Fun With Math EditionStubbed >>24732394>What is /wng/ — Web Novel General?A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as: Royal Road, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY, various personal author websites, and more>Why read web novels?Not for prose or tight editing or deep themes, frankly. As a whole, web novels are infamous for content sprawl and pacing issues. If you enjoy having millions of words to sink your teeth into to get to know the world and characters, though, you may be interested. Keeping up with other readers on a weekly basis to discuss the story's events unfolding is another perk, in the same way discussing an ongoing TV show might be.>Why write web novels?Ease of access & potential for Patreon earnings. Many successful authors gain an audience on their website of choice and funnel their readers into a Patreon. See graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators/writing for an idea of what some are earning.Also, once an author has earned a fanbase, transitioning into an Amazon self-publishing career is several orders of magnitude easier than starting 'dry'.>Advice for Noobs!##READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP##Running your story like the business it is:www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/116847On writing web serials:alexanderwales.com/how-to-write-a-web-serial/Sanderson's Writing Lectures 2025:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEUh_y1IFZY&list=PLSH_xM-KC3ZvzkfVo_Dls0B5GiE2oMcLYRecommended web novelsrentry.co/d2yvczroAnon's guide to successrentry.co/RRBasicGuideFAQrentry.co/pytefpxn
who thought LITRPGs were a good thing, and why are readers eating it up
>>24740319lots of peoplebecause they like it
>>24740319It was pioneered by the Russians ehere it was even crazy bigger in the east and it was exported to the west, bundled with isekai.
>>24740319>who thought LITRPGs were a good thing, retards>why are readers eating it upbecause they are retarded
>>24740319What the fuck is a LITRPG.
>>24740356Literary Role-Playing Game
>webnovel called Delve>100+ chapters and ~2000 pages in he's only briefly delved 2 noobie dungeons and nothing else>instead the first major arc/conflict was about getting trapped in a city at war and trying to survive when a hostile superpower puts up impregnable force fields all around it and basically holds the whole thing hostageliking it so far but what an inaccurate title
>>24740356>What the fuck is a LITRPG.litrpg is when videogame brained authors wanna write pulpy fight-scenes-andpowerlevel slop but don't know how to convey action or meaningful progression / improvement in the MC's skills so they fall back to videogame mechanics like HP and level ups
>>24740319The Japanese. Much like Isekai became a generic way to insert an inoffensive relatable MC with a built in excuse for lore dumping. LitRPG is just a basic and relatable way to create a power/magic system, with the expectation that your audience will instinctively be familiar with it. If you want to go further back Disgaea has a lot more influence than people think, since it was a parody of JRPG's and intentionally meta, the levels and stats were all canon to the plot and the world, and it goes hard into OPMC numbers autism. Disgaea got a lot of isekai fanfics back in the early 2000's. It probably would have naturally spread as video games became more popular, since easy to write and instantly relatable make it a natural fit for the high speed, high turnover world of web novels.On a side note, I do find it funny how the Western WN audience basically segregated along the same lines as the Asian audience. We got Regression and System Apocalypse from KoreaWe got Cultivation from ChinaWe got LitRPG Isekai fantasy from JapanThe usual western staple genres for popcorn entertainment like super heroes and pulp scifi might have popular individual series, but the genre as a whole are pretty far from the rest of the pack in terms of volume.
>>24740368Author likely started with the idea of OOOH DUNGEON DELVING STORY and then got sidetracked writing by the seat of his pantsMANY SUCH CASES! MASUCA!
>>24740371not really, good pulpy action-oriented fantasy doesn't scratch remotely the same itch. it's entirely about clear progression markers, and the moment you start making the stages clear enough you're literally just writing lite-litrpg like cultivationslop is
>>24740377why don't we just invent our own fantasy sub-genres based on popular korean/chinese/japanese media, which then explodes in popularity making us rich literary pioneers
>>24740367>>24740371I just had a look at that 'Delve' and I am so glad I have never set foot on that Royal Road website, what the fuck is this nonsense.
>>24740406Burgerpunk revolution soon. Its coming. You can t stop it.
>>24740368>My story is about a guy becoming king>30 chapters in he's still a fucking prisoner who has just now convinced his cellmate to not be a dickI just get carried away. I really should plot things out but I find it almost impossible to write a chapter by chapter guide. It just smothers my creativity. I'm a retard.
>>24740401cultivationslop low diffs litrpgslop fr though.
>>24740406ok, you start
why are the ratings for web novels so completely random it seemsThe stories i like most are 1-2 stars...
>>24740368i did not like how the MC decided to embody the spirit of Marx after the war arc, forgetting to take into account that everyone other than he has lived with a caste system since day one, and lambasted a character who had helped him for being the worst person alive simply because she looked down on non-combat classes in a post-war situation
>>24740419Anon, you may not be cut out for this general.
>>24740470maybe you like shitor maybe the people voting only like shitI can't believe how many haremcucks there are
>>24740312I briefly looked at the early 2025 Royal Road data I mentioned in the previous thread since I was asked about at it elsewhere. At that time, 48% of everything had no ratings, 77% had 4 ratings or less, and 23% had 5+ ratings. Because the no ratings has mostly remained the same, 50.6%, I expect the 77% has remained similar. Since it was mistaken for it here in the previous thread, I also looked at when everything was added to the Royal Road. 26% of everything currently on Royal Road was added this year. 52% was added during 2020-2024 and 22% was 2013-2019.
>>24740476It wasn't non combat classes though, the water mage girl was racist against classless muggles. Actually the whole world is pretty retarded about non combat classes though (especially crafters) which the MC even points out in an "everyone is stupid except me" kinda rant.
>>24740419>goes into a western webnovel general (as in a webnovel general on a western website)>a general frequented by western webnovel authors who, therefore, tend to post on and use a western webnovel site>gets offended by seeing western webnovels
>>24740498western literature in general is completely unreadable
HE IS BACK IN RISING STAR!!!
>>24740501it's all in english, I usually manage fine.
Let's create a new meta genre. I'll start:>thinly-veiled power fantasy>protagonist constantly stumbles into success>second person past tense, written from the point of view of the defeated enemies>aztec-like culture backdrop (being outed as a virgin as a perpetual source of tension)
>>24740503Who?
>>24740511My old nemesis.
>>24740514Are you still on RS satire btw, FFF?
>>24740514You're not important enough to have a nemesis.
>>24740518yeah, more than 90 consecutive days.
My story isn't harem or even romance. There is a character who is basically one of those guild reps you see in Isekai, should I put her on the cover as a an anime girl?
>>24740522Honestly, congratulations. Don't think you're making it to main, but you got readers.
Hey everyone, I recently turned my story from free verse into prose. I've had to fill in a lot of the gaps previously elided by the format, but I was wondering if this is still readable, without "reeking of verse." https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/128737The story is titled The Wheel and the Wing. I also made a new birb blurb for it: >Mitka and Desde seem perfect for each other. A paraplegic, meeting a harpy—one without working legs, the other with wings instead of arms. One who spends his weeks turning the wheels under his chair, helping an armless girl open her jars—nothing can go wrong, right? >Well, there was Denis—her former lover, now serving as the mayor of Abietta. But isn't he just history? Instead of her, he's now busy flattering the people with those anti-harpy rallies. She must hate what he's become! So, just history.>Of course, this means she'll have to see his face, again and again—but only on a screen. She might leave it on when things get spicy, but there's no way that she'd think of Denis in that way again. There's nothing to worry about, all you focus on is—>wait>Oh my god, the mayor just got shot."
>>24740523every story needs a cute poster girl
>>24740498I came in here to check it out, the title and cover looked interesting. Then I started seeing terms like LITRPG being thrown around, then I looked up the novel and was lead into an utter train-wreck of a description and it utterly confounded me. For me, it's bottom of the barrel entertainment but I get a morbid curiosity and can't look away from you all.
>>24740527Yeah, I just got a new review from a guy who actually read 180k words. I’m so happy, and I have to do everything in my power to finish the book as planned within a month. Maybe that way, I’ll have a shot at the Mystery Rising Star, which gets more traffic.
This is definitely AI enhanced, isn't it
>>24740319It's peak entertainment anon. I wish I could live in vidyaland.
>>24740543aigen covers are common, most wn authors can't afford to spring for a commission when starting
>>24740552I mean the writing, not the cover. It seems too clean, too many unnecessary words, and that style of writing that screams endless positivity.
>>24740489are there any good litrpgs with crafter MCs?
>>24740563elder scrolls crafting character who crafts items to make himself better at crafting to craft items to make himself better at crafting to craft items to make himself better at crafting items...
Any good cultivation series that has integrated sci-fi elements into its setting? Think Asura's Wrath or Dragon Ball (especially Z and later)
>>2474060240 Millenniums of Cultivation is the one that comes to mind immediatelySwallowed Star but that's slopThe Mech Touch becomes cultivation later on
I HATE LE SCRIBBLE HUB.
>>24740531Yes it's become the lit equivalent of those Vampire Survivor indie game clones.Just pure power fantasy slop, but it's popular just like junk food.
>>24740615well are nipples showing? post it
>>24740651
well remove the nipplies
>>24740653just subtmit an edited version for scrhuble, you don't have to turn every minor inconvenience into a crisis.
>>24740659>>24740657Let’s go ahead and censor Greek statues, then.
>>24740663you aren't greek
How do you write words. I get done with a scene and it's 1000 words.
>>24740695Write two or three scenes
>>24740695Write two scenes maybe with two characters. 2,000 is enough.
>>24740695write more scenes
>>24740695that's the normal amount for a novel scenejust write 3 of them and you have a chapter
>>24740653Why do you have like thirty different art pieces for this seriesAnd the weirdest thing is none of it is cohesive, even that Cascadia retard buying up all the adspace here is more consistent with the art. You can all tell it’s for the same retarded book. Not the case with you.
>>24740529Nice to see you took my advice and decided to come here. Welcome birdanon
whats this obsession with having more than one pov
>>24740319>generation gets raised with videogames feeding their imagination>wtf why do people want their fiction to resemble videogamesare you perhaps retarded my good sir
>>24740736>Need to write 8k words a week minimum>Need content to write about>Might need time to stall a plotpoint
>>24740529>another X and the Y storyhow many of these does /wg/ have?
>>24740724Each volume has a different MC and the covers' aesthetics mirror their spirits.This one has a red filter, a boiling passion that can’t be quenched. He is the only one unarmored, free from the cage of society and its oppressive rules. He has wings because, after freeing himself, he learned how to reach godhood.The protagonist of Leitmotif is different---the blue of tragedy.She has born in a cage, and despite being infected by sin, she is determined to bring justice once and for all.
>>24740368I was expecting PoE Delve delving deep into the mines and dealing with lunatics that are borderline between insanity and lucidity.What I got was some support-cuck in weird situations. Seriously, who the fuck looks at a real world situation with "I know, I'm going to stake all my power to someone else"? Maybe if you're madly in love with someone and think you two will always be joined at the hip. Other than that it's a terrible idea.
>>24740377I wish japanese litRPG was informed by disgaeait's 90% dragon quest
Shouldn't it be RPGlit, they aren't actually games
>>24740736it's the ultimate way to pad out a story, you can even do shit like end on a cliffhanger, swap POVs for 5 chapters, then resolve the problem offscreen when you get back to the first POV so you never have to have any trouble writing something wrong
>>24740377We might call them Isekai but portal fantasy has been a popular genre for a century. A Princess of Mars was written over a century ago. The whole Gor series basically hits all the notes of a Japanese Isekai series (except for the beta MC).Litrpg means the author can't just asspull things in regards to how magic and strength work in the world whenever it's convenient. Look at Harry Potter. Somehow the super op dark lord everyone's afraid of fights Harry to a standstill, but couldn't beat him when Harry was like 14 because the plot demanded it.
>>24740775it's because it flows better. try saying both outloud
>>24740747why not just play video games instead
>>24740781isekai ≠ portal fantasy, it's why "native isekai" is a term that works, isekai is a specific set of awful tropes that make it a distinct genre
>>24740789because reading is fun
>>24740368I dropped it too when I realized it wasn't actually about delving
>>24740470I don't think I've even read a story with an overall rating of 1-2 starsshare your knowledge. I want to read these hidden gems
>>24740722>that's the normal amount for a novel scenethat can't be true lol. 1000 words is not much at all, sure it varies, but the average must be much higher. a 1000 word scene feels like a snippet. if your scenes never go above 1000 words i feel like something is wrong
Girl Isekai (I, an unloved office lady, died and was reborn in a romance novel) is better than Boy Isekai (I, an unloved office worker, died and was reborn into a fantasy video game.)
>>24740789As gaming has grown in popularity beyond it's original kid and nerd audience the average gamer has become less patient, less experimental, more time-poor and more risk-averse.Being presented a pre-made power fantasy instead of working out their own through the game is more comfortable and hits the same dopamine receptors as if they themselves were actually good at a game.
>>24740833They both suck, but you're probably right because the mc in male isekais are so insufferable
>>24740833generally agree but the various otome game stories run together even harder than generic malemc isekaislop because at least the male ones have ONE gimmick to set them apart, the otoge ones have NOTHINGeven the male love interests are all the fucking same, which you would think they would put some marginal effort into
Male gets isekai'd into his sisters Otome game and has to prevent or preserve the main quest is superior to both Including when his sister is also there and there's technical but not by actual definition incest
>>24740563I liked the fang mu / potion sect arc in I Shall Seal the Heavens but the crafting takes a back seat after that
>>24740736it's kino
I was developing both a VN project and a WN at once, but it's very difficult to balance the schedule around each. What I learned is that VNs are considerably easier to write than WNs while also being slower because you can offload the bulk of visual representation to a bunch of code, SFX and days of staring at photoshop screens, so by the time I'm back to my WN I totally lost its momentum.What I did was put the VN on hiatus and passively stockpile assets and skeleton drafts while I'm active on the WN, so by the time I'm burned out with it I can have a quickstart with the VN. Definitely don't hop into any alternative projects like that if you're on a serialized routine since it will mess your schedule badly.
>>24740851i'm pretty sure i've actually watched something like this, where both a guy and his sister ended up inside the world of the otome game
>>24740775there is a minor subgenre called gamelit which I am vaguely aware of but don't really know what separates it from litrpg. i think it's for stuff that still has vidya mechanics but not enough numbers and levelups to satisfy the litrpg autists
>>24740851Make it dual pov and have them both think they're the only one isekai'd and fall into a secret incestual relationship. Then after the first few major arcs they discover each others' secret and are massively shocked but they're too committed at this point to break up
