Interest
Light Novelist Masami Morokuchi Announces Indefinite Hiatus
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Light novel author Masami Morokuchi made his debut with the 2005 novel Scorpion, the first in his Densetsu Kari (Legendary Hunting) series. He followed it up with four more novel series, Satsujin
Kikanjo, Shingetsu ga Noboru made (Until the New Moon Rises), Are You Alice?, and Teiden Shōjo to Hanemu no Orchestra. His one-off novel Tokuno no Kuni no Amaterasu won Kadokawa's web novel contest hosted on its Kakuyomu site in 2016. However, after numerous books in print and online, Morokuchi is calling it quits.
The author wrote on his Fanbox blog on Thursday that he is going on indefinite hiatus. Morokuchi wrote that he began seriously considering hanging up his pen in early July for a number of reasons. Foremost, Morokuchi points to a lack of feedback from his readers, even going so far as to say he doesn't think anyone is expecting him to continue because he doesn't receive any requests or comments from his Fanbox supporters. He also doesn't currently have any desire to write.
Morokuchi stated that the lack of interaction didn't start to bother him until recently, but he noticed it starting approximately two years ago. He expressed that readers gradually losing interest overtime felt worse than never getting any interactions from the start. Morokuchi concluded that this means he can no longer write interesting stories. He also mentioned poor sales at events and lower mail-order amounts, to the point that he has leftover stock, a situation he found embarrassing.
"My work seems to have lost the power to resonate with people," Morokuchi wrote. He went on to say that even though he would optimistically share updates with his FANBOX subscribers, he was met with silence.
"What can I say about my work when even the monthly subscribers don't even comment on it, other than to call it garbage?" He added that if the stories are only interesting to him, he can fantasize about them himself instead of spending the time and effort to write thousands of words.
Morokuchi is the author of the novel version of the Noel The Mortal Fate video game. Morokuchi noted that the game remains popular and is entering its final arc, but his book version is not selling well. He stated that even though the fourth volume was released in October, Kadokawa has not contacted him about future volumes. He said he would still write about this series if Kadokawa requests it, but considered that it may not happen.
The novel series' adaptation is contingent on sales and Morokuchi stated it was explained to him that the novels could be cancelled if sales were poor.
Morokuchi's Are You Alice? novel series is based on the writer Ai Ninomiya's Are You Alice? drama CDs which in turn inspired the manga by artist Ikumi Katagiri. Yen Press published the manga adaptation in English.
Source: Masami Morokuchi's FANBOX blog
