What a coincidence, the fourth volume has exactly 111 chapters, about 250,000 words.
In the outline, the three and four volumes were originally supposed to be connected, which means that the total content of the two volumes should have been less than 300,000 words.
However, in the end I nearly doubled the number of words.
This is of course not water (I don’t admit it!), but I tried my best to write the behavioral motivations, internal logic, and plot advancement of 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 received 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. This can also be seen from the updates of the last dozen or so chapters, which are very irregular. The number of words in each chapter also varies, which is 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 all this seem as reasonable and natural as possible, I spent almost a whole volume on the preparation.
I know that even so, most readers who are following up will still feel that the result is very sudden when they reach 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 couldn't do 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 still wrote it like this.
There are three main reasons.
First.
Up to 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 may or may not be in conflict with Wei Changtian. Each of them is not just a supporting character who "appears and 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 tragic 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 due to "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 by Hu Xiaofeng.
The later stage was achieved through a series of planning.
Because without the luck bonus, it is naturally impossible for him to be "omnipotent".
When faced with certain 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.
This is unflattering, but reasonable.
third.
I want to give Wei Changtian a really reasonable motive for his behavior.
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 a novel if I wrote it this way, but I still feel that the main character's motivations are not clear enough.
To this day, only the explanation in Ergen's "Xian Ni" impresses me the most.
"Since ancient times, those who obey the heaven 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 heaven, but to go against the heaven and cultivate against the immortals based on the emotion in my heart. I seek,
Not only is it about immortality, but more importantly, it is about getting rid of the ant body behind it, which makes it reverse."
After so many years, I have completely forgotten what story Xian Ni told me, 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 it is not "against heaven".
However, I think this word "reverse" is the most fundamental motivation for the behavior of all protagonists in 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 must first meet three conditions.
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 maybe it was because I gave too many hints 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 desired outcome.
...
Well, the above is roughly what 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 write more and more, I gradually understand where my advantages are compared to others.
If I'm being more cheeky, it should be because the mood is better created.
Whether it's sadness, joy, anger, or majesty, I can easily 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 whether it is for financial rewards or enthusiasm for writing, I am motivated to continue writing.
Write a complete story.
...
Finally, report the results.
The performance of "Villain" on Qidian's main website has been steadily rising, with the highest order for a single chapter exceeding 6,000. The average order is a bit overwhelming, but it is not too far away from being a high-quality product.
In addition, on the free side, the performance in terms of 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!