Hello everyone, thank you so much for reading Tales from the Underside!

As I mentioned in my last author’s note (by the way you should definitely vote on the favorite character poll if you haven’t already), this marks the end of the “Below” section of the story, so I thought it’d be fun to do a retrospective on the series so far.

Tales from the Underside was my first serious work on Royal Road, and going in I started out with a very ambitious plan that in hindsight I don’t think I was a strong enough writer to pull off (heck, I still don’t think I am haha). The plan was always to start with a light, comedic tone, then to progress into an increasingly serious story. This was meant to mimic Isaac’s own views of the Underside. As his perspective shifts, so would the reader’s.

Now, though, I think that choice was a mistake. Because of the shift in genre, I alienated a lot of readers who were here for that lighter tone, and readers who might enjoy the more serious stuff wouldn’t get to it because they wouldn’t start the story to begin with. There’s definitely some who enjoy both (shoutout to you all!), but this did significantly decrease the potential audience for this story.

Being new to webnovel writing, I also struggled a lot with burnout, especially after Writathon. I don’t regret doing it since it helped me get better at writing quickly, but I definitely felt myself struggling to continue afterwards, especially with real life issues going on at the same time.

Instead of resorting to such a sporadic, unreliable update schedule, I should’ve announced a clear cut break, and that’s on me for not being transparent with you all. I’m seriously blessed to have readers like you, and I’m sorry for all the random unannounced hiatuses. I promise to do better in the future.

Now, as for future plans, I’ve been considering two major options. As I mentioned before, I think in retrospect the giant tonal shift was maybe not the best idea, and I think both Writathon and the constant hiatuses have left the story with a lot of pacing issues and inconsistencies.

If I were to follow my original plan, then the “Above” part of the story would be the biggest genre shift yet. Not only would it be fully serious, but there would also be a lot more action. It’d still have those slower character moments, but it would feel quite different, and I can definitely understand how it could be off-putting to current readers.

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With that in mind, the two routes I’m thinking are:

1. Stick with the old plan. I might even post the “Above” section as a new fiction, because of how different it is tonally.

2. Rewrite the series. In this route, I would take the future planned character arcs and rework them into the rewrite so that the story maintains a more consistent tone that doesn’t end up as action heavy as the original plan. The Underside would never collapse, and instead those “Above” arcs would be integrated into the “Below” story.

I would probably also adjust some of the system rules too, just to enable more tension without breaking the system entirely like what happened at the end of Arc 4. This way, you’d get the lore and answers without completely switching genre. Arc 2 is probably the best reference point for the kind of mood it would maintain: slice of life with some lighter moments in addition to more serious and melancholic ones.

Which one would you all prefer? Keep in mind that regardless of which option is chosen, there would be a break between when either the “Above” section or the rewrite comes out. This is for planning purposes, to avoid burnout, and, to be transparent, because I’m planning on releasing a new story in March that will occupy a lot of my focus.

My goal is to one day be able to make a living off my writing, as far fetched as it is haha. I’m quite far from that right now, and I’m still in the stage of trying to figure out where my own interests overlap with RR’s audience. This WIP I believe is the closest I’ve gotten so far, so I’ll be going pretty hard on its release, at least initially. And if anyone’s interested in beta-reading, please let me know! It’s tonally the closest to Tales from the Underside of all my current works (as opposed to Light Eaters, which is a lot more bleak), and it’s also a litrpg.

Personally I don’t have much of a preference between the two options outlined above. I really do want to leave this to you all, and I’ll be sure to post an update on which one ends up getting picked! I’ll also be active on my Discord server, and you can also feel free to PM me if you have any questions or are interested in that beta reading I mentioned.

Despite its many flaws, I’ve loved writing Tales from the Underside. The road may have been bumpy, but it’s still been a fun journey for me, and I hope for you all, too.

Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the two options, the series in general, or really anything you want. I always love hearing from you all!

I’ll be back with the final decision at some point in the future, when the poll results have stabilized.

Until then, thank you again!