Diary of an Introverted Writer

Mostly here to whine and complain. Maybe some design? Also, I might be an author. Consider subscribing if you enjoy the fantasy genre. You'll find a big button on the side. It requires an account. I can't promise it'll be worth it. Thanks. Curse of Immortals

[elostspirit]

Chinese Wall

Well, I don’t think the usage applies soundly to what I’m about to write. But I’m optimistic about the intelligence of the people reading this at the end of the day. The biggest question on my mind has always been this - What’s the difference?

And what am I talking about, you wonder? Think YouTube. Think Facebook. Think about their evolution over the years, from consumption to a platform for creators. We’ve seen social celebrities rise from the benefit of these platforms. But pushing to 20 million subscribers, for example. Was it easier for nigahiga or PewDiePie? The term here is ‘easier’. What they’ve achieved is incredible. It’s in the tenth percentile, or even lower maybe. But easier? I think PewDiePie.

There’s a reason for this thought. And it’s accessibility and tolerance. nigahiga worked through building his brand and foundation when YouTube wasn’t thought of to be commonplace, or even a necessity. Not everyone signed into Google when accessing YouTube even. Clicking on subscribe must have been met with so much more inertia at the time. Why create an account? Why like or subscribe? I can still access the content without needing to do all that. And that’s the degree of difficulty nigahiga had to overcome.

YouTube is a definite, viable career option now. And as difficult as it is to build an audience in a now saturated creator space, it’s definitely a lot easier to expect your target viewers to already have an account. It’s easier still to expect them to hit subscribe now.

How does this connect to me?

Well, interestingly, when I thought about running a social media ad (just to test the waters) on the link to my webnovel - Curse of Immortals, I noticed a lot of clicks to the story, a lot of increase in views across chapters, but zero subscriptions and likes. It wasn’t that they were bouncing off from the first chapter; I noticed a view uptick across the first 40-60 chapters at least. As with most things, I know there’s going to be retention drop-off along that path. But still, to have held a reader for 40, maybe 60 chapters and have nothing to show for it except the views? Well, it was disappointing. I thought it was. And then I realized that I’m at the cusp of non-ubiquity right now. Same with the era of YouTube with nigahiga on the come up.

The platform I post at, Tapas claims to have millions of readers. And seeing the readership on some of their flagship works (comics and novels), I don’t doubt it at all. But there’s a Chinese Wall between the creators and the readers. There’s no way to communicate with them directly. And your growth is directly proportional now to the quality of your work, or the demand of your genre. It’s an interesting platform. And I like to think that I can overcome it.

But what about the people reading this? Would you be able to break inertia and subscribe to my work if you enjoy it? I’ll be interested to know. Until then. To this commonplace challenge, I say - bring it on!

[elostspirit]

Logo Concept

So. LostSpirit. I think the emotions are pretty self-explanatory. Yes? I have an internal voice that complains and doubles down as my own harshest critic. I decided to immortalize that internal voice to a visual identity. And here comes that persona. What are your thoughts on the design? I gave it a lot of sincere thought. And I enjoyed building this from scratch. Its colors align closely with the world I’m building currently, Mioverold. Hues of jade and brown coincide with the protagonists colors and banners as well. It’s a flimsy explanation. And maybe I’ll dive a little deeper into the architecture in the future. But this is it for now! Tell me what you feel and think.

Oh. I have a full version as well. The playfulness balanced with an excellent and classy serif typeface. Yes, I think I know my design. At least when it comes to matters of the heart. Much love.

[elostspirit]

A Poetic Push

There’s something serene about wanting to take a leap of faith. I don’t write to fulfill some hobby, or anything halfhearted like that. I write because I remember my loneliest moments in life, as a child, with a book in my hand. As someone urged towards independence from a young age, I learned to embrace my imagination. To make imaginary friends, to make imaginary stories in my head. Maybe that’s a part of what made me introverted. I’m fine being by myself.

But in those moments of being alone, I realized the value of clinging to a story. I remembered clutching onto a set of Agatha Christie books and falling asleep. Hercule Poirot was a hero to me. I was afraid of the dark as well, and I would use the light from my mobile phone to read in that darkness, to experience a man with an egg-shaped head do amazing things despite his physical limitations. As I grew older, I realized that I wasn’t alone. A lot of people go through what I’ve been through, and some without even finding their heroes to fight that darkness.

It lit a spark in me at the time. To maybe be an Agatha Christie to someone. To bring that light, and to inspire someone young. I can’t do that small scale. I had to become someone that could climb to her status, or at least halfway there. And that’s why I write. To find meaning. To define my existence. To make sure that even in death, I live through my stories.

The Curse of Immortals is a culmination of hundreds or rejected story ideas, and tens of written and finished novels. Today, I was featured on Tapas for the third time. And I felt good about it. There are people reading. There are people acknowledging this story. And I wanted to share that here. It’s a leap of faith that’s worth taking. And for some bizarre reason, the selection came at a moment of self-doubt. It’s not going to be the last time I feel that. But I will be writing. Pushing this story. Going through revisions.

I hope this brings some kind of light to the few people reading this. And as always, you can find my story here.

[elostspirit]

Factor of Value

I theorize a variable. Call it the Factor of Value. Yes? It’s when you see something, or hear something interesting. You then underline value to it. And when you do underline value to it, how much does it have to be for it to cause action? Let’s imagine a numerical range between 1-100.

Let’s simplify! If I came to you and showed you a product, and my only desire from you is that you give it a try at least. And that if you like it, you subscribe to it, what is the minimum value that product must offer to you to do those exact things? Simple? I hope so. I found it hard to understand with even this example. But F that.

Well, I’m a shameless, introverted nut. I can’t market my serial webnovel whatsoever. And I’m here to announce and vent to that statement. But back to my original point. The factor of value, a variable across different people.

If I shared my webnovel here, yes? The Curse of Immortals. And my expectation is that if you like the description, you read a chapter, then ten, and if you like it more, then you subscribe to it! Would you? Tell me. With content like this. What is your factor of value? Tell me. Tell me.

I’m going to tag this as satire. But honestly, I don’t think it’s satire. This is more like vomit. Everything in my mind, I’m going to throw here to see if it sticks. And if it brings me any closer to my goals. Well. Good.

Have a nice day! :)