The Desolate Era

Author’s Afterword:

Whew. It’s over. Nearly two and a half years have passed, starting from Dec 16, 2012 until today, April 10, 2015. Our journey through the [Desolate Era] is finally over. The enormous [Desolate Era] started with our Ji Ning stumbling through the Netherworld Kingdom into his next reincarnated life, and now we can finally put a final period on this story.

This is the seventh novel which Tomatoes has written. [Legend of the Astral Peaks], [Inch of Radiance], [Stellar Transformations], [Coiling Dragon], [The Nine Cauldrons], [Swallowed Star] came before it. This has been the seventh.

[Desolate Era] has had games and anime made based off of it, with the first episode of the anime already released. It was a bit slow at first due to a lack of familiarity, but starting from the third episode it should speed up quickly. It should stabilize at roughly an episode a week and will continue to be broadcast. A TV series is about to start shooting as well, and it’ll go on satellite television. We’re also preparing for a movie, but [Desolate Era] will require a large amount of investment and so it will be a while in the coming.

Whew. Two and a half years. Haha, two and a half years is a very long period of time! My son was born, and now he can actually recite poetry. I’m speechless.

As for this novel I spent two and a half years writing? At first, everything was so smooth and easy. I was fired up and filled with energy, and the letters just kept flowing. However, towards the middle/late parts of the novel, I was just too tired, especially after I went past 2 million characters. I felt as though I was a marathon runner who had reached his limit and at the verge of collapse. I worked until very late at night, every night, burning the midnight oil and tearing my hair out to think about what to write. Sometimes I couldn’t even be bothered to shower. I was a man possessed.

I was most tired during the latter half of last year. The pressure was tremendous, and the need to write two chapters a day resulted in the plot being imperfect. I tried to force myself to think and to post new chapters, and I nearly went mad from it all. There were several times, late at night last year, where I felt my heartrate speeding up so rapidly that I thought that I might die at any moment. I managed to force myself to last until January, at which point I gritted my teeth and said ‘Screw it’, slowing down to one chapter a day.

This made things much easier for me. My mental energies quickly began to recover, and I feel as though my physical conditioning has improved by 50%, haha.

I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into [Desolate Era]. It feels like part of my life itself. Now that I’m done writing it, I feel relaxed. Finally, I can take a long break… but at the same time, I feel a bit reluctant to part with it. My emotions are quite complicated.

No matter what, [Desolate Era] is over! This book is done, and I had a smile on my face as I wrote the grand finale.

Mm. As for what’s next? A new book, of course!

The new book will be set in a strange and mysterious continent. It’ll be a completely different type of book, one which I’ve never written before. In fact, the cultivation system within it will be unlike any other I’ve worked on! Haha. I’ve been a novel writer for nearly ten years, after all. I need to find my breakthrough! All I want to say is that I’ll use all of my emotions to write this new novel, pouring all of my ardor into it.

But of course… now that I’ve finished [Desolate Era], I’m going to completely relax and empty my mind for a time, then prepare for a new book. I’ll give myself two months of rest, then officially start the next book on June 15th!

For news on my next book as well for some super secret updates, you can all pay attention to my public ‘WeChat’ account. I’ll keep it updated with news. All you need to do is search for ‘我吃西红柿’ or ‘fanqie34’ and you’ll be able to add me.

Alrighty then. Everything’s ok now. The world of [Desolate Era] has come to an end. The next time we meet, it’ll be in the world of my new book. See you all on June 15th!

Tomatoes,

The evening of June 10th, Yangzhou City.