Afterword

Nice to meet you, everyone! My name is Anda Sadanatsu.

This is my first official debut novel after winning the Special Award in the 11th annual Enterbrain Entertainment Awards, Novel Division. So many people helped me get this far, and now as I write this afterword, I’m filled with gratitude towards each and every one of them. Honestly, I couldn’t have made it without them.

That said, my editor told me “Just because you’re new at this, it doesn’t mean you have to fill the whole thing with thank-yous and apologies. That’s boring!” So, with that in mind, despite the fact that I’m a total nobody who probably doesn’t have any business claiming to be an author, I’d like to tell you all about the many hardships I faced trying to write this book. Nothing’s ever easy, after all.

Obviously, I write because I like it. That said, my feelings toward writing are a different kettle of fish compared to someone who’s wanted to be a novelist since childhood. Still, writing a book was a goal of mine, and now here I am writing the afterword to said book, so obviously I can’t dislike it that much, now can I?

Anyway, so there I was, with this intense desire to write a book for some reason. Now, did that passion last throughout the whole project? Well... No.

Maybe it’s easy for people with actual talent, but when you’re someone like me, trying to finish an entire book can be like pulling teeth. For whatever reason, I keep hitting these walls where I’m like, “Argh! Goddamn writer’s block! Writing sucks!” and from there, my motivation plummets completely. Unfortunately, whining doesn’t get the book done—and I’m sure this applies to basically everything—so you pretty much have to buckle down and force yourself to just “get it done.”

The thing is, I’m not the kind of person who can just magically pull the motivation to “get it done” out of thin air. So I ended up trying out different ways to boost my motivation levels, and I found one really exceptional, low-cost, effective method.

Yep, you guessed it—daydreaming!

Stuff like “Woohoo! My book made the bestsellers list and now I’m rolling in royalties!” or “My book sold so well, I’m super-famous and now I’m doing special interviews with all these magazines!” or “Just sold the film rights to Hollywood!” or “Wow, my book’s become a cultural phenomenon!” or “They’re gonna name a literary award after me!” Fantasizing about this stuff (I swear these are just idle fantasies) really gets me hyped up, and I start thinking “Hell yeah! Let’s do this!” (Sorry, I know it’s stupid.)

So yeah, shout-out to my daydreams for helping me through that first draft of the manuscript. I’m sure they’ll be putting in a lot of overtime in the future, too.

That reminds me, right before I submitted that manuscript to the Amateur Novel Awards, I had this great way of blowing off steam while I was writing the last few chapters.

Yep, you guessed it(?)—brainstorming pen names!

Truth be told, I wasn’t that concerned about what pen name I was going to end up with, but I had a fair bit of fun coming up with them.

For some reason, while I was working on the draft that would eventually become this book, I thought it would be kinda cool to take Edgar Allen Poe’s name and kanji-fy it into “Edogawaranpo” (江戸川乱歩) or something like that.

Why, you ask? No real reason. Just because.

And so from there I decided to take the names of people I liked or admired and turn them into kanji-fied pen names. (Again, just as a fun little way to blow off steam.) What happened next? Well, what do you know! All of my name ideas stemmed from pro wrestlers!

...

Okay, I know this might sound kinda silly coming from someone who’s trying to make it as an author, but I figured I wouldn’t be making my professional debut for a long time anyway, so... I took the name of a certain pro wrestler I admire, and through a series of trial and error, eventually arrived at the pen name I use today. Man, that was fun!

...I didn’t expect to be making my debut with this name, though!

Not that I regret it or anything!

Lastly... Just so you know, I’m not a wrestling fanboy or anything. I’m such a casual, it would be extremely presumptuous of me to liken myself to an actual fan! Seriously, the world of wrestling is pretty deep.

Oh, right... You probably don’t care. Whoops! Sorry about that!

Now then, on to the acknowledgments!

First, I’d like to thank everyone involved with the Famitsu Bunko department of the Enterbrain Entertainment Awards for giving me the chance to debut as a writer.

Second, I’d like to thank everyone who worked hard to help me get this book published, particularly my editor.

Third, a HUGE thank you to Shiromizakana-sama for making time in her busy schedule to draw the gorgeous illustrations for my book.

And last but not least, the biggest thanks of all go to all of you readers out there. I hope you had a great time from cover to cover.

—Anda Sadanatsu
January 2x1x