Slayers - Volume 9 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

Scene: The Author and L

Au: Welcome back to the reprints! This volume starts our second major arc, which has a slightly different flavor to it. But thinking back on it, writing The Mystic Sword of Bezeld was kind of... eventful.

L: Oh? How so?

Au: Like, I got halfway through it and my computer’s hard drive got wiped.

L: Bwuh?! That’s... That’s...

Au: Yeah. It was... a long time ago. The world was all abuzz with news of the A*m incident. I was glued to the TV set and couldn’t get any writing done, so I had to call my editor and say, “Lock me in, please.”

L: You volunteered for that?

Au: Yes. Personally. It was my first ever lock-in!

L: That’s where the editor stands behind you the whole time, looking at their watch and clicking their tongue in irritation, right?

Au: Of course not! That’s creepy! What editor would do that? It just seems spiteful! They got me a room in a short-term rental, said, “Okay, this is your apartment. Get to it,” and left the rest to me.

L: Wow. In TV shows, you get the whole editor-standing-behind-you deal... I’m disappointed it wasn’t that kind of lock-in.

Au: I’m not sure what kind of lock-in that is, but... I’m sure every author-editor duo does things a little differently. And it’s not like an editor can afford to hover over a single author all day. And while I suspect that having someone standing leering over their shoulder would encourage some writers, it might cause others to freeze up completely.

So despite the fact that it was the A*m news that was distracting me, my editor got me a short-term rental at K*m**do in Tokyo, known for its ramen shops—and the A*m headquarters?! That’s what I was thinking about when I started my lockdown, and then when I was about halfway through the draft...

L: It went poof?

Au: Yep. Hard drive went poof. And I had no backup.

L: Wow... So did you think, “Maybe I should just make the whole thing an afterword”?

Au: Of course not. I contacted the editorial department, and fortunately someone who knew a lot about computers was able to restore the data. Incidentally, that same person would become my third editor.

L: Ah, so you recovered it in the end. Did you write the whole draft in Tokyo?

Au: No, I stopped halfway and came back to Osaka.

L: Coward! Why bother locking down if you were just going to call it off and go home?!

Au: Heh. You misunderstand. That was just the end of my lock-in in Tokyo! When you live alone, see, you have to go home once a week to check the mail and stuff. But going home to Osaka once a week was a huge drain on my time and my stamina. It was inefficient. And so, I returned to Osaka and began my second lockdown in a hotel room there!

L: You paid for it yourself?

Au: Yes! Obviously it was a work expense, but I paid for it out of pocket. The hotel had a pretty interesting system. You paid a fee up front, and then you settled your bill at checkout. There was a channel on the in-room TV where you could see how much money you’d already paid and the funds you had remaining. It would tick down every morning, and every time you ordered room service!

L: That seems kind of... stressful.

Au: Watching the number go down like that does make you feel weirdly trapped. But after I finished the draft, I realized that I’d spent nearly a month’s rent on one week at a hotel!

L: Well, renting an apartment would include a security deposit and such, so there’s more to it. But really, rather than reminiscing about the start of the second major novel arc, you just wanted to talk about locking down?

Au: Well, I just can’t separate this volume from my memories of writing it in lockdown. Besides, this might be educational for any readers who’re looking at doing a lock-in themselves in the future!

L: Seriously? Normal people never have to do that! And even if they do become writers, they should just turn in their drafts by the deadline so there’s no need to bunker down for a lock-in.

Au: Blergh!

L: Hey, he just coughed up blood.

Au: You... You just made enemies of two thousand manga artists and novelists in Japan...

L: Lots of people in lockdown, eh? Now, all silliness aside, there’ll be a little bit of a break before we put out the reprints of volume 10, but we’ll see you... in the afterword there!

Au: Yes, see you then.

L: Later, fellas!

Afterword: Over.