Afterword

To begin (and I got this idea from user/writer Alita Kayali), I want to thank my Lord Jesus Christ who gave me life and strength to finish it.

So, my story of writing this goes like this:

I saw an ad for this contest on August 14, and I said… what do I got to lose?
Well, I did!

I had zero time. And for the next 46 days I was practically missing from everyone.
I didn’t have the time for first drafts and second drafts and lots of editing and so on, because I write rather slowly compared to most people.

Sleep was the first thing I lost. Then my regular job fell somewhat behind. I did work, but only the absolute essentials. And in general, everything else went behind too.

Thankfully, there was a deadline.
Whatever I could finish by then!
And I did finish.

At the beginning, of course, like most writers maybe, I didn’t know exactly what to write or how. I wasn’t even sure how the story would flow. And many things changed along the way. But that I really liked – because I, along with the reader, was discovering this world, the characters, and the events together.

It’s both scary and beautiful not knowing what’s around the next corner.

But when you’ve got a deadline chasing you (and the closer it gets, the harder it is NOT to finish, because you’ve already put in so much effort!), you reach a point where you simply HAVE to finish it, no matter what!

I was worried about the word count too. But in the end, word count wasn’t the problem. The bigger problem was trimming.

If I had known I had 1–2 more months, I would have done a lot of trimming to add more and more things, up to the contest’s max of 80,000 words. Because if I really had the time… I later realized there was so much more in this world that I didn’t get the chance to explore.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, many things didn’t go the way I expected.
Only the basic arc existed, like when you make an arc with plants – you set it up, then you plant the seeds, and they grow however they like around it, always anchored to the arc… but each time they create something of their own. Maybe they bring flowers… maybe even fruits, depending on the climate or something like that.

In my case, even the final foundation of the arc shifted a little further. The ending changed along the way too. And not just once (in my mind, at least). But I think, in the end, I kept the best one.
That’s for you to judge, of course.

So, I wanted to add one more thing.

As you may have realized, I don’t have much experience with isekai. Honestly, I probably would have preferred almost any other prompt instead of this one.
Still, in the end I wrote a story that –at least to me– I enjoyed, and one that has a beginning, middle, and end that I think could satisfy a good number of average readers.
Of course, that’s for you to judge, as well.

That said, I really hope you enjoyed reading it.

P.S. Please expect Appendices