StLQ - Afterword

Thank you so much for reading and supporting Saving The Lich Queen! I hope you enjoyed reading my passion project as much as I enjoyed writing it.

First off, let’s get the information regarding the future of this series out of the way. Physical copies and a self-published amazon release are in the works, but other than that, the series is now completed. Book 2 is not being written. No more chapters will be dropping on Patreon, so feel free to unsubscribe.

Now for some rambling.

The vision for Saving The Lich Queen started in May of this year after I watched one particular anime, which I’m sure some of you have already connected to Lich Queen. I was touched by the atmosphere and characters of the anime to the point that, midway through, I could have very well called the show my favourite anime.

Then the last quarter of the show hit.

For those that know which show I’m talking about, you’ll know why only the first eight episodes were my favourites. To say the ending had me disappointed is an understatement. I was upset and depressed, cursing the author for taking such a beautiful story in a completely incorrect direction.

The anime kept bothering me for at least a week, at which point I decided that fuck it, I’m “borrowing” the plot and writing my own version—of course in a fantasy world and with my own touches sprinkled in. I sought to fix the ending that I believed my source of inspiration screwed up, while retaining the qualities that made it great in the first half.

From there, long hours and all nighters followed, as I wrote Saving The Lich Queen alongside my main book, The Ethersmith. I woke up every morning, wrote Ethersmith for 6-8 hours, took a small break, then continued to write Lich Queen for another 2-4 hours. And from May to July, that was pretty much my unemployed daily routine. I quickly and impulsively hired my cover artist again, fully prepared to blow all of my money on a book that wouldn’t sell. I soon completed all 24 chapters, excluding the epilogue, in around 2 months.

And with the book done, I disliked what I’d written…

The characters felt silly to me. I didn’t feel I had kept any of the good qualities I wanted to, and the ending barely felt better, with a mystery so stupid I could have very well marketed the book as a screwed-up children’s tale.

After a round of rewrites, it looked a little better. And after a second round of edits, it started to look somewhat acceptable. Not something I would call my proudest work, and I could have certainly placed the book on the shelf to hone it further later, but by this point, the hype that started the project had long been replaced by the exhaustion of spending upwards of twelve hours a day writing, every day. I just wanted to get the book out.

So I grabbed a single beta reader, who told me , “yep, shit’s good,” and trusting their word, I posted the book on Royal Road.

And whathefuck it’s #8 on the Rising Stars list????

I expected Lich Queen to have perhaps a few dedicated fans, who gave me a thumbs up, perhaps a few positive reviews. I certainly did not expect almost all the attention the book got to be positive.

There has, of course, been criticism, and I agree that the book is far from perfect, but for something I cooked up on a whim, this one has been received remarkably well.

That said, I’m far from earning a living wage with Saving The Lich Queen. At the point when I got on the Rising Stars list, I told myself I’d write a sequel only if Lich Queen started earning more than Ethersmith on Patreon, or if I got an offer from a publisher to get this shit officially selling into Amazon. So far, neither goal has happened, despite the amazing support. I’m actually still losing money on ads and the cover art, which is to be expected when posting a book as short as this into Royal Road.

Both goals are still theoretically achievable, I suppose, but for now, a book 2 is not in the works. I doubt I could create a follow-up book that’s anywhere near as exciting as the main thing regardless. So for now, if you want to check out some more of my writing, feel free to check out The Ethersmith!

And for those that didn’t get it, the anime that inspired this series is called “Erased.” Feel free to check that one out as well.

Thanks again for reading! I hope I’ve left you with some good memories, or at least a fun reading experience.

Matizu out