Chương 64: NOT A CHAPTER - PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU START DOOMING - Semi-hiatus notice

TL; DR: I feel like the pressure has been making the quality dip, and I want to get the story into a better state and build a little backlog without pressure before fully jumping back into things. For the next 1 month (until August 19) I will be taking things slower and not committing to regular uploads until I get things back on track. By the end of this month, though, the edits will be complete, and the story will be in a much better state. I won't go into too much detail, but I've been very busy irl lately.

Unusually busy. I actually chose the worst possible time to launch because these past two months have just been swamped with travel and life changes that are not my norm at all. For example, in a couple weeks, I will be moving to a new country. And then on top of all that, I was a dumbass and thought "Oh yeah, lemme just set up a Patreon to financially obligate myself to writing daily chapters on top of all that."

Basically, I haven't been able to give the story as much thought as it deserves, and the constant pressure of more chapters I think has had a negative effect on the quality. I think the worst fruit of that was what happened in B1, which I have partially fixed, and am in the process of fully fixing, but I think that I also messed up this current arc a bit. Not a ton, but I think I rushed into it in the chapters following chapter 63, and I don't want to put those rushed chapters out on RR without fixing things up.

Looking at the comments on these early B2 chapters and seeing people saying what they're excited for made me realize that I somewhat lost sight of what I like about the writing this story. I was so focused on moving the plot and getting something "exciting" that I forgot to write what was enjoyable. The good news is that this arc is definitely not a wash. I've got a cool end planned, and I feel like it's generally on the right track.

I just have some regrets about things I failed to set up earlier when I was rushing, and I want to write that out. That's the reason that chapter 74 didn't get posted on time on Patreon last night, and why it also won't be out tonight. I kept trying to write it and going "Ah, but if I had just done X back in chapter 64, I could make this chapter so much cooler!" and "If only I had done Y in chapter 68! Then I wouldn't need to write things this way, and I could do it in a more fun way instead!"

Except that I felt so much pressure to get the chapter out that I kept trying to force the chapter out anyway, and then I got halfway through 74 and realized "I shouldn't be doing this." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I took a mental break last night, and tonight I sat down and started thinking through some edits, and I realized that I need to make these now.

If I just force the arc out and say "oh, I'll come back and fix it later" then I'll just be digging myself in an even deeper hole. You guys will get bored and leave, I'll be unhappy with the story and writing it will become tedious, and everything I've built will fall apart, just because I'm trying to keep a few subscribers for just a day longer. And then on top of that, I still have edits to B1 to finalize.

They won't even take that long, but I've been dreading making them because every second I spend working on them is time I'm not spending working on the B2 edits, and every second I spend on the B2 edits is time I'm not spending furthering B2. But if I take the time I need to make those edits, then I won't be putting out the regular content I promised, and it'll be kinda like scamming you guys out of money that you paid for a good that you are not getting.

I made this decision because I feel like a death spiral is coming, and want to avoid it. There's nothing worse than feeling forced to work on a story that you're starting to hate. I will be taking some time to work without pressure and turning the story into something more fun. I'll finalize those dev edits I want to make, then build up a bit more backlog.

I'll see if I can wrap up this arc before the billing resumes, and wrap it up in a way I'm satisfied with so I can start fresh in the next one, and get back to a regular schedule. By the time the billing unpauses, my chaotic life will also have settled down finally, so I'll be able to put more of my mind into the story. My current schedule (not at all firm to avoid putting too much pressure on myself): Week 1: Finalized B1 and B2 edits Week 2-3: Write ahead in this arc and try to finish it out.

Week 4: Take things a little slower and think through the next arc a bit more Week 5: Back to your regularly scheduled content, as this is when billing will unpause I will continue uploading to Patreon through the paused billing time period, but I won't have any commitment to anything regular. That's kind of how I put myself into this mess in the first place, so...

Also, weeks 2-3 will be the even busier than the past month (that's when I'm moving), so I don't want to commit to anything too firm over that time period. When I come back, don't be too surprised if I am at a slightly reduced pace. I think that once I get back on track, daily chapters should be doable again, but I might reduce to 5/week on Patreon and 4/week here on Royal Road, just for load management purposes, and if I do end up writing daily chapters, that's just extra backlog for me, or bonus content for you.