Sorry for dropping off the internet for a couple months. There’s just been a lot of things going on, and WordPress’ complete redo of their editors and shit just … the stress just kind of imploded on me.
It makes me laugh that they supposedly changed everything to make it faster and easier to use, but the loading time whenever I click on anything makes me wonder if my browser is freezing. As for easier to use… well, change takes time to get used to, so no comment.
First off, I’m coming back, aiming for an update by April 21. I’d say 19th, but my new office furniture is coming in then, so, uh… might be busy.
Second, the more relevant reasons as to why I’ve disappeared are related to my health, my writing in general, and WFB in particular.
As for my health, I mentioned I injured my back a while ago, and uh… so, I basically write sitting on the ground, in front of an ottoman, sitting in contorted positions for hours on end. My back is very, very unhappy, and that’s why I’m getting a foldable desk on Monday. Last month was also the worst monthly cycle I’ve had, the whole month not just the week of the red wave, because women can also feel like shit mid-cycle. This made me nauseous and vertigo-y, and generally made it difficult to write and translate.
As for my writing, I just had something like an existential crisis, Not really going to get into that, but it was partially exascerbated by WFB.
So about WFB… …
Okay, history time: WFB is my first story after a decade of not writing, and uh… I think it kind of shows. A lot of things and plotpoints have been spiraling out of hand, and I feel like I’m riding a mechanical bull, and the bull’s winning.
I’ve been really frustrated that the chapters I’ve been posting have felt really … fluff. It keeps feeling like things are happening, but not really, and I’m not thrilled with it because I don’t know where things are going anymore.
I don’t want to just drop the story, but it’s been tough to slog through, and I was beginning to wonder if I just can’t write anymore or what – cue existential crisis.
Long story short, I’ve decided I still like writing, and I still want to finish WFB, just maybe that I should be lowering my expectations for the first story I attempted to tell in ages, especially when I hadn’t done much planning or prior characterization, just trying to copy JLN styles. So, uh… plot holes and red herrings are just going to happen from now on, but hopefully less jumping of various sharks. I want to tell the story that developed despite a lot of other faff, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.
Ohanashi 
Sorry about the issues with the changes in the site. Also, I hope the new desk helps with the back issues.
Regarding WFB, I’ve been wondering for a handful of chapter uploads if it wouldn’t be good to be out of the regular rotation just so you could mull over plot progression and it could be a “whenever you finish a chapter it’s a bonus!” sort of series. This is coming from someone whose favorite story on the site is WFB, so I’m constantly, “Is there another WFB chapter out? no? *disappointed face*”. I’ve been enjoying the pacing of the chapters, for what it’s worth.
I had more to say, but I’d rather just say, I hope everything turns out as you hope.
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I’m terrified I’d never get back to it if I pull it from the rotation, tbh. But now that I’ve chosen a direction to row towards, it should become easier.
I was just floundering in too many plot hooks and plotpoints that weren’t all going in the same direction.
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Having a personal library of 4000+ books to fall back on (yes, I’m a bibliophile), you are doing a lot better with your plot hooks and plot points than quite a few authors I could name. WFB is a very enjoyable series, with likeable characters. For me, you are still at the happy medium where its not the over the top break neck pace a lot of light novels charge ahead with, and not so slow that the you’ve been twitching on the ground the whole season (yes, I’m looking at you DBZ…or Robert Jordan…or George Martin…Rothfuss…(can you last two finish your series before either you die or I do)). Anyway, tangent aside, WFB is the story that originally brought me here, and is always a highlight for me when I see it updated, so if we haven’t said it before or said it enough…
Thank you.
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It’s good to hear from you, and I’m sorry you’ve been having such a rough time. Setting aside the health matters, I know how hard it is to come back to finish a story that’s gone sideways on you.
Glad to hear you’re pushing though it, though. Don’t worry if the story isn’t exactly what you thought it would be. I’ve been watching some artists, recently, and one piece of advice they commonly give is that you have to make the bad art in order to learn how the good art is made; which strikes me as advice applicable to writing as well.
And let me just assure you that, even if the plotting is getting away from you, your *writing* is still quite good, and fun to read. So hang in there! 😁
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Having unrealistic expectations for whether I can wrangle all the loose ends together was the main thing, I think. And it always takes me a little to come to terms with what I want versus where I am
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Thank you for telling about your issues. I hope you get better soon. I really like your stories and I like them especially for your writing style. It would be great, if wfb continued in one form or other.
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It’ll continue, just a bit stilted, I suppose
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I’m here mostly for Fluvia, but I’ll happily wait for you to sort out your health and motivation.
When a new chapter comes out wordpress will (hopefully) notify me, so I’ll always be here!
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It should be coming soon. :)
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Please take care of yourself. I don’t know how much pain you are in, but i was taking care of my roommate last week while she couldn’t get it of bed because of her period. I hope you also have someone that can help you.
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Yeah, I’ve been worried that something with WFB might be bothering you.
I’ve been enjoying it, but I thought I saw a correlation between the updates that were harder for you, and the updates that were WFB.
One thought is that engineering school may be slowing you down. The tools they give you make it seem like a design can be done perfectly the first time, even when you don’t have a lot of experience. They can package tools that are pretty good for designing widgets, but there is a different set of expectations appropriate for fiction.
Problem is, long form serials are complicated design projects even by fiction standards. One of the basic skills is saying “eff this” and driving on when you are bothered by the fact that you’ve gotten yourself into a project that is more ambitious than your current ability. (This was one of my assumptions going into my most recent fiction project that looked like it might work. Wildly more ambitious than I can pull off, but that didn’t stop me. Right now, I am stopped, but only because the design requires an emotional place I just cannot manage ATM.)
Design projects are /hard/. You have to work on some at the end before you can understand what is really important for the beginning stages. Yet, the beginning is pretty crucial for what you get at the end. Fiction is extra hard, because you are working on your own, and it is much more difficult to collaborate with a designer who knows all the ropes, and can get you sorted out.
Anyway, I’m cheering you on, and haven’t been wanting to pressure you in case it made things worse.
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Yeah, I guess it was kinda obvious. I might have also gotten a bit burnt out, too
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It wouldn’t be a JLN inspired story without the plot holes and red herrings 😜
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… That’s … reassuring…? lol
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Actually, it can absolutely be reassuring (“can”). Part of the charm for such silly romps is that they don’t always make sense. Take Looney Toons for example. Bugs or Daffy pulling literal “holes” out of their pockets is by no means logical, but it is completely entertaining to the audience. While you may not have intended to have a Looney Toons style of story, you should remember that you have a LARGE following for that particular story, which speaks volumes about your talent for writing. Sure, it may have gotten away from you a little, but that doesn’t make it bad (Though certainly dissatisfying for you, I’ll grant). Said another way, if the story is as bad as you think it is for all your struggles, than how much greater must your skills be to be able to keep such a “bad” story as 1 of the fan favorites on this site?
You do excellent work, and as your audience, we’re in literally the perfect place to judge as much. Happy writing to you, and I hope your new desk improves your back problem.
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Thanks for the encouragement.
I will definitely keep wfb going until it’s more natural end, just with a little more understanding about its limits
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First, it’s good to hear that you are better. Just, unfortunately, not 100% better. Back pains are terrible. Have you considered trying those fancy ergonomic chair?
Second, wordpress or any piece of tech needed for work and not working just sounds like a head ache, can’t imagine having to work with it. Hope that fixes itself or you can get use to it. Whichever is easier.
Third, now on to Wfb. That is one of my favorites of your originals but then again I love alot of your originals. Even though I could tell the plot was slowing down,I was enjoying the threads you pulled back in as I was wondering when those stories would come in. I love your world building and characters. For the first thing someone puts out after a dry spell, you put in alot of good effort that many don’t and kept to that worldview and tone far more consistently than alot of other web novels, including the super popular ones. Like ex-ordinary, very thrilling in the beginning but super slow pacing, and wierd incomplete world building. There were some missed opportunities with not exploring the smithing some more but the story as a whole is nice, fun, and most importantly very entertaining. You might see the flaws in the seam and some fabric choices, but from our pov it still looks like a very beautiful dress overall. Also if you can see the mistakes from your older works, then that mean you are growing better and can improve farther.
Weather you keep Wbf, or any other work you are struggling with, in rotation or to the side for individual release, I’m sure you will do well. Just take your time, maybe get some help from a friend/ editor to smooth some stuff out. Whatever you figure out to do, you’ll do great.
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Yeah, I’d like to get back to the smithing, since that is still pretty central to the plot … that was part of the problem. Chasing too many plot hares as they run across the meadow and far far away means neglecting others.
The other problem is how certain things I assumed would happen didn’t, like the gendbend shenanigans just kind of … not happening when Jun suddenly presented him/herself as asexual on top of being super chill. Since s/he isn’t aromantic there’s still stuff that can happen, but there’s just less gender dysphoria than I expected. I wanted tropes, and uh… didn’t get that.
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I hardly ever really think on Jun’s gender and I actually really like that. He doesn’t really seemed to have changed with the genderbend much, you can tell by how little it seems Jun and his old friend interaction seems so comfortable. Many things he does are kinda “boyish” but also have some “feminine” touches. Or I suppose that, he likes “manly” things but has a bit of a “feminine” attitude or something. That thought ran away from me.
You not bringing it up much was probably better.
I want to talk about Only Sense Online as it has a genderbend style that I love and hate. The majority of the time in that I forget the person is actually a guy. He seems to find situations awkward that wouldn’t effect a guy and embraces his interests in other things as his game character. However, the fact that he was the most “feminine” character was weird
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Yeah, I wanted to try to write a gendbend with little-to-no horny and having the MC not immediately flipping his normal actions, but Jun just took it in a direction that surprised me.
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Good to hear that you are geting beter. I very like you stories, so Thank you very much.
I don’t know if i should write this: So how about you try read Pirateabas ” Wandering Inn” for relax or “Two Necromancers” serie for fun
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Thanks for the suggestions.
I’m getting back into the swing of things, so for now I’ll just focus on writing :)
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On anthoner note, im from Czech Republik, so when you wrote in Cursed about Radegast (our old pagan God), that made me very happy. Funny fact is that we have beer named after him as well (Czech beer, good beer ;-) ).
Now little trivia: All you know “i think” beer ‘Pilsner Urquell’, so they wanted buy Radegast, their rivals on czech market, bud they couln’d do it, so they ended with fusion as equivalent partners. This mean Radegast is beer of world class.
Sorry for my Engrisch
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:) That’s very interesting
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Take your time and do things when and how you need/want to do them. Even though we, your fans, are screaming “WE WANT MOAR!!!”, I’m willing to wait as long as I have to and can make do with other (lesser) authors and rereading your other works (I’m currently rereading Cursed right now). I know pretty words won’t make things better, but maybe it’ll take some weight off your shoulders (which should help your back pains!!!).
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Everything should be getting back to normal now. I did a lot of things on my side exploring what I liked and why I was getting stuck, and I think I have a healthier view of how I write and under what circumstances I start putting unreasonable expectations on what I do.
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While I’m personally interested in WFB and it’s one of the reasons why I’m coming back to this site, even with no updates…
Have you read the WN, The Man Picked Up By the Gods?
The author did something that I really respect, even though I disagreed with his choice initially. Similarly to WFB, where things were happening but not really, the author for that wrote himself into a no-escape situation. There was basically no good way for him to keep the story going around the MC, and would have to proceed with a change in the MC and focus of the story, but that would basically be starting again from scratch, since he didn’t introduce any of that before. So he did what I initially disagreed with, but now believe is a good choice: He went and rebooted his entire series from scratch.
Honestly, I believe he made the right choice because he dug himself into a hole too deep to find a way out. If you feel that WFB has also fallen into that kind of situation, perhaps a reboot might help you. Alternatively, if you think you still have a way to go on for WFB, I’d love to read that too.
Regarding wordpress, I know you’re not the only person who is having issues with it, but I have no idea how this could be fixed, so sadly, I can’t provide any input there.
Lastly, and most importantly, please take care of your health and your back. While I do want to see more WFB, Axebear, and Fluvia, putting the cart before the horse isn’t a good idea. Glad to hear you’re feeling better!
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wfb will continue! Just… not in the same vein as before, is all. I just needed to sit down and pick out the actual plotpoints that are worth continuing instead of trying to chase all of them.
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I’ve been following for a few years now, but today was the first time I feel like I should get out of my comfort zone and comment.
First of all – please get well and don’t stress too much.
I’ve been in a situation where work related stress worsened my health, which in turn increased my stress at work … and so on.
Not pleasant for certain.
I originally came here for the OVRMMO translation, but when that ended I read the other uploads as well.
As the time that passed since might suggest – I did and still do enjoy them.
As someone wrote in a previous comment – the pacing of the WFB chapters is pleasant for us to read. It is nice to see some of the suggested plot lines tie to each other, but even if they end up not ever getting resolved, almost all of them can get written off as world building.
G.R.R. Martin also uses little stories with side characters for that, and see where he ended up (for better or worse with the end of the series).
If WFB gets delayed or dropped, I will be a little sad, but still stick to the site for Naru, Fluvia and the others.
Keep up the good work if you feel up to it and adjust if you don’t.
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Thanks for the comment.
I will definitely continue wfb, just with a little more understanding about where it’s going :)
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you have to remember, even the best novelests go through revisions to get rid of plot holes and fluff. what you and other online novelists are doing is writing a first draft as a final piece of work which many people expect to be purfect. smh, it is not going to happen. You might have to redo your story board a few times becouse of new ideas that work better. If that happens just remember to flush it out beffore going on new tangents other than winging it. I will agree that some of your hanging it out thier is interesting. Keep in thier. I love WFB for its uniqeness, whitch in this day and age is hard to find. Thank you for your hard work.
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It’s good to know it’s still interesting :)
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As long as you occasionally pop up telling us you aren’t dead, feel free to take as long as you need, both for breaks and for writing/translating actual chapters. Your health comes first, both physical and mental. We all love you and appreciate everything that you do.
On a side note, it’s fine if the mechanical bull wins every now and then, isn’t it? Just look at Fluvia. I love every moment of it, despite how many times you’ve claimed that she has derailed your plans.
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Unfortunately, Fluvia’s derailment is more of a ‘let’s go look at the interesting thing over there’, while wfb’s is just spinning in circles with no clear direction … I guess that’s the biggest thing. I needed more firm direction in where I was supposed to take it.
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As has been repeatedly told; take your time, just leave enough bubbles on surface for us to know we aren’t in a need of sending for a necromancer, yet.
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Noted :)
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i’ve felt the “this is my first baby” thing before. i’ve actually just coped with it by promising to myself that i will redo the whole thing later on, like so many authors do by the way, but AFTER i’ve done a bunch of other series to “level up” so to speak. and you can only really gather experience from actually doing it. so while i love all the little worlds and stories i’ve made over time to “level up” i still have ‘THE STORY™’ being constantly reconfigured in the back of my head while i vomit ideas for it in the now. for when i feel confident i can do it’s remake justice. meanwhile the ‘baby’ is still growing and being added on all the time but one day i’ll get to reset it like an amiibo and make sure it’s perfect the second go around.
maybe that’s not the right approach. but that’s my approach.
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I’m pretty sure that’s a valid way to write. Everyone has different ways of processing and editing lol.
I don’t think wfb is something I want to redo, I just didn’t have as much of a concept about it back then compared to how much I now prefer to have before starting a story.
le sigh
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HEYO!! It is so good to see that you are doing well! … As in still breathing -_-
Anyway as you have read from others TAKE YOUR TIME, your fan base and community love you and want the best for you. That means STAYING HEALTHY and stop doing things that hurt youself, I am glad to hear your getting a table to put your computer on.
On another note WFB … where should I start?? Nah, as the first story that got me hooked on your stories and style of writing, do what you think is best for it. Since your first post on Royal Roads 5 years ago I have loved every part of it. I will admit the release time has been random enough to make me (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ but no matter keep up the good work!!
Your loyal fan!!
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I agree, the update regularity (or lack thereof) is enough to drive everyone crazy, including me :/
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Thank you for sharing your struggles and I hope things get better. The most important thing for me as a loyal reader is that you enjoy your writing. If you do, I feel that shines through and that kind of storytelling – which I feel WFB has had in spades for most of its run – outweighs any odd little plot holes.
The other thing I’d argue is that long-form web fiction should be judged differently from traditional novels because it’s a really different format. Things like weird digressions, side stories, occasional rambling chapters, and plotlines that trail off possibly only to be seen again a hundred chapters later or never at all are all standard for the genre. Long-form serial fiction in large part lives or dies based on momentum. If there’s a couple of chapters you’re not happy with, you can revisit them later if you want to, but as a reader I am more interested in what you do next as opposed to how you tweak what you’ve already done. That doesn’t mean you the author shouldn’t take a break when you want or need one, of course, it just means we readers are with you for the journey even if occasionally there’s a patch where the scenery isn’t quite as charming as it had been.
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That’s pretty fair. Serial web novels are very different from print novels, and I find it a lot more fun to do this than try to write an actual book.
Wfb just became impossible for me to keep a lot of little things straight, and left me wondering where I was even trying to go. Just have to pick a direction and go, I guess :p
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thanks klinH for the heads up :) (and the new chapters)
do what you must.
just know that as a faithful reader of WfB, I just love reading about Jun… and I don’t care about the overarching plots.
I treat their story as a slice-of-life with adventure.
If there is a big plot… that’ll be awesome.
if there isn’t and Jun just goes willy-nilly from one thing to the other, “forgeing ahead” it’ll be good enough.
also, please know, that for the moment you have hidden well that you didn’t knew where to go.
at the moment, from a reader POV, there are just multiple threads that get braided together : the deep elves, the magical forge, the light element aspect (and the gods), the demons, the threatening empires around the “free cities”, the other “gamers”, the enslavement of gamers…etc. nothing more and nothing less than normal life : many things happen in many different places.. and the MC can follow one lead or all of them, or none of them !
good luck !
stay healthy (body and mind… just need to be careful about COVID and get lots of hugs from “family” :) )
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Thanks for the encouragement :)
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I am late to comment (sadly dropped out of the F5 sect for a while) but agree with all the others above. To me, your health is the most important. Everything else pales in comparison.
I know that I enjoy reading and rereading all of your works (original over translations X3), and whatever direction you decide to go in, I’ll happily join the ride.
(Also monthly cycles are the worst x.x)
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