The year 2021 is gasping its last breaths, and 2022 is about to be born.
Yesterday, I had a slight fever and felt unsteady on my feet, and I was also swamped with mundane affairs, so I feel truly guilty for breaking my update schedule for a day. Panda has decided to jump off the first-floor stairs as penance! (Dangerous behavior, do not imitate!)
For the next two days, there might also be one day of missed updates. It's the end of the year, and things are indeed incredibly busy. If I could split myself in two, with one half writing and the other handling errands, Panda would gladly divide himself on the spot.
After a string of bad news, there must also be good news.
Starting from January 4th, I will be updating intensely, intensely, intensely!
How long I can maintain this intense update schedule remains to be seen, but Panda intends to challenge his own limits.
Looking back at the dying year 2021, Panda realizes he was truly lazy this year.
Most of the time, I just lay in bed, reading casual books and playing on my phone. I spent very little time working.
I was like a salted fish, one that had been pulled out of the sea and hung to dry in the wind on a rope. If it flipped over in the pan, it would stick.
The main reason was that I fell seriously ill in the middle of the year and almost died. After recovering, I didn't want to put in any effort and just wanted to rest well. Once I started resting, I became firmly stuck to my bed.
After deep reflection, Panda has repented!
Next year, I will write diligently, write more, and dedicate a significant amount of time to work.
I've set a small goal: to update at least 300,000 characters every month!
Before I reach 300,000 characters each month, Panda won't play games for a single minute, nor will he watch videos for a single minute!
The heavens rain millet, ghosts cry at night; Panda will update with all his might.
The year-end summary and New Year's resolutions end here.
However, the minimum word count for each chapter in Fanqie is one thousand characters, so here are some behind-the-scenes tidbits about the book.
Most of the characters in the book are based on real people, people Panda knows around him, who have been modified.
Isabelle's prototype is Panda's Russian female foreign language teacher from his school days. She was beautiful with long legs and liked to wear leather boots in winter, which made a clacking sound as she walked, with a march-like, resounding rhythm. When she looked at people, her eyes would widen, staring at you extremely intently, making you think she had some hidden meaning, but in reality, it was just because she was severely nearsighted and had a bit of astigmatism.
One day, she came to class looking haggard and, while teaching, began to sob, tears streaming down her face. She apologized, saying she had discovered her husband was having an affair and that she was emotionally distraught for the past two days. She asked the students to study on their own while she cried for a while. The students privately whispered among themselves: Even such a beautiful woman can have an unhappy marriage, how can one believe in love?
Ju Lanlan's prototype is Panda's female classmate, also beautiful with long legs. Her dream is to become an entrepreneur, but she has started businesses multiple times and failed each time. Of course, to put it nicely, she has repeatedly failed in her ventures, but she has repeatedly ventured. She asked Panda to create a character based on her, with the only request being that the character be very rich, to compensate for her current financial hardship in real life. I also wish her early prosperity in the New Year, so she can live in a mansion and ring the bell for her IPO on NASDAQ.
Tian Rao's prototype is Panda's good friend, sharing the same surname but not the same given name, beautiful but not with long legs. When Miss Tian was in high school, she was scouted by a talent agent at the school gate and asked to appear on a certain domestic variety show. However, Miss Tian refused because she wanted to study hard and get into Peking University to major in literature. Later, after three years of hard work, she not only failed to reach the admission line for Peking University but didn't even get into a first-tier university. Nevertheless, she remains happy every day, always with a cute and slightly silly expression on her face, liking to stare at kittens and puppies without touching them.
Many small plot points and dialogues in the book are taken from Panda's real experiences, with slight embellishments. As for which ones specifically, I won't reveal them one by one.
That's all for the behind-the-scenes tidbits for now.
Wishing all my fellow readers: a happy 2022 throughout the year, all the best, the realization of your greatest wishes, the attainment of love or unexpected wealth, getting all the answers right on tests and guessing all the right answers, always getting a "buy one get one free" on drinks, winning every prize draw, being full of vigor, and becoming more beautiful with each passing day.