Reverie and Nightmares

Author Notes: Ren Ren

Hello everyone!

Writing this novel for two months has been nothing short of grilling, but I've learned to enjoy the crisp pain, if that makes any sense. Waking up at six, starting the tea or maybe a cup of water, sitting down on my awkward chair (which has been replaced since), and typing on my phone or laptop was the setup I had throughout the entire time I wrote this for the first time.

However, that has all since changed, and now I am writing this note with the proper gear, and I've never been happier. As soon as I slap the sleep out of my eyes, I sit down, brave enough to get work done. I've written a few other novels throughout my time back in middle school and even as a teen in high school, but now, with the amount of time I have outside of studying and all that jazz, I'd considered continuing and properly writing to become a full-fledged novelist.

It's not because I had nothing else on my plate but because I love writing and reading. If you ever ask when you realize that I'm an eighteen-year-old author and not some dude in his late thirties, I want to make this my entire life.

I'd considered various times to make this novel a comic instead, but I've never kept the regimen of drawing every day to reach that point. I could never get The hang of waking up every morning to draft, tossing the draft into the trash whether it was digitally made or not, and turning to the next one.

It's not that I have carpal tunnel, but I am aware of some pain that is triggered around my wrists after hours of drawing, something that never happens when I'm writing instead. I tried various times, but I'd always fall into a slump, and I needed more experience in that field and different resources. In the end, this novel is still in its first draft format, so I do apologize if there are inconsistencies everywhere; I do plan to scare you as this is a horror romantic novel.

Enjoy the accessible version of my novel, and sooner or later, I will post my second draft after completing it during the summer. Until then, I am writing another book and have been for the longest time! This one is much longer, at least in the story, but I hope you enjoy Reverie and Nightmares.

And if anyone ever asks me, Ren Ren, how did you write a 200,000-plus word manuscript in two and a half months? Simple, I wrote 5000 on the weekdays and 10,000 on the weekends. Oh, and to ensure that I kept learning different writing styles, I learned how to read 100 pages a day. I don't mean it as a flex, heavens, no. I'm too scared to make myself sound more relaxed than anyone. But I want to prove my dedication to making this novel work. It strained the hell out of my wrists. Yes, there were times that I considered going to the hospital to check out whether I had carpal tunnel or not (a fear that always had me awake at night). Still, it never led that far, so I decided it was best to rest my hands in cold water instead of picking up a book for the rest of the day. But reading daily while I worked a couple of hours at a liquor store encouraged the more outstanding work that was only born from inspiration.

But it was challenging since I threw away many things. Mentally, I'd thrown away my social life and self-love completing this book, and it's interesting because I'd thought that my self-love would allow me to pull through the entire journey and that after it was all over, they'd come back, but no. My friends from school were gone, and my relationship with my family was becoming flimsy. A sacrifice that I'll admit repeatedly. I wish I had thought better of it. I was young and foolish and was gaining weight while writing this—eating from my office with my only exercise walks to the restroom.

And in terms of myself, it was mental restrain.

I'll admit there were many times that I wanted to give up. A little too many times, but... I'm glad I pulled through because although my other novel, Katie's Lullaby, was the first book I've written, Reverie and Nightmares was the first one I've completed to the end.

But I always kept it in check: it's not about the number of words I wrote that make the book, but the impact. I will be honest with you since I am ashamed to admit this. I didn't always believe that way. When I was writing Katie's Lullaby, the other novel I wrote before this one until I thought I was too young to write it, I felt that my book would be finished only when I spent about these many words. I know that authors only bloat their novels and damage the characters when they think that way. I wouldn't want that for my story, no. So, I had a massive makeover with the story, and in the end, that progression required a long time, and it still lengthened itself to nearly one thousand pages.

To make this dream work.

During the novel, I sprinkled a couple of illustrations to captivate the 'light novel' aspect; it was a pleasure adding scenery to my characters and their lives. Of course, I could have hired someone else to do it for me, and I could've been on my merry way after writing for three hours straight. I wanted that privilege to be mine, not to be selfish, but this work is ALL mine.

Ha, it sounds mean, but I mean it lightly. These are my drawings, and yes, I did add some manga pages around to demonstrate a different point of view and take a breather from writing, but of course, reading them is unnecessary. In other words, it was also a form of practice so I could improve at drawing.

Alongside this novel is Katie's Lullaby, which, yes. Readers, this story exists in the same universe, and so will all my other books, so long as I say otherwise.

This is a romantic-horror novel with some spiritual and religious themes, and it can get serious at moments, so viewer discretion is highly advised. It's not for the faint of heart, and yes, I understand that I've written VARIOUS curse words as if they were sprinkled around like glitter on the glue. I don't regret it. People will ALWAYS curse, and that is simply the kind of character I've expressed for Ryuga Shirogane. This is how I wanted to write my story, and with the hopes that it will eventually get a manga/comic adaptation, that would be a challenge worth living for.

The pages that I've got to write this novel in five months were worth it, and so was Katie, who I suggest you check out, as it's got some references around and is a very excellent mystery novel if I do say so myself. And if you liked the romance with Ryuga and Shirogane, you'll be piqued by Aito's and Ayane's and the love triangle that goes around there. There's going to be so much to read for this novel. That seems to be it, so I must return to doing my thing. Have a good one, readers.

Always a Pleasure.

Ren Ren 2022