Chapter 144 - Volume 2: Afterword

Over a hundred chapters in, and the end of the second volume(82 Chapters!). For those who read my first Afterword, you'll know my goal coming into this was to introduce more characters, Blessed, and how they interact, interfere, and affect the MC's choices.

You'll know that I started this novel for it to be a tad bit darker, gritty, while intent on developing side characters in a unique and interesting way. This has still been my modus operandi, but volume two didn't turn out as I hoped. The feedback has been a mix of positivity(thanks to you all) and negativity(which in hindsight, I could understand).

I feel like my intentions and desires for this volume became twisted by my unintentional want to connect two characters and highlight a struggle. While I don't regret creating this type of uniquely and rarely seen relationship and interactions between two characters, I will definitely seek to improve upon it and my clarity of writing going forward. I fully apologize if it was an uncomfortable or distasteful read for some.

To be clear: Coming into this, I had a concrete plan. Explore the world, introduce the concept of other Blessed into this world, meet new side-characters that will impact the MC, have the events or people in volume one affect or drive volume two, and develop unique and strange relationships with others that are both divisive and thought-provoking. And while that was completed, even if not all of it was positive, it was done. The only issue was perhaps it wasn't executed in the best way possible, and I admit that.

There were times I questioned myself. I wondered if I should write it like this, should I continue with this path, or should I scrap the entire thing and rewrite volume two completely. Then someone sent me a very enlightening message: "Novels have good and bad moments, you just have to ensure that your novel is great in the end. You'll find your flow."

Only then did I have an epiphany; I'm writing this novel with an end goal in my heart, and every word and chapter is a learning experience. As I move forward towards that end goal, I can only hope to bring forth better developments and changes for you and me. In the end, what matters is that the novel is a great, unforgettable experience that I want it to be and know it can be. A volume that isn't liked by some doesn't mean it's over. It just means I'm still finding my flow, and so is the overall novel.

So I want to start volume three with a fresh mindset while keeping in mind what made volume one great and volume two a little unenjoyable. I'll drive this forward and hope that I can make volume two seem like a blip and bump in the overall heart-shaking journey that's to come. By eclipsing it with the future! The awesome, exciting, and hilarious scenes, clashes, revealments, character developments and world exploration, while simultaneously improving my writing and ability to convey what I want to all you phenomenal readers.

Alright, I've said all I needed to say on that. Now I'll explain my goal for this next volume!

Alchemy! Status! Growth! World-Building! Bloody Adventures!

Let's just jump right into it.

P.S: I'll be using italics to represent thoughts now. I want you, my readers, to better understand the recognize characters point of views. I want them to say it, and not me to tell it. <3 One of my goals is to improve dialogue and clarity of characters, and for the latter, this is just one step to achieving that.

P.S.S: Italics don't seem to work on mobile so the extra format of 'Thoughts' will be added just in case, and hopefully this problem gets resolved.

----

Here's some famous literary book quotes because of Word Count...You can skip this if you want.

"Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.

You forget some things, dont you?

Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget." – Cormac McCarthy, The Road

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." – Frank Herbert, Dune

"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind." – Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

"…I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were." ― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

"The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart." – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

"We believe that we can change the things around us in accordance with our desires—we believe it because otherwise we can see no favourable outcome. We do not think of the outcome which generally comes to pass and is also favourable: we do not succeed in changing things in accordance with our desires, but gradually our desires change. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant to us. We have failed to surmount the obstacle, as we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us round it, led us beyond it, and then if we turn round to gaze into the distance of the past, we can barely see it, so imperceptible has it become." – Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time