Chapter 101: Reflections

When I first conceived the idea, I thought I'd write a fanfiction to hone my skills, then move on to a fantasy novel, followed by a historical one, and eventually a modern urban tale.

But as soon as I started writing, it became quite chaotic, with all sorts of financial setbacks.

I didn't have much understanding of conflict-driven plots or such—just wanted to give it a try and see if I could actually write a novel.

Thus, I began writing quietly, all by myself.

I kept at it until I had nearly 300,000 characters, before mustering the courage to start publishing. It was purely self-indulgent.

When I started posting, I made a promise to myself: as long as there was even one reader, I would definitely finish writing this debut novel.

I was filled with ambition and unrealistic fantasies when the new book was released.

Predictably, it flopped.

I published 10,000 characters daily for ten consecutive days, yet received only 100 recommendation votes, with no monthly tickets or rewards at all.

Even the investment was pitifully scarce.

What hurt the most was that out of those 100 recommendation votes, 10 were cast by myself.

I had to come to terms with the harsh reality: my work had indeed flopped miserably.

As the word count increased, some exposure followed, and more readers appeared.

Then came the criticism:

Typos, slow pacing, blandness, filler content, and toxic plotlines—every type of critique imaginable.

I couldn't even revise the plot; the rewriting task was just too daunting. So I kept publishing, gritting my teeth.

By now, I've given up on hoping for a miraculous turnaround. My sole pursuit is to finish this book.

The preliminary goal is 1 million characters. (Honestly, 800,000 would also suffice.)

As for writing fantasy or historical novels in the future, I don't dare to even dream about it anymore.

I hope some readers will support me until the very end!