First of all, thank you to all the buddies for the rewards and monthly ticket support. Although the extra updates have got me a bit flustered, I still want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support!
Thanks again for your support!
To live up to your support, I should continue with this pace of extra updates and regular updates before the release. I'm nearly reaching eight to nine thousand words a day... it's tough.
Next, let's talk about the content of this volume.
This is my first attempt to write the first volume using this foreshadowing-heavy approach. There are still quite a few flaws, but fortunately, everyone hasn't criticized me, allowing me to write out the foreshadowing meant for the first volume.
I don't know how your reading experience was, but personally, I felt quite thrilled writing it, though it was a bit taxing on the brain—pain and joy.
I set the goal for the first volume to be around two hundred thousand words, currently reaching over one hundred eighty thousand words, because I skipped some parts which might not seem very relevant or felt a bit filler, striving to present the content. Overall, it's still within the control range.
The title of the first volume is "Thunder and Lightning," a word I stubbornly pushed for (a bit awkward), with a clear objective pointing to Zapdos, but what I ultimately wanted to bring out wasn't really it, but Tom Rokicki, whose existence sets a tone for further development.
Managed to achieve some correspondence between the foreshadowing and results, a bit of suspense as well, though perhaps in the end, due to insufficient writing skill and overall tension, it didn't reach the height I wanted for the ending, leaving me slightly disappointed—a result of personal shortcomings.
Lastly, to sum up the shortcomings, hoping to pay more attention to them in the future. Firstly, there's insufficient character development, lacking specific details in actions and expressions, making the characters seem not so vivid.
The second is similar to the first, lacking distinct characteristics and image creation for the Pokémon, though for the second volume, I have planned the distinct features and images of these two Pokémon, hoping to present more in the second volume.
The third point is also the one I feel can be improved the most. When faced with doubts and questions from some buddies, I got a bit flustered, eager to convey my thoughts and concepts. Maybe it was because some of my foreshadowing wasn't so obvious, or others were too obvious, failed to control my emotions well, leading to a slightly chaotic ending.
Next volume, I strive to calm down, and hope everyone can too. Basically, some of your doubts, I've seen them. If they are what I've already thought of, it will be explained later. If they are points I've overlooked, I'll try to provide a reasonable explanation later.
And lastly.
These days, I've been busy dividing the details, foreshadowing, and character settings for the second volume, plus creating a group and chatting a bit. So the stockpile has been exhausted, the update time might have some variances, hope everyone can understand. I'll try to ensure quality while increasing quantity.
I'm serious about the extra updates.
Oh, and one very last thing, the name of the second volume is "Dark Flames," which has several meanings, inevitably representing a Pokémon. You can guess, it's not a particularly powerful one.
Also, seeing such a "fair" mix of self-praise and self-deprecation, perhaps you could support with some monthly tickets or so?