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Should I rewrite the arrangement between Hayakawa Kaede and Lee Jia? (Patreon)

Published:
2021-06-09 04:54:37
Edited:
2021-10-01 23:07:55
Imported:
2022-01

Content

I've gotten a lot of feedback about the second arc, and chapter 52 in particular, and it seems like many readers are not satisfied with the way things turned out after Yue's initial betrayal and the agreement that Lee Jia made with Hayakawa to become a vassal/retainer. After a lot of consideration, I've decided that if people feel strongly enough about it, I will go back and make some changes.

Obviously, that's not a very light undertaking. While the change wouldn't be massive, there would be a bit of a butterfly effect, and at this point there's an entire novel between that chapter and the latest draft that I would have to review and edit for consistency. The poll is up on the latest chapter on RoyalRoad as well, but I'm giving a bit more weight to the patron poll, since it will have more of an impact on those who have read further ahead.

Comments

Robert Mullins

I've never read a story that survived a rewrite going back more than 2 or 3 chapters. After you complete the story you'll probably have other things you'll want to rewrite anyway so save it for then.

DarkTechnomancer
>>61549519

I get what you're saying, but honestly I think the problem is 99% in the way the deal was portrayed. It's a framing problem rather than a complete narrative failure. I think that I could make the retcon with minimal repercussions for the intervening chapters. It's a tough decision either way. It's also pretty disheartening when when I am constantly getting comments on the chapter from people saying that they've decided to drop the story because of it. There's basically two camps of people: the ones who gave up on it then and there, and those who continued reading in the hopes that the deal would be somehow reversed or abolished later.

Robert Mullins

I have no idea what the story repercussions of either choice are, and telling me would only be an invitation for major spoilers I wouldn't want. That being the case, the pragmatic choice for me is to pick the one that has the highest chance of being written to completion. Which in basically every case is the one that doesn't involve a rewrite. You would know better though. Will rewriting increase your chances of writing to completion or decrease it? Anyone who was bothered by the previous choice for that scene is either gone or willing to overlook it. So the only people who would seriously benefit from the rewrite are you and new readers. Neither case makes current readers views particularly valuable.

Robert Mullins

To condense what I've already said to something simpler. I pick option 3.) The choice that encourages you to write more and maintain momentum. If you honestly think that choice is the rewrite then do so. Just be aware that that can quickly turn into a downward spiral of rewriting or quiting/delaying because things are never good enough.

DarkTechnomancer
>>61550343

Fair point. I knew when I posted both polls that there would be significant survivorship bias because of exactly what you've just described. As far as finishing the story goes—that was always the plan. I intend to finish this story even if not a single person is reading it by the end. That said, it would naturally be preferable to have more people reading it. Thank you for the comments. I really appreciate the extra insight. This is a difficult decision, and I don't really have the experience to predict what kind of impact it will have on reader discovery, retention, or enjoyment. The sentiment on RoyalRoad seems to be that it should be reverted if not outright retconned, but RR users tend to be extremely critical and fickle, since there's an abundance of quality fiction to choose from on the platform (they can afford to be picky).