Elysium's Multiverse

Update at the end of Book 3: RR Break and Why

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed Book 3.

I have a small update for everyone. I recently informed my Patreon audience about this already, and now it's time all of you knew as well.

Firstly I'd like to say I really appreciate a site like Royal Road being around, because it helps whenever I get constructive criticism as I'm able to fix both grammar and flaws with the book(s). I very much engage with constructive criticism and have changed the story multiple times when stuff has been pointed out to me regarding problems with the story. It also gave me a springboard to get an audience, and now I'm finally able to pursue my dream of becoming a writer. I always wanted to do this as a kid, and it lets my imagination run wild with stories that I really enjoy creating. However, I originally started this as a genuine hobby that I once upon a time loved to do - but it has unfortunately become something of a chore to write over past months.

This in large part is due to the somewhat brutal feedback that a small but very vocal amount of readers on Royal Road have given me. It's the reason why I stopped responding to most of the posts here on Royal Road and focused on Patreon months ago, but over past weeks it's just gotten worse. It came to a head very recently when people jumped to conclusions concerning Athela's death being permanent or not, whether the event was world-breaking or not, and conclusions concerning future chapters that have already been written before reading them - only seeing snippets of the beginnings of chapters to acquire those conclusions. The amount of backlash and anger regarding this was both unexpected and disappointing, and it only solidified my decision to take a small break from posting on Royal Road. Be that days or weeks, I am unsure, but for my own mental health I think I need to do so. If I had to guess, it'll likely last until my Amazon release later this month, but a set date for my RR return isn't determined yet.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I believe that if I don't take this break, I think I'll probably end up quitting writing altogether. I think the quality and quantity of my writing is suffering from the occasional but pretty brutal negative feedback on Royal Road, especially recently, but again this won't be a permanent leave from this site. At least not yet. I know the author of Primal Hunter once posted about this exact subject, where he talked about how he went into a depression because of the feedback he got, and I didn't think I'd experience it for myself - but my skin isn't as thick as I once thought it was.

This specifically hits hard when someone slams me with a 0.5 after having read all the way through over a hundred chapters, only to berate me and tell me how terrible the book is now. This is not just one person, but has happened multiple times now over the months. As said, the immense amount of joy I used to get from my writing has dwindled because of it. The goal is to rediscover the fun I once had while doing this - hopefully this will lead to posting more again in the future as well should that happen. When you're more invested in your writing you do a better job, and that being said I've noticed the times where I have these moods I post worse chapters on Patreon by a significant margin. Sometimes I feel like the writing gets lazy because I feel like 'what's the point if they hate it' lol. Hopefully that fixes itself and hopefully I can rediscover the love I had for doing this, and hopefully that love of writing comes back sooner rather than later with the RR break.

I will continue posting on Patreon on the meantime, and will update all of you when I decide to return to RR. It shouldn't be too long of a break, just long enough for me to get my head back in the game and hopefully find the love for this that I once had. I think my writing will improve again when I do so.

To those of you who have been supportive, thank you and I appreciate you. I'll see you sometime later this month. Until then, have a good time and enjoy the holidays.