Li Jin Qing: The one behind it all

Final Author's Note

Hello! This is Kiri, the Author of the book you just finished.

Thank you for reading and tolerating this all the way through! Though I never expected this story to be anything when I first wrote this four years (one month, and one day) ago, I'm very proud to see it stand where it is today— and that's all thanks to you! I've grown a lot as a writer (and as a person) over the course of this story, and I'm glad that I was given the opportunity and audience to do so.

Though I never officially did a Q and A, I thought that I should at least explain a few commonly commented questions that I saw regarding the story/characters— as well as some things that I want to clear up and/or explain.

1. What was the inspiration behind this story?
There were two key inspirations for this story.
The inspiration behind the characters and the setting came from a popular c-drama a few years ago named The Princess of Weiyoung. I had watched that drama as an introduction to the historical genre of dramas (I had exclusively watched Wuxia until then), and wanted to write a story of my own.
However, I didn't actually write anything until I had read another book on Wattpad named The Legendary Female Strategist. Sadly, the book has stopped uploading a while ago, but I'll never forget the few nights I spent after reading it all thinking about the beginnings of a new book I could start— which turned out to be this one!

2. Who was/is the male lead?
Here's an answer that might surprise you: there is no male lead! Although I certainly intended there to be one at this story's early stages (in fact, this book was supposed to be a reverse harem romance story set in wartime), but I slowly realized that the story I wanted to tell would work better without one.
For those who are curious, if the story had gone according to plan according to my earliest drafts, that third prince that approached Jin Qing in the earlier chapters was supposed to be the male lead / love interest. It eventually shifted to Shang Ye when I was writing the middle of the story, but I decided to scrap that idea in favor of giving Jin Qing an ending she would have enjoyed.

3. Are all the side characters (especially the male ones) supposed to be that idiotic?
Idiotic is a harsher way to put it, but it was done intentionally... kind of. Each character has their own shortcomings and flaws heightened by their sense of pride, but many of them eventually got magnified in my attempt to explore it to the point that it must have felt frustrating to read though. For that, I apologize.
And of course, I didn't have enough experience to know how to write a smart character without dumbing down the people around them when I first started writing this story. think I grew from that though.

4. What happened to Jin qing? Will there be a sequel?
Probably not. Although I do have my personal head-canon of what would have happened after the story, I purposely left the ending vague so that it would be up for interpretation. After all! She's now out and about, going where the wind takes her. Who knows what she'll get up to?
There is a chance that I'll rewrite the story to better reflect the image of what I had for this story, but that's in the future.

5. What were some plot threads/characters that you wished you got to explore more?
As this story was originally meant to be in the palace drama / romance genre, I had a lot of characters set up that I didn't get to write when I changed genres.
There was initially a lot of plans for both the rest of Jin Qing's and the Royal family— especially for the other princes. There was supposed to be a reverse harem thing going on, but I gave up on that pretty quickly.
I ended up giving up a lot of the plot / characters in favor of writing a more concise story, as there was virtually no planning whatsoever in the early stages of writing. It wasn't until the arc where Jin Qing got captured and sent to the Song where I genuinely started planning a little bit.

6. What are your plans for the future?
I'll keep writing! I have a story already in mind, but I do want to take some time for myself and relax for a little while. I've been writing this story for 4 years, and have been neglecting my other projects.
Besides, I'm still a student. I'll be heading into university in the fall, and I have no idea if I'll even have time to start and continue another full story. I'll do my best though!

That's all the questions I can think of for now, but I'll answer anymore you guys put down in the comments (if any of you do. No one has ever given me any questions when I asked for them haha.)

But for now, that'll be it for this story.

Until next time, dear readers!

— Kiri (Someone-Reading)