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Okay. Just going to state it outright.

I fucked up.

After a weekend to think about the direction the last chapter went, and speaking with a  few other authors who have been helping me bounce Ideas, I can safely say that I did not fully think through the repercussions of the interlude ending.

But the simple fact is that this has knock-on effects that I did not fully think through while tunnel-vision writing the sequence of events. I got stuck on making something work, and expanding it far past what I originally intended.

And with that, comes the fact that it completely and utterly screws up the route I was intending on taking, and essentially makes a bunch of the planning for the climax of the main and final arc useless.

So, after a weekend of consideration, talking to others, and seeking advice I have come to a decision that likely will not be popular, but I feel is necessary.

I’m going to retcon some of the events of the previous chapter.

It's bullshit, quite frankly. I know I’d be angry if something like this happened.

But at the end of the day, I’d rather take responsibility, tell you guys what happened and take the ship back to shore, than bolt planks onto leaks and pray nobody notices until we sink in the middle of the ocean.

I understand and agree with any ill feelings people have over this move. You may have really enjoyed the previous events, and for that, I’m sorry, but at this point in time, I cannot keep it as it is.

This is my mistake, and offer my apologies for this annoying and frustrating move. It feels like rehashing the same stuff over and over again, with minor changes. Lots of people have already read the damn thing twice.

The revamped chapter will go up today, along with the next chapter in the sequence.

Again, I apologize for the frustration and annoyance I have caused with these actions.

Comments

Anonymous

Is okay. This is what we signed up for.

Anonymous

You're good

Kittora

You do you. It's your story. It's best if your happy with it.

Anonymous

It’s your story, do what you need to do make your vision. If you need to retcon, do it! In the long run I have faith it will make the story better!

Anonymous

Ehh sall good. Your story, we are just here to enjoy it with you. :)

Manu Sniter

Idk that anyone has the right to be angry at retconning a single very recent chapter in favour of the continuity and pay off. It's not like you wrote 5 books finished the story and decided to retconn stuff 10 years later. Don't ever fall for the sunk cost fallacy as a writer. Specially in this type of chapter per chapter format.

Armo

Eh, retcons are retcons, and that’s okay. Hope you change it and feel that it better builds up towards the climax of the story.

Chad L.

No worries. I enjoyed the old chapter, and I expect to enjoy the new ones.

Sean Ulrich

Honestly, this book is your work. You have the right to make it however you feel is better. I just hope you continue to enjoy writing as we do reading.

Kristof Dohrmann

Honestly, this is the beauty of publishing on the internet, retcons are thing you can easily do and it's not like you're completely changing something that happened 4 months ago.

chumponimys

Honestly, this is what I'm paying for. I want to both support you in writing this fiction, but also get to see a little behind the curtain. We're your beta group. I'm just glad that you're working this out before delivering it to the massively larger fanbase on RR.

Anonymous

The problem with serialized fiction is that you have so little time to think about the story before it reaches the readers, resulting in issues like this. The flip side is that a retcon in a serialized fiction is waaaaay easier than in a published work. Keep up the good work, man.

Cole Deucalion

It's cool. Please just throw in an author comment where things have changed. I can be dumb sometimes and miss it

Ironforge

This is all a work in progress so seeing rewrites and fixes here and there is expected.

Anonymous

That's why this is a preview. We kind of expect changes between the beta draft and final version.

Anonymous

Serial fiction is hard; I'd be more surprised if you didn't, at some point, need to retcon something. Do what you need to do to fix things; us readers will still be here when you're done.

Anonymous

Love you

Srikanth Kotagiri

It’s perfectly fine. We are here to go along with your thought process. If anyone is expecting a perfect plot on the first attempt for a long story they can wait for the book to come out.

JohnZ

Tbh I have no issues with this type of retcon whatsoever. I would be dissatisfied if it came about 100 episodes, 3 arcs and 5 years later down the line with no explanation (looking at you Naruto), messing up everything that was established prior to that. Otherwise I think everything is Gucci.

Kevin Caffrey

I can't speak for others, but I feel like I kind of signed up for this when subscribing to "early access". I would rather have the story be the best you can make it, instead of settling for subpar in order to avoid making edits. If there were several major revisions of every chapter it might get annoying, but for every once in a while, it seems fine to me! If I wanted to only read the final version, I would wait for the public release!

Corwin

You haven't done anything wrong at all. In a traditionally published book an author would be making changes regularly during the writing process. You are publishing this in a much more difficult way that allows little room for error. Frankly, I'm impressed that you are writing such a cohesive novel in serial format. Do whatever you need to do to give us the finished product that you envision. Little setbacks like this don't hinder my enjoyment at all; they simply reiterate your desire to give us the best product possible.

Manofonezerg

Don’t sweat it. Rewriting is a normal part of the process, and I think most people on Patreon appreciate being able to peer behind the curtain and see that process in action.

Anonymous

Don't worry mate, I'm sure you'll so great

Anonymous

Rewriting a single chapter in the current book doesn't even count as a retcon, it's just normal editing. Traditionally published authors keep the whole thing private so they can go back and edit events *dozens of chapters back* and nobody complains.

Anonymous

I love you.

Guessed

Thanks for the nice post about it, these things happen though and don't worry about it on our account! I'm glad you set yourself straight before the jackals in the RR comment section saw it lol, and hey now we have a cool deleted scene.

Leander

It‘s ok, that happens, I‘ll gladly reread a retconned chapter if that means you will be able to continue the story like you had envisioned. Mistakes happen to everybody, and one of the advantages of the chapter-by-chapter format is the ability to correct mistakes easily.

Aaron

Thanks for the transparency - given the story so far I'm happy to trust your instincts. A single chapter rewrite is nothing in the scheme of things.

Linkneo5

Open communication and honesty go a long way. Stuff like this is totally fine. I'm not even upset tbh. And the fact that you are organized enough to worry about the bigger picture and future plot is comforting. All too often authors write themselves into a corner then go on hiatus forever. This way is soo much better :D

DocteurNS

Speaking from experience, retconning a single chapter after a couple of weeks will always be better than regretting it dozens of chapters later when you are drowning in damage reduction adjustements. And I feel that is also what anticipated chapters are about. It's seeing the behind the scenes and the stumbles. Conclusion, retcon away, good author! Retcon away.

Tzeneth

I'm glad you informed us of the changes but I don't have any problem with it. Especially if the changes are necessary for the long term of the story. I'll just point out that novels get a lot of revisions during the writing process normally and some authors have to rewrite everything because the most logical outcome doesn't work for the story they're trying to tell which then requires a few changes that then avalanche into a lot more.

taukid

Yeah, especially when it hadn't even gone live on RR. I don't consider it officially released until the public release on RR, so I wouldn't consider it a retcon. I actually follow a couple authors that release drafts on their Patreon and use their patrons as a test audience to hear their feedback before the final release.

Adam Daw

One of the beauties and also problems with writing a novel "live" like serials do is that you can't edit and change plot points without people knowing, but it's such a crucial aspect of putting together a final work. I think you did great.

Anonymous

I preferred the rewrite tbh. So no worries. I was not really happy the first time. So nicely done. And thanks for communicating with us so honestly.

Anonymous

It sounds like you took a hard look at the Big Picture and decided to make a difficult but necessary decision; thank you for doing what you believe is best for the long-term, even though it is embarrassing and difficult. I'm proud of you 😊

The Lost Pages

Having read your revamped chapter, I think you did the right thing. Nezan is just too interesting of a character to die off that way.

Anonymous

Oh no, more content to read..... you monster....... hahaha

Anonymous

It takes whatever it takes to do it right. All good!

MountHermon

This right here is why I signed up for your Patreon. To get a look behind the curtain and see how the sausage is made, if you mind me mixing a couple of metaphors.

Swinter

How terrible, you gave us more fun to read :D. Great change, I think you made the right choice!

Faiir

Changing stuff a few days later doesn't even count as a retcon, seriously.

Anonymous

1000% support

Anonymous

I just want to say that in the end this is your story to write, you shouldn't have to apologize for it.

Jeff Petkau

When you rewrite it's just more awesome chapters to read. What sort of crazy reader would be angry about that?

Thiemo Guenther

I always try to acknowledge that unless an author were to be writing a commission for me, it's THEIR story they are writing, according to their vision. And it doesn't have to align to how I might be imagining it. Just because a turn of events or a story arc is somewhat unpopular/gets negative reactions, doesn't mean the author is "doing it wrong". People can unfortunately get quite vicious, and this kind of forum can expose an Author directly to it, unfortunately. Try to keep the vision of the story you want to write firmly in your mind, because I've seen an unfortunate number of stories die, when the author couldn't withstand the pressure of those who wanted a different story from that which was being written, and gave up...

Dee

No need to apologize, you can and do have creative freedom of your own work and we’re here for it. I’d also point out that we’re funding your Patereon for *early access*. This is par for the course. Good luck!

Saaski

Don’t worry about it. This kind of thing it’s par for the course when you’re publishing chapter by chapter. I’d rather you retconned a few times, than have you write yourself into a ditch and abandon the story altogether.

Anonymous

I support your decision

Faolen

Dude it's just the writing process. Sometimes you get it all right and sometimes you don't. Seeing this process in action is good as well. And gives me anticipation for the future.

V

Entirely agree with this take. Revision should not be seen as a negative; it's avoiding writing yourself into a corner and creating a better story overall.

Nigel Franklin

It's not that deep, I can't imagine holding some grudge against you for your totally normal creative process.

taukid

Mixing metaphors? Personally, I always make my sausage behind a curtain.

Killer Pickle

Don’t worry man that’s sort of the process of writing, especially since this is an early release platform. Also it’s good to see that you recognised the problem and went back to fix it

Weldt

I really like your story it's new and fun so keep on changing it and make it better. There are many webnovel stories out there that needs those changes that you are making so IMHO I really wanna see a well thought out webnovel. If you think about well thought out stories most of the time it takes ages to release and yes I'm talking about you Patrick Rothfuss ... I've been waiting for Doors of Stone for years now I even read your books on real paper written books not like today when I use a kindle :s

Beardo

Still love your work mate. Sit down, drink some tea, eat some good rice and be proud you make something many love.

Anonymous

Making a draft and then scrapping it is a perfectly normal part of the creation process, from a readers standpoint it is a bit annoying but what ultimately matters is creating the story you intend and not something you regret because you were scared to fix a mistake.

Nick Marini

Definitely willing to read it again, after all if not this then what are Patrons good for? I signed up knowing full well I’d basically be a test audience. And while I’ve loved what’s happened so far, if you need to retcon a few things to make what is in your opinion a better story, then by all means do it. Just make sure you have it straightened out by the book release 😂

Leaf

Just a chapter man, I’ll enjoy it either way ♥️ take care of your self, life is too important to take so seriously

Anonymous

Don't sweat it love the story you got lots and lots of credit with me.

Anonymous

No sweat mate

Bobby B.

This thing? This patreon? It's not just a "chapters-ahead" thing, its somewhere you can drop your process, where you can post different versions of the same chapter, or fight scene, heck, same emotionally charged argument! Until you feel its ready, yaya the point. For me at least

Anonymous

eh, revision is fine! your story, make it how you want. Posting and then having a better idea doesn't even qualify as a mistake, imho, just " that's how writing goes sometimes."

Anonymous

Hahaha don't worry about it. A revision in a book is the best you can do so plot holes don't exist. I appreciate the honesty of your character and respect for your work. Like everyone here, they want to be entertained by a good history, is a revision is necessary for that, I'm fine with that.

N0ct3m

It's your story man.

DNAjester

goddamn please add a note at the beginning of the last 2 chapters that states please skip real final chapter is here (insert hyper link)