Chapter 6: How a Struggling Author Makes Progress
Senior Sister was probably busy and didn’t reply.
Jiang Miao scratched his head and decided to go to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water to clear his mind.
After returning to his chair, he tossed his phone aside and forced himself not to think about the comments for now. He would focus instead on finishing today’s chapter.
My Girlfriend Is a Content Creator
His title was simple, easy to understand, straightforward, and accurate.
Following the format of ‘My Girlfriend Is XXX’, he first used ‘girlfriend’ to highlight the fundamental focus of the novel and then used XXX to specify the girlfriend’s identity to reinforce this focus.
For a romance novel, a title that allowed readers to grasp the fundamental content and focus of the novel at a glance was adequate.
Titles like ‘Summer Rendezvous’ and ‘Winter Love Song’ were not necessarily bad. But in the current market environment, where there was explosive content everywhere and readers’ attention was scattered, they were not particularly advantageous.
Only those authors who had built a certain reader base were qualified to use such titles.
For a struggling author like Jiang Miao, if he wanted to achieve decent results with his new novel, he had to start from the title, synopsis, and beginning of the novel, ensuring good control in every aspect.In this regard, Jiang Miao felt that he had done reasonably well.
The title of the novel had already been discussed. The synopsis was essentially a simplified version of the first two chapters of the novel.
The first chapter of this novel started with the male lead being invited out by his childhood friend to watch a movie, only to be tricked into sitting in a couple’s seat and then being unexpectedly confessed to by the female lead halfway through.
Right from the beginning, it jumped to the climax scenes typical of other romance novels, which naturally attracted readers to continue reading.
However, even though it met the standards for the three major elements of title, synopsis, and opening, the novel had only just gotten off to a good start.
If he wanted to achieve a good result, the first 100,000 words of the new novel represented a crucial phase for the novel’s content, and there was no room for carelessness.
If the storyline hit a plot poison point, encountered logical flaws, or featured unlikable characters, it could easily lead to a drop in readers.
This was because when readers started a new novel, they had yet to develop a habitual interest in its characters and plot, so the cost of abandoning the novel wasn’t significant.
Only when readers had paid or read hundreds of thousands of words, investing money or time, would they begin to resonate emotionally with the characters and storyline. At this point, the likelihood of them abandoning the novel decreased.
Because the cost of abandoning the novel was already relatively high at that time, readers tended to have greater tolerance for minor flaws and inconsistencies in the story.
Only when they encountered unavoidable major issues would they decisively abandon the novel and stop reading it.
Otherwise, driven by their reading habits, even if the quality of the content declined later on, they would likely continue reading.
For Jiang Miao and his new novel, the current period was the golden phase of its release, where mistakes were least tolerated and utmost care had to be taken.
At this time, the most straightforward and convenient method was to delete the negative reviews and comments to prevent them from misleading readers who didn’t notice or think there were any issues.
But Jiang Miao disliked taking such actions.
He reserved his authority to delete posts and issue bans only for those comments that ignored the plot logic, engaged in personal attacks, or devolved into discussions involving elders or body parts.
As for discussions solely about the plot and characters without attacking the posters themselves, he saw no reason to intervene.
The problem now was that he felt that the content he wrote was not a big problem.
But there were quite a few readers expressing their disgust.
At times like this, it was a test of the author’s skills.
… Whether it was in writing novels or being human.
***
At 8 p.m., Jiang Miao emerged from his writing state.
Apart from finishing the few hundred words remaining in the afternoon chapter, he wrote an additional chapter, totaling two chapters, and released them in one go.
There was no such thing as saving manuscripts for him. Keeping manuscripts only made people lazy.
He always published as soon as he finished writing. Otherwise, if he kept chapters in his hands, he would constantly think about improving them, ultimately wasting time without much improvement in results.
After releasing today’s new chapters, he looked at the comments from yesterday’s chapter. Although some readers found no issues with the developments, many readers still expressed dislike for the female supporting character.
His head hurt.
However, when he opened WeChat, he found that Senior Sister had already replied to him.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: What’s the matter?
He looked at the time. It was half an hour ago. He wasn’t sure if she was still available.
With this thought in mind, Jiang Miao deliberated over his words before tapping his fingers on the screen.
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: I checked out the novel you recommended tonight and read yesterday’s latest chapter. I saw that many people hate the female supporting character. What do you think, Senior Sister?
He expected to wait a while, but surprisingly, Senior Sister replied instantly.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: I hate that character too.
Seeing Senior Sister’s response, Jiang Miao immediately felt a pang of heartache. Even Senior Sister, who likes… my novel, finds the supporting character hateful?
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Senior Sister, could you tell me why?
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Huh? Is there a need to ask about this?
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: This supporting character secretly took her brother’s phone and sent a message to the male lead to deceive him into going to her house. It’s obvious she’s trying to get together with him.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Moreover, she did this knowing that the male lead already has a girlfriend.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Normally, sensible girls will avoid meeting alone with a guy who has a girlfriend, let alone invite him to her place.
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: But this character’s persona is a spoiled rich second generation. Aren’t her actions logically consistent with that?
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: But we don’t care about that. We just find her annoying and hateful, plain and simple.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: But I don’t know what Peach Jam is thinking. Maybe she really needs such a character to drive the plot forward?
Jiang Miao looked at Senior Sister’s reply, pursed his lips, and fell into deep thought.
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Perhaps the author set up this unlikeable character and intends to gradually develop her perspective in subsequent plotlines to form a persona reversal?
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Of course that’s good, but readers only see what’s in front of them. This slacker updates too slowly, so who has the patience to think about future developments?
What Senior Sister said instantly awakened Jiang Miao, pulling him out of the deadlock he had been stuck in.
A feeling of enlightenment dawned on him.
So, that’s where the problem is… Jiang Miao chewed on Senior Sister’s words and gradually realized his shortcomings.
In terms of plot outline and character development, the female supporting character went from being rebellious and quirky in the beginning to learning empathy and gradually becoming gentle and understanding. Overall, it was indeed a relatively well-crafted character.
But when once placed in the context of long release periods and extensive word counts typical of web novels, the flaws in the supporting character’s personality in the early stages would be infinitely magnified, and the beauty that could only be displayed in the later stages wouldn’t have a chance to shine.
In the author’s mind, of course this supporting character was quite outstanding.
But for readers who had only read twenty-odd chapters, it was a completely different experience.
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: So that’s how it is. Sorry to disturb you, Senior Sister.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: It’s okay. I quite enjoy discussing plot details like this~
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee:] But you seem to be quite knowledgeable. It feels like you’re analyzing this from the author’s perspective?
Jiang Miao cleared his throat nervously at Senior Sister’s doubts, and his heart palpitated as he quickly explained.
[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: No, not at all. I just think it’s not easy for authors to write novels and that it doesn’t feel good to be criticized like this.
[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: That’s right! If Peach Jam knew she had a new reader like you, I’m sure she’d be thrilled!
Jiang Miao: “…”
Thrilled, my ass…
But still, thank you, Senior Sister.
At least for the upcoming plot, he really needed to make some adjustments.
Jiang Miao took a deep breath, opened the comments again, and liked the negative comments of the readers.
Then he opened the word processing software again and planned to write more while inspiration was still fresh.
Not long after, Jiang Miao received a new message on QQ.
[Congee Boss]: Don’t worry about those negative comments. Just write according to your thoughts.
[Congee Boss]: I just finished reading today’s two chapters. No complaints. I’m full of warm and fuzzy feelings~
[Congee Boss]: Oh, right, do you remember your promise about the main female lead’s illustration? The rough draft is done. I’ll send it to you to take a look~
[Congee Boss]: (Picture)
[Congee Boss]: Keep it up!
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