The following summary contains spoilers. Friends who have not finished reading the first part are not recommended to read it, otherwise it will significantly affect the reading experience: Different books, each part is definitely different in structure and meaning. When I first thought of the fateful plot, I had the idea that the first part should be an introduction, a prologue. What it needs to do is to initially show what the current world is like after so many years, and what major changes have taken place compared to the mystery. What it needs to do is to roughly establish the image of this protagonist, Lumian, and then slowly polish it. What it needs to do is to lay some key clues that are important enough.
After I had the idea, the next question was how to realize it. I didn’t have any preconceived position at the beginning, and I looked for inspiration through a lot of reading, thinking, and playing games. It was at this stage that a reader recommended the game "What Remains of Edith Finch" to me in the comments of the official account.
I played for less than half an hour, but couldn't stand the severe 3D sickness, so I had to give up. But then I went to Bilibili and Zhihu to watch related videos and articles, and finished the game in this way (not really). Then, I thought that this way of telling a story with symbols and metaphors is very interesting, and it also has a psychedelic, chaotic and detached feeling, which is quite consistent with what I want to capture and show in terms of temperament.
With this thought in mind, I decided to do something a little fancy with the first part of Fate.
As human beings, there are always some people who are impulsive and do not know their own abilities. They want to challenge everything. But life is so short, it would be so boring to keep repeating the same thing.
Moreover, it’s not like I haven’t played with symbols and metaphors before, for example in Arcane, the part about Xiaolu’s dream uses dream analysis to symbolize the character’s personality, tendencies and thoughts.
So I think this time, I can still use the form of a dream, but it cannot be just a dozen chapters, it cannot be superficial, it cannot be limited to the reflection of Lumian's self-psychology, the story that has already happened must be deconstructed, abstracted into various symbolic and metaphorical elements, and reorganized and stitched together with the scenes, imaginary speculations that Lumian has seen, and presented to everyone as a sufficiently complete and obvious story.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is very interesting. I am clearly telling such a story, but it is actually such a story. It is really quite interesting from the creator's perspective.
But as an online article, I must ensure readability and usefulness.
The former means that the author cannot have too much fun and the readers cannot get into the story. What is needed is to tell the reorganized story in an easy-to-understand and interesting way, and to present some clues and abnormal places in a simpler and straightforward form. In this way, when the author flips the page later, the readers will have a feeling of "so that's it" instead of "what the hell are you writing about".
The latter means that you cannot write a hundred chapters and then tell everyone that this is a dream of the protagonist. Then the readers will inevitably think "what's the point of this?" Therefore, this part cannot simply tell the story of what has happened in a symbolic and metaphorical way, but must play a more important role in the story structure of the entire book.
So, after the chapter where the dream is shattered, I have to use flashbacks and a "report" to tell everyone that this part is not only about deconstructing the protagonist's inner world and giving him the internal motivation to act later, but also that many plots are symbolic, implying other things, and contain many clues. These clues are very important to the subsequent development of the story, and it is not just a simple dream.
In this sense, "Night Demon" is indeed an introduction. I will slowly fill in the holes left behind. The most important one may not be solved until the third to last or even the second part.
Next, I will continue to talk about my ideas for creation and the practices I put into practice: After deciding what I wanted the first part to be, I didn’t start writing for a long time, because I was lazy, because I hadn’t finished reading all the materials, and because it was still early for the book to be published. Until, as I mentioned in the remarks for the book’s launch, I threw a few book titles to Qidian and let them choose for themselves. Their choices will determine Lumian’s second path and the direction of some stories.
They chose "Fateful Ring". When I saw it, I thought, "Fateful Ring..." and touched my chin. The first part could add the element of loop. The comparison between certain things before and after also has symbolic meaning, and more elements can effectively improve the readability.
At this point, the idea was completely finalized, but what was written at the beginning was not what everyone sees now, but the story that happened on the real timeline, including every important detail.
I named it "Solid Line".
After having a solid plot, the next step is to extract the key plots and details, and then combine them with elements such as dreams and loops to create a clear story, which is the "main plot."
In this process, sometimes the key plot is first symbolized and metaphorized, and then put into the story, using Aurore's plot and Lumian's imagination to coordinate and eliminate the inharmonious parts. Sometimes there is a clear story first, and then consider which real plot to put in and how to symbolize it. In short, it is a process of bringing the two ends together.
After completing these, there is another step to mark the writing points.
What does it mean? It means the key points of writing certain characters and stories. For example, the three investigators are marked in the normal way, while Aurore's mark is "embellished impression of Lumian, repeated presentation of deep memories, patching up some details in the plot, certain presentation of abnormal behavior, more realistic and self-thinking in the later loop", etc.
Later, in the outline that I submitted to Qidian for review, I deleted all the "solid lines" and all the metaphorical explanations, leaving only the "bright lines". I didn't want anyone to know the answer before I finished telling my story, not even the editor.
Once you have thought these things through, you can start writing formally.
Many readers often have a question: with such a complete outline set up, do we just have to follow it in the future
The answer is no. Inspiration can come at any time. Sometimes, if you don’t write about a certain plot, you will never find a better way to handle it later.
An example is when writing about the other world, Aurore and Lumian, brother and sister, face many undead spirits.
On the one hand, I included the key point of Aurore pushing Lumian away in a relatively simple symbolic form, and on the other hand, I considered how to fill in the remaining content and details.
Obviously, in the "solid line", Aurore only said "My, notes", so more dialogue details and story developments need to be imagined by Lumian himself and he needs to find inspiration from Aurore.
After repeated consideration, I finally decided to use a more two-dimensional and more melodramatic way to perfect the plot. At that time, I thought that this could well reflect that this was a dream, and some of the plots originated from this point.
But I also know that this will definitely make many readers uncomfortable. After all, it is really different from the overall style of painting, and it is too ancient to be a love story.
I thought about it again and again, but due to time constraints, I couldn't think of a better way to deal with it, so I could only write it down like this. However, while thinking about it, I felt that this could end in the form of an echo!
In that way, firstly, I can further show the essence of dreams interspersed with plots, and secondly, when I listen to it for the second time, with the previous preparations, the uncomfortable memories, and the onlookers' comments on the unreality of the overly erotic language, I can turn this old-fashioned romance or two-dimensional dialogue into a real sharp knife, precise and moving.
It’s never the dialogue that becomes outdated, but how it is used.
In other words, it was only when I wrote The World Beyond that I truly had the ending of the first Nightmare.
There were two endings that were originally intended but then abandoned: one was that after Lumian escaped, he slept in another alpine meadow and once again dreamed of Cordu Village, Auror, and his friends. The Cordu Village in his dream was so peaceful and harmonious, which was based on the title "Nightmare".
The second is to cut the camera directly to the Trier bar, where Lumian tells the story again, "I'm a loser and I hardly pay attention to whether the sun is shining or not..." This expresses a structural beauty of cycle and fate.
Yes, the first sentence of the story written by Lumian is also the first sentence of the first part of Fate. It is a highly refined summary of this "Night Demon", a pledge and a general inspiration.
Since the entire first part is playing with symbols and metaphors, how could the story told by Lumian, the story at the beginning of the book, be missing
According to Lumian's character, this story must be 80% false and 20% true, and the true part is more symbolic, hiding the core clues.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the very beginning I used the story written by Lumian to tell you what the first part will be like, and this is its symbolic significance.
The above are the creative ideas, writing summary and satisfactory parts of the first part. There are certainly some shortcomings: First, the narration of the knowledge related to the ritual magic of the first part was placed in the accelerated stage of the plot, which caused certain damage to the overall rhythm. In fact, I should adjust the order and talk about these before the knowing cycle story starts to become intense, or disperse it a little, using flashback and interpolation writing techniques to disperse that part to several places later.
The second is the period between exploring the underground of the church and Lumian hunting the fire monster. Because the early clues have been temporarily used up and the abnormalities have not yet appeared, the plot is in a relatively weak state. This is something I could not have anticipated when I first set the outline. When I got there, I did need to slow down, but not for that long. Moreover, the entire dream ruins are mainly based on single-player hunting and exploration areas. It is obviously not attractive enough for it to carry the whole burden alone.
But at that time, there were indeed some lines that needed to be laid and some small stories that needed to be told to make the overall structure more complete, so I suppressed my impatience and finished it bit by bit. Of course, I deleted some content and obviously sped up the pace. I felt that it was completed before the comments and feedback, after all, I had saved some manuscripts at that time, so when I saw what everyone said, on the one hand, I laughed to myself that I had adjusted myself and was ready to meet the storm, but on the other hand, I was glad that as a creator, my writing sense has not deteriorated and is still consistent with that of the readers.
The third is the misalignment of expectations. I expected that the first part of Fate would be an introduction, the key to unlocking the following stories, and it has its own structure, but the clues have to wait until the following parts are revealed one by one. However, many readers are expecting a complete conclusion like the first part of Mystery, with a powerful enough climax. There is nothing wrong with this, but I currently can’t think of how to hint to everyone that those holes will be filled in later while playing with symbols and metaphors.
Fourth is the characterization, which is a sacrifice for the overall conception of the first part. I can only slowly outline and fill it in later. Of course, the part I envisioned "filling in" may not be the same as what everyone thinks, maybe it will be crazier? Probably.
Fifth, the issue of early upgrades. I should have mentioned earlier that as the end of the world approaches, the negative effects of low-sequence potions are significantly reduced. In this way, Lumian's rapid upgrades at a low sequence level wouldn't be too inconsistent or unreal. After all, it's been several years since the secret was written, and not everyone can remember some of the details later. By the time I realized this, Lumian was already going to be a "provocateur", so I could only quickly use Aurore's mouth to talk about it and make up for it.
Tomorrow, I'll put up the character cards for Aurore, Madame Puaris, the Curé, and the official trio.
Having said all this, I will take a leave as usual, because I need to perfect the outline of the second part and make some rest adjustments. I will take a leave for three and a half days, and will update the first chapter of the second part on the 28th, which is Friday at 12:30 noon.
For the second part, after much deliberation, I chose a used volume title because it was so fitting that there was no alternative.
Part 2, "Light Chaser" - Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return.
This part is also a smaller chapter. If you don’t compare it with the Faceless Man chapter, the volume should be around a hundred chapters, not much longer than “Night Demon”.
Of course, there will be large chapters in the future as well, which all depends on the theme, structure and function of each part.
Finally, I would like to thank my friend LIVY37 for giving me another reward for the Silver Alliance.
Finally, please give me your monthly ticket!
Well, finally, finally, let me recommend one more book: Liu Xia’s new book “Above the Galaxy”.
Tang Fei, a refugee boy who walked out of the ruins, with a pair of skillful hands, a handsome face, an inexplicable responsibility and a vow that he would never let down, stepped onto the top of the starry sky step by step.
If the gods no longer show their mercy, let us light a bonfire, carry a sword, and become dry bones or heroes in legends.
To be honest, the homonym of the protagonist's name makes me unable to read it, but the book is still a good one.
By the way, I was away from home, so the summary was not revised. Please forgive me for the typos and grammatical errors. I ask for your monthly vote again~