My System Forces Me to Live off Women-Chapter 248 - 221: Tragedy
He Yimeng didn't agree with the suggestion of making peace with a big bang and hung up the phone.
Li Peifeng knew she would definitely stir up trouble again, but he didn't mind.
"I don't care if shadows lean when my body is crooked, I've survived worse scenarios, what can you do to me?!"
After lunch, he went back to writing.
Li Peifeng had made up his mind, the most urgent task at hand was writing books, and everything else had to make way for it.
"No pain, no gain," he thought.
Spending an hour kissing a girl can't surpass spending that time writing three thousand more words on the computer.
All success is hard-won, if you want to stand firm, you must work ruthlessly!
"Sunflower Manual" preface: "To practice this skill, you must first castrate yourself."
"How to Become an Online Literature God" preface: Once you pick up the keyboard, you're no longer an ordinary person, you can't indulge in the holidays of the human world, nor be tempted by romantic relationships. If you want to slack off, if you get tempted, the Online Literature God will drift farther and farther from you—it's unbearable!
This is no joke, one of the conditions for every online writer to become a god is dedication and diligence, diligently writing, without diligence it won't work, the online writing industry is too cutthroat.
There are those who gave up school for writing, some who quit their conventional jobs to focus on writing books, and even those who broke up with their girlfriends because dating took up their writing time. These things have indeed happened among the authors Li Peifeng knows.
Compared to the online writing industry, the 996 work schedule is child's play. Truly diligent authors work year-round without rest, spending twenty-four hours a day not writing then brainstorming, even dreaming about plots in their sleep.
Take, for example, a certain male-centric Platinum God, who wrote over four million words in a year while his wife was pregnant, writing more than forty thousand words per month, updating nearly thirteen thousand words daily on average.
That God truly achieved writing all day, except for sleeping and eating, sitting before the computer even while squatting, and typing two lines on the phone. Even when his wife was giving birth in the operating room, crying her heart out, he was outside typing on a laptop.
Social life? Entertainment? Holidays? Family? Health? None at all!
In order to stand out in the online writing industry, one must make huge sacrifices. Or rather, any industry requires such.
A well-known director was just a small screenwriter in his early years. One day, when his father passed away and he was handling funeral affairs, the company called him to write a script. What genre? Comedy. Did he write it in the end? Yes, he gritted his teeth and wrote it!
There's even more outrageous stories, Li Peifeng has heard of them but doesn't know their truth, doesn't know if the protagonist was an online or physical book writer, just knows there's been this rumor in the circle...
A certain writer, in order to concentrate on writing and not waste time on solo activities, took female hormones to suppress physiological reactions!!
"That's just insane, I can't compare, I can't compare, I'll just take a Peiyuan Pill."
Sometime after four in the afternoon, Li Peifeng stretched lazily, took a short break, and took a Peiyuan Pill with water, immediately feeling his tense and exhausted nerves relax.
The old saying goes: 'If one's essence is sufficient, one will not think of lust,' having sufficient energy likewise keeps gender matters off one's mind. Peiyuan Pill is merely a tonic, not something that leads to fanciful thoughts, and Li Peifeng felt it also helped him in his writing.
"Perhaps I should let Huang Tianxuan research it as well? Forget it, she hasn't even figured out [Strengthening Pill], it's probably not necessary to misuse it..."
Li Peifeng shook his head, clearing his mind, and went to the windowsill to gaze far away, his eyes unfocused, his mind starting to design the ending for "Female Dominance."
Usually, the conclusion of an online novel should be a happy ending. If the author succumbs to literary pretentiousness, forgoing a happy ending for a tragic one, relentlessly striking the characters with hardships, he might easily find himself being criticized by the readers.
Even if his personal safety isn't a concern, his next new book might see a significant loss of readers.
"I spent money to read, followed the book for a year or two, only for the damn author to mess with the ending and make me suffer? You're blocked!!"
This is the mindset of most readers, a fact Li Peifeng understands well. So, for the sake of market considerations, the endings of the books he previously wrote were essentially all happily-ever-after.
But now...
"I'm tired of it!"
Li Peifeng is truly tired of it, tired of writing for female audiences, tired of writing for happy endings, so now he wants to write something different.
This is not a simple desire to court death nor a cheap thrill; it's that Li Peifeng realized something, a thought that occurred to him after years of immersion in the female-dominated genre.
Perhaps it is the special "maternal" mentality in women that makes them subconsciously enjoy achieving a sense of moral superiority through masochism and sacrifice.
In other words, female readers actually enjoy novels with a bit of angst, although they might not admit it, their bodies are very honest.
Male readers are actually the same, 'Tragedy can touch the heart more than comedy' has already become a law. Those who disbelieve it can recall all the novels and films they've read or watched, everyone remembers tragedies more than comedies.
Looking at both male-centric and female-centric channels, the novels that catch fire and film adaptations achieving high ratings all have tragic endings; even if they're not tragic, they have regrets, hardly a traditional happy ending.
But there's a prerequisite: the author must have enough groundwork, sufficient skill, can't write tragedy for the sake of tragedy, otherwise, it's just poisoning, an incurably pretentious literary snob.
It must be unexpected yet reasonable, all in one sentence...
"I want to write a tragedy! I must indulge this quirk!"
Li Peifeng's eyes shone brightly, talking to himself: "I already have a great idea, the clues I laid down earlier can just be used."
"Oh wow, perhaps this is what they call a hidden plot thread running a thousand miles! Worthy of being a Platinum God!"
Utter nonsense of a hidden plot thread, it was just spare writing before, Li Peifeng never expected to use it in the ending, so now it has become...
"Inspiration, this is inspiration!"
He hurriedly sat back at the desk, just about to start typing, but hesitated.
"What if the readers don't accept it?"
It was just a brief hesitation before Li Peifeng grinned to himself.
"Anyway, my next book is going to shift to the male channel, love it or not, I'm not serving anymore!"
Li Peifeng plans to use the end of what might be his last work in the female audience genre to exercise a little of his authorial right to be willful. He doesn't know how the readers will react to such an ending; anyway, he's enjoying writing it immensely.
The kind of immersion that makes you forget to eat or sleep, if not for Zhao Qingge calling around six o'clock, he would have completely forgotten dinner.
"Have you eaten yet?"
"I'm writing, forgot about it."
Li Peifeng casually replied, a bit puzzled as to why Zhao Qingge called him at this time on a Saturday, so he asked casually, "Have you eaten?"
"I haven't eaten."
After speaking, Zhao Qingge fell into silence, seemingly waiting for Li Peifeng to continue speaking.
What does this mean? Seems like he understood a bit.
Li Peifeng coughed, "What would you like to eat?"
"Anything."
That word is so annoying!
Li Peifeng chuckled, "I'm fine with anything too, as long as you wear black stockings to the party, I'll eat whatever."
