Hello, Dear Readers!
In preparation of the audiobook adaptation, I went ahead and re-edited the first volume of The Simulacrum. To say that it was a time-sink was putting it mildly, and on top of that, I had an absolutely terrible time at my job for the past two weeks due to the hospitals opening during the summer covid lull, and it's increasing my workload quite a bit.
Anyhow, I'm done with the first volume, and while I mostly focused on unifying the terminology, hunting down typos, and some stylistic tweaks here and there, there are two relatively major changes I would like to point out.
First off, I reworked Leo's attitude towards the girls a little bit. I inserted a few lines earlier on to indicate that he was aware of their affections, but didn't want to act on them because of his own reservations about the world and free will and so on. More importantly, I've toned down his relationship-phobia a little, and instead made it clearer that he was aiming for the OT3 relationship with the girls from as early as his failed attempt to turn Elly down on the rooftop, and I've restructured a few scenes to show that he was laying some groundwork so that his proposal at the beginning of volume 2 wouldn't be so unexpected.
The other major change is in regards of the finale. In short, I made sure that Leo used his teleportation ability a bit more liberally, and emphasized that doing so was mentally exhausting him. I also made a few minor changes to tone down his outside-context-knowledge, as it wasn't very important to establish it at this point, but on the other hand it made it look like he was pulling solutions out of thin air. Hopefully things now flow a little better and make more internal sense.
Also, I gave up and added the harem tag, even though I personally do not consider The Simulacrum a harem story. Still, if it avoids one more person complaining about it, it's worth it.
By the time you read this, the re-edited chapters should be online. As for the next proper chapter, I'll try to get back to writing new stuff the moment the publisher confirms that they are satisfied with the first volume and they would start working on it.
Either way, stay safe, and hopefully we'll see each other soon-ish.
Thanks for the hard work. Also:
NOO YOU FOOL WHY DID YOU ADD THE HAREM TAG?! Which idiots were bugging you to do so? Ignore them because you even make a massive point of the MC avoiding harems in the story. Just remove it pls. That tag is a nuisance to the greater majority and it still remains incorrect since you've limited it to 2 girls. Don't go giving in for no reason, those people are a minority that can be safely ignored in favour of the greater numbers. I wont deny one of the biggest reasons I keep reading your novel is because its a rare romance situation.... WITHOUT A HAREM. Frankly speaking having a story with precisely 2 girls is almost non-existent, because while it isn't a stright 1-to-1 relationship, it falls just below the scope of a harem and thus doesnt count. This is a unique selling point of your novel and don't let the few idiots who think they're smart(but aren't) take that away. I as a person don't like harems and immediately look away from anything that has a harem tag. dont put on a tag a novel does not have.
Good luck, and remove that tag! Its not worth ruining your novel's tags for a complainer or two.
For what it's worth, I never thought of this as a harem story either. The OT3 is strange sure, and not my usual preference, but I never felt like I had been "tricked". There is a small chance I might even have been put off by the harem tag. Obviously, I still respect your decision since I am not the one who has to read all the comments
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Thanks for the hard work! I hope things will go smoothly with the publisher. As for the harem tag, while the story has harem themes as part of story shenanigans, IMO its not a harem story, (from what I've seen its closer to a "poly" relationship than a harem) and I can say that if it had the tag from the start I would not have read it as I have it filtered out completely (there is just way too many low effort, or outright disgusting stuff under that tag to bother with even trying). other novels I read that feature relationship similar to Leo's (the only real difference is that they feature 3 girls) and those authors also didn't use the dreaded harem tag, it usually just invites the sort of crowd that would take issue with many of the things in this novel just because it has the tag, and its "supposed to be harem" (i know it's dumb but that's just the kind of crowd it attracts) while the tag itself doesn't really make a difference for people like me, who already read it, it can be an instant pass for a huge number of people, while also being misleading and kind of discrediting, as well as making it harder to recommend since it just makes it look line "its another one of those trashy harem novels" when in reality its anything but.
so yeah, IMO the harem tag, is just not a right fit for this novel, and those who "demand/ complain" that it should have it purely because "mc has two girlfriends" are precisely the people who would write the trashy shovelware power fantasy garbage that the harem tag is attached to most of the time.
hear hear my friend
Ah someone else who doesn't like harem stories for obvious reasons. Greetings friend!
@TehGodofDoooom well, as a lesbiab I don't remally get straight romance to begin with, but i find man, who wants basically all woman around them as trophies just straight up disgusting, and that pretty pretty much what harem is, no matter how it's painted, at its core its all the same...
Edit: honestly I don't really get man in general, and find it hard to enjoy stories witth male MC, but this story is the one exception to that, tho I still find it incredibly hard to place my self in Leo's "shoes" but his humor is just golden, the character I can actually identify with, and connect to the other characters is Judy
@Aster1254 I take back half of my previous intent towards you. Yaoi/Yuri/Boys/Girls love is heretical by nature and I can't like it. Straight romance for life! The way it was meant to be. I ONLY read stories with male MC's because on the contrary I find it much more relatible and its much more immersive, the thought process of most female MC's simply dont make sense to me, and are thus, unenjoyable. I like the meta-universe analogies as well as how Author decided to shape Leo's desicions based on his perception of the plot. Either way, no harem, we're good.
@TehGodofDoooom heretical... Its funny to see that word get thrown around, when large churches (pretty much of all "mainstream" religions) actively protect r*pists and child abusers, and just hording wealth at an unparalleled scale, and deamning anyone who is "different" be it race, gender, or sexual orientation, and preach "be kind to each other" at the same time...
Any way, I was not here to start an argument, and I dont really need any more bigotry in my life..
@Aster1254 I just use the word heretical, in context to the laws of nature(the word unnatural would be more appropriate, it just seems heretical when something that is against how we evolved is being propogated.), so to speak. Because Yaoi/Yuri stuff is not natural. Even if it does occur naturally biologically, such occurences far too rare to be considered normal. Also before you start saying things like 'Mainstream' religions you should generally be careful of who is being hit in the crossfire, because one person's definition of 'mainstream' may be different of yours. You speak of christianity, but are somehow throwing in other religions as an afterthought(Im not christian for the record XD). Just a small word of advice, be careful what you say and where you say it, because here, this is no issue. I dont think anyone else in this comment section could care. Say that sort of thing in the wrong place however, you'll be the only one in trouble. How's life in the corona era btw?
@TehGodofDoooom so by that definition of natural, left handedness is not natural either, even tho it up pears naturally? Because only about 15% of people are left handed, and about the same goes for trans people as well. And the reason I said "mainstream" because it's not just Christianity (altho I'm the most familiar with that one) tho the pretty much the only religions I know that actually preach and practice acceptance towards other people an religions is Pastafarianism, and Satanism
As for rona? Thi gs are fine here, tho they could be better
@Aster1254 Being born with a left-hand dominance is natural, by my definition, that just falls into the category of uncommon, the trans would be a rare mutation that pops up here and there, naturally occuring but too rare to become mainstream. This Yaoi/yuri thing is too far less to be considered "normal" or natural for the species. It's only humans, with their so called "intelligence" that does something that screws over their own people. if you're saying that pastafarianism and satanism are the only 'religions' you know that actually preach and practice acceptance, then I'm afraid the list of religions you know is very limited. Seems like christianity and islam to me.
@TehGodofDoooom the amount of gay/non heterosexual people (in %/population, tho I don't remember exact numbers of the top of my head) is comperable to left handedness
transnes isn't governed by genetics, and the same goes for being gay, or left handed as well, in fact we have no idea why people are born gay/trans the closest guess we have for transness is that it's probably related to hormone lvls during pregnancy, but we have no real idea why it's a thing, but it was observer in animals as well (a specific example I remember was a lioness taking charge of a pride, she started growing a main like male lions, and iirc scientists found that her hormone lvls were also comperable to a male lion's) and there were many examples of homosexuality in animals as well, like sheep, pinguins, and apes aswell. So it seems perfectly natural to me.
And yeah humans are really bad, I mean look at all the racism, genocide, and gate crimes, (some of which have been committed in the name of some god(s))
As for religions, yes Pastafarianism, and Satanism are legally recognised religions, with "Church" (I don't really have a better word for it) events and all that. And while I'm the most familiar with Christianity, (a friend of mine was nearly killed for the "sin" of baking gay, and no I'm not exaggerating) I never heard of buthism or shito discriminating based on gender or sexuality.
Who you love should be nobody else's business, just your's and your partner's as long as its two (ore more) concenting adults (in a healthy, non abusive) relationship, and the same goes for under age people as well (and those two groups should never mix)
I freely admit that I'm by no means an expert on the topic, being told that the way you are is unnatural, is really offensive (be it gender, race, sexuality, religion, or what not) unusual/uncommon? May be. But un natural? No, not in the slightest. Its like saying that wearing sunglasses/having dyed hair/wearing jewellery, or having some sort of implant (be it cosmetic or functional like hearing aid) is unnatural...
Any way we went waaaaay off topic here I'm pretty sure that Autor-sama finds this debate at least amusing, and I would like to continue, but I don't really have the time the to do it.
@Aster1254 for someone who doesnt have the time you sure were able to write a lot. XD
Just 2 points here.
1: I believe your numbers are wrong(correct me if they aren't, just that the numbers I googled appear to say something contrary to what you have said). The total amount of Homosexual/LGBTQ people cannot be compared to something like the number of naturally born left-handed people. I believe the former is around 2% at best while innate left handedness surpasses 10%. They simply cannot be compared. This difference does makes logical sense and I'll explain later. Furthermore those examples you mentioned(the female lion with the mane, homosexual animals) are as I said, too rare. such cases simply do not occur enough to be considered normal for that species, also for a reason I will point out later.
2: I couldn't care less about the "It's nobody's business" argument, because Im talking about things purely from a biological standpoint, in that aspect, it's the business of out species in general. Naturally, it is not possible to homosexuals to reproduce(mainly referring to gays/lesbians), hence they would die off and that biologically unfavourable trait would go with them(something like born left handedness does not affect reproductive abilities, and is actually useful in some cases, thus it can/will be passed on). This occurs very rarely naturally thus is it not the norm. However with the rise of humanity doing more things that can artificially alter their genes, as well as using their "intelligence" to support those with this biologically unfavourable trait, the number of LGBTQ people has increased in recent times. This goes against the laws of nature as I had stated before. To answer your other point, fashion IS unnatural by the laws of nature, as it is something solely developed by humans and nothing like it appears naturally, at least not to the extent people will go to change how they look.
Everything I said was more a criticism of how despite being an "intelligent" species humans are more than willing to support something that is unfavourable to the continuation of their kind. Personally opinions never were included in my thoughts. Being told it is unnatural is simply a fact, if you take offense I will not apologize because simply looking at the trends and looking at it from the standpoint of evolution and how humans came to be, as well as where they're going, it is true and thus you shouldn't be taking offense in the first place. Although I suppose this is one of the prices to pay for becoming so advanced, technology and progress somehow make this completely viable. The one part about all thid that has quite irratated me quite a bit is how some people go 'if you don't support this, you are against it'. It's not that I am personally against LGBTQ people, but as long as one of them doesn't bother me, I couldn't care any less! I have better things to do than support/hate against something that has 0 impact on me since I dont fall under any of those groups, nor do I know anyone who does , even if I did know someone who does, it still doesn't concern me what happens to them as long as my life isnt affected.
I will say it again, personal feelings were not included in my statement about the how irregular LGBTQ tendencies are in humans. I looked at it purely from a/an biological/evolutionary standpoint, thus morals, personaly feelings are not to be included. If you wish to continue debating please go ahead, I'd be interested as to what else can be discussed. If you really are too busy to reply, I completely understand, this was just a discussion, there are no winners and losers here, just 2 sides stating their points, and asking questions. May everyone be fine during these diffucult times.
look this thread has gotten out of hand from what started as a mutual dislike of harem's can we just let bygones be bygones
@AjaxDragonBane lol Both of us have noted that. What bygones be bygones? We were never fighting, just had a debate on the topics behind our dislike of harems.
Yesssss The Harem tag is Hated for an reason and you’ve just said it all
@TehGodofDoooom Huh Haven’t saw an civil discussion on the internet for an while Have an great day
@Novellover Lol thanks man, didn't think anyone else would actually bother to read through the whole debate.
@TehGodofDoooom that is true, it is kind of long and people just tend to skip update "chapters" any way