An Open Letter To All Readers - From Your Dear Authors
Tomoyuki Wait, people seriously thought that train-episode was filler? What the actual fuck. That was the most heroic shit i ever read and it was obvious it was definitely not filler.
People can be stupid that way, but the tricky thing about filler is that it is often only obvious in retrospective what is important to the story and what is not.
A good way to handle Infodumps or Statscreens is to not count them towards your total word count. Realm of Myths and Legends does this. The stats and System-Messages never factor in, but thats kind of the exception i suppose.
Fact of the matter is its contextual and the hardcore readers have enough experience to call bs out if they see it.
yaoyueyi
So true!
Ahh, it takes me a long time to type, translate and edit. Amazingly there is editing in the chapters, unfortunately, it is not a professional edition. In my case it is faster for me to type in my language and translate, so I have "bent work". If I want to keep the publications stable.
Your outburst is exactly how I feel. I love the comments of the readers, but when they say "The story is good I just wanted the author to update more!", I am very disappointed because I am already giving the best 2 chapter a day!
Worse is when a reader comes to "negotiate" by saying something like mass launch for more power stones as rewards ... As if the work already done wasn't enough for readers to donate power stones!
This is so frustrating!
On the other hand, I have readers who always ask about my health and this encourages me more than the bulk release request or more updates.
Anyway, thanks for your words that were a big outburst for me!
Thank you very much
Ethan_young depends honestly, if you break too long you lose readers, so it's a delicate balance
Though I've read some 'plz 10 chapters a day' comments, I always took them as joking compliments. Dunno, maybe it's just my readers, but from my experience they're rather understanding. Writing daily chapters with ~2000 words on average isn't really difficult for me as I'm usually 30ish chapters ahead of official releases so I can usually skip a day of writing if I don't feel like it and just make it up another time, but on those bad days, it really is impossible to get anything out. Usually the chapters I write on those days are just boring go-arounds that add nothing to anything and anyone and are just a chore to read. Just pace yourselves out, fellow authors. Comments can be a good way to see what's working with your readers and what's not, but stick to your own story and tell it the way you want to. That's at least a whole lot more fun for me than trying to accommodate.
Reinesse for some its month, years. It doesn't need to be a block of creativity. A block can also be the lack of motivation to write due to other things; mental health and so forth. It's also possible the block is due to development. A writer has reached a limit in skill and not sure where or how to proceed next. This is a reason why I spend time doing an end to end outline/blueprint. No matter how far apart chapters are, I can always pick up where I left off to finish.
Ethan_young contracted author, I imagine you'd have to write to a schedule since you're something of a contractor employee. As a hobby writer , you're not bound. The schedule is you're own.
I think what I'm sensing here is there a two kinds of storytellers here and story types being muddled. Authors and Writers. Stories and Books
Authors write to sell a book; a product readers commit to under whatever conditions. If they don't receive those promised conditions, tongues wag.
Writer's write stories free from commercial commitments as a hobby. They go at their own pace when their energies and whim allows it. As a reader, you pick up and put down with the same freedom.
Webnovel, being what it is, Authors and Writers get muddled together.
Readers come to expect a certain level of product commitment when money is exchanged for goods, regardless. So, when a Writer regularly unfolds a popular story then stops. Some readers might be under an impression the story was a product, so a level of commercial commitment was required. Even though the obvious markers of said Writer not being a WN Author was before their eyes.
Thats cool
I take 3-4 hours to write just 500 words. With editing, that's another hour. If the chapter calls for a higher word count or higher quality, it may take up to 10-12 hours. My readers are more understanding(bless their souls), but I hope other readers can understand! :)
SinB are you sure about that (flashbacks of whip emoji)
thank you TT
Preach. If you are gonna demand so much, please write yourself.
Gourmet_DAO Since the original short story for novice authors is primarily a test - a test to see if the author will be able to develop the habit of writing at least 2500-3000 words a day or not. The goal is to write in 1 year - 1,000,000 words.
What a load of bs. There are no such goals. Not even webnovel sets such a goal. Test? What test? No there are no "tests", to see if an author will have a habit of writing 2.5k word chapters. My average is not even close to that, yet I have readers who support me. What is important to the readers ultimately, is not how many chapters you produce, but how well you produce them, and your schedule. I keep to my schedule, and that is that. If someone comes over and tells me "Dude, release more!", my answer is "Fu*k off".
I think that what yaoyueyi said is mostly true. Authors do struggle, and people simply don't appreciate our commitment. They simply crave "moaar!", yet they have no idea how hard it is to write something. Reader point of view? What bs is this? Obviously reader would love it, if Author abandoned all his/her social and private life, just to write for them. I myself already sacrifice a lot to write, and I don't intend to sacrifice even more.
What I will add to yaoyueyi argument, is that the authors need to be more firm with their audience. In other words, learn to say "fu*k off", when someone crosses the line. I have no problem telling someone "go read something else", if I see he or she doesn't enjoy my novel. There are many novels out there, not everyone will read yours. Just forget about those readers, and focus on what you have. That is my advice to the authors. As for the trolls or whatever, ignore. Believe in yourself and the people who support you, not an idiot who claims you can write 3k words a day no problem. Peace to all Authors and understanding readers :D
- Edited
DarkRay This is your point of view, but do not impose it on others. You have your own goals, I have my own. You probably didn’t carefully read https://www.webnovel.com/book/10589139205070105/Book-of-Outnors or my English is not good enough that I did not understand correctly. But anyway, this is your vision, and I have it.
I have my readers, they read my not very good English text, because the material is interesting. I appreciate my readers. I have something to share. There is a lot of material, so I don’t see any big problems in sharing this information.
I am not saying that every author should write 2,500 words a day or write 1,000,000 words per year. It's my goal! I have a lot of material on the history of the Silk Road, probably enough to write all 5,000,000 words in a couple of years.
Thank you for sharing your opinion nonetheless.
P.S. If you treat your readers this way, then they will leave you. Readers make authors, otherwise, why write at all?
Gourmet_DAO It's not just my view, its basically the reality. You didn't say it was "your" goal, you generalised, and that is what I replied to. I'm not imposing my views on others, I only gave advice to authors who wish to come out of it with level head. Because ultimately? I would rather tell an author to drop something, than sacrifice his or her life or health, in order to satisfy the "readers".
You cite book of authors? Good luck with that then, hope it helps you. Great source of wisdom, let me tell you that much. You should check out the S.I.E chat group too, great source of information. I'm not trying to convince you here. I presented the reality to you guys, how you take it, it's up to you. Call it my views, opinions or whatever. You will not change the fact that authors do struggle, and readers simply demand. Now, not all readers of course, but because of the way webnovel is constructed, a lot of readers demand.
But hey, what do I know right? I'm just some dude. Either way, I'm just gonna stop here. No point arguing about something, that is not productive, right?
Gourmet_DAO Didn't see the "PS" before. So I will add this. Oh don't worry about my readers. Ask any of my regulars if I treat them well. Those I don't treat well, are idiots who think they know what they are talking about. I'm not here to satisfy readers. I'm here to publish my novel. Those that read and enjoy, I appreciate. Those that spout bs, they don't exist in my books. Whether they read or not, not my concern. And you know what? I'm a happy man. No stress, no worries. I very rarely get writer's blocks. Life is better, when you care less about such people.