Big Life

Chapter 304: Author's Fan Letter

Hello, I’m JIHO, the author of Big Life.

I received a request from Wuxiaworld to pen my afterwords for Big Life. Thanks to them, I was given this opportunity to write this even though it had been many years since the novel ended. My greetings to all the readers of Wuxiaworld, I’m thankful for all of you.

I’m a Korean, and am bad in English such that I’ll need a translator and dictionary if I am required to communicate in English. Thankfully, Wuxiaworld is able to help me translate this letter, and thus I’m writing this now confidently in Korean.

For quite some time now in Korea, web novels with protagonists specializing in specific professions have become increasingly popular. There are politicians, doctors, lawyers, prosecutors, tax accountants, pro-gamers, salesmen, athletes, criminals, amongst many others. In the novels, these people gain some sort of power that transcends the human realm, which in turn drives them to accomplish their goals.

While reading many of those novels, a thought suddenly came to me one day. Why isn’t there a novel with a writer as the protagonist? At least back then, there weren’t any novels with protagonists who worked as writers.

That thought kept me up the entire night. Thinking that the stories encountered by writers could be equally as entertaining, and even wondered if I should write one myself. Especially since I’m a writer, and I can confidently say that I know more about the profession than normal people would. And I think that was what gave me the strength to embark on this journey.

However, it was difficult to organize my thoughts, and I desperately needed the advice of others. So I drafted a simple composition and showed it to fellow writers whom I’m close with, readers, and even to my friends. But most of them had given me negative feedback.

“You’re writing a novel with a writer as the protagonist? Why did you think such novels have not been published until now? It’s so obvious, isn’t it? It’s definitely not going to be interesting.”

“You’re going to write a novel about writers? About them holed up in their rooms typing away on their keyboards day in day out? Then they turn crazy and become a wizard, trying to dominate the world?”

“Hey, I definitely know that it’s not going to be interesting, just hearing your explanation for a bit.”

“Hyung, I’m not sure but come out for some drinks.”

I finally approached the CEO of the management I’m under. He was also my editor-in-charge since a long time back, and was also the model for the character, Kwon Tae-Won, in Big Life. This was what I heard from him:

“It’s not a bad idea to write a novel about writers. But, make sure that the stories about the writer make up only 20% of the entire story. The remaining 80% will have to be about things that the readers would like to read about. Novels that seem interesting from the perspective of a writer will definitely fail. If you have the confidence to write a novel that the average reader can enjoy, then go ahead.”

His words hit me right in the heart.

I was then able to realize why I had received so much negative feedback from others at the start. It was because of the relapse of my embarrassing illness that had plagued me for many years in the past. The same pretentiousness that formed since my rebellious days during puberty up until university where I majored in creative writing, had returned once more from the moment I had decided to write this novel. Even though I wasn’t well-equipped to write it.

Who in the world would read pages about the detailed life of a protagonist (a writer but in fact an unemployed person) who painstakingly selects the right words while working last into the night when everyone else in the family was asleep, the growth process as they find flaws and works on them, breakdowns dozens times a day due to their own lack of talent, and then goes out for a walk to take a breather and stares at the trash lying on the ground while worrying about the future of humanity?

Web novels are essentially entertainment. It’s an industry that wouldn’t survive if not for their readers. Regardless if the protagonist was a writer or not, I needed something that would resonate with the masses. My fixation on the encounters and actions of writers was poison to me. I suddenly realized that there must be many who are plagued with the same illness as I had. (laughs)

Write what you want.

But be considerate toward the readers.

These were the lines said by Seo Gun-Woo, Ha Jae-Gun’s mentor. It was a suggestion from the CEO, and also the very same words that I held onto tightly while writing Big Life. It had become a powerful topic that did not lose its light even until the end of my novel.

That was how Big Life began in Korea, and received responses that were unimaginable to me. I began writing a novel with a topic that I felt uncertain about, but there was still an unexpected number of readers reading it. As the web novel market grows, it feels like a dream when I am now able to share the story with many readers outside of Korea through Wuxiaworld.

I sincerely hope that all of you readers have enjoyed reading this novel. It’s fine if my work doesn’t leave you with anything else, as long as you’re entertained while reading it, that’s sufficient for me.

I believe that Big Life wasn’t written by myself alone. More than half of the novel’s development was discussed with the CEO of my management company, and through that, I was able to learn of many other encounters in the publishing and related industries from him. That was where I received the most assistance from, and it was how I was able to detail them as well.

I did have the thought to write an epilogue for one of Big Life’s main characters, Kwon Tae-Won, but it’s been put off indefinitely due to personal reasons. I find this to be most regretful on my part, and I would love to resume working on it someday.

Meanwhile, I am now working on an entirely new novel. It’s set in a fictional world in medieval times with kingdoms, knights, dungeons, and magic. It’s about a boy who was thrown into a harsh world, growing up as an orphan, and accidentally gains the ability to fight the Undead. It will be a much “flavorful” story compared to Big Life, and I hope it’ll be a much more familiar genre to Wuxiaworld’s readers.

However, I’m worried about the slow progress. I have actually taken a long rest ever since Big Life ended, all because of my alcoholism. My alcoholism was at its peak when I was writing Big Life, taking away my ability to write, my health, and my positive outlook on life.

It wasn’t easy to cut off the bad habit after drinking daily for close to 20 years. After much trial and error, which included exercising that I had zero interest in, I grit my teeth and decided to quit drinking. Today marks the 766th day of me being sober. I might have recovered my health, but I think I’ll need more time to fully recover my ability to write.

I’m repeating what I’ve written for my Korean readers in the afterwords many years back. I hope that Wuxiaworld readers would never become like me, and stay healthy above everything else. Regardless what you do anywhere you are in this world, please take care of your health first. Don’t skip your meals, and make sure you take your supplements regularly.

I hope everyone has a “Big Life”.

Me included, of course.

I hope you’ll stay healthy until the next time we meet.

May 8th 2024, 20:43 GMT+8

From JIHO, in my room at Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea