The main story is now complete. I'd originally planned to wrap it up at around 1.5 or 1.6 million words, but there were so many things I'd mentioned that needed covering that, before I knew it, the novel had reached 1.96 million words.
When I first started writing, the main focus was supposed to be "build popularity, get stronger, build even more popularity, then compete for popularity." But the beginning was probably too slow, and I hadn't introduced anyone for the protagonist to compete against, so the early story really struggled. As the book approached publication, I changed course and switched to a more conventional Fourth Calamity setup. I didn't abandon the popularity-and-power-growth approach, but the change kept the book alive. Before publication, the number of readers following the story had been falling steadily. After the change, it kept climbing.
I'd planned to capitalize on that momentum by adding more romantic interactions, along with more popularity-related plotlines tied to them. But after I'd written just a little interaction between Yulia and the protagonist, it got rejected by the reviewers in the middle of the night. I couldn't write that sort of thing, so I had no choice but to cut it and gloss over those parts.
What I regret most is how I handled the change of setting. That's where the novel fell apart. If things had kept growing the way they were, the book could easily have reached five or six thousand paid subscribers. But as soon as I changed settings, I lost a third of my readers, and there was no saving it.
The story might have turned out much better if I'd stuck to my original outline. At first, I planned for the secret of the True Spirit Pillar on Zu Yuan Star to be exposed, drawing