Can't Leave This Room Until I Get First Place on Syosetu Chapter 3 Part1

Okay, I’ll try to finish this asap! I’m saying to myself that I’ll get 2 chapters done a week, but………………. I’ll try my hardest not to get distracted!

Well, this chapter is 8k characters long, so it’ll be split into 2 parts.

Special thanks to Doomr and Kyureki! (translator of My Pet Is a Holy Maiden/translation checker of My Pet Is a Holy Maiden)

Loop 3

●Day 1●

I returned back. It’s April 1st.

Well now, what’s the best way to write a novel?
Last time, I just wrote at random, but I get that good results won’t come out of that.
Well, if I wrote 1,000 books or 2,000 books, I might get lucky and one’ll hit, but that’s like hitting a lottery.
Novels are written by the hands of people. Not gambling.
It’s like baseball batting. You have to see through a ball that’s flying towards you and precisely swing to hit, and it takes many hits to get a one hit home run.
And, there’s a way to see through a ball that’s flying towards you and a method to swing. If there’s a technique, I’ll be able to learn by practicing to some extent.
To hit a novel, it should be the same.

I had a lot of confidence in my writing ability, but I was let down this time.
Naturally, I haven’t written novels normally so far.
For now, I’ll forget everything until the present, and let’s think of me as a complete amateur. At this time, I’ll study everything; that’ll be good.
I’m an amateur.
I’ve never written something like a novel, I’m a beginner, an amateur.
Everyone around me is more skilled than I, so I should study since they’re all senpai.
Thinking about it, it’ll be good if I go study various things.

Nonetheless, I think that there’s various techniques to writing a novel.
Even if they’re both ball games, baseball has baseball techniques and soccer has soccer techniques.
I have to write a novel, but what technique to write a novel?
Of course, a “Let’s Write a Novel” novel.
In short, it’s become necessary to observe “Let’s Write a Novel.”

Such a technique, I don’t really want it…
Already, I’ve been in here for more than 60 days. In this confined white room, I’m going crazy.
I want to leave quickly.
Since it’s like that, it’s absolutely necessary to do it.

The problem is what skill to study, though…
Luckily, there’s a lot of models right before my eyes.
Let’s study.

●Day 30●

I spent a month reading novels at the top of the rankings.
And so, I’ve understood a few things.

First, on the site of “Let’s Write a Novel,” there is a popular genre.
That is “isekai fantasy.” (TN note: If you didn’t know already, isekai = different/another world)
Before, my friend had recommended novels that were nothing but isekai, and even the top rankings of isekai novels have their own place. (TN note: see for more details)
Although I say isekai, it’s not Sci-Fi or Horror parallel worlds.
It’s the so-called western fantasy-type world.
To make it easier to understand, it’s like the worlds of ドラ○エ or 指○物語. (TN note: dora*e and yubi*monogatari. I don’t know what they’re referencing…)
Isekai fantasy is a story about a modern person who somehow goes to a fantasy-type world. Often to a game from around thirty years ago.

“Isekai fantasy.”
Before reading, I thought they were all similar, but, when I tried reading it, I couldn’t cut and abandon them in one sentence; they were varied.
Ones where the main character earnestly redoes life, ones where the main character has a leisurely and slow life, ones where the main character transmigrates into a game’s villain, ones where the main character loops the same time period many times to get closer to the truth, ones where the main character transmigrates together with mean acquaintances and swears revenge, and ones where the main character transmigrates into a villainess and tries to avoid a bad end.
Before reading, I was looking down on them, and, still, there are ones that I look down upon, but some of them match my tastes.

I wonder why were the ones that my friend recommended all boring?
…Most likely, my friend’s sense is weird.
He’s always like that.
Introducing a person who’s disposition is slightly different, I’m happy that my sense is sharper than his.

Well, that’s good.
Each person has their own tastes; I don’t hate him.
Let’s leave it.

There’s another thing common about the top rankings.
They’re long.
There’s more than 1,000,000 characters lying in each one. (TN note: 200 chapters/400k English words)
Moreover, they’re mostly not completed.
In short, this means that they’re still continuing.
When I tried looking at how many my novel had as a test, there was only 90,000 characters.
I’m embarra.s.sed that I was confident of my fast writing speed.

After reading, I understood another thing.
There are several rankings in this site. (TN note: see for more details)

Daily Rankings.
Weekly Rankings.
Monthly Rankings.
Seasonly Rankings.
Yearly Rankings.
And then, there’s c.u.mulative rankings.

In simple terms, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, and the rankings are a measurement of the rising of points in each period.
The c.u.mulative rankings is the measurement of the points that acc.u.mulated from the time when one first submits a novel to now.
Most likely, the site has multiple rankings to keep the site active.

Just, I have a problem.
What ranking do I have to take first place in?

“At most, it’s the c.u.mulative rankings, I guess.”

I didn’t really get the meaning of the room that I’m trapped in, but the goal is high.
Though, the current me isn’t even on the daily rankings.
The current first place in the daily rankings is 5225 pt.
It seems that there are times when the border is low, but I still have to get around 3000pts.
Even if I try to get the maximum of 12pts, it’s still an overwhelming number.
When I realized that I had to earn that in one day, I wanted to dive into the bed and be asleep.

But, I have to do it.

●Day 31●

I started writing a new novel.

The writing style was that of the top works on the site.
The literary style was as simple as possible and easy to understand. It wasn’t roundabout like literary works.
The summary would be an ordinary high schooler dies for a strange reason, meets Kami-sama in the world after death, receives “power” and goes on a trip in an isekai, it has a “save the world” kind of feeling.

Hmmm.
It seems that there are no twists at all.
For now, Kami-sama, in the end, didn’t give power to the main character, that high schooler originally had the power, and, with wisdom and bravery, he becomes the key to saving the world. I’m thinking of something like that, but….
Besides, there’s no original element.
It’s a story that appears often.

Honestly, this story, will it be popular?
It’s bad to copy, isn’t it?
I thought that a lot.
But, I want to try to see how many points I’ll get if I copy a novel that’s in the rankings once.

If I get entirely no points, that’s okay.
Anyways, I want to do something.

●Day 35●

If I think that this is an experiment, my writing brush moves swiftly.
For now, I finished writing 4 chapters. 1 chapter has 3,000 characters.
The writing style was loose, which was considerably different from the things that I’ve wrote until now, but, on the contrary, it was easy to write.
Somehow, I became really confident this time.