>>24758350
OMW to review bomb it

Don't think I don't see you reading my shit.

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>>24758350
Kinda weird seeing this as the OP, usually I bake with stuff I saw on RS.
Was this why you baked early? Cheeky.
Also there are anons more deserving of it, like Rabbit, BUABS or Archetype (we already had fan-favorite FFF).

>>24758452 (me)
Also, don't bake so early and
>[Embed] [Embed] [Embed]
lol, you fucked that one OP.

https://i.4cdn.org/lit/1759091707870658.jpg

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The new chapter of FFF-Class 'Unlucky Antagonist' is out.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story/chapter/2636437/sinful-blade-part-three

In this chapter: 200k words officially reached.
Thanks, /wgn/, for all the support you’ve given me in these months. It feels so fucking good to hit this milestone!

Royal Road Feb 19th Dataset

Total
Feb 19th: 82,534
Sep 28th: 105,078

Ongoing Originals
Feb 19th: 6,303
Sep 28th: 9,251

Authors: 52,437
Patreons: 5,148
Top 100 Authors with Patreons: 92, 2 with paypal
Fanfiction Authors With Patreons: 140

Fiction Count
1: 71%
2: 17%

Total Views
Completed 16%
Dropped 1%
Hiatus 46%
Ongoing 27%
Stub 10%

Total Views
10% 17
50% 424
90% 5,222

Total Views - Ongoing Originals
10% 4
50% 64
90% 519

Average Words Per Chapter
All: 2053
Ongoing: 2291

Median Words Per Chapter
All: 1650
Ongoing: 1931

For more data categories and more details for those posted above
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT4RMb3KvSVCJ6PUPqn-JNqATcKqWwwEBC5HuAsJCT-VRn_wk66cMPbvCY0FlN0dBk8Wrr8eLrUhGfu/pubhtml

What is the defining quality of a curse to you? What things must a curse have for it in order to be considered a curse?

>>24758575
It actively makes the victim's life worse. It can provide benefits or even be something that others would consider a blessing, but the victim must not like having it. Like a curse of immortality for example. Many would kill for that and it certainly can be enjoyed (At least initially), but then the victim has to watch all their loved ones die over and over again while also running out of new experiences that make this unending existence bearable. If it doesn't make the victim suffer, it isn't a curse.

>>24758470
>/wgn/
Congrats btw.

>>24758575
>Supernatural or based in the settings physical laws somehow
>requires a ritual and some form of sacrifice on the part of the cursegiver
>can be dispelled through ritual and sacrifice as well
>can be preemptively warded against
Alternatively it could just be a magic enchantment and follow all the same rules as magic does in the setting but just be treated differently from a social perspective

What if poor people in Xianxia were able to ward against the antics of the cultivators but it's costly and part of what keeps them poor.

>>24758615
You're describing taxes, and that's how it works in xianxia already and in real life too.
>xianxia peasants pay local sect for protection
>IRL peasants pay local government for protection
>in both cases payment doesn't mean the local power won't oppress you

>>24758706
>>in both cases payment doesn't mean the local power won't oppress you
Yeah exactly, so a magical solution that actually protects the commoners would be a new concept.
The cultivators wouldn't use it against each other since it would nullify their own power.

>>24758712
They already have stuff like the human emperor's mandate of heaven defending mortal cities from harassment by cultivators.

>>24758712
>Hijack the heavens
>Every time a cultivator tries to get away with oppressing the peasants a lighting tribulation strikes them down

Attacking people significantly weaker than yourself already poisons your dao heart. That's why bully sects fall into stagnation, and why MCs smash through every bottleneck at breakneck speed.

>>24758724
>>24758751
I see. I thought it would be interesting if say a martial artist could save up to get a personal ward that is normally used by peasants to keep their heads down and then they btfo cultivators instead of hiding from them.
Eventually they start using tactics against the hero like an archer cultivator using a bow from long range to counteract the ward (an arrow is still just an arrow) so the hero learns arrow grabbing technique and similar things to counteract the various tactics.

>>24758760
Those are called Talismans on a small scale, or an Array formation on larger scales, which are staples of the genre. An arrow grabbing technique is pointless when arrows are so easy to catch for a cultivator.

>>24758776
Yeah but the idea is the mc is not a cultivator

>>24758751
>Attacking people significantly weaker than yourself already poisons your dao heart
This really doesn't do much for the peasants though. They still get bullied and killed. The bully sects being power capped just makes them overpowered bandits and a permanent blight on the land since they cant scale into bigger and better things.

>>24758796
It means they'll eventually get wiped out by an MC, and a prosperous age will follow. Just sucks to be born in the wrong time period.

>>24758796
Cultivators are rare enough and operate on sufficiently distorted time scales where the occasional cultivator killing someone or wiping out a village is rare enough that people don't really register it as a constant, always possible danger. It's more like a flash flood or an earthquate, people are aware of it, there might be warnings and countermeasures, but not on the day to day, unless it's a high risk area.

I think a lot of cultivator webnovels make it too easy for people to advance. 'Defying the heavens', 'Once in a thousand years' and all it takes the MC is to loot plants and expensive dead animals to make it to immortality.

>>24758894
Worlds full of corrupt clans and sects are essentially dry powder for an MC. Groups don't go to war with each other because the benefits aren't worth it after splitting the spoils, but if an individual cultivator has enough of an edge to go solo, they have every incentive to go around killing and looting.
MCs also tend to have cultivation paths that are intensive in raw resources but with the benefit of hitting no major bottlenecks.

>>24758894
One of the things I like about Cultivation Nerd. The protagonist punches above his weight, but his simple lack of spirit roots is a stumbling block he has no real way to bypass, he reaches Foundation Establishment, and at that point his best guess is it will take a good 50 years to reach core formation.. In the current arc it's looking like his future self has manipulated a Regressor into going back in time with techniques he can use to overcome that block. which is a very fun way to play with that particular cliche.

>>24758940
I never liked aspects of power systems that implicitly turn human reproduction into a sort of power lottery.

>>24758956
How do you get chosen ones, then? Thots in lakes handing out swords?

>>24758956
It's not really a lottery, it's predictably genetic. a large part of the plot is how the protagonist is trying to deal with a multi-century long Eugenics program run by an immortal bodysnatcher trying to breed a perfect cultivation physique, which it succeeds in doing with another character named Song Song. the body snatcher doesn't know that they know, or at least, they don't think he knows they know.
At the same time, it's made abundantly clear that spirit roots only get you to the doorstep of immortality. In order to actually ascend requires something else. Every Immortal is some sort of crazy and absolutely devoted to their own interests. For example the Blazing Sun Immortal, one of the most powerful characters in the series. You'd expect him to be spending all his time cultivating or something. Very serious martial heart and all.

No, he pretends to be a completely normal 15 year old country kid, and goes around slaying prime jailbait poon (entirely consensually) because he's a fucking weirdo. All of the Immortals are.

>>24758968
The threads of fate carry demands for people to fulfill certain duties and, in the right eras, dozens of major threads cross, creating a person with an overwhelming destiny.

>>24758968
nta but no chosen ones in my setting, fate is not per-determined for sentient beings. You only get anywhere by grinding the hell out of it. There are legendary figures but only because of the deeds they chose to do.

>>24758970
I've seen an explanation that spirits roots are valued by smaller sects because their advancement is slow enough that the average disciple needs a natural boost else the rate at which they gain lifespan through advancement will be outpaced by the time it takes to advance.

>>24758977
Chosen ones don't need to be predetermined. They can just be survivor bias(you were chosen by circumstance because somebody had to make it and it turned out to be you).

>>24758981
That makes sense, when your sect is incapable of providing the resources to bridge the gap a lack of spirit roots creates, then it places an emphasis on recruiting only those with a natural aptitude for gathering energy. The fact that those recruits don't have the mindset required to reach the apex is irrelevant, because those small sects simply don't have the capability to nuture an immortal anyway.

>>24758968
>Thots in lakes handing out swords?
Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon the previous rightful king. His adoptive father and brother Ector and Kay are lesser lords who own estates in the countryside and property in Londinium. He is watched over by Merlin (the most powerful wizard in the land, who is more than human and possibly a fay) from the moment he was born.
For those that hate nepotism he's pretty much nepotism incarnate.

>>24758990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN9c2TAWMlg
Bro, next you'll tell me you don't know about the Cave of Caerbannog and the terror that lies within. Perhaps it is YOU who doesn't actually know much about King Arthur, hmm?

So sick of lazy fuck authors copy pasting pantheons of gods wholesale. Like really man? You put in all this effort to create characters and the setting but you couldn't be fucked to brain storm some interdesting gods up? I mean you may as well just insert the dark lord or demon queen and call it a fucking day.

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Lol

>>24759119
Gods aren't characters, they are tropes. This is a classic literary technique.

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>>24759119
I just think these settings should try with non-Greek and Norse Gods if they are going to do that at least. Why not Mesopotamia or Egypt?

>>24759130
All the old pantheons have the same archetypes

>>24758470
Honestly, glad you reached the milestone, FFF anon! Here's to another 200,000 words!

>releasing a chapter or more per day

AI

>>24759127
I can't even read this gobbledygook

>>24758800
Any peasant that learns techniques or gains powera becomes a cultivator. Every mortal family literally dream of their children being selected by cultivator sect.
The prosperous age in xianxia is becoming a cultivator.

>>24759296
>he didn't backlog

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I want the finale of my story to include a surprising betrayal that introduces a new antagonist and sets up potential continuation, but pulling it off without the kids thinking the MC is a loser for falling for it and letting the antagonist get away is difficult. Ideally, readers should still find the MC "based" despite having no victory.

>>24759343
your first fuckup is thinking of there being a "finale" at all except one a decade down the line

>>24759343
shift the focus onto how insanely cool the antagonist is

>>24758470
Congrats anon. What lessons have you learned over this time or would do different?

What's the theme-song of the story you are writing?

Alternativly , what's your headcanon theme-song of your favourite webnovel?

>>24759304
If the sects are all corrupt, people join them and work in the spirit mines for 80 years then die without actually advancing.

>>24759353
I thought this might be one solution. If the bad guy is fabulous enough and not an annoying asshole, people might be more willing to let him go.

Why does the Great Dao send transmigrators to restore the harmony of the world instead of uplifting natives of the universe?

>>24759396
soemthing something can't take things out of balance

>>24759396
who says the great dao hasn't tried that

>>24758598
desu you're almost right, but i think it's not the point of view of the victim that matters, it's the point of view of the entity that cast the curse that does

>>24759343
I've seen that done well in Bleach

>>24759499
I give you, Aizen reveal was pretty cool at the time, but it did make the protagonist look like a total jobber

>>24759508
>Japanese MC is a total jobber
Many such cases

>>24759508
I disagree. The victory and loss were on different "channels" so I don't think anything was soured.
He had already saved the girl in Rukia and beat his own personal antagonist for the arc in Byakuya i.e. he achieved his personal goals before being reminded of the immensity of heaven and earth etc. I think this formula works well for web fiction.
I know he got embarrassed and his theme song stopped but he had already "won" and the loss mainly served to open up the rest of the plot+world.
That said, anon seems to be making this his big story finale which doesn't sound like a good idea.

>>24759368
Sects are not cushy government jobs, there is no handholding, before joining the sect one must already have something in mind what they're gonna do there to earn resources, it naturally attracts gifted and competent people and even then only the most outstanding advance forward.

>>24759236
>>24758605
Thanks, bro. Only 50k-75k words missing to the end.
>>24759357
I’ve learned that doing is better than staying still and succumbing to the cold. Yeah, the start was slow, but now a newbie author on his first try, like me, has more than 15k views.

My biggest regret was overstressing myself trying to stick to a schedule. After the first volume, I should’ve given myself wider timelines.

>>24759533
>The victory and loss were on different "channels" so I don't think anything was soured.
Being completely demolished with ease after winning pretty much invalidated all his work and growth up until that point. He was back to being a feeble ant looking up at a mountain. People these days are even less tolerant to setbacks and seeing the character they cheer on lose does lower their opinion of the story and the author.

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>/lit/ autist gets mindbroken by webnovel chad.jpg

>>24759547
are you a patreon millionaire yet?

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>>24759353
This. Helps when the antagonist is cooler than the protag.

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>>24759396
>Be Yu Mi, native of Great Forever Year Fuschsia Diamond Ranked Province, population eighty million under the reign of the Tangerine Emperor.
>Poorest province in land.
>Be rank 8 Ping Pong, hope to one day to achieve immortality as Rank 27 ChingChong.
>Every day strive to be stronger, because on next birthday I am being sent to the front to die horribly in the thousand year war against Great Superior Demon Beast King Immortal Champion God God Overcoming Army God in north, only 238,855 miles from here. (T/N - Or 7 'Ri')
>One day glorious light from above! A jade beauty of a woman falls from the sky, accompanied by rain of gold and jade that kills only fourteen people in village.
>She speaks to Mi, tells Mi that I have great powerful destiny to balance the land.
>She could only be a heavenly messenger from the heavens! How wonderful!
>Grab large rock and crack wide open her jade skull like a coconut crab.
>Scoop out ooey-gooey remains in hand, immediately run to dear brother Yu Hi, alchemist and guy who's wife I will add to my harem in 400 chapters when he meets death by courting death by daring to try to make concentrated Death Courting Pills for the Court of Death, and fails.
>Brains and also ovaries of heavenly messenger of heaven are made into pills and refined by Yu Hi and swallowed my me, Yu Mi, to hasten my ascension to rank 9 Ping Pong and seek a breakthrough.
>Fortuitous Encounter!

Yeah the Dao tried. Isekai'd westerners don't immediately try to kill and eat anything supernatural they can see.

>>24759626
>Be Yu Mi
How tasty, on a scale of 1 to 7?

>>24759626
Why do you have so much negativity towards cultivation and xianxia?

The biggest mistake Chinese and newbie authors make is having things happen too quickly in time.
>MC goes to magic school
>Does some amazing service on the first day
>1000 points to Gryffindor
>Buy all the cool things
>Day 2...
Same thing with reincarnation stories where MC starts as a baby. MC is like 8 years old, but the plot treats him like he's 16.

>>24759634
Making fun of something doesn't mean you don't enjoy it. To non Xianxia fans that would have been complete nonsense.

>>24759613
I’ve pledged never to open a Patreon. My goal is to bait a traditional publisher or go Amazon after completing the book.

>>24759659
>pledged never
why? tradpub is dead unless you're an american chinese girl

>>24759659
Thanks, anon. More money for the rest of us.

>>24759667
I hate the thought of dividing my fandom into two classes, the rich versus the poor. Why would I even be writing such a story if I did something like that?

>"Lightning Bolt!" incanted John as a bolt of lightning shot out from his staff with thunder in its wake. The Dire Boar howled in pain and charged towards the mage.
>"Lightning Bolt!"
>"Lightning Bolt!"
>"Lightning Bolt!"
>"Lightning Bolt!"
>"Lightning Bolt!"
>[+100 XP]
>The magical beast tumbled to the ground. It was finally dead.
>John touched the boar and the corpse exploded into multi-colored lights as the [Looting] skill activated.
>[+1 Short sword of Shortness added to the Inventory.]
>[+3 silver, 27 copper coins.]
>"Another contract complete," mumbled John. He turned around and marched straight back to the city.

>Our system thinks your post is spam.
Thanks, 4chan.

>>24759678
You're right, of course. Two classes are for the morons. You gotta have at least four Patreon tiers.

>>24759643
>Same thing with reincarnation stories where MC starts as a baby. MC is like 8 years old, but the plot treats him like he's 16.

Way too many stories do reincarnation starting as a literal baby and it's so bizarre to me as a choice. Like, an adult mind would go *insane* in a baby's body from lack of stimulation. You could not 'pretend' to be a baby for any length of time.
But then they have to time skip insane amounts of time and the character learning about the world to get the point where people could at least interact with them.

It doesn't help that most of time the proper plot doesn't actually start until they are the age they'll be for most of the book.

You do occasionally see it done well: I've been reading Elydes on Royal Road recently which starts as a baby. And it does a good job addressing his growth while timeskipping just the right amount and actually having things happen in his childhood to him and his family that are important and actually inform the rest of the book. But its still very odd 99% of the time.

>>24759687
>Way too many stories do reincarnation starting as a literal baby and it's so bizarre to me as a choice. Like, an adult mind would go *insane* in a baby's body from lack of stimulation.
The MC would be learning to control the body of the baby still. But what authors don't know is that an internal monologue is a skill kids develop around ages 4-7. Before that they will speak to themselves out loud, if they can speak at all.

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>read reincarnation slop
>early chapters is just extremely detailed breastfeeding and nursing scene

>>24759695
That is quite funny to imagine. A little baby going full Mojo Jojo talking aloud about it's plans once it can stand and not shit constantly because the immortal who reincarnated into it doesn't know how babies work.

>I went to another pharmacy and again sold herbs.
>This time, they didn't cut the price because of our suspicious appearance, but still significantly undercut the price.
>I once again went back to the fabric store and bought slightly better clothes, then went to another pharmacy and sold herbs again.
>This time, the owner of the pharmacy, seeing my clothes, bought the herbs at a proper price.
>For the last time, I went back to the fabric store and this time bought a silk outfit. Dressed in the new clothes, I wandered around the bustling streets of Seokyung City and entered a considerably large pharmacy to sell the yellow bamboo roots.
>"Ah, my lord. To sell such a precious elixir to our pharmacy..."
>The owner of the pharmacy reverently took the yellow bamboo roots from me, who was dressed in silk.
>"In my opinion, this yellow bamboo root must be at least eight hundred years old. At the very least, it should fetch ten pieces of horse-shaped silver."
>"Of course! In fact, it should be worth fifteen pieces for such quality!"
>"Right, it should be. Bring them quickly."
>I received the owner's gratitude and left the pharmacy with fifteen pieces of horse-shaped silver.
Should I use this ancient Korean technique to pad my word length?

>>24759699
how big were the tiddies

>>24759678
patronship and earlier access isn't as exclusionary as you're suggesting here.
it's just a place for those True Fans to throw some shekels your way as support and get some perks. the "poors" still get free access
if anything you'll need to stub if you ever tradpubbed or went exclusive with amazon and that really will be exclusionary

>>24759714
>ancient Korean
classics throughout antiquity do that too. probably stemmed from oral tradition though

>>24759687
worse than all that is when mc finally grows up to child or teenager stage he actually acts and behaves like a real kid (loses all emotional and intellectual matury) even though he is like a hundred years old.

>>24759677
Nothing, anon. Just remember about me if you ever find a homeless selling his book on the streets.

>>24759737
If I ever get a traditional editor, the final published version will be very different from this first draft in Royal Road, different enough not to trigger the stub.

>>24759752
But he also won't date anyone or angsts endlessly over romance because random reincarnaton NEET is so much more mature than *checks notes* the Princess of the realm who is being raised for political buttfuckery that it just wouldn't be right to let her kiss him on the cheek until he's at least 27.

>>24759626
Should have named Yu Hi's wife, 'Yu Ho'. Missed opportunity.

>>24759687
>Like, an adult mind would go *insane* in a baby's body from lack of stimulation.
Baby brain couldn't enable an "adult" mind in the first place.

>>24759752
I like it because it's realistic. The state of your body impacts the soundness of your mind. You can have the most rational being on Earth, but when you get them drunk they will do stupid shit. Teenage hormonal growth is like being drunk.
>>24759767
I hate this trope though, but I think it's done because of western readers.
>She's only 19 years old, you creep!

>>24759584
>why does an object have a gender
romance language bros...

>>24759779
I sort of agree, it makes sense a character would act somewhat childish while in a child's body, but also I think it's a hard thing to do to make a reincarnation story have your MC believably be and benefit from recincarnation one moment and act like the child they are the next and not have them come across as schizo or unreal.

But really MCs are not perfect and *should* be making mistakes, rash decisions and the like. Especially when dealing with problems neither their old life or current one has prepared them for. " I need to sneak into the house of the man who killed my father and end his life!" - Okay, how has worked in an office for thirty years, dying and then being a precocious street urchan prepped you for asassinations? Fucking up in a believable way for anyone to is probably better than making mistakes because of being a kid which can't really be changed.

Fucking up can be way more interesting than suceeding anyway. It's just also very hard to write someone screwing up in a believable but not frustrating way which doesn't also derail the plot.
Mother Of Learning was pretty novel for that for me, because of the groundhog day thing the MC could fuck up constantly and it didn't break the plot. You'd assume completely removing death would remove tension and stakes, but the opposite happened. You never knew if he was going to succeed at something or not because author fiat wasn't needed to save him if it went badly. Made me wish there were more time loop books to read.

>>24759860
The MC making bad decisions that backfire? That's illegal in RRland.

>>24759871
No it's not.

So, what would a Western take on xianxia be like?
>join a church instead of a cultivation sect
>start as a choir boy
>study the Bible, learn hymns, memorize scripture
>cultivate one’s immortal soul by gaining faith points
>go from deacon -> priest -> bishop -> archbishop -> cardinal -> pope -> patron saint, with the ultimate goal of ascending to Heaven
>or in women’s case: novice -> nun -> mistress -> prioress -> mother superior -> matron saint
>each level unlocks stronger miracles and holy spells
>venture out into the world to fight demons and ghosts
>delves into ancient cathedrals, cursed monasteries, and sacred grounds to retrieve relics like the Holy Grail
>there are multiple church sects competing for dominance as more followers means more faith, wealth, and resources
>the different godly sects occasionally band together to battle satanist sects
>the MC literally has an angel and a demon sitting on his shoulders, trying to steer him in different directions as he navigates this spiritual world

>>24759922
sounds like a demonic sect to me

>>24759922
Western Xianxia is magic and using a mana core thoughbeit?

>>24759860
>You never knew if he was going to succeed at something
>time loop
Where did you get you lobotomy?

>>24759922
For men:
>Aspirant > Squire > Man-At-Arms > Knight > Knight Exemplar > Crusader > Paladin > Paragon > Saint
Women:
>Novice > Vestal > Shieldmaiden > Dame > Dame Superior > War-Priestess > Valkyrie > Archon/Paragon > Seraph
For dual cultivators:
>Vixen > Skank > Siren > Hoe > Hellion > Slut > Whore > Courtesan > Aphrodite
Hope it helps

>>24759922
If you read Tao Te Ching and The Kybalion, you will find that they're describing the same thing. There are only different roads that lead to the same destination. And the methods are basically the same too, internal alchemy

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>>24759922
I guess if you wanted basically a 1:1 transfer of the ideas which make Xianxia but now Western that would probably be it. I think a Greek/Roman version would sound less goofy to us because who the fuck knows about Neo-Platonism and philosophical thought besides nerds here? It would even sound close to Xianxia's, instead of trying to be one with the Dao, you try to be one with the One God and explore that through its many different splintered lesser parts like Zeus and other divine/mythological beings.

>>24759779
Being young and in good health is not the same as being drunk. There might an effect of an old person reincarnating into young body, but not that huge of an effect, they will still have their entire lifes worth of experiences that will simply make them look at the world differently. If authors want to write dumb, immature main character, why even bother making them reincarnators.

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>>24759922
Heaven's Laws is western xianxia if you want to give that a try. It has its moments. There are only two books out atm. Book one has a subplot that revolves around the femMC getting raped and then unraped which can be hit or miss.

>>24760113
Pure garbage.

>>24760055
Hard to write a wise old man when the author is the dumb kid they reincarnate as. Just, some magic excuse is needed for why the MC is immediately stronger than anyone else

>>24759343
Have the betrayal happen and the guy get away, and THEN go into the real fight where the MC is handicapped by he's so badass he overcomes it anyway. 10k words later, come back and be like oh yeah that betrayal happened, gonna beat the shit outta that guy despite his good looks.

You can also signpost the shit out of the betrayal over and over for so long it fades into the background, and then have it happen at the most devastating possible moment when the MC has gotten complacent. That's what I did near the end of my book, and even though it's a betrayal it winds up being a win-win situation, just with lots of hurt feelings and angst.

>>24760113
I understand the logic of "foreignisation" but most of the time, the prose in these fics ends up mimicking the purely incidental "style" of fan translations which emerged from dedicated earnest amateurs trying to adapt something faithfully. It's very grating to read.

>>24760158
Very good ideas, this is actually what I had planned. The MC is injured by the traitor but then goes on to win a bigger fight shortly after, so that it's not such a humiliation but only a temporary setback. Though this forced me to add a couple of other characters into the scene to create a stalemate and an excuse why neither side can just finish off the other right there.

anons, i have fallen in love with the simulator sub-genre of chink wns, but have recognized the difficulties of writing a decent simulator novel. should i try to write a simulator novel to western tastes anyways?

>>24760278
What are those? Like MS Flight Sim but in fiction format?

>>24760055
>Being young and in good health is not the same as being drunk.
You have no idea what hormones do. Just look at somebody that's sleep deprived and somebody that's well rested. The difference between those two is the hormone mix you're operating under.
I wouldn't normally suggest this, but you really should try doing some drugs. Even legal ones like alcohol or various nootropics will give you a different view of the world. Your mind is not some kind of isolated system from the rest of your body. What goes on in the rest of your body has a massive impact on your brain function.

People going on HRT even report going through a "second puberty" with mood swings, increased emotionality, irritability, anxiety, or depression. That's after their body had already gone through one.

>>24760278
Yes.

I myself am writing a simulator novel where a young schizophrenic girl and her pet brick enter a simulator fantasy land where she is the chosen one princess and the brick is her talking unicorn companion and they learn lessons they take into the real world (namely smashing the popular girl in the head with ol brickie)

>>24760055
Eh, hormones can make you do crazy shit. I remember having wild mood swings and getting bizarrely angry for stuff that didn't matter and I realized didn't matter and I didn't care about.

I'd accept a reincarnator making stupid teenage decisions; losing their temper and lashing out at someone important when insulted for example even if it's obviously unwise. But that should be a case where the reincarnator part is able to recognize what has just happened and clench their jaw and push through it when it happens next because they've been through this shit already.

>>24760291
An old person has already gone through all that and the hormones and mood swings should have a minimal effect on them. They would have a lot more self control.

>>24760330
No. If that were the case then people going on HRT wouldn't be affected by it either.

Roid rage exists too. People taking testosterone, as performance enhancers, become aggressive and irritable. These are people that have gone through puberty and multiple cycles of testosterone. It still affects them mentally.

You don't just shrug off hormones just because you've gone through it before.

>>24760424
The way people deal with those drugs the first time compared the second time after they have felt and experienced the effects, is different.

Anyone got any male mage MC recommendations? I've read a lot of them, but am always looking for more recommendations.
Most recently read
>It would've been easier to save the school as a cafeteria worker
>Sexy Steampunk Babes

>>24760632
FFF-Class 'Unlucky Antagonist'

>>24760632
define mage
does it specifically have to be a fireball throwing typical wizard, or just any male mc that falls under the "mage" archetype? would a psychic count as a mage? I don't have a recommendation I'm just asking out of autism

>>24760330
Do you know many baby boomers with good self-control, even today? Even with their aging bodies and depressed hormone levels?

Maturity doesn't change HOW someone deals with things, it just gives them more experience. "Oh, yeah, driving 95mph on city streets is a bad idea." It's not because they reason about it better, it's because they or their friend did that and it ended badly. Put them in a fighter jet at the age of 60 and they'd do the same stupid shit because it's just barely different enough from a car that they wouldn't be able to apply the lessons from one kind of experience to their current situation.

This is why scams work on the elderly. It's a new type of situation they haven't been put in before, so they fall for the con. You'd think a mature elder, doing nothing more strenuous than talking on the phone, would be HARDER to trick with common basic bitch scams, but it's just not so.

That's why when I write my character arcs, I make sure there's a deep emotional level at which they suffer to ensure that when something happens later in the story, they react to it differently than they reacted to something else in the past. I truly believe that only regret can change the nature of a man. Otherwise, for characters that don't have that deep emotional level of suffering, I write them making the same mistakes over and over again despite it being obvious. Like retards who get DUIs over and over because losing money and losing their license just doesn't impact them emotionally, even as it drives them to poverty and eventual ruin.

As you can guess my story isn't as popular as "my tiger mom has set my life up perfectly with genetic engineering and training and drugs and magic swords and now I'm the strongest spellblade."

>>24760632
Hands down Paranoid Mage. It's just really good. Harry Potter IS worth reading if you haven't before.

Huh, I can't actually think of many others. Advent of Sorcery is good but it's on hiatus and I don't have high hopes it will come back. Just Add Mana technically fits the bill but I don't think it's what you're looking for, it's more of a fantasy Dr. Who than anything and the MC is weirdly gimped by being too OP, so he does relatively little interesting magic or progression.

>>24760663
> Hands down Paranoid Mage. It's just really good.
Maybe the first two books are, but then the author clearly runs out of ideas and interest in the series but had to keep writing to keep his patreons content.

>>24760693
Nah the later volumes were okay, it was always clear he was going to have to fight against the larger authoritarian society to forcefully impose his libertarian views on everyone else. It was just a different kind of situation once he had access to real mage knowledge and supernatural partners. Rather than man against the world, it turned into a much more political sort of story.

>>24760713
> Rather than man against the world, it turned into a much more political sort of story.
Like I said, it became shit.

>>24760693
It really does get pretty slow and repetitive later on. I think I ended up dropping it around the start of Vol. 4, Reclusive Mage, not for any particular one thing, just because I felt like I had my fill by that point.

It wasn't nearly as schizo politics anti-government as I had hoped.

>>24760724
cont.
I remember seeing some redditor whining about how the author is a qanoner and how the novel is obviously a veiled manifesto, and that's what made me finally read it
It turned out to be the most milquetoast anti-authoritarian shit out there, that reddit fag would have an aneurysm if you showed them something like the Sword of Truth

>>24760720
Fair enough. As a radical libertarian sperg I always knew it was going to wind up the way it did. I just expected more of a WW3 scenario than a collapse of the magical USSR government kind of scenario.

instead of doing something productive I'm reading a 2.5M word shield hero fanfic, save me...

>>24760663
Paranoid Mage is garbage, the MC is full murderhobo

>>24760785
If you think THAT'S murderhobo you don't know what murderhobo means
lole
lmao

>>24760785
He's not, but it would have been better if he did go full murderhobo. Playing the role of baba yaga instead of power behind the scenes.

>>24760745
On one level, you do need to take care of your responsibilities before engaging in leisure activities.
But beyond those responsibilities? Relax and do what you want. Not enough people know how to relax and do what they really want to do, not what they think they want to do, or what they think they should want to do, or what they want to want to do, but ACTUALLY what they want to do.

I spent a week laying on the couch doing nothing but read Beware of Chicken. A week well-spent in my opinion, despite having tons of "better" stuff in my backlog and perhaps more productive things I could have been doing. Just don't do what you want at the expense of your responsibilities.

>>24760745
Is it any better than the source material?

>>24760815
Raphtalia kissing Naofumi while hoping it won't get her pregnant (while hoping it does)

>>24760820
So yes, it is.

>>24760654
>Maturity doesn't change HOW someone deals with things, it just gives them more experience. "Oh, yeah, driving 95mph on city streets is a bad idea." It's not because they reason about it better, it's because they or their friend did that and it ended badly. Put them in a fighter jet at the age of 60 and they'd do the same stupid shit because it's just barely different enough from a car that they wouldn't be able to apply the lessons from one kind of experience to their current situation.
A mature person has gained experience, and because of that, they won't behave the same way as someone without that experience. Someone who's been in a car accident will think twice before speeding. A person who knows how to fly a fighter jet won't make the same rookie mistakes that new pilots do, even if an old person gets put into a young body again, their experience and maturity will remain the same, their character will not change just because they have hormones of a young person again, because they've been through this before. Their mood might improve however their decision making, logic, reasoning, all the skills they've developed through education and life experiences will stay the same.

>This is why scams work on the elderly. It's a new type of situation they haven't been put in before, so they fall for the con. You'd think a mature elder, doing nothing more strenuous than talking on the phone, would be HARDER to trick with common basic bitch scams, but it's just not so.
Scams work because general population consists of low iq people, also elderly often have decreased mental capacity and are easier to trick.

>That's why when I write my character arcs, I make sure there's a deep emotional level at which they suffer to ensure that when something happens later in the story, they react to it differently than they reacted to something else in the past. I truly believe that only regret can change the nature of a man. Otherwise, for characters that don't have that deep emotional level of suffering, I write them making the same mistakes over and over again despite it being obvious. Like retards who get DUIs over and over because losing money and losing their license just doesn't impact them emotionally, even as it drives them to poverty and eventual ruin.
What is this emotional suffering? Ar you suffering? Are your fictional characters based on your own character?
While I have and I am dealing with some issues in my life they are just problems to be solved, I don't really see them as suffering therefore I don't get this constant suffering and I personally dislike such stories or characters.

>>24760663
It was good until it became simp garbage.

>>24760842
>I don't really see them as suffering therefore I don't get this constant suffering and I personally dislike such stories or characters.
Yeah, I've noticed readers don't like it as much as I thought they would. BUT I have yet to see readers encounter the climax and catharsis at the end, so I'm hoping that everyone who makes it to the end appreciates the journey in hindsight.

>Am I writing too much of myself into the story/MC
Perhaps. But it's thematic to the story. The next story is going to be totally different so I'm not too worried.

>>24760856
The story opened with the funeral of the MC's dead wife man. The simpness was there from the very beginning.

>>24760643
Sure, any mage is fine. Even if I wanted something more specific I've realized that the archetypical mage you picture is never the MC of a story.
>>24760663
Thanks, I'll check them out.

>>24760864
If readers don't like suffering, do you really think they will somehow change their minds, change their preferences when they encounter even more suffering at the end of the story?

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>>24760901
There's a lot more options in Japanese LN. The Anime for Water Magician was really good, so I figure the LN might be worth checking out. Magician Who Rose From Failure is rather interesting but I dropped halfway through, the story just got a little too convoluted and the release schedule was too spaced out. I'll go back to it some day. The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! is fairly good but wordy by modern LN standards. On the other hand, the story is really interesting and the chuuni is EXCELLENT if you're into that kind of stuff. And of course Irregular at Magic High School with anime magic jesus is fun, with a modern/future setting and lots of tech to go with the magic. The story just gets a little repetitive in later volumes.

>>24760901
While I'm not the biggest fan of it, the only recommendation I have right now is Diary of a Dead Wizard. It's a pretty typically chinese-grim story with a no-trust-society where everyone is out to exploit everyone, but the MC is very wizardly.

There's also Harry Potter and the Feral Magic (and the subsequent books in that fanfic series) which I've enjoyed so far

>>24760909
>The Anime for Water Magician was really good
Was it? I felt it was kind of... Just okay. Very mediocre.

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>>24760909
>The Anime for Water Magician was really good
Jfc

>>24760842
>A person who knows how to fly a fighter jet won't make the same rookie mistakes that new pilots do, even if an old person gets put into a young body again, their experience and maturity will remain the same, their character will not change just because they have hormones of a young person again
This is a weird take. Of course they won't make the same mistakes rookies make, because flying a fighter jet is a skill that you learn. You don't learn a skill like that for navigating your entire life.
However, the decisions the pilot makes would absolutely change between a young and an old body, because their risk calculus will differ based on their hormones.

Surely you've interacted with women in real life and noticed how they can act differently during their periods? Why do you think that is? Did their personalities change and then change back again?

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>>24760909
>Anime for Water Magician was really good
what the fuck am I reading

>>24760906
The end of the story is far less about the MC suffering (although occasionally it happens still, there's a betrayal scene), and more about him putting what he learned from suffering before into practice and overcoming his struggles. I did a bad job of spacing out the "cool" moments throughout the story and mostly they're all in the last third/half of it. There's like one big plot twist at the end that ties the themes together but it doesn't change anything about the MC's journey.

And yeah, I recognize that readers didn't like it. They fucking love strongest spellblade though, so I'm making adjustments. My summoning isekai story isn't going to be about a damaged man with a dark past sucked into another world, instead it's about a secret agent badass.

>>24759584 this screencap really resonated with me. If the people want mindless comfortable entertainment, I will give it to them. And they will reward me with neetbux via patreon.

>>24760632
I would say Paranoid Mage is worth reading like >>24760663 suggests. I enjoyed the level of power the MC had in that he is a genuine glass cannon. Most of his fights are over in seconds, if not he's fucked up completely and runs like hell because he has almost no defense.
The world it creates is about as believable as urban hidden world style fantasy goes too. Mages mostly keep to themselves in worlds off earth so there's less than you'd think to hide. The 'magic conspiracy' such as it is is actually handled largely by people who are born to magic families but don't have the gift themselves too which is kind of interesting as a concept.
That said I did drop it after a few books myself too. The entire concept is hes on the run from the magic government. When that stops being a thing i stopped seeing much reason to keep on reading further.

If you don't mind incomplete system fics Bog Standard Isekai and Elydes are both pretty good isekais I've read recently on RoyalRoad.

Bog Standard Isekai leans much more heavily into the system and classes and explores what that would be like for the world. Most people do not get offered awesome cool classes, they get classes like 'cook' and 'woodsman'. Classes seem to actively effect how people think however as 'evil' classes exist. There are always people who get up one morning and decide they are sick of being a level 40 washerwoman, so if one day they're offered a class that upgrades by murdering or hurting people, they might just take it. Or there's stuff like how pretty much everyone has an Identify Skill and also the ability to hide whats on their character sheet, and a constant back and forth around that. One character mentions he thought he was being stalked because on reaching a high enough level he suddenly started identifying tons of random people in the street as stuff like 'Cultist' and 'Murderer' and 'Torturer'; but no all these people had always been there, he just couldn't tell before.

The way it handles class selection is pretty neat also, with the MC falling into a dream-like state and having each class he's offered be it's own personality trying to convince him why they're the best version of him.
The MC ends up as an illusionist mage with some other magic on the side, with his illusions more about gathering information managing a battlefield.

CONT

>>24760915
I think in terms of "story with mage mc" it was pretty good.
The mage mc got lots of cool magic fights.
Plots that didn't start with him were generally RESOLVED by him.
Animation quality varied but that still puts it above average in modern times.

>>24760918
>>24760926
Really good in the sense I didn't drop it like I do a dozen anime each season.
In more objective terms it's like a 5/10 anime. I had been meaning to pick up the LN for some time so I can't speak to that quality, but it's getting active translation.

>>24760937

Elydes the system is more relaxed; everyone just treats it as a blessing that helps them learn and retain skills. The most interesting thing is there's a limited number of skills you can hold at once so you may have to discard something you've used your whole life if a more useful skill comes along you definitely need.
Its the only 'reincarnates as a baby' story I've read that wasn't boring as shit. The MC reincarnates on a tropical island just as the empire that has annexed it is tightening control, so as he grows up things are happening around him he can't really control which effect him and his family whom are actually characters with personalities he has reason to care for.
If I'd say anything the MC might be too level-headed. The whole thing is built up so you assume at some point he's going to join the rebellion against the people who have taken his island, but he more or less just tries to secure safety for his family and then keeps away from that shit while benefiting where he can from the empire that now owns the place, like some sort of reasonable sane person.

>>24760820
how uncouth! (hot)

>>24760937
>The way it handles class selection is pretty neat also, with the MC falling into a dream-like state and having each class he's offered be it's own personality trying to convince him why they're the best version of him.
Hah, that's kind of how I wrote my story's class selection process. I'll have to check out Bog Standard Isekai.
Looks like I'll never actually get around to Cow Girl Evolution...