TLDR: I will be taking a one week break and will resume posting on 11th Feb 2019. It's a longer break than usual because of Chinese New Year, and well the length of this volume, haha.
Hi, Linodo here! How did you feel about my latest book? Haha, I'm joking. Based on the comments, this might be the most disliked book that I had ever written, so yay to that? But honestly, halfway through the book, I reflected on my actions and I believe that some parts may have dragged on for too long. I originally wrote it this way as I felt that there was a need to develop the new characters, relationships, established rules, locations, etc…
However, I'm a changed Linodo and I realise that the readers want to read the most important parts of the story, not all the details about the trials and tribulations that Shin had to overcome to get to that point! Furthermore, I need to figure out how to do time jumps for efficiently so please be patient with me on that. Look, everything here is a work in progress and I hope by the end of the novel, I would become a sage in the art of writing.
Okay, this was something that I didn't want to address and I have kept quiet about for quite some time. However, this issue has been bottling up in me and I really need to get this off my chest. I don't want this to come off as a rant as I honestly hate creators who do so, but this is getting a little too out of hand for me.
When I first developed the story of Spirit Immortal, I did so with a firm beginning and end in mind. I, like many of you, was bored with the constant rehashing of arcs that other cultivation novels had, and I swore that my work would be different. Hence, I avoided all the typical cliched storylines and wrote my own arcs and characters.
Believe it or not, the story thus far has been written as I originally planned several months ago. Shin was to become a healer at the end of Book 1 and when Ariel died in Book 4, he would be pushed off that path. However, when I first wrote that Shin was to become a healer, many people hated me for doing so. I got comments like "Fuck you, author, what were you thinking?" and "A healer? So that's why this novel is shit." But you know what? I took it on the chin and continued on the same story I had originally planned because I knew that was the right way. I alone knew everything about this story and when I wrote the entire saga out, I believed that people would understand.
Then when I wrote that Shin was abandoning the healer path (as per the original plan), the comments were "Could he return back to the healing path?" or "Why is he going for the path of a fighter?"
Do you see what I'm getting at? Look, I'm not hating on the commenters that say that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I enjoy that you guys write to me. Yes, I even enjoy the hateful comments as it shows that people are interested enough to hate on my work. After all, one hateful comment is still better than no comments. However, this is getting out of hand, even for me.
As much as I hate to sound condescending, there's a reason why I placed Shin on the healing path in the first place and there is a reason why he abandoned it for the fighter path. There is also a reason for all the plot developments as he progresses on the fighter path. It might not be apparent now, but in the later acts, you will understand why I had made all those decisions. You see, I subscribe to the idea that everything in the novel builds up to the ending. For my message and story to be as good as it is, I have to build up everything up to the ending. I had littered bits and pieces about the ending throughout this story and I hope that when it comes down to it everything would make sense.
Oh my god, that sounded vague, but I can't elaborate anymore if not I would spoil my own story! You see the bind that I'm in?! I could easily be like arrogant young master comes and wants to fuck Ariel/Emma/Elyse so Shin has to save them. Or Shin wins every competition he comes under, or he goes to an auction to win an item to have all the masters in the world chase after him, or… I could go on…
Perhaps I'm overreacting, and the number of people that like my story far surpasses those that dislike it. After all, I have so many wonderful Patrons that allow me to continue writing, and the number of followers keeps increasing by the day (which I'm still mind blown about). Nonetheless, I read somewhere that it wasn't good to have all of your grievances bottled up lest it eats you alive, so here I am, ranting to you guys since no one else in real life knows that I'm a writer.
I'm so sorry for ranting. I know it looks like I'm an immature boy that can't handle criticism, but yeah... I just needed to get this off my chest.
I'm still dedicated to delivering the best Spirit Immortal that I can to all of you guys, so I don't mind the criticism as it helps me improve. However, I'm sticking to my original plot from day one, because I love the entire story too much to simply give up on it.
See you in the next book!