Oct 13, 2023
To:Taylor J
When I chose this title for the novel, I wanted the MC (Ravel) to keep saying that to everybody all the time, like his catchphrase (similar to Dattebayo, or I'm gonna be king of the pirates! xD), but then I came up with the 'U' word rule and also thought that it would be much more powerful if I use it only once at the very end.
I wanted their journey to be as cliche-free as possible. So no tsundere acts between them, no hiding their feelings and stuff. I wanted their relationship to have a healthy and natural flow, so I hope I managed to do that.
I'm so glad you thought my characters were realistic! I tried to make them as realistic as possible! And yes, many of them actually are inspired by real people around me, even their lines and way of speech are based on reality. And unfortunately, even the bullying - no in the form I described it, but I saw around me many instances of horrible things that people said or did that were much worse than the intense bullying here.
Ravel isn't a perfect human being at all, but I wrote him as somebody, I strive to be. With strong principles and always doing the right thing (like standing up for Fantasia even in the eyes of her scary father).
I think you analyzed and understood Fantasia's character down to the tiniest detail. I wrote her with the words "innocent" and "cute" in mind. And she really doesn't change, this was her personal journey to rediscover her true inner self and let her true personality leak out once she was allowed to do so by Ravel. And the biggest thing that helped her with that was the Beauty Contest.
Oh really? The School Vestibule where the contest took place was your favorite? I thought it was just a regular setting haha. And yeah, much more memorable should have been the Love Bank xD But you do mention it, so I guess mission accomplished.
I like when authors take a simple saying or idea and stretch it out into a story. In my case, that dream of Ravel's to change the world so that it treats Fantasia better is very unrealistic when you hear it. Almost impossible. But it had a simple solution, since "girls are prettier when they are happy". But I wonder, why do you consider the Beauty Contest as the climax? We were nowhere near being done with the whole world accepting Fantasia. Not even Ravel's friends were on board yet at that time.
I'm very glad you enjoyed the contest arc so much, I wrote it with so much passion. xD I enjoyed writing it too. I wanted it to be only around 3-4 chapters long but I liked the whole idea so much I ended up writing it for about 20 chapters, lol.
I had give myself some time to respond to your well crafted review, that's why it took me so long. Thank you very much for reading, for your kind words and for enjoying it! I am truly grateful to you! 🤗
