Author's Note for Going Premium

What's going on? It won't send.

Turns out a chapter has to be at least 100 characters long to post, so I guess I can't pull any fancy tricks. (Dog-head emoji for self-preservation.)

A three-character author's note for going premium would've been pretty slick, but I've got a lot to say, and three characters just won't cut it.

First of all, thank you so much for your support! If you've read this far, you're all my brothers and sisters, even if we don't share the same parents!

This is my second book—and yes, my second book as a human being. I've never switched to an alt account, and I've never deleted a book after just a few thousand or tens of thousands of words, either. I never publish a book unless it passes the editors' review. I'm all about playing it safe.

You could say my last book was pretty rough around the edges. Looking back on it now, there are plenty of places that make me think, "How could I write it like that?" or "Oh no, that's just asking to get flamed." I hadn't even settled on my own style back then, so the writing and the plot felt especially mismatched.

When I first started writing, I was still in that deluded phase where I thought, "I'm pretty good at this." It took me a while to realize that my writing was really bad. I'd already gotten plenty of exposure, so the problem really was just me.

Once I accepted reality, I took a long, hard look at myself. I studied the charts, analyzed the works of the big names, revised again and again, and started writing my second book.

I didn't set any expectations for this book at first. I just hoped it would be an improvement over the last one, and that I could write over a million words and keep building experience. But now this book has nearly 40,000 followers. I never would've dared to dream of that before. Seriously, even when you're dreaming, you've got to play it safe. You can't take too big a leap all at once.

Still, don't worry. Success won't go to my head. I'm so cautious that I don't even dare to offer a bounty, in case I can't fulfill it, and I don't make reckless promises, either. And poor results won't affect my mindset. My last book had just over 500 first-day subscriptions and ended with just over 100 ongoing subscribers, but I still finished it properly.

To be honest, I'm worried I won't be able to come up with exciting plots from here on out and will let everyone down. Even coming up with fun twists can lead to creative block. All I can do is think harder every day, look for inspiration, revise more, and try to live up to everyone's support. I just want to add more fun twists and more sweet moments. There's no way I'm stepping on the gas in the main story. I've turned over a new leaf. (Trying to save my skin.)

Counting the 700,000 words in my last book and the 100,000-plus I've written for this one so far, I've only written a little over 800,000 words in total. So I'm still seriously short on experience in many areas, and I have a lot to improve in my prose, word choice, and sentence construction.

The area I most need to improve is pacing. I can feel the gap between me and the big names myself; it's enormous. I still can't control the pace as smoothly as they do. You could even say my pacing feels a bit like leaving things to chance. I can't fix this problem overnight. Part of it is a lack of experience, and part of it is that I haven't had that breakthrough yet. I'll keep thinking it over, and I'll read and study more while writing, so I can give everyone a better reading experience.

This book is still a rough work from an inexperienced writer. I hope you'll stick around and see me improve!

Your opinions and suggestions are incredibly valuable to me. Even though I can't revise the story to match any one reader's preferences, I'll carefully consider every suggestion. They often spark new ideas, too. None of your suggestions are a waste of your time or mine; they all have value and will have a positive impact on this book.

If you have any suggestions or feedback on new chapters, please share them. It's hard to fix problems right away, but your feedback helps me understand what's wrong and what I need to work on. I got a lot of valuable suggestions for my last book, and they helped me settle on my style.

I always read the discussion threads. I'm constantly lurking behind the scenes, and checking the threads is one of my daily pleasures.

A huge thank-you to Nan Xi. She's been helping me review the manuscript ever since I started this book. She's really busy, but whenever I reach out, she replies quickly. I don't know if she'll see this, but I still have to shout it again: Nan Xi is an eternal god!

Special thanks to my author friend at PORO Studio. From the beginning until now, he's given me a lot of guidance and pointed out plenty of things I hadn't noticed. We're really fellow sufferers, helping each other along. Without him reviewing my writing, I'd probably have been flamed for a lot of things in this book. He's helped me spot all kinds of logic bugs, awkward plot points, and things that didn't make sense.

P.S. Here's the feedback from yesterday's little survey:

As for the balance between the school arc and the Shadow World arc, quite a few readers supported a ratio of 1:2, 1.5:1, or 1:1.

First, let me explain that the plot ratio won't be fixed like a chemical formula. I'll adjust it flexibly as the story develops.

I thought about why readers who preferred 1:2 and 1.5:1 had made those choices.

Those who wanted more Shadow World content wanted to see the protagonist pull more Underworld-style stunts. One possible way to improve things without greatly lengthening the Shadow World arc would be to make the protagonist's schemes more Underworld-like in the real-world arc, too. He'll have his limits in the real world, but there are some enemies he won't need to hold back against. There'll also be characters who specialize in tormenting others. As the map gets bigger, there'll always be a few reckless idiots who don't know what's good for them.

Those who wanted more school-arc content might prefer a lighter, more cheerful story, and might also want the real-world arc to provide a contrast to the Shadow World's darker side. One possible way to improve things would be to add more character interactions in the Shadow World. The first instance felt a little too much like a solo game, since there weren't many challengers and the protagonist's companions hadn't appeared.

So, here are a few ideas I've come up with:

① More card creation and battles (with underhanded tactics) in the school arc

② Improve character interactions in the Shadow World arc and avoid making it feel like a solo game, so it feels more like the real world

③ Improve the frequency of alternating between the two arcs so they fit together more naturally

④ More cute girls!

If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them in the discussion threads or comments!

Since the book goes premium tomorrow, the update will be around 11 a.m. After that, it'll go back to 7 a.m.

Thank you so much for all your support. I really appreciate it! I hope you all have a wonderful day every day~

If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. Maybe the title just changed!