Chapter 89: Listing Testimony and Burst Update Announcement
Finally, in the wee hours, this book is about to be released.
At this moment, I still want to emphasize again, to myself:
I want to write a good story with a beginning and an end.
I’ve chatted with you all before, actually, I’m quite good at writing exciting stories, and I’ve been doing it for many years.
(Of course, I’m not saying this book isn’t an exciting story. I don’t want to, nor do I need to boast about it. Exciting stories are not bad, and they’re not lowly. But, exciting stories can differ from one another, and this book contains some things that are different from the stories I’ve written before.)
Here, I can share with you all how I used to write exciting stories, alright?
First step: Choose a topic.
Open a blank Word document, then open various online novel websites, and skim the rankings—
Just looking at the book titles is enough; there’s no need to click in and read the content.
Shocking revelations, information gaps, transformations, brain teasers, exposés, entertainment imitations, peerless national heroes…
Just pick any genre that feels right and combine it with a good world-view.
Second step: Start hammering out twenty thousand words a day.
The money just comes rolling in.
I feel like I might have been an emotionless printing press in my past life; I can be completely indifferent to what I write, but that doesn’t hinder my ability to make money.
When I was writing these books, I never thought about creating a story with a beginning and an end. An outline? Didn’t exist.
All it took was a gimmick, then an explosive start to pull in expectation, and keep on cycling through quick and thrilling clichés.
Cycle until the readers are sick of it, stop following, stop paying, and then the story just fizzles out.
Move on to the next book and do it all over again.
Every day when I wake up, I’m only 30 minutes ahead of the readers in knowing the plot, because 30 minutes is how long it takes me to write a chapter.
, I’ve been muddling through for many years.
I can always give the readers a thrill that makes their scalp tingle.
But I never thrilled myself.
I only saw writing as a means to make money. I rarely found joy in it, and I never felt like sharing my work on WeChat Moments, in class groups, or work chat groups.
The author in me and the me in reality
Lived in completely different worlds.
In life, a lot of people asked me, what’s the name of the novel you write?
I always brushed them off.
Especially when faced with my parents’ questions.
I’d light up a cigarette first…
My parents were among the first batch of university students in the 80s, a campus romance that led to marriage. They became professors at a local university very early and had me, until today.
One could say, I was also born into a scholarly family. I was exposed to it since childhood.
Unfortunately, I didn’t turn out well and didn’t inherit much of the study gene.
However, with my parents’ influence, I’ve loved reading from a young age, all kinds of books.
Especially science fiction.
Overseas series like the Foundation, Hyperion, and domestic ones by authors like He Cikang and Song.
And many other works that you probably haven’t heard of.
So, when my parents asked me what book I was writing that made so much money,
I could only hem and haw and gloss over it.
I definitely couldn’t say, “Dad, Mom.”
“The series I’m currently serializing is ‘Live Streaming My Cremation: The Relics I Burned Shocked the World’.”
“And the books I’ve just finished, one is ‘Reborn as a Chicken: Prosperity through Progeny, the Forced Egg-Laying Maniac’, another one ‘My Wife Performs in the Pleasure Quarters’.”
(The titles are just examples, I haven’t really written these books, alright.)
“What I write is really exhilarating, guaranteed to knock your socks off. Come on, let me share them with you.”
“You’ll have to download a certain reading app first, don’t mind the revealing covers you see there, it’s all nowadays, sigh, just trying to make a living.”
I reckon if my parents wouldn’t beat me to death, they’d probably lie awake at night, wondering if there was something fundamentally wrong with the way two university professors raised their child.
So, I can only try to make more money, to provide for them, to buy them food, drinks, clothes, health products, take them on trips. To show them that I’m doing well, that I have achieved something, to put their minds at ease.
Everything had been running smoothly, working and writing at the same time. It wasn’t exactly living in a daze, but it certainly lacked excitement, all the way up to this year.
The anxiety I felt about creating grew stronger, and I felt I couldn’t go on .
It might sound a bit exaggerated, but truly, writing each word was an indescribable torture for me at that time; I really didn’t want to write anymore.
As I’ve repeatedly stated:
I want to write a real story.
What I am betting on is not grades, nor is it ranking, but facing my own heart.
If my self-identity is a writer, then I should write a book that I can proudly state the name of.
I am clear about that in my heart.
This book, even if I don’t write it today, I will eventually; the day will always come.
I’ve been preparing for this book for a very long time.
I never worry about going off track, nor about ending up with a bad conclusion, and I am not concerned about any plot holes that cannot be filled.
Because I am someone who sets the ending, the framework, makes all the settings consistent, and fills all the plot holes before I even start writing the novel.
If you temporarily find something that doesn’t seem logical, perhaps the answer and the truth are hidden right here.
Of course, my storytelling skills are not that mature, and the truly good way of writing should allow for setting up and foreshadowing without affecting the current reading experience.
I read every reply to the last single chapter; I know my shortcomings and I will keep improving.
At the same time, I also feel very fortunate.
I did not expect, even before the tip of the iceberg of this book’s story was revealed, to have met so many friends willing to read this story.
I’ve read every comment, every discussion about this chapter, and countless familiar names are still etched in my heart.
In fact, this is the happiest thing for me.
To have a group of friends, willing to listen to my story.
Along with joy, came guilt.
Because I am very aware that many of the book’s early problems have not been handled well, which will definitely affect everyone’s reading experience.
Especially with such slow updates during the new book phase, many problems simply can’t be glossed over.
But I will take responsibility for this story.
I will speed up updates after going on shelves.
I also have to be responsible to those readers willing to read this story.
Please believe me, this story will have a beginning and an end, and it will not be left incomplete.
I’ve already said a lot of idle talk.
Here’s the main topic:
To thank everyone for your support, after the book goes on shelves, the author will spare no effort to write, presenting the story at a much faster pace.
[After going on shelves at 1 a.m.]:
I will immediately update 5 large chapters, with a total word count of nearly 20,000 words for a satisfying read.
Then at noon on the 1st, I will make up the two owed sponsor updates, again with 2 large chapters.
Every day at 6 p.m., I’ll release 3 updates in one go, each chapter being a big one of 3500+ words, with a daily update of over 10,000 words.
[For additional updates]:
One additional update for sponsors
One additional update for every 5000 monthly tickets
Actually, no amount of talk is better than updating more chapters, thinking more about the plot, and striving to tell a good story.
Lastly, I’d like to end with a verse by Feng Zhi:
We are prepared to deeply receive
those unexpected miracles,
In the long years, suddenly there is
the appearance of comets, the abrupt rise of a gale!
The comet of miracles will surely appear!
See you in the early hours!