To write about regret, one cannot write only about regret.
One can write of joy and sorrow, of separation.
Write of the unwillingness and sighs of old friends no longer meeting.
Write of ten years of life and death, a vast expanse, unthinking, yet unforgettable.
Write of "You were born, I was not yet born," and "I was born, you were already old."
Write of "Suddenly I suspect you have arrived," and "Counting stars with foolish devotion."
Write of the hesitation and desolation of a sudden rain.
Write of "This feeling can be recalled, but at that moment, I was already lost."
Then write of a heart broken, tears unheeded, longing returning to the small red pavilion.
Until at last, abruptly lowering one's head, pouring all regrets into it, and then saying that things have changed, tears flowing before words can be spoken.
Once, I always thought that the martial world was vast, and there was no need to meet again.
But now I understand, the martial world is vast, but paths converge.
Just as there are no eternal banquets, all stories must have an ending, whether good or bad, poor or terrible…
It is with immense regret that my first novel on Ximao has concluded, and it concluded as a failure.
Before coming to Ximao, I was a contracted author at a certain platform, Lv2 on the verge of Lv3, and had written two failed books.
Among those who came to Ximao with me, some have achieved financial freedom with one book, while others, like myself, struggle in the quagmire due to an inability to adapt to the rhythm here.
If there are readers who followed from the beginning to the end, they will surely have noticed a problem: my book suddenly became sluggish at a certain point, dragging on like an old woman's bound feet, both smelly and long.
It's my fault! Before coming to Ximao, I didn't spend time pondering the rhythm and conventions here, always thinking that with a foundation in writing, it wouldn't be a problem.
Truly embodying the mindset of being both unskilled and eager to play!
Beyond that, my concentration is insufficient, and my disposition is not firm.
To be honest, the data for this book was quite good at the beginning, with a completion rate of nearly 30% at its peak within the first 100,000 characters.
However, at the crucial juncture of pushing for recommendations, Ximao's novel rating system was updated, and it was done by randomly selecting a portion of users first.
Unfortunately… my book, which had not yet been removed from recommendations, was chosen!
I distinctly remember opening the backend and seeing the rating drop from 9.0 to 6.2, and my mentality completely collapsed!
I had a long discussion with the editor at the time, and only then did I accept this reality, thinking that since I had to face the consequences either way, it was better to just finish it quickly, as the rating could be improved later.
But I overlooked the most important point: the reader base.
Great authors bring their own traffic. After the rating system was revised, the reader base did not change, and climbing back up was a matter of minutes.
My book, which had not yet been removed from recommendations, relied on the traffic during the recommendation period to accumulate its reader base.
Even though Ximao has accurate reader segmentation, there are still many people who selectively skip a book the moment they see its score.
This is similar to how many people prefer to choose movies based on their ratings before watching them.
At least, I am one of them.
I absolutely refuse to watch movies with ratings below 7.0!
After the first trigger, my mentality fluctuated greatly, leading to scattered writing ability and a deviation in the plot during that period, which indirectly led to the second trigger.
Being swayed by reader reviews!
Everyone has different standards for reading, and I understand all these principles!
But understanding and doing are two different things.
With the rating revision coinciding with the last few days of recommendations, and the traffic plummeting due to the 6.2 rating, I panicked like a lost lamb without direction, completely flustered!
Therefore, I began to delete parts of the outline and modify subsequent plots and scenes based on some comments, striving to satisfy those readers.
To be frank, in the original outline, Chen Xiang and Leng Shuang, who appeared at the beginning, were intended to have a romantic storyline.
And the character Han Jinlun was initially designed to be like Hua Gu Long, played by Nick Cheung in "God of Gamblers 1999," who was cheap, flirtatious, and loyal.
In the movie, Hua Gu Long introduces his sister to the protagonist Ah King. I also wanted to borrow this in the book, where Han Jinlun would introduce his sister Han Qingmei to Chen Xiang, but it was all deleted in the end.
Because some readers complained that the martial world is about swords clashing and quick revenge, why bother with useless romantic entanglements?!
After deleting all the emotional subplots, observant readers will notice that Chen Xiang's romantic scenes are almost entirely absent. The only interaction with Xu Shiyu is unclear and muddled.
As a result of deleting about one-third of the outline, many plot points that were meant to guide back to the main storyline were also lost, leaving me with nothing else to write about except revenge.
In conclusion, this book is a failure in my eyes!
I apologize to everyone, it's my fault!
I know that my writing skills are still shallow and my style is inconsistent, and my mentality is not good either. I may not be able to write those soul-stirring stories, but I promise to gradually correct myself.
Because I love novels!
My new book has already started. It's a martial world novel set in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Old readers should know that I once wrote a martial world novel, and its initial data was slightly better than this one, but it was suspended from recommendation distribution due to certain factors.
So, I've learned my lesson and will avoid the pitfall of being suspended from recommendation distribution, preparing to write a truly era-specific, passionate martial world novel!
What is the martial world?
The so-called martial world is the human heart.
It originates from everything, born from the heart.
The lesser hero helps those in distress; the greater hero serves the nation and the people. The martial world is about how one interacts with others; it is about how one behaves; it is about life. To have the bones of the martial world, but not its air.
Mountains are high and waters are far, no more goodbyes.
Let us… meet again in the martial world!
I hope my next book will be without regret!