I originally planned to finish this book by the end of September and give myself a proper break over National Day. (Because of the pandemic, I didn't end up going anywhere.) But the closer I got to the end, the more I realized there was still so much I could write about. I could only focus on the key parts, while the side plots had to be skimmed over, all in the hope of giving the story a "happy ending."
To be honest, I rushed the ending a little. Please accept my apologies.
As a newcomer, I never expected my first book to reach two million words. The original outline only planned for one million, but the further I wrote, the more I had to get off my chest.
I could've written about the next generation, the politics at court after unification, or how they came to dominate the world. This book could easily have reached three million words.
There were three reasons I didn't keep writing. First, without Liu, Guan, and Zhang, Shu Han lost some of its romantic appeal. Second, historical sources on the wider world during that era were too hard to find. Making things up and tacking on a weak continuation would have worsened the story. Third, there were too few major historical events after unification, so I'd have had to pad the plot extensively. I'd have felt guilty doing that.
I began uploading this book on November 2, 2021, and finished it on October 4, 2022. In just over 300 days, I wrote two million words. That's not exactly a high update rate; the main limitation was how slowly I type. Still, throughout that time, whether it was a weekend, Labor Day, or the New Year, I kept updating without taking a break. I wonder