SAO Vol 1 Author Notes [Spoiler Free]

[Vol 1 Author's Notes. Skipped potential spoilers/hints.]

I wrote Sword Art Online for the Dengeki Light Novel Award seven years ago in 2002, and it was the first novel I ever wrote.
But when I somehow managed to complete it, the manuscript was far longer than 120 pages, which was the cutline back then. Since I had neither the skill nor the will to trim this down to fit the cutline, I kneeled facing the wall and muttered "I don't care anymore..."
But because of my weak personality, I couldn't erase the whole manuscript and simply thought "why don't I post this up on the internet then?; I made a website that fall. Luckily I was able to receive good responses from a lot of people. With this as my motivation, I kept on going with the series; (...) before I knew it, six years had already passed.

[Next, he makes reference to Accel World.]

It was 2008 when I decided to try again. I wrote another story (which was once again far longer than the cutline, but I barely managed to trim it down to 120 pages) and then entered it to the Dengeki Light Novel Award. Thanks to some overwhelming good luck, I managed to receive the grand prize. But my luck didn't just end there. I still can't forget the happiness and excitement I felt when my editor read the <SAO> that I kept stacking up thoughtlessly.

It was true that I felt a little anxious as well. That was because there were so many problems with this story that I can't even begin to list them here. The biggest reason was my hesitation about "is it really alright to take everything I wrote up and just publish them?"

(...)

This story was the starting point for me, who kept writing with the theme "isn't an online game also another reality?" I hope I would be able to reach the end of this road with all of you readers.