Post Act 1 Author Notes; Changes to Upload Schedule

(Very Long) Author’s Note:

(Chapter 60 has just been posted, so if you’re looking for today’s chapter update, it’s on the other post)

Book 1 is finished on RR! And Book 2 is always now moving on to the main action.

The following is a very long author’s note that I usually do at the end of an Act. You can skip to the end if you wish; there are some important details about changes in the upload schedule. Look for the line break.

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I initially didn’t believe I could squeeze it all into 50 chapters, but I think it ended nicely. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to write everything I wanted. I’ve been actively trying to maintain a faster pace and avoid long segments of exposition. While I think the story’s pacing is much improved from my previous works, it has left a lot of unfinished side plots and unexplained plot holes, as the recent comment discussions have shown.

Things like the System Bond and the System Shop were never fully explored. The black wine Eri received all the way back in Chapter 8 never had a good opportunity to be brought up again. I also initially wanted to explore more interaction between Eri and the side characters — Dulcina, Elen, Joarris, Kalisa, the Twins, even the demon Marchosias — but there was never enough room. There’s also the Goddess Tithe, Eri’s Core Corruption, his Giant Artes, and a bunch of other worldbuilding stuff that I’ve missed.

A lot of the content I wrote ended up being removed because it was slowing down the story progression too much. As unfortunate as it is, I still think it was the right decision, because otherwise I risk overbloating the story with exposition again, which pretty much killed my previous works before.

‘Re:Hero’ performed a lot better than my other stories, and I am very grateful to everyone who read up to the end of Act 1. It means a lot to me, and I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

However, I think there were two major mistakes I made with it that drove a lot of readers away.

The first mistake was with the first five chapters. A lot of people hated Eri’s ‘Gamer’ speech. It was never meant to be permanent; only lasting 5 chapters, and serving to highlight his crippled social development during his early years, when he only had the System to guide him. This was explained in Chapters 5 and 6 as well.

Unfortunately, many readers dropped it before they got that far, judging by the comments. I have added a post-chapter note in Chapter 2, but I doubt that it will help. Losing readers like that was regrettable because it seemed like a simple mistake to correct. I had considered changing it, or even just removing those five chapters entirely, but the content within them was too important to the plot of future chapters. So, terrible as they are, the first five chapters remained.

The next big mistake (probably way bigger than the first) was the reveal of Eri’s powers, specifically at the lake port, around chapter 23.

Many readers really didn’t like that. I had thought it a way to showcase Eri’s growth, as a test of his sense of self-preservation versus his desire to become a Hero. The choice between the ‘selfish’ act of leaving Joarris’s group to die in order to protect himself and his secrets, against the ‘selfless’ act of saving them despite the risk of exposing himself to fatal dangers.

I think not a day has passed since I posted that chapter without someone commenting on their displeasure at this development. Again, this was a massive failure on my part, because I’m pretty sure I lost more of my readers here than in every other chapter combined. Most of the negative reviews of this story revolve around that chapter as well.

There seems to be a misconception (that I have repeatedly tried to correct) that Eri is some sort of genius or all-knowing savant because he was the previous Demon King. He really isn’t, because, as a Demon King, his mental development was the stunted equivalent of a robot. He was a killing machine, and little more than that. Though there were moments of cognitive growth in those long centuries, he was, for the most part, stagnant and unchanging.

But then he became human, with a very loose goal in mind and a radically different upbringing from everyone else. His behaviour and personality are thus a lot more aligned with ‘twelve-year-old ignorant prodigy’ than ‘ancient wise Demon King’, which was why he makes the decisions that he does — because he’s twelve.

But regardless of how I may try to justify it, it doesn’t matter, because the numbers and the comments speak for themselves. People hated that he revealed his powers at the port, even if he did it to save others, and even when the alternative was to let everyone die — something Eri would never have allowed, even when it puts him at risk.

Did I regret writing that part? Yes, quite a lot, actually. The book could have likely performed far better without that scene. There was probably a better way I could have framed his heroic struggles and his nascent, growing character. His developing (even innocent) personality and morals were also never fully explained, which is likely why people dislike his choices. 

But, in a way, I think it suited Eri to make that difficult decision. The selflessness of heroes to preserve the lives of others at great expense to themselves is something I have always admired.

Going forth, I’ll be taking these lessons into Act 2, and also into any new stories I may write. Regretful as those mistakes are, they are important lessons for me if I am to ever improve my craft and write better stories.

I will also be taking some time to go over the suggested grammar edits of the past 50 chapters. To all those who pointed out grammatical mistakes, thank you, truly. I know I don’t respond to them these days, but I really appreciate them. I do plan to go and correct them, now that Act 1 is complete, so all your help will be invaluable.

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The next part concerns the chapter updates for Act 2. Unfortunately, I can no longer continue with the daily chapter uploads. In the first place, my writing speed is nowhere near fast enough to do daily chapters, and with my backlog soon to run dry, I will have to slow down the rate of updates. In a way, it was a miracle that the daily chapters lasted till the end of Act 1 on RR. I was running on fumes for practically the whole month, trying to keep up.

Chapter updates will be changed to 3 times a week for now. I’m trying to push for 4, but with real-life responsibility increasing and rent rising (again!), I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up. At the very least, however, I will ensure three chapters a week going forward. Patreon will also receive a slight increase in advance chapters, from 10 to 15, over the next week, while the pricing will remain the same. It’s not much, but I hope it makes the tier slightly more valuable. Though I’m doubtful I’ll reach my goal, if the Patreon tier ever manages to reach 250 paid members, I’ll increase the upload schedule to 5 chapters a week, as I’ll be able to quit one of my current responsibilities and focus more on writing.

To all my Patreon members, thank you so much for your support, as it allows me to write while still affording the bills. The story would have never made it this far without your contributions. Eri still has some ways to go before he reaches the end, so I hope you will stick around to see the rest of his heroic journey.

That’s all I have for now. For Patreon, daily chapters will continue until the end of next week to increase the advanced chapters to 15, so you won’t have to wait long for the next update. If you have read to the end of this long rant, thank you so much. Thanks for giving my story a shot and for reading all the way through Book 1. There are many more chapters to come, so I hope you will stay and enjoy the rest of Eri’s hectic adventures.