Hikigaya wants to be a novelist

" The chapter names? I wrote them down in my notebook. They are ' Event Chapter' and 'Chapter Nonoguchi Osamu's notes , ' The Chapter of Doubt: Kaga Kyoichiro's Records ' and ' The Chapter of Solution: Nonoguchi Osamu's Notes ' .

Professional Naho Imamura answered quickly, while Sonoko Machida was completely clueless, which was in line with the reading habits of most general readers. They didn't care about the chapter names because they were useless.

" So, Editor Imamura, when you saw these questions, did you think about them directly? "

" No, Mr. Hachiman , what do you mean? "

Naho Imamura answered truthfully that she rarely paid attention to the chapter names and wrote them down purely for the convenience of discussing them by chapter.

" Then let me ask you another way. You just mentioned that you felt something similar to Agatha Christie in the book. Which part of the book gave you that feeling? "

" Uh ... I guess it's the writing style, or ... the method of killing or something like that? "

Even Naho Imamura herself didn't quite understand it.

" You can read Agatha and Matsumoto Kiyonaga in the way this book commits crimes. He is even a bit like Conan Doyle. But that's not the point, Editor Imamura. Agatha Christie's unique charm is not here. Well, I have asked all my questions. Thank you both for your valuable comments. Next, I suggest that we eat something and talk about things other than work. "

Hikigaya ignored the angry expression of Editor Imamura and changed the subject. He had already confirmed that even with his hint, Editor Imamura, a veteran mystery fan, could not find the core trick of the book. If he did not hint, it might be directly ignored. If Imamura was like this, there was no need to say more about Machida Sonoko. This trick would definitely trick ordinary readers like her.

" After today's meeting, I think the success of this novel is a foregone conclusion. "

After finishing his meal, Hikigaya said goodbye to the two at the entrance of Ginza and said this very confidently. This made the two female editors, especially Imamura, even more confused. They all thought that they did not provide any constructive suggestions to Hikigayab, but Hachiman thanked them sincerely.

Machida soon felt that it didn't matter. She was able to spend several hours with a handsome boy, listening to him talking about some mystery literature that she vaguely understood. She was fascinated by the feeling that her thinking was completely guided by a knowledgeable person.

On the other hand , Naho Imamura was not so easy to reconcile with herself. She stubbornly believed that in the previous conversation, Hikigaya was a little disappointed with her, a strong mystery novel theory school. Hachiman had clearly guided her thinking many times, but she just couldn't understand what he meant. This made her feel very embarrassed : not only did she not have the genius ideas like Hachiman, but now she was even crushed by Hachiman in theoretical knowledge. If this goes on, the meaning of her existence as an editor will be completely gone!

" I'm going to go back and start reading Agatha Christie again tonight . "

Naho Imamura secretly argued that her creative talent was a gift from God, and she could accept her fate if she couldn't make up for the gap. But theoretical knowledge could be made up through extensive reading and learning, and if she was suppressed by Mr. Hachiman, who was 13 years younger than her, even this, it would be a dereliction of duty.

She reviewed the classic detective novels of the Golden Age, such as Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen , John Dickson Carr ... When detective writers a hundred years later are racking their brains to design plot twists, pursue grand narratives (is it wrong to want to write epic stories in detective novels), and depict bizarre scenes, the works of these writers from decades or even a hundred years ago are even more brilliant. Just like Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" to the scientific community, detective writers at all times must read the works of these old predecessors and imitate them when necessary to inspire their own new inspiration.

After returning home, Hikigaya felt refreshed. He couldn't show his pride in front of the two editors, otherwise he might expose the fact that he was using them as guinea pigs. Wait, they seemed to have volunteered, so it was okay.

Naho Imamura didn't realize was the word " notes " in the title of each chapter . The book is written by the author himself. As a mystery novel, the author is not allowed to deceive the readers when describing objective situations. But if the narrator is replaced by a character in the book, whether everything they say can be believed is something that needs to be considered. Most readers read the first few chapters with a mentality of accepting everything, so some solid impressions of the characters are completely implanted in their hearts and they will follow through to read the entire novel until the mystery is revealed at the end.

Hikigaya began the subsequent creation of "Malice" with great enthusiasm. After proving that the narrative in the first third was effective, the subsequent creation became much easier.

After returning to Chiyoda, Naho Imamura received a call from Arisugawa . This active mystery novel giant also wanted to read Hikigaya's new work, so Naho Imamura immediately sent him the printed manuscript.

" Well, there's nothing too surprising just reading the current content. It's a well-made mystery novel with all the necessary elements, but that's about it. "

Arisugawa gave basically the same evaluation as Imamura.

Naho Imamura repeated to Arisugawa what Mr. Hachiman said when they met. This master of mystery novels must have a deeper understanding of it, as mystery novelists often have similar creative ideas.

" I see. After listening to what you said, I realized that I underestimated the content of these 30,000 words. Looking back, there are indeed many foreshadowings that have not been revealed yet. I think Hikigaya is going to write another hit this time. "

Arisugawa sighed, but Imamura Naho was still confused, and Arisugawa noticed her expression.

" If you still don't understand, go back and review Agatha Christie's most groundbreaking book and see how writers deceived their readers a hundred years ago. "

Arisugawa gave some advice to Naho Imamura, then got up and left the publishing house.

" The most groundbreaking book ... it's either The ABC Murders or Roger Affair. "

Imamura muttered to himself .

-----