My System Forces Me to Live off Women

Chapter 327 - 267: Stir-Fried Li Peifeng

At half past twelve, Li Peifeng returned home and received files from Lu Jing and Lin Zhihui in his email, but he didn’t look at them. Instead, he kept writing and finally finished the last part of the novel outline for "Sword and Magic," sending it to the editor, Xia Sheng, who had been urging him for it.

As of today, he has basically clarified and sorted out the main characters and plot of "Sword and Magic." If there’s anything left unfinished, it’s just minor details that need refining, but he doesn’t plan to write the outline any further. He’s starting the main text directly.

In Li Peifeng’s view, crafting a detailed outline specifying what each Chapter will cover might make writing the main text smoother, but it can stifle the author’s spontaneity, making the reading experience less passionate.

Sometimes, as the author writes, their skill improves, and suddenly they feel a different plot direction seems more reasonable and natural, thus rendering the original idea obsolete.

Moreover, such situations are more likely to occur in a web novel that runs for two or three million words. Not to mention, some authors might just be after some quick bucks, abandoning the story if it’s not selling well, skipping the detailed outline altogether.

Therefore, in most cases, writing a detailed outline is a waste of time, it’s like sealing oneself.

Many web authors won’t write a detailed outline that spans hundreds of thousands of words. They’ll set the world setting, upgrade system, and the basic tone of the plot, and then start writing, releasing after accumulating a backlog of ten or eighty thousand words.

They write ten to eighteen thousand words daily, planning the next day’s plot in advance, continuing to write the next day, and thinking of what to write the third day before sleeping, pushing forward step by step.

Successful veteran authors do the same. For them, writing a detailed outline is like asking a five-star chef to write down the cooking steps beforehand.

They have written countless successful works, accumulating tens of millions of words, with their minds filled with various trained web novel creation ideas, characters, and plots, which come naturally to them.

Some pros don’t even write outlines, let alone detailed ones...

Frog: "I never write outlines!"

Squid: "My setting is extremely detailed, but I don’t overdo the plot groundwork."

Mao Ni: "My outline establishes the events, planning out some favorite scenes ahead, and then arranging the plot to make them collide."

Dancing: "The outline just needs to confirm the important main line, and for the finer progress, it’s figured out while writing."

Life’s Breeze: "I built a perfect stage, a grand and detailed world. And I’ve depicted each ’character’ with flesh, blood, and stories. The ’story’ naturally emerged; it’s either in my mind or in the character’s mind. Writing it out would make it common, so better keep it mysterious, leaving some anticipation for myself."

"Is this your reason?"

Xia Sheng: "(Sweating) Is this the reason why the document you sent me is only eight thousand words? Is this the result of over a month of work? Aside from character settings, the actual plot has only a few words, less than nine hundred. With such a vast world setting, are you sure you can handle it?"

Life’s Breeze: "I’ve written what each volume will cover. There’s no need for excessive detail. You also wouldn’t want me to give away spoilers, right, Editor?"

Xia Sheng: "Quit kidding around. I’m just saying this content can’t compare to your previous seventy thousand-word world framework."

Life’s Breeze: "That seventy thousand words are technically also an outline. Thinking of it that way, do you feel I’m extremely dedicated?"

Xia Sheng: "...That’s true."

Life’s Breeze: "So when my book is published, please give it some recommendations, brother!"

Xia Sheng: "Don’t worry, there will be. But first, you need to write thirty thousand words of the main text. You’ve switched from writing female-targeted stories to male-targeted ones. Without seeing the main text, I can’t be confident in fighting for resources for you. Plus, your style for ’Sword and Magic’ differs greatly from the current web novel market, I’m worried you might not handle it well."

Life’s Breeze: "I’ll do my best."

Actually, Xia Sheng was right. Li Peifeng’s journey of transitioning his writing style is tough. Because he has bigger ambitions, not only does he want "Sword and Magic" to be a bridge between web novels and traditional works, but he also wants to earn a lot from it.

He had just transferred over two million to his mom, Yu Huizhi, causing a severe loss to his wallet, so his desire to make money has grown stronger, making him extremely serious and cautious about the creation of this book.

Not only for commercial reasons did he completely abandon the idea of self-indulgence but also for the presentation of the dream world. He discarded four beginnings, totaling 170,000 words, breaking the record for the most discarded draft words before "Sword and Magic" officially started.

Indeed, Li Peifeng wrote many beginnings but was dissatisfied with them all, leading to their rejection. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a wasted effort. Through this process, he slowly honed his writing skills; perhaps the next time he starts typing, it will be the true beginning of the "Sword and Magic" story...

"But not this time."

Looking at the blank document on the screen, Li Peifeng sighed, glancing at the time and realizing it was already three in the afternoon. He had sat in front of the screen for over two hours, with no progress made, feeling dazed.

Li considered whether to have some perfume drinks at night to find inspiration in dreams, but it’s daytime now, and daydreaming isn’t right. So he started reading the articles sent by his two junior sisters. Upon reading, his head grew even heavier.