First and foremost… If you're reading this... Then It’s likely because you stuck it out with me and read through my first 75 chapters. Essentially my first book.
I am very thankful to each and every one of you. As a budding writer, it would have been tough to write this much, this fast and in general if it weren’t for seeing that I had viewers that were following my story.
I especially want to thank two groups of people. The readers that have been following my story since basically the beginning, and the readers who take the time out of their day to read this on a daily basis.
It’s hard to write a story and keep readers going when it’s being released one chapter at a time, but I know since I love to follow stories of my own that it’s also hard for readers to read on a daily basis one chapter at a time as well.
It’s easy to write something bad about someone’s work. It’s easy to put someone down and comment on what it’s missing or doing poorly… On the other hand, it’s harder to take the time and look for the good in someone’s work. What they’ve done well, what they’re trying to convey and the positives to be found. I appreciate each and every one of you who has found that in my work and has enjoyed the story thus far!
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So… These are both “Announcements” which’ll include information for the readers regarding future releases, re-writes, changes, etc
This is also a thread for readers to post any questions they may have and want answered.
There are also some comments regarding the story from me. I sometimes see comments and want to respond but stop myself. I refuse to write an opinion and possibly give away a spoiler in the process just by stating a point of view. Sometimes my greatest fault is not conveying sufficient information or the thought process of a character accurately rather than anything else. Which is a work in progress. As long as I write, I will continue to strive towards improving my work.
Now that the first book is finished though, I can now comment on some general things and if my opinion or comment gives away something in foreshadowing… Well you’re free to make any guesses!
I am preemptively throwing in some comments, that will hopefully clarify some things about the characters. I am not arguing with anyone with my comments. I am clarifying intentions and the motivations for some of the characters and the rationales that motivate them or that they employ. (As well as myself) I will continue to try to do a better job of this in my writing, but as it stands some filling in the gaps (with the author) might help.
1.) Books.
This was officially the end of the first book. At one point I was writing it as if it was a light novel but somethings changed my mind. Mostly how unfinished it all felt. Albeit this is a longer first novel than I would have liked.
One day I hope i can have a work of mine published, but I’m taking small steps at a time here. As such my goal is to condense my stories to around 75-80k since that is exactly the length publishers are looking for considering my genre and audience.
Anyways.. Tangent…
I will continue to write my second book in the story for free, but I will be switching over to a website I am creating. It will be the main hub for the story. Although I will try to update and post my chapters here on RRL when I get the chance since it’s been the main hub for my story in the first place.
Also on this note… Planning…
I planned out what I wanted to happen and how it would happen before I started writing. I like to have clear goals for myself and the characters before I even start so I know where I am going.
Some characters were going to “die”. Some of what the readers thought of as “main characters” I thought of as “Main characters in this book”, but to me it’s like a series not one sole book. So characters can/will die. Plot armor does not make anyone invincible in my story!
Some people got really attached to some of the characters and I appreciate that. It means that I did an okay job in developing those characters. There will be A LOT of characters in an otherwise long story to come, I just so happened to put a lot of effort into developing all of the characters in the first book both because there were (in general) less characters and because of their importance to the story to come.
2.) Quality.
Quality is HUGE… And…. I am unhappy with the quality of my work thus far.
So first off, I am going to go back and re-write/re-word the first 28 chapters or so before continuing.
Then, I plan on going through the rest of my chapters and combing them for errors (spelling/grammar).
When I re-start my story (hopefully not too long from now… Actually probably in a week or two, I will also slow down my pace…
I will slow it down and post 3-4 chapters a week. In doing so though, I will be editing my chapters twice over after completing each one to correct grammar/spelling errors and hopefully increase the overall quality as I write.
3.) Quantity.
I will be posting 3-4 Chapters a week (I will be re-organizing my schedule) but I will also start doing sponsored chapters in case people want to have me try to maintain a similar pace to what I’ve been doing thus far.
I haven’t decided how many sponsored chapters I’ll be up for doing with all the edits I will be doing per chapter, nor how much I will set per sponsored chapter but as I am currently looking for work.
I don’t have a huge reader-base so I don’t actually expect to fulfill the quota for sponsored chapters for a while (which isn’t a bad thing lol)
This is becoming harder to balance while still being practical about my current circumstances & responsibilities. Moreover, I plan to make this story great!
So, while I would love to get chapters sponsored. It is not a necessity. I will still post chapters, just at a more reasonable pace.
Now that I got the first portion “out” of my brain. I feel like I can start thinking long term.
4.) Posting Schedule.
Hard for me to say what days etc ahead of time, but I can let you know if you haven’t noticed yet, in terms of what times during the day I post, I will normally post at 12pm, 4-5pm or 8-9pm. If my posts don’t come out at those times, they aren’t coming at all.
In fact, if I don’t manage to post in one of those windows I will just wait and post the next day. I want to maintain a consistency in my posts from now on.
5.) Prologue.
In my mind… This first book is basically a prologue for the story. It’s a long story and this first chunk was an introduction to some of the main characters (as it’s only the beginning).
An introduction to who they were before they experienced death first hand and how it began to change them.
It was me laying down some foundations for things to come and the premise and motivation for one (or more) of the main characters.
It was also to set up one of the main struggles that will shape one of them for a long time to come.
The final chapters of this first book touched on the main plot of the story. It will be a while before this plot comes to fruition, in the meantime, there will be a lot of side events, plots that come along to drive the main plot along, character development, new characters introduced and so much more that will be necessary to reach the ending I have in mind.
Lastly, The next book will not be "characters stuck in a forest" for a non-stop amount of chapters. The forest portion is nearly over people!
I do apologize that the book was almost a little unbalanced in that there was an intro, then some real world experience and then for the last 20 chapters or so just a heavy emphasis on plot development and character development, but it was almost necessary for what’s to come.
6.) Psychopath/Sociopath
Lots of comments on this… LOTS.
A lot of people have been right, some wrong in their comments. I just want to clarify a few things…
There is in fact a difference (from a psychological stand point and from the DSM definitions, not taking into account that both words are interchangeably used when referring to someone with ASP).
The differences mainly lie in CAUSE. The cause for someone being deemed a “psychopath” and a “sociopath” are different. Therein lies the clear distinction for me and what will be a theme in my story as we go forward.
7.) Daichi…
Okay guys, I want you to think back to what you’ve read because this is a big “Wtf” moment if you haven’t realized as you’ve read thus far or haven’t focused on what was subtle and not great foreshadowing.
I never once wrote or said that Daichi is/was a Psychopath.
Think about that. I am not saying he is or isn’t. I’m just saying I never said he was.
He has a title, that was conferred to him by the universe labeling him a “Psychopath”.
What lies in the future for him? You’ll have to read to find out, but I will clarify that I am not trying too nor will I turn him into a sentimental individual. He’ll forever be a lot of things, but he *is* trying to figure out what those things are.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Just as much as this story is about specific plot points, one of those plot points is Daichi figuring out who he is and deciding who he will become and then striving to achieve that.
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Some people didn’t like a few choices Daichi made, like deciding to save the group towards the end of the first book.
I will say that a logical decision is formulated based on the premise of what that person is trying to achieve.
His decision was in line with his logical rationale of chasing death over mindlessly becoming/embracing a role that he was unsure he had decided. Where-as while this decision seemed out of character for him on every level, he was certain it was one he could only make embracing a part of himself he was certain was “him”. Some people would say "My issue wasn't so much him doing it but how he did it. He didn't plan things out better, try to come up with a solution beforehand etc". No he did not. Perhaps it's because I am the author and I was trying to write from Daichi's perspective, but I gave him the logic that he instinctively knew that he was facing an opponent he could not defeat, regardless of whatever method he thought of. He didn't have the tools necessary or ability. Therefore he went in with conviction expecting the worst but hoping for the best. In which case, instead of trying to come up with a countermeasure that would likely fail, he focused on maintaining his conviction in order to go through with something he himself considered stupid and against his own personality (Which is normally geared towards self-preservation unless there are benefits to be had in risking his life).
None the less... He’s made some poor choices and might still make more in the future. He’ll grow and learn. That's what teenagers do. Well that or these kinds of scenarios, they die.
8.) Kaden.
A lot of people had negative comments about Kaden…
I have no qualms with that, seeing as how I normally dislike or hate (depending on the author) the ‘Kaden’ of most stories. They slow down the main character and act hypocritical.
Except, Kaden wasn’t a hypocrite. He was a lot of things, but not that.
He acted with reason, as much as a character that wasn’t meant to be particularly bright would.
He was a pervert, but he never particularly acted on it. He had morals all along, and I don’t think there’s anyone that can say much to the contrary. I introduced him into this story by having him risk his life to save Ava as the events of the story began to unfold. Something he did naturally and not even by choice, his personality has always been self-sacrificing.
Although I won't pretend that he wasn't written in a way to draw animosity from the readers.
9.) Evolution.
This has been discussed and theorized over in a lot of the posts (awesome to see btw) but I want everyone to know that this will be a big theme, or more importantly a crucial element as the story progresses.
This isn’t a short story either (not in my mind) therefore, don’t be in such a rush when it comes to the evolution portion.
Yes…. In answer to the unsaid question. I have already decided what will happen to Daichi in this regard. I actually have two routes I’m undecided on. That has been planned out in stages and I will choose which one to follow depending on how the details go as I write and chose whatever feels more natural when I get to that first turning point.
In general though, this will play a very big role in the second book.
10.) Children.
As I began writing this story, in my mind all four of the main characters were children. They were children who despite whatever experiences and upbringing they had, had been sheltered. They had lived a very simple and peaceful life.
Regardless of how they were, how they acted and what they thought. As the events in my mind began to take place, they began to change. Their experiences began to shape who they were slowly changing into and who they were/are going to become.
The way i developed them was based on the experiences I threw at them, people change partially based on what they experience after all.
They are children, they are teenagers. They don’t know who they are, and even if they have an idea… They haven’t had a chance to become those things. The more they experience, the more they see and feel, the more it shapes them.
There are a lot of stories where 10 year olds are ridiculously over-powered or geniuses for their age and that’s not my story. Mine is more grounded in reality, in that there are geniuses in the world but even they are realistically limited in what they can do and in their own development as people.
Therefore... The world itself will have nonsensical and incredible things that make it exactly what it is: Fantasy.
The people on the other hand, I will try to keep grounded in reality. Their points of view may be different due to the world they live in and their society. Yet the basic fears, needs and motivations that drive us will remain mostly the same.
11.) Big One… Windows.
I would have preferred to just go with it, but I can tell my fans are temperamental by the “I’m leaving because I don’t quite like how this is going based on this” comments, so I am going to be up front about this change to let it all settle in.
Originally I had a very long term down the line plan for getting rid of the blue windows, it was going to be when all of the characters reached a check point which I had in mind.
Recently though I’ve been considering expanding and I’ve also considered how long term it’ll be harder for readers to adjust to a change coming in at post 300+ chapters so instead I think this is the perfect time to throw it in.
I am not getting rid of the “windows” entirely, I just no longer plan to use the RRL coded windows. If for no other reason than the fact that they limit me to only being able to post my story on RRL. They are pretty much a RRL exclusive.
There will be changes to the windows in general though (even the hand-typed ones) because of a plot point that will be evident almost from the get go once I get into the early chapters of the following book. I am doing this (aside from being able to post my story elsewhere) because I don’t want to limit this story to something as simple as “Character reaches this checkpoint -> Story is finished” I want to allow this story to grow in the way that my mind has viewed this world, and due to the way the “power ups” will develop, the former “windows” would not have quantified things anyways.
So,
You can expect something like this:
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| Name: Daichi Seishin | Race: Human |
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Even recently, new readers were inconvenienced because of this RRL update that screwed up all of the windows for days making it very hard to read the story from the beginning to now.
I want to completely avoid that by making it so that my story is just good old fashioned print. Nothing extra, nothing unnecessary, and nothing dependent on a code that only works one place.
I will be implementing this update to all of the chapters up to now as I go back to re-edit.
12. Outlining
I’ve already begun to outline the next book-arc and it will take me a bit of time in-between doing that and editing old chaps.
I’m basically going back, re-writing and re-reading everything I’ve written in detail. So it’ won’t be an overnight gig.
Afterwards I’ll begin to post.
If I have some inspirations while doing so, I’ll write in the meantime. Perhaps when I start posting the second book I can give any fans a nice surprise by posting A LOT of chapters at once…But let’s not expect this lol
13.) Artwork.
In the process of getting art-work done (something I am particularly excited about) so I can throw in a thumb here on RRL and have some of what I had in mind posted when I launch my new website.
Readers/Fans will get to see what my vision for what the characters (present and future) will look like :)
So this may take a while as I’ve been in the process for this for close to two weeks, I want it done right not fast.
14.) Comparisons.
I almost left this out... Way back someone posted something super important and while I wanted to implement something it just didn't get fit in.
I will make things more clear in the next book for comparisons to give people a better idea of everything (speed/strength etc)
Example: 40 str means able to lift this much etc & a comparison to how common or average that is etc
The next book *will* involve more people, and therefore I will be able to give readers a better feel for what the common strength, speed etc is for humanity and how the characters that matter compare to them.
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Feel free to post questions etc, and I will strive to answer them.
Please pay attention though since I will not respond to the same question multiple times (if there even are any).
If a question cannot be answered without a clear spoiler then I will simply write "No Comment" or not comment at all.