Hiya! It’s Elim!

It has been 5 weeks! Oh? Wait... It appears today is… Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I hope that those lucky fellows have a blessed day with their partners. For the rest of us… there will come a day when love blossoms! So don’t be down if you haven’t found somebody yet! Damn, I really wish we got a little further in the novel. I would have done a special love chapter!!

Anyways, since it has been five weeks I will no longer be uploading every single day. It is unfortunate, but we all have our commitments and circumstances. >_< My semester is coming up, so I need to prepare for that. I’m really a slow writer, believe it or not! It is because I try to make every chapter at least have a certain level of quality that I must find accepting. All of the chapters so far have been stocked from months ago.

As for how the novel’s going, to say the truth, I have been quite stressed about it. I have spent more than six months to a year into the making of the story and only have a small number of readers. It really puts me down that I put so much effort into something to only get so much. It extended to the point that I even had thoughts of quitting until I had reached a particular arc (that won't EVER happen dw).

I’m quite prideful in this, but I’m not trying to be arrogant, nor am I saying my work is something like a masterpiece (noway). The early chapters were slow, and prologue and chapter 1 especially are particularly lacking to draw in newcomers. I regret not putting in more effort into that. There are also several mistakes I made during the early phase which was my best chance to make my novel boom. The two biggest ones are probably:

1. The cover was different from the current one. I didn’t think it was bad but it really did not do justice in attracting viewers. Once I switched to this, it fared much better. I wonder if this cover is good? It’s official art. I know the text is just simple typography, but the girl in the cover is beautiful isn’t she?

2. Very long description and disclaimers in the frontpage. I felt it was necessary as I have a lot of stylistic choices, but really… nobody is going to read that. It’s just unattractive.

But this was all in the past, I can only learn my lesson from this and move on.

What now?

For starters, I want to engage with you guys more. If I have to put it bluntly… I want comments xD. Sounds stupid doesn’t it? No, really I’m serious. It was only within the late 4th week I actually got my first comment in Royal Road. In Scribble Hub, my first comment was, essentially, somebody trying to interrogate me, so he can decide whether to read my novel or not… since then, I’ve only had 1 other comment in Scribble Hub (also in the late 4th week) which I don’t actually even know what it means. Thank you to those who have commented.

So please!! I want to hear your thoughts. You can comment on anything! It can be a simple thank you. Things you enjoyed or disliked about a particular chapter. Or questions you wish to ask me! If you wish, you can always send me a pm! I really don’t know anything of how the novel is faring for you guys.

I’m a small author. So these things mean a whole lot! You have no idea! I really thank the one person who actually gave me a constructive review on Royal Road. I got a review before a comment. That’s crazy! It was thanks to him/her(?) that I actually changed from using ‘ ‘ to this “ “. So please let me hear your voices more often! I’m hoping to get more reviews in the future :)

Followage/Favourites/Ratings

For those readers that have yet to follow, please follow as it indicates to me that you are probably reading my novel! You can favourite if you enjoy it enough, and rating the novel will help my exposure! Rate it as you fit! Recommend it to others if you like! If I ever manage to get on something like trending, I would be so so happy. There will definitely be a reward if it does happen.

For now, I will be releasing a chapter some time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday… Or am I? If this page obtains at least ten comments from different users + 5 more ratings within a week and a half (Ratings Condition has been fulfilled!), Sunday will be added to the list! So it will be four chapters per week instead! You will be competing with readers from Scribble Hub. Are you going to let them have a higher release schedule?

Information about the novel

We are very close to finishing the first book! Just five more chapters until the start of the second book. For those readers who may be a little disappointed in terms of the seriousness of the novel, fret not. The second book contains one of the most deadly serious arcs of the Odyssey (occurring right after the Knights of Majesty tournament *Spoiler* that tournament is nowhere near long as the Pre-Soldier Exam). If you make it that far, I hope it will be a pleasant experience for you, I’m very excited to write about it. In fact, it's one of my biggest motivations besides you guys to write. The Pre-Soldier Exam is an utter joke in tone compared to that arc.

I would also like to point out the amount of references in the story. Perhaps for many of you my constant insertion of them stops your immersion in the story. But I won’t be stopping them. This is because I want references to be part of the world of my novel. At one point, you will see them at the current rate so much that you’ve gotten used to it. So instead, it actually immerses you into the story as one of the specialities of the novel. I don’t know if this will work, but I really hope it will!

Naturally I understand constraint and won’t use them when it is definitely not appropriate.

Closing Statement

I wholeheartedly thank everyone who has been supporting my novel so far! I’m sorry for sounding so desperate! But I want this novel to grow! I want it to be read by much more and hope they have a great experience reading this novel. Even if it may seem like shits and gigs… it really isn’t. No. That’s just part of the odyssey. I had planned popularity polls by the end of the first book, character illustrations, discord server, and other engaging stuff. But, that will be left aside for now. I really hope these things will happen in the future though. I can at least guarantee some artwork! Afterall... *Ahem*

Sincerely,

Elim