This book ends here.
From the perspective of the recent relationship development, although it feels a bit rushed, I personally believe there are no major issues.
This is the first novel I've written that reached 400,000 characters, and writing it felt like a breakthrough for me.
Let me tell you about the origin and journey of this book.
The birth of this book definitely originated from my love for the work 'My Dress-Up Darling.' After watching the anime, I went on to read the manga, following its bi-weekly updates.
When I reached chapter 77, seeing Marin hesitate for an entire chapter, unable to confess, I felt extremely anxious and frustrated, almost dying from impatience.
I've always enjoyed writing novels, though I haven't written many long ones, but the idea of writing a fanfiction to bring Wakana and Marin together became uncontrollable once it emerged, so I wrote an opening and posted it.
Then, unexpectedly, I received a notification from the editor agreeing to sign a contract, which made me seriously re-evaluate my book.
After I started taking this book seriously, my initial idea was to follow a slow-burn, 'love develops over time' route, like the first few chapters. However, I tend to be overly strict with settings; for example, I researched the exam times in the anime and deduced the days Gojo spent making clothes.
Such an arrangement would likely lead to Sajuna being absent for a long time, and it wouldn't be easy for the male lead's initial identity to interact with Sajuna.
Thus, I chose the 'chance encounter' approach, which became the biggest 'poison point' at the beginning. I apologize for this; if I had added some patches, everyone might have found it more acceptable.
However, the time constraints I set for myself made me feel that a logical development was difficult, so I had to take a more unconventional and 'deviant' path. For this, I still feel apologetic.
Rudely striking up a conversation doesn't happen like in books; instead, you might get reported to the police…
I hope everyone avoids imitating the male lead's offensive behavior in the early stages.
I leisurely persevered until 100,000 characters. The debut's results exceeded my expectations, but before I could celebrate for a few days, I was put into a'small dark room' due to safety reasons. Thanks to everyone's companionship, I didn't give up on this book.
After finishing, rethinking the book I wrote, I realized that as my first book reaching 400,000 characters, it still has quite a few problems.
The first point is that too few characters appear, and many are used as mere tools, such as Nakamura Yu, Haruno Kyoko, the restaurant owner, and Fujiwara Kako.
These characters primarily serve as tools to show that the protagonist's social relationships are not non-existent, but connected.
So, I basically didn't write much about Sajuna and Fujiwara Kako's interactions, only bringing them out when they were useful.
But then I thought, in the romance anime I watch, aren't there usually only the male and female leads? It seems like there aren't many other characters…
The second point is insufficient character development. The male lead's development is basically referenced from the author, so I don't read much into him, but Sajuna's reference is only a small part of the anime and manga. When describing Sajuna, I unconsciously wrote her as the Sajuna in my own mind, a Sajuna that deviated from the original work, and I don't know if everyone felt her character was out of sync.
And then there's the plot design. My initial plot design revolved around their interactions as milestones. For example, everyone knows Sajuna faints when holding hands with the opposite sex, and Akira gradually makes Sajuna less sensitive, then the plot progresses step by step.
However, later due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to modify this part of the plot. Starting from their heart-to-heart talk after the rain, the plot began to rely on their mutual understanding of each other to advance.
Especially after they kissed, it no longer made sense for the plot to be driven by physical contact. So, later on, everyone can see Sajuna's internal struggles and then her heart-to-heart with Akira…
Finally, although I chose to conclude with their engagement, partly due to real-world reasons of not having time to write, I also wasn't confident in writing the emotional changes after they took their relationship further.
For me, ending it here feels just about right, with no regrets.
Overall, this book has significant issues, especially the poor data for continuous reading in the middle. To make everyone's reading experience enjoyable, I modified the writing style so there's 'food' every day, which might make it too sweet for those who'stockpiled' chapters and read them all at once…
Finally, thank you all for watching and supporting.
See you next year, in the next book.