"You... You are always the source of all my suffering," Emi said, her eyebrows furrowing as she looks at the rough plotline that she had been handed. Although muddled, it had an incredible amount of potential. But it felt incredibly off. It was as two-dimensional as the printer paper that was given to her.

It was always like this.

Her writer Mari had a limitless imagination. But her thoughts were so lackluster that was always reflected in her work. She would get so excited by the slightest inspiration that sent her into a flurry of writing. But the end product of that writing was always a confusing, head-spinning mess.

And then there was her, who had always considered herself a lover of words. But, she lacked the creativity to put pen to paper and make a finished product. She was more of an analytical writer- she saw things as they were written at face value. She lacked the creativity to imagine a lovable cast of characters.

Together, they made the perfect writer - one with boundless creativity, and the other provided structure to the artistry.

Of course, Emi knew what she was signing up for, even when impulsively quitting her regular office job to work alongside Mari in the pursuit of her writing career.

But even so, wasn't this a bit too much? Even for Mari's usual stories?

"Mari, none of these characters' motivations make sense. So, you're telling me the Prince killed an entire village of people."

"Yes, but you see, there's a reason why he had to! And he was acting on the orders of other people, and he also has that one sickness I was telling you about--"

"Yes, but how am I supposed to feel pity for someone who acted on their free will? And on top of that, he's so boring! He's possessive, but not at all in like a cute way!"

"Ok, but the heroine is going to make him soften up so that he's cuter!"

"The heroine is even worse, Mari! Don't even get me started on her oh my god; all she does is whine all day about how her life sucks like a woman in the Royal Kingdom and has no rights. Then, she goes and does something stupid to prove that she's a valuable asset to the kingdom! And then if she ever gets in trouble, she's so OP that she doesn't even have to worry about getting hurt!"

"Ok, but she has lovable faults, no?"

"This is such a classic and boring way to make an isekai. She gets run over by a truck and summoned by the kingdom's church as some kind of savior in a previously old legend. So you're telling me that this cold-hearted Prince immediately adores this girl?"

"Yes!"

"What redeeming traits does she have?"

"She's hardworking, and a little clumsy. But she has a great attitude and is incredibly attractive; she's considered one of the beauties in their kingdom!"

"Mari..." Emi sighed, rubbing her temples. She felt a pain throb so violently within her brain that she thought it was about to burst its way through her skull. She had so much work to adjust within three days. They had a deadline to meet with the publisher to pitch their story.

Mari would have no problem with that. She had a sort of charm to her that made everyone fall in love with her. She was a mouse-like girl with short stature, skin kissed with freckles, and an untamable brown mane that poofed outwards.

Emi, on the other hand... Well, she was just average. Not too pretty, not too ugly. The type of simple person that a son (or daughter) would want to introduce to their parents. But it was always hard to look at her features objectively.

Mari had the attitude of a used car salesman; she could easily convince you to invest your life savings on a pyramid scheme if she genuinely wanted to. But at this rate, it looks as though Emi would have to do the dirty work with pitching. Especially when Mari's plotline was so convoluted and absurd that it made even Emi have a hard time following along.

"Forget it; I'll deal with it myself. You've already done a lot." Emi said, chewing on her fingernails and shifting her position against her chair. "It's got a lot of fixing that needs to be done, but it's doable. You did a good job, Mari."

"Really? Then, I'll leave you to it! If you need help, call me, ok? I'm going to hibernate or something. I've been all over this for the past week."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," she mumbled, hunching over in her chair to focus her attention on the paper.

Even though she said that... the more she looked at it, the less it made sense. All of Mari's characters act impulsively, especially for ones that are written with an alleged sense of justice. Their actions contradicted what their personalities were supposed to be like. On top of that: there was no real sense of conflict. It would make much more sense to add more antagonists than the main villainess that she had set.

The main female lead was going to become a homewrecker and come in between the villainess and the King. But, Emi couldn't help but feel pity for the villainess who devoted her entire life to this foolish man. She gave her everything to him- to be put up against a random woman who cannot advocate for herself. It was ridiculous.

Add more villains.

Make the Prince have better traits.

Stop making the Female Lead so weak.

Add more to the backstory of the Prince. Like the village, he decided to desecrate.

If the female lead is crying, why would the Prince feel a need to comfort her? He doesn't know who she is and previously showed no kindness to any man or woman.

Why is the Prince in this scene? It doesn't make sense why he would randomly be in the garden.

The heroine being able to listen to this conversation is unrealistic.

This is the third time she's crying in a day?

What is the point of this scene??

These were just some of the editing notes that she made on her friend's paper. Her footnotes were beginning to grow with alarming speed; her words of criticism suddenly duplicating as she looked over Mari's work. 

Minutes poured into hours, hours poured into days. But she had to finish editing this stupid manuscript, but there were so many flaws! Once she thinks she finished with the stack of ninety pages, there were even more flaws to address. 

"Mari... what am I supposed to do with this?"