A Word of Thanks

This is the second time I have written a post-completion reflection.

Friends who followed my first book should know that when I reached the point of publication, I happened to be trapped at home due to the pandemic and had lost my job.

At that time, because the performance was so poor, I had intended to give up on writing novels.

But then, my new editor, Peng Lai, suddenly asked if I had any plans to start a new book.

To be honest, I was quite surprised. Given the performance of my first book, the fact that an editor still remembered me moved me quite a bit.

So, I decided to give myself one more chance and write another one.

As it turned out, the performance of this book far exceeded my expectations, providing me with the foundation to make a living through writing. I am truly fortunate that I did not choose to give up back then.

Returning to the main topic, I am not satisfied with this book; there are too many flaws and shortcomings.

First is the issue of the outline. I started the book in a rush without a proper outline, which led to multiple revisions in the middle. Many friends who read the Tokyo Incident arc might have felt the plot suddenly accelerated; that was because the outlines before and after were inconsistent, and I had to cut out a lot of plot.

The revisions to the outline caused problems with the consistency and pacing of the story, which is also the main reason why the middle and later parts of the book began to collapse, leading to a hasty ending.

Then there is the issue of the characters; there were too many female characters.

Originally, I only intended to write two or three main