Hello, everyone. Udon Kamono here. We’ve reached volume 7 in the blink of an eye! That makes this the seventh afterword. There’s actually been a running theme to the ones I’ve written so far. Since I’ve been lucky enough to get to publish this light novel, I wanted to use this space to shed light on the inner workings of the process since I didn’t know much about it myself beforehand. (Really?)
Excuses aside, I really do want to talk about the process of making a light novel this time. After I finish drafting the body of the story, I show it to my editor. At this stage, I make a round of corrections and then send it off for proofreading. At the same time, a request is sent to the illustrator for insert images, the first proofread returns for me to make fixes, and I write the afterword to send off for another round of proofreading. Then, once that’s complete and the illustrations arrive, the cover design is decided and I write the bonus short stories for the bookstores.
I’ve rambled a bit here, but what I’m getting around to saying is that the afterword gets written before the illustrations are done. I’ve always mentioned my gratitude for Shizuki, but my praise is based on the images of the artwork in my head. Whenever I finally get to see the finished product, I find myself thinking, “I totally didn’t praise the art enough,” and, “I should have included this one part in my acknowledgments.” Of course, that’s just how the cookie crumbles when the process works like this. It’s no one’s fault, but I do always feel guilty about it.
I once mentioned this in front of Editor Soyama and Shizuki, and the former replied, “If you’d told me sooner, we could have moved the date for the afterword.” It was really that simple all along? Seriously?! The woes I carried for so long were for naught. So, without further ado, I’ll be praising the illustrations.
Man, they were really good this time! Let’s start with the cover. I mean, that layout? It’s so cool how Note is upside down, and Miya’s daring smile is fantastic! Sofie’s and Leyfa’s desperate expressions in the upper corner are superb too. And then there’s the first interior color illustration! The nightscape is exactly as I imagined it—in fact, it’s even more beautiful. Then there’s the second... Wait, I’m out of space already! Next time I’ll leave more than a few lines to talk about the art...
-Udon Kamono