A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as:
>Royalroad, 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 https://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'.

Previous: >>24425778

>ErraticErrata moved to RR full time and now swimming in patron money

Fucking finaly , he should have done that years ago. Was he being elitist or what?

In other news I recently discovered The Yearsof Apocalypse. Timeloop story that steals from MoL almost everything but after a while it ends up being way better than it.

>>24440358
>Was he being elitist or what?
Love the author but honestly I think he's just a moron when it comes to everything beyond writing. That shit he pulled with exclusivity to Radish was a generational fuckup. His mangling of monetization in general is impressive.

>>24440187 (OP)
The second attempt at prologue, first being (>>24437719)
Probably doesn't improve the hook, but it should visualize things more.

>>24440434
A lot less sudden and the mother is being less bitchy, I think it's an improvement.
>You never have to bed a man.
I don't think mom's marriage is a happy one.

>>24440434
>was determined
passive voice in opening paragraph made me baka. passive voice is fine in some situations but in most, no
>Relentless snow cover was determined to stop their sled at every opportunity
to eg
>Relentless snow cover resisted their sled at every opportunity.
minor nitpick but these really are the sorts of things that readers will subconsciously pick up on as amateurish. pro authors don't use passive voice in such a limp manner, as above
>"Look, dear!" her mother pointed
Her mother pointed. Capitalized. it's not a tag
>at least that is what he claimed
>at least that WAS what he claimed
tense lapse. this marks the third major marker of an amateur author, so things really aren't looking good
>she told with uncharacteristic
just 'said' is better—only use other tags when it provokes some effect. 'told' sounds weird here
>your numerous objections remain as they were, noted
>your numerous objections remain, as before, noted
parses better; paused slightly with your version
>until her father returned
the lord's wife's father, or the pov character's? the structure implies the former
>than she remembered it
>than she remembered
comma splice in:the humble wall...
Definite ellipses overuse, btw. cut most of them out
>do you know what the best part is?
response should be "Receiving visions from the gods?" not "To receive visions from the gods"—nothing rude meant here, but are you ESL?

wish I could comment on the content better—and the content seemed fine I guess—but the severe sentence level issues distracted me too much

>>24440493
kek when did shake my head become baka?

Tips and tricks for RoyalRoad?

>>24440505
That's a rather broad question

>>24440505
For writting a popular story?

>>24440506
>>24440507
How to engagement bait

>>24440517
Colorful cover image, LN-style title, tags in title, a blurb that emphasizes some aspect of the power fantasy and implies a clear hook

>>24440517
I'm going to repeat what I saw a lot of author talking about, there's a type of meta, per se:
>Drop a bunch of chapter in the first day, 10, 20 or so, preferably one every 30 minutes to an hour I think.
>Advertise, especially with other authors, get shout outs
>Write what people want to read litrpg, progression slop
>Make an eye catching cover, AI is fine
>An engaging blurb and first chapter
And even then it may take a while for readers to pour in, I've seen it described as a rat race. Writting for success seems miserable desgozaimasu.

>>24440541
Oh, and:
>Drop a chapter everyday in the first month
>Chapter lenght should be between 1.5-3 thousand words

>>24440541
>Writting for success seems miserable desgozaimasu.
It's not that bad if you actually enjoy writing slop. If you don't like slop, I really wouldn't recommend attempt writing it
The networking stuff is the only truly miserable part, and you can skip that if you can just buy ads. Not a viable path for a lot of people though, i know

>>24440517
Essentially, it all boils down to the writing desu. writing is like mahjong; you can unironically literally do everything right and still lose.

>>24440564
>If you don't like slop, I really wouldn't recommend attempt writing it
I always found it in-credible the rate at which top litsloppers keep pumping multiple chapters per week, then I realized I could keep up with their pace, but only if I turned my brain off and went writing whatever spontaneous lines came to my head mechanically without trying to parse or formulate anything in between. The result is that you get a 2k chapter done in a day but it reads like something vapid, lacking in atmosphere and food for thought, like a New Dehli jeet stomping street food for a line of customers vs Gordon Ramsay concocting a novel recipe. So I go back to editing and spend 30 hours making everything as concise as possible, but then the pacing is too slow for multiple weekly releases! The serialization-consumer market is aggressively anti-intellectual, that's why I'm jumping ship to Kindle where you don’t need constant uploads and infinite arcs — you need full books, ideally part of a series. So a well-written volume that takes 6 months can still earn thousands if it hits the right audience.
>>24440570
If you're playing mahjong in a chessboard tournament, that's the intended result.

>>24440746
The Japanese model for WN->LN is that the webnovel builds audience but is a first draft, and then the LN gets polished and a professional editor to tighten up arcs and fix grammar. I've seen Azarinth Healer go that route, although another story I follow, BTDEM, doesn't give a fuck and just bundles chapters into volumes and throws them on amazon without further editing.

>>24440746
>that's why I'm jumping ship to Kindle where you don’t need constant uploads and infinite arcs — you need full books, ideally part of a series. So a well-written volume that takes 6 months can still earn thousands if it hits the right audience.
Unless you have some way to market yourself heavily, like a pre existing audience, if you dry upload a book to Kindle it will die with 0-2 ratings tops. It won't matter if your book 'works' better there.
What is your launch strategy?

>>24440896
Yes, my favorite jap author, Kiki, does that, (being his editor too) WN-to-LN pipeline is a doable game, although I'm caught in a crossfire where my first chapters are very tight-knitted, hence a panoramic streamlining without revisions at this point would result in cognitive impairment unless meta-literary resources were to be employed, I.e. the narrator shifts voice.
The "first draft dump" is a viable russian roulette for authors who want to get a lot of readers early, also depending on how indistinguishably barebones it is, requiring hefty refinement later on if it wants to earn any distinction in markets such as Kindle where many are cursed to fail into the annals of SEO when put to test.
It's a matter of which challenge you seek to confront first: Go bare-handed into the forest to chase the golden goose before anything else or spend your sweet time crafting the arrow that will gore it.

>>24440975
>requiring hefty refinement later on if it wants to earn any distinction in markets such as Kindle where many are cursed to fail into the annals of SEO when put to test.
Some of the sloppiest slop first-draft stories like Primal Hunter and DOTF are the absolute top performers in the genre
I can't really think of many stories that do well on RR without doing well on Kindle. I think female protag stuff tends to do worse? And slice-of-lifey stuff. But it's not about quality, it's about genre

>>24440459
>I don't think mom's marriage is a happy one.
The reason why I initially wanted to tell the prologue from the mom's POV is that her backstory is she was meant to become a priestess outside of the island, but she got bride-napped by island's lord. So, she is imposing her lost dreams on her daughter, which I believe is fairly realistic.


>>24440493
>passive voice in opening paragraph
Sigh. I'm aware of the problems of passive voice.
That being said, this mentality of "avoid WAS like the plague"-mentality is only going to result in strange sentences. These 400 words only have 3 uses of was to begin with...
>>Relentless snow cover resisted their sled at every opportunity.
Honestly, I dislike the rewrite. if taking out "determined" and making it less poetic is the cost of transforming it from passive to active, it isn't worth it.
>just 'said' is better—only use other tags when it provokes some effect. 'told' sounds weird here
My own pet peeve is using "said" in every line.
>parses better; paused slightly with your version
Dislike it, I believe "as they were" builds on an archaic tone. I'd rather get rid of "noted" rather than "as they were".
>the lord's wife's father, or the pov character's? the structure implies the former
Good catch, replacing it with "he" is much simpler.
>nothing rude meant here, but are you ESL?
If you have to ask, does it matter?

Either way appreciate your notes, even if I disagree with some of them.

>>24441036
>she was meant to become a priestess outside of the island, but she got bride-napped by island's lord
Depending on your readship, people might find it icky, so maybe you would want to keep it down until you hooked your readers in.
I myself, think it sounds interesting, but some people may have reservations about it, just saying.

>>24441036
>That being said, this mentality of "avoid WAS like the plague"-mentality is only going to result in strange sentences.
"was" is perfectly fine. But not in that sentence. Try to learn how to recognize the offenders.
"He was a short, balding man." For example is fine. "The ball was thrown by the man" is the prototypical example of a "was" that is not fine.
>Honestly, I dislike the rewrite. if taking out "determined" and making it less poetic is the cost of transforming it from passive to active, it isn't worth it.
That's fine, just find an active version of the sentence that you do like. Passive voice is gross, and it's not excusable in that sentence like it sometimes is
>My own pet peeve is using "said" in every line.
Alright, but know that this goes against the modern preference pretty heavily.
>as they were
just made the sentence slow to parse for me. i didn't immediately understand what you were going for.
>ESL
there were just some parts that didn't feel awkward in an amateur way but rather an ESL way so i was curious. not using it as an insult

how unhinged can you make a protagonist for a webnovel before your audience starts to feel uncomfortable on royal road?

Both Mother of Learning and Primal Hunter authors are ESL and surely many others so it's not a hard limitation so far as success in the web novel scene goes

>>24441127
1% Lifesteal's protagonist is a complete brutal mess and the audience loves it.
But then he hasn't said anything politically incorrect yet, and he's anti-rich people because he grew up poor. Even though he's now like a billionaire feudal lord in Canada.

>>24441127
surely you realize you need to define unhinged for us to answer

>>24440434
I remember this. I definitely like this one better. Its much improved. Two thumbs up, on progressing up the ladder, anon.

>>24441165
>>24441146
The MC gets isekai’d to a LITRPG setting, grows up from a babe to a youth but does not see the people there as human. He thinks that everyone is an NPC save for him, and engages in semi-competent leveling while also dictating all of his thoughts and actions as if he were playing an RPG. Everyone else grows increasingly baffled at his actions and his rationale for them, if he even bothers to explain to the ‘NPCs’.

might as well hang my ignorance of these new literary styles, for all to point and marvel at. Tags. Advice on other places I read before coming here, was to always use all available tag slots. I picked "strategy" for a couple. because the main character's strategy and problem solving ability, is his greatest strength. I'm now wondering, if "strategy" tag, is supposed to be for one of these new styles. And while I'm at it, what's a "progression" novel. I know its rule of thumb your character to be interesting should ideally grow and develop in some way. I'm guessing that's not what they mean. Feel free to poke fun, before you drop the answers to these two tidbits of trivia.

>>24441237
and google was my friend on both counts. Strategy tag seems to be what it sounded like to me, and the while the Progression tag was similar but different, it was enough to call it close. Still feel free if these mean anything I'm not getting.

>>24441218
That's like a 1/10 on the unhinged meter anon.

>“Vibrators are aisle five,” Pat said, indicating. “Kid sizes are on the bottom shelves.”

I was posting about this on /wg/, but it fits in a little better here. I'm writing a series about a world with no AOC laws and putting it up on Ao3. A new chapter just came out celebrating pride month for all you yuri enjoyers out there!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66198040

>“If you keep reading, you might start seeing history as a spiral instead of a straight line.”

Do you prefer it more when the first chapter frontloads the story themes or starts as a gradual setup?

>>24440187 (OP)
>Royalroad, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY
Are they all geared towards sci-fi/fantasy/smut? I'm looking for a place to publish serialized thriller/crime slop and I really like the easy overview many of these platforms provide.

>>24441449
>serialized thriller/crime slop
I don't think an audience exists online. You'll need to trad pub or find a way to market for amazon

>>24441506
Damn. Thanks for the reply.

>>24441427
For traditional books? I'm more picky but I'm willing to read until like 1/4 of the story, so gradual step.
For web novels? There's too many to choose from and I don't know if the author can deliever, but if it got my attention I stick for ~10 chapters or so before deciding to drop or not, so it gotta frontload stuff.

>>24441449
just throw it on RR and hope for the best.

>>24441566
>traditinal books
I can't get into stuff like Perdido Street Station because the author spends the first 10k words just describing ambiance and hierarchies. Call it ADHD, but it erodes trust to think that the narration is unable to adapt worldbuilding within the story, while other works with much less time to impress manage to do so devoid of a setup luxury.

>>24441449
>I'm looking for a place to publish serialized thriller/crime slop and I really like the easy overview many of these platforms provide.

join the club, we'll be card carrying members.

>>24440517
Just imagine you are making a thread on /pol/ or /v/ and your job is to bait as many people as possible

>>24441449
actually
https://novelizing.com
this is a site still under construction which may offer a space for more traditional works, though a lot of what is there is crossposted from RR.(you need an invite to be able to post things)

Help me out, anons.
I can find space opera / romance in Royal Road no problem: The Long War, Hard Luck Hermit, Privateer (sort of), Rinn's Run, even Between Worlds (before the smut crackdown - I admit the reddit fanfics are better).
But on scribblehub all I can find is Princess of the Void.
Any others?

ugh, Spacebattles has the fag colors again

>>24440187 (OP)
I don't know why anons here seem to favor RoyalRoad, is it really the most popular?
To me Webnovel seems to be a bigger site.

Pic related is some random's story from there, it actually makes me feel better about my own story, knowing a generic info dump still gets 1K views there. I guess the standards are low.

>>24441831
Keep in mind these sites can (and often do) pump up their numbers to fool schlubs like yourself into thinking they're more popular than they are

>>24441892
Of course they do, but there's not much anyone can do about it.

>>24441915
point being the readers are fake.......
post there if you like fake readers I guess????

>>24441831
It's a chinese website that shamelessly fakes their numbers. There are 1,000,000 view stories with like 0-1 comments per chapter lmao

>>24442091
is it worth crossposting to?

>>24442091
>>24442207
I think they had some sketchy ToS terms too and offered scam contracts to authors. Does that sound worth it?

>>24442207
no

Got two contract offers from wn, You guys think I should sign?

>>24443112
We're not your lawyers and we don't know what you mean by "contract offers from wn"

>>24441743
The problem isn't that a site doesn't exist, it's that an audience doesn't. Online readers don't read trad style books.

>>24443174
they do, just not in the numbers you want. If you care about topping a scoreboard, you're out of luck. If you just want a few dozen or even hundred people to read it, it will happen.

>>24443180
well yes that's a given. "in numbers" is implied. when people say "there isn't an audience" it means a reasonably sized audience, not 100 readers and thus 1-5 patrons being the very upper limit
Why would you choose that over trying for trad pub?

>>24443204
>well yes that's a given. "in numbers" is implied. when people say "there isn't an audience" it means a reasonably sized audience, not 100 readers and thus 1-5 patrons being the very upper limit
>Why would you choose that over trying for trad pub?
difficult to get one reader to complete a book IRL. 100 readers? Huge gift, viewed in that light. It goes to confidence and experience. 100 readers this way, with say 1 to 5 patreons as someone said. To me, would "translate" to 1,000 or 10,000 readers when you finally hit trad pub. Or, picked up and the company does the launch, web presence, their section of amazon, etc. Once there, that might be the juice to convince a trad pub, that you have what it takes. Honestly, mytake on this now, the more I lern about it all and how it works now? Trad pub, is sitting back. You, the author? Have to do everything. Instead of just first draft, the author now has to do proofing. Editing. Cover art. Initial marketing and developing interest. That's all the trad pubs historical job! But, we have no choice.

>>24443445
When you publish online you lose "first publishing rights" which means trad pub won't touch you unless you're an extreme outlier like Andy Weir or Matt Dinniman.
By posting your 'trad pub book' and (in the best case, it's absurdly unlikely) getting 100 readers, you now lose the ability to trad pub that series, which is where your real audience is.
It simply makes no sense. It sounds like you don't know how this stuff works desu

>>24441068
Bridenapping is least upsetting, considering how dark it will get.
>>24441116
>Determined to stop their sled at every opportunity, the snow cover knew no mercy.
Better?
>there were just some parts
Weird sentences probably come from my obsession with avoiding trite wording, i.e., I package sentences with double meanings, which occasionally come off as strange.
>>24441207
> Two thumbs up, on progressing up the ladder, anon.
Progression is painfully slow

>>24443721
>Determined to stop their sled at every opportunity, the snow cover knew no mercy.
The sentence is still awkward: you've got a dependent clause and two prepositional phrases before the subject, and then the verb is "knew." The actual action is some kind of impeding, but you're not using descriptive language for the action itself, instead you're dancing around it with language that I think you think is flowery.

Even flipping the clauses around, it's an awkward, undescriptive sentence:
>The snow cover knew no mercy, determined to stop their sled at every opportunity.
It's a little better, but here's another problem: that's not how snow works. Nor sleds. The entire point of a sled is to glide over snow, how is snow impeding a sled? THAT deserves some description and explanation, not the snow's lack of mercy (which is a weird anthropomorphism to begin with).

Keep it simple. Subject verb object. Adjectives are okay, adverbs must be used sparingly.

>The sled buried itself in snow drifts.
>Snow drifts blocked their escape at every turn.
>Their tired feet sank into the snow, slowing them down.

I haven't read the whole sample but just wanted to comment on that one sentence.

>>24443792
>>The entire point of a sled is to glide over snow, how is snow impeding a sled?
If the snow cover is thick, I'd presume it will slow down the horse and consume more energy, as its legs will sink into the snow, no?
Another issue is that the snow cover might hide the road, and if you go off-road, you may sink into a ditch if the snow isn't hardened enough.

>>The sled buried itself in snow drifts.
>>Snow drifts blocked their escape at every turn.
>>Their tired feet sank into the snow, slowing them down.
Honestly, those are boring to me. I want the 2nd sentence of the story to have poetism in it.

>>24443819
>Honestly, those are boring to me. I want the 2nd sentence of the story to have poetism in it.
Man I'm gonna be straight with you: you do not have a solid enough grasp of the English language to do that.

You have two choices: persist and fail predictably, or change your approach and have a chance of success.

I'm not going to respond to your posts going forward. I don't think I can provide any more constructive criticism.

>>24443829
> you do not have a solid enough grasp of the English language to do that.
You make this assessment after admitting you only read one sentence from the sample.
That's just insulting.

>>24443839
nta but i've seen you post excerpts for a few months now and it seems you respond almost every time to the repeated comments about your awkward sentence constructions, strange imagery/language devices, and purple (in the bad way) prose with: "But that's what I like". Is there a point in asking for critique if you're just going to forge ahead and keep doing what you're doing?

So from what I read from last thread, putting your stuff on RR that ISN'T a litRPG automatically gets you dismissed by most of your viewership.

So what place should writers publish that isn't a litRPG? I'm looking to publish sci-fi fantasy with lots of world building.

>>24443921
An anon from the previous thread said you needed to sloppify your prose, since all that matters is plot and nice prose can get in the way for the average RR consoomer
Does the same applies to covers? Should I use an Ai generated trannime-inspired cover over some crude drawing I made.

>>24444081
>your viewship
no. it gets you dismissed by most of RR's viewership, unless you can do something that attracts them anyway. You will still gain a viewership.
There is no place where your novel will fit in. Just put it wherever and hope for the best. Advertise/network with other authors who write the same kind of thing to see if they can send their audience, who like the genre, your way. Because you aren't writing to the general audience you need to work harder to pursue the niche.

>>24444083
"good" and "bad" prose are not the same as "simple" and "complex". You should not sloppify your prose, you just need to make sure it's digestible and clear. There are famous literary authors with such styles who have "good" prose.
AI covers do well yes. Use either that or hire a fully professional piece (400$+ with typesetting)

>>24444081
Try tradpub first. Web pub is only suitable for a few genres.
Litrpg is not all that succeeds BTW, not by a long shot

>>24443921
>Is there a point in asking for critique if you're just going to forge ahead and keep doing what you're doing?
I know I suck, and I want to improve.
It might appear as if all critique bounces off me, as I have a habit of quarreling.
But despite what all the handwaving I'm guilty of, I do appreciate and evaluate every critique. Believe it or not, they have influenced me.
You could be right in that I'm not improving at all, though I'd beg to differ. It might be insignificant progress, but it's there.
Maybe my writing will remain clunky, maybe I'm just too arrogant to improve, and maybe I will give up after a while.
The fact that you can recognize my writing indicates it's at least memorable (even if in a bad way), and that may be the first step in establishing a unique voice.
The way I see it, I have an experimental style that needs to be calibrated, and eventually it will stabilize. With no feedback, it will remain unstable.
So, yeah, there is a point.

>>24444093
Thanks for the advice. I'll just attempt my luck.

>>24444132
>Litrpg is not all that succeeds BTW, not by a long shot
What are some webnovels that AREN'T litRPG that are successful?

I almost never read webnovels. Any examples of good ones?

>>24444081
Spacebattles maybe?

>>24444155
>Spacebattles maybe?
I actually recently made a Spacebattles account. I do see some people on there who make a decent amount of money from publishing fanfics alone on there. I'll give it a shot to see how much they welcome original fiction.
Thanks.

>>24444184
No problem, good luck!

>>24444148
>What are some webnovels that AREN'T litRPG that are successful?
for royal road, I've noticed super hero stories gain traction.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/102618/foxfire-esq
I've been reading this, it's a courtroom drama in a superhero setting. Very popular.
On the best rated page you'll see a bunch of stuff that doesn't have the litrpg tag but tend to have other popular things like time loop or progression. Going pure fantasy/scifi is a lot harder.

>>24444262
Not him but thanks for the recommendation. I was so disappointed when the She-Hulk tv show was so fucking gay, because I loved Better Call Saul and courtroom dramas.

I was reading Industrial Strength Magic but got caught up last year and then stopped reading it, I should go back to it.
...Never fucking mind then, it's down from RR and now Kindle only.

Whelp. But yeah superhero fiction seems to do well on the site.

Another thing I've noticed is that most rising stars are by authors who've already built up an audience that then gives them a strong boost early on. So if someone wants to make something not perfectly targeted at RR's audience, they could write something that is targeted to them, and then for a second fiction do the thing they actually want once they've got a following.

>>24444332
>Another thing I've noticed is that most rising stars are by authors who've already built up an audience that then gives them a strong boost early on. So if someone wants to make something not perfectly targeted at RR's audience, they could write something that is targeted to them, and then for a second fiction do the thing they actually want once they've got a following.
Not only that but having a pre-existing audience helps in getting shout-out swaps with other authors.

>>24444148
>What are some webnovels that AREN'T litRPG that are successful?
It's as simple as setting up a filter that takes 10 seconds my guy. Not to be an asshole or anything but helplessness at this level is pretty annoying.
https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/search?globalFilters=false&tagsRemove=litrpg&tagsRemove=gamelit&orderBy=followers

This is just for RoyalRoad too. Romance, erotica, and fanfiction I know off the top of my head have a number of success cases as well, on different websites. On RR, popular non-litrpg genres are cultivation, time loops, superheros, and even a smattering of fantasy and scifi stories, though it's much rarer, of course.

>>24444332
>Another thing I've noticed is that most rising stars are by authors who've already built up an audience that then gives them a strong boost early on. So if someone wants to make something not perfectly targeted at RR's audience, they could write something that is targeted to them, and then for a second fiction do the thing they actually want once they've got a following.
This is a solid strategy. Release a book or two worth of content to wiggle your way into the secret author discords, then arrange shout-outs and also have your own follower base to prop up your "serious" work.
The only issue is if your "serious" work is still strongly off-brand for RR, it won't gain any traction even if you have a kickstart.

>>24443477
>It sounds like you don't know how this stuff works desu
Like I know diddly shit, about pub industry.
Can't get IRL readers.
Now, have a place to send LINKS, to read chapters, books. Cool.
MY site, though? Says... I own my book, and even if THEY pick it up? I still own it, and can still publish it anywhere else I want.

I have a place to "park" my whole catalog,
I can send out links, to chapters and books, and even whole catalog.
No matter what, I can still take any other offer.
Hard to get readers, what am I out.

The critique I got here inspired me to get out of my month long lazybones hiatus. Fuck being a lazybone, we’re back!

>>24444827
>lazybones
Uhhhh excuse me chud, that's on the bad word list now, don't you understand that kind of language can make people feel bad?
Good job man. I've got a good routine going where first thing in the morning I shower, then I sit my ass down with energy drinks until I've written a chapter of at least a thousand words. I've been consistent as fuck.

>>24444864
I was doing so good, but after vacation I lost my stride. And then Nightreign came out. But I will write, even if it takes me a full day of procrastination and evening coffee

>>24444525
RR at least has a Space Opera tag. So we odd ducks who like that can find that.

>>24444909
so true sis

>>24444897
Don't procrastinate: give yourself permission to write bad, and then stop when you hit word count and the next day go back and edit and make it good. Personally I consider what I'm doing biohacking since I'm tying the dopamine of my morning caffeine to writing and it seems to work really well even when I'm forced not to write due to travel, so consider using caffeine in the morning like that instead of ruining your sleep with night caffeine.

I wish RR allowed you to include images in a chapter.

>>24445346
it literally does

>>24444148
>What are some webnovels that AREN'T litRPG that are successful?
Nigga look at RR's lists. On all time best completed, for instance, there's one (1) litrpg in the top ten. Whopping 4 in the top 20. The others are indisputably successful and not litrpg.

I have money to buy ads, you guys think it's worth it? I kinda feel it's a waste of money. When most people flock to Rising stars anyways

Anyone have tips for coming up with an opening arc? I fell into the "worldbuilding trap" where you have characters and a world but no plot other than vague ideas for later scenes.

>>24445850
you buy ads to get onto rising stars

>>24446268
No plot? I got you.

Your main character just fucked up. He's done something in this world that pissed a dude off.

1) Formulate the plan of attack for your opponent to get back at your hero. What does your opponent want to achieve?
2) Plan out the steps your opponent needs to take to get his way.
3) Have hero experience this escalating attack and react to it, trying to come up with a counter-plan.

Go get 'em, tiger.

I had an idea I'm playing with - Groundhog day, from the perspective of one of the people who isn't aware of the loop. Each chapter would start the same way, with the impact of the "looping" character being seen through the changes. The thought would be to make it a pretty easy read, but subtly showing a lot of the plot occurring "behind the scenes" and being hinted at.

Would you read it? Is it too conceptual to work as a web novel? I don't think it would go past 100k words, but I haven't plotted it all out yet in too much detail.

>>24446457
Fun idea, but it doesn't seem like something that would succeed in web fiction. Almost all successful web novels play into power fantasies somehow, which sounds like the exact opposite of this idea--your mc is just a helpless spectator
Probably better suited to trad pub

>>24446457
I would read it because I'm a sucker for time loop stories

>>24446466
That's a good point. I may just try to shop it to agents, once it's done, rather than release it serially. Idk if there's a market for slow burn conceptual books, but I guess mysteries still sell pretty well so worth a shot.

>>24443477
>It simply makes no sense. It sounds like you don't know how this stuff works desu

no argument from me, on that count.
I originally started lurking \lit\, probably 90% interested in talking to other writers, about writing concepts. Maybe 10% for this... "everything else about writing" stuff.
Any more, its reversing.
I'm finding a lot of little gems on trad fiction writing here in these WNG threads, its a godsend.
Keep the little gems coming, boys. These WNG threads? Are what I always thought \lit\ should be.

>>24443839
>You make this assessment after admitting you only read one sentence from the sample.
>That's just insulting.
don't take it personal. Writing, is like composing music. You need really thick skin. Good can come out of it. I had seriously kidde-level cover art. Yeah, got flamed for it. Spent more time with AI free online, its a little better now, at least for a try-hard amateur. But, get thick skin, or make it thicker. Its up to y-o-u, to react to criticism, and to make it constructive.

>>24444148
you sound very similar to me.
you're writing trad novels, and online WN is... just not right for it.
You're one, I'm a number two... can't tell me, there aren't more of me and you out there. When is someone going to make a WN site, for people like us? Who knows.

>>24446570
>When is someone going to make a WN site, for people like us?
Nothing prevents high-quality trad-style works from being posted to sites like RoyalRoad. There just isn't an audience for them.
>there isn't an audience because all websites are full of slop and finding good stuff is impossible
How will this new website prevent slop from taking over then? Curation? Staff that sorts through submissions and accepts only high-quality ones aligned to what they want to publish?
Congratulations you've just re-invented a small publication press.

>>24446582
Fucking get your head out of your ass. There is always an audience for good writing, anywhere. The reason your works can't find an audience is in that they are, as a matter of fact, NOT GOOD OR HIGH QUALITY. I haven't seen a single work from /lit/izens that would keep me reading for longer than a few paragraphs. Don't blame your problems on the platform or other people

>>24446594
Did you respond to the wrong person lmfao?

>>24446582
I hear you, anon.
Radish, looked good for me, except when I ran into their statement:
"we are only accepting romance novels at this time, and in any foreseeable future. All novels *must* be romance, or the romance is the largest component of the work. Romance as an element, is not enough."
Other than that, I liked the ad campaign. All writing must be up to our standards, no blogging style, no newbie learning to write. Go elsewhere, if that's you. If you think this might be you? It is."
The cover arts, even all look good.
Its just... romance only.
It would make sense, if more "Radish" sprung up. Each dedicated to a specific genre.
I mean, a sci-fi Radish? A noir Radish? People would have some idea where to go, to get what they want, or to work at the "correct" site to get their writing up to snuff to make it. I think or believe there's more like me out there, readers and writers would slowly come in.
Wish in one hand, though.

>>24446597
>Did you respond to the wrong person lmfao?
there are a number of these anon's here. Their over-arching basic premise, is that no \lit\-izen, could *possibly*, write *anything*. I don't know if they are just trolls, or demoralization shills, or what. Maybe, just pissed off failed writers, projecting. Who even knows. I showed a friend this site (this thread). He laughed at one of these, and his antics. I chuckled.
"I call him? My number one fan, anon."
Laugh, ignore, treat them like a troll. I'm learning not to respond to them.

>>24446621
Romance is insanely popular though. That's why Radish's model sort-of works

>>24446594
>I haven't seen a single work from /lit/izens that would keep me reading for longer than a few paragraphs.

Have you considered other options, then? If you're a reader, and this irks you so much, why are you in a writing thread. Good lord.

>>24446642
>Romance is insanely popular though. That's why Radish's model sort-of works
yes, you are objectively correct. Its sad, even if correct.

>>24446594
A respected trad fantasy author posted his very well-regarded, proven track record fantasy series (Riyria Revelations) to RR and even after 2 years it only has 1000 followers
Trad style books do not do well on RR. Factually

>>24446457
Interesting idea, but it could fall into the trap of being repetitive. Like endless eight.

>someone read 200k words just to leave a 3.5
fuck off

>>24446885
what's weird about that?

>>24446597
No, I responded directly to anon's post, but it was also aimed at the other faggot he quoted and everyone else who keeps repeating the same "I'm just too good for Royal Road, they want shit and I can only write gold!"-bullshit every thread. If you can't find readers, the culprit is in the mirror

>>24446720
>very well-regarded, proven track record fantasy series (Riyria Revelations)
Are you talking about this mutilated piece of horse shit?

Bros, I got my first non-descript critique, and I quote:
>It's so shit. I can't even describe it in words.
He's probably right. But do I respond to this or comply with what he said?

Or just ignore it completely?

>>24447243
Yes. It's a piece of trad fantasy that performed strongly in the trad fantasy market.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/96465-the-riyria-revelations
Apparently he even tried to sell out with a slop title and the usual RR gimmicks, and it still didn't help.
It's clear proof that trad fantasy simply does not work on RoyalRoad.

>>24447249
>>24447243
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10790290-theft-of-swords
Entry 1: 75k ratings, 5500 reviews. It's not some small no-name piece of trad fantasy. I remember reading it way back when because it showed up frequently in natural word-of-mouth recommendations.

>>24447248
"It's shit" is not a valid critique, no matter what seething crabs might say. Ignore it or ask him to explain his point of view.

>>24447248
How many reviews have you been getting? Smetimes a reader is just being an asshole freely because he can, and in that case, you should ignore.
But if you're getting reviews that are towards the more negative side, that shows there's a more real problem in your writting.

>>24447259
It wasn't even the story. He complained about the very FIRST sentence on the synopsis.

Its also on a forum, so I'll just ignore it or report it.

>>24447260
I've been getting a decent amount of reviews for a 20k words as of this moment. So far that review was the only one that didn't elaborate.

>>24447272
>So far that review was the only one that didn't elaborate.
It's a troll, just ignore and carry on.

>>24447272
Oh yeah that's not even worth devoting mental space to then, don't even think about it. It's possibly even a bot, I've seen this a lot on other sites where an obviously new account just posts an extremely aggressive but non-specific reply to random posts and then never replies.

>>24447306
Yeah, I figured. To be honest it was just the synposis is what they quoted.

>>24447309
>It's possibly even a bot
It's actually not, the person who said it had the account for almost a decade. No idea what was their problem, but I'll just ignore it.

>>24447243
Playing devil's advocate for unreadable litslop here, but did this fucked literally waste the make-or-die title tagging of his apparently above average work on something as generic as "EPIC FANTASY - assassins - thieves -mercenaries"? lol.

>>24446885
>+1 life saved from reading litslop by realizing it was sunk cost by the 200000th word

>>24444262
Whelp I have to anti-recommend Foxfire, Esq.
Actual spoiler: MC is trans
I'm very very VERY close to dropping the entire story, because it adds nothing to the story which was already very good, barring some blatant anti-white racism (beyond just 'hey some people are prejudiced' and even beyond 'the MC has her own prejudices' and EVEN beyond 'the MC is confirmed jewish').

Like what the fuck. Courtroom drama fiction is fucking cursed.

I really wish this had been made clear up front.

>>24447555
Welp, that's like a punch to the gut for anyone who has read over 10k words, doubly so because it's not the kind of character subversion you can ever call out on its RR review.

do you think a superhero webnovel with a politically unhinged background would do well on RR?

>>24447596
/pol/ unhinged or just leftist unhinged? The former would probably get you banned while the later would just rustle people's jimmies.
If the writing is good I guess people would just put up.

>>24447555
>>24447567
the character got magical girl'd and it isn't part of the ongoing narrative so I don't care.

>>24447567
Yeah, and I'm not looking to get fucking banned because I gave a less than glowing review. I'll simply remove it from my follow list and never rate it.

After some time to reflect and reading several more chapters, there's two problems with the spoilered thing: first, it adds nothing to the story. It had no impact up to the point of the reveal other than one instance of foreshadowing, the chapter in which it was revealed was a self-contained flashback chapter having nothing to do with the ongoing plot, and chapters since the reveal have had nothing to do with it either. It's just entirely unnecessary, save that the author is also that thing. Didn't own up to being a furry, funny enough. Second, there's ALREADY a transformative conflict with gaining fox ears and a fox tail that would have covered every base the spoilered thing would have added to the story, if it actually mattered.

Overall it's just very disappointing, but I'll amend my anti-recommendation to saying just skip Interlude Two entirely: it adds nothing to the story except politicized drama.

>>24447596
As always, you're only allowed to be as politically incorrect as much as your writing is good enough to make up for it, and even then there's a limit after which you will simply be banned and censored regardless of how good the writing is.

RR leans left so you'd be better off publishing elsewhere, like perhaps substack.

been thinking about writing slop, but everytime I put my finger down on my keyboard I can only write about sweaty guys covered with shit in dark dungeons.

I finaly re-read some stuff I wrote after a few months to have a fresh perspective and it's so fucking bad bros. I don't even know where these ideas come from. Like really sweaty guys covered in shit and maiming goblins with rusty knives. Who the fuck is going to read that? I wouldn't. I really wouldn't. I'd rather read some slop with a guy who reincarnated in an autoradio and helped his driver win races or something.

Anyone ever mess with the traditional good guy/bad guy thing? By that I mean, what would normally be a "bad guy" is actually neutral or even beneficial in their own way. I remember the one hardboiled PI I liked and read a couple, had a best friend that was a straight out contract killer. One scene I'll never forget in it, was when the MC (trad good guy), had some asshole taunting him. "Not only won;t you shoot me, you can't shoot me. Everyone knows I'm here, and you know who I am."
>
The contract killer friend just pulled his 6" 44mag, and leveled it at him. "You're right. But you *know* I'll do you..."
>
or do people tend to not appreciate the moral ambiguity like that anymore. Used to be an interesting plot device. One project of mine, you would *think* the outlaw motorvycly gang, was going to be bad guys? And they are, but... I leave them kind of ambiguous. The corrupt city cops were more likely to kill witnesses, than any of the bikers ever did. The obeyed the golden rule, don;t mess with joe sixpack, you don't want the whole populace hating you. Then, they were actually helpful at times, if you had a way in to use them.
>
I just try to flip tropes around, here and there. But, I've never went for what I think of as all the marbles... the anti-hero you could almost cheer for. "Parker" series was like that. A straight out cold blooded killer, that has more morality than the cops and many times the good guys.

>>24447714
>but everytime I put my finger down on my keyboard I can only write about sweaty guys covered with shit in dark dungeons.
It's ok anon, we all have our smut tastes no need to be upset about yours, you just need to separate it from you stories
Ok, but in seriousness, a dark and realistic type of story isn't all that out there if you can flesh it out.
Maybe it isn't palatable to the escapist taste of most slop readers but that doesn't mean someone ain't reading.

>>24447747
>It's ok anon, we all have our smut tastes no need to be upset about yours, you just need to separate it from you stories
NTA but the best way to do this is to run an SFW and NSFW story at the same time so if you burn out from one you automatically switch to working on the other.

Okay found some slop on Scribble Hub: CaptainPoussouf, "Reborn as a Space Mercenary".
It's a little litrpg, inasmuch as there's a Guild and "E Rank Mercenaries" and bullshit like that, but it's not obtrusive. Like, nobody pops up a screen with PC statistics on them.
Also although starting sloppy, the author knows how to write an action scene, and the psychological effect violence has on the characters. I wonder if he's a vet.
So, after 19 chapters, I still want to read more.

>>24447986
Sure, you "found it"

>>24447714
>a guy who reincarnated in an autoradio and helped his driver win races or something.

I'd read that. Like modern Knight Rider

>>24447249
>>24447253
For "trad fantasy", the numbers are dogshit considering he's been putting out this giant saga of doorstoppers for 15 fucking years while relentlessly shilling.

>>24447596
I'm going to further elaborate to see its viability by laying out the premise.
>The year is 1999 or whatever.
>An event occurs which brings superpowers into the world.
>Instead of randomly bestowing these great and mighty supernatural abilities onto the world, thus allowing for heroes and villains to rise, the first group of people to ever get superpowers are the schizos, lolcows, maniacs; the unhinged in general.
>On day one of the new world, an Austrian investment banker and wannabe Eurocrat erases the national identity of Russia, India, and Ireland from human conception. This is but one of the many acts of fuckery that utterly ruin the recently changed geopolitical landscape.
>Among the things to have happened during this time, here are a few of the strangest. A young black man's head suddenly swelled to thrice his size, and after attaining ultramundane intelligence, he proceeded to declare himself the reincarnation of Yakub and called upon his white sons and daughters to rise up against the black races, thus forming the super-powered white supremacist organization: the Sons of Yakub.
>A group of Black Israelites gain supernatural powers, see this as a sign of God proving that they're really his chosen people which ends in their deaths after an insane Rabbi declared them to be apostates and thus deserving of death, and carrying out this sentence himself by sending forth a wind that turns them into ash.
>The leadership of the Nation of Islam is suddenly overthrown in a coup by a young man of likely Pakistani descent, claiming to be the rejuvenated founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, who has been bestowed a new lease on life to take to fight against the arch-devil Yakub and his evil creations.
>The United States Government loses 90% of its military arsenal by the hands of a schizo who, upon being granted powers over technology, immediately used it to irreparably harm the US's power projection abilities out of the fear that he would have to face the government in hand-to-hand combat.
>The world goes to hell in a handbasket quickly.
>The next generation is sporadically granted superpowers, this time in a seemingly random way.
>Fast forward to when the story starts.
>The year is 20XX. Our MC, Anon, who was seemingly among the few sane to be granted powers during the first wave, is forced to finally find a job after the death of his younger sister, having been living off of her family for the past several decades or so. The world has been split between the three superpowers formed in the aftermath: Eurasia (representing the coalition of the former Russian, Slavic, and Turkic states), Tianxia (representing Eastern Asia after politically regressing a couple hundred years or so), and NATO (the eternal). In this new world, after having spent the last few decades in isolation in his younger sister's basement, living off of Tendies, how is an old Anon meant to reintegrate into this new superpowered society?

Could I get away with this?

Best time is the best to release on RoyalRoad? 12pm GMT? 4pm EST?

>>24448371
>the numbers are dogshit
utterly delusional

>>24448708
I tried releasing at different times in one hour intervals through the week but I didn't notice much difference, so I settled for ~11 pm GMT as later it seemed that I got buried rather quickly under a stream of new chapters. I suggest you try the same or just post when you feel comfortable.

>>24448828
>I suggest you try the same
Try for yourself*, as in, see the hours that work the best for you. Sorry, just woke up.

>>24448371
>Michael J Sullivan has sold more than 1,400,000 books, has been translated into fourteen foreign languages (including German, Russian, French, and Japanese), and had been named to io9's Most Successful Self-Published Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors list.
You serious? What is considered successful to you then? GRRM or JK Rowling only?

Is there any point to continuing if my first sentence isn’t perfect?

>>24448732
>>24448981
I don't know why you insist on fellating Mr Sullivan on 4chong, but one lonely case of flopping at RR says absolutely nothing about whether normal fantasy can do well there, because there are dozens of normal fantasy stories that in fact did better than Mr Sullivan at RR.

>>24449120
No, you will never get better, your story won't go anywhere and you should give up already. Don't even try, if you can't write a perfect chapter in one sitting.

>>24448545
This synopsis sounds hilarious and I would read it but I definitely think it would scare off normalfags. Not sure you could get away with it on RR at all.

>>24449201
>I don't know why you insist on fellating Mr Sullivan on 4chong,
i don't care about Sullivan in the slightest, I care that you're being retarded and saying an insanely successful author has "shit numbers". it's pure delusion
>because there are dozens of normal fantasy stories that in fact did better than Mr Sullivan at RR.
Name some? Every successful "normal fantasy story" on RR is blatantly a power fantasy

>>24449726
>an insanely successful author has "shit numbers"
We were talking about his 5k goodreads reviews, not book sales, which you pulled out of your ass afterwards, unasked.

>>24447747
>Ok, but in seriousness, a dark and realistic type of story isn't all that out there if you can flesh it out.
"Eaters of the Dead" - Crichton
the movie? The 13th man.
Honestly, I liked the movie. Not that bad. I re-watch it once a year. never saw any of the popular criticisms, leveled at it.

>>24447809
>NTA but the best way to do this is to run an SFW and NSFW story at the same time so if you burn out from one you automatically switch to working on the other.
Wow.
maybe i'm on the right track. I do this. I have... a backburner "ultra smut" I add to now and again. Fetish erotica. But? I've been taking out more and more dirty, from my "real" novels.

>>24449757
>5k reviews is shit numbers
that's more than anything in the entire litrpg genre besides DCC. Riyria is known fairly well even in the general fantasy community. It equates to over a million of his books sold. What kind of brain damage do you have?
>unasked
you said something dumb and I provided evidence to prove it lmfao. how the fuck do you think discussions boards work?

Sullivan is a clear example of a traditional fantasy author dumping a well-regarded, successful series onto RR and being ignored.
Until you provide examples of non-power-fantasy non-utter-slop fictions on RR that have seen a real measure of success, you need to shut the fuck up

>>24448359
>>a guy who reincarnated in an autoradio and helped his driver win races or something.
>I'd read that. Like modern Knight Rider
My first thought... that's childish and fucking retarded.
My next thought, after thinking. I remember Piers Anthony "Death Rides a Pale Horse". Just, weird, imaginative, and campy. Read a couple more Piers Anthony, they were even more whimsical and creative. So? It could work, and work well.
Good imagination, anon.

>>24449205
>>>24449120
>No, you will never get better, your story won't go anywhere and you should give up already. Don't even try, if you can't write a perfect chapter in one sitting.
Hey anon, sounds like you got your first biggest senpai
LMAO
Seriously, what's with the demoralization shilling.
Ignore this user, anon he's talking to. Prove him *wrong*.

Is Reverend Insanity that good?

>>24449842
I really thought I didn't need to say it here, it was a joke of course. Writing is hard and the first step to actually writing is putting your ideas into paper, and to do that you need to actually start, good or bad.

>>24449865
It’s just like the writing general. Most people are too stupid to read, let alone write.

what is the deal with webnovel authors writing absurd, toxic, and utterly horrible people and thinking that they’re normal or even good and an aspiration?

>>24450042
i think a lot of it is accidental. it's pretty easy to make the MC accidentally psychopathic or callous if you're spamming chapters and not thinking about what his actions imply/mean if you think about it more deeply

>>24450042
China poisoning where slaughtering your enemies by the hundreds and killing all their women and children and salting their fields is a morally good thing

>>24450126
That's because it is
Outright American even

Are any of you going to participate in the RR magazine contest?

>>24440187 (OP)
Where do people post eroges?
>Archive of Our Own
Non-fanfics, I mean.
I presume Wattpad or Scribble Hub?

>>24450375
Don't know about Wattpad, but I saw some original erotic stories on Scribble Hub. Usually my go to is Pixiv, but it's usually japanese or chinese stuff I machine translate.
Some sites I had saved the names but I'm not sure of the quality are:
Literotica
Lush Stories
Nifty (apparently LGBT only?)

Can I monetize my pedo erotica on Patreon or would that violate their TOS?

>>24450613
do it under your legal name it'll be fine, I promise

>>24450361
What contest? I cant find anything about one.

>>24450673
https://www.royalroad.com/blog/77/the-royal-road-community-magazine-contest

I'm quitting my story, I'm not satisfied with the Juvenile way I handled it. Might rewrite it, do a better launch.

>>24450656
Hey buddy, it's just words, you can't illegalize those in my country

I'VE FINALLY PUBLISHED MY BOOK ON ROYALE ROAD
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story

Plot:
Rinaldo Di Mario never asked to be the scion of the Di Mario Family, the current rulers of the Free City of Maria—the wealthiest city on Earth. His dream was to live a peaceful life, spending his days reading books and playing with his little black cat. However, his surname attracted many enemies, and after yet another assassination attempt, he realized that wealth and power were not worth the stress. Thus, he faked his death and started a new life in the one place no one would think to look for a Marian—the magical Miraval Academy.

Magic connects everything. From the largest monster to the smallest molecule, mana flows freely through their masses, destroying every limit imposed by the gray laws of physics. Hence, everyone can use magic, but only the few blessed by the Chaotic Gods can grasp its true depths—the Essentias.

Thanks to their unmatched powers, Essentias are a de facto ruling caste, and to secure their roles within their elitist society, each of them is nurtured at the prestigious Miraval Academy, where the young mages are trained to master their abilities. However, among the Essentias a rigid hierarchy exists, which divides them according to their power—Class S are revered as gods, while Class F are treated as human trash by the higher ranks.

Consequently, on their first day at the Academy, the Class Assignment determines whether their life will be remembered as a tragedy or a glorious legend. There, Rinaldo shatters every record by becoming the weakest Essentia in history—FFF-Class 'Javelinist.'

If being doomed to a life worse than mediocrity wasn’t bad enough, the worst is yet to come. Enduring the eccentricities of his fellow noble classmates, uncovering a millennia-old secret organization plotting to destabilize the world, and surviving a war between two superpowers—these events are just the beginning of the unlucky life of the soon-to-be antagonist of this tale.

What to expect:

VILLAIN ORIGINS: This story follows the rise to power of this setting's main villain. Although Rinaldo isn't a real villain at the start, he will act as a morally gray character, committing whatever actions are necessary to achieve his goals. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

A VAST CAST OF CHARACTERS: Each narrative arc will spotlight a different protagonist, with the MC appearing as a secondary character, a background one, or even as the main villain.

SCHOOL SETTING: Expect magic lessons, teenage drama, and even a unique fantasy sport.However, MC skips his classes.

NO HAREM: That said, there will be multiple love triangles with only one featuring the MC.

SLOW PROGRESSION: World war by Chapter 30.

IMMENSE WORLDBUILDING: With over 2,000 years of recorded history this story spans three continents, each unique in culture, religion, and magic-system.

>>24451205
Morning's too early for me to read, but godspeed anon.

>>24451223
Thanks, and I love you!

>>24451205
You want a shoutout tonight? I'm axing my story in 2/3/4 chapters. Before I start writing a reboot. That's two spots atleast. Can't guarantee you any fame, but maybe I can get you one or two followers.

My story for reference.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/99616/superflux

>>24451423
>100k views
>Axe

Sure, anon. But even just a comment and a like is ok.

>>24451423
did you get onto rising stars main page btw anon? or was that all growth over time?

>>24451205
Good luck anon!
>>24451423
It's always a pleasant surprise that some stories I've seen in the wild were by /lit/men.

is there a market for Xianxia poetry on RR? Like i know it doesn't exist on there but do y'all think it is something people might be interested in?
I started writing one and my verse is quite nice now that I have been mostly writing long poetry for a few years.
I'm just wondering because i feel like that kind of story would bode super well to a poem format instead of just prose but I'm not seeing it anywhere? are poets capable of shitting out 1-2,000 pleasantly reading words of narrative verse a day just not willing to write serialized stuff? Or is there just 0 market?

>>24451568
It's about 6 months worth of work. Never made it to main because, I botched it. Didn't understand the rules and meta on royalroad. For all that I hate the system, I want to try doing it again, properly.

>>24451715
This board means a lot to me, and if we all had the right resources, I'm sure we could rule the world. Seriously, this board got me into literary novels, something I was afraid of tackling because of Reddit intellectualism.

>>24451768
>Or is there just 0 market?
Probably this lol. Poetry slop is ... and interesting idea

>>24452077
>Didn't understand the rules and meta on royalroad.
enlight us anon

>>24452084
id do anything to make a buck off autistic 14 year olds to be honest..... to me this sounded niche and like it would have a base but it seems not...

>>24452093
I wonder why you thought it would have a base? Poetic prose in general doesn't. It's even less common than litfic...which is already impossible to make money with

>>24452114
poetic genre has a base (i think?) in trad publishing if u are alr established. I have made alright hobby money with short litfic and poetry from grinding journals and stuff but its a bad time to money ratio.

>>24452237
I meant long form fiction since that's what we're talking about. Not short stories and poems
Poem format novels are vanishingly rare. Even poetic prose is very rare in novels

>>24451205
>magic academy

>>24452483
>However, more than half of the story takes place outside the academy because the MC frequently skips his classes.
It seems that to stay within the 4000-character limit, I ended up cutting the most important part.

>>24452511
Even a fraction of a story in any form of school setting is automatically bad in my book.

>read eastern xianxia
>in most stories it comes down to racial holy war

>read western xianxia
>in most stories it comes down to some kind of trope outdated in the eastern scene three decades ago

why are western xianxia authors afraid to write the race wars and racial conflicts that their eastern counterparts gladly write about?

>>24451205
i've put it on my read later list, will try to get around to it today or tomorrow.

>>24452898
Based anon

>>24448311
>"found it"
?? what else would I do on Scribble Hub, I'm new there. Unless you're implying I'm the author which, LOL. I can just about write a stupid comment in /lit/ and apparently not well even at that. (and if I could write, I'd not write RPG slop.)
Anyway I've moved on to "Up In Space" which seems at least to be funny and not full of litrpg tropes.

>>24451205
>500 word blurb
Would recommend against it.
Looking at popular posts on stories on RR, most seem to have 100-200 word blurb.
There is very likely a reason for it. Think people prefer vagueness and discovering things. But you are going into irrelevant details
I would also What-to-expect section, kinda spoils things. Ultimately, I don't get point, like let's say someone loves harems, wants them, by saying there are no harems, you have already lost them, however, if you don't disclose them, they might keep reading and hoping there will be harem.

Think I'm going to review your blurb line by line later, so prepare your ass-cheeks for it, they might get sore.

>>24440377
The yonder shit was genuinely almost enough to turn me off of PTGE, that and the shit fucking retcons for the re write.

>>24444148
Pale Lights and PGTE

>>24453502
>Would recommend against it
Eheh...but if someone can’t digest just 500 words, they definitely won’t endure my heavy worldbuilding story either.
>Think people prefer vagueness and discovering things
>I would also [avoid] a What-to-expect section, kinda spoils things.
That’s actually my goal.
Everything you've read is, de facto, wrong. Readers will enter my world expecting one thing, and they'll get that, but without the usual flavor.
>No harem
I notice that’s a tag present in many successful novels' descriptions.
Personally, I like harems, but I get that many readers, especially women, dislike them.
Besides, if someone’s reading a story just for the harem, Royal Road already has +18 options---you can't compete with that.
>so prepare your ass-cheeks for it
Be gentle with my asshole.

>>24453545
>Eheh...but if someone can’t digest just 500 words, they definitely won’t endure my heavy worldbuilding story either.
Uh, the way you said that implies reliance on infodumping. There is many ways to worldbuilding, ideally, you would make the worldbuilding seamless.
>Royal Road already has +18 options--
And yet they ban eroges, such a weird mentality.
Banning eroges altogether is weird, like eroges are really popular.
>especially women, dislike them.
Are you implying women are the majority of RR's reader base?

>>24453556
>Infodumping
It's more like terms and characters dumping. I'm doing my best to present them in the most natural and engaging way possible, but let's be real---Zoomer attention spans won't do it.
>Eroges
Yep. But I’ve also posted on ScribbleHub, and even there I see stories with NO-HAREM tags doing extremely well.
>Are you implying women are the majority of RR's reader base?
TRUTH NUKE

>>24451205
I've never seen anything more repulsive, and thanks to your spamming, I've had to see it many times

>>24453573
>I've never seen anything more repulsive
Look in a mirror, Anon.

>>24453560
>TRUTH NUKE
Had to google it, and came across Gimini's answer, found it hilarious.
The implication being that women were sociopaths that needed books to develop empathy.

>>24453617
Based, I've found my audience.

>>24453617
>Relying on AI

writing a book so good that I can have my pick of glasses-wearing nerdwives that will cancel me if I do anything they don't like

>>24453545
>Be gentle with my asshole.
Okay, let's go.
>Rinaldo Di Mario never asked to be the scion of the Di Mario Family, the current rulers of the Free City of Maria—the wealthiest city on Earth
Absolute overload. Repetition of the family name is unnecessary. Would change this to be vague.
>His dream was to live a peaceful life, spending his days reading books and playing with his little black cat.
Not very interesting, you are painting him as passive off the start.
>However, his surname attracted many enemies, and after yet another assassination attempt, he realized that wealth and power were not worth the stress.
This is very slowly getting somewhat, not bad.
>Thus, he faked his death and started a new life in the one place no one would think to look for a Marian—the magical Miraval Academy.
That entire sentence is "a fuck you", because it means you have wasted reader's time with the previous sentences that are no longer prevalent.
>paragraph about magic
I hate it for multiple reasons, think it's just undeserved infodumping.
>third paragraph
More non-pivotal infodumping.
>Rinaldo shatters every record by becoming the weakest Essentia in history—FFF-Class 'Javelinist.'
Getting somewhere.
>If being doomed to a life worse than mediocrity wasn’t bad enough, the worst is yet to come.
That is more things I would expect from a blurb.

So, I'd suggest removing the explanation of the magic system and MC's former life, because it isn't relevant and can be revealed over the course of the story.

Would change the entire blurb to something like:

>A new life awaited Rinaldo in the one place no one would think to look for him, the magical academy.
>However, on their first day, Rinaldo shatters every record by becoming the weakest class, a "Javelinist".
>keep the last paragraph unchanged "If being doomed to a life worse than mediocrity wasn’t bad enough, the worst is yet to come..."

Think that would pique more curiosity with fewer words. It would immediately ask, why is this MC hiding?

>>24453578
? I only see a handsome devil

>>24454077
>Repetition of the family name is unnecessary. Would change this to be vague.
Yeah, I thought so.
>You're painting him as passive off the start.
Actually, that's one of the parts of the query letter that other anons appreciated the most.
>This is very slowly getting somewhat, not bad.
>You have wasted reader's time with the previous sentences that are no longer prevalent.
The point of the opening is to show how the MC left behind everything a man could lust in life, in pursuit of something new. Faking his death means permanently severing ties with his past---there's no turning back.
>Magic and the third chapter.
Hehe...the magic system is vital to illustrating the elitist society that revolves around raw magical power.
>A new life awaited Rinaldo in the one place no one would think to look for him, the magical academy.
I know I'm nitpicking, but saying 'a new life awaited him' gives the wrong impression. He's the UNLUCKY antagonist, there is no deus ex machina paving the way for him.
>The weakest class.
Hehe...My system is more about stats than traditional classes. When I say 'weakest in history,' I mean his [STR], [DEX], etc. have literally the lowest amount ever recorded.

>Think that would pique more curiosity
WHAT ABOUT THIS?

Rinaldo had never asked to be the scion of the Di Mario Family, the current rulers of the wealthiest city on Earth. His dream was to live a peaceful life, spending his days reading books and playing with his little black cat. However, his surname attracted many enemies, and after yet another assassination attempt, he realized that wealth and power were not worth the stress. Thus, he faked his death, starting a new life in the one place no one would think to look for him—the Miraval Academy.

In that magical place, the heirs of the ruling caste that controls the Holy Rolandish Empire secure their place within elitist society by training in the power bestowed upon them by Chaos, becoming warrior-mages known as Essentias. However, a rigid hierarchy exists among them, dividing each Essentia according to their power---Class S are gods among men, destined to write glorious legends, while Class F are treated as human trash, their lives doomed to be nothing more than a pathetic joke.

There, on his first day of Academy, Rinaldo shatters every record by becoming the weakest Essentia in history---FFF-Class 'Javelinist.'

If being doomed to a life worse than mediocrity wasn’t bad enough, the worst is yet to come. Enduring the eccentricities of his fellow noble classmates, uncovering a millennia-old secret organization plotting to destabilize the world, and surviving a war between two superpowers—these events are just the beginning of the unlucky life of the soon-to-be antagonist of this tale.

UNDER 300 WORDS!!!

i did not make it past round 2 in the j-novel club contest
rip

>>24454421
:(

>>24454421
HUG

Wrote the second chapter today. In it, the main character congratulates the reader on making it past the difficult first chapter.

God, I love comedy and stupid stories.

Haven't checked RR for a while. Is LitRPG and Progression still king? Have they branched out beyond fantasy and school settings yet?

>>24454688
>Is LitRPG and Progression still king?
yes

>60% of my readers on wattpad are Nigerian scammers.

Is this the first step on the ladder to success?

Show me a great first chapter.

>>24454708
Here anon mine
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story/chapter/2339436/javelinist-part-one

>>24454421
I got one of my short stories rejected this morning
Stay strong, fren

>>24454710
yoyr images are all broken

>>24454854
FUCKING CATBOX WENT DOWN.

Now are all fixed!

>>24454889
catbox is always down, so much it may never be online, just use googledocs or imgur

Do you publish on multiple platforms in addition to Webnovel? Do you cross-upload onto Wattpad, Fictionpress, Royal Road, etc?

>>24454901
I’m going to look for a solution tomorrow.
For now, I’ve got to go back to wageslaving...
>>24454905
I’ve published my story on Wattpad (almost no views), ScribbleHub, and Royal Road.
I haven’t posted it on Webnovel since they don’t allow images in chapters.

>>24454905
I first posted on my neocities, then once I finished the story I posted to RR followed by Scribblehub and Spacebattles. it has 360 views on RR and interestingly 310 so far on SB. 80 on SH.

am i sloppin right?

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119992/sudo-denied

>>24454992
>School life tag
Instant Ctrl + W

>>24455037
nothing is even gonna be set at a school...

>>24455048
>Nothing is even gonna be set at a school...
Then why do you have the fucking tag you idiot sandwich

>>24455061
the mc is in highschool, none of the events the story follows happen at a school. Doesn't change that he's enrolled at one...

>>24454200
>WHAT ABOUT THIS?
I mean it is better, but I would remove the family name from it for the sake of brevity.
And I still think whole thing should be shorter.

>>24455065
So why do you have a "School life" tag? If it's not about school life at all?

>>24454992
>https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119992/sudo-denied
i only read a few sentences but this is painfully AI
in the very unlikely chance it isn't, you need to stop writing like you ripped this straight from a chatgpt prompt

>>24455351
It’s been deleted? WTF is going on?
What makes something seem AI? And is that bad? Haven’t some of the top slop stories been AI?

>>24455633
Are you the OP of it? He probably deleted himself. AI is allowed on RR if tagged
>What makes something seem AI?
Not all AI is obvious, but some of it is—like what that anon posted.
>Haven’t some of the top slop stories been AI?
I really doubt it. If so, they didn't use default chatgpt or claude or grok, because those have extremely obvious voices that people hate.
I know if you tinker around and use certain models, you can get passable prose. I wouldn't be surprised if some shit writers have squeaked by with middling levels of success
But "top stories"? No. Please link one if you disagree.

>>24454710
>fake quote
>lore dump
>”Let’s hope your new toy will be enough to avoid getting caught,” the young man winked at the ship’s pilot, who replied with a single stern glance.
That’s not how speech tags work. This is shit.

>>24455652
dialogue tags are truly the final boss of writing from what I've seen of /wg/ and this thread which is genuinely baffling because the rules aren't complex and you should have learned them just reading
anons...anons, you do read right?

>>24455652
Didn't see it. Zorry.
>fake quote
It's real

>>24455665
I've recently read the Dune books since 2023 and reading Iliad right now desu, planning on reading Odyssy and uncut Stranger in a Strange Land and Ramas eventually

>>24440187 (OP)
I have to say thanks to the anon who came up with /wng/ threads.
These have been great fun. I assumed these would just become /wg/ by any other name, but they made their own character.
Even if it just me and other two anons, it's fun. Meanwhile /wg/ is obsessed with AI witchhunting.

>>24453073
i read the first three chapters.
you overuse single quotations and it's mildly annoying. The job titles I can accept, but when nearly every single proper noun has them they start to lose all meaning. You don't need to do that, unless there is some deeper meaning to it that I haven't read yet, but there should be better ways to get that point across.

You are repetitive with word choice at times, and this is something that stands out to me and I attempt to avoid it in my own writing. For example;
"She looks like an older version of that Barbarian girl, but Miss Sinclair looks far more domesticated." - using "looks" twice here stands out.

I think you have good start for something interesting. The worldbuilding does drag on but that is what you advertised so I can't fault it and I'm autistic enough to enjoy it but others might not feel the same way. Them having emails was cute and silly. Keep up the good work.

>>24455754
>they made their own character.
Their own character of "how can I trick the goyim into paying me a few cents more?"

>>24456246
>Quotation
It was much worse in the original version, where I've put them in every single term connected to the worldbuilding. Now, I've applied the rule during their first instance or if the words appear in the end-of-chapter blog.
It seems, it ain't enough.
>Repetitions
I noticed them too. I'll fix them as soon as I get some free time from work, without disrupting my release schedule.
>Good work
Thanks, anon. If you can, leave a comment.

In three days, I'll finish the first part of the introduction. It's less focused on worldbuilding and more on the characters, so please take a look.

>>24446457
Haruhi Suzumiya did this for eight episodes. Look up "Endless Eight." It was a very popular story arc.

>>24440187 (OP)
How viable is it to post the rough drafts of my chapters to these sites as soon as I finish them and then put the full and edited version on Kindle later? Realistically my output is about a chapter a week, although my story is LitRPG adjacent. If I build an audience of ESL slop consumers, will they really pay money for a polished collected edition of something they have free access to?

>>24456546
Bad, very bad.

>>24440187 (OP)
I am incredibly unemployed right now, so some writing might be good, even is it just to fill a few hours of the day. I did start a substack years ago, but only made a post or two, and nothing came of it, of course. I think the best method may be to start writing chapters of slop and just firing it onto there. Your thoughts?

>>24455665
How to use dialog tags:
>"Blah blah blah blah blah," Captain Sassypants said.
"No, you blah!" said Booby McLove-Interest.

How not to use dialog tags:
>"Blah blah blah blah blah", Captain Sassypants said as he did several backflips over the canyon of Gugufraga, which is a lore dump, lore dump, lore dump, where only the boldest of protagonists do backflips.
"No! You blah"! retorted Booby McLove-Interest with great moist sphereoids of liquid sorrow pouring from her eyeholes as all her hate and anger and sadness and even a little horniness burst out from her heart with the intensity of a waterfall because, you see, she's actually a half vampire and now this dialog tag is going to become a fucking flashback of her dark and secret past...

>>24456552
I am skeptical of my ability to match the output of teenagers and Chinamen, but can you be more specific about why it's a bad idea?

>>24456600
Cause you called your book slop. It doesn't matter how stupid a premise may be, author ought to always take it seriously!

What are some good ways to improve my sentence structure, writing style and vocab? I aiming to try and learn to write like Jack Vance or REH.

>>24456662
you can know you're writing slop and still write it seriously

>>24456693
Can you fuck an ugly woman without loving her?

>>24456700
I can write slop knowing it's slop because I like slop. Same way I can enjoy a greasy burger and know it's bad for my health. Should I call it fine dining just cause I like the taste?

>>24456704
An unhealthy burger tastes good, or you wouldn't eat it otherwise.

Yeah, your story will not have perfect grammar or poetic prose, but holy shit, WRITE A DAMN GOOD BURGER!
Something so good it's gonna convert vegans.

>>24456568
>How not to use dialog tags:
Neither of those is wrong, though. it's so easy to get them wrong and you somehow failed even that

>>24456719
If that's what you wanna do, go for it. But I like my burgers greasy, not pretending to be fine dining.
I try to write good slop but it's still slop, and that's how I like it.

>>24456730
Bait?
Or you just didn't look closely

>>24455683
>Stranger in a Strange Land
I loved this in high school,once recommended.

>>24457668
and if (hopefully, when) you read it?
Remember I said this...
I hope you 'grok' it.
and? I will discorporate, if you don't.
(wink, born of fren-fondness)

>>24456730
Dialog tags tell you who's talking. That's it. Dialog tags are not for action or description. There's some debate about whether it's ok using dialog tags to also convey how it was said, but generally speaking they're supposed to be short and uninterruptive.

I seriously hope (you) didn't gave up writing that webnovel

>>24457753
68k words in. this one's gonna do numbers I can feel it

>>24451205
I'm the same anon that reviewed your blurb. I had no plans to read your stuff because the blurb was so unappealing, but I noticed you had an exceptionally low view count (49 or something), so I was curious what could possibly be the cause.
Only read the first half, but you are really overloading the readers with these terms, infodumps. Dialogue itself doesn't seem natural; every character speaks in these long sentences that only exist to expose.
I really think you ought to start slow and gradually unravel. I'm an autistic worldbuilder myself, so I get your passion to show off your stuff. But what you should understand is... How do I put this... Even if your story exists to explore the world, the worldbuilding should still act as the spice to the story, not as it's meant to.
Your story (from what I read) feels like trying to eat a stake, but you have poured a truckload of pepper on it, to the point where I can no longer taste the stake, only the pepper.
Just an idea, maybe you can set some formative event in Rinaldo's early life that paves the road for basic worldbuilding. Think that would avoid the pitfalls of overloading and give readers something to cling to.
Either way, I'm glad I read it for my own sake, so I can avoid similar issues.

>>24457790
he's been told by everyone that looks at his work that he's infodumping way too hard, but he ignores us and says it's intentional and the whole point. he's one of those people where feedback is pointless, because he responds to almost everything with "yeah it's intentional, it's gonna be kino, watch"
truly a helpless soul

>>24457753
i'm almost done

one of you anons blow up already so I can live vicariously through you

I really enjoy stories were a girl gets isekied into an otome game as it’s villianese. Part of me wants to write my own. My question is should I write it were she truly acts like a villianese, or do the stereotypical route were she’s actually a good girl?

>>24458031
What would (you) like to read? A good girl or a vilainess? Write that.

>>24458043
I've read so many be good girls at heart, a proper villianese who already got her bad end might be fun to write I suppose.

14 months progress.

If it weren't for the somewhat consistent views and the mostly enthusiastic reviews I'm not sure I would have stuck with it this long. Have thousands of pages of story to tell so won't be over any time soon.

>>24458162
huge flex, great numbers

>>24457790
I've already done everything you're suggesting in the next chapter. If you had read the comment below Chapter One, you'd know that I released the first three chapters all at once.
>Low views
100 views on the first chapter without an AI-generated cover or any advertising. I'd say that's pretty good.
>>24457794
I've taken the feedback from people here and made a lot of improvements. For example, the premise.
Also bro, samefagging is kinda pathetic.

>>24458162
How the fuck do I get more reviews without begging? Reviews give me a dopamine rush like nothing else.

>>24452737
But how else will you relate to the children (most of WN readers)?

>>24458261
>Also bro, samefagging is kinda pathetic.
who am I supposedly samefagging as?

>>24458303
Anon above.

>>24458305
we have completely different voices lmao. plus he was trying to be helpful I'm just tired of you

>>24458306
>Expert writer would samefag with the same voice
Lol
>helpful
Absolutely. I just love my baby too much to allow his way-too-harsh

>>24458308
kek I promise you I'm not him, not that it matters

^^^^^^^
Whichever one of you guys is the progenitor of the argument, I checked out your first chapter.
Exquisite cringe. Will read when drunk and probably find funny for reasons that should make you unhappy. Thx.

>>24458299
I used this:

And also please consider leaving a review (even if its a small one) it really helps the series.

It's a bit of a sales tactic to offer up an easy option instead of the hard work of an advanced review. So my readers do non-advanced reviews for the most part.

>>24456568
>calls her Booby McLove-Interest
>doesn't mention her breasts at all
0/10 please dedicate yourself to improving

>>24458261
>100 views on the first chapter without an AI-generated cover or any advertising. I'd say that's pretty good.
That's just standard.
I, too, got 100 views on first chapter, and my cover is just a very boring map, and I had no advertising either.
I think the way the site works is that it will automatically show the first chapter to 100 people, and if there is no engagement, it stops.
>released the first three chapters all at once.
Which itself seems like a mistake, considering your first chapter was like 4K words, putting it on the heavy side of chapters.
>I've already done everything you're suggesting in the next chapter.
Think it's too late, you should have done it earlier.

Is there any case where a magazine short story later got expanded by its writer into a web serial? One wonders about their literary adaptability for mass markets.

>>24458817
>Think it's too late, you should have done it earlier
There are far too many points that need to be revised in Anon's chapter. I'd start with revising the word count for the first chapter since it's wildly out of parameters for the platform he published. Even, two-thirds of the metaphors could have been trimmed down and the text would read both tighter and brighter. Not even attempting to be harsh here, just grounding the lack of reader attention to a basic principle that's being stubbornly overlooked.

>>24458817
> If there is no engagement, it stops.
>Too late
Of these 100, 60 continued. Good, I think.
>Bad choice
Lol nope. The real story starts in chapter 4.

regardless of how bad you think his story is I think he should keep writing and publishing it. Even if it is a failed attempt it is better to complete it and learn from the whole experience than stop as soon as one thing goes wrong. Get as many mistakes as you can out of the way before you start over.

>>24458867
Based anon, but my story is a masterpiece, nonetheless.

>>24458858
That is a fair point, but am I writing for myself or for a market X?
The reader won't get any carrot if he can't suffer a little bit.

>>24458817
>I think the way the site works is that it will automatically show the first chapter to 100 people, and if there is no engagement, it stops.
It's not fucking tiktok lol all you have to do is use the site to see this can't possibly be true. there is no 'feed' only lists like 'new releases' and 'trending' etc. there is nowhere for rr to magically show people fictions and determine if a story is getting traction
how do you people release your stories to a website that you don't even have a vague understanding of? i think the complete disregard for market research has to be why so many people fail

>>24458951
Think most views come from Newest Fictions

>>24458954
Most views come from Recent Updates. Which is why frequent releases is important
but newest fictions does give some traction at the start.

>>24458867
>Even if it is a failed attempt it is better to complete it and learn from the whole experience
>but my story is a masterpiece, nonetheless.
He isn't going to learn a thing lol. that was my point & why im tired of him
honestly i respect the autistic dedication and vision, I'm the same way, but the difference is I don't post asking for feedback. what is the point if you only concede minor irrelevant points and ignore the consistent major critiques everyone is giving?
go do your thing man but stop asking for feedback, you don't actually want it

>>24458958
>Most views come from Recent Updates. Which is why frequent releases is important
>but newest fictions does give some traction at the start.
on my WN site I posted my catalog on? New releases get you lots of idle views, quick. Then, every update is another lesser bumping up of stats. But, I ended up on the front page several times (once with two at once, yay) and I was wondering why I had a jump in stats? Till I didn't go to my dashboard, and learned to look at the front public page.

>>24459382
I mean, it was a minor thrill, to see a book cover of mine, on the "recommended" line. When I saw TWO at once on it? I screen capped that shit, trust me. Yeah, I felt like I was putting my little first grade artwork up on Mom's fridge screen capping it? But what the hell. Was a good feels day. If I knew what I know now, only a couple moths later... I would have gotten more of my catalog ready to go on it, and "released" a chapter from each in turns, every day. Its like a slight penalty for "dumping" a mostly finished book.

The first part of the introduction is officially all published. Thanks anons for the support!!!

>>24451205
>Minutes later, the boat stopped at an abandoned dock covered by vegetation that reigned supreme in the remote area of the southern-most island. ”We made it, Uncle! Thanks for the ride,” the passenger carefreely exclaimed as he slapped the pilot’s shoulder.
I think this sentence most encapsulates the problem I have with most of your prose.
Sorry but I find it unnatural and unappealing. The biggest issue for me besides unnatural dialogue was your habit of describing things as
>adjective noun
There are SIX such examples in ONE sentence:
>On the passenger seat of an expensive speedboat, clad in a reddish-brown wooden frame and powered by a cutting-edge magical engine, a young man casually reread his notes while a relaxing breeze was cooling down his worried mind and excited soul.
Not to mention the nonstandard formatting.

Read more classic fantasy and try to adjust your prose accordingly.

>>24459390
>Not to mention the nonstandard formatting.
>Read more classic fantasy and try to adjust your prose accordingly.
Ain't that AI-tier?
>was your habit of describing things as
>Read more classic fantasy
WTF ANON?!
>There are SIX such examples
Jokes aside, do you want me to show, not tell and double the length of the weakest part of my story, or cut it in half, destroying the atmosphere I’m trying to create?

>>24459407
nta. Why would you consider respected classical fantasy "AI-tier"?
In any case your prose is markedly worse than the average piece of published fantasy fiction, so even if you do consider it AI tier, it would be an upgrade to study and emulate it

>>24459432
But would I lose my voice in doing so?

Not any of the anons above, just wanting to say something about it; But I think most people here are too harsh about stuff getting posted (I did too with the tea server story someone posteda while ago), especially when pic rel got top of rising stars when the story was so bad I couldn't finish the second chapter.

>>24459439
>your prose is bad, improve it
>but then I would lose my voice
brother. wtf is wrong with you

>>24459444
The only reason people are harsh with this guy is because he's been doing the same routine in /wg/ for months.

>>24459444
I went and read the first few paragraphs and it's instantly better than what gets posted here though. Straight into action, a clear hook, the prose is simplistic digestible and readable (exactly what you want for RR)
hilariously it fails the dialogue punctuation test so I'm sure it's shit overall, but what gets posted here is reallyyyy rough most of the time. rather than blowing smoke up their ass, they should be told that
if you think something got critiqued with unnecessary harshness you should >> the post, I'm curious

>>24459457
Not going to reread it just to criticise, but my main hangups were with how heavy the lore dumps right at the start and the characters were supposedly professional yet acted like teenagers.
Which is a shame, because I love factorio and yet it was a letdown for me.

>>24459462
top of rising stars doesn't mean the story is good, especially when it's from an already established author that networked to get a bunch of shoutouts. he coasted on visibility but a 3.5k follower rising stars run isn't anything incredible. there's usually one or two a month, if not more.

but point being, it at least gets a few things right, and is exactly on-brand for RR. whereas stories here posted are usually both off-brand and not nearly good enough to make up for that fact

>>24459407
>Ain't that AI-tier?
Re: formatting, no. Conventions exist because they have been shown to ease reading.

Re: prose, great SFF prose can have some unique traits, the most standout being Tolkien and Herbert.
But what is usually meant by "AI-tier prose" is the workmanlike, grade school prose that has characterised many airport novels, typically American. Or chicklit. This has been criticised, often with good reason.
So sure, you can knock it all you like... but frankly at this point, your prose is below that standard.

>do you want me to show, not tell and double the length of the weakest part of my story
Actually, yes.
I was far more interested in the description of your fantasy speedboat, but you didn't describe it, you just adjective-nouned it away.
I was interested in what notes your protagonist felt he needed to bone up on so urgently, but you ignored it.
You TOLD me, in a series of THREE (3) adjective-noun combinations in the span of ELEVEN (11) words, that the breeze was relaxing your protagonist; his mind was worried over something; and his soul was excited over something.
There was no SHOWing here at all.

If I remember correctly, you subsequently told me why he was worried and excited, but I would have liked to read that at first rather than a series of adjective-nouns.
This is mainly a structural issue however, not a prose issue.
The prose issue is mainly lack of detailed description, which is a symptom of you trying to cram too much worldbuilding into much too few words.

To whit,
>or cut it in half, destroying the atmosphere I’m trying to create?
Actually, yes.
Your vision of the novel is probably more vast and grandiose than readers can follow in too few words.
You CAN eventually communicate your vast and grandiose universe to readers, but you need to do it in finer detail, otherwise it's frankly wasted.
It's as if you tried to convey the awesomeness of the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Notre Dame, and the Great Wall Of China into a single sentence, and then expecting me to be impressed.
>Great architectural achievements include the graceful Eiffel Tower, the stately Lady Liberty, the gothic Notre Dame, and the vast Wall.
Why should I be?
I've learned nothing about these things other than the adjectives attached.

Ditch the adjectives, ditch half (or more) of the things you're trying to describe, and spend the saved wordcount on telling me more about your Eiffel Tower.

>>24459439
Your voice is in what you talk about, not how you do it.
You could for example choose to write your entire novel and indeed speak to us in your own conlang, to preserve your voice as much as possible, but nobody will read it or communicate with you.
That's what you're essentially doing when you impose your own formatting standard on us.
Your choice.

>>24459485
>There was no SHOWing here at all.
>fantasy speedboat, but you didn't describe it, you just adjective-nouned it away.
I did show it::
>although the motorboat now racing across the water lacked a cheetah’s grace, the trail left by his hand was much wider than the boat’s.
>Then, Rinaldo stepped forward, and with each step, the sound of the motorboat faded—just three steps to complete silence.
>JR gave him the middle finger and drove toward the horizon with his motorboat, disappearing from view after just a few meters.
It seems like our mindsets are on two different planes. For me, fantasy is about how something works, for you, instead, it’s about how something looks.
I’m not insulting you. That’s just how I write.
>I was interested in what notes your protagonist felt he needed to bone up on so urgently,
Bro...
>Magic interconnects everything...etc.
That’s in the first fucking paragraph...Anon...I...
>that the breeze was relaxing your protagonist; his mind was worried over something; and his soul was excited over something.
Not directly stated, but if you combine his monologue with the notes---you do know why.
>The prose issue is mainly lack of detailed description, which is a symptom of you trying to cram too much worldbuilding into much too few words.
From everything you’re telling me, it’s clear that you want a painting, while I’m making a blueprint, one that the reader can color in with his imagination.
>It's as if you tried to convey the awesomeness.
I’m not doing that, not yet at least. In Chapter 10, I’ll do that with the Capital of the Holy Rolandish Empire. But I can’t just tell the reader---“This city is awesome, trust me bro"---without first explaining the economic reasons that make it be awesome.
>That's what you're essentially doing when you impose your own formatting standard on us.
Yeah, like Tolkien.

>>24459530
>I did show it
>our mindsets are on two different planes. For me, fantasy is about how something works, for you, instead, it’s about how something looks
is this bait? the problem here is literally the opposite
I want to know how your magical speedboat works. it would have been a good place to briefly introduce your magic system. instead you wrote about how it looks, and... that's it.

>That’s in the first fucking paragraph
It was too generic and read more like a blurb

>Not directly stated, but if you combine his monologue with the notes
I know, as I said above.

>it’s clear that you want a painting
Yes.
>while I’m making a blueprint, one that the reader can color in with his imagination
Bluntly, I'll tell you that most readers won't bother.

>I’m not doing that, not yet at least. In Chapter 10, I’ll do that with the Capital of the Holy Rolandish Empire. But I can’t just tell the reader---“This city is awesome, trust me bro"---without first explaining the economic reasons that make it be awesome.
I understand that.
However a brief and exciting introductory sentence (or two) here is necessary to engage interest. The art and craft of writing is choosing what to talk about that will do that.
Right now, I think you don't have that, so you tried to compensate by using a lot of adjective-noun phrases in quick succession.

>Yeah, like Tolkien
Format-wise, Tolkien's work is still published in conventional layout. It's Joyce who challenged that, and he's not quite as popular with the casual fiction crowd.

Prose-wise, Tolkien was referencing conventions that were familiar to readers, i.e. the Old Testament.

Also, the difference between a master and a tyro is that a master knows HOW to break conventions in a way that makes his writing better and more exciting, whereas a tyro who attempts the same makes mistakes and makes it worse.
A Nobel Prize-winning scientist breaks conventions and discovers a new chemical with great benefits for all mankind; someone less knowledgeable blows himself up.

>>24459565
>”Let’s hope your new toy will be enough to avoid getting caught.”
>I want to know how your magical speedboat works
>the sound of the motorboat faded—just three steps to complete silence.
>toward the horizon with his motorboat, disappearing from view after just a few meters.
Do you need more?
>It was too generic and read more like a blurb
LOL. Should I have rewritten the paragraph like it was in bible? You know---"thou shalt not infodump."
>Yes.
>Bluntly, I'll tell you that most readers won't bother.
Why should I write for that kind of reader?
>The art and craft of writing is choosing what to talk about that will do that.
>Right now, I think you don't have that, so you tried to compensate by using a lot of adjective-noun phrases in quick succession.
>However a brief and exciting introductory sentence (or two) here is necessary to engage interest.
Again, how does painting a “good” scene make a story unique to read?
Writing isn’t a performative competition.
What’s the scene actually about? It’s about introducing the protagonist. Who gives a shit about the boat? Who gives a shit about the city, which is made up of 36 islands so you couldn’t see all of it at once with a pair of human eyes over that boat.

None of what you’re asking me to describe is going to bait a reader.

>>24459600
Noted.

>>24459609
Again, sorry if it comes off like I’m getting mad, but you can’t apply conventional writing rules to what I’m doing here.
I’m just asking for the benefit of the doubt. Judge the whole, and not the first few paragraphs of Chapter One.

>>24459609
did you learn your lesson anon

>>24459639
Didn't learn anything really.

>>24459617
>I’m just asking for the benefit of the doubt.
You've already been given it.

>>24459457
>I went and read the first few paragraphs and it's instantly better than what gets posted here though
I'm going to make you regret those words anon, pinky finger promise!

>>24459444
>tea server
What is that?
Discord server where people discuss their tea preferences?

>>24459742
To be fair I mean mostly from a pacing and appeal standpoint. Some of the writing isn't bad but people here dont know how to start a web novel

>>24459390
Now that you mentioned those paragraphs kinda remind me of Eye of the Argon

>>24459795
someone posted a story about a person who serves tea. the critique wasn't even that harsh but he deleted the story lol. very sensitive ig, which means he shouldn't be posting to royalroad tbf. those tards are brutal and annoying, even more so than 4chan sometimes

>>24459800
possibly because they're common rookie mistakes

>>24459808
>>24459800
>Your prose is purple.
>Your prose is to short.
Absolute cope

I finished my first serialized work. It was never intended to be super long, since it's comedy, but it's 9 chapters of parody-harem and I'm happy with 7-8 of the 9 chapters.

Considering doing an actual web novel "endless power progression" type dealio where a "journeyman necromancer" who raises the dead for basic bullshit tasks gets turned into a lich from a deal with the devil made to try and save her family/town from Vikings, time jumps a few decades and goes on a rampage where her power scales with the number of undead she controls and results in necromancer-induced post-scarcity Renaissance society.

Would you read it, based on that premise? I generally write with a fixed start and end point for the outline, but figure I can drag that on to near infinity or at least several hundred thousand words.

>>24440187 (OP)
>Royalroad, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own
is one allowed to publish the same serial novel on multiple websites simultaneously?
fully disclosed of course

You niggas always, ALWAYS get baited by retards who just want free views instead of feedback
This is going to be the death of the general

>>24459934
Yes, of course. I've got my stuff publishing to Wattpad, Inkitt, RoyalRoad, and Substack all at the same time. Once you get a real following it's probably better to focus on one or two, but you can post to all the various options.

Speaking of, I keep seeing ads for Notd.id, anyone have experience with it?

>>24459955
Thanks

>>24459934
Yeah, but I don't recommend it. Each site has their own niches and caters to very different people.

>>24459934
It's not that you can't, but few people do nonetheless because if you don't post in the specific genre people like on that website, you'll get 0 comments and interaction and a tiny amount of views. Find out where your story belongs, if anywhere, and focus on that website

>>24459928
>Would you read it, based on that premise?
Yes, I would, so long as I encountered it through positive word-of-mouth
It seems on-brand for RR as well. Power fantasies and progressions do great there.

>>24459928
I don't read female protagonist works so no.

>>24459968
>>24459969
What site's good for war fiction?

>>24459985
Isn't one. So trad pub

Are RR readers okay with character-focused drama or are they mainly into progression, hype moments, and aura? Ideally I'd like to do both, but it feels like with trying to hit two genres it'll appeal to fans of neither.

>>24460021
i guess it depends on the sort of drama? wandering inn has plenty of character drama. im struggling to come up with more example though desu, it's definitely not prevalent on rr
from what I've heard of super supportive, I figure there's character drama. but haven't read
in any case both of those are obscenely massive, so there's a path forward, if a skinnier one

>>24459983
Tbh I go back and forth male and female. I'm a dude so probably should stick with male, but the whole "woman loses everything, revenge on world" trope is pretty strong. It literally doesn't matter to the story besides pronouns, liches are asexual.

do you think a classical chinese WN protagonist who murders an antagonist’s entire family down to the chickens and dogs unapologetically, and with the plot punishing the people who had the gall to disagree with him by either killing them, making them poor, or subjecting them to a fate worse than death will work on Royal Road?

>>24459985
None of them. You'll maybe get some views and followers, but as other anon said, it should be in the interest of driving readers to a trad (or self) published book. Post it serially for a while, then put the edited full version on KDP and stub it. And have all your posts tie back to an author website (WordPress) with a blog.

Wattpad is for smut. Royalroad is for endless progession power fantasies. Ao3 is for the same as royalroad but fanfiction setting. Substack is for AI written self-improvement and investment blogs.

>>24460087
>Ao3 is for the same as royalroad but fanfiction setting
ao3 is for ship fics and smut

>>24460169
>>24460169
>>24460169

>>24459992
>>24460087
Thanks for the very detailed advice