"Moonlight" edition

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'.

> Advice for Noobs!

Running your story like the business it is:
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/116847

On writing webserials:
https://alexanderwales.com/how-to-write-a-web-serial/

Sanderson's Writing lectures 2025:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEUh_y1IFZY&list=PLSH_xM-KC3ZvzkfVo_Dls0B5GiE2oMcLY

Alright, I took an anon’s advice on what to display in the advice section. Any further insight is welcome, but I might not always be the one to make the new general. The OOP clearly isn't going to make them every time. Since I was one of the few advocating for this in /wg/, I’ll try to make one every now and then.

On another note:

Curious how many of you recognize that image—and how many of you are new to the webnovel/serial space.

>>24513837 (OP)
First. I just broke this thread's hymen. She's all mine now.

>>24513847
Noooo. This thread is a slut. I cant believe she threw her first time away like that to such a loser.

>>24513837 (OP)
>>24513847
Cool, nice upgrades
I think a janny will probably nuke the thread with or without overzealous reporting though, none of the previous OPs with a foreign cover survived

>>24513912
So, Korean webnovels aren’t part of the discussion either. We’ll see then, but it’s not a Ln, and it’s not fanfiction either. That’s The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor — this thing literally caused the creation of RoyalRoad itself. It's a very important part of Webserial history,

And honestly, I didn’t know what cover to use. Next time, I guess we’ll stick to popular Western novels.

i am taking a break to try and get the backlog together again because my life went to shit. I've always struggled with consistency in writing, motivation comes and goes and it is hard to force myself to write, though having a deadline can help until I miss it. Then I don't know what to do.
anyway, you can have this, rotate her(or whatever else) in your mind.

4 chapters into Empress by JV Simms
It's cringe edgelord kino so far

>>24513928
>aren't part of the discussion
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to police anything and I think they should be part of in-thread discussion given their influence. I'm just wary of time being wasted with all the reporting and pruning last thread.

>>24513944
Crow and Rabbit anon?

>>24513982
Fair. We'll keep the covers western then.

>>24513944
This is why discipline needs to take priority over feelings. Personally, I'm time-constrained and spend a lot of effort trying to make sure I get things done within specific time slots. I've been using speech dictation to capture raw inspiration, because when it's actually time to write, I get tired. Might be the sugar, or the blue light from the screen.

But baby steps have helped me a lot, anon. I'm currently in a post burnout phase. Doing a sort of time trial, where I give myself 20 minutes per session and have to hit a set word count.

The slash indicates where I’m at:

+6 per session (Sessions 51–60)
156 /162 168 174 180 186 192 198 204 210

>>24514015
?
>>24514017
when i'm able to write I'm able to do 700-1000 words in a single session once a day. I never really kept track of how long it took, I'd just sit down at night and do it. Things got in the way of that and then I get thrown off. There was even a time I was doing that while also writing the second story.

>>24514038
NTA but the author of Crow and Rabbit hangs out here, probably that anon is fulfilling a pledge he made last thread:
>>24511117

>>24514107
to be fair I also assumed it was the author of crow and rabbit because of the redhead/strawberry blonde elf warrior chick

>>24514038
>>24514017
What do you have software with a per-session word counter? My dopamine is fried so having large visible progress metrics really helps.

>>24514162
i just highlight the part that I wrote that session. If I do editing of already written stuff I have no way of knowing what kind of progress I made.

how are older MCs received in the Webserial scene on RR? i enjoy writing MCs that look like stereotypical Chinese sages with long white hair, long white beards, apple-cheeked with more wrinkles than a brain on their features.

or, I also enjoy writing middle aged MCs who are past their prime, with bulging belly and fleshed out jowls, similar to Shakespeare's depiction of the justice.

I was worried this WNG was gone, I was off line for several days. I wish we had "this thread" but for trad-novels, but I just read here, and apply it to what i do. The last several books, I've been actively tamping down my chapter lengths. You web novel autists? Have got me into a 7k word chapters, on average now. I wonder two things...
1) first off. Anon with the priestess on the damn sled, and the bitchy roastie mother... post it! (bless this thread, is how I look at it. Its tradition!)
2) I'm the anon that wrote the sentence two anon's said they would copy and steal and use. The girl arched her back and giggled? I honestly meant it, when i wrote it... as a sort of over-the-top prose. Then? Yeah, found a place for it in the project I'm on now.

>>24514162
You shouldn't be looking at the word count at all. It's meaningful only to those sad sweatshop workers who get paid per word. The only thing that matters is if you managed to fully write the scene(s) you wanted to write or didn't.

>>24514491
Not him but I target a particular word count for chapters and as a measure of daily progress. Granted, I think I aimed for the wrong target for RR: chapters of 2-3k seem to be more common on hotter works than my own target of 1-2k, but starting out 1k was more of a challenge for me to hit.

My next story I'll aim for an average 2.5k words per chapter and see if that does a bit better.

(for the record I just use librewriter and have a little number at the bottom of the document with the word count that I update at the end of each writing session, which lets me confirm if I hit my target or not. then I move each chapter to its own file for editing so I can see how big the chapter itself is)

>>24513837 (OP)
I dont really read this type of shit but recently i got into reverend insanity and really enjoyed it. Is there anything else like it?

>>24514627
My goal is to have 10k words saved up prior to each new launch then write 750 each morning. Edit in the evening. At that pace I'm able to finish a 1.5k update every 3 days while slowly leeching off a stash that creates a *luxurious* buffer for break days and editing.

>>24513837 (OP)
New isekai concept:
>In Another World As Birth Giver
>MC is woman
>She is able to impregnate herself by touching other people
>When she becomes pregnant, she is able to give birth within 1 hour
>Her newborn baby is half-monster and matures within a hour
>MC builds an army my touching monster and then birthing an army
Potential?

>>24514676
>10k words saved up prior to each new launch
How long are your stories? 10k sounds like too little for a buffer imo.
>>24514708
>Isekai birthing demon lord: how I conquered the world by being mother to monsters

>>24514708
I'm sure it's someones fetish but it's not a new concept. Horde for one comes to mind, reborn as a Zerg Queen the MC lays eggs, lots and lots of eggs.

>>24514708
>ideaguy pitches [author's thinly disguised fetish]
lol
embrace the fetishistic nature and put it up on ao3. generic-fantasyslop-but-fetishized is not a unique premise and people do like it

>>24514676
That feels like too little of a backlog, but if it works for you, it works. Personally I'll randomly get these week long interruptions where I'm busy and can't write, so I intentionally limit my posting to about half a good week's output, and I keep at least 20 chapters in the backlog to cover it all.

>>24514659
Yeah, tons. Look up "cultivation" "xianxia" and "wuxia."

>>24514708
I mean, one of the best webnovels I've ever read is highly explicit erotic fiction about a niche fetish. It all depends on the execution.
But as a premise, it's too light to base a story on. What's the conflict? Why bother giving birth (painful, dangerous)? Is there a character arc? Is the setting interesting? If you remove the fetish, does the story still work? It basically becomes a monster creation/taming story. There are a few good ones to check out, especially in the Japanese LN space that started as WNs.

"It would be cool if there was a character with X power" isn't enough to make a story.

>>24514781
>one of the best webnovels I've ever read is highly explicit erotic fiction about a niche fetish
Name?

>>24514781
>one of the best webnovels I've ever read is highly explicit erotic fiction about a niche fetish
you've been workshopping blurbs for too long
I need to know

>>24514794
>you've been workshopping blurbs for too long
Huh? My blurbs suck. I need to work on them harder.

>>24514788
SISSEKAI: The Story of How I Became Trapped In A Virtual Reality Game And Turned Into A Sissy!
https://archive.transformativeworks.org/works/44275453
I'd put it at roughly the level of SAO, after it was professionally edited and published. SAO gets a lot of shit for being popular and having some cringe moments, but it is competently written and compelling. So is this. Obviously the content is a major turn off for, I would say, most readers, but I think the quality shines through.

>>24514808
>370,756 words
Bless the degenerates kek
Though, I don't think sissy/feminization is really that niche.

>>24514781
>What's the conflict?

>In MC's previous, life, they were infertile and locked in a loveless marriage
>Where their husband eventually beat her to death
>When she is reincarnated in another world (which is heavily patriarchal)
>She discovers her fertility tis he opposite in this world and wants to change it
>The only way she can (which is by birthing)

>>24514808
I say you workshop blurbs too much because you said something hooky that made me need to know more
>SISSEKAI
I was going to ask if you meant this but I didn't want to out my power level
brave anon

Prospective hfy anon from previous thread here, now fully comitted to making my Web Novel. Do any of you have any hfy rec's, or anything adjacent to it i.e. sci-fi's with a focus on human nature?

>>24514849
What is hfy?

>>24514814
degens seem unusually inclined to creativity
/d/ always has multiple threads dedicated to ideaguying and sharing creative ideas related to their respective fetishes
smut is the biggest literary industry
most coomers are passive consumers but a lot of them create

>>24514856
Humanity, fuck yeah. A sci-fi subgenre made populair in the mid 2010's internet were the central question is "what if humans were the predominantly powerfull and capable species in a sci-fi setting?"I would recommend looking up the early greentexts.

Here’s the list of stories written by /lit/izens. Let me know if I missed anyone https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/90003/city-of-flies
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/93931/born-under-a-black-sun
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/99616/superflux
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/117925/the-yellow-typhoon-and-the-final-waltz
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/63818/the-crow-and-the-rabbit
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/94240/an-ordeal-of-frost
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118792/shattered-pantheon
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/84799/archetype-slowburn-superhero-progression
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119135/transmigrated-as-a-mech-i-now-fight-kaiju
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118610/what-do-you-mean-im-the-viziers-tea-boy
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/51796/a-hero-among-monsters
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/107337/fist-of-the-starspawn-dragon/chapter/2093822/what-the-dragons-found-below-the-ice
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/90496/the-maid-is-not-dead

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/8894/everybody-loves-large-chests
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/100713/a-phone-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/98215/hexenjager/chapter/1896197/cloven-cavalcade
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/100081/leoyshaah-arch-empress
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/98215/hexenjager/chapter/1896197/cloven-cavalcade
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/94854/rogue-razor
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/93215/strangers-fate
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/86931/symposium-alternate-a-multiverse-isekai

>>24514871
scary...

>>24514871
>>24514872
Yep, I was included even when I shared my story in /ssfg/ and not here.
Guess I got my first stalker kek

>>24514871
Actually the large chests one might just be some guy who keeps shilling it, not the author himself

>>24514714
>>24514781
How much backlog would you recommend?

>>24514876
I love you

>>24514883
If you want to play the Royal road meta, at least one chapter a day for at least a week or two + half a dozen for the first day, so ~20 chapters before even mounting a backlog.
Usually authors keep 1 to 3 weeks worth of backlog that they let people read on advance using patreon, so it depends on how frequent your releases are.
Basically, at least half your first book should be ready by the time you release.

>>24514871
Thank you

>>24514896
I love Emilia

>>24514896
back off. he's mine

>>24514871
Few more
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/78756/reforged-from-ruin-eldritch-xianxia-cultivation
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/64396/petrovas-rifles
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/52516/resonator
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/55012/almas-dreams-are-default
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61924/the-dragon-and-the-author
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/60134/operation-black-eclipse

>>24514897
How much chapter posting per week after the first week? Is two per week too little?

>>24514911
*too few, srry

>>24514911
Depends on the length, two per week is fine if they are at least ~1.5k words each, though long chapters can scare away readers, so don't go above 5k. Some say that consistent releases are more important though, so prioritize at least having one chapter a week.

Too many spaces, anon

>>24514952
I hope she sees this bro

>>24514952
not the author but I noticed when looking at my chapters line breaks display differently on the website vs on the mobile app, if they are formatting it to display properly on mobile it will have like twice as many line breaks when you look at it on the website.

so the difference between this and more traditional novel writing is that it can be more pulpy or weird without having to worry about "mainstream appeal" or whatever?

>>24514971
the biggest difference is that you don't have to go through a publisher who wants a safe, predictable investment
you can write whatever you want and just post it up

>>24514971
Traditional publishing has calcified into three things
>YA
>Romance
>"Artful" high literature
With WNs you can write outside of that.

>>24514971
If you want it to get popular you probably need to have short chapters and a consistent posting schedule and some weeb bait like a harem or power scaling. But I don't do that shit and still have a hundred or so followers

>>24514971
I feel that's an incidental difference rather than a defining difference.

But I knew I could not let myself grow weak. Spring would come one day, and with it a whole lot of work. I mulled over in my head the tasks before me.
Not only do I have to till the earth, but most importantly I have to go mining to make new and strong metal tools for everyone, including weapons and armor. I have to repair the bridge and maintain the house. I have to renovate and expand the house for the new arrivals. I have to build large waterwheels and windmills for irrigation, flour production, metal processing, and papermaking. I have to find an animal or plant whose fiber can be used to make durable clothes abundantly and reliably; and once I do, I have to build a spinning wheel and a loom. I have to build water wells, ponds, reservoirs, and cisterns, for when drought inevitably strikes. I have to domesticate and artificially breed different varieties of livestock and plants, in case a devastating disease threatens to exterminate our current assortment. Probably other things too that I cannot think of right now.
The road ahead is long and arduous, and yet this is but the very beginning, the basic building blocks of the civilization my children will inherit and enjoy.
And the very first step in this long and arduous road, is to keep myself healthy and strong--which is why I cannot just lie back and do nothing. That is why I insisted they let me at the very least split the firewood and remove the heavy mountains of snow, along some other heavy tasks.
And they gave in surprisingly quickly, though I soon realized why: they enjoyed seeing my half-naked body and its gorgeous muscles glistening with sweat and flush. In fact, they would often dispute their tasks and schedules just so they could have time to watch me work. I could often hear their sighs and giggles and laughs, and see their big smiles and shiny eyes and red cheecks from afar.
What can I say? Adorable. My wives, all of them.
And then, at long last...

>>24515055
>>24514791
>>24514013 (You)
So you seem to think this is about religious groups or American protestants during the conquest of America. That's not it. I'll tell you the idea behind it in case you and other anons are interested, because I think it's a cool concept.
So the idea is that the MC gets isekai'd by a god so that he creates a modern civilization in a primitive stone-age world (like Dr Stone). He will be "reborn among the children of men" until a sufficiently advanced civilization is achieved.
At first the MC is a goody-two-shoes virtue-signalling modern person, so when a group of different-colored men comes into the village, he gladly accepts them despite everyone else's warnings, because doing otherwise would have been le heckin racism or something. Due to the new guests and their lack of impulse control, food starts running low, so MC imposes a food rationing; and this, of course, causes the engineers and doctors to snap in the middle of the night while everyone is most vulnerable. Everyone gets murdered except for some women and a few children. Then MC becomes a turbonazi and uses his technological knowledge to genocide all the subhumans, and vows to help his people (the survivors) thrive.
Which takes us to the excerpt and his thoughts.
>arrogant
I imagine you think the MC sounds arrogant because he says "I have to do this and this and this MYSELF". The reason is that he LITERALLY has to do it himself, not only because he's the only one who knows how to, but because he's the only man available--moreover, the women are pregnant with his children because, being the only man available, they throw themselves all over him (that's what "new arrivals" refers to).
Personally I think it's a pretty cool concept. I've been bemusing myself with the idea, and I just decided to write that excerpt because I was daydreaming about it.
Nothing else. No need for you to get triggered over muh mormons and shieeet.
>>24514898
Ah that's cool. You still need to mention it, though. It doesn't have to be long flowery language since it's a preface / introductory passage, but something succint yet abstract such as "all things of the world and also what can only be described as beyond", etc.

How feasible is it to use a bait-and-switch (political) theme in a story published on these sites? Has anyone managed to achieve something like having a black trans protagonist and gradually conveying a message that contradicts the implicit morality of someone who likes stories with black trans protagonists?

>>24515074
The problem with this sort of thing is that you end up appealing to no one

>>24515074
i think the best way to go about this is to set up two sides and have the protagonist be on the side you don't like and make them offer arguments that aren't entirely nonsensical but just poorly thought out enough that people will see it as wrong without thinking that you, the author, are doing it intentionally. However this will also make you look 1. stupid 2. on the side you dislike, trying to defend it poorly.

>>24513837 (OP)
my brain has been broken. I cannot read anything that doesn't have an rpg system anymore.

>>24515074
what would be the point of appealing to an ideologue and then shitting on their ideology?
unless you take a compassionate angle and are actually trying to convey an important lesson, being antagonistic and alienating to the only readers you'd attract seems like a pointless exercise in trying to pwn someone

>>24514971
the difference is that you can be successful while writing like a 10 year old.

>>24514980
you don't have to go through a publisher traditionally either

>>24515169
getting past censors

I really can't stand the ESLbro

>>24515275
...is this from multiple different threads?
did you make an RSS to fetch posts with bro in it? what is this?

>>24514985
>>24514990
my story is just really weird, esoteric-fantasy with light shounen elements but not quite power scaling until later down the line and even then it's not really a focus, it's more like superhero themes than anime stuff at a point. i just don't see it having a traditional audience so i look at traditional novel writing communities and no one is doing anything remotely close to what i'm doing, even if the broad advice about writing itself can be helpful.

it's definitely puply/schlocky (but self aware) in a way that probably fits better here than alongside the usual YAslop.

>>24515275
99% sure this guy is the Unlucky Antagonist poster

>>24515284
Oh, ESLbro definitely is. He shits up a lot of other threads on the board too
>>24515280
Yeah that’s what I did

>>24515286
is he why /lit/ is unusable atm?

>>24515287
Well you can tell from his pen name “kino-man” that he’s a /tv/ refugee, so

>>24515286
what a strange thing to do

>>24515275
>>24515284
>>24515286
>>24515287
FAKE NEWS!!!
It's pathetic that you're trying to link me to an obvious troll just to stainmy name and reputation.
Also, you stupid anon, you've just given me a reason to post my link again. LOL
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story

>>24515299
Find a different buzzword to spam, third worldie

>>24515292
I'm Kino-man because I'm a man who writes kino

>>24515301
>thinks anyone using a common word (which is even more common in the local culture) must be one person
bro? your mental illness?

>>24515305
>>24515306
Doesn't help that you use bro in your writing as well, ESLbro. Because your posts are very easy to spot, I think you should work on being nicer to other people in the thread.

>>24515315
>The bro-tier character uses the word 'bro?'
Shocking.
Anyway, accusing me without any proof isn’t going to make me play nice.

>>24515315
bro, that's not me bro

>>24515299
at least you got a non-ugly cover to spam now

bro, stop dissin' my little bro kinoman

Indians btfo hard today

>>24515326
Yes! If cover-anon is here, HUG BRO!!! I love you!!!
>>24515330
Thanks, big bro.

gonna start adding bro to all my posts just to trigger our resident schizo

>>24515331
Nah, it’s eastern Europeans and Mexicans who use bro

>>24515345
fucking everyone uses bro you retards

Bros, what's going on with schizo-bro?

what's the point of this witch hunt? FFF class isn't to my taste either but his once-a-thread hustling is reasonable
+ if his calling card had been "brethren" or "chumbos" or whatever, then maybe the detective work would make sense but "bro" is flimsy evidence. it could be anybody

>>24515275
But I'm ESL...

>>24515350
It’s one person on /lit/ who uses bro, for the most part. He’s a newcomer to the board, migrated from /tv/, is always lurking (as can be seen with how fast he responded), and yeah, he’s basically retarded/underage. Here and on /wg/ you can find him getting into fights because he doesn't have the best reading comprehension and often misunderstands what other people are trying to say.

>>24515364
in the web novel scene ESLs unironically gap EFLs. primal hunter, mother of learning, mecanimus, void herald just off the top of my head

>>24515370
>It’s one person on /lit/ who uses bro, for the most part.
no, it is not, you genuine schizophrenic

>>24515364
/wng/ is a safe haven for ESLs. the entire culture is built on them
this guy having a schizophrenic episode over this boogeyman of his is probably some tourist wandered in
you're fine ESL-bro

>>24515370
This is a Spanish Inquisition-tier accusation.
First of all, in which thread did this troll anon even post?
I've only posted in the Writing General and here.

Also, should I have migrated from /tv/ just for using a word that's basically colonized the entire internet by now?

>>24515382
Check warosu. Every bro post in here and /wg/ is written in the same style, and is often some guy who is confused and gets aggressive for no reason. Farther back you can see he also AI generates a lot of pepe the frogs

>>24515376
>>24515390

>>24515396
bro I've been using bro in /wg/ for years and I'm too shy to post anything I write
you are mentally ill

Oh fuckin A, kino man’s posts in the RR forum have bro in them as well. Yeah, I'm thinking jackpot. ESLbro, know that I am monitoring you and you will be nicer going forward.

>>24515415
Ahem... so, is this my first die-hard fan?

>>24515415
can you use a trip or come up with your own calling card? I want to know it's you whenever you make a post so I have the context that it's coming from someone very unwell

>>24515342
glad you like it, bro
the rest is on you — good luck

>>24515415
>>24515426
Stalking someone online is more psychopathic, seek medication before you obsess over someone.

>>24515428
I know, and be ready. If I ever hit 100k views, I'm commissioning you for some juicy art(If you want, of course).

>>24515440
>medication…. GOOD!
Now you’re just being obtuse

>>24515443
For you its mandatory to continue your medication, for the rest of us sane people nah, its bad. Only psychopaths like you need meds or the ones that work for feds.

>>24515428
You made this? If so, the rest of the stuff on your artstation is really good too

>>24515440
I just want to know what posts to immediately ignore
>don't get baited by stupid posts
I'm only human. it's easier knowing there's someone with crippling schizophrenia on the other side

>>24514491
>>>24514162
>You shouldn't be looking at the word count at all. It's meaningful only to those sad sweatshop workers who get paid per word. The only thing that matters is if you managed to fully write the scene(s) you wanted to write or didn't.
techniclly speaking, the chapters will be as long, or as short, as they need to be. Making something longer, just becuase? Can lead to... fluff. And shortening things, without good reason? it could be bad.
>
that said, I've come to realize. this WN genre... worships little 1K 2k chapters.

>>24514627
>(for the record I just use librewriter and have a little number at the bottom of the document with the word count that I
another LINUX user. Welcome, fren.
I actually use XED (standard WP) for rough draft. I only go LIBRE to generate a PDF and have covers and illustrations.

>>24515441
i'm not the/an artist haha just a procrastinating writer who likes typography and graphic design. your cover isn't a professional job by any means but hopefully it serves you well

>>24515454
no no, that isn't me. I sometimes just post art I find inspiring for good vibes in-thread
i think she's a vidya concept artist

>>24515463
>this WN genre... worships little 1K 2k chapters.
more of a medium than a genre
and this isn't exactly true either
I think there's a ratio of posting frequency and chapter length that people appreciate. faster releases lend themselves to shorter chapters. longer releases lend themselves to longer chapters
it's a surface level overview but I don't really see the whole picture. I suspect there's some unity of writing sensibilities which informs the release schedule and chapter length (writers who have slow releases write stories which lend to long chapters, and vice versa) but I'm not sure
regardless, there's success stories and loved examples of both. don't get in your head about it too much

>>24515459
Do you know how schizo you currently sound yourself?

>>24515481
>your cover isn't a professional job
You are literally a lone wandering samurai, visiting internet villages to help the poor farmers.

>>24515489
no. elaborate
what's wrong with wanting to know someone yanking my chain or saying insane stuff is a known actor who does it to everyone
I wouldn't care to actually stalk someone to find out, I just want the convenience of them outing themself

I pace each of my chapters like half an episode of anime

>>24514906
>https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/78756/reforged-from-ruin-eldritch-xianxia-cultivation
this is an anon's work?

>>24515463
I arbitrarily think 1600-2400 words per chapter is a good range. If I fall somewhere within it I'm feelin' good

>>24515440
>>24515459
>>24515489
>>24515495
see, this is what I'm talking about. Both of you called me schizo but confused the replies, and now you two are arguing with each other for no reason. ESLbro is not good at reading comprehension

>feel the urge to reply to a stupid post
>remind myself they're schizophrenic
>urge disappears
it works

>>24515169
>>>24515074
>what would be the point of appealing to an ideologue and then shitting on their ideology?
>unless you take a compassionate angle and are actually trying to convey an important lesson, being antagonistic and alienating to the only readers you'd attract seems like a pointless exercise in trying to pwn someone

I go through this. I'm trying to incorporate specific elements into all my writing projects, the last several years. One, is strong female characters. Without going super-woman and being a trope. I had one running gay female character, but I don't glorify LGBT in any way. Its not fedora tipping to me, but I want *something* to offer the hordes of centrists and mild-lefties. I specifically don't want to alienate conservative readers, and they get their little nods here and there. But I refuse to "woke" the entire books. I'm making mostly crime-noirs! Not pride parades!

>>24514830
The benefits of anonymity. Who cares what Anonymous on 4chan.org reads?

>>24515463
>that said, I've come to realize. this WN genre... worships little 1K 2k chapters.
It's a consequence of public education for the last couple centuries, mainly, but readers today lack the attention span to focus on reading for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. If they have to stop without finishing even a single chapter, they feel put out and stupid. If they finish A WHOLE CHAPTER, they feel accomplished and smart. So shorter chapters are in higher demand and recommended by writing gurus.

>>24515324
>bro, that's not me bro
this is getting dude-where's-my-car tiers, of silly.
he thinks...o0O(How am i entertained? Yet I am)

>>24515344
>gonna start adding bro to all my posts just to trigger our resident schizo
can I spam my genre-slop covers, too?
I wanna be one of the cool kids.

>>24515421
>>>24515415
>Ahem... so, is this my first die-hard fan?
When I post? I kind of have my own personal cheerleader, I call him my "number one fan". Its a torrent of hateful spiteful shit, like a 10 year old girl. I figure I must be half decent, to get me living in his head, rent free.

>>24515283
That's all sounding great tho—
>(but self aware)
JFC kill it with fire.

>>24515440
>Stalking someone online is more psychopathic, seek medication before you obsess over someone.
I might consider that a fan, LMAO.

>>24515558
>>>24515463 (You)
>>that said, I've come to realize. this WN genre... worships little 1K 2k chapters.
>It's a consequence of public education for the last couple centuries, mainly, but readers today lack the attention span to focus on reading for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. If they have to stop without finishing even a single chapter, they feel put out and stupid. If they finish A WHOLE CHAPTER, they feel accomplished and smart. So shorter chapters are in higher demand and recommended by writing gurus.

Oh shit. LMAO.
I grew up in a "reading household". WHile my parents didn't read anymore, they DID read up until about 30-ish. Hence, there were stacks of old paperbacks from yesteryear. Grandpa's basement, had even older reams of paperbacks.
>
I developed an appreciation, for what a paperback fiction... was.
I saw how it changed...
"woke" speeches, obviously dropped in.
Then casts of ultra-woke characters. Just, silly.
How can there NOT be people out there, that might like...
a crime-noir, hardboil, under 100k, traditional fiction from the period's heyday, just updated to be set in modern day.
I'm just being "normal".
I figure crime-noir can always come back anytime.
It has sex and crime/violence, as almost compulsory elements.
Giving decent characters, what's wrong with what I call quality genre slop.
When people say... I only books older than year X.
I hear, they want books like mine.
a regular genre book, no woke speeches dropped in, no woke characters being silly.

>>24515627
anon you seriously need to learn how commas work

>>24515627
okay you're just playing a character now

>proof copy arrives
>cover looks great
>margins and formatting look great
>open to random page
>IMMEDIATELY spot a typo
>aw fucking hell
>run spell check intentionally
>find like ten more that I didn't catch after three days of proof-reading
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It's done now though. First edition is a go! Gonna order a bunch of author copies and hopefully sell them all at SDCC.

Of course this is right after I get a review telling me to rewrite the first half. Oh well!

>>24515641
ganbatte anon
not gonna post a pic of how they turned out?

>>24515627
Yeah this insane, ESLbro

>>24515641
>proof copy arrives
Hell yeah!
>IMMEDIATELY spot a typo
Hell no!
Congrats!
>hopefully sell them all at SDCC.
Wishing you good luck, hope it sells well!

>>24515627
>When people say... I only books older than year X.
>I hear, they want books like mine.
>a regular genre book, no woke speeches dropped in, no woke characters being silly.
There is that, and also a desire to only spend their precious life time on reading "the classics,", which is just shorthand for the best. Why read anything before 1900, when if you know of anything from prior to then, you by default know that it has some merit, to be remembered and discussed 125+ years later. So it's also a filter. But yeah, you're partially right. I remember reading The Hardy Boys growing up, which was formulaic as hell, but was also entertaining as hell especially as a ten year old boy with a bicycle and a lack of helicopter parents.

Thoughts on Shadow Slave?

>>24515658
Thank you!

>>24515645
Ganbarimasu! I'm one of those paranoid anons who doesn't want 4chan posts linked to professional work, even in the slightest. I will say though my decision to use 0.6 inch gutter margin settings, with 0.5 inch outer margins for each page (for an inner margin of 1.1 inches) was utterly perfect. It's a 6in x 9in book, 15/16th inches thick, so it has a good heft to it. I think people will see it and flip through it and realize it's a good amount of text for $20. I know it's an ambitious price but I figure signed by the author, sold at a convention, and no need to fiddle with change will make it an appealing price. I can always let myself be haggled down, they cost under $6 to print).

Since books 2 and 3 will be thicker, the entire paperback set will be a nice 4-5 inches on a shelf.

>>24515586
not like Marvel where everyone's quipping i just mean i know i'm not making something highbrow for a sophisticated audience or anything, i'm not pretentious

>>24515641
Hey I remember your post, hope you're feeling less rushed. So you stuck with Amazon or did you find a different print service?

>>24515673
it was aight. i skim read most of it, it's one of those serials where it's just pointless fighting for huge blocks of the story. but it has some interesting ideas

>>24515673
no hate but I would have loved reading it when I was 13. Feels like the emo version of a percy jackson series.

that being said, the author has made it boring by separating the trio and it's been boring ever since.

glad the author is succeeding tho. would've liked his work to be on patreon but he's russian so he can't get payments from them so he's stuck with hellnovel

>>24515692
Yeah, I feel much better. I stuck with Amazon; the printing process was faster than expected, just two days to get the proof copy, so now I just have to wait for the listing to go live and I can order my author copies, and they should be here in a similar timeframe, maybe another day or two. Plenty of time before I have to leave. My author buddy who used them previously had a worse time of it when he did the process, he fucked up his margins and I guess where he lived the shipping took longer, so he spent a month going back and forth on proof copies. I guess I got lucky getting my formatting right pretty much on the first shot.

I really should have done this two months in advance, rather than getting seriously working on it a month before the actual convention. Next year will be way more chill.

Man, maybe this is a common complaint but what the fuck is with Asian power fantasy web novels where the MC gets some OP abilities that no one else in the world could possibly get, and then when they beat people who've been training their whole lives they just go
>In the end, the difference between us... was resolve. If you just trained harder maybe you could've beat me......
Like, fuck off, who the hell is this supposed to appeal to?

>>24516042
asians apparently

>>24516043

>>24516042
It's just aura-farming.
Which is just a social power fantasy, where you have a higher position in society (after beating someone and also displaying physical dominance), so you get to harass/bully/criticize your inferiors and not only get away with it, but get praised for it. Typical symptom of over-socialization: it's not enough to be the best, there has to be a hierarchy and one has to be at the top and one must oppress the lowers to satisfy sadistic urges (which arise from being bullied at a lower level prior to rising above). The opposite is something like Superman, who is objectively the best, but lives humbly and in fact serves others due to his powers, rather than asserting his dominance and demanding tribute.

The psychology of it is fairly grim. I believe The Last Psychiatrist wrote about it tangentially, but really you want to read Kaczynski.

>>24513837 (OP)
Why does every Chinese webnovel feature Gary/Mary Sues?
You would think, based on the knife fight of living in a developing country of 1.5 billions of people, that they'd identify with strugglers more than Golden-Core-Inheritance nepo babys, but that's never the case. Its always OP mc from the very first word.

It doesn't even make sense ulturally, their classic /lit/ is all about fallen gary stues like Monkey or homeless guys living in the woods plotting revolution against the excesses of the officials.

>>24516240
Wish fulfillment power fantasy combined with a lack of belief that people can reach a station in life beyond where they were born (Confucianism). They identify with the OP character not by seeing him actually grow from their position to power, but by being SECRETLY powerful and looked down on, then revealing their power and aura farming.

It's why the mcdonalds cultivator goes in and attempts to order discreetly, only revealing his powerlevel when scorned. You don't just come in with the Big Mac meal supersized aura to start.

>>24516240
In a world where the result is the only thing that matters and not the process of getting there, the Chinese web novel authors have surmised correctly that the average reader today does not care about the MC's growth and struggles and challenges as he overcomes his flaws, but instead how big and strong he becomes at the end. You can cut out all that boring character growth stuff and give the people what they really want by immediately making them super strong and super cool and also he has tons of hot bitches and everyone respects him and the ones who don't die horribly and I would totally be just like him if I were in his place.

>>24516240
>bleak wagie life in dragonland
>read escapism that makes them feel special, empowered, and strong
>inspired
>works even harder for winnie in the Big 25
simple as

>>24516131
>so you get to harass/bully/criticize your inferiors and not only get away with it, but get praised for it
It's weird to me because sometimes the MC is portrayed as a regular boring shonen character who's supposed to be a good, optimistic character and is spouting this stuff in a genuine sense, rather than a spiteful sense like how you seem to be suggesting.
I don't know, maybe I'm just not enough of a normalfag. Even if I don't like them it's easier for me to understand the revenge power fantasy morality of ruining the lives of people who hurt you.
>The opposite is something like Superman
It's funny because you're right, but it feels like some power fantasies are inspired by Superman at a base level. An MC who always does the right thing and tries to help others no matter what problem they have, while also staying humble. Of course, the power fantasy "humility" is a false one, and they're always rewarded a thousand times over for their good deeds. I guess it's like comparing the story of a man becoming a god with the story of a god who's also a man.
>>24516240
I've utterly given up on trying to understand the appeal of most Chinese media, it's just too culturally incompatible with me.

>>24516240
>>24516042
The Thing with the Asian mindset is that it worships The Grind™ but also considers anything except complete physical, financial, moral, political and spiritual victory to be a fail state.
This is massively reinforced by mothers and grandmothers.
AMWF relationships are rare but surprisingly stable because the foulest white woman moment is trivial compared to what your average asian grandma tends to spout because these bitches are just never happy.
Also Journey to the West is a bad yardstick. It's very entertaining but it's absolutely flagrant brainwashing. Just Buddhist brainwashing. But still as much brainwashing as your average colonial story about white missionary doctors epically pwning cannibals in africa or Your average /co/ show.

>>24513837 (OP)
I'm looking novels that are somewhat like:
-Grimgar of fantasy and ash.
-The Lord of Mysteries.
Also, i doubt it, but i want to know if anyone has an english translation of the "Janitor san is not a hero" novel.

>>24516548
Try ours
>>24514871
>>24514906

>>24514985
To add to this I think it's important that authors start to venture outside the isekai and power fantasy stuff. Self publishing webnovels is the way of the future just like it was for music.

Right now new readers come mainly from the weeb pipeline (anime->manga->ln->korean/chinese wns->english wns) and genres catering to them are the most popular (like isekais, wuxia, power fantasies). If authors don't take the leap and write others genres it'll probably stay that way.

It's probably the kind of literature that can make more men read again since the things they want to read isn't discriminated against and people can write whatever they want without some dei-hire gatekeeping.

Are transgressive ad campaigns on RR worth it? I was thinking of making an ad saying "CHOOSE" showing an image with two open doors:
>left door with "SLOP" above a generic greenery land with fantasy waifus
>right door with "(my novel's title)" above a grimdark landscape with a shadowy broker
While my story honestly leans against the former's tropes, I figure something as meta-provocative as that could draw in as many 5* ratings from avid readers as 0.5* ratings from ragebaited trolls, so I'm still assessing whether it would be effective do it with this idea (feel free to try out) or not.

>>24516240
The Greek classics all have giga stoic chads who did their shit and it's fucking good. Only modernists obsess over retarded mundane shit.

>>24516653
Issue is that Chinese protagonists are not greek chads with distinctive mythos backing their strength, just an average vindictive LoL player given godlike powers

>>24514871
THREE of these anons got spooked and deleted their stories
two more kept the story pages up but privated all chapters

>>24514872
scary indeed...

>>24516672
Some of these anons like the 'Cloven Calvacade" author very likely gave up on their story if we are to follow his last thread woe'ing the lack of reader engagement. Sad
>https://www.reddit.com/r/royalroad/comments/1h1ggbx/is_rr_the_wrong_platform_for_my_story/

>>24516686
The ones that give up and don't finish won't make it. I read the author of The Lord of Mysteries first work, that Arcana thing. It was shit and filled with cliches and really felt like it was his first work, but he finished it and took what he learnt and wrote both Lord of the mysteries and Embers ad infinitum, which are both top slop of webnovels.

>>24516686
FFF-Class author here.
For the sake of my story, I created a...God forgive me...Reddit account. However, I got shadowbanned the moment I posted my story link in the LitRPG subreddit.

Does anyone know how to post a story link without getting banned?

>>24515641
I always go through my author copy with a marking pen. Some things you just can't see until it's in print. Not only typos, but poor word choices, missing words, and stuff that spellcheckers won't flag.

>>24516696
Reddit is shit for creators, you have to promote in roundabout ways. You can't post things you've made yourself if it isn't porn or some reddit shit. If it's art you have to have an active account posting for example art (not your own shit but others) and then you post your own stuff but have to pretend it isn't yours etc. Typical reddit faggotry, you can also pm users and ask them to post your stuff. I've done that with music with luck.

>>24514971
The difference is you need 200x more mainstream appeal and blatant pandering to be successful. Trad publishers sometimes take weird shit just in the name of culture.

>>24516711
If you don't crack down on that shit, soon every page on the internet is full of desperate beggars oh wait they already are

>>24516711
Thanks anon, I'm going to beg my readers to do that in my next chapter.

>>24516711
making it harder to shill shit is mostly a good thing
the main reason it isn't a problem here is because 4chan's entire existence is toxic to advertisers. imagine if half the board was random redditors whove never even lurked just popping in to link their latest litrpg volume on kindle unlimited hoping to make a buck

>>24516723
NTA but yes even if it creates a closed system the shadowban given to ready-made accounts prevents potential jeet litrpg takeovers. In theory anon could get a known user to post I his stead, but the story would have to be sufficiently good not to tank that user's acclaim in the community

>>24516723
I concur, the problem almost all creatives have, irregardless of if it's writing, art or music is that they suck tremendously at marketing. If you want to up your chances to succeed and make a living doing it you have to know how to effectively market your shit and treat it as the business it is.

I make a living producing music and it isn't because my music is the best. It is because I took the Marketing 101 course at university and then applied it to music. It was easy things like don't produce in your favourite genre that has been dead for 15 years with a total fanbase of a thousand people. Instead pick from the popular genres of today with a healthy fanbase and produce in that. And always have a down tempo alias for easy money. And always own the copyright to everything, that includes cover art so you can print merch and take all the money in the future and don't have to fuck with royalties to a bunch of different people.

It also teached you how not to market (like spamming in caps lock in unrelated places). It takes a certain finesse to market in a way that doesn't feel like marketing.

And then there's things like don't market in places like 4chan so you don't get associated with that place or spew unsolicited political opinions on twitter that alienate half of your possible fanbase. Even normal milquetoast opinions can get politically incorrect in 25 years and get you cancelled because by then your adult woman fetish is frowned upon. Being mysterious also helps with people not finding out you're a retard. We've seen many celebs coming out as certified retards the last decade. It's no problem if you have fuck you money and want to show the world your tardness but if you don't, don't alienate people.

This of course doesn't apply if you want to be political and write about gay space/fantasy communism.

There's a bunch of universities that have the whole course on youtube but I highly urge anyone reading this to actually study it at a university, community college or something similar since marketing is damn boring (the only course that's worse during a business degree is "organisation") and it's much easier to learn when you're "forced" to.

> It was easy things like don't produce in your favourite genre that has been dead for 15 years with a total fanbase of a thousand people. Instead pick from the popular genres of today with a healthy fanbase and produce in that.
i will simply write what I want to write

>>24516784
Do that, but if you want to make a living out of it it will be significally harder. By popular I don't mean it has to be popular like YA Transslop, but it should have a big enough fanbase so that they can sustain you (if that's what you want).

Nothing wrong with doing it for the fun of it, you can get lucky and succeed anyway by being a trailblazer writing lesbian dolphin isekai with advanced magic systems.

>everything I don't like is trans

>>24514856
Humanity Fuck Yeah.
A subgenre of works were certain traits of humanity allow them to rise above the top dogs of other races.

>>24516765
The reverse side of the coin is that those who are good at marketing never produce anything that isn't vapid dogshit. They put their passion and creativity elsewhere

>>24514849
https://www.royalroad.com/profile/173018/fictions
i found one this person's works while searching for generic sci-fi. From what I read of the most recent one, his work is very HFY

>>24516672
>>24516672

No, you idiots, throw that shit on Kindle Unlimited straight away. You should’ve finished the first book and the stub. And look, I know the feeling. It took me 11 starts to finally hit something people actually read. Even though I decided to temporarily stop writing that project, I didn’t stop writing.

It’s not easy, you fools. Understand this right now. You won’t become a Zogarth-tier millionaire. This is very much a logic puzzle. You have to construct and deconstruct constantly.

If you care about validation, then min-max the meta and claw your way to the top. There’s nothing wrong with that. Mediocre but digestible shit leads the market.

For example, writing under different pennames, all my readers still complain about my trauma porn. Yet they are still reading. I don’t give a fuck anymore.

It’s not easy, get that through your skulls. But realize this: the barrier to entry is easier now. In 5 to 10 years, AI slop will oversaturate the market, and human writers will struggle.

This might be the last year you can start building yourself an audience. Start getting ahead.

Write. Write. Write until you bleed..

Anons who disapeared get your asses back here now!

>>24516696
Did you read the rules? Also, do you even have enough karma fff-anon. There's a karma threshold, also self-promo without the right flair, and the reddit mods will gangbang you.

>>24513837 (OP)
Where do you guys post stories?

I have a few short stories that can be serialized

>>24516904
It's 2025. Short stories belong only on instagram and fossilized niche webzines

>>24516871
I have an account created just for that purpose, so I obviously had 0 Karma. However, I did read the rule that allows one post for self-promotion and I also used the correct flair.

The maij issue was that I ended up posting it three times. The first two were removed because my account wasn’t old enough, and the third one was removed due to a shadowban.

At this point, it could be anything.

Feels like on top of writing a good serial story, I also need to be an active and visible member of genre-specific and adjacent fandom communities, a marketing executive, a graphic designer, a brand identity designer, a PR manager, a copywriter, etc etc

>>24516929
you just need to write fun slop and run an ad. you dorks overcomplicate things and love to doomerpost. its not free or a guarantee but compared to trad pub its a cake walk

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/120258/this-middling-young-master-will-comprehend-dao

alright shameless self plug, i need some more followers on royal road since I am returning to dual posting on it with spacebattles

>>24517121
anon you're fucking your launch up. why did you post 4 chapters back to back? why do you have a 20 day gap? also yiur summary has proofing errors which is a bad look. you won't get onto rs like this

>>24517121
Gonna go check it out soon.
>dual posting on it with spacebattles
Personally I'd stick with RR and SH. Spacebattles' readers are too acerbic and the overt moderation breathing down on my neck 24/7 for shit I didn't do but because of third parties posting in my thread and not reporting on time made me give the middle finger to that discord-server-on-wheels platform.

>>24517151
sb aint that bad for me, and my thread is never active anyway but i would prefer some mean and honest comments than liars, but well the thread is not active
what is SH btw?

>>24517156
Scribble hub

i have THESE followed now

>>24514871
>>24516672
not sure why they're worried about having posted on 4chan, or existing or what have you.

i'll follow anyone else if they'd like. i also favorite and give 5 stars. assuming it helps somehow

i only half-censored some of the names, forgive me if you didn't want to be associated

>>24517175
FFF-Class author here...me, plz?

>>24517180
done. i'd provided feedback a couple times in /wg/ but wasn't aware it was on RR yet. might not have been at the time

>>24517175
can't believe "Revenge of the Slop King" is still getting daily updates

>>24517186
Thanks, I'm gonna doing the same with yours. Post it!!!

>>24517190
haven't written anything suitable for RR yet, but i've been playing w/ a few ideas

>>24517201
Good luck.

Shattered Pantheon author here. Thank you to the last anons who gave feedback. I tried a different approach for the blurb. Let me know if it's still poopoo doodoo.

I also changed the cover as per anon's suggestion to suit the change in tone.

Also, to FFF-Bro, Sorry, I gave the first 2 chapters a go, but it just isn't for me. I'll say you seem to have an interesting setting in mind, and your descriptions are nice, but I think you need to keep things brief in places. It often felt like I was being met by a wall of text that could have been better communicated with half the word count.

I don't want to critique too much since I don't think I'm any better, but I hope this at least helps to know how others might be receiving your early chapters. I myself think I will need to rewrite my early chapters for similar reasons. Though in my case, I rushed too much to get the setup out the way.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118792/shattered-pantheon

>>24516690
This is exactly my strat: write a big long first novel now, collect the feedback, fix the mistakes, make something decent next time. Then continue iterating until I have something good. Plus, having built up a fanbase over time, it makes it that much easier to start out strong with new projects compared to releasing the first chapter of a masterpiece and getting lost in the algorithm.

>>24516707
That's a really good idea. I'm still kind of pressed for time but I can update typos later. So after the convention I'll do that (and my grandma will have done that by that point as well lol) and I can update the manuscript, and I'll give volume 2 more time in the cooker before official release.

>>24516713
>Trad publishers sometimes take weird shit just in the name of culture.
Uh, that's a weird way to spell "to push an unpopular political agenda."

>>24517206
Don't worry, bro. The massive worldbuilding in the title wasn’t bait---it was a threat! Jokes aside, that wall of text isn’t really for the reader, but for his future version, if they ever decide to reread my story.

Anyway, try to reach at least Chapter Five. Ch 3 introduces the main characters, and Chs 4 and 5 shift from wall-of-text worldbuilding to more character-focused content.

Also, I’m still going to read yours after I finish The Crow and the Rabbit. Just let me know how many chapters I should read to give a fair review!

I’m planning to review all the webnovels written by authors in this general.

>>24517206
you swap between present and past tense constantly, please fix that
don't have a prologue, just call it chapter 1.
the writing is acceptable but could be cleaned up quite a lot (I have this critique for almost all sloppa though)

I cleaned up and restructured your blurb since that's the entry point for most people, it's the most help I can give for the least effort. use it, or parts of it, if you want

What if you were given a second chance?
What if you saw what lies beyond the veil?
Would you live life to your fullest and accept that void? Or flee from death through immortality?
I choose neither. All men are due a final rest, and I will be the one to deliver it. I am weak among mortals, much less the divine, but I don't walk alone. My fear of death pales to the rage of the primordials, and it is that same rage that drives me forward.
I am Rex Jaeger. I am a Druid. By my hand, the natural order will be restored—even if gods must die.

the big issue is the repetition of death/death/die but I couldn't quite see an easy way to fix it and I can't be assed to really troubleshoot
the takeaway is your word choice and punchiness can be improved pretty easily. also don't use words like "overpowered" in your prose unironically, that shit is cringe even for sloppa readers

China banned fujoshi lol

>>24517243
I'll give it another go, I'll leave a review on RR when I have enough of a grasp to honestly rate it. (Don't worry, I won't screw you with a low rating just because of personal taste)

As for mine, I don't know, probably around chapter 5? That much shows off most of what to expect from the rest of the story.

>>24517257
i will never forgive them for axing tamen de gushi

>>24517253
Thanks man, I tweaked it based on your suggestions. The tense issue is unfortunate, to say the least. Namely because I'm well aware of it and continue to do it without realising.
That and too many commas. Seriously, my run-on sentences are crazy.

I unfortunately have very little time to edit and write, so I don't see myself being able to patch up the existing chapters until next week at the soonest.

what do people here use for names? Is it all on your own, do you look up actual names, or do you use name generator sites? I used to look up real names but I've settled on name generator sites and editing those to sound/look more like what I want, as well as mixing and matching. The non-human names I make up myself to sit the language rules I made for them, and so those are harder and I often have to go back and double check how I spelled certain ones because I'll forget and use an alternate spelling and it sucks having to edit multiple chapters because I messed that up.

>>24516863
Fuck Kindle Unlimited. It's fucking garbage to charge a subscription to have access to reading material. I'd rather have my work freely available due to piracy than that kind of shit.

I hate subscriptions so fucking much. And it's even worse with the exclusivity agreement you have to sign. I just won't participate in it.

>>24517436
Based, all entertainment should be free

>>24516929
If only someone would create a company that would handle all that for authors so they could just focus on writing. But, you know, without a bunch of crazy gate-keeping and political ideology pushing. It would be revolutionary.

>>24517175
>not sure why they're worried about having posted on 4chan, or existing or what have you.
Because cancel culture still exists and people will stir up hatemobs to get you banned and I have ZERO confidence in RR or patreon to actually resist a coordinated pressure campaign against my little writing project. So I pursue formlessness and minimize all public association. I went so far as to make burner email accounts to make clean email accounts totally unlinked to my real identity or anything else I've ever done on the internet. The fucking feds would have a hard time linking author me to any other me, without a warrant to my ISP. It's the same reason I don't have a twitter account spamming political opinions: it's damaging.

>>24517403
I'm using traditionally common names from different regions of Europe because I'm shamelessly ripping off the general cultures of Europe for the different kingdoms in my story. The names themselves don't have any particularly deep meaning except to indicate where a particular character is from.

>>24517459
>If only
>a company
That's basically what an indie publisher does, right?

>>24517463
that's the joke

Running my writing through three slopmachines to give it that gas station sandwich texture readers crave.

>>24517463
>>24517466
not really
a publisher pays advances and/or royalties
this sounds more like a service offering different packages that the author pays for

>>24517467
india's hardest working genner

>>24517403
The short story I wrote was set in Japan so I looked up common japanese names and surnames and picked those, though it had like 5 characters and the MC funnily enough was not given a real name just a number. Two characters were named after people I know in real life.
For the next story I want to write I picked the name of a swedish pirate because that's roughly his cultural background.
If something is set in space, I would just make up names.

>>24517459
>I'm using traditionally common names from different regions of Europe
are you getting them from a website or do you have a list? I've been using a website that has a bunch of different european cultures for mine. I assigned general areas of europe to different countries in my work, so one has russian and slavic names, one french/italian/spanish, another is german/british/welsh, another is scandanavian.

>>24517436
>I'd rather have my work freely available due to piracy than that kind of shit.
I havent yet run across a single KU work that isn't available through piracy.

>>24517459
I wonder, if someone finds out years later an author that made it (I believe in you anon!) first posted their work /here/ would someone really care?
I mean, obviously someone deranged would say
>He posted in the evil incel anonymous forum, cancel him!
But they would be hard pressed to find *what* the author actually wrote, and not some random user without sounding like a schizo.
Besides, that also only applies to your online persona, and probably not your actual name.

Finished volume 2 but haven't started volume 3 yet, so there's a 10 chapter wait for non-Patreon readers to finish volume 2 until then.

Working on the start of another series, an epic dark sci-fi fantasy, but will hold off on posting any of that publicly for a while. Toying with the idea of posting it for free on my Archetype patreon just to start building interest with readers that are already following Archetype.

Archetype is somewhere between being a success and a failure at the moment in terms of gaining an audience. Doesn't matter too much right now since I'm going to be sticking with it for many years to come anyway.

Archetype is where I can pour all my power fantasy interests into. Superheroes, anime style fights, etc. I'm able to keep exploring all those things I really enjoy about power fantasy progression in that work.

The dark sci-fi series is where my love for stories like ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, THE MATRIX, etc, etc, goes. Not a power fantasy but much more bleak and tough on the characters struggling to survive (though there'll be a strong underlay of 80s/90s style action heroes).

Also in my release schedule for Archetype I pretty much just released the chapter as soon as it was written around a somewhat hectic life schedule. Never got onto Rising Stars or anything like that. No ads either. I might consider doing ads at some point, but it never feels like the right time to do so.

>>24517560
why is the blurb so generic? it has no hook and doesn't even really give an impression of plot or atmosphere. your title/cover/blurb filter 90% of readers if it's bad so you should really try harder there

>>24517488
Nah just kind of vibes. Although I did google for Spanish names just now. Nothing wrong with using a list, I think.

>>24517512
It doesn't really matter, because it lets people attack you as a "4chan user" and "4chan users post shit like X" type of argument to insinuate to idiots and karens and MSM talking heads that the author must also post X shit too.

There's really no benefit, in my opinion. $55 for a royal road ad to get started is well worth avoiding the risk of future headaches of association with 4chan.

>>24517501
All well and good but it's the principle of the thing.

what are the best web novels? i like science fiction

Why did you guys split off from the main writing general?

>>24517644
Why not?
>>24517627
There's been no scifi I really liked so I'm having to write it myself.

>>24517644
Just imagine being an American in Britain and telling them a job should also be fun.

>>24517647
just wondering
>>24517649
i dont get it, can you explain

>>24517649
hmm...

>>24517660
THIS THREAD IS THE NEW WORLD, THE LAND OF FREEDOM.

>>24517459
Unless you're a politically derange /pol/tard I don't think people will care. The people who'd accuse of such stuff, aren't part of the webnovel community. Yes, royalroad is probably left leaning, but thats some schizoid paranoia you have.

>>24517644
even bringing up the topic of writing to market results in thread-long spergouts in /wg/
it's fine to write purely for yourself in the web novel scene too of course, but at least no one here is having melties about the anons who do pay attention to "commercial success" topics like marketability, running ads, launch methods, patreon structure, etc

>>24517660
google gave me this:
Imagine yourself as an American working in the UK, where workplace culture is often described as valuing stability, respectability, and manageable progress over the fast-paced, high-impact approach prevalent in the US
. You're someone who believes that work should be more than just a means to an end – that it should also be engaging and even fun.
Now, picture yourself sharing that perspective with your British colleagues. It might be met with some cultural adjustments on both sides. Here's why:
Potential Reactions and Adjustments:

Different Definitions of "Fun": While both cultures appreciate humor and social connection at work, the manifestation might differ. British humor, with its focus on irony, sarcasm, and self-deprecation, might take some getting used to. Your idea of "fun" might be more overtly enthusiastic and expressive, while your British counterparts might prefer a more reserved approach.
Emphasis on Work-Life Balance: The UK generally places a higher value on work-life balance and provides more generous paid time off compared to the US. This might lead some British colleagues to view work as a distinct part of life, with "fun" primarily reserved for leisure activities outside of the workplace.
Perceptions of Professionalism: While you might associate fun with a positive work environment and improved productivity, some British colleagues might see excessive enthusiasm or a focus on "fun" as potentially distracting or unprofessional.
Bridging the Gap: You could, however, find common ground through informal social activities like post-work drinks at the local pub, which are common in the UK and a great way to build relationships and camaraderie with your colleagues. You might also find that, while they may not express it in the same way, many British colleagues do appreciate a positive and engaging work environment.

Adapting your Approach:

Observe and Learn: Pay attention to how your colleagues interact and express themselves. Understanding the nuances of British humor and communication styles will be helpful.
Be Mindful of your Enthusiasm: While your enthusiasm is a positive trait, you might consider toning down the intensity of your expressions initially to avoid overwhelming your colleagues.
Embrace the Banter: Learning to engage in friendly banter and appreciate the understated nature of British humor can help you connect with your colleagues on a personal level.
Focus on Shared Goals: Highlight how incorporating elements of fun and engagement can contribute to team success and overall productivity.
Respect Cultural Differences: Recognize that different cultures have different perspectives on work and leisure. Showing respect for these differences will foster positive relationships with your colleagues.

>>24517671
why the fuck are you posting some retarded AI response nonsense?

>>24517671
huh...

>Mr. Slopchad, thank you so much for agreeing to this international press conference in Geneva following troubling reports of your bestselling web novel's early drafts appearing on the infamous anonymous alt-right hacking forum "4chan" thirty-five years ago — ostensibly posted by yourself as the purported author and all but confirmed thanks to a joint operation between Interpol and a number of leading investigative journalists. Care to explain?

>>24517670
can I try? I'll just ask a normal question over there.

>>24517683
ahem
nigger

>>24517683
You're being ironic but this would actually happen to me

>>24517683
>I went there for the harshest and most inhumane feedback possible to improve my work. It was a decision based on my love of the game; my appreciation of the craft

>>24517644
They kept complaining and complaining and complaining. I was just looking for fellow authors in similar positions. I went on a few rants myself, which weren’t well received. The /wg/ thread is divided between several types of people: literary snobs, people who ask for permission to write, autistic hobbyists, trolls... you get the idea. It was clear there was interest in this kind of thing, and, well, here we are.

Arguing with someone who intends to trad-pub his stuff and mocks you for wanting to self-pub gets tedious.

>>24517686
>can I try?
anon even if I could stop you why would I care
but if you really wanna rustle jimmies bring up adjusting your manuscript for wider market appeal and see what happens kek

>>24517699
I already made the post, but I did include a mention of that lmao

>>24517704
Hey, fuck you, why'd you blow my cover?

>>24517708
cuz you're shitposting and deliberately trying to derail
funposting is one thing but this is just argument baiting

I personally stopped using /wg/ almost entirely. I do scroll through every once in a while but I only post every few threads now.
Honestly it's not even the pseuds that are the problem, it's the beginners who don't give a shit about writing and show up with either the dumbest questions in existence or post their 3rd-grade-tier writing and want feedback

>>24517683
Dude stop the derangement, there's larping cosplayers out there, with hundreds of thousands of followers bragging about using 4chan. Gonzalo Lira, loved this site before he got acked by ukranian forces. Mutahar, glazes this site every time he makes a bullshit youtube video. You're fighting a boogeyman.

If anything, altchans are a cause for corcern. Gen-z dgaf. And no Jew is going to give you a conference in geneva of all places and much less for a slopnovel.

>>24517716
it is odd how /wng/ doesn't get those types
I suppose the reason is that to know about webnovels at all you'd have to be a reader, which most of those people are not

>>24517667
>but thats some schizoid paranoia you have.
Thank you. That's kind of you to say.

>>24517683
This, but with more hatemob and torches and pitchforks is what I'm worried about. Also, Geneva? I'd be in the stocks having bricks thrown at my head, not questioned at a press conference.

>>24517718
And do you think I want to be associated with creatures like Lira, Mutahar, etc? Absolutely not.

>>24517726
We get ESLs who, for some reason, decided to write in a language they're not fluent in. And when questioned, they often admit they're not really fluent in their birth tongue either. Personally I find it odd for someone poorly read to consider writing at all, but it's quite common.

>>24517776
hey schizobro
any luck getting meds? scheduled any appointments?

i’m thinking of naming a character Zogathon but i’m worried about commenters writing (((zogathon))). it’d be hilarious but probably get my work removed from whatever site i post it on.

>>24517826
Convert the name to Katakana and back so it sounds more made up

>>24517716
For me it was the schizos with alien vernacular that's not meant to be understood by anyone but themselves. The lack of a mutual axis (in our case the reader market) to fluctuate positive traits around meant there was no objective writing benchmark to follow other than self-indulgence.

>>24517826
Zogathon
Noun, slang
A colloquialism of the term "rat race", meant to display the user's utter disdain for Clown World
Joel became tired of running the Zogathon and went to live innawoods.

Reworked the synopsis:
A dystopian government plan to crack down on the existential threat of teenagers with emerging superpowers forces unremarkable teen Burgess O'Bannon to become far more than he ever thought he could be.

This series is designed with the idea of taking our real world and asking the question of what it would be like if teenagers across the world gained superpowers.

Archetype exclusively follows Burgess's first-person point of view, from the very outset of his journey. No time skips that break the pacing of the story. No pointless interlude chapters outside of Burgess's point of view. One canon. The end goal of the author is to create a series of novel-quality books that span the entire career of a single superhero, leading towards something the heroes in the comics never really get -- a conclusive ending.

--

It's damn hard to write a good one I've found - don't think I'm close to cracking it yet.

>>24517899
A dystopian government plan to crack down on the existential threat of teenagers with emerging superpowers forces Burgess O'Bannon to become far more than he ever thought he could be.

Archetype exclusively follows Burgess's first-person point of view, from the very outset of his journey. No time skips. No pointless interlude chapters. One canon. The series spans the entire career of a single superhero, leading towards something the heroes in the comics never really get -- a conclusive ending.

---------

You're still missing the actual personal conflict that Burgess is facing. What is he fighting? What is he struggling with? What is he trying to protect? You also need a hook that people will invest in reading your story to see the payoff. For My Hero Academia, the hook is "this is the story of how I became the world's greatest hero." You can straight up steal that if you want. But you need the hook to what this is all building up towards. It doesn't need to be a conclusion, either. The hook can be a climactic fight/confrontation between protagonist and antagonist with the result of the fight left as a mystery (in the blurb).

>>24517899
This reads too much like a sales pitch/business plan/marketing strategy document

listen to >>24517929

>>24517929
To add to this:
>No time skips.
>No pointless interlude chapters.
>exclusively
>something the heroes in the comics never really get
That's a lot of negative words in your synopsis. You don't need these, you don't want these, you want to get rid of these. Instead of telling me what's NOT in your story, tell me what IS in it. The only time you should be saying what's not in your story, is to make a promise to your reader that certain content won't be present: profanity, sexual content, etc. Stuff that readers would want to filter out and avoid reading.

>>24517850
Kek

>>24513837 (OP)
I want to write a webnovel, but I don't want to write system/isekai/harem nonsense.

>>24518061
...then do that?

>>24518061
What, do you want my permission?
I demand tribute before I will allow you to write a webnovel without system/isekai/harem godtent

>>24518074
>>24518077
is there a market for that though? Everything I read has those elements. I do enjoy them, but I want to write something different. But only if it makes sense to do so. Otherwise I'll just write a novel.

>I have something which I wish to do
>however I can only possibly pursue my will if I receive needle's eye chance at making less than minimum wage from it
someone needs to introduce you niggas to this concept called a job

>>24517403
There was some site were you could past names and then it "remixed" them, for example I had a list of finnish names and mixed them with french ones. Then you took the interesting ones. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it but it was a really cool way to get names that sounded like they belonged culturally with each other and insane at the same time.

>>24518086
>is there a market
Yes, though it's smaller than the LitRPGslop that dominates Royal Road.
>Otherwise I'll just write a novel.
You probably should based on your questions and responses.

>>24517627
12 Miles Below

>>24516857
Only read the first couple of chapters so maybe there is some bias but this fic unironically highlights a lot of the problems I have with the subgenre. You wish to make humans cool but you do so by making the other aliens gawking retards. It's just lame, man. Differences in ability does not equate to blistering incompetance from a species that is entirely made up, only using our basic biological template as a stepping stone for comparison. All the more reason for me to show these dorks how it's supposed to be done.

>>24518100
I had a job once and it nearly drove me insane.
If only I could turn that into a story.

>>24518122
being bored and miserable is a source of a lot of creative urges
it's why most people fantasize about other worlds and fantastic lives in the first place

>>24517826
Just name his teacher Schlomo-san and noone will notice

>>24518061
Then do that, diversifying the web novel genres is a good thing. Since it's the future of publishing. Just write that dark noir pony serial you've always wanted to.

>can I do X and Y or Z?
>I want to do A but I don't want to do 1
The underlying question(s) some of you are really asking is some version of whether or not it's possible to make big bucks writing stuff you find interesting but currently have no evidence of others feeling the same way.
it's both banal and dishonest. that kind of grasping hiding behind coyness makes me sick

>>24518206
they're a nice case study in dialogue and subtext

>>24518086
>is there a market for that though?
you could go set a anti-filter for those things on royalroad and discover the list of people making a living wage off it

i say my blessings every day for being slop brained. i get to write stuff i like AND make money. slopchads stay winning

>>24518237
For me, the trick is to just like money sincerely. I like money, I like things that will make me money, life is effortless.

>>24518259
Post the next chapter of Gold Digging already you lazy cat

>>24518265
>Followers : 5,952
I fucking wish man. I've been posting my novel twice as long, too. I totally fucked up my early marketing strategy. Should have bought ads and had a cover ready BEFORE I started posting. Oh well.

>New Life As A Max Level Archmage makes £8k after only a month of posting
let's be productive and treat it as a case study. is anyone else here reading it?

why don't you dumb grifter types just do what KU chuds do and drop and abandon a new story every month until one of them takes off

>>24518284
I'm planning to, it's in my list of bookmarks among about two hundred others, but two weeks at the top of RS has definitely gotten my attention. I saw one of the early ads when it started.
Lesson learned: start with ads.
I haven't read it yet though. What do you think?

>>24518283
Don't worry about it, think like that: your growth is more stable and your next work will be even better.
>>24518284
Me, and I kinda wanted to talk about it. It is unironic white bread slop, like if someone thew light novels into a text generator and poster the result.
It's just everything you read already but written nicely.

>>24518284
i think it's the fastest blowup out of any new royalroad author yet. some established authors did better, but not new ones. didn't even get shoutouts or any of that cringe shit

>>24518293
>It is unironic white bread slop
there's an undeniable skill to writing something inoffensive that almost everyone enjoys, though. it's not like three quarters of royalroad isn't trying to do the same and failing

>>24518305
It is, but still surprises me that someone could write the most tropey story (seriously, I could see like half a dozen light novels that did the exactly same beats) and it passes the sniff test. Not innovative, not bad, not good. Literal white bread web novel writing.
In a way, it's uncanny.

>>24518318
GPT 5.0 you think?

>>24518318
the patreon conversion rate is nuts so at least the sloptards see it as something more than blandly generic, I would figure? what do you think that X factor is, because it's not like it gathered an absurd amount of followers but only converted a small amount, it gathered record numbers and also converted them to paying customers (a 10$ tier too, not even a cheap one) at one of the highest % rates ive seen

>>24518321
Would be damn funny if this is the work of some engineer at Silicon valley (maybe Meta, seeing they pirated an entire library content and didn't seed it) just to produce the most generic story and everyone eats it up.
If that's the case, humans are done.

>>24518290
I didn't see the ad, was it particularly noteworthy?

>>24518326
I really can't say why, I read it, I rather enjoyed it and I'm looking forward but I can't say it's good. If this was seasonal anime it would come in the middle of the pack, literally dozens of Isekai, overpowered characters that go about faffing about.
Maybe it's just what everyone liked in Isekai stories but always had a hangup here or there, and this one is just plainly innofensive and easy to read. No nice-but-actually-asshole MC, no author's weird fetish, no gathering girls like collectible cards, no pointless dungeon delving?

Even the name is blatantly the most generic sloppa hook someone could possibly come up with. No way it wasn't deliberate
Retard, savant, or retard savant? Call it

>>24518357
>If this was seasonal anime it would come in the middle of the pack, literally dozens of Isekai, overpowered characters that go about faffing about.
I see what you mean but in this case it's literally not middle of the pack, it's performing at a rate that maybe 5 stories total on royalroad have, and #1 in some ways
I don't really get what the X factor is either, though

>>24518283
What breast size should the elf on ones cover have to maximize profit?

>>24518356
No, but those bookmarks are all from ads or shoutouts, and I'm pretty sure it was an ad. I couldn't tell you what it was.

I'm two chapters in and it's peak. Peak escapism and peak overpowered MC. 10/10 on both fronts. The first two chapters end on good hooks, as well. Not so much as to be a cliffhanger, but enough to make a reader thoughtlessly click next to see what happens next.

I also spotted in the comments a diehard fan from scribblehub who supported the story from day one, probably with rating/review/etc. Apparently it was 9 chapters ahead on scribblehub when RR was at chapter two. So it had some early support.

The prose is really tight, as well. Well written sentences, good balance of internal monologue and description, and again, the escapist fantasy is REALLY on point. Any kid who spent too much time on video games and regrets not getting anything out of it will cling to this story like a life raft. The setting being 100 years in the future of the game as remembered is also familiar, yet unique enough to be interesting.

Overall it's just really well done and on target. Good job to the author. I'll probably catch up over the next week between other things I find more compelling, but it's decent and I'll be taking notes.

>>24518284
no but I noticed the cover girl looks like an edgy off brand frieren

>>24518358
I'm calling savant.

>>24518368
I'd say the X factor is "comfortable escapism" cranked up to eleven.

>>24518377
D cup in a push up bra, always. At least, that's what I see in covers on Amazon. And I damn near clicked on those listings so it works.

>>24518397
Got the feel for a dozen lns, but this one felt the closest (appearance wise) to the MC, someone's edgy game character.

yeah well I could write something like that too i just choose not to

>>24518430
I get what you're saying though I'd be the first to admit I couldn't write something like that. I'm not even saying this like I'm above appealing to the lowest common denominator. I genuinely don't have any ideas that have mass appeal

>>24518452
I only have two Isekai/Litrpg ideas I would like to write. One of them is pretty cookie cutter and therefore boring so I would in no way be able to be consistent with it and the other would be a ng evengelion level of subversion and metafication of the subgenre, which I will only possibly begin to actually write once I have my foot in the door with other projects. So I agree I find it quite baffling how other authors are able to write stiff like that.

>>24518487
I meant stuff but stiff isn't an incorrect way of describing most Litrpg's and Isekai's.

I would suck a dick to make $150k a year churning out three small chapters of generic sloppa a week. That's fucking 10 hours a week of work at most. The hourly wage is better than top national surgeons, for sitting at home sipping tea and tapping out words
There's some deal with the devil bullshit going on here

>>24518284
apparentyly it's someone's alt so that may be why. goddamh, 11k$ a month, he'll make more in 2 months what I did in 10 years of slaving, jesus fuck. practically demoralizing

>>24518284
something is up. I've read it is quite mediocre. Nothing new under the sun. Must've had some external marketing

>>24518552
it didn't tho. it didn't even get shoutouts from the buttbuddy cliques. an ad was it, otherwise organic
and even if it was external marketing it's the conversion that is shocking. 10k followers but 1500 (!!) of them turned to 10$ patrons? how the fuck. the usual conversion rate is 1-5%, with 5% being very solid

>>24518540
>11k$ a month, he'll make more in 2 months what I did in 10 years of slaving, jesus fuck. practically demoralizing
It makes my depression worse when you put it like that.

>>24518581
At least it will be 2 months of hard, backbreaking labor and not a few hours a few times a week tapping keys in AC and sipping tea
Why is life not fair anons

Maybe you're all retarded and can't recognize an obviously high quality story just because it isn't to your personal taste

>>24518606
wrong type of site
wrong type of story
wrong type of people

>>24518606
anon snorted

>>24518606
For the record, I recognized it as high quality right off the bat. But I'm a top percentage anon.

>>24518606
It doesn't even seem particularly bad or anything, the writing and prose is fine. Though he does abuse his enter key like I abuse my dick from what I read off the first chapter so far. He manages to keep past tense consistent which I can't say for a lot of other stuff I have read. Only real gripe is he uses she in dialogue tags a little too much and could spruce it up a little with Vivi.

>>24518692
>Though he does abuse his enter key like I abuse my dick
that's just web novels for you
>Only real gripe is he uses she in dialogue tags a little too much and could spruce it up a little with Vivi.
anon if you spam character names to avoid pronouns I'm coming to your house and murdering you with a knife. that is literally the opposite advice you will hear from any pro published author

>>24518540
>slaving for a decade at 2k/year
just pay a coyote a few hundred bux to sneak you past the US mexico border bro. minimum wage in a meat packing plant is 10x that and they exclusively hire illegals

>>24518753
I already live in the US thoughbeit

>>24518293
i literally fucking love white bread

>>24518406
>At least, that's what I see in covers on Amazon.
That's for litrpg harems, the math is different if you're trying to sell to a non-jerking-off audience

>rewrite with chatgpt
>rewrite the rewrite with Claude
>0% AI detection
Huh.

>>24518756
Not sure how you managed to under-earn a burger flipper then. Unless you spent the whole time as a starving artist need trying to live off your writing.

>>24518769
>the math is different if you're trying to sell to a non-jerking-off audience
Why on earth would one do that? Men in the middle of jorking it can be incredibly trigger happy with their wallet.

>>24518773
What's even the point man? Seriously. AI-tone gets old so fast. The only people who don't get tired of it are people so low IQ they fail the turing test. And those people are POOR.

I have the characters and world building for some urban fantasy slop that I'd need to tweak like two things on in order to give it a System.
Should I take the plunge and make that my debut novel or do I try to get my scifi story underway first?

>>24518773
the issue isn't whether detectors pick it up the issue is ai writing is ass

>>24518795
>Why on earth would one do that? Men in the middle of jorking it can be incredibly trigger happy with their wallet.
if you're writing for money why would it be harem isekai shit. it doesn't even sell well compared to normal litrpg
if you do it for the love of the game, go off king, but targeting gooners is not, in fact, the play

>>24518795
>What's even the point man?
That I detest my writing with all my heart but also detest not posting anything.
This is basically the alternative to always writing and posting drunk.

>>24518812
You probably just don't know how to write a sentence properly. Read this, it'll help.

>>24518811
I've heard haremshit does really well at bringing in money. I wouldn't know, I'm a system-slopper.

>>24518840
>I've heard haremshit does really well at bringing in money.
i think it has a higher floor but a much lower ceiling. unless you enjoy harem sloppa, stick with regular litrpg fare

>>24518606
I can't always recognise a good story but I can always spot a bad one.

>>24518848
I mean, anyone can say this. I even believe you believe it. Feels like an unnuanced immature viewpoint though. You should really take a more critical approach to these things
Even if I don't like stuff like 50 shades, I can identify what makes it work and will acknowledge its strong suits. A writer has no place saying "this is shit, doesn't make sense why it's popular, oh well I'm not gonna think about it further"

Fuckit. Prologue sent. Let's hope this works.

>>24516929
That's what it's like to run a small business, which is what writing is if you're trying to make a living with it.

>>24518881
Everyone agrees if a song is played out of tune, it's obvious even to non-musicians. The same applies if something is clearly badly written.

>>24519334
Coming up with a comparison doesn't mean the comparison is accurate. Setting that aside: your comparison would only really hold for prose. Not story. You said story.

>>24519353
bit pedantic innit
he's wrong and an idiot but you don't have to stoop to that

>>24519357
I wouldn't consider it pedantry at all? People like to come up with comparisons and think that just because they did, it 100% applies
Music is not prose (and is definitely not story)

Besides, responding to my point of
>writers shouldn't just "feel" that something is bad but rather move past that and think deeply about why, and also identify what makes stuff they don't like successful anyway
with
>if music is bad people can tell its bad right away. boom I made a great point
is just...i don't even know what to say really

>>24519365
yeah, he's an idiot and not worth addressing. don't worry about it

Holy shit KEK I meant to post this in this thread.

Anyway, do you guys follow Mark Twains rules?
>>24519528

>>24518795
>Men in the middle of jorking it can be incredibly trigger happy with their wallet.
Only a small minority. Same as hentai games, like 90% of the audience just pirates them when horny and refuses to pay for porn that they'll stop caring about the second they hit post-nut clarity

>>24519582
>the meandering list of 5 hating on every possible case of boring dialogue
lol. he clearly fucking hated literary realism
a lot of this boils down to "write with intention and be consistent" with a couple that are modern listicle tier hate for cliches he dislikes
seems like a big seethe on amateurs and writing he saw as pretentious. a lot of these are counter to the trends of webnovels and the tastes of readers. deus ex machinas are common, evil young masters/power levellers/hunters/monsters/dungeons are popular, SoL stories are the epitome of nothing happens boringly and many people love them
>he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones
dislike this one the most. very lame. heroic fables are fine but even pulp isn't that limited
I like 14-18 in the context of slop. I like flowery language in its place. be clear, be concise and write well
if I were to have a rule like this, it'd be
>The voice of your prose should match the voice of your face
it's similar to Twain's rules which amount to telling your prose to talk like a normal person but clarifies that your voice should be personal to you

>>24519653
>a lot of this boils down to "write with intention and be consistent" with a couple that are modern listicle tier hate for cliches he dislikes
hes basically making fun of last of the mohicans. I just removed all the parts where he roasts james fenimore cooper's book.

>>24518591
blame the almighty for it. better yet, use that spite of yours to write yourself a story that'll make you more money than you can ever dream of.

Should I send my characters off into the unexplored wilderness hoping to find some long lost artifact of power, or should they head towards the capital believing they'll grow strong enough on the journey to take their revenge?

>>24519813
sounds like something you should've outlined on your own

>>24519813
wilderness
bonus for exploration kino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9-ZGfidpow&list=RDa9-ZGfidpow&start_radio=1&pp=ygURbm9ydGh3ZXN0IHBhc3NhZ2WgBwE%3D

>>24519667
didn’t mark twain write a whole essay lambasting james fenimore cooper in general?

>>24518555
Must have been a pretty darn good ad, anyone has views on it

>>24519582
>when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven- dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it.

D'OH!

>>24518284
I really tried but couldn't. No. Who the hell would pay money for this and why? I mean, not only do they pay for it, but they pay so much it makes Brandon Sanderson look like a poorfag. If you gave me an 18,000-year-old alien script left on a moon of Uranus, it would make more sense to me than this.

>>24519989
>Uranus
heh... i kek'd

>>24518284
a lot of sour grapes in here
how about considering what it does well rather than listing all the issues it has while still managing to be successful in spite of them
for me, it captures the spirit of those MMORPGs I played as a directionless teenager. to its benefit, depictions of the game so far haven't been super committed to any clear identity yet so my brain has mostly filled in the blanks with my own memories of MMORPGs. This comes at the risk of making the setting seem generic but more tentative worldbuilding in early chapters can work if the genre benefits from the immersion and nostalgia

>>24520037
>it captures the spirit of those MMORPGs I played as a directionless teenager
Like all the other 9 quadrillion works in the genre. There could also be fictions that don't blatantly break the game balance just to wank the mary sue protagonist.

>>24520049
(already) overpowered protagonist is a huge trend
the (V)MMORPG context used to be a huge trend but is still popular and dovetails well into the litrpg stats etc etc
powerful female mages are a huge trend
isekai is THE trend
it's all a big trend soup, of course it isn't going to be particularly original