So The BlackStaff and NightMarE are back with your regularly scheduled AN.

Today’s topic is… well, three things really.

First, an announcement. Stranger Than Fiction is now officially submitted for release as an E-book and an Audiobook on Amazon. As for the official date of release, we will be formally declaring soon. To the best of our knowledge, the Audiobook production is underway and the Ebook copy editing and proofreading are close to its finish. So here’s wishing that people will love the book and hopefully we’ll get a lot many purchases and quality reviews.

And don’t worry, Book 1 will not be removed from Royal Road. We took care of that bit.

Okay, the good part is gone. Time for the critical. Hoping to get past this without being impaled by wind blades and vatuatil daggers—

So many readers have been talking about the recent fall in update speed in recent months. Others have mentioned the lack of proper chapter length and terrible pacing and then there were questions about the story going on a possible hiatus.

Baseless rumors, we tell you, which by the way, are all true.

We have had a fall in Update Speed nor have we been able to give as much time as we should have on developing the pacing or adding a sizable word count. There were even moments when over a week passed without updates.

Now, part of that blame can be placed upon the fact that The BlackStaff has had really shitty luck— grandma perished, suffered from writer’s block, and so on. It makes for a fairly amusing read but let’s not digress from the point.

But, the point is, we are not losing interest in the story.

So why the delay?

That’s because, we’ve been going through the entirety of Book 1 and the ongoing Book 2, taking into account the reviews, the comments, and our overall experience in writing a complete Original novel. The idea was to perfect the existing Book 1, and make it more streamlined, accentuate character development and bring in greater cohesiveness into the story. There were several random plots that, while having the potential for progress, had been brought in randomly and then left to stagnate in the worst way possible. The ‘yokai’ is a good example. There were also issues with character growth and progression and the distinct lack of LITRPG elements because of the lack of ‘skill progression’. Character inconsistencies, pacing issues, a ton of filler content and—

Okay, enough criticizing our own work for one AN.

But all jokes aside, we took all those comments seriously and wanted to do it right before it went into publication on Amazon. That is what was taking the majority of our time in the last couple of months. And finally, we have a complete BOOK 1, plus a ton of chapters (with word count raised to a freaking 5000-word count instead of the measly 1400-1800) ready to be served to our readers without any delay.

And that brings us to the real ‘notice’ portion of this AN.

We will be posting the story (BOOK 1 having a freaking 60 chapters) at the end of this month. We will be updating it at the rate of THIRTY CHAPTERS PER WEEK, thus giving you the entire Book 1, with over a HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS OF NEW CONTENT. Once that is done, we will be posting Book 2 right after, of course, with an approximate 5000-word count per chapter. Patreons will be getting the Read-Ahead in advance as always.

Now, what’s going to happen till then?

We are gonna post the rest of the stock of Book 2 chapters by the end of this month (we have a backlog of 16 chapters). We will then release the revised Book 1 and Book 2 chapters at a solid pace. Note there will be several changes including but not limited to: More streamlined, pacing, and POVs being consolidated into single POVs per chapter (in general). Chapter length is ~5000 words per chapter. We have roughly 150k words of new content, several old events happen, but happen differently as well as entirely new events and scenes. Some old scenes that take away from the pacing have been taken out entirely. Plot holes have been removed, skills consolidated and dialogue revamped. Book 2 has been edited accordingly as well and the pacing is significantly better (specifically better addressing the nature of power, the reasoning for events, and characterization). In terms of updates, we will move from 8 monthly 2000 word updates to 4 monthly 5000 word updates. We have noticed this allows us to accomplish a good amount of plot in every chapter, reducing both reading variability and content feeling like filler. Also, it is just better to write.

We’d love it if our readers join us there with their fullest support. 2 weeks of 220,000 words, and then double-sized chapters for Book 2, at a solid pace. ALL of our beta-readers confirm it is orders of magnitude superior to the current version. Have a snippet below:

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Yet, despite all that, a maniacal grin burst from his lips. “Did… Did I win?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Inanna softly spoke. “To lose control for something so petty is unworthy of me.”

That, Lukas decided, was the closest he’d come to getting an apology out of her.

“A mountain has no business apologizing to an insect, mortal,” the goddess coldly retorted. “I am merely reflecting upon my own momentary loss of control.”

“No harm done,” he cheekily replied. “Frankly, I’m still surprised it worked at all.”

“Do you know why it did?” Inanna’s voice sounded distant.

“What do you mean? Are you going to tell me you weren’t ready or something—”

“How do you defeat an opponent who has proven to be stronger than you, faster than you, and cannot be snuck up on?”

“Trick him. Or bide your time until he underestimates you.”

Inanna shook her head. “I shall rephrase. In a battle between equals, who will win?”

“Well…” Lukas paused as he thought carefully. “If they’re equally skilled, then the one with the greater luck.”

“Wrong. It is the one willing to pay the greater price.”

“Price?”

“What you did in our fight… I have done something similar myself. In one of my earliest battles, I found myself… outmatched.” The word sounded like it was painful to get out. “My opponent was stronger, faster, and had greater reach. Death was a near certainty.”

Lukas found himself riveted by the tale. It wasn’t often that Inanna willingly spoke of her past. “So how did you manage to win?”

“I let his blow cleave through my arm. And in return, I lopped off his head.”

“…”

“Men of power… Mages of strength… Countless warriors have fallen for a simple reason. They could not handle the pain. A mere gash stripped them of their rationality, and their self-preservation prevented them from winning the battle at the cost of a wound.” She stared down at him, her gaze as unyielding as a mountain. “Your strength is limited by your will. If you truly want to become strong, there is a single lesson that you must learn.”

“Which is?” he asked, the trepidation rising in his heart.

“How to take a blow.”

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