Immortality, a blessing or a curse? This was the theme of the fourth volume. In fact, it was reflected in many characters, such as Azik, Anderson, Leonard, and so on. And in the end, when Klein saw those cocoons, saw the modern-day Earthlings wrapped inside them, and saw that three of the cocoons had already broken open, the question of blessing or curse, I think there's no need to point it out explicitly anymore. The world's thrilling, terrifying, suspenseful, insane, and dark tone was revealed all at once.
This is one of the most impactful images I envisioned before I started writing this book. It seems the effect is pretty good, lol.
The entire fourth volume advanced layer by layer, paying off the foreshadowing, including the thread of Anderson that was planted in the middle of the third volume, which ultimately had a powerful explosion and echo. I am quite satisfied with it. The remaining threads will also be tied up in the fifth volume.
However, the fourth volume still has some flaws. First, the daily life of the Rich Man lacked conflict. Once it was stretched out, I didn't know how to build tension. But many points had to be explained and mentioned. This led to me feeling a bit anxious before the
Second, the plot arc was a bit too long. The rhythm in the middle and later sections had some problems.
From late June to mid-July, my writing state was a bit frantic. From the time Klein got the potion formula to the time Leonard finished digging the grave, the tension of the whole plot began to decline from its peak. I tried to make up for it, to restructure, to find new stimulating points, but the effect wasn't very good. As for the reason, I later roughly figured it out: a lack of change.
In layman's terms, the advancement took too long. From the promotion to Puppet Master in the middle of the third volume to the middle and later parts of the fourth volume, it had been two or three hundred chapters. Aesthetic fatigue set in, tension began to wane, and an essential change was urgently needed.
So, I adjusted the pace. I pushed everything that could be put later to the back, described everything that could be described off-screen, and very clearly aimed at the two threads of advancement and revenge. From my own feelings and the specific data, the effect was pretty good.
Of course, this also created some problems. A few places felt rushed. For example, the segment in Calderón should have been more relaxed and more winding.
Mm, for me, advancement is not just a satisfying point, but a point of anticipation, and a tool for controlling the pacing. The former is easy to understand. Even in the real world, advancement is everywhere. Clerks have a path of promotion, so do merchants and officials. A reality without advancement doesn't exist, it's just that sometimes it's not very obvious.
The latter is more complex. I simplified it into a pursuit of change. Even the most ordinary book needs change; it needs the stimulation of something new. One advancement can bring many changes, so it can be used to control the rhythm and diagnose problems.
After accelerating the pace to reach the final climax, the most important thing for an author is to sort out the emotions, to sort out the emotions they want to express, to weed out the harmful and the superfluous, ensuring that the layering, accumulation, and eruption of emotions are not disturbed, interrupted, or diluted.
So, in the final part, I sacrificed a bit of urgency. First, after the thread involving
Second, in this scene, Klein was the director. Things were largely supposed to be under control. Too many surprises and too much urgency would prevent the smooth digestion of the advancement. Separating revenge and advancement into two threads would make the back part too drawn out, the rhythm would definitely suffer, and there would be no tension.
Also, the very existence of the Red Angel evil spirit from the start also prevented a sense of urgency from building up. This was a bit of a sacrifice for the sake of character development.
Mm, going back to intersperse Ince's memories to flesh out the character didn't really help the emotions, so I sacrificed that too.
Actually, there were ways to build urgency in the middle. For instance, moving Daly's death earlier and detonating that emotion in the middle to create a sense of urgency that Ince could kill everyone and escape. But if I did that, the lingering charm of the ending and the tragic beauty of the finale couldn't guarantee the proper delivery of emotion. After weighing it, I had to make this trade-off.
Regarding Daly, in the earliest character setting, I had put her in the storyline of the Goddess of the Night pursuing the Authority of Death. Later, I gave up on that idea, making her an ordinary genius instead. Together with the Captain, an ordinary mid-level Nighthawk, they had a story that wasn't a standard protagonist template. Against the whole backdrop and atmosphere of the story, this turned out to be very unique and rare.
Ah, right, also. I often use words incorrectly, strangely, and my word order is weird too. I'm trying to experiment. I want to convey the images in my mind and the emotions in my heart to you in the most vivid way. At these times, I don't consider whether to use an adjective, a verb, or a noun; I consider which word or words best reveal the key of the image, making it more intuitive and direct.
Many authors probably have similar troubles. I remember many of Wen Ruian's later books. Some parts seem like padding, for instance, a bunch of the character '刀' (blade) surrounding a character's name. But in fact, they are all trying to better shape the picture, to better convey the feeling, to break through the limitations of text. In this regard, text is always inferior to pictures.
This is the technical summary for the fourth volume. As for who the third, or rather the first, transmigrator is, you can take a guess, hehe.
Mm, as usual, I'll rest a bit after finishing a volume to sort out my thoughts. Although I have the weekend, I'll only take three days off. I'll resume updates on Tuesday at 12:30 noon.
The fifth volume, "Red Priest", you can do your reading comprehension on that one, lol.
Finally, I'm recommending two books. One is "Godly Dragon System Across the Heavens". The stories it cuts into are very rare, stuff like "Romantic Life", "In the Name of the People". It's quite original.
The other is "Speaking to the Sword". A new work by the veteran top-tier author, Landy.
(End of this chapter)