/wng/'s favourite author addition Stubbed >>24746642>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_Dls0B5GiE2oMcLY [Embed]Recommended web novelsrentry.co/d2yvczroAnon's guide to successrentry.co/RRBasicGuideFAQrentry.co/pytefpxn
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/this-middling-young-master-will-comprehend-dao-and-plunder-legacies.1237343/page-2#post-115433275new chapter /wng/, what do you think?
I finished LN #2 and I got a feeling it is not coming but I am going to become butt-frustrated when I finish book 3 and do not see this retarded chuuni mahou shounen Ciarin cry bitch tears and crumble to his knees as his life essence withers and he becomes yet another of Liadain's conquered stepping stones.
>>24751348>people here are obsessed with their own delusions of grandeur.It's not just here everywhere web novels are discussed is like this including the Royal Road forums. People can't cope with the reality that stories with poor dialogue and characters are much more popular than their own work because they're carried by fun progression and combat.
After turning my chapters into prose, I ended up splitting my chapters into two in order to make more bitesized pieces. Since the format doesn't have pages and people don't like marking places within a specific chapter, I figured each would have to be smaller to digest. What do you think?https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/128737
>>24753538Give me five (5) examples of recent webnovels with fun progression and combat that do not ahktually revolve around some fotm gimmick. [\spoiler]
>>24753466Like the descriptions about the city
>>24753577Its nice, wheel anon
>>24753602>spoilerWhy would I have to play by that stupid rule? Obviously if a story uses a gimmick that's part of "fun pogression and combat", as opposed to what would be considered good writing traditionally.The fact you even have to bring that up proves I'm right.
>>24753602Mine, but the progression and combat are NOT fun. Personal growth is hard and I wrote my MC to suffer basically his entire life. It's supposed to be a moralizing tale.Obviously it's not super popular.
I veered back into smut slop for the last couple weeks. Produced about 110K words over 29 chapters. While the erotic content is by defined by its own genre I tried to have some semblance of a plot. Chapter 1 for instance I have the whole rest of the thing to ramp up the erotic activity to whatever goon climax there is. I wanted to not have anything but initial setting for the start.
>>24753681some past complaints were about tense violations. I never noticed it much. Now that I finally looked while I first drafted I remembered to look out. I caught a few so I'm beginning to solve that little editing complaint. I did try to follow WN chapter length conventions. I try to keep things around 5k or under most chapters and if one or two I feel the scene works I might go a little over that for that chapter. I wish RR accepted erotica.
>>24753690>I wish RR accepted eroticaI'm thinking about implied smut that plays off of "tags".Like the mc has maids dote on him or a dommy-mommy sword saint that trains him but there's no actual sex scenes.
Has anyone thought about putting/or has written some Schizo /x/ stuff in their novel(s)?On a related note, I've been thinking about making my MC expose a worldwide pedophile ring that will lead to her finding out about how humanity has been slowly being taken over by sentient worms made by a rogue biotinker (not aliens, sadly) who was part of a cult that is trying to weaken the world for an invasion of hell .This is in a superhero story, but I fear that it's too ridiculous to write about. Thoughts?
>>24753816No, I don't want to get disappeared
>>24753816On one hand sentient worms trying to set up an invasion by hell is definitely superhero storyline material, on the other hand the pedophile ring thing has an obvious ring of RL politics and that could be dicey.
>>24753841It doesn't necessarily have to be a pedophile ring; it just has to be a worldwide conspiracy. I haven't thought of a good one. I was going to do it about da joos, but that would prob get my novel nuked off RR.
>>24753816The prophecy magic in my setting is based on real life concepts of precognition rather than the normal way it's portrayed in fantasy.
>>24753847Actually stating it's the Joos would definitely get you kicked off of most sites. You could go the safe and boomer angle of some massive widespread PMC or military industrial complex getting compromised, or an extreme new religious movement.Since you already have hell involved you could also lean into the religious conspiracy angle. I remember there were a couple of Snekguy books about a guy summoning a demon to try to put his life back together, but it puts him in the crosshairs of the Freemasons since only they're allowed to summon demons, and things escalate until he's invading an Antarctic base to kill all the leaders of the NWO. Although it's not a book, Alexis Kennedy's Secret History series has an extra-dimensional parasite species called the Worms, that managed to take over the Ottoman Empire and most of the Muslim world, their goal was to destroy Europe in order to remove God's believers to weaken their power base in preparation of an alien invasion(?), after that failed they started infecting people in middling positions of power, newspaper editors, special investigators, minor noble heirs and the like in an attempt to spread conflict and exacerbate wars like WW1 and 2.
That's just the Yeerks from Animorphs and the Bluegills from Star Trek
>that ultra violent episode where star fleet is compromised by parasitic brainworms at the end of season 1 that gets memory holed
>>24753602Reverend Insanity
>>24753965Good! Good! Good!
>>24753816I think there's likely a decent audience to be found and money made producing Qanon slop
Its unbelievably annoying when you have to delete large swathes of a chapter during the editing phase, because of new context
>>24753995This is why you outline plots and then fill in the details.
>>24753602Lord of the Mysteries is an example of how progression fantasy doesn't have to be tied to a generic mystical energy/cultivation power system. Something as simple as potions and the laws of equivalent exchange/conservation of matter were made into a unique, fun and easy to understand power system.
>>24753816>herLiterally unreadable.
>>24754004I do outline plots, but the problem is that the details themselves need to be changed for it to flow smoothly.
>>24753602>give me examples but please keep my cope in mind
>>24754006>laws of equivalent exchange/conservation of matter were made into a unique, fun and easy to understand power system.Laws of equivalent exchange are stupid. Maybe I wouldn't feel that way if Full Metal Alchemist didn't exist, but it does. There's no equivalent exchange in that story. The equivalences are just completely made up and they don't even follow their own rules. Equivalent exchange implies that you can resurrect a life by sacrificing a life in return, including the soundness of mind. If it doesn't work that way then it's not an equivalent exchange.The only equivalences are conservation of momentum and energy. Everything else is subjective value.
>>24753690Feed it into AI and ask it to check for tense violations. Just cut out the smut parts so the AI won't complain.
anyone else use AI as a rubber duck and nothing else?
>>24754050>it's not equivalent if I say so!
One of the most important differences between western and eastern authors is that the west is utterly and completely obsessed with reason. The east instead just lets it be and accepts that it's not real and doesn't need to be explained. There's no need for logic, consistency, sense, or anything else. All that matters is the reader's enjoyment. All else must give way.
>>24754097You only say that because most of what gets translated is slop.
>>24754097In another forum across the pond, there is a near identical version of this post, typed in moon runes, that says the complete opposite.
>>24754097>The east instead just lets it be and accepts that it's not real and doesn't need to be explained.The best eastern stories are extremely rational and internally consistent, though.
>>24754109No, that's merely your western mind experiencing pareidolia and apophenia.
>>24753847It's a superhero story, just make some supervillains.
>>24754109name two
>>24754141Hunter x Hunter and One Piece?
>>24754143>HiatusxHiatus>NepoPiece
>>24754143>o my rubber nen
>>24754097simple as
>>24754147Even that is logically consistent with post mortem nen.
>>24754152no it isn't
>>24754155Nen is literally established to remain after death, depending on strong emotion. Its a logically consistent asspull.
>>24754157even if you repeat yourself it still won't become consistent
>>24754159>it still won't become consistent...Yes it will because post mortem nen is a thing.
>>24754151I have been richI have been poor I have been fatI have been skinnyStar Constellation was/is/is fated to be a bum
>>24753629>>24753658>>24753965>>24754006>>24754041>No recent examples given.>Numerous counter-stipulations applied.I accept your defeat.
>>24754065It's not equivalent because equivalence can be found through experimentation pretty quickly. It would be common knowledge.
>>24754141I'll throw in a few more on top of the bargain. A Villain's Will to Survive, Omniscient Reader, A Knight Only Lives Today, The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations, The Extra's Academy Survival Guide...
>>24754183didn't read any of those you accept my concession
>>24754173>nigga tried to raise his dead mom from the dead
How do you listen to Nightwish without getting constantly inspired? >Born to the false world the Wanderer, the Storyteller, the Pied Piper. On a quest for immortality, gathering a troop to find the fantasy.>There's no such priest that can pray me to heaven.>Come to the elfland the eldest said, in my guidance you shall not be afraid. I am the mastermind, the wizard to show the way.>To august realms, sorcery within. If you hear the call of arcane lore, your world shall rest on Earth no more.>Remember, my child, without innocence a cross is only iron, hope is only an illusion, and Ocean Soul's nothing but a name.
>>24754192Easy, I can't make out any of the lyrics. There's one song I think is about Steven Seagal
>>24754183>Omniscient ReaderWhat the fuck? That's not trueI read it for a while a long time ago but got bored and skipped to the endIt was the most incoherent power rambling i have ever seen, even more so than the worse parts A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation
>>24754234>got bored and skipped to the endWhat makes you think your opinion is worth anything?
>>24754234>Low attention span zoomie skips the entire story and goes straight to the ending.>Get surprised he doesn't understand anything.This is the most retarded thing I've seen here in a while.
>>24754234anon, I...
>>24754251>>24754264>>24754265I read the first 50 chapters of it and it was going nowhere, fuck offThe last arc is full of meta power bullshit that can be summarized as a thug-o-war that goes on for too long, several chapters long actually>"Ugh! This is too hard! I can't do it!">"It's over! We lost...!">"You can do it MC! Have all of my power! HAAAAAAA!">*Dies*>"NOOOOOO! Worthless character N°1!!!">"AAAAAAHHHH! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS, DEMIURGE!!!>*Gets the upper hand*>"HOW CAN THIS BE!?!? NO! ITS NOT OVER YET!">*Raises power*>"Ugh! This is too hard! I can't do it!"And so on for like 20 chapter, fuck off with this shit, that book sucks!
>>24754296You didn't read the story, simple as. Can you stop embarrassing yourself any more than this?
>>24754296Then stop reading? You're a moron.
>>24754296>He's having a melty.lmao. Go watch Coco Melon, your zoomer monkey brain clearly isn't cut out for reading.
I've got the system for a deckbuilding story and have the cards for the main cast as well as a few villains, so all I'm ready to start on the setting. Should it be regular fantasy where this just happens to be how magic works, or something more like Yugioh but every game is a shadow game?
>>24754311>should you hereby have my permission to make your own decisions, anon
>>24754320>In your opinion, is it more interesting to have it be a regular fantasy setting, where this just happens to be how magic works or be more like Yugioh with every game as a shadow game? Alternatively, what do you think would go over better with readers, if you prefer to offer advice on marketability?Does it make you feel good to have me change my wording due to your pedantics or were you just born to be an editor? Do you act like this because you feel you lack control in life?
>>24754311Usually it's regular fantasy but with a significantly higher focus on acquiring new cards. See for reference All the Skills, Source & Soul, etc. Bonus: you might one day release the card game as an actual game and thereby rake in extra dosh.Do note that your time is limited, though. The cabal is apparently gonna drop a mass of deckbuilding turds straight into the slop trough in December. Best get out of the splash zone of that if possible.
>>24754331Why the passive aggressive attitude? What he told you isn't wrong. As the author, you should first see which genre you feel like you can write best, before trying to appeal to the masses.
>>24754349I thought about trying to race them, but abandoned that idea. Instead I'm going to take my time and backlog for a release next December. I figure a full year after they drop will be enough distance and let me examine what does and doesn't work. Bonus is that if a couple of them do well it might make a niche for the genre that I can capitalize on.
>>24754331you asked a banal question the answer is that it doesn't matter as long as you execute it well neither of the two options you present are inherently more interesting or marketable when considered in a vacuum. without knowing anything else about your story/style/vision/journeys you had in mind for your characters, etc, the only appropriate answer is for you to do what you think is best
>>24753816Look up the archives for a .zip file of that F. Gardner dude from /lit/'s books. It's a goldmine if you're familiar with /x/ at all whatsoever.
>>24753602Looking at Chinese novels, Eternal sacred king probably the latest big/major novel to come out of China
>>24754141Way of ChoicesUnsheathed
Speaking of deck building, I really wish we could get more king of all games type of stories like Yugioh season 0 or No Game, No Life. Not just limited to one game type that all the world revolves around like with Bakugan or, well, Yugioh.
anyone got any high quality recs? or do i have to read RI again for the 5th time
>>24754556I'm working on it hahaplease ask again in a few years!
stop reading my shit and not saying anything about it
>>24754583you can't handle my feedback
>>24754556Hey RIspammer, I'll take back everything I said about you over the years if you drag Bakkerspammer over to this general.
>>24754556Pale LightsYears of the Apocalypse
>>24754556Invisible dragon
>>24754556niche korean genre edition
>>24754523>UnsheathedGarbage
>>24754523>Way of Choicesnot even Mao Ni's best work
>>24754623>Still no seven forbidden texts>Still no ReincarnatorWhoever is making these lists should be shot
>>24754594Sorry, that's not possible.
Please give a plot summary of these series and also tell me what feitsh appeals they have.- The Eternally Regressing Knight- Pick me Up Infinite Gacha- The Greatest Estate Developer- Overgeared- Beware of the Villainess!- Dungeon Odyssey- Crimson Lady- Karina's Last Days
Writing in first person without sounding like a robot is now a selling point
>>24754556read this
>>24754660I'm not just stupid — I'm retarded.
Your eyes are not merely skimming over these lines; you are living them. Also, you're breathing manually.
>>24754660I used to write a quest and that was in second person. You do this, you say that. Wonder if there's a market for that in RR.
Ask questions that you'd like to have answered by a static early 2025 Royal Road dataset and I'll see what I can do.There weren't any questions asked when I posted the image of the dataset in the previous thread, so here's 15 questions that I'm working on or have finished:What percent of views/ratings/favorites/followers do the top fictions have?What is the distribution of views between Completed, Dropped, Hiatus, Ongoing, Stub?What is the average and median word count per chapter?What are the percentage/arbitrary ranges of words per chapter?How are the various stats correlated with each other?How many authors are there?How many authors have written multiple stories?How many authors have multiple top fictions?How many fictions has the author who has written the most written?How many authors have long names?What percent of authors have a patreon?How many fanfictions are monetized despite not having a patreon link on their page? What is the status distribution of top fictions? How many fictions used all 120 characters for their title?What are most successful fictions of each year?
>>24754701I honestly don't care at all
Based gook protagonist
>>24754701These aren't particularly useful data points. It'd be better if you had a metric of performance on RR. That way you could find out things like average chapter length, tags, update schedule, how many stories the author has written before the one that made it big, how the metrics for their first big story compare to the ones for their following stories, etc.Couple that with other things like patreon data: followthrough, tiers, expected earnings, etc.
>>24754717the inherent untrustworthiness of gooks was revealed when novelpia took down their human translator partners and then uploaded mtl on their website
>>24754556My longevity simulator
>>24754633I REALLY enjoyed it, perchance your taste is not developed enough>>24754640True, his best work is Path Toward Heaven
>>24754746it is impressively internally coherent for the first 1000 or so chapters given that it’s apparently the author’s first work
>>24754739Whether you're the same anon or not, here's the relevant conversation chained that ended with thishttps://warosu.org/lit/thread/24725258#p24730897Summary: This is just for fun. All the best data can only be seen by the Royal Road admins anyway. >average chapter lengthI included several about chapter length.>tagsYes, it had the tags data.>update scheduleThat would be interesting, but it's not included in this dataset. >how many stories the author has written before the one that made it bigAssuming that they didn't delete them, that's entirely possible and included within the questions presented. >how the metrics for their first big story compare to the ones for their following storiesAlso possible >patreon data: followthrough, tiers, expected earnings, etc.The patreon dataset they made was even less robust than I thought and its separated out from the main data, which is an odd choice. If I could put them together without much effort I probably will. Most don't show their earnings or members though. I haven't been able yet to compare the ones with no information on their patreon vs their Royal Road stats.
>>24754663I read chapter 1 and it's a gooner trash.
>>24754779Keep reading, the humor is cringe but the plot beats, romance and emotional peak are the best in CN webnovels scene. People still talk about it over there despite it ended decades ago
>>24754758How is the translation? The first 333 chapters were properly translated then translator changed the quality got much worse.
>>24754795I don't want romance. There is nothing wrong with romance in general but why do people recommend romance novels when asked for RI recs?
Just made my first large scale battle.https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61924/the-dragon-and-the-author/chapter/2633854/vol-2-ch-31-ashes-to-ashesWondering if anyone has any points they would be willing share about it, good or bad. Again, I'm more used to making smaller encounters.
>>24754677You think you have any power over me? I'm always breathing manually.
>>24754050Wasn't that the irony? That it was supposed to be equivalent exchange, but god was real and he was an asshole and fucked with people who broke his taboos?
>>24753847>it just has to be a worldwide conspiracy. I haven't thought of a good one. I was going to do it about da joos, but that would prob get my novel nuked off RR.I did a thriller with international aspects to it. I went with "financial conspiracy". Once there, I found it hard to for instance have a bunch of Irish billionaires plotting to create wars and make money off it. This thriller might never get posted to RR, all I'm saying. LMAO>PRO TIP: unless its changed, there was always an identifiable trope in all paperbacks. A character *can* sperg out about da-jooz. But, the other characters have to "roll their eyes" and make the "koo koo" sign at their temple.
>second day in a row of writing 5k words of the climax>climax is now 10k words long and almost 10% of the length of the bookI need to wrap this up, I think. Finish the war, go home to his wife and his farm, end the story. I should be done next week, if that's how it goes.I sincerely hope my small fanbase enjoys it. I'm DEFINITELY leaving them wanting more which is perfect because there will be a patreon/amazon/KU exclusive book set in the same universe to farm money from mwahahahahahaha
>>24755132It genuinely takes only the barest veil to make it fly under the radar. As long as there is a layer of fictionalization, a setting that is totally not earth, and you don't directly name the real people that it's about, you can get away with it.Even if it's so obvious that anyone with eyes can tell.The slightest plausible deniability is enough.
>>24754967This is new to me, can give some more info, is there romance, drama, harems, boy/girl tropes?
>>24753875just say its goblins shrimple as
>>24755246I don't think there is going to be any romance, though it does have one female character who is getting closer with both the main characters. There's interpersonal drama based on the ever shifting circumstances of the time. No harems, and not sure what boy/girl tropes would include so I couldn't say.
>>24755329Oh, and I should mention that it is a fantasy adventure. It's also technically an isekai, but not from our world.
>>24754050You are a confirmed retard.The equivalent exchange wasn't equal for them becuase they didn't know the part that was missing in their equivalency was being exchanged from the souls lost in WW2 in our universe. When an alchemist makes something from nothing it is being the life force of someone from another universe. That's "the truth".
>>24754143>HunterxHunter Nice power system, problem is half the cast are "exceptions to the rule" also specialist is a bullshit category that undermines the rest. >One Piece LOL, Loda cannot keep his babbys tier power system consistent for a single arc
>>24754653-Eternally Regressing Knight-- It's dark souls deathmaxxing with occasional elf teasing and furry witch lady but never really amounts to anything.
>>24755146The outline of my final battle is 2k words.
Recommend me something like Lord of the Mysteries, Renegade Immortal, Reverend Insanity or Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.
>>24755329>it does have one female character who is getting closer with both the main charactersWhy?
>>24755597uh oh incel melty incoming
