《The Mask Man In The Woods》Author's Note
Advertisement
Jesus
Christ.
This took me waaaay too long to finish. Started writing this in like what, 2015? And it's 2020. Shitballs, I really need to stick to a schedule in the future.
Anyway, like always, I wanna thank everyone for reading my fun little story! For some reason, during my long hiatus, this started blowing up and getting tons of reads and votes and comments, and I was confused as to why now when I wasn't writing (or even on wattpad for that matter), but I'm glad it did because it motivated me to finish this story and get me back to writing!
But yeah, back to the thanking;
Thanks to those who voted or commented or or added this story to their libraries or even silently read my story! I found this story particularly hard to write, mainly because I didn't know where to go or would change the storyline halfway through. I know it's handy to have a timeline of some sorts, but I was feeling hella lazy when I started writing this lol
And now to answer this question that I'm sure some people will be wondering about:
No, mostly because this book and my first book "I Want to Be Free" are a part of a series, "They're About Death", that will all come together sometime soon! My next book, "Till We're Legends" will also be a part of that series. Of course, you don't have to read that one as no main characters from this book will be apart of that book. If you would like to read more about Tristian and Varia, be on the lookout for a book that I do not have the title as of yet, but hope to have it out soon!
I guess that's all I have to say for the time being. I'm glad to have finally finished this story though it was a pain to write sometimes. I know 2020 is rough for a lot of people, but for those who use books to escape from this horrible year, hang in there. I know there's going to be a light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Advertisement
I hope everyone has a great holiday season and that everyone stays safe. Fingers crossed that the new year brings good news for everyone! Thanks for sticking with me and hope to see you guys around
Advertisement
- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial29 Chapters
The start of a rookie summoner
In a certain world a boy is born. This boy has a certain power. The power to summon everything he has ever read. Be it a weapon or a being, if he has read it he can summon it. However there is a catch. Watch as the boy grows in both power and mentality and learns more about the world.This story has a few game elements in it however that is it. I want to point out that i do not know how many chapters i will make nor the release date. I took inspiration from the novel called Summoner Hero. Check the fiction out, if you have free timeI do not own the picture. All credit goes to the photographer.
8 318 - In Serial8 Chapters
Reincarnated in Another World as a Swordswoman
A modern high school girl bored with society somehow finds herself in the confines of another world!Where will her newly discovered savage ways bring her in this world?
8 180 - In Serial26 Chapters
I Am A Hero: In A Silent Way
A utopia endangered. A follow-up to Sheer Heart Attack. Now united, the group of heroes takes a train to travel to their destination in peace. But alas, it is not meant to be. Danger is inevitable, but it is not just contained in this new world of Eden.
8 126 - In Serial12 Chapters
Umbrum
“Hahaha.” A laughter. Umbrum seemed to be like any other… actually, he didn’t, he was the unusual type.A mage coming from likely nowhere, to join the Esoteric Syndicate, one that did not even have an invitation, who bypassed the formalities by accident, who inconvenentiently stomped on unspoken rules.Despite living in troubling times where anyone could enter history, he never did, or perhaps, he was forgotten from the era itself.Isolated from the world. Why is it so ? Unfortunately, his true story is one that is untold to people and is deformed as a fiction to scare little children after his death, despite everything, he was not completely forgotten.
8 77 - In Serial6 Chapters
Greene's Monthly Contest
most writers don't have enough recognition. most of them only win awards based on the general aspects of a story; genre or theme, judged by the same things, not appreciating the genius behind the chapters. same awards, same results.--and we disagree with that.
8 97
Prev Chap
Next Chap
Chap List
Boy
Girl
