Nov 09, 2023
To:yitsuin
ALRIGHT SO. Thank you SO MUCH for reading my whole novel ❤️ I read these comments as you were posting them and it gave me so much joy. And I've finally had time now to sit down and read through them again to give some proper replies.
"idk how to explain it, but the way these last few chapters have lined up so perfectly, in pacing, in connecting everything together, it feels like eating a hearty meal with many courses, each more delicious than the last, with dessert!!"
This is like, a HUGE compliment to me, because pacing & trying for a satisfying, complete story was always a really really big goal of mine. I knew I wanted to write something that was a full journey, but I also knew doing that in three months was O_O ...it was a challenge. My stories tend to be much longer and I usually do a lot of editing / rearranging afterwards to get the pacing right. So I feel like I learned a LOT in this contest, especially with writing within a timeline + a schedule. I really couldn't "wing it" as much as I usually do (and then go back and fix during editing.) So to know that the pacing and emotional notes landed, I'm just really glad it worked!!
THE TIE-INS <333 they are my favorite thing, and I wanted to do so many little callbacks for this last chapter to help bring it all to a close.
"that last sentence is SO funny because yeah, all of these descriptions are exactly what they are but it’s also so chaotic imagine someone reading this story for the first time and starting from the last sentence and then being like ????!?!?! wtf ??"
That is EXACTLY what I was going for 🤣🤣🤣 you jump to this last chapter like "Wait what?! How did THAT happen?" and then have to read to find out ;) hehehe
Hiroyuki is my favorite character too, flawed though he may be, because of how much he grew and got to show his strength (despite continuing to be a total silly baka xD) Though I know Claire 10000% would win a popularity poll and Toren would probably take 2nd place, Hiroyuki will still hold a special place in my heart ❤️ so I'm glad to hear someone shares that opinion with me!! 😆 Most readers told me hiroyuki was "annoying, but like, a necessary kind of annoying" and seemed to tolerate him. I'm still okay with that interpretation of him too! Because everything's from Hiroyuki's POV, you get to see more of his flaws than the other characters.
Thank you again for reading this and going on this journey with me 
✨ It's been a crazy ride, but I hope it could brighten your day a bit while you were reading ❤️
