Twenty-nine-year-old Qiao Wen is an editor at a media company, adrift in a big city. He has written countless beginnings but never finished a full-length novel. After he reunites with his college best friend, Chen Wang, and Chen suddenly dies, Qiao Wen finally finds the impetus to start writing in earnest. He decides to write a book titled "Why Do I Write Novels?", hoping fiction will preserve the memory of his friend and help him find the answers about his life that he has never been able to voice.
But as he writes, he gradually realizes that his old friend, his ex, his parents, and even he himself have all been reshaped on the page. He thinks he is drawing closer to the truth, but in reality he keeps revising his memories, glossing over his failures, and making excuses for his own cowardice. As reality and fiction begin to seep into each other, Qiao Wen must face a question harder than “How do you write a good novel?”
If he cannot even tell his own story honestly, is writing a search for truth, or just another way to run away?
