Kaku Interview 3 (Shogakukan Bunko)

[Machine Translation] An author is writing down a full-length novel for the first time in 20 years. Unlike his usual magazine serialization, he does not get paid for writing a full-length novel. What drove him to this hard life of writing with no fixed income was a verbal promise he made to his editor more than 15 years ago and the "Taneda-kun Phenomenon" that occurred to him. In the past year and a half, Noon Sato, one of the most accomplished novelists of our time, has been rethinking his novel writing. While he was writing his new novel, he received the good news that "How to Repel a Dove" won the Yamada Futaro Award. This is the first-hand account of his new masterpiece "The waxing and waning of the moon" from the start of writing to the completion of the first draft.

二十年ぶりに長編小説を書き下ろすことになった作家。いつもの雑誌連載とはちがって、書き下ろしは「書いても書いても原稿料を貰えない」。そんな定収入ゼロの世知辛い執筆生活に作家を駆り立てたのは、十五年以上前に編集者とかわした口約束と、みずからの身に起こった“種田くん現象”なる心の叫びだった。現代作家の中でも指折りの小説名人・佐藤正午が、「小説を書くこと」について見つめ直した一年半。書き下ろしの執筆中には、『鳩の撃退法』が山田風太郎賞を受賞という吉報も舞いこむ。新たな代表作『月の満ち欠け』の執筆開始から第一稿完成までの生の声。