Faker won his fourth championship today, and I suddenly felt a little reflective. I'm a diehard All-Chinese Roster fan, and I used to really like RNG because of that line: "Though fierce winds rise, Royal never gives up."
But seeing Faker win another championship today, I deleted my earlier standalone post, because looking back at it now, giving up on myself really wasn't the way to go.
I had planned to cut Three States short outright. I had planned to cut all the remaining plot. I was sick of all those so-called readers telling me how to write, sick of certain historical figures' fans picking everything apart. Since nothing I wrote satisfied them, I simply wouldn't write it. I could easily move on to alternate history for what came next; hardly anyone understood the post-Three States period anyway.
But now I've changed my mind.
Faker's championship reminded me of that line: "I have stood atop the mountain, and I have fallen into the valley. Both have benefited me greatly."
I once had my own peak. When I had 23,000 average subscriptions per chapter, 20,000 readers were keeping up with each new release.
As a newcomer, I outperformed the other books launched at the same time right from publication. My first chapter behind the paywall had 7,500 subscriptions, and in a short time, my average subscriptions per chapter nearly quadrupled. I kept that up for a full 2.4 million Chinese characters before things started falling apart. I didn't know any techniques; I wrote entirely by feel. My author friends all said that was talent. Perhaps I did have talent.
Now I'm in a valley. It began with my emotional state, and at this point, I have to admit that I'm terrible at handling pressure. Readers questioning me doesn't make me correct