What a coincidence, the fourth volume has exactly 111 chapters, about 250,000 words.
In the outline, the three or four volumes were supposed to be connected, which means that the total content of the two volumes should be less than 300,000 words.
However, in the end I nearly doubled the number of words.
This is of course not water (I won’t admit it!), but I tried my best to write the behavioral motivations, internal logic, and plot advancement, including the supporting characters, in more detail than the original plan.
In the previous chapter of the Fulian Temple chapter, I asked everyone if the story of the supporting characters should be written in more detail. Most of the answers I got were in the affirmative, so that’s what I did.
In fact, this is really not easier than just writing about Wei Changtian.
Let’s go back to Volume 4.
I had quite complicated feelings when writing this volume, which can also be seen from the updates of the last dozen chapters, which are very irregular, and the number of words in each chapter is also very irregular.
In fact, the entire fourth chapter tells a big plot——
Ning Yongnian's shocking layout around Yuanzhou City, and Wei Changtian's determination to rebel.
In order to make this all seem as reasonable and natural as possible, I spent almost an entire volume laying the groundwork.
I know that even so, most readers who are following up will still feel that the result is sudden when they read the end.
After all, according to the general routine, Wei Changtian will definitely take action at the critical moment to destroy Ning Yongnian's conspiracy and save the lives of three million people.
As a result he was unable to accomplish anything.
Including the previous "Slaying Yama", it also failed twice.
I understand that writing this way may not be a conscious choice in terms of grades.
But I wrote it anyway.
There are three main reasons.
First.
Up until now when this book was written, or in other words since Xiao Feng's death, the plot development is no longer the traditional cycle of "fighting monsters, upgrading, and changing maps".
The new thirteen sons of heaven who appeared did not let Wei Changtian kill them one by one and repeat the matryoshka.
These people have their own stories, and they will have positions and intersections that may or may not be antagonistic to Wei Changtian. Each of them is not just a supporting character who "appears and then is killed."
Since they have abilities and cheats that are not weaker than Wei Changtian's, they shouldn't die so easily.
Only by using a lot of pen and ink to portray them in a more three-dimensional way through happy or sad plots can such characters stand up.
second.
It's true that Wei Changtian came from time travel and he has a system.
But I don’t know if you have noticed that from the beginning to the end of this book, Wei Changtian has never obtained any treasures because of "luck", nor has he received any opportunities because of "luck".
Everything he achieved in the early stage was achieved through foresight of the original work and interception of Hu Xiaofeng.
The later stage was obtained through a series of planning.
Because without the luck bonus, it is naturally impossible for him to be "omnipotent".
When faced with some situations, being powerless means being powerless.
As you can see, those coincidences that should have appeared in the "protagonists" have even appeared in the "villains" such as Bai Youheng and Ning Yongnian.
It's unflattering, but reasonable.
third.
I want to give Wei Changtian's behavior a motive that really makes sense.
I have been reading online articles for more than ten years.
I started watching "Zhu Xian", "Bad Guy", and "Very Pure" until now.
There are many good fairy tales and fantasy online novels, but most of them always make me think about a question.
I only saw the protagonist constantly fighting monsters, killing people, grabbing treasures, and upgrading... But what was his reason for doing this?
To protect yourself?
But compared to rushing to show off in front of those big forces, and then being hunted down by them... shouldn't it be the best way to protect yourself by living a peaceful life without fighting against the world?
Or are you talking about pursuing immortality?
Then just hide and practice cultivation...
I know it wouldn't be true if it were written this way, but I still feel that the main character's motivations are not clear enough.
To this day, only Ergen's explanation in "Xian Ni" impresses me the most.
"Since ancient times, those who obey the heavens are the favorites of heaven and earth. But behind this favorite, there is the body of an ant! My way is not to obey the heavens, but to go against the heavens and cultivate against the immortals based on the feelings in my heart. I seek, Not only is it immortality, but more importantly, it is getting rid of the ant body behind it, which makes it reverse."
After so many years, I have forgotten all the stories Xian Ni told, but I still remember the six words "Following the rules will lead to mortals, and going against the rules will lead to immortals".
Of course, my book is not about cultivating immortals, so there is nothing wrong with it.
However, I think this word "reverse" is the most fundamental motivation for the protagonists of all online novels.
Because what you want cannot be achieved, you must break through all obstacles in front of you and go against the trend.
You can go against heaven, you can go against the king, you can go against the king, you can go against the Tao... you can do anything, but you have to meet three conditions first.
First, the protagonist must have something convincing and something to strive for.
Second, the protagonist must have an enemy that he really needs to "reverse", at least an enemy who can be called an opponent.
Third, the protagonist’s psychological transformation from “non-reverse” to “reverse”.
Volume 4, strictly speaking, is about writing these three conditions.
...
About Youjia.
The character Yu Jia was originally going to die in the fourth volume in the outline.
Her background and experience destined this result.
Death is actually the best ending for her.
But it may be that too many hints were given before, so during the writing process, readers kept saying that Youjia shouldn't die.
And this ultimately led to such an ending.
Youjia may not appear again in the future.
As for whether she is dead or not... everyone just needs to understand it according to their own expected results.
...
Well, that’s about all I want to say about the plot.
I know that there are many parts of this book that are not well written, and the update speed is also slow.
But as I wrote more and more, I gradually understood what my advantages were compared to others.
If I say it a little shamelessly, it should be that the mood is better created.
Whether it is sadness, joy, anger, or majesty, it is easy for me to enter these emotions during the writing process, and I barely have the writing power to express them.
But I also understand where my shortcomings are.
Of course, let’s not talk about the shortcomings.
In short, I am quite satisfied with writing this book, and I am motivated to continue writing it, whether it is due to financial rewards or enthusiasm for writing.
Write a complete story.
...
Finally, report the results.
The performance of "Villain" on Qidian's main website has been steadily rising. The highest order for a single chapter is over 6,000. The average order is a bit stretched, but it is not too far away from being a high-quality product.
In addition, the performance on the free end and channels is also good, and the overall income is indeed something I did not expect before I started the book.
It’s enough for a part-time job, so I’m really grateful to every reader for your support.
At the end of the day, I don’t ask for votes, I don’t ask for rewards... I just ask if you can praise me? ? ?
“The author writes so well!”
“It’s so well written!”
"Awesome!"
Ahem, something like that.
thank you all! !
...
ps: Take a break today and start the fifth volume tomorrow——
A sword that touches the dragon gate thousands of miles away!
