Practice Makes Perfect

Su Yan's hands stopped moving. This wasn't bad for the start of his new story but … it seemed a little short? Could he add anything? Maybe some more descriptions of what the disciples of the Jin Shan Sect were doing on that stage? Or maybe their looks?

After all, Dou Fang Hai would soon enough wear the same robe. It would probably be a good idea to have the readers get to know them as soon as possible. Furthermore, wouldn't this also make the Jin Shan Sect more familiar to them? Since Dou Fang Hai would spend a lot of time there that couldn't hurt either.

Su Yan searched for the moment where Dou Fang Hai had called the woman on the stage over and she crouched down in front of him and added two paragraphs:

[Dou Fang Hai looked up at the woman and his eyes sparkled. She wasn't just wearing a white robe as he had thought in the beginning. Her lapel, the hem of her sleeves and her belt were actually embroidered with golden threads. Even the pin in her hair was golden.

He had never seen someone dressed like this in their Jin He City. But she really was very, very pretty. He really hoped she would stay a while longer!]

Su Yan smiled and rubbed his hands again. Ah, this was much better! Unfortunately, the chapter was still really short. Well, all romance novels he had seen until now had had shorter chapters anyway but even this slightly longer version of the chapter seemed to be shorter than that. So, what else could he add?

Su Yan pursed his lips and read over the thing once again. Maybe he could just add the test? Who said that that had to be a second chapter? But the test would probably be long considering that there would also be some of the disciples Dou Fang Hai would get to know better.

"Argh!" Su Yan ruffled his hair.

He really would have liked to just continue writing the next chapter and leave this one for now but how could he do that? He wanted to post it today already! He couldn't do that with only half a chapter, now could he?

"This is so stupid!"

Su Yan pushed his notebook away, put his arms on the table and placed his head on top before looking at the screen with reproach. This thing was obviously bullying him! Just how much was he supposed to add to get at least a short chapter?!

Mn, maybe he could write a bit more about the Jin He City where Dou Fang Hai had grown up? But most likely he wouldn't return there at all or if he did, it would only be for a short time. Was it really necessary? The Jin Shan Sect should be much more important.

He absentmindedly grabbed his phone to take a look at the time. Immediately, a message from the Lovely Writing System popped up.

"Mn?" Su Yan sat up straight and opened the system.

[Welcome back, host! Are you uncertain about how to write a specific part of your story? Then why not try a practice task?

Whether it is finding the perfect beginning, crafting an especially emotional scene or describing a setting in the best possible way, all of this depends on your skill. The practice tasks are supposed to help you develop these skills.

Just choose the skill you want to train and the Lovely Writing System will provide you with theoretical hints, as well as feedback to the practice scenes you write. You may even submit edited versions of these scenes to see where you improved and where further adjustments are needed. The final version that you want to use in your story can be graded and will generate experience points depending on how much you improved since the first version of the scene.]

Su Yan stared at his phone. This … was too good to be true, wasn't it? He would get a rundown on all important points regarding the beginning of a novel and then even get feedback? There had to be a catch somewhere!

Su Yan suspiciously clicked the button at the bottom and the system opened another window. The only thing displayed there was a list of skills he could choose from. The list wasn't long though.

Su Yan frowned. So that was the problem? The system indeed provided hints and feedback but the scenes he could use it for were just pitifully few? That made sense as well. It couldn't have been so … Wait!

His eyes grew round when he started to read the list:

[Parts of a story

Point of View

Descriptions

Emotions

Hot Stuff

Action

Dialog

Style]

Wait, wait, wait! Su Yan shook his head and looked again. These things were so … generic. Don't tell him these were just main categories? And he could actually …

Su Yan clicked on [Parts of a story] and indeed, the Lovely Writing System opened another list for him.

[Beginning

Middle

End

Turning point

Acts

Scenes

Hooks

Cliffhangers]

Su Yan smoothed out his hair and leaned back. So it turned out there wasn't a catch. The system really hadn't skimped on things he could practice. Honestly, he didn't even want to have a look at the other main categories or he might be too stunned to continue.

Furthermore … he had just wondered how to make a good first scene! This was obviously the same as the [Beginning] the system suggested him as a part of a story. What was he still waiting for?!

Su Yan clicked on it and the screen changed again to show a new message:

[Welcome to the practice task for creating wonderful beginnings for your stories! Please choose what you'd like to do:

Learn about the theory of creating beginnings.

Upload the first version of a beginning to get suggestions for improvement.

Upload an edited version of a beginning to get feedback.

Upload the final version of a beginning to have it rated and gain experience points.]

Su Yan didn't need to think. He immediately clicked on the first option. After all, he first needed to know what exactly the system expected to finish his own first version. Only after that would it make sense to submit it.