EditionStubbed >>25187571>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'.>/wng/ authors.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSNZali-jIk2MASsAWVf8N7A8BlSyzPbAFV_BhsA5Ip3SWfMPWKxaXf8Pdb7f0TgFyWis31BzirtPeR/pubhtml>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 Recommended web novelsrentry.co/d2yvczroAnon's guide to successrentry.co/RRBasicGuideFAQrentry.co/pytefpxn
>/wg/ tourist campaigns for webnovels to get their own general>/wg/ dies
>>25192240/wg/ suffers from its own elitism and, ironically, disinterest in writing. No one wants share work or discuss writing there. If you're not the next Flaubert they won't give a shit.
>>25192240WTF are you talking about? These threads are more active and friendly than /wg/.
How long have you been reading self-published lit, /wng/? Around 2012 for me.
>>25192301that's what i'm sayin'
>>25192315i kneel. maybe only 2022 for me. if not fanfic i'd guess many got started w/ worm or something similar
i just finished my high stakes prologue arc but had a stroke making my setup arc and now i am too burnt out to write my next real arc this week
>>25192319Oh yeah. For some reason I thought you put /wng/. Yeah, /wg/ fucking sucks. Too bad I can’t engage with /wng/ either since I don’t write web novels but regular novels.
>>25192323just have another stroke then
>>25192323what do you mean? ...an actual stroke?
>>25192240>/wg/ dies>/wg/ regulars shit up /wng/ with offtopic out of boredom>anons leave>/wng/ slows down from 1 thread a day to 1 thread every two or three days
We should probably create a /awg/ - amateur writing general instead of /wg/.
>>25192379how would that fix anything?the problem was the pseuds who hated genre fic and discussion of it. the word amateur doesn't gatekeep that
>>25192333>Cant read. >Thinks he can write. lol good luck, retard.
>>25192391Hmm yeah that sucks. I'd rather discuss my writing here but I write genre not web novels.
>>25192315I read Tales of Mu back in like 2007. Around 2012-2013 I started reading translated light novels. It was basically the same experience as reading web novels later on.
>>25191980Sky PrideArthurian Cultivation (not great writing but a fun concept)William OhWar Queen RIP unfinished stories
>>25191653I've seen this argument at least three times previously in this thread in the last yearThe power fantasy comes from the natural perception that being average is even less worth paying attention to than someone who is severely below average.The MC who is the weakest cripple of the weakest clan from the weakest cultivation country is still extraordinary by way of what a fucking bum he is an average MC rising above is more notable than a cripple doing it
>>25192315I was reading HP fanfic before 2006 as my intro to online writing. If fanmade sequels count, then I guess then. Otherwise, probably somewhere maybe in 2010 or so.
>>25192470Average dudes are just not interesting. We're all average dudes. It's been done to death. As more stories are written, the harder the race for reader's attention becomes. We're at the endgame stage where only the farthest extremes have any appeal left. Either you portray the best of a thing or the worst of it. It's not rocket science
>>251923152013ishfirst webnovel I really read was worm. I was reading the translations of stuff like re: monster and kumo which I think was being done around that timearound 2009 me and my friends read fanfics together over skype to make fun of them if that counts
>>25192470>an average MC rising above is more notable than a cripple doing itim not sure what you mean by notable but it certainly isnt more fun, and readers are here to have fun
>>25192521We’re not at the end stage of anything. Trends change, tastes change. We went from VR to isekai to xianxia to dungeon apocalypse to time loop to villainess to archmage. Nobody knows what the next big thing will be until it happens.
>>25192604Cultivation is the future.
>>25192552I as a reader find it more interesting. It's not interesting when MC is a talentless piece of shit, that's just obligatory and automatically requires bullshit cheats to compensate.
Free Archmage Idea>I Only Have 1 ManaAbout an archmage who has to reduce the casting cost of his spells to 1 to be able to cast them, so all spells are equally available. Including the big ones.
>>25191980New Life as a Max Level ArchmageA Fall to Greater HeightsEnjashekErasedHow the Stars Turned RedLabours of ZucchiniNuclear SpringOn Foreign Soils We DieTransmigrated as a mech I now fight kaiju (rip, probably my fave out of this whole list)BurgerpunkAoi and Midori before the author gave up to go on to pursue animating (happy for him at least)
>>25192667Already done
>>25192617i personally can't empathize at all with the idea that some random shmuck who is neither gifted nor cursed in any way will make for a more fun story. cheats (luck, genius, talent, genetics, whatever it is) as you call it is gonna be required either way to become strongest in universe, so it's just way blander to have it be John Smith the Average Guy as the starting point
>>25192240I think the main reason that /wg/ keeps dying is that its outlived the culture that sustains itthe general's culture is craft focused but all the posters with a craft mentality have graduated or moved on from writing. all that's left are people not that into literature and literary thoughtthose who either like writing for writing's sake or want an easy grift came to /wng/. what other kind of writer is left other than the craftsman? without the writing lover, or the craftsman, or the hustler, there isn't anyone to populate /wg/. the only people posting there are shitposters. those who are women scorned and go to the thread to be belligerent as a way to make up for getting harsh feedback, and those who go to the thread as a force of habit and have nothing to say so they just reply to the previous/wng/ is having a similar trend with the writers having left to discord but there's still the grassroots culture of people writing and reading
>>25192604We've been stuck at isekai for 20 years though. The superficial flavor of it doesn't matter, it's all the same underneath
>>25192676same could've been (and still can to an extent) about tolkien fantasy
>>25192672preferences differ big shocker
>>25192681uh, obviously?I was giving my opinion on what makes John Average a lame protag. the previous anon's claim of "no cheats is better" didn't make sense because cheats are always needed no matter the starting point
>>25192687Average covers a wide spectrum. It can mean a thirty-something college dropout who works at a job he hates and has a girlfriend who constantly cheats on him, or an alcoholic war vet who rides his motorcycle from small town to small town, hooking up with every single mother in his vicinity.Neither of them would stand out in a crowd, but the paths they take when push comes to shove vary widely.
>>25192729What does backstory have to do with this conversation? We're talking about power scaling (weakest->god vs average->god). Are you somehow implying weak protagonists can't have interesting and engaging backstories? I can only assume not, so you have to have just jumped into a conversation without reading any of the posts
>>25192521>>25192552>>25192672I made the original comment about mana. You guys are missing the point: I was specifically talking about the MC's mana pool. I'm not saying that MC has to be average in absolutely everything. He can have standout features, but it just bothers me how it's always an extreme when it comes to mana and magic. Also, average people are made up of people that do have standout talents. Those talents just aren't all that important most of the time. Eg a genius is still a failure if they can't work hard.
Are you a Donut Hole or a Snow Cone?
>>25192742I don’t care what the original point is about. I’m replying specifically to these:>it's just way blander to have it be John Smith the Average Guy as the starting point>I was giving my opinion on what makes John Average a lame protag.
>>25192745first instance of this I can think of is naruto
>>25192760Language and conversation is contextual, dude. It depends on what came before. Those two things you quoted are specifically and only about him being John Average in a powerscaling context (an average practitioner vs a cripple vs a Secret Bloodline Prodigy), not about him having a John Average backstory.Stop jumping halfway into conversations and taking stuff out of context, huge waste of time for everyone
>>25192671I Have Negative 1 Mana
>>25192754i'm a funnel cake
>protagonist was born with zero mana>has battled his way to heaven to beg the gods for mana>they give him 100 mana on an interest-bearing loan>burns through it all immediately on fireballs to impress elven qts>has to fight through dungeons, still mana-less to earn enough mana crystals to repay the gods>cycle repeats>continues blowing his mana on useless spells, swearing he'll do better next time, having to do increasingly risky dungeons without magic, all while dodging the divine loan sharks and their enforcers
>>25192801I'm a Funnel Cake: My Journey From Batter to Making Her Fatter (Harem, NTR, Progresson)
>>25192807Sounds like crepe.
>>25192795I'm like 100% certain I've seen a stat underflow webnovel or two.
post your follow lists
Reverend Insanity is still peak
>>25192872
>>25192890
>>25192885Isn't that the one weird harem story that turns men into women, so he can fuck men without being gay?
>>25192891
What do you guys feel about femboy elves?
>>25192909they are built for cock
>>25192892That's not the one. There is very little sex in Reverend Insanity.
>>25192805im not suggesting you meant this as a serious premisebut it does feel like a lot of anons create their story ideas based on shitposts that work as a greentext rather than something that would genuinely be fun for many booksneither novelty nor subversion are inherent virtues
>>25193051Novelty is actually an inherent virtue. It's just that it can be offset like any other virtue by experiences being otherwise shit. Something not helped by the fact that it's a very minor virtue.
>>25193082I mulled this over and I guess you're right. All else equal, I would prefer something novel. Humans appreciate the newI guess my opinion came from that fact that everything has been done by now. Storytelling has been explored to death. And so people who seek true novelty have to disregard all of the established rules for what makes good fiction. They pervert their story in the pursuit of being uniqueSo theoretically you're right. But I think my statement holds in the practical sense.
>>25193051>>25193082
>>25192872>The Archmage CoefficientFun and trendy. Most autistic heroine of the autism wizard genre I've seen so far.>PenitentStill haven't forgiven this author for tricking me into reading Count of Monte Christo.>Aura OverloadIt's alright.>For the Glory of Rome15 chapters behind, getting a bit tired of this one.>Beware of ChickenFun.>Amelia ThornheartCute lesbians.>Objects in MotionStill need to read the second book. Not as fun as his past work.>Legend of William OhFun.>Saintess Summons SkeletonsSlop, but fun.>Max Level ArchiveFun. Somehow the least autistic wizard of the three.>Draka60 chapters behind. Significantly less cute lesbians.>Sky PrideFun.>Dungeon LifeFun, but mid.>RE:Deity - Breath of CreationSomething about this rubs me the wrong way. I hate half the characters but read it anyways for some reason.>Stray Cat StrutFun, but RavensDagger writing borders on insufferable at times.>The Toll-Road to ImmortalityFun.>A Young Girl's War Between the StarsFun, but it insists upon itself. Something about the way that the author works around his "artistic choices" of making Tanya a sexed up space succubus but also 14 while thumbing the nose at RR's content policies just strikes me as relentlessly smug, in not a good way.>Greatest ArchmageFun. Wizard with autism. Could really do without being systemslop.>Arthurian CultivationI love the conceit, the pacing and structure could be cleaned up.>Arcane ExfilIt's alright.>Vampire and Dayspring StarCute vampire daughter.>Super SupportiveCute gay space wizard elf.>Blood SovereignSomething about this rubs me the wrong way but I want to see where its going.>Ghost in the CityAbsolute garbage, shamelessly masturbating to better pieces of media, but junk food entertainment now and then.>The Ballad Of A Semi-Benevolent DragonThe author's D&D worldbuilding rants pieced together into something approximating a story. Interesting in its own way.
>>25193133i bow to your slop supremacy
>>25193133what are your true favorites, slopmaster?
Coming up with names for every single character and location I need for my story is ridiculously difficult. It feels like this should be far easier.
is there a niche on RR for autistic man vs. nature wilderness litrpg stories?
>>25193144I've unfortunately fallen into a pattern of relentless CONSOOM. It used to be ebooks of "actual" genre fiction, which in theory is only marginally higher quality than webfiction. I'd rather have most of the current slop than some of the early litRPGs and system apocalypse shit from a few years ago. I can't believe I actually choked down shit from Cosimo Yap and Vasily Mahanenko, let alone like 10 fucking volumes of SAO. One of these days I'll circle back around to the "actual" genre fiction I've missed in the last few years, like a few Sanderson books.>>25193152>shit that I'm actually excited to read, consistentlySky Pride, BOC, Super Supportive, Amelia Thornheart, William Oh>shit that has ups and downsMax Level Archmage, Archmage Coefficient, Greatest Archmage, SSS, Toll-Road>fills the hunger for content, acceptablyArthurian Cultivation, Vampire and Dayspring Star, Penitent, Stray Cat Strut>shit I read begrudgingly, sunk cost fallacy or out of morbid curiosityeverything elseIf you have recommendations for new slop, I'm down.>>25193160Maybe a few years ago when system apocalypses were all the rage.
>>25193133>Super SupportiveDropped this somewhere around the Thanksgiving chapter. Felt like it was stuck in slice-of-life hell. Do Alden and Stuart ever do the nasty?
Hey anons this is the right place to post OC right? The past few years I wrote a novel and decided to actually do the audiobook myself. And straight up release it for free for the curious (I'd like to break into film/vidya)https://youtu.be/onKtEPy1U48P.S. Just in case my link doesn't go through google: Global anarchy Audiobook
>>25193167>If you have recommendations for new slop, I'm down.I don't but thank you for the recs
>>25193169>Felt like it was stuck in slice-of-life hell.I honestly feel like that's where it's strongest? When it tries to be action-oriented, Alden is a little boring, since his powers tend to make him take a back seat to some of the stronger personalities and more interesting kits of his classmates. Crisis arcs like Moon Thegund and the Flood/Sinker Sender feel like they drag on a bit too long. I'm in it for dates with Natalie and the Rabbit Girls, or Esh'Erdi being a fun space uncle. The cast isn't perfect, I groan whenever Boe shows up again, but there's enough warmth and variety that I usually come away from a chapter with at least a slight smile.Also, no, but Alden is finally out of the wizard closet, so I'm sure they're chapters away from jerking each other off with magic.
>>25193167check out infinite realm
>>25193178hi anon I'm not saying this to be rude or cruel but global anarchy is a really terrible name, if possible you should try to come up with something more unique
>>25192321Sad that most of the replies were fanfic lol
>>25193228why would that be sad? fanfic holds hands with slop webfic. the overlap is hugeyou're in the wrong thread if you want to gatekeep based on quality lmao
>dude slopuh oh newfagGPT is going off
schizo is back
>>25193228he looks gay like an al zutt
>>25193233>I came here after 2016 and
>>25193160Hopefully. I’ve been waiting for one for a while.
he takes pride in wasting his life here
>>25193236giwtwm
>>25193133based slopGOD
NTA but I'll repost the question cause I want to see answers too>>25191896>What’s the lore behind your System?>Did the gods bestow power to mankind so they may fight back against the forces of hell?>Are there nanobots in the air that can move heaven and earth if certain conditions are met?>Is everybody trapped inside a videogame?>Or was it all aliens?
>>25193267The faeries have been pranking the mortals for millennia. Every "system communication" is actually an invisible faerie whispering in your ear. They invent descriptions and lore for items on the spot, reward quests when they feel like it, and choose numbers for stats that seem about right, and retroactively revise them and gaslight people when the stats don't line up with reality.
Just came home from seeing project hail mary in theaters. pretty stellar movie, might add the book to my physical library one day. Once an anon told me the movie might usher in some newfound interest for sci-fi again, and I can only hope that migh trickle down into people giving my (non-isekai non-litrpg) space opera a chance. One can dream at least.
>>25193267infinite realm is ever so mildly amusing because its System is governed by 'The Three' god things; who basically make save states, and they assign mortal 'server admins' who shit themselves to keep anything alerting The Three to any shenanigans afoot from the cultivator+class+skill-based society.
>>25193267>EXP is akin to a physical law of the world>magic becomes a thing because the laws of physics somehow gained a system>system gradually arose in inorganic compounds first, resulting in material differentiation>single celled organisms gained access to the system>lamarckism becomes real as a consequence>multicellular organisms gained a larger level cap relative to single celled organisms and continued developing>rise of animals but they all have classes and levels>speciation either rapidly increases among some of the population or doesn’t exist at all among others>fast forward several million years>sapient organic species come into existence>their civilizational and racial development happens over time due to inherited stat distribution, cultural and environmental effects>several material age progressions later>MC gets isekai’d to said world>gradually realizes that the system personalized to everything according to its host’s understanding>confused when people from a village across a plain use different terms for stats, skills, and feats>his stats are familiar to readers because he was a voracious RPG player>suffere the physical consequences of going all in on magic>decides to venture into the wilds to engage in his fantasy of wilderness survival in the countryside>plot rapidly devolves into man vs. nature with magic involved>Hatchet but it’s a litRPG and the MC is a hedge mage
>found familyI will now read your winnie.
>>25192952There is literally an arc where someone uses love gu to turn four men gay and then they have orgies in public with a fifth guy whose an amnesiac who doesn't know what sex is, and starts enjoying it
>read korean WN>finno korean hyperwar directly mentioned in textit’s joever
>>25193267>earth's is the only universe where physical laws inform metaphysical laws>every other universe is the opposite>every universe has a different set of metaphysical lawsshrimple as
>>25193417Zhao Lian Yun should've been the main character
>>25193452that's not possible
They hated him because he told the truth
>>25193417I'm surprised they didn't become women afterward.
>>25193484This is funny as fuck. I'm a professional Sanderson disliker.
>>25193484lol
>>25193484Imagine people in this thread of all places shitting on anyone for their prose.
>>25192872just realised i fell for the femc meme
>>25193466No thanks, I like Fang Yuan. So many promising novels ruin themselves by picking a shitty mc. RI with Fang Yuan carrying it never becomes boring or a slog.
>>25193730I always wonder who the fuck reads this dumb trash, and it turns out the thread is full of these shiteaters
>>25193730a fellow mentally fmc enjoyer>cruel violethaven't seen this. how is it?
>>25193823best one in that list>>25193804post your list
>>25193852Reverend Insanity
>>25193730Psychotic femMC is kino
Horizontal progression is underrated. I find the idea of a growing toolbox of techniques with specific use cases really interesting.
I've been reading Mother of Learning and I find the MC's reaction to his brothers amusing. I was the youngest of 4 and encountered many of the same comparisons in school with my older siblings. It never bothered me though because I did way better than all of them. If anything, it was entirely a boon since some teachers got along well with my siblings.
the fmc seether is also the reverend insanity spammer?
>>25194051No, I just don't like dumb or incompetent main characters. I wouldn't mind if Bai Ning Bing was the mc (she is a trans woman)
>>25193157>Coming up with names for every single character and location I need for my story is ridiculously difficult. It feels like this should be far easier.Minor tip, keep an alphabetized list of proper nouns in you story. This will help prevent you from reusing names, or using names that sound too similar.It can also provide a good way to look for new name constructions you haven't used. Some authors need help with this. I was reading a web novel recently where like 40% of the names began with A and the vast majority were A-J. I'm pretty sure they were always starting from the beginning of the alphabet when they were trying to come up with a new name and it was heavily biasing their output.
>>25193157Use AI. You have to feed the AI with a bunch of names first though, otherwise it will pick the same names for you every time.
>>25193167>One of these days I'll circle back around to the "actual" genre fiction I've missed in the last few years, like a few Sanderson books.You won't. You'll read 3 of these books and then give up on them because they will be too predictable. One of the benefits of amateur authors is that they don't keep to the usual writing rules. This will lead to surprises that a published novel will not provide you.
>>25193213So I'm keeping tradition with Romanian literature? Nice XDAll jokes aside, I think it's an appropriate title given how central the concept is to the story. I will gladly consider an alternative title if anyone can come up with something better (After a full listen ofc :D)
>>25193157there are websites for this
>>25192872I'll post my weekly chapter review post tomorrow
>>25194168I doubt there are any with sufficient nuance to be good. Names need to be fitting, especially for characters, and they need to give at least the illusion of cultural and linguistic history, especially for locations. It's not an easy thing.
>>25193907I tend towards this with major overall powerspikes every once in a while.I view it as the "Factorio Theory of Progression" (there's a better way to term it but i can't think of one).You build and build and build gradually adding and eventually it all falls into place.
an agent joined my patreon at the $20 vanity tier to grovel at my feet to sign over rights for a 10% revenue sharethanks for the Andred Jackson, rajneesh
>>25194189the one i use lets me select based on real life regions which allow me to kind of match fictional areas to some semblance of real world cultures. If alll the people from the northwest have Scandinavian-sounding names that gives people an idea of what that area is like without the main character ever going there.
>>25194251What site?
>>25194262https://www.fantasynamegenerators.comthis website looks like it was made in 2004 which means you know you can trust it.
>>25192872I tend to follow whatever interests me in the first chapter, so I've actually forgotten what some of these were about.
>>25192872I have ok taste
Is everyone here a transsexual?
>>25194456We love Femcs here so yes
>>25194456you're more demented than any tranny
>>25194456you made the mistake of thinking being loud and annoying made your opinion the majority opinion
How many people follow things from the writers in the thread?
>>25194607I have crow and rabbit followedfeels like there hasn't been a writer post in months
>>25194630>like 30-40 works on the wng list>one guy follows one storySo much for supporting bros
>>25194607i follow a few things from my wngers
>>25194607Why would we bother? The only one's I've seen mentioned have all been somewhere between not great and utter trash.
>>25194648 I won't follow if the story is garbage.
>>25194648only 17 are active tho
>>25192675What is a craft mentality? Like plotting?
>>25194630thank you for following my story.
>>25194661>The only one's I've seen mentioned have all been somewhere between not great and utter trashI'm not sure if they're trash so much as how varied tastes are here. /wng/ will shit on anything that gets mentioned, we can't even form a consensus on the biggest 20k+ follower / top 20 best rated books. If those can't clear the bar, what hope does a local WN have?
>>25194607I followed a few here and there.
>>25194683valuing craftsmanshiprather than valuing results and consequences (telling your story, getting attention, making money, etc), valuing the quality of the work itself. whether its done skillfully or beautifully or whateverthis obviously and demonstrably lends itself to pseudery and pretension but isn't a bad thing on its own. /wg/ used to have a much higher level of discussion a few years ago. constant excerpts and honest repliesit's a shame what a shit hole that thread has become
>>25194681I'll update mine soon.
I'm torn between adding a token element of litrpg into my progfantasy-reincarnation story just for the tag and visibility. Did anyone make this decision and either regret it or not regret it?I think a painting of litrpg over the system just makes it blander but I'm also not a power-system guy in general so it's not that big of a compromise.
>>25194778you and everyone else nonadon't forget to shoehorn in some cultivation too. wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to be indistinct and unrecognizable
>>25194785>don't forget to shoehorn in some cultivation too.Well, that just straight up wouldn't belong. I won't change the story fundamentally to shove in extra tags. LitRPG would just be a coat of paint over the existing power systemI wouldn't do it if it wouldn't matter, but the data is pretty undeniable: It's way easier to get readers with that tag, and if it's not a big compromise it might be worth it.I'm on the fence, as I said
>>25194778If it has a litrpg tag but no stats and no litrpg in the first 5 chapters then you might as well stop right then and there.
>>25194797I've seen several stories take advantage of the tag despite barely being litrpg to great success and without harming the story. MLA for example. Super Supportive did it too. Adding in 0.1% litrpg dna and slapping the tag on seems like a cheat code
>>25194794then do it you dumb dorknobody can tell you what your values are. if it doesn't hurt your creative integrity and if you think it'd be good for your success rate then go aheadI think writing while dreaming of attention and money is gay as fuck but you do you
>>25194747>honest replies>it's a shame what a shit hole that thread has becomeYou must be talking more than 10+ years ago. I recall it being nothing but assholes even that far back. But then this is 4chan.
>>25194815Stop having your little meltie over it, I was asking for people who actually did this and whether they had success with it. Clearly I don't consider this a large enough compromise that I would never do it: I've already decided it's within my value set, but only if it gets results. I don't need your muh art is pure rant
>>25194831>then do it you dumb dorkalso get a job
>>25194840why are you so sensitive about this? are you the guy complaining about grifters every other thread?
>>25194797I should tag progression, even though its regular fantasy and regular fantasy characters basically always make progress through training, experience, and equipment.
>>25194845im the anti grift poster and I haven't brought it up in awhile. there's been a pretty big decline in tourists coming in with the usual dumb shit post>so sensitiveits a tiresome conversation. the simple truth of it is that nobody truly knows what works other than universal truths to selling anything>follow active trends>cater to existing consumer bases>leverage available marketing toolsthere's literally nothing to say about it that hasn't been said hundreds of times before. it's just ego driven hustle discourse over who has the best get rich quick scheme (they're all functionally the same)
Since litrpg came up, what's the difference between it and gamelit? Like, where's the line?
>>25194852That won't work in current year.
>>25194867I don't think there's a codified distinction. it's essentially the same thingI'd say that litRPG is associated specifically with stats and systems and gamelit is the broader categorization
>>25194866>its a tiresome conversation.It's a conversation you don't even belong in because I was explicitly looking for people who have done it and whether they got results, or whether they regretted it more than they expected after the fact. You barged in anyway to rant about how art must be completely pure, don't write for an audience or money, etc, in that way that so obviously marked you as the grifter-whiner that haunts this place.
>>25194867Gamelit is just literature (official or facfic) related to existing games. Like world of warcraft novels or warhammer novels
>>25194874>rantI made a couple petty insults but pointed you to doing what you want because ultimately it probably doesn't matter and nobody knowsif you can't take a slap on the ass for being a MOP and secondary to the culture then stick to reddit or discord
>>25194867If you go into the Royalroad search, you can see how they define the tags (and I mostly agree with them). I would copy paste but there isn't an easy way, it's a popupRR says gamelit is "novels set in game-like worlds of any genre" so I guess stuff like Otome counts as gamelit
>>25194867If you're talking about MMORPG worlds type of shit, the difference is that there's no actual "game" in litrpg, just the actual real world but with stats that usually only the protagonist sees and no one else knows about (which may or may not be subverted).
>>25194875I don't think that's it. I've seen gamelit refer to original settings
>>25194875No, that's fanfiction.LitRPG is stats with roleplaying game system elements.Gamelit is a book with its outcomes determined by playing a game. For example running a solo character DnD campaign, where the author is the DM and the player. When the character encounters a challenge, they roll against the DnD skill check, then write the story based on the outcome.Typically also showing the roll and its bonuses against a DC.
>>25194884You popped in to be a little bitch and to whine about the same shit you always whine about while contributing nothing. Don't try to dress it up. You're annoying as fuck and spend so much time here you feel compelled to respond to posts you obviously shouldn't, just to start up the same old argument you always do.
>You popped in to be a little bitch and to whine about the same shit you always whine about while contributing nothing. Don't try to dress it up. You're annoying as fuck and spend so much time here you feel compelled to respond to posts you obviously shouldn't, just to start up the same old argument you always do.
Stop shitting up the thread grifter-fag
>>25194896>grr grrrokay retard. you don't need to prove anythingI called you a dork and told you to do what you want. settle downhow long have you been planning your fake little internet job that you can have such a powerful grudge against me? I haven't called someone a grift nigger in months. release a story alreadyor take my well meaning advice and get a job
>>25194899This is what I imagine all of you look like when you start your threadly tantrums about stupid shit
>>25194899
What would Spectral Soul do in this situation (in reference to the ongoing ...debate in the thread) ?
>>25194904You're writing fanfiction in your head about me because you obviously have a mental illness about this topic. And/or are addicted to baiting the same arguments endlessly. Just don't respond to posts that obviously aren't targeted at you, there is zero defensible reason for you baiting this argument besides that you're bored and here too much
>>25194910Perfect
>>25192902>>25194910>poster who edits forum weapon image macros to have the same bloodshot eyes and tearsa funny if strange creature
>>25194917homegirl you are actually mental
>>25194919I also collect pepes.
>>25194942I saw someone express that pepes are just barbie dolls for boys and it really looks like that's the casemy favorite is apu fallen over in mcdonalds. do you have any from that collection?
>>25194942You need to tag them, assign at least 2 or 3 tags to each pepe
>>25194965What makes you think they aren't tagged?
>>25194986What software are using to tag them?
>>25194123>All jokes aside, I think it's an appropriate title given how central the concept is to the story.it might be very appropriate to the setting but the point of a title isn't the briefest description of what the story is about or a two-word diagnosis the setting, it's to interest a reader, it would be like titling A Game of Thrones something like Interregional Conflict or Duplicitous Royaltythink about it this way; how does your title uniquely index your story in a way that doesn't describe every other setting/story in its genre? what's the difference between a reader who might be interested in global anarchy as a setting, and the story that is titled Global Anarchy? in fact as a rule I think if writing your title in minuscule gives you a totally beige term that couldn't be identified as a story title at all, it's a terrible story title>I will gladly consider an alternative title if anyone can come up with something better (After a full listen ofc :D)no, anon you misunderstand, your title alone is what will make people not want to read it, nobody is going to be interested enough to engage with the story to come up with a better title for youmaybe i'm totally disinterested in it because "Global Anarchy" is the kind of title I would have used as a twelve year old but i think 99% of readers in that genre would also skim over it completely. it's a working title; i.e a title you might use to easily identify it in your own collection of works-in-progress, it's not something for an audience to identify with the storysorry for belabouring the point but i really really need you to understand how bad Global Anarchy as a name is and how much of a shame it would be for a vast majority of your potential audience to not engage your story purely on how utterly bland that title is, please change it
>>25195146game of thrones is maybe the worst possible counter example you could've given. it's a story about political games over the thronethere's nothing wrong with a descriptive title. if anything its an expected norm for webnovels I agree Global Anarchy is dry but I don't see anything specifically wrong with it. it's somewhat setting informative (apocalyptic). lots of boring titles in the sceneif anything the issue would be that his title is setting informative rather than character. think about all the most prominent stories. the majority of them characterize or build intrigue around the protagonist in some way>worm>dungeon crawler carl>1% life steal>new life as a max level archmagethere are counter examples and anything can work, but if you want to be nit picky I'd focus on that point over the descriptive blandness
>>25195239>wormThis is a bad title carried by a good story. I think there is another world where a Worm adaptation was the show that The Boys or Invincible were, and I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that as little as a better, more distinctive title could've made the difference in that.>dungeon crawler carlGreat title>1% life steal>new life as a max level archmageFunctional titles, but immediately signal webnovel, not tradpub.
>>25195239my point in bringing up A Game of Thrones is that even a setting descriptive title can tell a reader lots, "A Game of Thrones" is a deliberate framing that tells you it's about adversarial conflict between different parties, that you're meant to see it as more of a sports match rather than from a single perspective of good vs evil. characterising it as a "game" is enticing and tells you about the tone and perspective of the book, not just what the setting depicts in the driest possible termsthere is nothing enticing about Global Anarchy, which may be intentional for an informative work of history that wants to sound dry and unbiased, but it doesn't work with a story and setting that characters live in and have things happen to>but if you want to be nit picky I'd focus on that point over the descriptive blandnessyou're right, idk what kind of story Global Anarchy is, but if there is any intent behind its name then I'd assume it's omniscient third person, or uses free indirect speech to look at lots of different perspectives in a seting of global anarchy, which is why I wanted to give an example of an impersonal setting-informative title that worksif the story isn't written from that viewpoint then, as you say, the main issue is it shouldn't be setting descriptive at allagain I'm probably so disgusted and irritated by how bad it is simply because I would've thought that was a cool name for my own story as a kid, I feel like I'm pleading with my younger self to exercise some creativity
>>25192230What is the consensus on the filler chapter?>i.e chapters where plot is not pushed forward but it's just the character doing something fun
>>25193157Google Translate.It's as easy as that.
>>25195356You're in good company.Filler is the name of the game.Raw plot driven stories exist but sprawling fillee spam is the accepted default.
Honeyfeed seems interesting. Any good experiences with it?
>>25195311>distinction between A Game of Thrones and Global Anarchy is that one communicates the lens of the narrativea good point. probably why you get the impression of Global Anarchy feeling as though it belongs on a history book. no sense of narrative intent or tonecharacter forward titles probably get some leeway because people tend to make the imaginative leap to speculate and wonder when it comes to characters. in first person contexts specifically, the personality of the narrator drives pretty much every aspect of the reader experience. outside of first person stories it depends on how proactive the character is, and the psychic distance of the narration, but there is a baseline assumption that the protagonist will effect the story/narrative to some extent
>>25195356Hyperfocus on plot is very tradpub coded. The enjoyable breathing-room chapters are exactly why I read webfic. Of course, every person has a different tolerance for it. There's no such thing as correct pacing. TWI and SS prove that
>>25195356I like boring shit like memoirs and travelogues so im constantly wishing my sloppas would slow the pace and look away from the plot for a bitcrunchy litrpg gets a bad rep but I miss early Delve. my favorite thing about isekai/portal fantasy is that it allows for a slowly developed sense of inhabitance as the mc encounters, adapts to, and forms relationships with all the aspects of the new world. tickles my verisimilitude web novels have gotten more breakneck and shameless with cliff hangers as the scene has gotten more profitable and well known. I can enjoy these kinds of stories just fine but it makes me miss "filler" and a more natural pace
>>25195380I'll probably be haunted to my dying day by knowing I didn't start earlier.
>>25195356Fillers don't exist in original stories you dumb gorilla ape monkey. Filler is something like a anime adaptation making anime original dumb that wasn't there in the source material.
>>25195411relatable
>>25195413Bait.
>>25195419i've assumed bait many times, the reality is anons are just that retarded
>>25195413But that's what filler is, in the context of anime it's to pad out with original fodder until the anime can get back on track to adapting its source material. Unless you're like, writing some sort of fanfic and caught up to the source material's storyline, that's filler. A better term OP is asking would probably be slice of life chapters. And to answer his original question, it's probably fine, but if you're looking to just keep chapters pumped out to maintain a schedule, it's probably not a good idea if readers catch on it could be a sign you're running out of steam or running out of ideas how to actually progress the story. Just my two cents at least.
>>25195472meant to quote >>25195419 >>25195472
>>25195472he literally gave a note explaining his intent prescriptivist-kuncalm your autism
>>25195472>But that's what filler isyou're being autistic. he even gave an i.e. to be clear about what he meant by filler>b-b-but in ANIME, FILLER MEANSkys aspie
>>25195487>>25195488Samefig
>>25195368I was looking at it and everything about it screams cheap start up
>>25195356It's not a filler chapter. It's a character driven mini-arc.
>>25195309>max level archmageTechnically this title isn't even correct. She's not max level.
>>25192230It takes ten years to get good at something. Experts say it takes 20,000+ hours to get good at something like writing. Have you gotten into the groove of reading or writing every day?
>>25195553fortunately you don't have to be good to write a webnovel!
>>25195553>Experts say it takes 20,000+ hours to get good at something like writing.even the pseudo science book says 10k, i'm not sure why you doubled itdepending on what you mean by good, it does take time, but more like a few thousand hours to get solid competency, meaning more than good enough to be a top-top-tier wn author. a few thousand hours can be knocked out in a 2-3 years if taking things seriously.you get massively diminishing returns too, if you aren't decent at 3000 hours you aren't going to randomly become a pro as you push forward.
>>25195548By many dictionary definitions she is. Maximum doesn't only mean the highest attainable, but commonly the maximum attainedFor example, from dictionary.com definition 2>the highest amount, value, or degree attained or recorded.
>>25195566> i'm not sure why you doubled itRobert Greene says it’s 20,000+ hours. It’s 8 hours a day, five days a week, for ten years. Take a survey of any writer you like and they all wrote like a full-time job for a decade before making any masterpiece.
>>25195566>demoralization posting crab exaggeratesyou know whyon the topic of improving at writing, I think an average person could get decent in 2~ months of daily writing. when I first was getting into writing I wrote a flash fiction everyday and I improved really quicklyI firmly believe a month of flash fictions into a month of short stories would shape almost anyone to be a competent writer. from there they'd just need to learn the form they want to focus on
>>25195573A month of short stories? That’s like 4-8 short stories if they aren’t god awful slop. You can’t genuinely think 4-8 short stories under your belt makes you good. I have that many in my trunk from a short time writing and they’re all shit. If you want to be good, you have to write for ten years.
>>25195577oh shut up
>>25195582If you take less than one week to write, edit, iron out, and rework, a short story, you are much more likely to be a garbage writer than a genius. Even the way you write here speaks of low verbal intelligence.
>>25195572I don't know who Robert Greene is but the original saying is 10000 hours to mastery and I think it's total bullshit anyway. it usually takes a few years of constant effort to start getting good but most people don't take 20000 hours lmfao to start e.g. writing bestselling novels. even sandersneed took what, 7 novels? I can't remember, but he talked about. it doesn't take 20000 hours to write 7 booksyou're probably mistaking 'good' for 'true, peak master'anyway, some people write a better first book than people are capable of creating in their life. talent exists and it's real, you do have to cultivate skills and the true masters are talented people honing that skill with immense if not obsessive effort, but pretending anyone can do anything is silly. the obvious truth of this fact is people like Gauss or Ramanujan, freak of nature IQs that change so many fields forever through true genius. it scales down of course but some people are good at certain things and some people aren't. fortunately we don't have to be Gauss. but you can get genuinely good at something in a few hundred hours, much less 20,000
>>25195590you gain literally nothing by spreading demoralization babbleeither pyw or shut the fuck up. the only authority that matters is prose which speaks for itselfgo knock on /wg/'s corpse if you're so desperate for engagement on this
>>25195596>the only authority that matters is prose which speaks for itselfntw but you are in the wrong place lol. /wg/ is that waythe only authority is storytelling, here. prose is a tertiary concern at best
>>25195596>It's demoralising to hear I have to practice to be good!How is that demoralisation? You just sound like you don’t want to get good. You aren’t a writer until you’ve written for ten years. End of.>>25195594He’s posted on /lit/ all the time. Literacy and writing aren’t singular, delineated skills that only come from isolated genes; it comes from general intelligence and verbal fluency, which require many different types of skills and draws from multiple different genes across different people’s genetic profiles. But they put in time and effort to get where they are. It’s a mixture of genes and environment. Ever heard of epigenetics, faggot?
>>25195572>>25195594dude wtf robert greene is just some self help guru. are you mentally ill? why would you use him as an authority
>>25195600fairit takes a minute to read an excerpt and evaluate its prose which is enough to dispel someone putting up a front. no one will bother to evaluate a full piece over a little dick swingingno one should give a shit on /wng/ because webnovels are slop anyways. merit here is based on either the binary standard of a living wage or actually loving your story and being a charming, high output autist
>>25195608You probably need to read self-help books, you fat and lonely 4channer-who-lives-in-mummy’s-basement.
>>25195609i suppose you're right that it's the easiest fastest way, but some people are shit at prose and good at storytelling, so it's not a proper filter>>25195607>Literacy and writing aren’t singular, delineated skills that only come from isolated genes; it comes from general intelligence and verbal fluency, which require many different types of skills and draws from multiple different genes across different people’s genetic profiles. But they put in time and effort to get where they are. It’s a mixture of genes and environment. Ever heard of epigenetics, faggot?what even is this hodgepodge of buzzwords? you aren't a writer. real writers don't talk about writing and their craft like this
>>25195610>prescribes someone self help as an insult>when he's literally promoting the rhetoric contained in a self help bookI have a suspicion that being a crab is an expression of low iq
>>25195614I’m a published writer (real published, not some self-publishing garbage on Israeli website, RoyalRoad). I think you’re a hopeless amateur and not an artist.
>>25195610i try to be nonjudgmental on choice of reading because we read slop here, but i do have a general disdain for selfhelp. i work toward my goals in measurable and practical ways, i don't waste my time listening to gurus who haven't achieved anything besides conning other people. i get my advice from authors who i've read and liked, and they disagree with you
>>25195616yeah, what, published in a short story magazine? a technical writer?tell me you're a published creative fiction novelist and you've sold more than 1000 copies and then I'll be vaguely interested
>>25195623I was handpicked by a major publishing house as someone to watch out for. That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want you Zionist clowns to harass me.
>>25195619Where does any major genre writer, like Brandon Sanderson or Stephen King, say to not dedicate a substantial amount of daily life on reading and writing? Both say to put in effort every day for a long period of time. That’s around the thousands of hours ballpark.
>>25195619self help is exploitative which is why sensible people look on it with disdain. pseuds and midwits are caked too thick in pretension to evaluate whats wrong with self help clearly, and while self help is almost entirely dumb as fuck, the real issue with it is that it's dumb as fuck as an extension of exploiting people's insecurities it caters to people who value self improvement and intellectualism (even if they are lay people, they still care about learning) and betrays their trust for a bit of money, leading to anyone who engages with self help to either internalize dumb shit or to lose trust in intellectual pursuits and effortsself help is so much worse than webslop
>>25195626>I was handpicked by a major publishing house as someone to watch out for.maybe a regular clown would care about this at all but I'm not impressed in the slightest. most published authors sell shitall and have zero real fans. this minor award or article mention you got is not meaningful. trying to flex with it is just embarrassing>>25195627i agree with everything you said, you just misinterpreted a post of mine somewhere. 2-3k is probably where you get pretty good if you have a knack for writing
>>25195616>>25195626you never wrote shit and never willgo back to /wg/ where you can continue to not-read and not-write with the other mentally ill retards like yourself
>>25195626I noticed that you didn't answer:>tell me you're a published creative fiction novelist and you've sold more than 1000 copies and then I'll be vaguely interestedThis doesn't remotely de-anonymize you. So respond
>>25195636he's a lolcow who tries to make a personality of himself every once in awhilehe can't help but identifying himself through various buzzwords. this time its his fixation on royalroad as some sort of jewish conspiracyhe's an attention whore before anything else
>>25195639You look like this. >>25195634>most published authors sell shitall and have zero real fans.The same can be said of anyone who publishes through KDP. Being a bestseller is also just a mark of someone who is good at marketing their book. What really matters is craft and putting in the hours… which anyone should do if they care about their story, universe, or message. >>25195636I legitimately feel sad for you, projecting loser. I am a frequent contributor to several literary presses. It’s not about fame or money or influence. It’s about belonging to the community I want to belong to. You are free to do that in the Web-Novel ecosystem. I can’t stop you. All I’m asking is that you practice every day.
>>25195644you're justifying your lack of readers as being a real artistyou are a carbon copy of every pseud out therepeople don't like what you write.
>>25195644pyw>n-nookay, so you're making shit up>[empty claims]meaningless. your opinions are just that, opinions until you back it up with your writing
>>25195644he gives wholesome autist vibes honestly, i would like to chat with him
>>25195642>t.>>25195648You’re just projecting, dude. I get plenty of compliments, and not from bots in some digital comment. People come up to me at campuses and hold genuine conversations.
>/wg/ dead for two days>find some literally poser having a melty hereI've come to take you home, anon.
>>25195653I always want to chat with guys hosting these book launches but I never want to buy their shitty booksits a tough life
>>25195654so why did you try to use credentials (being published) as a gotcha only to fold when I pushed you on it? if being published/readers doesn't matter and only craft does?you are a slimy stupid worm incapable of discussion. go back to /wg/. you'll get less coherent arguments and will feel superior
>>25195656He has a fat flap where his dick should be.>>25195660You seem triggered. I know the pixels on the screen hurt your feelings, but you gotta stay calm and carry on. Maybe, just maybe, the bots will leave you a bland review or comment on (((RoyalRoad))).
>>25195661oh wow, look, no more argument, resorts to boring insultsthank you for proving my point
Reminder that this is Kinoman having a melty again.
>>25195662Are you happy? I know I am. I get to meet the people I want and write what I want, on my own terms.
imagine getting blown the fuck out by the thread full of retards proud of being retards/wg/'s strongest warrior
>>2519566399% sure gongtard is FFF yeahjust review bomb his fic whenever he does thisit shut him up last time
>>25195626>noooo you will troll my epic novel to death if I post its name!What a roundabout way to admit that you have no readers.
>>25195664>non-writing bragoh man the backpedaling is delicious
>>25195663I'm out of the loop. wtf is his problem this time?
My personal conspiracy is that people from the main writing thread got angry at our exodus and decided to camp out here to try and destroy the thread
>>25195667You’re so assmad I made some random insult about gong farming, which I got from Warhammer 40k, that you’re still seething about it in 2026. Get help.
>>25195672That's not a conspiracy, it's just fact, why would non-writing threadshitters stay in the dead thread they successfully destroyed?
>>25195671completely unprovokedhe's mostly settled down since finishing his story and pops in occasionally to share his barely comprehensible opinionsdoesn't even make sense because the thread has been on topic and (mostly) copacetic all afternoon
wait it's actually the gongfarming retard? of course we remember that, it was a hilarious retard fest. we aren't firefliesare you saying you don't remember lolcows from a year ago?
>>25195608kek that's fucking hilariouswonder if this falls under advertisting or begging
>>25195675There's no logic with schizos. They can have one bad day IRL and decide to make it everyone else in the thread's problem, it doesn't need to have been a thread issue.
>>25195675ah, that old chestnut. making their mental and life problems everyone else's.
>>25195676It’s just incidental to me. I don’t really care about /lit/ as much as I used to. Maybe I have a distinctive way of speaking but I don’t really remember having conversations with people in this general. I just come by to be lolsorandom and assumed you could hide my posts if you wanted to. I have other shit going on and I’m growing out of this place. If you want my genuine opinion, I am happy that people write here and do what they want. They don’t have to stick to a strict regimen nor write 20,000 hours. They should just remember to let go and enjoy what they want without fear of being irony poisoned. Life is short and we’re supposed to enjoy all the cringe and lame elements of ourselves. I actually started off loving speculative fiction, particularly horror and fantasy and sci fi, but buried it deep down when I got embarrassed about my guilty pleasures. Web novels and fan fiction are cool in my books, but people gotta remember to not get stuck in familiar tastes because they should try new things and experiment here and there. If you’ve never read a detective novel, then go ahead. If you’ve never liked Xianxia, then read a few chapters of Reverend Insanity. Enjoy music and eat junk food annd love yourself annd peaceeeeee out man.
Writing more doesn't actually help you become a better writer. You're just stewing in your own shit. You gotta read.
>>25195688see, I can mostly agree with this post as far as the real points you made, and your last bit about Reverend Insanity is probably bait which means you're here more than you admitbut you were an absolute retard with your earlier posts and this post doesn't change anything. stop reading selfhelp slop, you're corrupting your mind
>>25195689you most definitely have to do both, a lot. neither is optional
>>25195695it's a common sentiment for people getting into writing to express that they have no interest in readingyes, it's retarded, but it's also somehow controversial
>>25195699i've never seen a non-obvious-troll argue this. it's one of those items that's so inflammatory and obviously stupid that it makes for good bait to the gullible.
>>25195626Moonquill lol?
>>25195701nah, I've seen it brought up in other online communities and in in-person workshopsit's definitely utilized as bait by retards but it's a genuinely common opinion
>>25195380>crunchy litrpg gets a bad rep but I miss early Delve.Man, that early period before authors get tripped up by the genre's demand for serial escalation is so great. When characters are in that discovery phase alongside the audience, when every new tool or power meaningful, distinct, and showcases the author's creativity. The first couple abusive math tricks were fun and interesting, I just don't know if the author ever managed to find a way past that. Plus the powerscaling conceit of the setting meant that the protagonist was stuck where he was for a looong time, and I dropped it before I ever learned if he got a new routine or not.Same thing with HWFWM, which was fun when neither Jason nor anybody's powerset had really worn out their welcome. Sixteen fucking unique abilities per person gave a lot of staying power, but the required slowing down of climbing the power ladder, the lack of interesting new party members (oh boy, Farrah promoted to permanent member, yay...), and the plot carrying Jason away from them in general made it just so tiresome.>slop of the day>Archmage Coefficient 33Loredump chapter. Less talking more wizarding, please.>Saintess Summons Skeletons 949Journey's over, book's done, what's next. Glad we're through because this arc sucked.>Sky Pride v6 c22Voidcatcher has grown on me, for being the protagonist of a very different Xianxia adventure than Tian is on. Chekhov's frog.>Penitent v4 c21Holy balls can we get on the fucking road already you've been fetching Takers for like four chapters now.>Aura Overload 37It was alright.>A Young Girl's War Between the Stars 92 + 93More sexed up and masturbatory than usual. Qui-Gon is great but fem!Obi-Wan is always a drag. Tanya shoving a lightsaber up her gooch for infiltration reasons was uh... a choice. For a story that wants so hard to be about a space succubus, it's remarkably unsexy. Needs to take a lesson from Sexy Space Babes or something.
>>25195710I don't frequent other (public) online writing communities so I'll have to take your word. I only use /wng/ because I like the anonymityanytime it shows up here, it's obvious bait
>>25195627The average very slow typist composes 400 word per hour. At that pace for 2000 hours, the average work year. You can write 800,000 words, or 10 average length novels, or 5 rather long novels.Per year.I personally write 800 words per hour on slow days.My issue is having the motivation to write 4-8 hours a day. It would be different if I was a household name.
Is it hard for web novelists to get covers this good?
>>25195626It isn't that difficult to post sales figures anonymously.
>>25195717>It would be different if I was a household name.it wouldn't be, you grow to fill your environment. you get a fresh surge of motivation as you blow up and then revert to whatever your norm was. honestly i write less than when nobody read me
>>25195722My contracts are private but I haven’t made that many sales in the sense I sell copies. I just get a token payment for the rights to publish it first. Trad pub writers have to build a brand VERY SLOWLY and it’s more about the long game of a sustainable career, but I’m probably not going to get there to be realistic. I might just transition to KDP after I release a web serial, but I’m building the world building before I write any chapters. I’m currently working on something that’s … really different and I don’t want to jinx myself before I write at least one or two novels set in the universe.
>>25195634>>25195717Based on this, it's probably closer to 1k hours. I'll tell you there are at least 3 video games I've played that much of. If I wrote as much as I played games, I'd be a much better author......and also have more work to show for it.>Let's be honest with ourselves.If every word we wrote on 4chan was instead a word of one of our books, we'd all have large audiences if not for shear volume.
>>25195717except most famous authors say that they write 1k to 2k words per day
>>25195721...no? this is midthe other cover this had was better. I wonder what idiot told him to make a generic "cool guy stares at viewer" coverstory isn't very good either
>>25195730That’s honestly two hours effort for me on a slow day. I just think fast but have very low endurance.
>>25195730the word except implies you're contradicting a claim
>>25195368Smaller but positive community. People will actually read what you write but also expect you to do the same to a degree. Smaller chapters (Think 1k to 1.5k) are the norm there since they prefer LN stylings. They won't mind if you have an AI slop cover. Stuff that would do well in front of an eastern audience do well there. There are contests throughout the year that are worth looking into with cash and higher-level publication as the prizes.
>>25195732i write between 800-1200 words a hour, maybe 1-2 hours a day. the issue is more the amount of brainstorming or idling that it takes to come up with ideas that aren't just total stream of consciousness. i spend a fuckton of time going on walks or pacing around my house thinking about the story. and i think that's normalif you're never spending preparation time and just slapping shit out, I think there's an issue. but some authors do that so I won't totally condemn it
>>25195708you have to read between the lines.and yes, MoonQuill is the publishing partner of RRthis sounds like anon hit "recommended" once or twice, so he thinks he's special now on MQ
>>25195738>There are contests throughout the year that are worth looking into with cash and higher-level publication as the prizes.do these contests steal story rights? i feel like i remember that they do. which makes it nearly as bad as webnovel
>>25195747>MoonQuill is the publishing partner of RRyou know i remember this but i don't think it ever went anywhere. in fact i remember all of MQ's published fics doing impressively bad
>>25195724You an I are different. The amount I care about working on the thing is directly proportional to the number of people interested in it.It's a curse. If I built it, they might show up. But if they don't show up I might not build it.>>25195727So you are full of shit then?>>25195730Except that is in the range of the numbers I supplied. Actually, kind of proves my point.Also 2k words per day even on only work days is still about 500k words per year. 6-7 short novels, 3-4 moderate ones. 2 nice thick boys>>25195728Moreso talking about the amount of effort to become skilled. That would mean probably 6 months of writing 2-4 hours a day 5 days a week. If you were practicing continuously, and were serious about it. (and also probably unemployed)
>>25195699>it's a common sentiment for people getting into writing to express that they have no interest in reading>yes, it's retarded, but it's also somehow controversialThis CAN have a rational basis. When i was writing music. I quit listening to any other music. None. I only wrote my own music, I only listened to my own stuff. this went on a couple years. The results were worth it. a couple years later, people didn't believe I wrote what I gave them as my demo CD. I kept at it until I enjoyed listening to my own stuff. you have to be your own worst critic and demand the most of yourself. Now on to writing. Same thing. I WRITE, I don't read. I've read hundreds of not thousands of books in my life. Now is my time to write, not waste time reading. i only read, if I think its for a reference. someone i liked their input said I needed to read these three books by the same author. I did. i was impressed. That was reference reading. My work has improved doing this. I like my writing more than ever to read my own stuff. so it can have a rational basis to say... I'm a writer, I write, I no longer read.
>>25195752>The amount I care about working on the thing is directly proportional to the number of people interested in it.i assume you mean inversely proportional? even now you don't use the right words, mr writerbut if so, i kneel. you lack self awareness in a way i've never seen. you caring = people don't. which means you're a real artist. that's so funnykeep coming back, lolcow. it's hilarious every time
>>25195752I’ve definitely sold more than 2 copies of any of my creative works. Why are you seething that I’m a trad pubber? I even sold more than you in TTRPG books I released on DriveThruRPG
>>25195748No? You maintain rights to your IP, but are expected to not post it anywhere else during the contest period. The ones where the contest holder translates and publishes your work in Japan don't ask for any more rights than necessary.>>25195747MoonQuill is probably the worst option RR could have gone with. They've done nothing worthwhile for the entire time they've had that publishing tab all to themselves. I tried throwing my work at them early on, only for them to change their requirements after the fact and not reach out to me to tell me they weren't interested. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing they didn't sign me considering how badly they've handled things since then.
>>25195764>You maintain rights to your IP, but are expected to not post it anywhere else during the contest period.>you maintain rights but you're contractually obligated to do X with your storydudewhat do you think rights means
>>25195759>Directly Proportional.Audience 1, Effort 1Audience 2, Effort 2Audience 3, Effort 3>Inversely ProportionalAudience 1, Effort 3Audience 2, Effort 2Audience 3, Effort 1>even now you don't use the right words, mr writerYou don't know what "inverse" means. I meant what I said by directly proportional. The more people ready, the more I will work. That is a proportional relationship.>The more people read, the less I will work.That is an inverse of a proportional relationship.
>>25195766If you don't want to be disqualified in the contest, yeah, you won't post it anywhere else. They aren't C&Ding it if it appears anywhere else and aren't claiming they own it. Please don't be obtuse.
>>25195770i apologize i thought it was gongposter popping back in and since this shit has been going on so long i skimmed and replied. definitely on mei understand the motivation that new readers and popularity gives, but it does fade over time, at least for me. everyone is different so maybe you get sustained motivation from it, i personally don't
>>25195774any proper online serial site won't demand any kind of exclusivity, period. they give you nothing so they should ask for nothing. publishers ask for exclusivity because they give you an advance of thousands of dollars and promises to publish youall these leeches want to do is find stories after they've proved themself to a wide audience. it is lose-lose from an author's perspective. wake the fuck up
>>25195779All good fren. (you)Nah, I'm fueled by an audience. Every time I see a couple new followers or a comment asking questions I feel motivated to make something they enjoy seeing.In a way, I write to make something I want to see for myself. I just work faster knowing someone else is also interested.
>>25195788It’s like photography comps that have fine print where they’ll award you nothing but still use your IP for advertisement or to promote their brand. It happens in all creative endeavours. It’s exploiting vanity.
>>25195789I put up a webnovel around 5 years ago and got like 100 followers in the first few chapters and it stressed me out so much I stopped posting and stopped writing for almost a yearI need some sort of white padded room interface for uploading
>>25195619>i try to be nonjudgmental on choice of reading because we read slop here, but i do have a general disdain for selfhelp. i work toward my goals in measurable and practical ways, i don't waste my time listening to gurus who haven't achieved anything besides conning other people. i get my advice from authors who i've read and liked, and they disagree with youthe self help books on writing. are they the be all and end all of everything? nope. That said, each of them has gems for you. if not rules then good rules of thumb guidelines. take it with a grain of salt, but look anyways. I'll look at and sort among any advice, but I'm also not living and dying by this ONE self help book like a fan boy. Right after I read a paperback I liked and got into, for a period of time I can sort of write close to if not in that general style. to me, that's a reference work. I want to do things like that author did, I want to read like he reads. that in conjunction with whatever advice i think I like and that's wherever I get it from. This is all predicated on I assume you have read hundreds of paperbacks growing up. and write in the genre you like reading.
>>25195766Rights are broad and can me many things. When people are talking about IP rights, they usually mean giving someone else to make content based on your content without your consent.For example, giving you a $5,000 contract, publishing your first book. Getting 100k in sales, paying you your 13% in royalties or some retarded shit like that, ghostwriting a second book without asking you first because they have your IP rights. Selling $1.6 million in books on the sequel, and paying you your contractually obligated 0.5% in royalties.
>>25195791you should write the whole book, maybe 2 or 3, in advancethough at some point you do need tougher skin. i sympathize but quitting outright is a bit much
it's interesting how you can see FFFs babbling and incoherent voice just in the shape blocking of his posts
>>25195795i didn't say IP rights. i said rights. if a free website wants any kind of claim to your work at all, in any capacity whatsoever, they are a shitbag website and need to be ignored, period
>>25195788Okay, Anon. Best of luck.
>>25195791I think I'd call this performance anxiety.>"What if they don't like what I make and they all go away?"That's understandable.I'm the kind of person who could go on a stage in front of thousands of people. Even if I get booed, I'd try to have fun with it.
>>25195796yeah I dunno I'm bitch made when it comes to approval and appreciation>write the whole thing in advancewould be the way for me especially. I decided to start writing a serial purely on impulse and had a backlog of maybe a day or twoI know there are people who can write serials pretty much as they publish them but clearly I'm not one of them
Oh, so it was bait. Sad.
>>25195801if you disagree i'd be interested in talking about it, this sort of disengagement tells me you don't actually have a strong fleshed out view of your opinion
>>25195509what does honeyfeed allow/disallow in terms of posting work. RR trimmed up their smut rules, so a site that imitated RR but allowed smut would have a way to make inroads on them or catch their overflow.
>>25195799>do these contests steal story rights?You said story rights, which would colloquially reference IP rights. If you didn't mean IP rights, you are using "story rights" incorrectly.
>>25195488I agree, that there's a fine line between slice of life parts and just using it as filler to milk views and paypiggies.
>>25195804i'm an abrasively confident person and I still struggled with the web serial scene. getting a constant stream of feedback of the dumbest comments you can imagine is definitely difficult.if you truly can't handle it I suggest you write your whole book out and serialize it on RR, then move to KU as soon as you can. can't lose confidence if it's all done already>>25195811no, story rights means any claim to your story whatsoever, including where you can post it and when. "story rights" is not some kind of common industry term that has been codified beyond reproach, stop pretending it is
>>25195818>colloquiallycol·lo·qui·al /kəˈlōkwēəl/(adj) (of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary."colloquial and everyday language">"story rights" is not some kind of common industry term>not formal or literary
>>25195823well im far more hooked into the industry than you are and do not see the term as you use it. so what now?
>>25195811I swear I've seen that same exact retard arguing this before. Probably just trolling, or worse, he believes what he's saying despite people correcting him in the past.
>>25195824>im far more hooked into the industryProve it
>>25195826okay
>>25195825the thread has some supremely stupid posters in iteasier to assume a stupid opinion is from a genuine idiot than to get wrapped up in some dipshit's endless hoop jumping
>>25195827>inspect element's amount>Only uses the buttons 0, 1, and 2
>>25195829yeah so how do you expect me to prove it?i'm not doxxing my author account to you
>>25195831>I can't prove itOkay.
>>25195832this bait won't work because i have something to lose. i've seen how autistic people in this thread are. spreadsheet anon tried to track me down with stat analysis. it's why I've always been very careful.and yes that screenshot isn't accurate. it's actually only a portion of my earnings, since X big number is still proof for being a real author over you. doesn't matter if the real number is bigger
>>25195833>I can't prove itWe already know.
>>25195834please take note that i only rose to your provocation to slap you in the facei'm far more interested in holding a real debate using only my words. i never post stats without some retard demanding that I do. would you like to get back to actually talking like humans?
>>25195837>I can't prove itGonna say it one more time?
>>25195833You don't capitalize anything, even I. It's easy to tell you aren't a professional and are just talking out of your ass, like a squeaky voiced tween swearing up and down he's an adult in a video game lobby.
oh man he really wants a response, he double posted
If my baseline, roughdraft prose is technically competent and easy to read (in the way something mildly sweet is easy to drink), do you think I could get away with minimal editing of my prose for the purposes of webnoveling?
>>25195849Nobody gives a shit about prose.
>>25195849good prose helps but it's not a meaningful driver of readers. so, yes, if it's technically solid you can clean it up in one pass and do well, assuming you have a great story
>>25195849yeah read some webnovelswell written stories more easily find niches and prose is a part of that. its secondary to making something fun/pandering to the lowest common denominator though
>>25195849>Reading my prose is like a mildly sweet and easy to drink beverage.You are so up your own ass its not even funny.
Real /wg/ hours in here isn't it?
>>25195866FFF has his panties in a twist again
>>25195850>>25195852>>25195858Speaking of prose, any other anons getting Rising Stars prose fatigue?
>>25195871I haven't clicked on something on rising stars in ages. I mostly use recommended for you and similar stories sectionsI assume its tended to being more sparse and LN like?
>>25195372>Hyperfocus on plot is very tradpub coded. The enjoyable breathing-room chapters are exactly why I read webfic. Of course, every person has a different tolerance for it.>There's no such thing as correct pacing. TWI and SS prove thatconflicting advice is common. One camp will adhere to the idea that every sentence, every word, every line of dialog. If it doesn't go towards advancing the plot, you kill it. Then there's the idea that you need to stop and describe things or take some inner monologue time. you will always get successful examples each direction. One time you post some work. There's inner monologue or descriptions. You get hurr durr this is schizo shit. One sentence and move on. Of course web novels are known for sprawl, too. There is no standard advice.
>>25195882You're getting better at hiding yourself, tina
>Web Novel General>last 250 posts are not about web novels
>>25195889they're basically all related to web novels and the writing of them
>>25195889about a third of them areone mentally ill retard can really dictate a low traffic general
>>25195895we're the highest traffic general on this entire board and it's not even close
>>25195899The highest traffic general on /lit/ is 1% the speed of popular boards
>>25195239I find the name game to be silly. by name game i mean the trend of super long include as many trope names as you can, that name. "Help! I've been isekai'd and now my harem is trying to kill me!" would be an example of this silliness.
>>25195876It’s the punctual and awkward prose, as if the writer half-assed Hemmingway, for most stories.Then there are the AI-written without actually stating so stories. They tend to be very fatiguing to read.
>>25195899and /lit/ is pretty slow we have like 10 regulars if that making up most posts
>>25195902that name game is a symptom of the eastern taint endemic to the genre as a whole.
imagine if /wng/ had 100 regulars like some doi honestly wonder what it would be like
>>25195902It may have been silly 10 years ago. Now it's the meta.
>>25195901We’re too busy reading high literature
>>25195908Removing the IP counter is still one of the biggest sins this site has committed.
>>25195902it's silly but I think ultimately self sabotaging. none of those stories end up having staying power. I find it a little charming even as it inherits from LN cultureI find title tags more off puttingNormal Title (isekai - progression - cultivation - there's stats!?)
>>25195871Funnily enough I went back to translated Chinese and Japanese novels for the first time in a while and I had forgotten how awful the prose is. Both because the translation tends to be mid/ESL/MTL and because the style of the writing is wretched.
>>25194630>I have crow and rabbit followed>feels like there hasn't been a writer post in monthsnot much good comes from posting chapters of your work even anonymously. the best you get are some saying its okay or even liked it then a couple crabs will rip you a new asshole if you deserve it or not. don't ever associate your link to real work here you will attract bombing runs and reports to mods to get your work nuked they do this for fun.
>>25195885>You're getting better at hiding yourself, tinaand so are you, david (???)must be some new meme so enjoy another (yoo)
>>25195931not reallywhen writers were posting regularly everyone was mostly friendly and supportivethere's FFF who spergs the fuck out at people randomly and maybe the odd /wg/er or two but it was never bad. not to say that you don't get crabs and spergs but I never saw it as more than the usual background noise of basket weavingI even contributed to a few people's analytics in support of soulfulness. zucchini and crow standing out
>>25195926Chinese and Japanese WNs honestly ought to be read in their native language. 98% of what makes them good stylistically and story-wise is lost in the rough butchery of brown translations.
>>25195902>>25195917>I Used to be a Royal Road Author, But Now I'm Skip Through The Worlds I've Read: A Short Trot Across the Web Literature Multiverse; My Race to Become the Archmage of Archmages (Progression, LitRPG)
>>25195849Prose matters more depending on what you write. The common answer is that prose doesn't matter much, and that's true if you write trendy litrpg/cultivation stuff. But if you're writing something more literary—even just prog fantasy, time loop, reincarnation with none of the major tags, much less something considered standard genre fic—then prose becomes massively more important.The real answer to almost any question is "it depends" and that's why forum discourse tends to be poor quality. Nobody wants to type out the paragraphs and paragraphs of nuance required to answer a question in full. Even this is dismissive as a whole
>>25195943>But Now I'm Skip
>>25195943>I'm skip>I skipI fucked it up, but you get the point.
>>25195902>>25195917>>25195943>I Used to be Brown But Now I'm Finally Aryan in a Fantasy World?
>>25195943>multiverse slopI bet the first person to shamelessly write a dimension hopper story where the protagonist goes to no-name versions of popular webnovel worlds is going to make bank
>tfw plotting a story revolving around a protagonist with clone powers it was supposed to be ME
>>25195952Somebody should do Cheat Slayer except with RR slop. Who are the eight champions?>"King of Poultry" Rin Joh>"Unlimited Sorceress" Vivianne>"Monstrous Combatant" Jayce Arino
>>25195961I hate that the authors that were parodied in that bitched to the publisher and got this axed before it could play out.
>>25195961a western webnovel culture Cheat Slayer or Isekai Quartet sounds kinda fun
>>25195917I'm A Slave to this Website's System and I Can't Escape Without Making What Bizarre and Idiosyncratic Stylistic Choices?!
>>25195939>not really>when writers were posting regularly everyone was mostly friendly and supportivewe could try it again as a test. everyone post a sample of what they're working on. One post worth for a spot check. there's activity tonight and a (mostly) decent vibe. who the fuck is posting dick picks. well there goes the half decent vibe right there.
>>25195961what the fuck is with the japanese and chinese when it comes to writing western names in a fantasy setting? at least the names the koreans make are semi-plausible, if slightly ridiculous.
>>25195956>lateral progressionIt's that just... normal progression?
>>25195988some crack hoe's gaping fisted ass. nice, anon. the welfare plastic fingernails glued on make it extra classy. keep up the fine work.
>phone filenamesupset that we didn't engage with your melty for long enough?you sad, miserly creature
>>25195987as opposed to vertical progressionlateral progression meaning a growing spread of options, and vertical progression meaning iterating upon current strengths (typical statting up)
>>25196000Is that such a big thing that you'd put it in a title?
>>25195985>everyone post a sample of what they're working onI only consoom but I want to support your positive vibes, anon. There was a time when I thought I wanted to be a writer but I realized that I didn't have a lot of fun with it and have much more fun being a casual reader.>>25195986Whatever the fuck "Imerda Pinata" is and "Melokva" are the main offenders. Roro Sendiger isn't that much worse of a fantasy name than Rimuru Tempest, and Don Will Dead does a pretty good job of evoking the cadence of Ainz Ooal Gown (itself a fucking nonsense name, but it rolls off the tongue well). "Louis Crawford" is an honest improvement on "Shin Wolford", which manages to be both Japanese in a western fantasy and nonsensical faux-Western.
>>25195961>Looperprobably the Re-zero cuck>LouisIs this supposed to Rudeus?The Slime is self explanatory and the Undead king is obviously AinzGuy in black must be Kirito. No idea about the rest.
>>25196001I don't know why people title things the way they doI assume its because there's a bit of culture kickback among readers that litrpg is losing its luster. people like prog fantasy, but litrpg has to be correctly managed for stats to feel narratively impactful. presumably there are those who want litrpg but don't want narratively irrelevant level upsclaiming lateral growth I assume is a way to hook that audience
>>25195985People are afraid to post samples of their work because it might get the spreadsheet schizo involved.
>>25196010yeah :/
people use long titles because it passes more information than the nonsensical scramble of 1-3 random words that novel titles tend to be in the west
>>25196016and the reason they feel a need to pass more information is an anxiety over losing potential readersit's a design that adheres to an attention first priority which is why people find it distastefulsimultaneously I do find it useful when the title and/or cover are informative of what the story is doingthere's a balancing act and tasteful practice is subjective
>>25196000>>25196007wouldn't a WN where the MC primarily progresses by unlocking or otherwise obtaining increasingly powerful/useful magical items end up being a big hit if properly executed?
Gaming the System (I Will, Capture, Your Attention)
>>25196021yeah, item wielders are definitely a subgenre, whether its crafters or relic hunters or whatever
>>25196020it's more like there is no actual coherent reason to use the retarded vague 3~ word titles that for some reason used to be the convention for centuries
>literally just a guylolmakes me want to make a cover that's a photo of a frumpy average joe standing with a bunch of fully stylized anime girls
>>25196026I use a single word that is really easy for me to SEO and google. I make sure that there are no google results for my titles, then I know every time it appears after I publish the title online, that all of them can be sourced back to what I create in some way.
>>25196040Got you brother.
>>25196049kek
>>25196040>>25196049It evokes a very particular era of images on DeviantArt featuring poorly lit photos of awkward teen dudes in their room with a badly photoshopped anime girl next to them titled "My girlfriend <3".Jokes aside, I would enjoy more stories that are of that "guy from another genre" template.
>>25196057It would be fun to bring it back.
>>25196057it does, and I find it very charmingin the wake of slice of life trending off I could see something like this filling its niche. just the sincere vision of lonely fantasizing presented holistically, if a little self aware
>>25196067There are some pretty good ones.
>>25196057>Guy gets isekai’d into a romance western fantasy VN but he’s an HP Lovecraft protagonist
>>251960723D Steve from Blue's Clues skiddoed into Overlord, and across a 1200 chapter ennealogy scours planes in search of Blue to return to his realm before time dilation effects his own cartoon world.
>>25196067you would figure with ai and pose nets more people would do this than ever before
>>25196079cringe awareness stifles the human spirit
>>25196010>People are afraid to post samples of their work because it might get the spreadsheet schizo involved.no linking work, no linking chapters. just cut&paste a post's worth of something.
>>25196101...that I google verbatim or ask grok where it came from? or even worse, whose writing style it is most similar to restricting search to Royal Road?
>>25196105okay. no sharing not even anonymous. some troll might track your bare text back. Lord christ almighty what have we become.
>>25196110if we didn't have a precedent for it, it'd just be paranoia but it really did happen
>>25195571In video game context, max level means max level, meaning being at the cap, meaning the highest possible level, being maxed out, maximum level
are there any OP MC game isekai WNs where the MC gets isekai’d into their game world as their game character some time after they finished a “kill every NPC” run?
>reader has a dumb misunderstanding>politely correct him>he's pissy about it for weeksIs it really so hard to just say like, "oh, okay, thanks for clearing that up"?
>>25196136Yeah they don't want to be wrong so badly, they will argue with the creator of the universe they are interacting with.I've had long arguments with people about the facts of my universe's cosmology, and they refuse to except what I tell them.
>>25196124I quickly skimmed to see if they mentioned it in the first few chapters, but I could have sworn that she was at the literal cap or close to it when it was a game, and since doing an Overlord isekai she'd gained some levels somehow, since characters comment on her being even more powerful than they remember. But I couldn't find any textual evidence so I may be just hallucinating. There are references to her potions being good for "up to level 2000", that's as best as I could find.
>>25196146Seriously speaking, the numbers mean nothing. It's all bullshit
>>25196143>>25196136>inb4 this ends up being a strategy adopted by unhinged fans trying to wheedle more lore out
>>25196149Oh, one hundred percent. It's soft system sloppery and does a half-decent job of integrating it into the world, but it could have also just dropped the System entirely when she got Overlord'd. Same thing with its autism wizard peers Greatest Archmage, which has close to zero justification for being systemslop and could safely drop it, and Archmage Coefficient, which at least invokes a Lawful Neutral Overgod that's actively bureaucracying the world's tiers of power to keep idiot wizards from blowing it up. But because the current big dog MLA has levels, so too must the knockoffs.
>>25196159>soft system slopperyAt what point does a game lit system become a litrpg system? Is there a consensus hardline, i.e you must have stat menus interrupting the narration, otherwise it's not litrpg?
>>25196186see>>25194894
>>25196136>>25196143Just have the token retard/comedic relief guy in your story act out the misunderstanding to then be corrected by the MC or a mentor characterYou DO have a token retard, right anon?
>>25196198but anon, the token retard is my readers
>>25196198but anon, i am the token retard
>over 400 replies and still on page 4What happened? Did we get raided?
>>25196206i think people are just happy and want to talk about story telling today for some reasonthere aren't that many arguments, people are just talking about writing and reading webnovels
>>25196206Nope the thread is just active.
>>25196198Nah that's how you get the "um actually" tards that sit around all day editing your wiki with points to ten references saying that there are actually a bunch of "plotholes" about how one plant in one small region could have been used to cleanse the MC of their affliction and based on the market frequency and trade volumes of a particular build of ship should have had the economic throughput to supply that plant to the region the MC became ill in during the 8th era after the 2nd dynasty's rule
>>25196219>how one plant in one small region could have been used to cleanse the MC of their affliction and based on the market frequency and trade volumes of a particular build of ship should have had the economic throughput to supply that plant to the region the MC became ill in during the 8th era after the 2nd dynasty's rulethis is a valid plothole thoughever
>>25196198Oh god no. There's nothing cringier than butler and maid dialogue to patch plot holes. When the characters clearly address the audience, it obliterates immersion immediately and beyond fixing
>>25196227>butler and maid dialoguethanks for the new term anon
>>25196227I also didn't know there was a name for this.Thanks, I fucking hate it.
>>25196227What causes forced exposition in dialogue anyway? Are some authors just too impatient to let the reader know how cool their word is? Or is it because they feel the need to justify every decision everyone ever makes instead of letting some things go unexplained or implicit?
>>25196186I think that if a story has a System then it needs to do one of two things. Option one is for the "natives" to be actively engaged with it, and for their engagement to be more exacting than general powerlevels. This is easily accomplished in stories that take place in actual games or in settings that even inexplicably resemble games (e.g. William Oh). If you've been raised in a society where your Skills and Class have a long-lasting impact on your life, then I expect that there's at least some amount of folklore around what Skills you pick. At its worst, failing to do this makes the natives impossibly stupid, usually to make the foreigner MC look like a genius because he's the only person in thousands of years of human civilization to max the Ass Scratching skill and unlock Scratch Out Of Existence. For all its failings, HWFWM does this pretty well and the author takes the time to talk about the ways system bullshit has shaped societies.Option two is strong diagesis; the system exists as some in-universe construct and its principles can be attributed to intelligent design. Super Supportive does this; the System/Contract is just a powerful spell that operates on principles of magecraft that we can believe exist even if no character has taken the time to explain them. Classes and Skills exist because Artonan wizards designed them, and in fact are continuously designing new ones (either because they seem like they'd be useful or because they're space elf wizard trolls). Archmage Coefficient does this; the System is wizard bureaucracy attempting to guestimate skill levels and distribute limited magical resources. Systema Delenda Est is both of these.Max Level Archmage wants to be the former solution but doesn't really lean into it hard enough. It has levels because its a convenient way to show how powerful a character is and its trendy, not because the conceit is actually engaged with. We get a little bit of Saffra thinking about classes and her spell selection but that's quickly moved on from. "Wow this world is just like that game I played" is always paired with "except in all these important ways because its not a game its real life," so why did it hold onto the exact same representation of power levels as the game?I just want authors to make bold choices and commit. If you want to be blue boxes, be blue boxes. Don't put it in the first chapter to catch the LitRPG babies and then chicken out.
>>25196273In most cases, inexperience. Nobody ever told them this way sucks and they took inspiration from bad sources. In some cases it's also insecurity. The author is afraid of criticism and tries to make his story foolproof all around, answering questions before they're even asked, instead of just accepting that not everyone will get it. I know I sometimes make this mistake myself.
Just write cultivation. The progression levels have been fully established, same for jobs and and skills. Most importantly system tier nonsense lacks a clear goal for its users, what is the purpose of the litrpg system, skills jobs etc? In cultivation the goal is to extend life and cheat death by advancing levels and by using skills to fight enemies and seize resources (which are then used to improve ones cultivation), litrpg lacks this crucial aspect.
>>25196286Cultivation is just litrpg with extra steps
>>25196286I wish more stories would translate the cultivation elements better into new contexts. I'm tired of white Americans trying to telling me that their protagonist Cong Youbing is a real cool cultivator guy. Bonus points if Cong Youbing's best friend is named something like Alan or Gregory.
>>25196312Reframing cultivation in a modern context with the martial art being gun kata from Equilibrium.
>>25196312>I wish more stories would translate the cultivation elements better into new contextsIs that in any way viable? Autistic chinks won't read it if it's not the usual wankery with its dedicated trope collection, and westoids won't read it if it smells chinese
>>25196322Virtuous Sons has 6700 followers and Arthurian Cultivation has 2300.
>>25196319would read thisor really any progfant with well handled gunfu and proper gun autismtoo little actual gun autism in WNs...
>>25196331not impressed
>>25196319>>25196334Something Matrix-esque would also mesh well with progfant, cultivation and gun-kata themes. Can we get a Matrix isekai instead of another Cyberpunk or Pokemon one?
>>25196143>exceptAnon...But seriously, don't engage with your viewers like this. They don't listen and all it does is make you look bad to others. When people here call them reader cattle, take it literally. You wouldn't wrestle the pigs in the mud for shitting on the floor, would you?
Thoughts on a limited third-person flashback having a juvenile style of narration?
>>25196351I forgot to specify; a flashback to the narrating character as a young child, not just taking a juvenile tone looking back on a scene from, like, five minutes ago
>>25196351>juvenile style of narrationNo thanks
>>25196351>flashbackAwful
>>25196350>exceptYeah, what was I thinking. I promise I know the difference.
>>25196355>>25196363This is what I'm doing though. You're supposed to say that you like it so that I can continue doing it.
>>25196351I don't>use first person>use multiple viewpoints>have an unreliable narrator>use different points of time, or have flashbacksI instead>always use third person omniscient>tell the story as if a camera is following the MC or someone relevant to the MC>structure the outcome of events as known by the narrator but unknown to the reader>always progress time forward, I don't jump to past events or the same conversation over again from another viewThat last one is different across volumes. As two different volumes might have two characters cross paths during the same period of time.
>>25195961>>25195952Look up The Editors setting, Mahou Shounen Quest and Jumpchain, all on the various/tg/ archives.Absolutely custom engineered for braindead bullshit crossover slop.Like genuinely hazardous.You've been warned.
>>25196414Jumpchain is legit the worst.
>>25196312>>25196322Honestly, just use western High Magic & Alchemy.In the Aleister Crowley take on it it's basically western Taoism and contrasts with Buddhism in its similar goal of becoming more aware and more material rather than melding with the All.Add a little Kabalah and Theosophy and you're good.Dao and High Magic talk about the exact same thing. The various processes are to empower you rather than achieving something themselves.
>>25196424What about hermeticism based cultivation? The broad ideas in the Kybalion are pretty much identical to daoism
>>25196351I think flashbacks are OK so long as it's meaningful and should only be done when the MC is knocked out or dreaming, so only very sparingly
>>25196378I use your "I instead" version. setting... book is in first person. slow building start. There will be action but my normal first chapter you could think the MC was a quiet mousy guy even though he's definitely not. I added your "I instead..." preface chapter to give a quick clinical look at his violent past experience. you k-n-o-w those men in that situation, are some of the most dangerous men on earth if they make it through that shit. Its a short clinically detached look at the horrors. then when the next (jump to first person and stay there) first chapter comes, doesn't take you very long to piece together that this quiet unassuming guy? is HIM. So now you get the cold open on something action and dangerous. now you know this quiet MC is very capable when the time comes for action.
>>25196334a *lot* of gun scenes in WN are for complete dog shit. It reads like some no-gunz, no-huntz fairy decided they were going to write cool gun scenes. Its just cringe. The childish knife violence scenes are just as bad.
>>25196644I think writing engaging gunfights is just very difficult in general
>>25196715Bang, bang, wow everyone's dead. There's a good reason people write sword and sorcery
>Dinniman attacks WeirIs webnovels taking over?>RR site redesignOh great I hate it and I just got locked in. Fucking stupid. And of course they're going to make it mandatory.Fucking webdesigners always making changes for no fucking reason.
>>25196837I don't see anything different?
>>25196849Me either. Saw a forum post about the redesign breaking google log in, so it's definitely real. Makes me think it's just for mobile.
>>25196414>braindead bullshit crossover slopThe point of a Cheat Slayer isn't to shamelessly masturbate to the popular properties, but to identify the dominant trends and the piss out of them.
Is Laziest Archmage some stealthy return of The Lazy Archmage, aka The Lazy Archmage (Rewrite), which were sadly removed when the author was caught AIslopping without fessing up and folded?
>>25197040>Lazy Archmage>Uses AI slop writingPottery
>>25196110It's happened and I didn't like it. So now I just don't post my work here. It is what it is.I'm still annoyed you all keep making fun of my pen name, too.
>>25196641>first person>preface chapter>I use your "I instead" versionNo you don't.
>>25193804you're just oinking at a fellow pig, not that I don't abhor f*m MC's myself
>>25196486That'd be hella good.
>>25197081I havent made fun of anyones pen name. but in the interest of completeness, what is the pen name.
>>25197095>>first person>>preface chapter>>I use your "I instead" version>No you don't.excuse me for agreeing with you, anon. Can't even agree motherfuckers are right on here, it jacks them off. ffs.
>>25196721>Bang, bang, wow everyone's dead. There's a good reason people write sword and sorcerythis is the childish take on it, yes. only a pubic hair above those who use it like cartoon violence.
>>25197319you're in the right but you're a schizo so whatever mistreatment you receive is just behavior training to the end of teaching you to communicate properly
>>25197314He is MysteriousDubstep
>>25196715the only time I can recall getting immersed in the action of a gunfight scene was in necroepilogos a tactics autist should write some sort of le elite squad isekai. seems like it could be a fun basis to build a sloppa on
>>25197319>>25197337>I write in first person, just like you anon! I use your method.>Method describes a third person viewpoint.How does this "agree"?
>>25197353Not to mention I didn't say shit about having a "preface chapter".
>>25197353his schizo babble is him saying that though he writes in first person, he has a use case in which he writes in a style matching yourshe's an incomprehensible retard but he was trying to engage with you on shared practice
>>25197365why do people entertain schizos like this?
Are warriors just mages that pretend they're not using magic?
>>25197445As with anything, depends on the setting, but you could easily make an argument for warriors specializing in internal magic while mages specialize in external magic
>>25197445Mages are nerds and autistic women. They’re only useful at wiping out mobs.Warriors are the real Chads carrying the party in the end game where pretty much every boss monster is immune to magic.
>>25197445its lame when warriors are just mages that cast punchbut its hard to write martial autism in a way that's coolI want real sword niggas not osteoporotics with sharpened wands
>>25197495>>25197495>>25197495New thread
>>25193484Is that really how Sanderson writes?