Thread 24649494

Space Ship Building Edition

Stubbed >>24642980

>What is Web Novel General?
A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as: Royal Road, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY, various personal author websites, and more

>Why read web novels?
Not for prose or tight editing or deep themes, frankly. As a whole, web novels are infamous for content sprawl and pacing issues. If you enjoy having millions of words to sink your teeth into to get to know the world and characters, though, you may be interested. Keeping up with other readers on a weekly basis to discuss the story's events unfolding is another perk, in the same way discussing an ongoing TV show might be.

>Why write web novels?
Ease of access & potential for Patreon earnings. Many successful authors gain an audience on their website of choice and funnel their readers into a Patreon. See graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators/writing for an idea of what some are earning.
Also, once an author has earned a fanbase, transitioning into an Amazon self-publishing career is several orders of magnitude easier than starting 'dry'.

>Advice for Noobs!

##READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP##

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

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

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

Recommended web novels
rentry.co/d2yvczro

Anon's guide to success
rentry.co/RRBasicGuide

FAQ
rentry.co/pytefpxn

Really shocking how fickle RR readers are sometimes. Anyone know how to gain a consistent and engaged readerbase?

I just wish I knew that I would be into mystical lesbians sooner.
Anyone else reading Katalepsis? I thought it would be woke or something but I'm enjoying it almost as much as I did Worm.
I'm on arc 11

>>24649508
Advertise in niche subcultures, but be prepared to be liked or hated even more fervently if you piss them off rather than just getting "tftc" or being voided by an RR penguin.

>>24649494 (OP)
So the last GitC chapter was just bait. She's back to that old series I see.

>>24649512
read necroepilogos by the same author
mogs imho tbqhwy

I've been doing writing exercises for almost 2 weeks now. Surely I can start writing soon.

>Wind whipped her umbrella inside out as the rain slammed down in heavy sheets, soaking her in seconds.

>She lounged on the new armchair, head supported by the armrest as she stared blankly out the window, boredom evident on her face.

>The scent of pine hung in the humid air as the sun rose. A man sauntered on the mossy ground, never missing a step nor slipping once. He found a large brown-capped mushroom, bent down and cut it in one fluid motion. Into the basket it went, joining all the other things that some consider food.
>"Why do you do it?" asked the girl trailing him.
>"Do what?"
>"Mushrooms. You hate them. Why do you collect them?"
>"To destroy them. Mushrooms are evil and I destroy evil by feeding them to your mom."

>>24649508
Well there's new fictions getting posted all the time with faster initial uploads, so if you're a slow poster it's easy to get left in the dust and sitting in the unread chapters on the follow list.
On the other hand you'll get occasional new readers who binge everything all at once, so having lots of chapters up helps, but then again, if you have a slow upload schedule, they might go binge something else and never come back. Readers are simply spoiled for choice.

>>24649646
>Wind whipped her umbrella inside out. The rain slammed down in heavy sheets, soaking her in seconds.
I feel like this is more crisp.
>>"To destroy them. Mushrooms are evil and I destroy evil by feeding them to your mom."
lol

do you guys do a newsletter? for your readers

>>24649646
writing exercises?
learning how a scene flows is easily as important as learning how sentences flow so I would really recommend writing longform asap, not doing exercises

>>24649508
>Anyone know how to gain a
>consistent readerbase
Signal what your story is about and don't deviate from those core concepts as the serial goes on, tackle controversial topics with nothing less than extreme care (or don't at all), and maintain quality.
>engaged readerbase.
Write well.

>>24649525
>>24649755
That's fair. Thanks. I'll start advertising abroad for it.

>>24649646
>Retard is drilling “writing exercises” instead of reading
>Repeatedly slaps together sentences using the same sloppy vocab and grammar instead of internalizing writing styles from new authors
>Literary equivalent of shitting in your own mouth
Have fun with that

>>24649512
>I thought it would be woke or something
i also thought this, which is why I added it to my to-be-read backlog

>>24649646
I'd probably simplify some of the descriptive language. I got advice to only use about one per paragraph.

Just wanted to post this again given new thread, the cover art for Yellow Typhoon's sequel A Game of Cosmic Titans, you might actually see this as an ad on RR and maybe wherever else, since I asked for the commercial rights this time around.

Progress has been slow since I'm still stuck on the first naval battle (the old first draft was still incomplete at 9k) so I've been been struggling with actually rewritiing it in the new draft (I felt the need to actually split it, and so far I have no idea how the 2nd part will span out), anyway, if you like this style, this was the artist https://x.com/Gie__s

>>24649848
h-hey aren't these spaceships a bit too LOGH...?

>>24649853
Don't worry about it. : )

>>24649858
I'm just worried for you
LOGH designs are too distinct to just have on a cover like this

>>24649885
Are you worried about copyright? Literally nothing will happen. No judge is going to listen to some Japanese foreigner saying the spaceships look to similar and he deserves your $300/mo from patreon.

there are 10k a month patreons for people monetizing fucking pokemon (nintendo, a famously litigious company) fanfiction and they aren't having legal action taken against them.
his space ships will be fine. nobody gives a shit about writing. there's just not enough money and media focus on it

>>24649885
Like the other anon said, Yoshiki Tanaka doesn't seem to know English, and it's not like Kitty Film Mitaka Studio (a dead studio at this point, they only ever done CGDCT since LOTGH. Actually, even during LOTGH, they were a struggling studio who needed to rely on other studios to bail them out), nor IG Producutions would suddenly just sue me out of the blue the day, the moment, I ever decide to just suddenly just put this out on Amazon they won't just suddenlt DMCA me. Of course, they COULD, but it could be arguably seen this is a pardody(explicitly, as asked by the artist), and I'm not doing a 1:1 of lotgh,so it could probably not be any issue. It's not like there's any LOTGH equivailent in the West and truly even now there's no story indie or trad that comes close to what Yoshiki Tanaka, studio IG, or Kitty Film Mitaka portrayed.

>>24649800
Reading doesn't do anything for me. If it did then this wouldn't be a problem in the first place. I've read a lot, but it doesn't stick. Do you suggest that screen writers and actors should just watch more movies and they'll eventually get better at what they do?
>>24649749
That's true, but I needed to learn prose far more than anything else. This was an actual blocker to writing anything.
>>24649827
Thanks, it does seem like a good idea, especially for web novels. Long prose just gets skipped.

>>24649669
>>Wind whipped her umbrella inside out. The rain slammed down in heavy sheets, soaking her in seconds.
>I feel like this is more crisp.
I think you're right

>>24649972
>I've read a lot, but it doesn't stick
A lot of garbage probably, seeing as you’re too embarrassed to name even one book or author that stood out to you.
>Do you suggest that screen writers and actors should just watch more movies and they'll eventually get better at what they do?
They don’t sit and watch marvel movies and anime all day like you do. They’ll watch films using top actors and writers, and emulate what they like. This really isn’t hard to conceptualize unless you’re functionally braindead.

>>24649983
>They’ll watch films using top actors and writers, and emulate what they like.
We're in /wng/, dude. Watching anime and marvel movies is much better study material than what you're suggesting.

>>24649983
Plenty of books have stood out to me, but that doesn't really help. Just the other day I read The Old Man and the Sea, but I didn't particularly enjoy it.
>>24649983
Since you know, what kind of films do they watch? Who are the top actors these days?

>>24649997
>Watching anime and marvel movies is much better study material
For what? Lobotomizing yourself further? You’ll never improve your technical writing skill by watching slop. I know you think your absorbing “ideas” but your writing will be so limp and awkward that it will overshadow anything you try to execute.

>>24650004
>Plenty of books have stood out to me
>Uh uh let me name a short story
>That I didn’t even like
Retard. Stop coping and read some actual books, or even other web novels. But writing exercises are such a waste of time, to a hilarious degree. It sounds like you’re ESL to virtually anyone who hears you talking about “writing exercises” as if writing basic sentences are difficult.

>>24650007
Reading and watching genre fiction will improve the way you write, and the way you handle narratives.

Especially here. Or do you seriously think reading Goethe and emulating the style he writes is in anyway shape or form going to help you? You couldn't even get away with something like that in traditional publishing, nowadays. Because readers cannot stand it.

>>24650011
When did I say you shouldn’t read genrefiction? You should absolutely read genrefiction, or other web novels, if your goal is to write those things. I said you shouldn’t watch anime or movies. Your illiterate ass jumped to conclusions because, shocker, you can’t parse out a single post. Embarrassing.

>>24650014
>Your illiterate ass jumped to conclusions
Let me rephrase it for you, since you have a hard time understanding.

You should also be watching anime, playing games because anime and video games are hugely popular with the demographic we are writing for.

>>24650021
This includes Marvel movies too. The entire progfantasy/litrpg genre is basically just video games and anime.

However, you are right in that they shouldn't be doing prose exercises and instead should be writing more and reading/watching these things.

>>24650021
>Let me rephrase it for you
More like “let me change what I said” because you know you were dead wrong, and everyone can see it. Since when is “reading genrefiction” the same as “watching anime?” Two clearly different activities, which is why you mentioned Goethe in the first place. Also, the original post was talking about doing “writing exercises” instead of just….reading more web novels. Nothing to do with “writing demographics.”

Keep stumbling over your words, you absolute smoothbrain.

>>24650010
>as if writing basic sentences are difficult.
Writing fiction and non-fiction are very different things. It's easy to say that this is trivial when your school has you do these kinds of exercises, but they don't do that here. We only wrote essays, never any fiction.
>It sounds like you’re ESL
I am. Technically it's not even my second, but that's not really relevant.
>Stop coping and read some actual books, or even other web novels.
I've read several hundred of them. Something in that process is missing. I think it's intention: you have to intentionally analyze what you're reading for it stick. Since prose is boring that's not something I normally do. If you read a math book you doing expect to be able to use that math by just reading it, do you? No, you have to actually use that math in practice to learn to properly use it. I think learning to write fiction is similar.

>>24650028
>“watching anime?”
Nice dodging the point. bro. You might want to actually read what's being written instead of seething.

>>24650031
I know projecting your own thought process onto others is how you cope, but it doesn’t quite work when people can read what you wrote before. You may not be able to, but others can. Keep coping.

>>24650030
>Admits being ESL
NGMI. Try your native language. Don’t drill sentences in that either, retard.

>>24650039
Yeah, you can read what I wrote >>24650024

Now let me add to this, because you have a hard time understanding.

"Readers like anime and video games, authors like anime and video games. Authors write anime/video game inspired novels for their readership bases."

>>24650044
Are you sure you're not ESL too, you have a hard time parsing sentence structure.

>>24650048
>>24650053
The original post was about genrefiction:>>24650011

Then retardanon pivoted hard to include all of pop slop culture with that. Keep coping.

>>24650044
There's no point in writing fiction in my native language. There are maybe 200 or so fiction books published per year that are written in my native language. Another 500-700 translated works. There's no market and I despise prose in that language.

>>24650064
This EOPs don't understand we're all fishing for first world money because a single burger reader is worth 5 third world's in patreon balance. Besides the obvious literacy rate, you literally have to forfeit your home culture because your chances of making it would be even worse out here.

>>24650063
>Goethe
I love that anime

>>24650064
>>24650090
Yeah I’m sure competing with native English speakers while you’re busy drilling out “Jack and Jill went up the hill” is going to work out well for you. Hilarious!

>>24650011
Goethe's Faust or Archmage. Call it.

>>24650102
Competing? Bro you lost the culture war to China, we're just 1:1 translating xianxia to western platforms and farming money from you gweilo

>>24650102
don't think this makes for a very compelling point in the web novel general

>>24650103
Archmage is the literary successor to this... Bravo ArcaneCadence!

>>24650063
Actually, no. The original post was about this >>24649997

>>24650124
Then you weren’t that anon. Or are you admitting you are, and that you spiraled into a random pivot to genrefic vs Goethe? You need to stop stumbling over your points, you sad retard.

>>24650110
No one knows what that is. Are you mentioning a new dish at Panda Express?

>>24650140
>Then you weren’t that anon
That's me. Every single post you quoted has been about me.

You are unironically ESL if you can't recognize you've been holding a conversation with a single dude this whole time.

Please read Messi genderbend isekai fic

>>24649508

>spend 160,000 fucking words fleshing out a relationship
>readers seem vaguely receptive to it
>finally commit and make it clearly romantic
>get comments saying it was disappointing and came out of nowhere
I'm having a real crisis of faith here. What the fuck am I supposed to write for these dense motherfuckers? Nothing more complicated seems to sink in than "Billy was hungry. Billy went to pick apples. Apples tasted good." It's not a coincidence dumb shit gets popular. Only the bluntest, plainest slop can be processed. Why am I doing this at all? I might as well just throw every page I produce straight into the trash. Time to nuke my account.

>>24650175
>audiences contain multitudes
are you thick
how have you written so much and not realized you can't please everyone

>>24650187
Well, of course not, and I don't mind if the criticism is reasonable. But this is just the dumbest shit, after all this time. It's like sitting through 90 minutes of a soccer game and then asking, "what's the ball for?" Just shoot me.

To the guy I got to read this slop, thank you for reading. I appreciate it.

>>24650175
Thats rough, dude.

>>24650175
There's a very vocal anti-romance cabal in RR (and some other WN communities) who sperg the fuck out over the slightest whiff of it. There's no appeasing the mentally ill, just ignore them.

bros... I just lost 1/100th of my total followers... is it all over for me?

>>24650353
just, like, stop losing them bro haha

>>24650353
Time to start cliffing harder

>>24650383
what's that mean?

>>24650399
Basically, end every chapter with a cliff hanger. A lot of authors on RR use it.

>>24650215
Wait so MC is a guy that is turned into a girl and then he goes and romances a guy? And it's not even smut? Why would people read this? Who's the target audience? The story loses the people looking for smut, it loses the people looking for a xianxia, it loses the people looking for a male lead, so who's left?

>>24650400
every chapter? that sounds exhausting

>>24649646
You describe too many things at once.

>>24650445
It’s gaybender, there’s like dozens of webnovels in chink/korean/japenis with this genre already, get on with the times bro.
It’s pretty smutty, but more like light porn with plot.
It’s for people who’s into smut, xianxia and gb protagonist.

>binge a story
>catch up
>check update schedule
>sporadic
fuck my gay life

>>24650446
Yes, ending every chapter on a cliffhanger does sound exhausting. Until I realized in RR a "chapter" is like 1,500 words. I can easily split one 6,000 word chapter into 4 RR chapters, and cutting your chapters into bite sized pieces makes it easy to create cliff hangers, because the chapter was never meant to end after 1,500 words.

>>24650446
It doesn't need to be life-or-death explosions every time. Sometimes a new piece of troubling information, a misunderstanding being clarified that presents more questions, the introduction of a new character or the return of an old character etc can all technically be framed as cliffhangers

>>24650490
This is a good point too. A chapter in tradfic might contain many scenes but web serials can get away with 1-2. A lot of readers still prefer 2000+ word chapters as a whole though

If a introductory plot allows for it, is it viable to have shorter (1400-1500) chapters for those first 10-20 chapters just to quickly build a launch backlog then slowly build up to 1600-1800 or eventually 2000+ over time when you're only posting 3-4 times a week?

Chronicles of Carnells (rising star making 500+ shekels per month) just got EXPOSED for plagiarism LMAO

>>24650541
It's gone too. Wow. Jannies already scrubbed it.

>>24650541
spill the tea sis

>>24650575
>>24650603
there was a reddit exposé but that got removed by moderators as well
most of the early chapters were just this ASOIAF fanfic but had a few names changed.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13630625/1/Deeds-not-Words-SI

>>24650175
>Spent 160,000 words waffling around before you actually advanced the status quo
You problem, why the fuck did it take so long? If you spend that long building it up it better be the romance of all time to justify how long it took you to get to the point. No wonder people are disappointed if you've strung them along for 160,000 words only to give them something lukewarm.

>fell to 902
once again, it is over

>>24650769
>why the fuck did it take so long?
A SHIT TON of other stuff happened too, obviously, it wasn't only about those two the whole time. But even the other events, everything, everything that happened from start to present, served to bring these characters closer. It was a relationship that developed organically over time and not some magical love at first sight bullshit. But only like two people recognized it. Fuck, even the ones who noticed said there were "recent hints", what the fuck. I put hints everywhere even in their first meeting 60 chapters ago. I'll stick some lukewarm up your fucking ass, is that clear enough? fuck

>>24650175
Romance has been the name of many a good story which is why some are so anti stories containing it. For me personally if it's written in half decent and doesn't hijack the plot idgaf. However when the protagonist starts spending chapters extolling schmaltzy feelings about his/her infatuation or worse has to spend an arc to rescue the object of their affection because they are a retart and got captured/stuck down a well/lost in dangerous wilds, then I start lopping stars and removing bookmarks.

>>24650810
Very understandable. Works that actually focus on romance should make it clear from the start, it's really annoying otherwise.

what makes a web novel "stylish?"

>>24650653
What a retarded thing to do. The fanfic doesn't even seem particularly consistent with tenses so it's a real mystery why it would be prone to rip off

>>24650653
It's still up in some sites
https://m.webnovel.com/review/27215331405793705/27215624306731800

>>24650913
it's just a vibe, it's having a sizeable portion of the work hit a specific note (even if that's maybe not the intended note), it's one of those things you understand intrinsically but can't quite express

"the dao that can be spoken is not the real dao", as they say

>>24650926
it was plagiarising another game of thrones fanfic called a farmer's tale too apparently

>>24650947
his patreon is still active too. he made an announcement about royal road but it's locked, wonder how he's going to get away with it

>>24651005
simple but profound. thank you, senior
please accept my 10 resounding kowtows

Thoughts on the best time to post your shit?

>>24651111
morning to afternoon burger time zone
but i really doubt it matters

>>24651111
you need to post on odd minutes

>>24651111
I've done all sorts of sporadic releases, but it really doesn't seem to matter. The only trend I've noticed is that I seem to get fewer initial views on weekends. I have no idea why that would be the case, I would think it would be the reverse

>>24650044
I don't think being ESL is that much of a debuff, REND's author is a pinoy whose language is one of those weird SEA ones that exists in only one area and he is doing alright (considering that he lives in the third world). The first version of his novel was full of errors but it got better with time.
But drilling basic sentences is dumb and is better spent working on your actual novels or paying more attention when you read.
>>24651111
I think consistency is more important than release time, but it probably helps to not release at degenerate hours? I think followers will just read whenever is more convenient and the front page is too little of a drip once you break out of the single/double digit shitter.
>>24651133
I think this gives you two or three minutes of extra exposure, but the front page moves too fast.

>>24651160
>two or three minutes of extra exposure
yes but that's versus zero

>>24651164
Fair.

>>24650146
So you admit you jumped from talking about anime to genrefiction, and then switched back when you realized I wasn’t opposed to genrefiction. Admitting to be the same person in that entire exchange is the funniest shit ever, it would have made more sense for it to have been two different people given how wildly different the topics were. But tell me, what does Goethe has to do with anime?

>>24651164
you'll get way more mileage scraping together the money for an ad run, or networking and getting shout out swaps
traffic from latest updates is so minimal it almost doesn't matter

2 volumes in. I'm mostly content with how my story has developed, but I had hoped for a larger following by this point.

My viewcount is double some fictions that has twice the follows and even a higher wordcount, so my retention seems to be better than average.

Reviews for the series are either 5/5 no notes, or 3/5 with people saying they're dropping it because the MC is dumb or the story is too stressful.

>>24651194
>because the MC is dumb
unless you're writing hyper competency rational fic, every fic gets these reviews
>too stressful
this however seems like a signaling issue. your blurb and/or early chapters should set that tone

>>24651185
it's not either/or
and it costs nothing to post on weird minutes. there's no trade-off. I agree it's just a 0.001% pseudo-optimisation but why not?

>>24651219
the trade off is the time spent fretting over pointless minutia when you could instead be focusing on either writing or optimizing things that do matter.
but yes, feel free to post at random minutes, you're just missing the forest for the trees

>>24651194
your retention and interaction is huge

I've new to this so, there's a lot I don't understand. It seems that Royal Road doesn't allow sexually explicit material. If the sexually explicit scenes were patreon exclusives, would that be allowable?

>>24651285
I have absolutely nothing against smut of any kind but that whole prospective setup (of SFW on RR; NSFW on patreon) reeks of something nasty lmao

>>24651285
I'll give you one example of a recent novel doing exactly that: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/120617/princess-of-the-void-an-alien-abduction-romance
The sex scenes are also available on ScribbleHub.

>>24651285
yes, that is what people do.

>>24651285
This does work, but what are you writing? Haremlit? Smutty monogamous romance fantasy? How smutty? It's possible you're better off focusing on different sites.

How often do authors here interact with the RR forums? It reeks of reddit there, and it really feels like a group of like 10 of the same posters are just polishing each other's knobs all day long. But people also claim it's important to network with them to get anywhere. Is it really worth getting dragged into this gay shit?

I feel like my brain is going to bleed reading the retarded shit they post. There was a post recently talking about how to prep before launching fiction, and the first response is some vague crap frowning on misogyny and some unspoken controversy.

>>24651285
Yes, or they post the smutty version on another site - typically Scribble Hub.

>>24649821
Well, it is advertised as "lesbian" and it definetly is, almost all of the people in the story are female lesbians.
But it's mainly explored in a romantic way, they never fight for rights or anything like that. They are not "empowered", their personalities dont revolve around sexuality, despite the MC being a very sexual person.
It's done in a very down-to-earth tone.

Okay lads, I am about to finish Dungeon Crawler Carl book 7. I could use some recommendations on what other books in the genre are really good.

>>24651313
>But people also claim it's important to network with them to get anywhere.
Stop listening to retards.

There's some benefit to networking with the Immersive Ink discord for access to the shoutout botnet, but not the RR forums.

You could also just write a good story and drop some money on ads and not have to wither your soul away dealing with retards, though. I highly recommend that path.

>>24651317
you have rightoid mind virus, i read lots of lesfic and very few aren't just about the characters and their romances. "fighting for rights" that's a big kek

>>24651313
I didn't find any interesting discussions there, and actual reddit is just people either complaining at the readers or the "read my novel" posts.
The guides are good though, like the one linked in the OP.

Also, I'm too afraid of building a reputation so I much prefer posting here.

>>24651321
Cradle is the only other big one that most people will like. From there you start getting into niche, trashier, sloppier stuff (some of which I like more than both; those series are safe and good but not peak IMO)

>>24651282
Compared to what? Thanks for the input.

>>24651313

Just write well, have a constant flow of updates (so you are better off preparing at least hundreds of chapters) and pay for an ad (check ressources about advertising and writing a good synopsis) to at least get a solid footing of followers that will multiply with time

The forum advice may have been useful years ago, but obviously not now, at least I don't think so. Barely any reader bother to check it, this is mostly a writer forum... That somehow doesn't read for most

>>24651295
>>24651302
>>24651306
>>24651313
>>24651314
No, I'm not writing anything yet, and may not. I'm just trying to get a feel for it all. To clarify, I don't mean different versions. I mean that the NSFW would be entirely off-site. The story could be read entirely without any of it for those who prefer to not have any of it included. The NSFW would be like DLC or other additional content that's included as optional reading with other paid stuff. There wouldn't really be story related content in it.

>>24651352
you can do this but if the smut is totally disconnected from the story you'd be better off writing a clean story

>>24650445
>Wait so MC is a guy that is turned into a girl and then he goes and romances a guy?
No he is in the top 1% of chads who remain male in the sect. But he learns a possession art that lets him puppet a body and claim its cultivation for himself and his mind-linked puppet foxgirl sluts it up at his command while he insists he's still straight and this is just like controlling a fem protag hentai game

>>24651324
Good, that's the path I've been going with anyway.

>>24651342
Nta but your stats do look good compared to most fictions of similar length (based on page count, no idea what novel this is or how many chapters you have)

For reference, here's what mine looks like.

>>24651342
>Compared to what?
mine, I'm pretty sure we've done this before so I won't bother grabbing the image, but we have similar follower/favorite counts but you are drastically ahead on views, comments, and reviews.

maybe I'm just a prude but fading to black on royal road then saying the explicit and uncensored sex scene is behind a paywall is weird as hell to me

>>24651401
Is that any weirder than marking specific chapters as "R18" so snowflake readers can skip them?

>>24649755
>Signal what your story is about and don't deviate from those core concepts as the serial goes on, tackle controversial topics with nothing less than extreme care (or don't at all), and maintain quality.
>
Interesting quality post. Thanks. So if someone for the sake of argument was trying to write traditional pulp novels for instance. I did some "research" and smut was a perennial cheap thrill. Here's where I ask what i ask based on your post. Would a fem-dom smut slop get a second look if the book blurb mentioned that the main mommy dommy shared the (lucky!) guy with her couple of mommy dommy friends. Does knowing how to speak some of the web novel language help. IE, mentioning its a harem though done in a traditional pulp novel style. I recently learned the word "yuri"? I about shat myself. in one smut-fest, the two girls that share the male MC *definitely* have their relationship.
>
So in wrapping up. Would the same smut-slop do better on a WN site, by including harem/yuri in the description, maybe a subtitle on the cover. I'm weaseling around to where themes I do, could fit into existing WN tropes. Maybe someone writing "trad" but giving up common tropes readers want could be a thing. if I could make so much as minimum wage most weeks, I could do it full time. To me? That's the artist trying-hard, not cashing in.

>>24651413
that's a different issue, I think
smut being posted on a smut site makes sense. stuff being r18 being advertised as such makes sense. but a story that's just whatever regular web fic shenanigans also having supplementary explicit material off-site feels so strange. it isn't the right word but it's almost like pimping haha

>>24650007
>>Watching anime and marvel movies is much better study material
>For what? Lobotomizing yourself further? You’ll never improve your technical writing skill by watching slop. I know you think your absorbing “ideas” but your writing will be so limp and awkward that it will overshadow anything you try to execute.
>
CrabappleAnon? News flash. maybe they dont want to try to write some uppity genre. If they want to get readers and get a trickle of money started... reading anime and such is probably way better. Playing vintage video games? Duh, for making litRPG and stuff. There's consumers that love genre slop. There's writers that want to make it. The fuck's your problem. Oh that's right you're a crabapple. Why are you even here then.

>>24651427
You might think it's strange but several successful series do exactly that.

>>24651427
I get what you mean. It feels almost amateurish or non-canon for lack of a better description. Like if I saw that anywhere, I would assume it was unofficial content being linked by a third party or something.

>>24651435
just think of it as the 4kids version vs the unlocalized release

>>24651418
>>24651431
Oh, hey Tina, fancy seeing you around.

>>24650010
>But writing exercises are such a waste of time, to a hilarious degree.
Huge mistake.
Writing exercises are the most powerful tool a writer has in his/her toolbox. A common new writer problem is that dialog sounds funny and forced. Doing dialog exercises, IE chapters nothing *but* dialog... is great for a workout. How else would a writer prepare to do true first person for a detective noir novel. have troubl with fight scenes? Do a "fight scene" chapter as an exercise until you get used to it. Writing exercises? Are one of the BEST things a writer can do.

>>24651444
>Doing dialog exercises, IE chapters nothing *but* dialog... is great for a workout
You mean dialogue. “Dialog” is more often in reference to computer interfaces. Almost all references to “dialog” in the context you’re describing would spell it out as “dialogue.” You would know this, if you read more. This is the kind of mistake happens when all you do is reinforce the same mannerisms. The only way you can write better “dialog” is to read authors who write it well. Repeatedly writing the same garbage in different ways will leave you in the same spot you were yesterday, as you’ve just demonstrated with this post. Retard.

>>24650145
>No one knows what that is. Are you mentioning a new dish at Panda Express?
I'm new to all this chinese terminology and everything. Pro tip is that you can type "what is xianxia" and you get answers. One even says what are the five elements of xianxia, here they are. I recently learned some new words this way. Yuri and a few others. If you're uninterested then this thread isn't for you.

>>24651333
I'll check it out. What else is up there? Or if you know any reviewers or places that have similar recommendations that would be helpful too.

I won't outright condemn writing exercises, but it seems so much more valuable to spend that time actually working on a novel. There are so many aspects to longform writing that you really should be practicing all of them at once (via actual writing) than doing exercises that focus on only 1 of the 100 things you need to learn how to do. They appear to me to be another form of procrastination, like spam-watching youtube writing advice videos

>>24651474
>Cradle is the only other big one
>What else is up there?
Anon, I...

>>24651486
I meant besides the aforementioned Cradle....

>>24651329
>you have rightoid mind virus, i read lots of lesfic and very few aren't just about the characters and their romances. "fighting for rights" that's a big kek
No I get the distinction. I myself don't mind a gay or lesbian character at all. But I don't want a constant stream of preaching and teaching about it either. I like when the character is obviously gay, and they have a normal everything else. I'm not reading the book to get educated on the stuff.

>it's another "maybe I should just drop my story and write something else" episode
Anyone want to trade brains?
I'm a pretty good cook and have perfect pitch but it's impossible to find anything up here. Especially motivation.

>>24651465
>Leisure
Literally translates to lazy writing. What a waste of time!

>>24651494
Whenever that happens to me, I start another story, see that it's shit, and go back to it. Still haven't dropped but it's going slowly.
>Anyone want to trade brains?
Sure, take my autism and depression with you. No refunds!

>>24651442
>Oh, hey Tina, fancy seeing you around.
hello yourself anon. any chance since I'm not schizoposting you might grace me with an answer. I could even be persuaded to never ever use a comma as I know how that agitates some anons. Or not i'm in a good mood today.

>>24651508
>you might grace me with an answer
Sure.

I feel I've fucked up and bored everyone to death if I go for three paragraphs without something thrilling or funny happening, and meanwhile there are dudes dropping autistic 8k-word made-up history lectures that move the plot 0mm in any direction to deeply fascinated audiences

>>24651489
>Cradle is THE ONLY OTHER
anon, your illiteracy is showing

Cradle and DCC are the only big names I would safely recommend to the general fantasy reading audience. There are no other recs that are "up there". The rest are niche/trashier and have to be to your taste to have merit

>>24651432
I don't doubt that, I just think it's compartmentalisation gone weird
I otherwise have zero hangups about smut/erotica/etc, no matter how obscene and/or sloppy and/or self-indulgent. People like what they like

>>24651435
I agree. the setup is the weird part for me rather than the lewd itself

>>24651493
>But I don't want a constant stream of preaching and teaching about it either.
That's what I'm saying lol, lesfic doesn't do this. That's why you have rightoid mind virus, you think lesbian romance stories are stuffed full of preaching when that shit literally doesn't exist (okay, it LITERALLY exists, but everything exists on the internet)
I've read boatloads of lesbian romance and while some deal with bigotry, it's more for dramatic stakes. It's never ever preached at me. Katalepsis's vibes are basically identical to most lesfic (if way less romantic desu it's more slice of life and adventure focused)

>>24651513
They probably didn't start with the lessons, but fascinated their audiences first. It's not the lesson that fascinates the reader, but their investiment in the story.

the only writing exercises worth experimenting with are Le Guin's

>>24651514
Keeping them for yourself I see...

>>24651458
>>>24651444 (You)
>>Doing dialog exercises, IE chapters nothing *but* dialog... is great for a workout
>You mean dialogue. “Dialog” is more often in reference to computer interfaces. Almost all references to “dialog” in the context you’re describing would spell it out as “dialogue.” You would know this, if you read more. This is the kind of mistake happens when all you do is reinforce the same mannerisms.
how I spell dialog has zero bearing on this. Your spelling error you perceive, does not invalidate my opinion.
>
>The only way you can write better “dialog” is to read authors who write it well. Repeatedly writing the same garbage in different ways will leave you in the same spot you were yesterday, as you’ve just demonstrated with this post. Retard.
>
I will keep my cool and show you the error of your claim. reading good dialog, will work some amount. But instead imagine this.
Character Model
you pick out a real life person you know and observe. They have flaws and imperfections and quirks. Both in their looks and dress and in their speaking and moods. A *great* exercise to iprove dialog? Take any generic sceario, and use two real life character models. You now know what they would say and you can hear them saying it in your head. because you KNOW these people. Pick the correct two character models and how they do their own verbal back and forth? Bingo. A couple of WRITING EXERCISE dialog chapters, will show you how fast this technique works.
>
You're the retard, dude.

>>24651532
Well as I said DCC/Cradle aren't even my favorites, they're just competently written and easy to recommend to anyone
I find them kind of bland because of that
Something like Katalepsis is way more creative and unique. APGTE has better 'climax sequences' that make the entire series. TUTBAD has comfy chill vibes that I really enjoy. And so on

>>24651534
>how I spell dialog has zero bearing on this
It has all the bearing on this. Who would listen to a person’s advice on writing dialogue, if they don’t even know how it’s supposed to be spelled in that context? That’s like saying you’re an expert at sailing boats, and then referring to yourself as a “pilot.”
>Take any generic sceario, and use two real life character models
Or you can read another author who writes good dialogue. Or listen to people having a conversation and try to recreate that through writing, instead of trying to imagine that using mental “models.” This all sounds like you’re just averse to engaging with other art or people, and you just want to rot in a room imagining what a natural “dialog” sounds like.

>>24651479
>They appear to me to be another form of procrastination, like spam-watching youtube writing advice videos
If someone was for instance deficient in the big fight scene chapter. That could be their "writing exercise" chapter they keep working on until they get it right. have trouble on the novel today? You can still work on that fight scene chapter. Or whatever things you need to polish up for the novel. I do whatever writing exercise between books to prepare for the next one sometimes. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I shortened to novella length and treated each chapter as a writing project. I wonder if I could really home in on something. Going tighter. Then? WN advice seems to be sprawl is good, sprawl is great. Many readers wont touch your work until you're committed and that's 90k to 100k words in the bag. But carefully chosen writing exercises are (can be) so much more than procrastination. You wouldn't tell a boxer not to work on their left jab,would you.

This is all so tiresome.

What's everybody's favourite magic system?

>>24651513
awesome cat-post image. Saved. will post on caturday if I'm around. Thanks anon.

>>24651559
I dint care about magic systems desu.
I prefer them soft though. I want them to support the narrative and not be obnoxiously in my face with rules and limitations and etc

>>24651563
agreed
systems only need to be hard if they're being relied on to solve narrative problems
otherwise, if they're just characterisation flavour then soft is fine

>>24651559
I never understood when people talk about magic systems, is this a Brandon Sanderson thing?
Anyway, in the novel I'm working right now, mana accumulates from the ambient to generate dungeons, mages draw mana from their body to cast spells and classes are given by unseen deities. So the standard litRPG affair I guess.

>>24651194
What genre are you writing?

>>24651526
no. excellent dialog we have going. I used to an avid reader young. Dad and granddad had bookshelves of old paperbacks. Grew up reading them imitating dad. Staying with grandparents in the summer m and grand dad would read the same two paperbacks and switch reading then discuss them. Grand dad drank coffee I got hot chocolate from grandma. Grand dad got whiskey and I got iced tea. So I *saw* the preaching PC speeches creeping into genre fiction. Some novels by 1990 were so out there they were almost unreadable. so you know where I come from.
>
now to be fair I never read a lesbian fic like you are talking about. And to be fair any lesbian smut I attempted I am sure it was just a cheap hack attempt to try to give men who watch lesbo vidya clips a thrill.
I always joked a real lesbian would likely just laugh at it. The hell do I know about lesbians beyond anything I see on a video clip. Not like I'm going to start hanging out at gay bars for years just to get my big chance to get the scoop on lesbianism.

>>24651534

This wouldn’t be a /wng/ thread without a Tina-tard sperg out

>>24651573
non-litrpg superhero fiction. It's also more grounded and horror focused so not your Worm or Super Supportive style fiction.

>>24651552
>Or listen to people having a conversation and try to recreate that through writing, instead of trying to imagine that using mental “models.”
>
just pointing out? using real life Character Models? is exactly what you described I should do instead.

>>24651580
They've been absent for a while since last time, I thought they've given up in posting here.
Guess we're indeed here forever. This general is a timeloop novel.

>>24651591
You've got pretty good numbers in that case. Not following the meta makes hitting it big much harder.

>>24651592
No, you suggested imagining models of people from real life, and imagining scenarios involving those models. Why not just listen to a conversation and learn the rhythm of dialogue that way? By the way, no amount of writing exercises can fix whatever dysgenic trait is forcing you to write like that.

>a cabal of writers has invaded RS by writing monster girl fiction
Monster girl bros we reading good this week!

>>24651324
>There's some benefit to networking with the Immersive Ink discord for access to the shoutout botnet, but not the RR forums.
>ask if anyone wants to do shoutouts for a story I'll be launching in October
>get crickets
I'm fucked, aren't I. I'm going to have to grovel in DMs for shoutout swaps like a peasant.

>read more
>work in retail/hospitality at least once in your life even if it's as a teenage summer job
>learn to not self-censor in zeroth drafts
you need more?

>>24651612
I saw it posted in Bookbound Bunny, didn't know it had already broke through.
I pass honestly, it was borne out of a bet so I guess the writers aren't that invested, and the spam of a bunch of samey stories at once doesn't interest me.
btw, did any catch your fancy?

>>24651559
Anything that facilitates at least three of the following
>Chanting
>Extended practice
>Fancy Hand movements
>Requiring or being an Aesop for extreme mental illness
>Involving contact with and tutelage from dubious and/or extraplanar creatures

>>24651621
I've got them all open in tabs and I'll probably read through at least the first three chapters of all of them. The only one that I'm not thrilled about is Zombie Girl, but the blurb was interesting enough not to drop immediately. A few authors I recognized were doing it so I'm keeping an open mind. I guess I'm most excited for Magpie girl, since it's the Taste of Magic author.

Can a story that doesn't have any physical combat be successful?

>>24651699
>Anything that facilitates at least three of the following
>>Chanting
>>Extended practice
>>Fancy Hand movements
>>Requiring or being an Aesop for extreme mental illness
>>Involving contact with and tutelage from dubious and/or extraplanar creatures
I sometimes still get out AD&D manual books and read them. I always thought a return to the basics was nice. When I needed specific names for Norse deities? The AD&D section for DMs that dealt with other mythologies than the standard dungeon model was interesting. A couple of Valkyrim needed names. The section on Norse system, provided example names of the valkyrim among other lesser known norse gods I wanted/needed. Everyone dioes odin and thor; I wanted others as well. Uller the hunting god was one I got from the same manual.
>
AD&D explained magic as I wanna say it was called "Dwaemer" or something. For instance a powerful magic item buried could produce a spring that had magical properties. I liked the faux-science proposed there. Instead of getting chalk in the drinking water from calcium? Its leeching magic into the water. If I ever tried a slop with any magic for fantasy? I would probably go with that base.

>>24651732
>Magpie girl
Oh, it sounds interesting actually, maybe I'll add it to the read list.
>Zombie Girl
Funny, that was one that caught my eye, but everyone has different tastes.
A last question, what is your opinion on Bunny Girl Evolution? I tried reading it months ago but dropped out of lack of interest.

>>24651572
>is this a Brandon Sanderson thing?
He certainly made it a common topic of conversation.
>>24651559
I find Kamachi.exe has the best systems across his various series, but A Certain Magical Index is my favorite. The story begins when magic and science meet!
Someone on /a/ picked up that Choronzon would be a big villain like 10 volumes before the reveal and it blew my mind when it got confirmed, because Kamachi was following Crowley lore.

>>24651747
>Bunny Girl Evolution
I really liked it when it released and followed up until the dwarf arc when it got really politics heavy, and then I fell behind and never went back. I did save the chapters before it stubbed, and I intend to catch up again soon. I like it, probably 4/5 and only held back by that arc for me. I love monster evolution stories and monster girls.
I'd say it's worth reading as far as I did, and probably further, but I wish it hadn't stubbed. I can't quite say it's worth paying for yet.

>>24651602
>Why not just listen to a conversation and learn the rhythm of dialogue that way?
please stop and think of exactly what is proposed.
ME ---> find a real life Character Model to be the secretary with the wiseass comments for instance. You have a regular waitress that has the smart sass customers enjoy down pat. I make her, my character model.
YOU ---> no no no! you just study the sound and flow of real people talking, dude.
BOTH of us, are describing the same literal thing. But I'm telling you. Once you "see" that the wiseass waitress everyone enjoys her antics? It makes that side character come alive. I sometimes split it. One person is my Physical Model (for description) and the other is the speaking/acting model. Its easily used as a technique and it produces results. It puts a stop to the "cardboard cutout" characters syndrome.

I HATE THE CABAL I HATE THE CABAL I HATE THE CABAL

>>24651749
The only thing I remember from this anime is that the anti hero dude and his pocket loli utterly mogged the sleep-inducing protagonist and his nun waifu

>>24651753
I see, thanks monster girl fren.
>>24651765
Something something our own cabal, something SEA review swap conspiracy.

>>24651580
>This wouldn’t be a /wng/ thread without a Tina-tard sperg out
Tina-anon checking in. I'm trying to contain my antics. I promise not to shit in the sandbox, lol.

I will join the cabal. I am shameless. But I will succeed.

>>24651792
I'm also often here and no one knows. Not lurking. If i contain myself to short direct posts I slip through unseen. I've actually had the pleasure of "tina-posting" joking with another anon. Blissfully unaware anon and I found the irony to be indelible.

>>24651803
Writerwaffen will come after you and your masters will be hanging from the threads when Day Of The Stub is nigh.

>>24651612
>a group of the most influential people can control writing trends by arbitrarily pushing their vision
why are we turning into the trabpub industry

>>24651839
Money corrupts, which is why buying ads is recommended so much.

>>24651401
feels super gauche.
might as well just end the chapter with all caps PAY ME MONEY

>>24651321
If you want more vidya mechanics slop read Overlord. It isn't primarily comedy but can be pretty funny at times.

>>24651614
maybe you gotta pretend to be a member of the discord community for a while first so you don't feel like a rando only using them for advertising (even though you are). though i'm not in that 'cord so that's just a random guess

>>24651739
Probably. There's very little in mine right up until the end.

>>24651739
is there any combat in princess of the void?

>>24651892
The girl kills the guards once she escapes. Second volume starts with a spacebattle. Maybe it's not what you mean, but there's some action there.

>>24651882
NTA but I will be infiltrating and going behind enemy lines soon
the first phase of my story should be ready in 1 year

Now I'm trying to think if I've read any webslop without fighting.
Even most otome isekai / villainess stuff has it.
Pic related is the only one I can recall but that was a long time ago so maybe I've forgotten something.

>>24651897
Use a gay furry profile with bioluminescent lips for increased chances of success on first entry

>>24651897
Infiltration: Chat Group
the new web fiction sensation about a struggling web novelist joining a shadowy online community that promises riches and success through elaborate coordinated chicanery but self-serving mingling quickly devolves into a battle for survival...
[snarky System] [weak to overpowered MC] [meta humour] [it's Serialised©]

>>24649848
Nice art! Looks spectacular

>>24651839
>why are we turning into the trabpub industry
The trad pub system that existed, was upended by the downloadable novel. The golden age of that is ending. You can see all these "professional" companies springing up to try to get writers under their thumb again. Its working too. Unless something gives, the whole system slides back in the same de-facto setup. All the helpful advice articles? Just giving you a few drops and it ends with you need their company. Really the writing is the *last* thing on those articles. Its all about how you "need" professional book cover and then titling. The wrong font, font size, color could ruin it all. Why you cant get read without that! Now you need to have your "launch" managed. yes the golden age of the downloadable book is passing, I think.
>
Tra pub first responded with a yawn. Oh, that's not a REAL book. Its just download fiction. When it clearly took off though, see how they reacted. I honestly believe the idea is the trad pub industry as a whole is scrambling to find their place and gain control of what's published once again. What genre fiction did appeal to the male readers that once existed is the last thing you'll see the trad pub industry adopt, even with downloading now. Because if you let men read what they prefer to read, it destroys the narrative.

If you could change anything about what you're currently reading, what would it be?
For me, I'd do a triple backflip if Mrsha never existed

90% of my followers seem to be just waiting for my novel to end.

>the only people writing edgy fleshpunk stories are trannies
>the stories are designed from the bottom up to be about transvestism
fuck
I just want to read a gorey adventure that ISN'T about the horror of muh gender dysphoria

Is Aethon the enemy?

>>24651986
How about finishing it?

>>24651990
Let me guess, you picked something written by Thundamoo?
Have you tried this one? Is on my reading list: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/99847/viscerae

>>24651990
wtf is VISCERAE about trannies?!

>>24651995
>>24651997
yeah, Viscerae is trannyslop
I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you. it's well written and has cool ideas but it's even more transparently troon navel gazing than even thundamoo

>>24652001
>transparently
KEK

>>24652001
Dammit, that's a dealbreaker for me.

>>24651990
Necroepilogos is literally the only option if you're not actively taking estrogen
Seems like one of those under served niches people keep asking about

>>24651990
It's a sci-fi horror genre about your body changing in a terrifying way you don't like, no shit it's all trannies. Are you retarded? Genuinely asking
>the only people writing combat stories are into war!!!!
>the combat stories are designed from the bottom up to be about war!!!!
>I just wanna read an adventure tale where armies fight each other that isn't about war!!!

>>24652023
trannies aren't the only ones with bodies you sperg. The Fly? Metamorphosis?

>>24651329
>>24651526
Well, yes you're right. I judged it based on the "lesbian" tag. So glad I gave it a chance.
And yes, it is definely rightoid mind virus, as you put it. It is a self centered view that the story would be written to preach lesbianism or whatever.
She obviously just wrote a story she would like to read, she even says that on the page somewhere.
So yeah, I realized that.

>>24651765
you hate us cuz u anus

New FFF-Class 'Unlucky Antagonist' is out.
This time Jacques becomes a knight.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/119783/fff-class-unlucky-antagonist-villains-origin-story/chapter/2531754/man-part-4

>>24652161
who's jacques?

>>24652162
The Antichrist

>>24652161
i can appreciate the author’s world building, and I’ve tried to enjoy it, but I just can’t.

The constantly switching viewpoints when you haven’t really defined your mc’s motivation. The oveeconvoluted situations that make way more sense when characters have been previously well established (which they have not]. The author has chosen a really difficult style to pull off and imho he hasn’t. it is really hard to read .


hope it can get better. And I know the author has been working hard for all to make sense. It just feels way too much, way too fast, way too early.

>>24652174
>you haven’t really defined your mc’s motivation
I've defined it in the first sentence of my story. Use your brain, bro

>>24652161
Has jacques lost his v-card?
>>24652174
I like his worldbuilding and the viewpoint switching gets annoying fast I concur; but what I can't stand is the litrpg elements folks.

>>24652185
>Has jacques lost his v-card?
It's a secret.
>viewpoint switching gets annoying fast
Nah, it's peak. Remember, Jacques is the bad guy.

>>24652174
Anyone who writes “Ælfgifu” and thinks it’s interesting is a retard. One of the worse works on the entire site. There’s a reason it’s always shilled here to no avail.

>>24652191
Don't talk about my beautiful doll wife like that

>>24652191
>Hates Elf-GF
Why Anon?

>>24652191
if you want it gone, report him. he just wants attention

>>24652174
I agree. I can see the effort the author put into building the world, and I’ve really tried to enjoy it, but I just can't seem to fully get into it. The constant switching of viewpoints is confusing, especially since the main character’s motivations aren’t really defined. The overly complicated situations seem to make more sense if the characters had been established earlier—which they haven't been at all to be honest. The author chose a really tough style to pull off, and it hasn't worked. I can see the effort the author put into building the world, and I’ve really tried to enjoy it, but I just can't seem to fully get into it.
The constant switching of viewpoints is confusing, especially since the main character’s motivations aren’t clearly defined. The overly complicated situations seem to make more sense if the characters had been established earlier—which they haven't been. The author chose a really tough style to pull off, and imo, it hasn't quite worked. It makes the book pretty hard to follow.
I hope it gets better. I know the author has been working hard to make everything clear, but it just feels like it’s coming at you too fast, with too much info, and too early in the story.

you guys are just jealous of the most successful writer in this thread

>>24652197
Will.

>>24652174
I completely agree. The frequent shifts in perspective feel jarring without a clear understanding of the main character’s motivation, which makes it challenging to connect with their actions. Additionally, the overly convoluted scenarios tend to become more understandable once the characters are better established—something that hasn't quite happened here. I also think the author has taken on a very ambitious and complex style, but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite succeed in making the narrative accessible or engaging. Overall, it makes reading a bit of a struggle.

>>24652208
It's the same exact post.

>>24652204
of course im jealous of someone making 25k a month

>>24652211
Wrong. I mentioned that the constant changes in perspective can be quite disorienting, particularly because the main character’s motivations are not clearly conveyed, making it hard to relate to their actions. Additionally, the tangled scenarios tend to become clearer once the characters are more fully developed—something that hasn't yet happened in this story. I also think the author has embarked on an ambitious and intricate writing style, but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite succeed in making the narrative easy to follow or engaging. Overall, these factors make reading a rather demanding experience.

>>24652225
The same exact post, it is.

>>24652211
>>24652228
Retards arguing with AI

>>24652161
>For the same price, you could buy a speedboat, or why not—a Griffin.” Her words made Jacques punch his own forehead, reminding him that he had forgotten to buy a Griffin in time for his first lesson of Griffin Riding, scheduled in two days.
Man that’s crazy he forgot to buy his Griffin before his first Griffin riding lesson. That’s so funny bro. Who could forgot the Griffin? Everyone knows you can’t go Griffin Riding during a Griffin Riding Lesson without a buying Griffin. Maaan I’m so invested in this story. How’s he gonna get a Griffin? What a sticky situation!

>>24652241
He was too busy conquering the Mold Kingdom.
Did you read the last arc?

>>24652193
All elfs are gfs.

>>24652249
Maaaaaan if he had a Griffin then he could Fly to the Blue cheese Mold kingdom and Fly on a Griffin! Oh wait….he needs Griffin Riding Lessons! Wow….youve really thought of everything. He needs the Griffin Riding lessons….before he can ride a Griffin. Genius! This is why you’re the Griffin writer and not a Griffin rider.

>>24652254
Holy shit, you are really an AI.

>>24651612
I'm gonna give them 0.5 stars for being assholes.

>>24652255
No AI could not think of such a unique idea such as Griffin riding. Yes yes…but before you can ride a griffin you must buy a griffin. Then take griffin riding lessons. Then you can fly the griffin to the Moldbug kingdom and Soar. You are a genius saar.

>>24651572
Actually it was really started by Robert Jordan, who in turn inspired Brandon Sanderson.

>>24652161
Honestly, I think it's just in bad taste to announce every single chapter you write. Nobody else is doing it. I'd save it for when you finish an arc or a volume or hit a milestone or what have you.

>>24652302
I want to hear from every author EXCEPT FFF
nigger is annoying

>>24652302
>Nobody else is doing it.
Nobody else has a story worth sharing.

>>24652302
It's just a psychological trick since I publish a chapter daily.

>>24652306
>>24652308
The duality of man.

>>24652302
I'm not launching just yet which is probably the only reason I'm not doing it. I sitll have to backlog and that's going to take a quite a while, not to mention line editing all of it later. It is tempting to just say screw it and launch now but I scant have 4 chapters but at least a detailed outline to work with this time around.

>>24652302
He should be advertising off of /lit/, honestly.

>>24651995
what’s the deal with thundamoo being viciously anti-Male in its works?

>>24652360
it's called being based, sweetie.

>>24652204
...Crow and Rabbit guy?

>>24652364
He really is the only guy in here I have never seen get any hate, maybe I should actually check out his stuff

>>24652362
i call thundamoo a gender traitor if it is MtF, which is likely. for even an MtF must abide by the ancient compact of men sworn on the pre-glacial mountaintops of Mu before the oceans drank them, less he summons evil to himself

>>24652360
Dunno, never got far into their works, I got bad vibes about it before even knowing it was woke.

>>24652367
he's chill and his story is decent
>the only guy in here I have never seen get any hate
seems like a stretch. it's directed 90% to FFF and 10% that guy with the edgy blade & sorcery slop that spergs the fuck out sometimes
not many people are willing to own their works and post about it

>>24652367
The only people who get any hate here are FFF and Tina, both for being spergs.

>>24651139
I think a lot of people read at work on break.

>>24652379
Well look at the company we keep. I don't want the cabal to look me up, see me posting on /wng/ right before a giant spergout, and have that rumor follow my pen name until I switch it.
It's sort of the Groucho Marx problem: you don't want to be in any club that would have you as a member. (Because you want to be in the clubs that would exclude you, they're the good ones).

>>24652389
>Because you want to be in the clubs that would exclude you, they're the good ones
whatever shit holes thundamoo hangs out in, I want no part in
the cabal can eat my ass tbqhwy. I will not kneel

>>24652379
People post their works from time to time. The resident spazzes just draw the most attention.

>>24652389
I don't want to hang out with the reddit/discord type of crowd, which is mostly why I'm here. Most anons are nice, and honestly, 4chan has the most chill userbase outside of the odd sperg,
But yeah, if monetary success is what you're looking for, those clubs you speak of are the best ones.

>>24652306
>I want to hear from every author EXCEPT FFF
technically you are saying you want to hear from Tina. I'm sure she will be thrilled.

>>24652056
>you hate us cuz u anus
The Interview.
Nice. Very nice.
Now lets see Paul Allen's RR stats...

>>24652407
*shudders*
n-no.... no!

>>24651906
>Use a gay furry profile with bioluminescent lips for increased chances of success on first entry
Tombstone voice
Mah Hypocrisy only goes so far

>>24652405
>I don't want to hang out with the reddit/discord type of crowd
This site has been the runoff of that crowd for the last four years. They will all lie and say they hate Reddit/discord/xitter then continue to repost content and screenshots from those sites. Just a bunch of redditors aping how they think people acted here 10 years ago

>>24652417
>>>24652407 (You)
>*shudders*
>n-no.... no!
kek

>>24652427
4ch is a mainstream site but it discourages social dynamics and behaviors that run rampant elsewhere
we may get the run off from normie fronts, but the run off only. the main body is much, much worse

>>24652427
Yeah, I've been avoiding catalogs for the most part and I just stick to the generals of stuff I'm interest in.
Once this site closes I'm probably going to become a digital hermit.
Even /a/ is reeking of normalfaggotry since semi-recently.

>>24652442
>Even /a/ is reeking of normalfaggotry since semi-recently.
The last seven years, you mean?
It's fucking grim man. Now I know how old people feel when all their friends start dying.

>>24652442
/a/ is the battering ram of reddit followed by its tumblrite sister boards /u/y/ and eceleb sloppers /v/vt/. /pol/ ironically had an inverse effect of lowering poster count with the debut of X where most flooded onto mainstream and deserted containment

>>24652456
I mean, if you're streching that far, 4chan's been a normalfag site since 2016, which roughly most users have since joined. But it's been very bad since the pandemic.
>>24652457
It's a ghost town when compared to a few years ago. It's like a neighborhood that's been infested with crackheads shitting on the street.

>>24652427
I will admit anonymously of course to being a refugee here from /pol/ I don't mind the craziness there. Its amusing in its own frantic way. No I got driven mostly out of /pol/ by all the waves of wave after waves of... board raids, shills, bots, pol is under fucking attack. other boards can *openly* call for "owning the poltards" (raid) and get in no trouble spamming the fuck out of our board. We so much as *joke* about even a fun panty raid back? The prince of darkness comes down on us all of a sudden there's janitors doing something.

>>24652463
If we get into board philosophy, a general like ours benefits from having a limited poster base so as to not conflate our voices with the decadent hylics plaguing Royalroad forums, while other boards have wildly different philosophies, such as /vg/vt/ posters welcoming taking as many fandoms as possible to boost their IP's success. Or in /pol/'s case actively trying to push their way into mainstream zeitgeist. While these are all communities bundled into a single imageboard, their win and loss conditions vary widely, what can be a blessing for some can end up being poison for us and vice versa.

>>24652533
Also no, I'm not the anon from above despite my formatting being similar in slab-ish text margin

>>24652533
I'm mostly tired of people using this site as the sewage of the internet; being double retarded because they can't be retarded anywhere else. At least we (/wng/) are chill for now.
>>24652536
Don't worry about it I noticed. I think that's just Tina, their writintg is rather peculiar.

>>24651559
My magic system. It's based entirely on bullshit. Everyone forgot how to do magic, except for the one literate character, who sort of half remembers some spells. And by spells I mean she throws random items and hopes they do something magical.

>>24651559
race and blood based like most chinese

>>24651559
I think I like them soft. Like Archmages or Frien. It literally works.

my masterful gambit of setting up a fantasy world and then having no magic at all. The system is that you can't do magic, fuck you.

>>24652579
Then I'll write an isekai where the mc think he died and reincarnated in some fantasyslop but in reality he's only tripping downtown

>>24652583
>Crackhead mage

>>24652583
based. i'd read it.

I think one of the things I look forward to the most when I complete my story is referencing it in future works. Something fun for people to find and smugly show off how they were a fan before I got big.

>>24652593
based

>>24652530
Yeah, I get why you guys mostly left /pol/. It's a genuine shithole nowadays

>>24652579
i’ll write an isekai where the MC gets sent into the modern age of a fantasy setting, tries to learn magic, and ends up becoming racist as a result of living in that world’s Section 8 housing

Should a magic system have tradeoffs?
I feel like the kneejerk reaction is yes, there should be some cost to being able to do magic. But I think the most popular magic settings don't do that. There's no cost to being a wizard in HP. It's a straight upgrade. Same in Azarinth Healer or BTDEM. There's no reason not to participate in a "system" that gives you magic powers.
Wait, is that why it's called a power fantasy in the first place?

>>24652690
Having actual counterbalances to progression in litrpg would make characters think twice before levelling up and that would enrage readers who just want to see numbers go up

>>24652690
I think the most obvious soluition is having it drain your stamina—or mana. Or both. In the original fate/stay vn they had to had sex to replenish manga, so take that as you will. Stamina/energy seems the most obvious choice beside fade to black sex scenes.

>>24652690
I think it's cool
specialization is like litrpg's version of characterization

>>24652690
Have it to where magic becomes inert the more people know about it. The mystical arts literally lose their mysticality when they are widely known. This is why common/simpler spells like fireball died out and esoteric stuff remains. This is why spells are so closely guarded and only passed to apprentices. This is why you don't just see wizards fucking around in the market place. If you see a wizard, it's either because they trust you, or they are going to kill you.

>>24652725
In my story I'm doing a late subversion of "the system" as a trope that shows the tradeoff people don't know they're making at the end. But that's a good idea too, like there's some finite amount of magic in the world and if it spreads too thin it can't do anything.

>>24652690
>world has litRPG system
>it is however personalized to the person’s beliefs
>this means that every person in that world genuinely believes that quests are divinely inspired
>system does nothing to correct them because it’s more a fundamental law than anything else
>insert the isekai’d person
>they get a familiar system sheet
>start wondering why there are localized names for one stat, or why there are actually “hidden” stats people put their levels into

>>24652690
>There's no cost to being a wizard in HP
The cost is you have to fight other, evil, wizards.

>>24652709
>In the original fate/stay vn they had to had sex to replenish manga, so take that as you will.
Only because Shirou sucked as a mage.
>>24652690
Having vs not having magic? No, I don't think it should have real trade offs. It obviously needs to use some kind of energy to explain why everyone can't cast any spell they want whenever they want however many times they want.

Studying and practicing magic itself could be a trade off. If you're learning magic then you're not spending time learning something else.

what anons have shilled their stuff here? Aside from FFF of course

>>24652786
I have done so too, but jannies banned me so I stopped.

>>24651559
I like hard magic systems that are reminiscent of computer programming. They follow some kind of internal logic and mages try to learn how it works too become better at it.

For practical purposes though, everyone should have a limited set of combat spells. Everyone having 20 different magical abilities like in Her Who Fights With Monsters makes the story worse. Cap it at like max 10. Give a reason like "these are the abilities characters have practiced the most" or something. Or "they have to practice then almost daily to properly use them in combat".

>>24652790
zucchini anon?

>>24652786
I posted mine sometimes. I never got the chance to post chapter updates because I already finished my last completed work immediately before /wng/ popped up. For its sequel I posted 2 chapters but after the 2nd one I had no responses, so I took the hint and stopped posting. I'm trying to avoid line editing so I haven't been able to post the newer ones after that.

>>24652786
More than a dozen, but many posted only once. I would post but I don't know which anons would be fine associating their pen names with 4chan.
I don't shill mine because there's no point honestly.

>>24652801
Yep, lmao. Still working on the fiction, too.

>>24652709
that wasn't part of the system, that was specifically because Shirou didn't have magical power. Everyone else could just do a magic transfer to refill their partner's energy, Shirou wasn't a mage and thus couldn't do that so he had to fuck the energy into Saber.

>>24652786
i try to avoid shilling but will link on request.

>>24652818
I see. I'll say now I didn't actually read much beyond that point when I first read it back in like 2010. I think that was in the prologue and I flatout just stopped reading it altogether after that at the time. It just so happens it's the only thing I remember from reading it.

>>24652817
ganbatte

>>24652790
How recent was that? Was it before or after /wng/ became a thing? Why?

>>24652818
Had Shirou's father been given the ability to fuck servants instead he would go as the hardest self-insert gigachad in the entire Fate universe so I guess Nasu gave Shirou this plot device exclusivity for balance reasons

>>24652843
Happened after /wng/ was a thing, tt was about a week ago. They banned me for 3 days for spamming. Couldn't be bothered after that.

Honestly, not sure how Gardner got away with being a pest for years.

>>24652851
making your own threads and hitting multiple threads at once was too much

>>24652753
You don't have to, apparently. Voldy only bothered the british wizards, and even then, if you just laid low, nobody would know you were around for the most part and you could just ignore things. The camping arc in book 7 was wild.

>>24652821
It's peak chuuni, you're really missing out. The VN is something special.

>>24652851
Being a namefag probably didn't help, no offense. Someone or several people probably reported you lest you became another FFF is my guess anyway. It doesn't take much to rock the boat if you try to be a special snowflake on a anonymous image board.

>>24652876
Very true, I was recommended being a namefag by another but honestly, it was a glorified humiliation ritual.

>>24652881
>it was a glorified humiliation ritual
lmao
yeah, that's pretty much what it is. people probably wanted to filter you

I'VE DONE IT
10k views!!!

Thanks you all for the support, bros.
Next goal: 100k views by the end of the book.

>>24652916
0.5

>>24652884
Lmao yeah, now I'm just focused on actually writing the thing. Planning to eventually bridge out and advertise it abroad.

Though I do acknowledge it will take me years and multiple fics to get anywhere. What fun.

>>24652819
>i try to avoid shilling but will link on request.
i tried shilling. It generates too many crabs. I cant sort the wheat from the chaff in the replies. not saying i get many requests for those links. Ha.

>>24652916
Wait... you only just now hit 10K? Aw man, those average views aren't good. Your retention must be awful.

>>24652957
I would consider 10k a win in my book.

>>24652957
The first chapter has fewer than 2,000 views, meaning the remaining 9,000 views are on the other chapters.

Aka my it has never went down 80%

>>24652972
How many do you have on your second chapter?
>>24652953
People are unironically filtered by your prose, Tina.

>Worm
>REND
>Nowhere Stars
anyone know more gloomy, anti-social FMC stories?

>>24652953
What are you writing?

>>24652985
700 views. Aka half of the first.

>accidentally click my dashboard
>remember I abandoned a story years ago
Sorry...

>>24653032
:(

Rising stars is fucking full of cabalshit. If this isn't proof the site is worthless and gamed by discord faggots then I don't know what is.

throwing away 100k of backlog to jump on the evolution bandwagon, name something that could make a kind of girl to evolve

>>24653089
won't disagree but its a million times better than the alternatives, and more than possible to succeed without doing gay shit yourself, just harder

>>24653089
I wish mods gave a single shit

>>24653089
Deal with it. Monstergirlchads it's our time now.

>>24653182
Not against the rules to give readers what they want.

>>24653141
Going by zodiac animals, pig, snake, and mouse are missing with lots of potential (ie I have fapped to such monstergirls before). Personally I think lizard would be good, and you could mix it up with salamanders or some other kind of rare lizard. I would avoid monkey. Ferret might be interesting but I'm unfamiliar with their behavior. You could also subvert the trope by having her just be a normal human a system recognizes as a "monster" and offers her evolutions and she evolves into archetypes like valley girl, goth girl, tomboy, varbie, southern belle, girlboss, etc, and if you really want to ruffle feathers, have her end with "housewife/mother" as final evolution. Then maybe do something where her kids are furries or whatever I dunno.

>>24653192
Wouldn't lizard lead into dragon eventually? Hard to believe no one else is working on that. Snake has similar problems.

Pig is haram.

>>24653192
why are you bootlicking a discord of nerdy losers

>>24653200
What discord?

>>24653197
Snake into lizard and ending with dragon. You've got three in one right there and it already includes the most popular ones, naga and Dragon girls

>>24653228
carps can already evolve directly into dragons...

>>24652986
Katalepsis
This fanfic is also really good, even if you don't know MHA, original fmc https://archiveofourown.org/works/22651081/chapters/54137239

Did you know you cant quote lyrics in your books? You need permission? I just sent off three emails to three giant music conglomerates asking permission to reprint their choruses. You would think using one itsy bitsy chorus in you 100,000+ word novel would count as fair use.

>>24653436
why would you want to? it'll be tumblr as fuck if it's anything modern and fedoracore for anything older

I only quote 3000 year old chinese classics

>>24653449
Because there's a party and people are singing. And it's a holiday and certain songs are associated with that holiday. It's not rocket science.

>>24653484
what festive songs (/lyrics) aren't in the public domain?

>>24653436
nigga is writing a 2008 fanfiction.net songfic feat. My Chemical Romance

>>24653459
the good translations are not public domain

ayo hold on one second just hold on one second *smacks lips* wait ONE minute dis nibba got people singing coldplay and maroon 5 in his litrpg HAHAHA

Wait, so me using song names as chapter titles is illegal, wtf?

>>24653544
The diagram says you can use titles without permission my dude

>>24652987
>>>24652953 (You)
>What are you writing?

https://moonquillnovels.com/user/tina-migarlo/books
>
not my full catalog.
maybe three or four are what I think of as the experienced more mature projects. Everything from downright explicit pornographic smut-slop, to YA fantasy no sex at all. I have a sort of modern updated hard-boil thing going on. That's the three I'd recommend. (Merry's Present, Panic's Present, White Death) There's even one hard science fiction, Anomaly

and in other news.
I was checking the front public page on my (little) WN site I am on. What the hell. Three capital F's just stood out of the jumble of chapter updates.
>
I stood riveted. How many FFF's can thre be out there, you know. Then the name. Kino. The famous/infamous...
>
Okay, with all *that* buildup and soap opera and drama and always seeing it. FFF this, FFF that. Fuck me, I'm going to read the first chapter of this sumbitch.
>
Holy fucking horseshit.
Its huge. Its ambitious. Its... just wow.
Map too big for the screen, green phosphor computer screen news and data feeds, glossary, more.
I had to read the first chapter.
Its not unpleasant. Whatever minimum barrier of entry exists to qualify as readable/unreadable. Writing, not writing... this meets that cut. This is writing, and its more than readable.
A few typos but I can't find fault with that.
Stylistically asked to critique something, I now can try to do that because there's a lot to like or appreciate here.
I'm not a grammar nazi expert and far from it. I worry more about flow and readability than any strict grammar metrics. Reads good, sounds good, has flow? Then its good.
I'd suggest splitting some "comma stacked on" sentences apart into two sentences. Not for any violated specific rule as much as it might flow better.
I've seen far worse.
I'm an author on that same small WN site.
I left a favorable review.

>>24653613
>I'd suggest splitting some "comma stacked on" sentences apart into two sentences.
WEAK

>>24653599
Your covers are kinda bad.

>>24653633
>Your covers are kinda bad.
One of those things that I have to make do. I needed a cover. Oh look now I have a cover.

>>24653633
well someone a few posts up was talking about does anyone post their writing here. I could recommend a sample chapter on request.

>>24651363
he gets turned permanently female later and both her bodies lose their virginities to the same man. then she gets a third body and she loses her virginity to him as well.

>>24652786
Every once in a while, but not for any advertising reason, as if you could get any sales from shilling here (lol, lmao)
moreso just to have an excuse to post one of my commissions every once in a while

>>24653695
consider using aigen like midjourney to get the image for them and then doing the typesetting in GIMP
it's really not that difficult and gives much better results than... well, what you have. your covers frankly come across as amazon smutslop

>>24652819
If you would be so kind as to link it

New:
>>24654030
>>24654030
>>24654030

>>24653731
b-based?!