Author Aneko Yusagi-sensei’s Interview Q&A
Question: What was your motivation for writing novels (or this series) in the first place?
Aneko: Having read numerous novels, I felt like protagonists who could only defend and not attack weren’t particularly made use of in other stories, which led to me starting it.
It was mostly those with defensive + close combat capabilities at the time, I believe.
And that was why I thought that such protagonists would likely be looked down upon by those around them, which led to the story we have now.
Q: How did you feel when you had your first novel publication?
A: I must say I was very happy.
Because I had been writing a lot of stories, submitting them to contests and failing repeatedly, it felt nice to see that my efforts were finally rewarded.
Q: Have there been any works (novels, manga, anime, games, theatrics etc.) that influenced the writing of the novels you have written so far?
A: Considering the innumerable amount of works that have influenced my writing, to the point that a simple “100” or “200” doesn’t even come close to capturing the actual scale of it, I can’t decide which ones to highlight…
It’s through seeing, listening, and feeling those characters along with the countless worlds they saved that granted me help with my writing!
Q: When creating the stories in your works, what are the things you are more mindful of and put emphasis on?
A: I basically try to maintain an impartial and objective point of view throughout the whole story. However, I also want my readers to feel enjoyment and have emotional responses from my works, so it requires some daring and emotive writing woven into the beginning and ending of the stories at the very least.
Q: Have you ever been worried or lost when writing a novel?
A: It has always been stressful to constantly make sure the story doesn’t become too stressful for the reader to read.
Q: Looking back, what were you doing before your debut? Did anything change from before to after your debut?
A: Even before I started posting on “Let’s Become Novelists”*, I planned to work in this field and tried out all sorts of things.
I was sending my works to light novel contests, putting together novel game scripts that were trendy at that time, and trying to do doujin works…
So, my writing life has not changed much from before my debut.
T/N: “Let’s Become Novelists”「小説家になろう Shousetsuka ni Narou」is a Japanese user-generated novel site. Users upload their works while others can read them free of charge.
Q: How do you go about your writing? (Things like locations and tools for your writing environment). Also, what times do you come up with ideas?
A: I’m basically writing on my PC at home.
My writing tool is Notepad, and when I communicate back and forth with my editor, I use Microsoft Word.
I come up with many of my ideas when I go out for a walk, actually.
Q: How do you relax in your spare time? If you have any recent obsessions, please share those as well.
A: I play a lot of games to relax, actually.
I also sometimes rearrange plastic models I’ve made to make my own original plastic model.
T/N: Most likely Plastic Models from Mecha Franchises.
Q: Do you have a favorite food, a local food, or an indispensable writing companion item?
A: In general, my favorite foods are egg dishes.
Also, I often eat high cocoa chocolate (80%).
I don’t really eat anything in particular while writing.
Q: For models of the personalities for your protagonist and characters, are there sections that overlap between them and yourself? How were these fascinating characters born?
A: Naofumi’s tendency to hold grudges—that might be something I do myself as well. That and the way we often get looked down upon by those around us for some reason, I suppose?
Regarding the characters I write, I would imagine them to be a conglomeration of several characters from the various works I’ve seen or heard.
It’s practically done with the same principle as the process of reassembling plastic models that I do in my spare time.
Q: Is there a character in your stories that you particularly like? Please do share about the characters that you find easy and/or difficult to write, if any.
A: That would be Raph-chan. I do like characters in the mascot position after all.
An easy character to write is Motoyasu, while conversely a hard one to write around is Atla.
Motoyasu is easy to understand since he’s straightforward. Atla, on the other hand, is too blindly devoted to Naofumi, so it’s hard to get her to talk.
Q: Looking back on the story so far, do you have a most memorable or favorite scene?
A: The most memorable scene would be the moment when Motoyasu finally realizes Witch’s true nature and comes to understand the truth. The moment when the things you’ve believed in up until now crumble before you is truly painful after all.
My favorite scene is also related to that one, with Motoyasu greeting Naofumi who just came out of his room in the inn on the following day. The surreal feeling it gives makes it my favorite.
Q: Please give all your fans a message.
A: Thank you so much for supporting my works, including “Shield Hero”! Continuing on, I look forward to your support!
