Weekly Roundup #4

Hey there!

It's been two weeks since the last roundup, so here we are again!

First of all, it's been a wild week for me with all the earthquake scare and the sheer work of getting the words out. I've managed to handle that, so I'm feeling just fine. Thanks, once again, for your kind wishes.

Onto the book, with the last chapter, we're getting into the final arc. It's been a long book, and the capital arc has expositionary chapters that I don't love, but I also don't hate them. I wasn't sure whether the Midnight Assembly and Magi Guild parts would be well-received by readers, and whether I could keep the pacing just right, but things are looking good.

Serial web writing is a different beast. I knew from the very first day that I started writing Arcanist that if I kept the numbers going up vibe throughout the book, it would attract more readers and attention. A mystery or two here and there would be fine, but sticking to the fundamentals of LitRPG and building the story in a way that delivers a dopamine hit to readers would yield more results to work with.

I didn't do that. I wanted more.

From the start, I had planned to tie the first dungeon plot to the second Cursed Arc and have the characters arrive in the capital for the ending. Through that, I wanted to sprinkle meetings with different characters, worldbuilding, and a clearer sense of the setting.

Looking back at it now, even though I feel confident in my choices, the general decline of Patreon and the readers who left in silence sometimes make me doubt. That's still a part of this whole thing that I'm getting adjusted to. I'm especially conscious of Midnight Assembly because it occurred to me that it has a few key similarities with Lord of the Mysteries, a book I read years ago that somehow became an inspiration for me.

Moving on, we'll be addressing the elephant in the capital, and things that await us in its depths. Then we'll be back to grinding. I hope to see you along the journey. It'll be a fun one, I promise.

As always, I welcome all feedback. What do you think about the story? What parts didn't you like, or what parts do you want more explored in the future?

Thanks in advance to all of you.

Cheers :3