just like an egg hitting a stone, it is a stubborn life, full of destruction because of confrontation. "

This insecurity should be related to people's childhood, growth experience and reflective habits. So this part of the discussion can also be aimed at most people, not just myself.

Reporter: From the moment we were born, we were destined to have something called * * with one or several of them. Maybe not forever, maybe gender confusion, but what does it matter? Just like "Lian 'an" and "Jane Eyre" in your novel are to "Liang Sheng". But will love leave traces after all?

Annie: I have always been interested in exploring the feelings between women. Almost all the women in the novels are kind, with ups and downs in their hearts, introspective indifference or strong will. They seem to be two parts of the human soul, seeking to fill each other. Contradictory, flawed and balanced.

Men and women in previous novels, whether between the same sex or between the opposite sex, are more of a feeling of comforting each other as bosom friends. They are warm, but naturally alienated, and there is no secular judgment for a long time. When a flower blooms, it will wither, but at the moment of opening, if someone is watching, it means blooming.

In the February 23rd Incident, some viewpoints changed slightly. Feelings, like a kind of practice, are also advanced. For Liang Sheng, Jian Yan or Allianz, they all have their own beliefs. Although my attitude may be more inclined to a good student, because she has a commitment and peace that has gone through many vicissitudes without regrets.

No big plans

Reporter: Will travel and writing remain your two major themes in the future?

Annie: Do you mean the status of travel and writing in life? For one year, I will write, travel, go out to do thematic interviews, take photos, write scripts, and always help magazines plan and write columns. I will also set aside some time to do nothing, even if I just bask in the sun and read books in the coffee shop.

I don't want to do too many things and I don't have any big plans. Maybe people with a weak sense of life will be a little lazy and prefer to go with the flow. I started running recently.

Reporter: Your works, especially "Rose Island" and "Two or Three Things", although one is prose and the other is novel, the language is still quite close, concise, aesthetic and gloomy. Did you do this on purpose? Did you subconsciously distinguish between the two styles?

Annie: The language of Rose Island and Ersan has changed slightly. "Ersanshi" is simpler and quieter. I always like to write in short sentences. Short sentences may require you to have a clearer idea to describe events or emotions clearly, but they will make readers feel comfortable to read. We should also use long sentences to beat the rhythm, but long sentences must be beautiful, even close to a gorgeous, rather than cumbersome.

Since it is writing, regardless of the theme, the text should be carefully laid out and have style. I don't like novels that tell stories honestly in plain Chinese. Some novels are as straightforward as scripts, and you can tell whether you will buy them after reading a page or two. One or two pages may not be enough to understand the theme of the whole book, but it can let you judge the author's writing tendency.

Reporter: How was the title of the book determined?

Annie: The title of the book is difficult to remember every time. The title of the book is a continuation of style. Readers may know that it was written by the author when they saw the title. Just like the names of the characters in my book, they can be recognized by my readers at a glance. I'm not satisfied with the title or not. Just some names.

A woman in clothes is downtown.

Reporter: What is the environment around the residence?

Annie: I live in the most prosperous bar block in Beijing, but I hardly go to bars. I just like its noisy and boiling sound as the background, including their silent sunshine, bright afternoon and empty morning.

My family collects many small things everywhere, such as porcelain, lacquerware, old furniture from China, regional decorations from Indian and Nepalese, and paintings related to plants, especially lotus flowers and gardenias.

Reporter: Do you like collecting?

Annie: Lonely people have fetishes. I have worn at least five or six bracelets, old silver, turquoise and coral, which are purely personal preferences. I have my own taste, and there is no difference between any tastes, just an expression of personality.

I often wear thick pants, jeans and cloth. I am a casual and airy person, and I don't wear makeup at ordinary times. I also like high heels, but I often walk for a long time and rarely attend any social occasions, so I basically have no chance to wear them.

There are many national costumes in the wardrobe, with strong colors and fine patterns. I don't like famous brands. People should keep proper simplicity and indifference to make themselves more sober.

Reporter: I don't know how you spend your day. When is the writing scheduled?

Annie: I usually get up at noon. In the afternoon, I will be in the coffee shop, using my laptop to handle letters or writing, and sometimes meeting with editors and publishers. I choose coffee shop because I stay alone for a long time, hoping to get in touch with some popularity, and I can also observe strangers and read books there.

I will be interested in cooking by myself in the evening. I always think that women should learn to cook for men and children in the future. So what important writing is from late at night to early morning? Stay up late, because once you lose sleep, you will read until dawn. In fact, any time of the day has a different aesthetic feeling and experience for me.

Annie: I think life is certainly more than enjoyment. In fact, in any life, there will always be times more painful than happiness. Because if happiness lasts for a long time, it is essentially a kind of numbness. It should shine as faintly and instantaneously as light, but it is worth pursuing and believing. In other words, it is also a reference to happiness.

Reporter: Will you get married in the future?

Annie: I wish I could get married. I think everything in life has to be experienced at any stage. But this choice is not independent, so there is no need to make any planning. This is a matter for two people, not one person.

Writing is a lonely job.

Reporter: When did you start to feel the urge to write?

Annie: Actually, I started reading very early. I started to borrow novels from the library in the second grade of primary school. Writing must be related to reading. I like reading books very much, and the scope is relatively wide. Sociology, psychology, philosophy, geography, biology, including I have always been obsessed with the essence of China's classical culture, such as the Book of Changes, Buddhist Scriptures and Tao Te Ching. Novels are influenced by Europe, North America and Japan, and generally only translated versions are bought.

I started writing in the turbulent period of my life, and my accumulated thoughts may be too full, which need to be sorted out in words and surfaced. It should be related to long-term reading, some innate ingredients and a person's habit of reflection and observation. Has nothing to do with anything else.

Reporter: You can read about your father's death in several books, which has a great influence on your attitude towards the world. When relatives were alive, we "took her to buy beautiful silk clothes and let him wear thousands of sweaters", but we couldn't even stay for a second! This kind of pain is deep, and you have explained it best. what do you think?

Annie: My father and I have deep feelings, whether I am to him or he is to me. But we don't get along very well. Maybe it's because I have a strong personality and he is stubborn. We all don't know how to express that feeling correctly.

When I experienced something, I began to be mature and sensible, but that person was gone. If you have always loved someone, it is very sad to know that you have been treating him in the wrong way, but there is no chance to change.

Reporter: When we grow up, we run away for various reasons, then go back and run away. Where is your hometown? How did you feel there?

Annie: In Zhejiang. It seems to be a tradition that there are many businessmen and literati in Zhejiang. Now I basically go back once a year. After walking outside for a long time, you will gradually feel its goodness. But its nutrients are definitely not enough to make you feel that you can breathe and grow. This is the reason why most people leave.

Reporter: Based on what feelings do you like small animals, so you love them with your heart?

Annie: Writing is a lonely job. You need to be alone for a long time It is naive and thoughtless for small animals to accompany you. You just need to take care of it. But there are no small animals now. I went to Yunnan, Sichuan, Paris and other places several times last year. I will go to Qinghai, Tibet and Nepal this year. I feel like I'm always on the road. Life is not stable enough to take care of small animals. So, just don't raise it.

Reporter: I have been to many places. What is the hardest thing to forget?

Annie: Although Europe is exquisite, it is very dull. I don't like cities with established patterns very much. On the contrary, some places in Southeast Asia may attract me more. I like places full of energy and chaos, places closer to land, mountains, oceans, people and religions, such as India and Nepal ... Everyone has different hobbies. The city is still my base, and I still feel pain about the numbness and cruelty of city life, so I am willing to fight against it.

Reporter: Why did you choose Beijing and Shanghai as your residence? What's the difference between these two places?

Annie: There is no other choice. These are the two largest cities in China. A big city will make you feel the distance between it and you, and there will be no feeling of being wrapped and suffocation. I like the feeling of being submerged in the vast sea of people. Because people are small. You will see many other people's other lifestyles and make you feel that any decision you make is actually unimportant.

Reporter: Were you influenced by any writers at first? What works do you like to read now?

Annie: I like the novel The English Patient written by a Sri Lankan poet. Very beautiful and powerful. Recently, I have been reading the American novel The Filth of Human Nature, Naipaul's Travel Notes in India, and Karl? Sagan wrote about astronomy, Buddhist scriptures and a book about visiting hermits.

Reporter: Can you tell us something about your works being adapted into movies and sold abroad?

Annie: Many film and television companies are negotiating. My book itself has a sense of image and picture, so it often attracts some producers. But they have their own progress in doing things. For example, the novel may have been sold, but it has never been started. Or change most of the book. So, I'm going to write a movie script myself.

Foreign publishers or agents have contacted them. I will be strict with the conditions, and generally I will not accept too low conditions, otherwise I would rather not do it. Some people may just give whatever they want and whatever they want. But I will stick to some principles, and my works have been selected for their magazines, TV plays or books.

City Pictorial: What do you think of the words "progressive" and "inspirational" and the attitude towards life they represent?

Annie Baby: People have to do something. It is not courage to simply escape or end a thing. After the end of the old drag, how to undertake the new establishment is completed. If you just want to be relaxed and free, but you have no power to take it away, then this freedom is just wishful thinking. This responsibility includes training personnel and hard work. These are all fundamental. So you can see that some people are always complaining that they can't move. Some people do things silently, and the better they do. Personal practice is manifested in many aspects. On the one hand, it will be reflected in controlling your own desires, on the other hand, you should work hard to influence the people around you and the world through doing things. Only in this way can we fulfill our responsibilities. One person is not enough.

Annie Baby: The difference in Lotus is that the people in the book choose a simple and real life. That's the way they can get it after they have experienced prosperity. Simplicity and simplicity can only have a real taste, the longest and the truest if it changes from the hustle and bustle. Simple from the beginning, just poor. That's totally two concepts.

City Pictorial: Self-reflection is a major feature of your works. But you said yourself that if you have too much introspection about yourself, the abyss of life you touch will be darker and longer. So, how can we maintain a relatively balanced state?

Annie Baby: Exploration and struggle are both in the process of pursuing balance, and this dynamic is probably to maintain a balanced state. There are many problems in our life that can't be solved, such as some hidden dark sides, difficulties and puzzles, which are very difficult to solve. But you have to have the courage to face them. I once read in a novel "Flaubert's Parrot" that if you understand that staring at the dark abyss under your feet can balance people, then you won't jump. This is the ability to stare into the dark abyss. So, I think, maybe standing on the edge of a cliff and confronting it is balance.

City Pictorial: Willing to accept the arrangement of fate may be an answer and reconciliation with fate.

Annie Baby: It's an attitude of facing fate calmly. Reconciliation means compromise, but there is no compromise in attitude, it has understanding and acceptance.

City Pictorial: What's your attitude towards your body?

Annie Baby: I think people should live a healthy life. The so-called healthy life means eating pure and clean food and drinking good quality water. You don't have to eat luxuriously, but you should be clean and healthy. Have a good sleep. Sometimes you should exercise consciously and be temperate.

City Pictorial: In a city like Beijing, it is actually quite extravagant to choose the standard of "cleanliness" to ask for food and water.

Annie Baby: Actually, it's a choice. For example, for the same 200 yuan, you can go to the market to buy food instead of going to a restaurant, and you can also buy a box of good natural mineral water. You must make a choice. I have few choices, but I am excellent.

City Pictorial: Do you feel safe enough under the current living conditions?

Annie Baby: Actually, most people are insecure, including some rich and influential people. If the sense of security is so easy to obtain, maybe the problem of religion will become simple. It is difficult to give people a sense of security from the outside, but it must be given from the heart. But it doesn't mean giving, and it doesn't mean that if you give it, it won't change, and it will be extremely fragile.

Some people who practice well, I believe he has a sense of security. I have never met such a person in my life, but I believe there will be. Those who live in a normal state around them usually get an intermittent sense of security through some evaluations given by the outside world. A sense of security requires a strong inner cultivation. How to face yourself and how to control yourself is always a problem.

City Pictorial: Are you satisfied with your present life?

Annie Baby: I don't think I should be satisfied with my life. I just think that at this point, what you do is the present, and what you live is the present life, which makes sense. You need to accept life at this moment calmly. I don't believe it will remain the same. There will be interesting things and miracles in life. As long as you live, go here and go there, something will happen. Courage and innocence will make these miracles happen to those who expect them.

City Pictorial: Are you afraid of the passage of time?

Annie Baby: As long as you have experienced it, the memories and experiences brought by those times are all wealth. Even if I have a choice, I don't want to go back to 12 or 20. I like myself better now. I believe that people will get better and better with age.

City Pictorial: What does this "good" mean?

Annie Baby: More transparent. Better cleaner. More powerful. Know what you want and be able to define your life. 123