This title is too long!:Volume1 Chapter4

‎Chapter 4 - May 1, I taught her

I'm a High School Boy and a Bestselling Light Novel author, strangled by my female classmate who is my junior and a voice actress.

This is my current predicament.

The 'near-death experience' referred to the swirling lights that could cause movie film to move.

Modern people would use such an expression 'a fatal near-death experience', and some would even shorten it to describe the moment 'when people continued to recall the past before they died'.

I once read it in the books.

People would quickly see their past memories before they died.

It was said to be because the mind was searching for a certain something at full speed.

Seeking for a clue to escape the crisis from their past experiences.

Thus, I vividly recalled the past.

Recalling everything that happened from the first time I met her, till this point.

 

May had arrived.

The first week was commonly dubbed as 'Golden Week', but this day and the following day were still normal days. I had to attend classes on this day, and to visit the After Record the the following day.

After school, I changed from my uniform into plain clothes, and got on the same Limited Express train as usual.

The passengers on this day were a lot more than the previous week. It's Golden Week, and there are many dressed up for hiking.

Having already anticipated this, I queued earlier than usual, and managed to secure the usual seat right at the back, placing the luggage right beside it.

There was still some time until the train departed. I wondered if Nitadori would wait till the train departed before coming over as per usual, so I continued to wait leisurely, without any worry.

A few days ago, I realized,

Did Nitadori deliberately wait until the last moment to arrive at the platform, and came in from the other carriages?

This station was a little distant from school, but there were still students who would head to school from there. If any particular person was to see Nitadori and me walking side by side with each other at the platform,

"What are these two doing?"

There surely would be such rumors. As both of us would take leaves every Friday, I didn't have belief that I could fool others if I was to be questioned.

And if she really did put in such thought—

I surely would have to thank Nitadori here.

 

I suppose it was because of my manly plea that she did not choose 'Vice Versa'.

What did she choose then? Surely there wasn't anyone who didn't know what it was. The answer's 'Momotaro'.

She brought a picture book directed for children,

"A long, long time ago, at a certain place—"

And recited from the beginning.

It really was a 'professional prank'.

With much poise and care, she narrated the text. Her voice was ostensibly a textbook example, each word spoken with such clarity there was no way any word could have been mistaken.

The lines themselves were really exciting. Nitadori showcased all her acting talents, not withholding anything at all, using different voices for the old granny, the old grandpa, Momotaro, the dog, monkey, pheasant and the demons.

I was looking forward, so I really couldn't see her, but she probably was acting with her entire body like what professional voice actors will do. I could see my classmates look on, completely flabbergasted.

"Congratulations, congratulations."

Eri Nitadori's solo performance ended after 6 minutes and 34 seconds.

For us, who did not pay a single cent hearing this, we were first stunned momentarily, and then we applauded.

The teacher praised her exuberantly with grandeur words, and simply continued,

"Now then, the next one will be Suzuki, and after that Hisakawa."

That Suzuki who'll be following up after Nitadori really is very pitiful here. As for who that Suzuki, I don't even remember how he looks like now.

After class, the girls were gathered around Nitadori; some boys joined in too.

I decided to get up a little later for a stroll.

Many of my classmates were hailing Nitadori for how amazing she was,

"Have you acted before?"

Someone posed Nitadori this question, and she answered,

"Actually, I did join the drama club in my previous school, and I really put in a lot of effort practicing my recital acting. The teacher was strict, but I did recite the story very well today, so I wonder if he'll praise me."

"Eh?" "Oo" I heard such voices. Now that she mentioned it, I recalled her specifically stating in her self-introduction that she transferred in from the previous year. I had no idea exactly where she was prior to that.

"Aren't you going to join the drama club?"

A certain male classmate asked that.

Anyone would have thought about that—if they didn't know about her job at that moment.

"I decided not to join a club due to various reasons."

Nitadori replied with an answer that could barely be considered one.

While I intended to stop eavesdropping and get up,

"Why aren't you around on Fridays? Is it related to the various reasons you mentioned?"

A certain girl, poor in comprehending the mood, asked without holding back. Hearing her tone, I suppose there was no malice at all.

"No, that's not it."

Nitadori responded curtly,

"Then what it is?"

And that girl pressed on with the question.

"Erm..."

She let out a slightly perturbed voice.

There's another classmate who's definitely never around on Friday here, but it seemed that classmate wasn't being noticed in any way. My presence so small it's shocking, and only in this situation did it help me out here.

But I was still worried if I would end up distracting her. I missed the opportunity to leave while pondering if I should quickly leave my seat.

At this moment, it'll be worse for us if I'm to slip off here. While pondering over what I should be doing at this moment, Nitadori said,

"My dad's currently living alone in Japan, due to busy work, and not because my parents are talking about divorce here, you know?"

That was the first time I heard of such matters.

But even so, I practically knew nothing about her.

"But I can only meet him in Tokyo on Friday, so I have to do so even if I have to take leaves from school. That's how it is."

Of course, all that has to be a lie. Her tone however was so overly natural and fluent, even I was about to blurt out, I see, so that's how it is, and believe her here.

As for the other classmates' reactions.

"Eh?"

"So that's why!"

"I see."

Hearing their reactions, I knew that they bought the story,

The acting skills of a professional voice actor's really amazing.

Feeling relieved, I went out for a stroll.

 

While strolling, I wondered.

Nitadori lied saying that she would head to Tokyo to spend Fridays with her family, and in fact, she went for her after record. She could have met her father after the after record was done, but that definitely was not the main reason.

Now then, what was that 'my parents are living separately' thing she just mentioned here?

I believed her completely when she said that. What happened on Friday however made me feel that she could be lying for the sake of it.

Nitadori's acting skills differed from any ordinary person. I couldn't determine the validity from her words.

In other words,

I knew nothing about Eri Nitadori other than she's 'the voice actress portraying Meek, and my classmate who's a year younger than me'.

Once I thought that much, my bad habit would kick in.

This bad habit here would refer to the 'delusional' habit, which I'm using as my money tree.

 

Who exactly was Nitadori?

Her relatives live in Nitadori, and she coincidentally takes the same ride as me because she wants to know about an author, and thought of all the questions to ask me. Was it all a lie?

Perhaps—

Perhaps Nitadori's a professional killer?

She has her sights on me, ready to kill me with a given chance. She plotted behind the scenes and became a voice actress, obtained a role, learned of my true identity, and joined my class?

That was not a coincidence, but something to be expected, right?

The reason why she asked me all these questions is that she wanted to know more about her target before taking action, right?

In that case, isn't it dangerous for me to turn my back on her?

 

“Wahahaha!”

A single boy suddenly began to laugh at himself, and two girls standing nearby, probably 1st years, immediately scampered helter-skelter.

Sorry to terrify both of you like that.

But that utterly foolish delusion I had was so interesting it made me laugh.

She intends to kill me if there's a chance?

I ate so much of the sea salt potato chips she provided, and even drank some tea.

If she really intended to kill me, I would have been dead 2, 3 times.

It's dangerous for me to turn my back on her?

I spent hours with my back facing her from Monday to Thursday.

The time she spent seeing my back was a lot longer than when I saw her.

 

The train began to rush.

The carriage became somewhat packed as the passengers were either headed out or home, and it became bustling.

During this situation, Nitadori came from the carriage behind, saying,

“It's been a week, sensei. There's a lot of people today. Thanks for reserving a seat for me.”

With one hand, she held onto the handle of the luggage bag she always used; in the other, she held out the bait meant for me, as usual.

“Here. This is the thanks for today.”

I took in the bag from the convenience store,

“Sorry for always,”

And answered in an old-fashioned manner.

Nitadori placed her bag behind her seat, tidied her hair, and sat down.

“Didn't we say not to mention that?”

And again, she showed me a pretty smiling face on this day.

 

These snacks were really a relief to me, typically hungry at this time.

Actually, I would eat 2 pieces of toast before heading out every week. But as I'm in my puberty, I would gladly accept any food that appeared in front of him.

After guzzling down a third of the potato chips, I drank some tea.

“What shall I talk about today?”

I then turn to the seat on the right to ask. Even I too was a little surprised that I gave up on initiating the topic so easily.

Nitadori immediately answered,

“I want to know how to write a novel?”

“What do you mean?”

This question's a little too vague, so I asked.

“Well...sensei, didn't you say 'I'll tell you about writing a novel next time'? I want to know how to do that, the specifics of writing a novel. For someone who never wrote a novel like me, I didn't know how to write such a novel.”

“I see...so we're going upstate in such a state?”

I muttered out my true thoughts.

“What?”

Nitadori tilted her head, asking,

“Ah, sorry. Just a simple word pun. Maybe you'll understand looking at the words.”

“...Oh!! You're like an author to be able to come up with such words on the fly.”

“Because I am an author.”

I ended up saying these words again this week.

Nitadori quickly adjusted her glasses with her right hand,

“Now then, please explain how a professional author begins to write.”

“Okay then...”

To be honest, I only entered the profession for 2 years, and the term 'professional author' really was very discomforting to me. But even so, since I'm in this job for a living, that should be a term I should be using for myself, even if I'm a professional.

But even so, I did have a thought about Nitadori 'a professional voice actor's really amazing!'. I guess this applies to both of us.

I decided to tell her how I wrote a novel,

“There's something I have to be clear with you first.”

“What is it?”

“No matter the number of authors, there's at least that number of methods to write. Right now, I'm pretty much just going to talk about 'the method I use'.”

“Understood.”

 

How does one write a novel?

As I had just mentioned, the method differs accordingly per person—

The one I used was the one I mastered while creating 'Vice Versa'.

Based on the order, that should be the most suitable.

First, I had to come up with the plot.

 

Plot.

This word in English can mean a conspiracy, a plan, but beyond that, there is the meaning of a structure, a scenario. Of course, when I (and the other authors) use this term, we would be talking about the latter.

I once searched up the definition of the term 'plot' on the internet. Strictly put, the definition seemed very complex.

Leaving that definition aside, I would typically think of it as 'a summary of the story' when coming up with this term.

In 8th grade,

“I see! So I need to think of a story!”

That was what I realized, but nowadays, I would not use the term 'story'.

I didn't know when I started, but I started using the term 'plot' instead.

 

“A plot, I think, is a framework, a blueprint of a novel.”

“Okay.”

“I don't think there's a definitive correct answer in the amount of plot. The file 'Vice Versa' was called 'a story of one transported to the other world, becoming an immortal', and that can be said to be the simplest summary of the plot. In any case, just understand that as 'the protagonist heads to the other world and becomes an immortal.”

“I see. But the construction of the plot isn't always that simple, right?”

“Of course. There are times where I have to be clearer in explaining the plot, especially when explaining to the editor-in-charge.”

The first step of writing a novel is to propose a plot, and I do think there's 2 ways to go about doing it

One of them is,

“Propose a plot for something that is to be written next time.”

This would be what can be considered a storage, and I can go about writing it a little simpler as it's just something only I need to understand. It's fine to keep it simple even if I only have a few major points. That was the plan for the file called 'Vice Versa'.

Soon after, the contents of the novel gradually existed, and there was no need for me to keep expanding on the ideas I thought of (if there are ideas I can think of, naturally, I'll record them first)

“A story of people living underwater, and venturing the land.”

“A futuristic crime story.”

“Human dolls begin to move and started attacking humans.”

I'll simply record such ideas down once I think about them, even if it's just a simple concept of a single line or sorts, and it's an asset I may be able to use in the future. My computer contains many of such ideas

Another method of composing plots would be,

“The author comes up with ideas to the editor-in-charge, telling him what the author intends to write.”

In this situation, the idea's the blueprint, a proposal to a business partner that conveys 'I want to write this. What do you think?'

The writing would also different accordingly based on the authors. Of course, I understood this well, having asked other authors myself.

Some will basically come up with short ideas comprising of one liners.

In contrast, others will come up with long ideas, as long as a novel itself.

Some will come up with a document that's like a report, clearly and concisely stating various factors like 'what happened? How will the characters act?' (like me)

In contrast, others will start writing the characters' emotions in this plotting phase, and edit their works.

 

“In that case...the author won't start writing without obtain the editor-in-charge's permission, right?”

Nitadori asked.

This is just my own experience, and also what I heard from the editors of other light novelists. I prefaced with this, and,

“Typically yes. But there are exceptions.”

 

In my case—

Leaving aside the submitted entry that was completed, what happened afterwards, beyond the second volume of 'Vice Versa' was,

“Typically, I'll begin writing after all the ideas I proposed have been approved. I'll send a message over through email conveying my ideas 'I intend to write the next volume like this. The characters will act like this,new characters will debut, these are the parts to shock the readers, and this is the ending'”

My house was connected to the internet, and I began to make contact with the editor-in-charge through email. I didn't think this answered the questions though, so I didn't mention it.

“The amount of plot I need to write differs per volume...but they aren't very long. A short one's about a dozen lines or so, and even if it is a little longer, it's not more than one pocket book spread page, or 2 pages.”

“That's considered short, right?”

“I really don't know. I think this is the only thing that differs...”

"There's something I'm a little curious about. You just said that you'll 'typically come up with plots. Does this mean that you didn't do that for a certain volume/"

I nodded.

"That was the case for the 7th volume."

Nitadori, whom I'm really grateful to for reading all my published works, immediately thought,

“It's the story of the 'Moving Country', right?”

 

The 7th volume of 'Vice Versa', the 4th volume of 'Side Shin', describes the story of a large moving ountry.

The stage was set in the most advanced country in Reputation. The country is 3km long, 1km wide, and moves on numerous caterpillars.

This country is equipped with massive mechanical arms, and spinning drills in the front; it can grind and level any land, obtaining all the resources. Once it arrives at a place, even the mountains will be leveled, and all that's left would be a barren land.

Typically, the country would only excavate minerals from areas with few people, and certainly would not cause trouble for other countries. Once a coup d'etat occured however, the country harbored an ambition to rule over Reputation given the scientific power they possessed.

And Sin took action to stop that country's ambition.

Shin's mission was to infiltrate the country, die over and over again, and approach the central area of the country.

 

“Yeah, this is the only story I wrote without actually thinking of the plot.”

“Erm...why's that? And how did you do it?”

I tried recalling that certain day, answering,

“After having my meal, I just spent the time watching TV, and then I saw a large German excavation machine. That gigantic machine was called a 'Bucket Wheel Excavator', more than 200m long. I know such a thing exists, but it was the first time I actually saw that thing in action. Have you seen one before, Nitadori?”

Nitadori shook her head as her eyes stared at me. The sight of the glasses moving was a little amusing.

“This monster gigantic, long-necked dragon-like machine moves on catarpillars, yet the shape's very complicated. It's like a mesh of factories jammed together.”

Once I said this, I felt it was better for her to see a photo. It really is difficult imagining the appearance just from describing it.

I fish out my smartphone from my pocket, and begin searching for pictures using the search term bucket wheel'.

“This is it.”

I handed the smartphone to Nitadori so that she could see.

Once she took it, she scrolled through the phone a little.

“Hm...”

She probably didn't have much interest in the machine (well, it's normal, since she's a girl), so her reactions' lukewarm as she returns me the phone.

Keeping the phone, I said,

“Once I saw that gigantic machine just grind and level the ground, I had an idea 'the enemy's going to invade in the next volume', and then I began work. Immediately.”

“So, 'immediately', as in?”

“It's as the term implies. The show wasn't finished, but once I saw the part introducing that machine, I immediately shut the TV, and added a new file in the computer called 'a story about a massive country', beginning to write the story out. I didn't think of the structure at all; at first, I started to describe a massive country that's very hostile, where Sin and his ministers were glaring at it, and then Shin came...after that, as for what happened later, I just typed out what I thought. I didn't think of the structure even at the very end, just writing and thinking 'the story will develop this way, and then that way'. I didn't care about how much I wrote, I just wrote.”

“...”

Nitadori frowned a little, remaining silent.

Is she terrified by this unreasonable, illogical method of writing. I wondered worriedly.

“You managed to write a novel so suddenly...what do you have to do to do such a thing...?”

Contrary to my expectations, she's very impressed.

But even so, I could only answer,

“Well...I just had an inspiration.”

I did pause to think of the plot midway through, but I kept writing for another 2 weeks and 3 days before I finally finished it.

 

“Really unbelievable...”

Nitadori looked like she saw magic as she stared at me.

I suppose I can take that as praise, but this is all what I did, and what I could do, so I really can't feel proud about it.

I can't act at all (and I never acted), and I feel that Nitadori's powerful recitation was much better than what I can ever do.

“Erm...the 7th volume's just an exception. Normally, I'll think of a plot, and once the plot's all smooth flowing, I'll begin to write.”

I said, and decided to proceed with the topic.

Regarding the process of writing a story, I only touched upon the first step.

 

The train conductor today's still a woman, and she came to check our tickets a lot later than usual. Once it's done, I began eating the potato chips, and gulped some tea.

“Now then, leaving the exception aside...assuming that I finished a volume's worth of concepts and submit it to the editor-in-charge, and that the editor-in-charge finds it interesting and asks me to write.”

“Uh huh.”

“I'll have to begin writing, to actually get down to composing the story.”

 

After coming up with the draft, the next step will be to write the story.

But even so, the step's as the term implied, to actually focus on writing the story with determination.

Plotting is just deciding the main points, so there are a lot of issues I have to write and decide.

“No, I have to correct that. There's a need to decide on certain aspects while writing, and that'll be a lot more than what's already decided in the plot. For example, when drafting, I haven't decided on stuff like 'the guest characters' names.”

“Why? I thought you'll decide on the characters that'll appear in a story before writing them in.”

“I suppose some authors will do that, but that's not me. It's a different case for me though. While important characters are different...I'll prefer to wait until a character debut and pause to think of a name rather than to decide the names of all the characters that are to appear before writing. As for why—”

“Why?”

“Once the plot's basically decided, I'll begin to write. If I have to begin writing after confirming everything else...I feel that I won't be able to start writing.”

 

If I've to compare it to a plan for a trip.

Some may plan this way,

“I'll try spending a week visiting Kyoto this time, venture around all the shrines. I want to go to this temple and that shrine, I want to eat that. If there's still time, I want to do something. At latest, I need to be back before a certain time.”

And some may plan this way,

“Take the Shinkansen on Monday, reach Kyoto station at noon. First, we'll head to a certain temple, and stay until 3. At 4, we'll head to a certain hotel, take a shower a 5, have dinner a 7. The next day—”

My style of planning would probably be the former. I guess I won't be able to leave house if I have to come up with the perfect plan before going on a trip. I suppose I have to stop at a certain point rather than to just come up with the plan, say 'I'm leaving', and open the door.

 

“Speaking of which, I won't exactly follow the plot while writing.”

I curtly stated.

'Eh?”

Nitadori's again taken aback.

“Wah!”

I too was startled by her as both of us exclaimed loudly. Luckily, it's loud inside the carriage.

“Is there a need to be so shocked?”

I whispered. Nitadori herself voiced out softly, but her voice's still audible,

“Of course! The plot's a blueprint and a plan, right? In other words, you don't complete your work based on the plan at all?”

I nodded firmly.

“Is it alright to do that...?”

“Currently, there's no problems.”

I simply replied.

 

Surely I had to assemble the story according to the blueprint.

And that I had to write based on the plot.

If I kept worrying about that—

If I kept being restrained to be honest.

To put it bluntly, I really can't imagine myself being some author.

I don't know what others think, but even though I only have 2 years of experience as an author, I do write with the thinking 'the completed work is what I wanted to write'.

Assuming that the blueprint was 'a blue, light, small, streamlined sports car'.

Even if the completed car is 'the weight's still acceptable, the inside's wide, and it's an egg-shaped black wagon car', I don't think it's a failure (though the example itself is a little extreme).

“Ah, I completed this work.”

That would be what I would think, and I would repeat it again. As long as I found the story to be interesting, I would submit the work to the editor-in-charge. ('interesting' is always the most important aspect. This alone is the one thing I will not budge on).

 

It's not uncommon for the plot to continually change when writing.

“How does it change?”

“For example...when I'm unhappy with my initial concept, or when I thought of a new plot development when writing. It's very common; I never counted the number of times it happened, but this is the most common.”

“I see. What else?”

“The next one's an adjustment if the plot's too long. For example, I'm supposed to write a plot's worth of content, but after finding the story to be too story, I had to add some parts. Or maybe the opposite happened, and I wrote too much, so I had to cut off a few scenes. Using my experience, the latter's more common.”

“In that case...don't you feel regret about 'being unable to write what you originally planned'?'

“I answered that question already, and I don't feel regret at all. I rather have a completed draft work than an idealistic idea. I'll try my best to edit to improve it though, of course.”

“...I see.”

“And also, I'll often change the character profiles.”

“How?”

“I'll add new characters to cook up the atmosphere. In contrast, if I can't finish with the characterisation, I'll think of reducing the number of characters. There are few female characters, so I need to change the gender for a few characters. The twist that 'this certain person's actually female' is always king, so I include this very often. Before then, when writing halfway through, I'll have thoughts of 'eh? It's probably more interesting to change this guy into a girl', and so I change what was supposed to be a guy into a girl.”

“...”

I didn't know whether Nitadori's speechless because she's amazed or dumbfounded.

But this was how I completed my novel.

I wanted to avoid following a fixed path (plot concept) when writing and end up 'unable to reach the final destination', 'spending too much time', 'kept making myself tired'.

“And because of this...I can't keep sticking to the plot that can be changed midway through.”

I felt I said some very ordinary things.

“Till now, I thought all authors would have a clear goal and write according to it.”

I learned how amazed Nitadori was from the large eyes under the glasses and how shrill her voice became as a result.

“I too think...such people exist. But...I don't think all authors will do that.”

“Haa...I'm shocked.”

 

Writing is a tough, yet wonderful thing—

And there's still tough parts later. The actual writing itself is always the longest part.

I had to actually think through a large part of the story, and convert it into words.

At this point, I only knew how to write using a word processing software, so in fact, it should have been 'kept typing',

But to make things convenient, I'll continue to use the term 'write'.

 

“I suppose you know that the content of a story can be divided into the 'descriptions' and 'dialogue'. The descriptions refer to the narrations and the explanations, or in other words, anything other than dialogue.”

I too found my own explanation to be very crude.

Nitadori nodded, and asked,

“Then, sensei, which do you find harder to write, the description or the dialogue?”

I answered,

“Hm, about that, it's definitely the description.”

 

I did mention before that I could not write back when I was in 8th grade.

And the description was the part I couldn't write.

I feel that those aiming to be authors will reach the hardest hurdle, how to think (formulate) a story , and also,

How to do the descriptions for a novel.

“As I said before, I struggled over and over again, and barely managed to write it...but I was really suffering back then.”

Looking at the back of the seat in front of it, I lamented.

It's interesting thinking of the times as a hammer after learning how to swim. The efforts put in back then definitely won't be for naught.

But even so, this isn't the time to be thinking back about what happened back then. I have to explain to Nitadori why the description's hard to write.

 

“Well, first...the aim of description is to explain to the readers what happens, so the author has to convey the intent to the reader.”

“Okay..”

"And so, it's best to have a story that's simple yet easy to understand. In other words, there's no need for text that's extremely complicated. The ideal should be when the topics and the narratives are very clear, and there's no misunderstanding whenever any reads it."

Now then, if there's a question 'is the description all that simple in all the stories to be found in the world', the answer will be, of course not.

In fact, authors will added interesting similes, outstanding metaphors, correct grammar, and so on. In other words, authors will do all kinds of 'cosmetics' to present the text as more splendid, wonderful.

"I do feel this way. The decorating of a text is like an illustrator's fine strokes, the parts that'll emphasize the unique traits of each other. For example, just as 'some illustrators have delicate drawing styles', there are some authors who have delicate styles when writing. Also, some authors will include a large amount of metaphors, and some will keep it simple, yet refine it to be much prettier later on."

And thus—

Those wanting to write novels will think,

"I have to write that kind of story too."

And so, they end up unable to write it out.

 

For example, someone watched an Olympic event on TV, and was impressed by a participant's performance.

He thought of trying to start with that sport, and began to do so.

Is he however about to immediately perform as well as an Olympic representative? Of course not. Anyone will understand this.

"Why can't I run 100m in 10 seconds?"

"Why can't I hit bullseye all the time?"

"Why can't I leap elegantly between the uneven bars?"

I don't really think anyone will have such troubles.

 

In terms of novels however, I do feel that many people begin off, but have the frustration of 'why can't I write like this particular author'.

"Speaking of which...I was like that when I first started writing. Back then, I think I was seriously thinking 'I did read so many books, but why can't I write that kind of a story'…"

And saying that, I turn my eyes to the distant past.

"..."

Nitadori remained silent,

"Well, I guess, that's impossible…"

And amicably agreed with me.

"Yes, it's impossible. There are amazing geniuses who exist in this world however, and there are exceptions to be seen everywhere, so I don't dare to say it's absolute. Anyway, most of the people probably can't do it."

 

The main difference between the sportsmen in the example and writing is—

Basically, 'writing stories in Japanese' is something any Japanese can do.

Anyone can come up with a half-baked story, so they probably can imagine themselves writing a story like a novelist.

And then they got frustrated over being unable to write.

Before they gave up in the end.

"Then, as for 'what do I do in this situation'...or I should say 'how did I do it'..."

"Hm, how?"

"I started writing from those parts I could. That was back when I was in 8th grade, so I'll skip on the explanation—"

I realized.

Though I read a lot of novels till this point, I had yet to actually write a story myself. I could write a story in Japanese, but it was stupid of me to think that I could actually successfully write a 'Japanese novel' right from the beginning.

“So I'm saying isn't that 'if there's no bread, have some cake'. I feel that if I can't write a story that's more difficult, try writing something simpler.”

“I see. Start improving on what you can do, huh?”

'Yeah. I feel that a simple text will do, so the one thing I focus most on is 'comprehensiveness', and I decided that I had to begin writing first.

It's impossible to just imagine and write a story like a certain professional author. Thus, I'll start from 'a simple story that's easy to understand'.

And then, I completed the story first, before revising what I wrote over and over again.

I continue to spice up the simple text, like 'a little additional narratives', 'slight changes in terms', and so on. If I feel there's no need to do so, I'll naturally let the text remain as such.

Soon after, I ended up being able to write better than how I did when I first started off.

“And then, when writing, you're able to write better text...is that it?”

“Well, it can barely be considered as such if you're calling a text that can be called a novel.”

“You're being humble again. Do you still find writing the description very difficult.”

“Yeah, even now, I do think this way. I'll feel really frustrated writing the descriptions. I can do it, but I'll still ask myself, is this enough? Is there a more obvious way of showing this? And assuming that it's easy to understand, is there a better way of spicing this up in a way readers will find amusing? It's not difficult to edit a text when writing a novel.”

“I see.”

“But of course, I still have to meet the deadlines, so there's a certain time when I had to tell myself 'this is enough'. Till now, my method is still to reread the story 3 times, and if I don't find the story to be awkward in any way, I'll submit the script.”

 

After explaining till this point, I drank some tea, and Nitadori asked,

“Then, what about the dialogue? It's easier, but is it really that easy thinking about it?”

And I honestly answer,

“It's far easier than the descriptions. I'm always able to think of conversations easily..”

 

I always had delusions ever since young,

And in my delusions, the conversations took a large chunk of it.

I kept thinking back on the characters (myself included back then) having such cool, boisterous, or interesting conversations.

I myself am introverted and timid, and I'll be so tense whenever I faced anyone, wondering what to talk about. In my delusions however, I'm able to actually chat with others without holding back.

In an actual conversation, the other party actually exists. I didn't know what he'll say (though I had some guesses).

After hearing the conversation, I'll think of how to answer him, and continue to listen to him. This continuous process definitely isn't easy (and at this moment, I'll be much more fatigued than usual thinking about 'not wanting to hurt the other party', or 'not wanting to say anything rude'.)

For example, it's like 2 people having a serious Shogi match.

 

In my delusional conversations, I'm proceeding with all this myself, so I know what the other party will be saying.

For example, I'm playing Shogi by myself. I could cook up the atmosphere of the match and determine the victory. All the moves are dictated by my brain, so it's much easier than having an actual, serious match.

The reason why I'm bad at actually conversing with people in reality is probably because I'm too used to playing Shogi by myself. While under the misunderstanding that 'the conversation will probably go just as I think', whenever they say something unexpected, I'll end up not knowing what to say at all.

“But to me, you look like you're able to converse normally with ordinary people, and you are able to actually do it.”

“That's because I'm basically answering questions...I think answering questions about myself is the simplest form of dialogue.”

“Then, isn't that it!?”

“What?”

“What you talked about when describing the descriptions. Start from the simplest conversation, and then you'll soon improve!”

“Ah, that.”

“Yes, that.”

Though the conversation's full of relative pronouns, I'm glad to be able to talk to her without any concerns. As she had said, I probably never had any talent of talking with people right from the beginning.

Start slowly from the simplest part, and soon after—

“Erm, the conversations the characters in the novel have...is completely different from an actual conversation. I think this is the case not only for a novel, but also for anime or a drama script.”

I racked my brain furiously, and said.

“Yes! I understand that!”

Nitadori agreed for the time being.

I'm glad. There's probably no one unhappy about being acknowledged by others. I once read in a certain book that the basic skill of getting on someone's good side through words is not to deny others.

“It's much more complete and easier to understand than an actual conversation, right?”

Nitadori gave the correct answer. I guess this is to be expected of a professional voice actress that's staring at the script all the time.

In fact, the conversation here is different from a conversation in a novel.

 

If one's to actually record an actual conversation and fill it out (or write it out), it's obvious that an actual conversation has a lot of colloquial and mistakes. It's really difficult to read text where every line's recorded.

It's after I searched through the internet that I learned that there are 3 methods to record dialogue and convert them into the words. 'transcribe', 'fluffing' and 'editing'.

'Transcribe' will mean adding all the sounds, including 'well', ahh', and all kinds of onomatopoeia, and they're all recorded into words. This is used when there's a need to accurately record the conversation.

'Fluffing' will be to remove those meaningless sounds, or make the bare minimum edits at the parts that are overly strange.

'Editing' will be as the term implies, to reconstruct the text into easy to understand sentences.

 

“I do feel that this also has something to do with the author's own preferences...but novels basically are 'edited drafts'. If I want to give a stammering feeling, I'll add terms like 'well'. If it's a text, I'll add ellipsis.”

“'Ellipsis', as in?”

“The punctuation used to contain sentences...used to describe silence.”

“Eh! I didn't know that.”

“It has 3 dots. Accurately put, there's a rule of thumb to put at least 2 or 4 of these. This punctuation however is based on the author's own preference, and it's the case too in publications other than light novels.”

“What about yourself, sensei?”

“For me, I'll still follow the rule, to add two of these, 6 dots altogether. If there's a need to emphasize silence, I'll double that; in other words, I'll use 12 dots.”

 

Speaking of ellipsis, I had a little urge to talk about how to write a story, the rules, and all sorts of stuff.

But it'll be way off topic in that case, so I held back.

“Is there anything to take note of with regards to other parts, like dialogue or anything? I want to know more about conversations.”

Nitadori said. I guess this it to be expected of a voice actress.

“Now then, let's talk about a conversation in a novel. I do think there's a very big difference, other than the fact that 'the characters conversation are a lot more polished than an actual conversation'. That is—”

“That is?”

“Character conversations are not exacctly meant for each other.”

“Hm? Then, who are they for?”

Nitadori tilted her head, asking, and so I answered,

“For the readers.”

 

“Ah...I see, so that's how it is...”

“For example, right now, I'm having a conversation with you on the train...”

“Yes.”

Nitadori chimed in, seemingly happy about it. Is this my imagination? But even so, I can't understand what's there to be happy about. It's useless to worry about such things however, so I continued,

“If I'm a character in a novel...I won't be talking to you, Nitadori>'

“...Hm, now that's definitely the case.”

And now she's looking unhappy. I really can't understand her.

“The one I'm talking to is the reader. I'll be portraying this character, and convey to the readers what the author wants to express. That's the kind of impression. Ah, I think I'm getting a little obnoxious here. Sorry.”

“No no. Then, am I talking to the readers too?”

I nodded firmly.

Nitadori then turned her stare to the top right corner of the carriage ceiling,

“Dear readers, hello there. If you find this book to be very interesting, please recommend it to your classmates!”

Her speaking voice was completely different from before, very cute. It can be described as the 'anime voice'.

I couldn't see from this angle—

So I didn't know what sort of expression Nitadori was showing on her face.

 

The carriage on May 1st is far more packed than how it normally was.

Many people got off midway through the trip, but there were also a lot of commuters on this trip. The free-seating carriage became lively.

There's still no seat in the one seated in front of us, but there's finally a young woman seated at the right side of the aisle, near the window.

In that case, we couldn't converse as we normally id.

And once I wondered that, the woman immediately put on her earphones to listen to music, and closed her eyes.

“Looks like...my sleep magic worked.”

Nitadori said with a serious face,

“Impressive.”

Sleep magic's the most basic of spells in 'Vice Versa', able to cause the inflicted party to be overwhelmed with a great urge to sleep, and prompt them to do so.

And this was a common spell Sin would use in the real world whenever he encountered a tough situation.

 

Nitadori asked me how I write, and at this point, I only answered the concept planning and a small part of writing itself.

“Well, in the process of writing, what's the next step?”

“Well...”

I start to ponder, and I had little thought,

“I'll digress a little. Is that okay?”

“Go ahead.”

“Now then, when I first started out, I would obviously following a rough outline of the concept or the ideas I thought, and continue to write enthusiastically.”

“Okay.”

“I feel that writing is a job is something that can conceive all kinds of possibilities if you think hard, and yet continue to throw it away.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Well...the novel I had was conceived in my mind. At first, what developed was the ideas, and then, the concept will be formed. At that phase, my story's yet to take shape. That's because, as I had said, I'm not limited by the concepts when writing.”

“Uhum.”

“But once I continue to write, I'll decide on which parts I want to keep. Of course, there are times when I'll rewrite it, or I'll abandon certain scenes...but if I'm happy with the parts I've writeen, I'll keep that part.”

“Ah, I think I get what you're saying here, sensei.”

“Once I'm done writing a novel, the content will take care, and won't become another story altogether. At this moment, I'll give up other possibilities. The possibilities I give up on will be far more than the possibilities I chose. It's tough giving up on them, but I got no choice. If I don't give up on them, I won't be able to make choices.”

“Just like life.”

Nitadori said with a grim look.

I didn't intend to give such a massive impression; all I wanted was to describe 'how hard it is to give up'.

“Just like life.”

However, I decided to play along.

 

“Now then, we mentioned the plot, began written, and later...”

I wondered what I was to say next, muttering.

“Can I ask? When did you decide the title of the work? Who decides it?'

Nitadori took a gulp of tea, and reached her hand out to me.

“Ah, thanks. Now then, I'll explain this part first.”

“No problem. Go ahead please.”

 

I feel that the title's very important.

Either way, the first thing the reader wants to see first is the title and the author (in the world of light novels, the cover is as important too, but I'll leave that for another time). When picking a light novel title, I'm very particular about the readers' impression on the title.

When coming up with a title, it has to be impactful, and also easy to understand.

“Leaving aside the impact first, let's consider the ease of understanding the title. Assuming that there's a book titled 'a Certain murder ', we'll be able to tell what kind of a story it is.”

“Yes, it's a detective novel, right?”

“Yes. This is a classic example, but I feel that all kinds of novels will have similar names, so in that way, the best way is to determine the title of the book. If I want to write a detective novel, I'll do that unless there's a situation where I can't compromise.”

“So, sensei, how did you decide on this light novel title?”

“Hm. In the world of light novels, the title—”

 

Can only be described as chaotic.

There are all kinds of titles, an entire variety of them.

Some titles are simple enough, including the protagonist's name.

Some titles are formed using the protagonist's name with another noun. 'OO's XX (OO no XX)' is quite common.”

There are also short phrases used to describe the world setting.

At a certain period, there were titles of four hiragana words with exclamation marks added at the back, including anime and manga.

And also, there's one that's often seen currently—

The extremely long titles that can be said to be sentences.

 

“Ah, yes, those extremely long names are really scary. If they need to be made into anime, when the news for auditions get circulated, everyone would be thinking in surprise, 'Woah, another long one!'”

"I feel that such titles are very popular due to the impactfulness that will leave a great impression. Also, they can add additional 'selling points' into the title, like little sisters, demon lord, class reps, maids, and so on, so I guess it's for convenience sake."

"Ohh...I guess this is a calm analysis only authors can do."

"But stories with extremely long titles isn't just for long titles. Such titles aren't really uncommon in sci-fi. Do you know the original title of the movie 'Blade Runner'?"

"No."

"'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?' The Japanese version uses the direct translation, and the English title is this long. There are also some titles that are really long in movies, so I think the trend of titles being so long they're sentences don't simply appear in light novels."

"Hmm...then, sensei, will you use that kind of title?"

After pondering for 3 seconds, I concluded that no, I won't do that. Currently, there's an oversaturation of extremely long titles, so the impact has weakened, and it gets a little stale."

"No, I won't."

Nitadori chuckled, saying,

"I knew you'll say that. I do think that 'Vice Versa' is a wonderful title. It's short, but it conveys the setting well. When I first saw the cover, I was thinking 'wow'."

I wanted to thank her, but instead, I asked her,

"Nitadori...is your English fluent?"

I, who was supposed to be the one answering the questions all this time, actually took the initiative to ask her a personal question. Even I was shocked by this.

"Why...do you think that way?"

She asked.

It seemed she was more startled that 'I got it right', rather than me asking the question. And so, I honestly answered what I thought of,

"Hm, when I was looking for this English term, I realized that a lot of Japanese don't know this at all, and I heard that even the textbooks don't have it. It's commonly used in English conversations however. You knew what it meant the moment you saw the title...and I guess your English conversation skills might be decent."

Nitadori blinked the eyes under the glasses.

"...Amazing work, Sherlock."

Is her English fluent after all? Again I learned something about Nitadori.

"My English's decent, but it's nothing to be proud of, and I never mentioned it to others."

"Understood, I'll keep it a secret at school. Normally, I won't be to talking to anyone anyway.

"You'll have an increase in number of friends soon! Hey...aren't you decent at English yourself? Do I try talking to you in English?"

"Did you forget the 'My Warld The Number First'?"

 

And while Nitadori was reining in her laughter, I informed her of the origin of the title 'Vice Versa'.

Once I had my world setting, and recorded down the plot—

“Ah, 'Vice Versa' does sound good.”

I just had this feeling, and went along with using it.

As I said before, it's a term I learned from a certain movie. Ever since then, I kept remembering it..

As I said, I suppose most of the Japanese don't know this term, and that's why I named it as such.

In other words, I had it as a selling point,

“I don't know the meaning of the mysterious term, but it sounds cool.”

If the word 'vice' is looked at as an ordinary word, it'll mean 'evil' in English. To a German reader, 'Weiß' would mean 'White'.

When I first started the content of the first volume, I had the English teacher teach Shin the meaning of the term Vice Versa.

I hoped that after the readers read the meaning of the book, they would have a 'I see, the title represents the setting of the world'.

 

“Ohh...so that means you actually thought hard about it before coming up with the name, right?”

Nitadori looked impressed at first, and then said,

“And you did that to actually reveal one of my secrets so discreetly...I never thought you had such ijntention.”

I answered,

“Of course. When naming the title, I already expected that we'll be seated on this train 3 years later, on May 1st.”

“As to be expected of you, sensei. You really have a way with things...”

Why however?

I suppose I'm not really good at the Manzai routine, but I could easily handle it if my partner's Nitadori.

 

I continue to explain about the book title, answering her the question of 'who names the book'.

“First off, the contest entry is obviously titled by the author.”

“Okay.”

“But after winning the award, it seems there's often a change in title.”

I didn't change the title of the work before, so most of these is hearsay. To change the title of a work, there's 3 methods to this. 'the editor-in-charge does it', 'the author comes up with a new name', or 'both people do it'. (Also, there's an example, when the ideas are revealed for a public voting).

What will a modern author do?

It seems it'll be one of the three.

I heard the timeframe for naming a book isn't fixed, and it's decided based on the situation.

As for me, the title of my current work (series), 'Vice Versa' was conceived when I was coming up with the story, as I had said.

And this is what I heard from the editor-in-charge and other authors—

Some will want to think of a cool title, and then expand their thinking from there.

Some will come up with the name when plotting the story (that's me).

Some can't think of the title at all, so they'll first try to come up with a placeholder title. Once the draft's done however, they'll decide on the actual title.

Sometimes, the placeholder titles will become the actual title because there aren't any other ideas.

 

And after hearing this,

“Hey, sensei...”

Nitadori gave a somewhat bemused yet serious look.

“Wh-what is it...?”

And while I answered so timidly, Nitadori asked,

“Sensei, if you have to write such a situation into a novel and give a title to it, what will you do?”

“Huuh!?”

This extremely gaudy question caused me to let out an awkward cry.

“In other words, if you have to come up with a story where you're a protagonist, what'll you call it?”

“...Me—?”

“'Me'?”

“I already fired myself...”

“I know you said it already! If you're to think about it again, what'll you do? In fact, at this age, you're already a light novel author, and your work's adapted into an anime. That's just like a light novel protagonist, isn't it?”

“...I never thought of that before.”

“How about it? If you try thinking about it, what will you title your book?”

“...”

I began to think.

After thinking over and over again, letting Nitadori wait for about a minute, I muttered,

“Erm, 'No Longer Human'?”

Nitadori was a little peeved to hear such an answer, saying,

“Isn't that blatant copying?”

“Then, 'No Longer Protagonist'?”

“Like it has changed much!”

 

The train moved into the city.

It's already dark outside, and the carriage's starting to buzz.

I already explained the concept planning, writing, and the title. What's next?

Do I start from the part after writing the script?

“Is there anything you'll pay particular note to when writing? Like something you have to pay attention to?”

Nitadori asked.

“Other than the deadline?”

“Other than the deadline.”

“Hm...there are a few things.”

It's trivial, but since she asked, I thought of it, so I decided to ask her.

 

When writing, I'll follow the 2 pages, 34 lines, 42 characters per line 'Dengeki Bunko format', horizontally.

I'll occasionally write the text in vertical manner, and then use the 'print preview' function in Word to view the publication layout when converted into Dengeki Bunko format.

Some may think, in that case, why don't I simply do it in vertical format instead. As I had explained it long ago however, I'm already used to landscape, so I don't intend to change that.

When checking through the layout, if I find the words to be too crammed,

I'll increase the name of lines.

“Eh? Why do you do that/”

“Because the priority is 'readability'.

 

A light novel's the first novel most people would have read in their lives.

That was the impression I had through the fan letters I got and the online book reviews. To me, who grew up living with books, I really was surprised that 'many read books for the first time since entering Middle or High School'.

But any point is a starting point.

And after saying this, I realized I got many things 'I have yet to start on'.

Once I realized that light novels are 'an entrance that conveys the interesting aspects of novels', and bore the mission to guide people to interact with books, I started to have an idea.

For the sake of those who have yet to touch books, I want to try my best to make my work easy to read.

For those who have yet to have the habit of reading books, what kind of books are easy to read?

I feel,

First off, the sentences; it's best if I abstain from using too many difficult sentences. As I said before, i actually fulfilled this, unexpectedly.

The next one should be the impression the pages give a reader.

Rather than cram pages with words,

I suppose it's better to leave some spaces when at certain intervals.

 

When writing, I'll occasionally end up in situations where 'I'm in a grove'.

That's a wonderful moment where my thoughts simply flow.

During that situation, I don't have time to think of aligning the text, and the words will often be cramped.

Thus, I'll look at the text calmly, and then add in more spaces.

When writing, I typically don't adhere to a certain amount of text per chapter. At most, I'm guessing a certain number of pages per part, (for 'Vice Versa', I'll divide each chapter as around 30 to 50 pages).

And so, the amount of spacing to increase the number of pages won't be much of an issue.

If it's like a magazine or a newspaper, the column size does have a limit, and I most probably can't do it as I please.