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As the Guuji of Grand Narukami Shrine and right hand to Her Excellency the Raiden Shogun, Miko was something of a religious authority in Inazuma. Thus she spent each and every morning working hard to enrich the spiritual well-being of the common folk — by reading the letters they sent in to Yae Publishing.
“Let’s see…” she muttered, sifting through the fresh pile on her desk. “Novel idea, fan letter, love confession, novel idea and love confession…”
She truly received a wide and intriguing variety of messages from fans. Naturally she didn’t respond to or even read all of them, otherwise she would be stuck in her office from sunrise to sundown. But she did like to pick out a few each day and write back, if for no other reason than to promote engagement with fans — which in turn boosted sales.
Now which would be the lucky letter for this morning? Ideally something unique, and not yet another—
Oh? she thought, holding up a very plain looking envelope to her face. It caught her attention because many things were misspelled on the front, including her own surname. She flipped it open and unfurled the letter within.
To the Cheef Editer of Yai Publishing,
Lately I have been using your novils to practice my reeding skills, but it’s hard. A lot of them includ old words that no one uses anymore, or made up words that are not easie to understand. I will includ an example so you know what I mean.
“As you know, Ei rid herself of a physical form when she interred her consciousness into this sword, creating the plane of euthymia. However, it appears as if passage of time has allowed her to collect enough ambient electro energy from the surrounding atmosphere to recreate her body in the flesh.”
She held up a finger.
“That being said, hers is the noblest and most eminent form in the realm, and thus it will take time for the process of recreation to complete. I estimate than in about a year or so, she will begin to pupate.”
I didn’t understand any of this! What is a euthymia? Is eminent different than ambient? I don’t get it…
Hard words are not the only reeson I can’t reed your novils. There also not easie to follow. Why does Ei turn into a worm? Is it because she did something bad? Also the Shogun said she will pupate, but worms don’t do that. Only caterpillers do that. So is she a caterpiller? It’s all very confusing…
But, I think the bigest problem is that a lot of your novils are cringe. The way the caracters talk to eech other makes me want to coyel into a ring like a worm too. I will includ another example.
“Ah, it’s not so bad,” Makoto said, as they danced amongst lightning bolts. There was no music, but who needed it, in this land where the heavens roared eternal? “Especially not when I have my dearest sister supporting me.”
Ei bristled with pride as she stepped to the beat of the thunder. “Give me the word, and I’ll call upon the skies to bow, the mountains to kneel.”
Cringe, cringe, cringe! The sky can’t even hold a bow! Is it a metafor or something? Ugh…
I think you should tell your righters to make more beginer-frendly novils. No hards words, no confusing plots, no cringe! I bet there are a lot of peeple like me who use them to practice reeding, so it would help. I’m not the only one, okay? Master Tighnari says there are a lot of late bloomers when it comes to reeding, so…
Just think about it!
Forest Ranger Collei
“Oh my,” Miko said, rubbing her chin. “This is quite the criticism…”
Honestly, this may have been the most negative feedback she had received in a long while. Just look at the amount of times the word ‘cringe’ came up…
Yes, she thought. This is the one.
These were the kinds of letters that she really felt a need to respond to. And she didn’t intend to hold back her thoughts, either. Since ‘Forest Ranger Collei’ was so kind as to provide her unfiltered, brutal honesty, Miko would do just the same.
A slightly maniacal laugh escaped from her lips.
“This’ll be fun.”
When Tighnari said a delivery had arrived for her, Collei had been expecting a letter from Amber. But not only was it from someone else, it wasn’t just a letter. It was a whole package full of books!
“There are so many…” she said, picking through the collection. They weren’t light novels either — she could tell by the titles. Rather than My Narukami Ōgosho Can’t Be This Cute! or some other nonsense, they had pretty interesting titles like The Cowherd and the Weaver or The Undersea Dragon Palace.
I wonder what the letter says? she thought.
She tore it open and brought it to the light so she could read it easier. It took a little while, but thankfully the writer had very neat, meticulous penmanship.
Forest Ranger Collei,
It saddens my heart to hear that our novels are not to your liking. Here at Yae Publishing we take customer feedback very seriously, except when we don’t.
Reading can be very challenging, my dear forest ranger. But there is no shame in struggling or falling behind. Everyone goes at their own pace, and sometimes that pace takes a bit longer. It can even take an eternity, believe me.
That being said, you write very well. It will not take long at all for an educated young lady like yourself to master these skills. To help you with your reading practice, I have included some of my favorite tales from Inazuman legend. Many of them feature youkai — including me! — but I think you will find them easier to follow.
And less… cringe.
These books are free of charge, and once you go through them feel free to write back to me for more. It matters not if it’s raining, snowing or even hailing — I will have Kujou Sara fly over and deliver them any time.
I hope you enjoy reading. And if you have your own ideas for what a novel should be, I encourage you to write them. Who knows, perhaps it could even end up being published here across the sea one day…
Take care,
Yae Miko