Chapter 59 :Author Q&A

I am opening a free chapter to answer some questions and disputes about the pacing of the recent chapters.

If you have read this far and do not think there is any big problem here, just skip to the next chapter. Sorry for interrupting your reading flow.

Here is the divider.

Before writing this chapter, Lao Lu hesitated for a long time. In the end, out of responsibility to you, dear readers, I decided to speak honestly.

I agree with a saying: when an author is forced to explain to readers why they wrote something a certain way, they have already failed.

Judging by recent feedback, the chapters since Volume Two began have, without a doubt, failed.

Even if the failure is not necessarily in the content itself.

At the very least, it is a failure of mindset. Lao Lu could not hold up under pressure and firmly complete the planned goal.

Back to the point.

From your feedback, many readers feel that the content starting in Volume Two, especially the updates from the past few days, is slow, boring, watery, pointless, and so on.

First, Lao Lu must apologize to everyone. I am sorry!

No matter what I think or how good I feel about it, that means nothing.

If readers feel this kind of dislike, it proves that Lao Lu’s ability is insufficient, my level is poor, and I let readers down, at least some of them.

Lao Lu can only admit my incompetence, learn from the lesson, and work to improve the quality of future chapters.

Of course, a simple apology does not need its own chapter.

Lao Lu also wants to use this chance to speak honestly through a Q&A.

Q1: Volume One was so tightly paced. Why slow down in Volume Two? Are you deliberately padding the word count?

A1: Volume One opened with a crisis. Danger kept rolling in, and it did not care about the protagonist’s will.

So there was not much room or chance to lay out the book’s setting and worldbuilding in detail. I could only write what was needed when it was needed.

As a result, something that looked contradictory in an early chapter might only be explained dozens of chapters later.

By the time the question is answered, the earlier contradiction has probably been complained about to death.

The more dangerous hidden problem is that Volume One looked like fun combat, but most of it was actually a pile of emotion and payoff moments.

Those plots sit right in Lao Lu’s comfort zone. Writing them made me comfortable, and readers enjoyed them, but they did little to advance the main plot and setting.

Even after more than a hundred thousand words of ‘exciting breakout,’ I had only written a starter village. Readers still knew almost nothing about the world, the demon army, the empire, and other important settings.

The only thing they could know was this: the protagonist was screwed over by a conspiracy, she had to escape from a desperate situation, and in the end she won. That was the whole simple story.

Lao Lu believes that keeping that pace would indeed create good results and attention in the short term, but it would be extremely bad for the long-term development of a book planned to run for millions of words.

You may not believe it, but Buding Mo is actually a war fantasy with a slow-burn, hardcore, long-form structure from outline to plot to setting. It even has a bit of light sci-fi.

Many flashy things may look like they were slapped together on a whim, but behind them Lao Lu has already built a full set of worldbuilding rules that match how they work, to reduce the chance of ‘made-up nonsense and illogical stuff.’

From the construction of different troop types’ magic guns to the inner workings of the entire magical girl profession, there are detailed settings behind them to keep things internally consistent.

It is only because of Volume One’s content and pace that these hardcore details could not be inserted or explained.

Of course, many readers will ask: are these things important to the story? Who would even care?

Lao Lu can tell you with full certainty: yes! Almost no one cares! They are not important at all!

But in some future stories that are bigger, stricter, and more emotionally intense, many of these unimportant settings will play a very important role in moving the story forward and helping readers understand it.

If I do not mention them during slow-paced plots, then when the fast-paced plots arrive, these things will have to be explained on the spot. That would seriously interfere with the flow of plot and emotion.

In other words, I would be borrowing against the future with present comfort.

That is what Lao Lu often means by ‘bad for the long-term operation of the whole book.’

This book has Lao Lu’s heart and effort in it. I have absolutely no intention of ‘taking four full-attendance bonuses and running.’

So slowing down at the start of Volume Two to lay out the worldbuilding and foundational settings was planned in the outline long ago.

If this disappoints you, Lao Lu can only apologize for my lack of ability and loss of pacing control, and work hard to improve and speed things up as much as possible.

Q2: The earlier characters were all veterans and strong fighters. Why does Volume Two start with a rookie squad? Are you deliberately dragging the pace?

A2: Volume One’s opening was special. It did not give low-powered magical girls a chance to appear.

Everyone who showed up was a veteran tempered by war. Their personalities and ways of thinking had already been forged and were highly similar.

But the vast majority of magical girls in this world are rookies and newbies like the survey squad members.

They can reflect the strange personalities, abilities, magic, living conditions, and other important factors that affect the story’s atmosphere and logic among mainstream magical girls.

If the story stays at a high-level viewpoint, it is very hard to see these factors from above.

As the protagonist’s status and viewpoint rise in the future, there will be almost no chance to learn about the traits of the low-level magical girls who form the foundation of the battle groups.

So Lao Lu chose to slow the pace and truly let the protagonist join and lead an ordinary squad, opening up some stories that could only happen at this stage.

If you find this viewpoint boring and do not want to read it, that means Lao Lu’s ability is insufficient. I can only apologize again and try to get through this period faster.

Q3: Why do you often spend long passages explaining magic and skills? Are you deliberately padding the word count?

A3: Lao Lu thinks this is necessary, and I am not deliberately padding.

On the contrary, compared with plot, this kind of setting must be written as rigorously as possible, and it takes more of Lao Lu’s energy.

This book is a slow-burn war fantasy. Every setting and spell has a reason to exist. Some magic even affects how the world operates. This is not an online game where I can just make up a skill and use it.

Unimportant skills get a brief mention. Useful ones will be explained in detail. That approach will not change.

Q4: Why does the protagonist sometimes act like she is going crazy or losing her mind?

A4: Yes, that is the effect Lao Lu wants. As the protagonist fights and dies more times, her mental state is affected to some degree.

Sometimes this change can recover, but over the long term, her personality is slowly moving toward a certain madness and obsessiveness.

Of course, this does not lower her moral bottom line. It is mostly directed at enemies.

If you find this kind of character development uncomfortable or unlikable, please leave a suggestion here. Lao Lu will consider adjusting it as appropriate.

Q5: Why can’t the protagonist deal with the squad’s villains in the most common way, by just striking them down and slapping their faces? Why must there be long passages of verbal attacks? Are you deliberately dragging the pace and maliciously padding?

A5: Believe it or not, Lao Lu’s intention was the exact opposite.

Lao Lu is very good at writing power fantasy. I can pull out hundreds of similar plot patterns in minutes, all different.

But Lao Lu thought readers might be tired of it. The same showing off, face-slapping, and hiding one’s strength over and over. Readers might not want to see it. So Lao Lu wanted to write something different, something against the formula.

Lao Lu also believed that anti-formula and unique plots could better fit the book’s slow-burn, long-term nature, and in the end make Buding Mo more distinctive and unique, with more difference from the flood of similar books.

In addition, Lao Lu thought that showing the protagonist’s observation, verbal attack, and psychological pressure skills would complement her previous behavior. It could further complete and solidify her character, and also serve as a payoff from a different angle.

So the original design of this plot, and its later development, was to solve the problem at the root without lifting a hand, in an anti-formula way. It was a slightly packaged version of ‘showing off and face-slapping.’

But judging from reader feedback, I am sorry. Maybe Lao Lu was too self-important in chasing uniqueness and made things worse.

So the next few chapters have been torn down and fully rewritten. I am starting now. There will definitely be hard face-slapping.

Q6: In your recent writing style, you deliberately write so many settings, conversations, skills, and inner thoughts in such detail, with so much useless talk. Are you deliberately padding?

A6: It is not deliberate. Lao Lu’s original writing style is like this.

Early on, to fit this site’s style and keep the pace and emotion of the early crisis plot, I deliberately held my style back.

But suppressing instinct is hard to keep up.

When the plot reaches a point with many characters, complicated settings, and parts that need explanation, Lao Lu’s style returns to its comfort zone. I use my most familiar long speeches to explain a thing fully and render the emotion thoroughly before I am satisfied.

I believe if you have read my afterword, author’s notes, including this chapter, you can probably tell that Lao Lu’s speaking style is this detailed and ‘wordy.’

This is my writing style. It is probably hard to control.

Q7: You slowed the pace and padded the word count. I feel like I wasted money subscribing. Are you maliciously grabbing money?

A7: I have explained the first two points. I will not repeat them.

For the last point, Lao Lu will say something from the bottom of my heart.

Dear readers, you probably cannot imagine how weak traffic at this site is right now, and how terrifyingly low the income has become.

To put it bluntly, Lao Lu keeps a steady update schedule every day. If I spent the time I use for writing on handing out flyers or delivering food, I would earn far, far, far more than my subscription income.

The biggest part of the income is not subscriptions at all. It is the pitiful full-attendance bonus the site pays!

And even that is not something I can always get.

Aside from the authors of the top explosive hit books, most ordinary authors, including Lao Lu, if they can keep writing a book to the end, honestly, all have a bit of passion in them.

With Lao Lu’s level, and I am not bragging, if I were really only in it for money, I would not be here.

From story to subject matter, Buding Mo has some love in it. It is a long-form work carrying hopes of self-fulfillment.

So when Lao Lu sees words like ‘scamming money, grabbing money, cheating money,’ I can only smile helplessly. It is a bleak smile.

I have said too much. Lao Lu does not mean to complain. I only want to explain my thought process.

Every reader’s subscription, monthly ticket, and tip is still the greatest support for Lao Lu. It helps me enormously. I am deeply grateful!

Q8: Your writing style is too AI! And it is so watery. Did you use AI?

A8: Lao Lu is an old fogey who cannot fit into the times. I stubbornly hate and reject all AI writing. I will not use it and do not want to use it. Lao Lu had this style before AI even appeared. Please do not insult me on this point.

The only place Lao Lu has anything to do with AI is the typo detection function built into my writing software.

If Buding Mo was written with AI, may I be hit by a car the moment I leave the house and die with no intact corpse!

On this point, apart from swearing an oath, Lao Lu has no better way to prove myself. Whether you believe it is up to you.

Complaining that this book is watery, bad, or poorly written is fine. That is the reader’s right.

But if it involves spreading rumors, Lao Lu can only delete the comments to keep them from affecting other readers.

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