Immortality—a gift or a curse? This is the theme of the fourth installment, and it's reflected in many characters, such as Azik, Anderson, Leonard, and so on. When Little Klein finally sees the cocoons, sees the modern-dressed Earthlings wrapped inside, and sees three of the cocoons already broken, the question of whether it's a gift or a curse becomes clear. I don't think I need to elaborate further. The entire world's suspenseful, terrifying, and dark tone immediately reappears.
This was one of the most impactful images I envisioned before opening the book, and it seems to have worked quite well, haha.
The entire fourth installment builds upon the previous ones, resolving foreshadowing and including the Anderson subplot planted in the middle of the third film, which ultimately had a powerful climax and resonance. I'm quite satisfied with that. Some of the remaining subplots will also be resolved in the fifth film.
However, the fourth installment still has some flaws. First, the daily life of the wealthy lacks conflict, and once it gets dragged out, it's hard to know how to build tension. Yet, many points have to be explained and mentioned, which made me a little anxious before going to Chanis Gate. The transition wasn't smooth enough, and it lacked that final build-up. I've mentioned this before, so I won't go into detail.
Secondly, the plot is too long, and the pacing became problematic in the middle and later parts.
From late June to mid-July, I was in a bit of a writing frenzy. After Klein got the formula and Leonard finished digging up the grave, the tension of the whole plot declined from its peak. I tried to make up for it, to reconstruct it, and to find new stimulating points, but the results were not very good. As for the reason, I later roughly figured it out: the lack of change.
In layman's terms, the upgrade process has been dragging on for too long. It started with the upgrade to Marionettist in the middle of the third part, and by the middle and later parts of the fourth part, there were already two or three hundred chapters left. The audience started to get tired of it, and the tension began to decline. There was an urgent need for a fundamental change.
So, I adjusted the pace, pushing everything that could be put later to the back and describing things indirectly whenever possible, clearly focusing on the two storylines of upgrading and revenge. Judging from my own feeling and the specific data, the effect was quite good.
Of course, this also caused some problems. There were a few parts that felt rushed, such as the Calderon section, which should have been more relaxed and winding.
Well, for me, leveling up is not only a source of enjoyment and something to look forward to, but also a tool for controlling the pace of life. The former is easy to understand; even in the real world, leveling up is everywhere. Employees have their own paths to promotion, and so do businessmen and officials. The reality of not leveling up simply doesn't exist, although in some cases it may not be so obvious.
The latter is more complex, but I've simplified it to the pursuit of change. Even the most mundane books need change and stimulation from new things. An upgrade can bring about many changes, so it can be used to control the pace and measure problems.
Once the pace quickens and the climax arrives, the most important thing for an author is to organize their emotions, to clarify the emotions they want to express, to eliminate anything harmful or superfluous, and to ensure that the progression, accumulation, and explosion of emotions are not disturbed, interrupted, or diluted.
Therefore, in the final part, I sacrificed some of the sense of urgency. First of all, once Adam's storyline is introduced, unless the Rose School of Thought and others are brought in, there will naturally be a lack of urgency. If that were done, the scene would be too chaotic, and it would be impossible to properly focus the emotions on revenge and sadness.
Secondly, since Little Klein is the director, he needs to keep things under control. Too many unexpected events and urgency would make the escalation and development of the story difficult to follow logically. Separating revenge and escalation into two separate storylines would make the later parts too drawn out, definitely causing pacing problems and a lack of tension.
Furthermore, the Original presence of the Red Angel's Evil Spirit also prevents the sense of urgency from being generated, which can be considered a sacrifice made to develop the character.
Well, I also interspersed Ince's memories to flesh out the character, but that didn't really help with the emotions, so I sacrificed that too.
Actually, it's not impossible to create a sense of urgency midway through, such as bringing forward Daly's death and igniting that emotion in the middle, creating a sense of urgency that Ince can kill everyone and escape. However, this would compromise the emotional impact of the ending and the poignant beauty of the final scene. After weighing the options, this was the only choice I could make.
In my initial character design for Daly, I placed her in the storyline of the Evernight Goddess pursuing the authority of Death. Later, I abandoned this idea and instead made her an ordinary genius, sharing a story with the Captain, an ordinary mid-level Nighthawks, that wasn't quite the protagonist's trope. This made her stand out and was quite unique within the overall story background and atmosphere.
Oh right, and also, my word choice might often be a bit irregular or strange, and the word order too. I'm experimenting; I want to convey the images in my mind and the emotions in my heart to you in the most vivid way. At this point, I don't consider whether to use adjectives, verbs, or nouns, but rather which word or words can better capture the essence of the image, making it more intuitive and direct.
Many authors probably share similar struggles. I remember many of Wen Rui'an's later books, where some parts seemed like filler, such as a bunch of "knife" characters surrounding a person's name. But actually, they were all attempts to better create a visual image and better convey the feeling, breaking through the limitations of words. In this respect, words are always inferior to pictures.
That's the technical summary for Part 4. As for who the third, or rather the first, time traveler was, you can guess, hehe.
Well, as usual, I'll take a break after finishing one episode and sort out my thoughts. Although there's a weekend, I'll only be taking three days off. Updates will resume next Tuesday at 12:30 PM.
The fifth book, " The Red Priest," is something you can start doing reading comprehension with, haha.
Finally, I'd like to recommend two books. One is "The Divine Dragon System of All Realms," which features a very rare storyline, unlike other works like "Bloody Romance" and "In the Name of the People," making it quite original.
One of them is "Talking to the Sword," a new work by veteran author Lan Di.
Last but not least, this is the end of Part 4, please vote with your monthly tickets!