The Self-Cultivation of a Failed Writer

As someone who'd been around the block and still hadn't made it, Chen Cu once warned Lin Dai:

"The writing world is a strange place, more exciting than palace intrigues."

"You'll see people buying fake fans, hiring ghostwriters, forming writing studios, faking stats, and hiding behind alt accounts to make everyone miserable."

"Of course, most writers work hard and do their best. So the nobody who's doing even worse than you today might become a star overnight tomorrow. Meanwhile, you stay as steady as a rock through every storm, and keep being a nobody until the end."

"But remember, don't plagiarize, don't manipulate your ratings, and don't pull any shady stunts, because a scandal from your past can be fatal. And most importantly, don't write full-time. Never go full-time!"

After spending three years in the writing world, Lin Dai thought back on Chen Cu's words... What the hell, this is painfully real!

~

Lin Dai went to great lengths to get close to a big-name author. "Please take me under your wing!"

She promptly pulled out her melodramatic flop, You Gu Nanyi, You're So Cruel. "Please... please give me some advice!"

After reading the manuscript, the big-name author replied with a complicated expression: "I think this might work better in the male-oriented category."

Lin Dai: ???

Big-name author: "She gets her eyes and kidneys cut out, gets beaten by the mistress until she miscarries, and still gets a happy ending with the male lead. Only men would like a saintly martyr like that."

Lin Dai was on the verge of tears. "But I'm clearly following the most popular female-oriented trope, where the male lead has to win the heroine back after treating her terribly..."

A platinum-tier, royalty-millionaire author x a newbie writer whose books keep flopping

This story is pure fantasy. Any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental.

Theme: Work hard at writing and reach the pinnacle of life