I originally planned to take a break and write this tomorrow, but maybe the timing is sensitive, because many friends have been sending me all sorts of text messages and private messages asking about it. I was just thinking of taking a good nap to relax after the excitement of finishing this, but my phone keeps beeping. Ugh... can't a person get any sleep?
Finishing the book in May was the plan, something I said a long, long time ago. However, I couldn't estimate it precisely then, so I just said it would be around May or June. We need to leave enough room for flexibility, right? If it weren't for the pandemic, I would have Travel to Spain in a few days.
Also, my contract was signed at the end of 2016 and will expire at the beginning of 2022. I still have one book left, about 3 million words. The new book will definitely be on Qidian.
Having said that, let's return to the book itself.
If the ending of Part 7 was a more logical development that made the plot much faster and prevented me from developing it in a more nuanced and detailed way, then Part 8, from the very first chapter, was under my control. I had already planned out what to write in each chapter, where the plot would take a turn, and how to conclude it. There was no sudden acceleration of the plot, nor were there any issues with cutting off many subplots.
I had this ending planned before I even started the book: after experiencing various forms of passivity, anticipation, confusion, and hesitation, each member of the Tarot Club finally steps out of their comfort zone to face the world and all sorts of difficulties, while Klein and Azik complete a cycle of roles.
In the end, the contrast between the eerie and the innocent, the gloomy and the sunny, the dark and the new life creates a unique scene that is both somewhat Cthulhu-esque and somewhat heartwarming, while also indicating that Klein has begun to awaken and will not be able to stop reading the book.
As for the five gold coins foreshadowing, the individual experiences of the Tarot Club members, and other plot holes not related to the main storyline of this book, they are of course left for the second part. I have made it so obvious that the last part is both the ending and the prologue.
Yes, the second part is about the period from Little Klein fell asleep, or even earlier, until he woke up.
These were all decided before the book was even started. The reason for considering a second book was twofold: First, I felt the premise was too vast, with too much to write about. If I crammed it all into one book, it would inevitably become disjointed, with lengthy subplots, a tedious and cumbersome narrative. Second, the growth curves of the Tarot Club members couldn't keep up with Klein's. If I gave them too many subplots and more stories, making their advancement reasonable, it would impact the main plot's structure, leading to the same problem of disjointed priorities. If I didn't give them too many subplots and allowed them to grow and play a crucial role, many readers would feel that one person's success brought benefits to everyone else, that they obtained everything too easily.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons and considering all aspects, I decided to at least write Mysteries 2. This way, the story can unfold at a leisurely pace in this part without having to travel all over the world. The members of the Tarot Club will only unfold the first half of their lives, complete their transformation and growth, and then leave their comfort zone to perform a more exciting story and life in the second part.
For me, this is also a challenge: how to bring everyone back into this world after several years, and how to ensure that new readers who haven't read The Mysteries Chapter 1 can continue smoothly and without restrictions.
I have no prior experience writing a series of books, nor a second book within the same worldview. This is partly because I didn't consider this issue when setting up the previous books, resulting in a lack of sufficient space for development. Secondly, I was afraid of repeating past formulas and being unable to break through. However, this fear itself is also a limitation. I feel that now that I have found my own writing methodology, I can try to take on this challenge.
As I said before, my motto—no, my guiding principle—is:
Never satisfied, always challenging.
For the second part, I haven't decided on the protagonist or the angle yet, but some plot images have already appeared in my mind:
That was the underlying storyline, consisting of the various attempts by the Tarot Club members to awaken Little Klein, and the different people represented by the five gold coins and the iron cigarette case.
He might encounter a hunter who lights a cigarette and talks about the Hunter of the past, he might catch a glimpse of half a beautiful face, he might hear news of the discovery of a new continent from overseas, he might have a chat with the kings of the sea, he might explore the legends of the treasures that have not yet been revealed at sea, and he might get involved with all sorts of "time travelers" and "infiltrators".
The specific style will be decided later. In short, the setting leaves a lot of room for the second part, so I'm not worried at all about not having anything to write.
As for the Apocalypse, it's definitely not something that can be solved in one movie. To make the Apocalypse in the second movie even more oppressive, I've decided to give the Mother Goddess an epic-level upgrade. Just kidding. Anyway, why is the boar pregnant? Why is the man pregnant? Why does the stone give birth to a child? Behind all this, is it the Distortion of humanity or the decline of morality...? As for the upgrade plan, it will probably be put in the third movie related to the Western Continent, but I might not write it. Seriously.
Regarding the Western Continent, I hadn't actually made any settings beforehand; I only left an interface. What kind of world and upgrade system will the remaining seven Sefirah, along with a small number of Uniqueness Beyonder Characteristic that don't include Sequence 1, create?
I've basically finalized my ideas recently and know what kind of settings I need to make, hehe.
Yes, there's the orthodox system centered on the Sefirah, the unorthodox paths based on Beyonder Characteristic, and the various low-class practices.
The former stems from the Daoist concept of "receiving the seal," which means you've gained the approval of the Heavenly Court and become a member of this system, allowing you to happily summon deities like the Six Ding and Six Jia to aid you in battle. But for an unaffiliated Daoist priest, why would they bother summoning the Six Ding, Six Jia, or local gods? Therefore, in talismans, the talisman and the seal are separate. Receiving the seal, in short, means being part of the system. Then, if you change the Heavenly Court and Pure Land to Sefirah, the whole setting becomes much more lively and bizarre.
As I write this, I'm getting hungry, and my wife is urging me to go out... Since this was a last-minute decision, well, I'll stop here for now. Tomorrow I'll continue with this author's closing remarks, discussing my thoughts and lessons learned in creating the book "Mysteries," and sharing my creative methodology.
Also, thank you to the generous donor, Wutong. I was quite surprised when I opened it. Also, I will first regularly serialize a side story of 20,000 to 30,000 words here, and then I will write side stories irregularly. I didn't originally plan to write them, but now I have found that there are many things that do not involve the second part, but I can write about, such as Little Klein's sleeping dream, some fragments of the Fourth Age, and so on.
I have already given some Psychological Suggestion about why the Celestial Worthy Venerable's counterattack was disrupted:
Why did Arrodes, the " Magic Mirror," who came from the Chaos Sea, insist on following Klein? And why did Klein take it with him while he was asleep?
Also, the physical book remastered edition is out. I like the cover this time, and the content only has some revised online slang and words not found in dictionaries, such as "He". You can check out my Weibo for the specific purchase address, I'm the one who loves diving. You can also follow my WeChat official account for occasional bonus chapters, just search "wuzei1985", the one with the anime avatar.
Okay, I'll continue with the author's postscript (part 2) tomorrow.