Unintended Updates

Okay, let's start with the artwork. I reached out to an artist who does work that I really like, and they didn't bother to get back to me. I don't know why. Maybe they don't like money? So, I will be reaching out to one of the alternative artists I'd considered and see if they'd like money from me to make some art. Anyway, the takeaway here is that I'm going to try to have a Master Feng image of some kind for you by either the end of the week or early next week.

As for the results of the POV poll, there was a clear preference for some level of secondary POVs in the second novel. That's a relief because they can be REALLY useful tools in a writer's arsenal. There were also a lot of valid concerns about the execution of those other POVs. So, let me see if I can reassure you about how I treat secondary POV in my books.

When I use a secondary POV, it's never to rehash an event that we've already seen. That's annoying. If we get a scene or a chapter from a secondary POV, that will be the telling of that event or that part of that event. I generally use these kind of chapters to provide perspective you can't get from the MC, such as how they stack up in terms of power relative to others at the theoretical same level of cultivation.

I'm not big on trying to track multiple leads in a book. I firmly believe that in a series, particularly a series like this, you should have one main character. They may interact with a whole roster of recurring characters, but I find that switching around too often to pay attention to multiple leads is an obnoxious experience as a reader. It's one of the reasons why I never finished reading The Wheel of Time series.

If I use a secondary POV to take you away from the main character, it is there exclusively to serve the plot. Whatever happens in that scene or chapter will matter later in the book. I will occasionally use a secondary POV to impart information that the main character simply could not have reasonably discovered, or is too naive to understand, but that I think the reader should know about. For example, I might use a secondary POV scene to explain a character's motive for how they interacted with the MC.

So, I hope that helps alleviate people's concerns about introducing other POVs in volume two of Unintended Cultivator.

Finally, I just thought that I'd let you all know that we are swiftly approaching the conclusion of Volume One. If I'm estimating correctly, I think i have about 7000-9000 words left to write. Then, it's straight on to Volume Two. Since I do have a publisher interested in UC, I may have to take a few days to do some revisions and edits, but I doubt that will happen before mid-July. Ideally, I'll be able to work that behind the scenes stuff without interrupting the steady flow of new chapters. If I do have to take a couple days off, I will let you know well in advance.

I think that wraps up the updates.