I want to thank every reader who has cheered and comforted me. Especially those of you who patiently consoled me through multiple messages.
I also want to thank a young lady who was so angry after reading my previous chapter that she wanted to get revenge for me. I was very touched, but I don't want to incite any conflict! Besides, she started her novel before me, and it's hard for me to explain clearly.
The first time I posted a statement was because a reader commented that it was a bit similar to a novel she was reading. At the time, I happily replied, "What a coincidence."
Then, immediately below, she replied, "Heh, no need to say too much, those who know, know." That's when I knew she was implying I had plagiarized. She then said she couldn't continue reading after five minutes. At that moment, I felt a bit broken and wondered if I should continue writing if I'm this bad.
Later, when I posted my statement, everyone encouraged me and told me my writing was good. So I thought: Well, everyone has their own perspective, and I don't necessarily need everyone to like my writing.
But these past few days, comments like "[This is just like 'Ke Xing' from another novel!]" keep appearing.
"Ke Xing," "Ke Xing," "Ke Xing," it's really baffling me. I stayed up late to post a statement in the first chapter, but it was still no use. Later, a kind reader told me which book it was, and only then did I read the first two chapters.
Frankly, I was shocked. To be honest, if I were a reader looking at just the first few chapters, I would also think it was plagiarized or that I had read that book before coming to yours. I never expected such a coincidence.
So, I left another comment in the novel stating that I genuinely did not copy anyone else's novel.
You can see that I am usually quite active and talkative. I might not reply to every single comment, but I read every one of them.
Until last night, I received a one-star review. It was "Ke Xing" again, and I got very angry. My mind was blank except for that single review. No matter what I said, they would firmly say, "Whatever you say goes!"
I was so angry I almost laughed. I really wanted to say, "Could you please keep reading a few more chapters to see if it's really different?"
I want to say I'm not being melodramatic, but when I see my hard work dismissed by so many people as worthless, I start to doubt myself.
I don't know if anyone has followed me from my first book to this one. I can say my first book was written rather impulsively, so it's normal for some people not to like the female lead. Back then, I thought writing a novel with no romantic pairings would prevent people from criticizing me.
I didn't expect this book to suddenly have this issue of accidental overlap! You can comment if you want, but leaving a message that my novel has no comparability really brings my mood down. And I can't bring myself to say: "I beg you, read a few more chapters!"
This one-star review really broke me. I don't understand the scoring mechanism on Tomato, but I see your constant positive reviews every day. However, when you look at the homepage now, the rating only shows seven points. I'm wondering how much that one-star review is dragging down my score.
So yesterday, I was really upset, so upset that I even considered deleting the novel. But then I thought, it's such a waste to delete over 100,000 words that I worked so hard on! So I angrily went back to the first chapter and revised my statement. I thought that if everyone saw the message as soon as they entered, no one would mention "Ke Xing" again.
Actually, I was inspired by another book when I wrote this one, but it's definitely not on Tomato. The book I read was a palace intrigue novel called "Dispelling the Emperor's Peach Blossoms." If any book friends are interested, you can go and take a look. I honestly admit that my setting borrowed from this book, and that book is quite old; I read it several years ago.
I thought of writing a cute baby novel because a book I used to like a long time ago, "I Have Five Big Boss Dads," was later abandoned by me because the female lead had a romantic partner, which became my regret. That's why I wanted to write a cute baby novel with no romantic pairings and borrowed settings from other books.
Alright, I've said everything I need to say, including my concept for writing this book. From now on, I won't mind such situations anymore.
Now that I've calmed down, I still have many readers who like my writing, so I am very grateful to you all. Thank you for your understanding and trust.