To borrow the famous saying of the Great Demon King, "When you lose, everything you say seems like an excuse." Similarly, when your results are bad, everything you write will seem like a pretentious speech. Originally, I didn't want to write this thing, but since everyone kept asking me to, I'll just say a few words before it's published.
It has been almost three years since I finished writing my last book. To be precise, it has been almost four years since I started writing.
Originally, I planned to retire after writing The Peach Blossom Spring and be a pure reader in the future.
Unfortunately, I left, but my heart remained here. Or rather, everyone was reluctant to let me leave, and it was because everyone was worried that I came back.
Let me explain some of the confusion. Many people are curious as to why I stopped writing in the past few years.
One of the reasons is that there were problems in my marriage in 2016, and then I got divorced. My health and condition were not good, so I stopped to rest.
The other three books are The Sword of Dynasty, Absolute Violence, and The Peach Blossom Spring. I feel that I have reached my peak, and it is very difficult to break through in the same genre.
From the first book, The Prodigal Son in the Border Town to this book, Mou Xing, it has been a long thirteen years. The protagonists, Lin Yi, Chou Tian, Lu Fei, Wu Hua, Ye Shuang, Zhang He, Da Long, and today's Ding Meng, I believe that readers can see that they have gradually transformed from young, immature, naive, and passionate to mature, calm, sophisticated, wise, and experienced. The changes of the protagonists are the truest portrayal of me, the author.
The passage of time and the changes of the world have made me no longer young. I just checked the time that A Spear of Blood was published, and it was actually August 1st, 2009. Suddenly, many scenes of writing appeared in front of my eyes, as if it was yesterday.
In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed. Now, I no longer had the courage to write 18 chapters a day, nor did I have the hand speed to write 13,000 or 13,000 words a day. I also didn't have the courage to fight for a spot on the monthly votes list. Sometimes, I felt that I was getting old, and my energy wasn't as good as before. Of course, this was normal, but more often than not, it was because there were more trivial things to do, and my thoughts had changed. I had concerns, my standpoint, and all kinds of fetters, so my style was no longer as direct, pure, and sharp as before. After all, the character "Wu Hua" was like my personal mark, deeply branded on the pen name "Border City Wanderer" by everyone.
From the perspective of web novels, I'm not a qualified author. I'm stubborn, persistent, and don't like to go with the flow. I also don't like to take care of other people's feelings. Every book has always been written according to my will, and it has never changed for any reason.
It was obvious that the results would not be good. The same was true for this book. With a three-year hiatus, what would the results be like?
Everyone can see it, and I also have an idea in my heart. As for the reason, I won't explain it here. I'm an amateur writer, and I don't have the heart to worry about professional writing. Some things, thinking too much about it will affect one's mood and state.
The result of not changing my original intention was also obvious. There was always a group of readers, whether it was when I was at my peak or when I was at my lowest, always following my footsteps and never giving up.
During the period of 15 to 19 when I didn't write, every holiday, there would always be groups of two or three readers who would travel thousands of miles to visit me. I used to say that I didn't want to face those expectant gazes, but when I met them in real life, they didn't rush me. There were only pairs of sincere and joyful eyes. Only when I waved goodbye at the train station, would they turn around and ask me the classic sentence that they often @ me in the group: "Brother Bian, will you write another book?" Every time I was speechless. When I heard this sentence in real life, my heart was filled with mixed feelings.
On the way back, I habitually asked Da Shuai to change the music in the car to Mao Buyi's "A Person Like Me". Every time I heard this song, I would have many emotions in my heart. It's been almost four years, and I thought I had almost forgotten myself. I didn't expect that everyone was still waiting for me.
What really made me decide to write a new book was a day in August of 2018. My office got a new computer, and the first thing I did when I turned it on was habitually look at the date and time in the bottom right corner. Because at this time, I would always say to myself: Usually at this time, I should be writing …
Some habits are deeply ingrained in the bone, and some passions are integrated into one's life. Just like some people's characteristics can't be changed no matter what. After three years, I'm back.
This Mou Xing is a science fiction novel, and it's not a genre that I'm good at. However, I'm really tired of writing about games. If I'm interested in the future, I can consider League of Legends. I was once a diamond rank player in Ionia, so I also want to welcome the challenge of a new field.
Mou Xing's writing process is actually full of twists and turns. Some readers pointed out that the beginning was very good, but the change in the middle was a bit abrupt. I don't want to explain, I just want to say: You're right!
As for the reason, if you really want me to explain, at the end of last year, when I was writing these plot transitions, my old man was suddenly diagnosed with stage 3 renal failure, which is also known as uremia. I don't want to talk about how I was constantly rushing between the hospital and various departments, which affected my writing. I don't like to reveal too much about my own privacy, so mentioning this topic is neither to sell pity nor to justify myself. I just want to say that under such tremendous pressure, I still tried my best to write every paragraph and every chapter. I sincerely hope that everyone can give me some tolerance and understanding. I don't think there is any author who doesn't have a little accident or personal matter that would affect their writing.
As an author who has written many books, it's very likely that I will decisively cut this book. Starting a new one is the way to go. The current era is different from the past. The pace of change is too fast, so fast that it's hard for people to adapt. They need to go with the flow and cater to the market.
In fact, I understand all these reasons, but I won't do it. I don't want to prove how great I am, but 13 years ago, when I wrote my first book, I said that I'm not a TJ. I've always cherished my pen name, kept my promise, and never went back on my words. Even if there's only one reader left in the world, I will still finish writing it. Today, I'm still proud of this: the nine books under my name, none of them are TJ's works. They were all written according to my ideas.
This is the tenth book. Whether the results are ideal or not, it doesn't matter to me now. The only thing I feel is that in such a gloomy and even dismal valley, there's still a group of cute readers who are accompanying and supporting me. So, for this tenth book, I should have written a longer speech, talked about my experiences, joked around, acted cute, asked for votes, and then thanked them. It would have been a good way to commemorate the "10" number.
But now, I don't plan to do that. All the complicated emotions and thousands of words I want to say are condensed into one word. It's not "thank you", but "write". I'll continue to write. I'll continue to write. I'll be honest to the end. Thinking back to when I wrote my first book, I've survived such a difficult and dark situation. What I'm facing now is nothing. What I don't lack the most is tenacity and perseverance. Ignore those meaningless data and don't talk about those miscellaneous things. Authors have always used their books to speak.
Two words: I'll write!
Three words: Write!
Write!
Write!
Alright, the speech is over. Everyone, continue!
It's Ding Meng's turn to play with everyone!
(PS1: My small advertisement. The works written by Langzi: "CS: Border City Langzi", "CS: Chaotic Superstars", "CS: True Colors of Heroes", "Border City Sword God", "Online Games: Blood Rush", "Invincible Black Spear", "Sword of the Dynasty", "Absolute Violence", "Meeting the Peach Blossom Spring". Some of the books are not available at Qidian and are published by him. Everyone can search for them on their own. It doesn't matter if you don't want to read the original version.
If you want to read the original version, please feel free to read it. "(PS2:" Meeting the Peach Blossom Spring "doesn't have an online version. There's only a physical version and a WeChat version. Students who want to buy it can contact all the guild masters of this book. That's right, this book is going to be made into a movie. If there's good news, I'll inform everyone.)
Border City Langzi
4. 25. 2019
Written in Youyang County, Chongqing