What lay at the origin of my descriptions

I am writing about what I realized after taking on the challenge of writing a full-length novel and submitting it to the 2026 Creative Awards.

Following my previous piece, "Clam Miso Soup and Delusional Casting,"
this time I would like to talk about the origin of my creative work that became apparent during the revision process.

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As I sent the protagonist off to the scenery I wanted to see and continued writing, the characters began to live their own lives halfway through.

At first, because I was describing the scenery I wanted to see, it ended up being a detailed guidebook.
I have a tendency to want to convey even the smallest details.

That might be fine for catching up with friends or writing an essay, but it's different for a novel, isn't it?
If I were the reader, I would skip over it.
So, I began the work of cutting things out drastically.

Next, I felt like I wanted to convey the characters' feelings.
Even though human emotions cannot be fully expressed in words, it ended up becoming an explanation.
When I tried to stop explaining and express them through gestures, even that started to feel unnecessary.
No matter how much I revised, there was always more to cut.

The work of cutting drastically.

The work of deciding what to keep.

Detailed revision.

As I repeated the revision process countless times from the perspective of a reader and from the perspective of the work itself, I realized something.

"The origin of my descriptions is haiku."

I started haiku to preserve the daily life I shared with my elementary school-aged daughter.
I also happily participated in this Note project.

After the Note haiku project ended, I started participating in haiku gatherings and took beginner courses.

The reason I started haiku was to preserve my days with my daughter. Because of that, my work often remained just "report haiku" that merely reported events, and I was strictly told about realism and sketching in the courses.

I thought, "Just let me write how I want to," and I even wanted to quit halfway through.
However, the haiku gatherings had a free atmosphere, so I participated as a way to relax, thinking, "I will write as I want to here."

Then, even at the haiku gatherings, people started saying, "Maka, your haiku have changed," and I was surprised that many people started choosing my work.

Haiku does not belong to the person who wrote (created) it, but to the person who read (appreciated) it.
Going beyond the intentions of the writer, the reader freely appreciates it from just seventeen sounds.

The same is true for novels; in the end, it is left to the person reading it.
Therefore, in this novel, while I thoroughly researched photos and the like for places that actually exist, I cut and cut afterwards, and because it is fiction, I was conscious of the "blank space" that each reader can imagine for themselves.

I would be very happy if everyone could enjoy this while letting their imagination run wild.

Imaginary casting is fun too!
I would be happy if you could share it in the comments section or elsewhere.