As the title said, this is a place that will contain elements from a fantasy-themed story so you can go magical without mercy.

The reason why I'm making yet another thread here is because of my conquest to improve myself and overcome my weaknesses, particularly about 'lack of focus' in my stories.

Opening this thread, one topic has come to my mind. "What kind of focus is a story set in a fantasy world?"

There are many archetypes about it from "Slaying the Demon King" to "Rebelling Against Gods". Giving further example, the focus can also be personal like "Finding your place in the world" or something as simple as "Survival".

But it seems when a fantasy setting has a "Reincarnation to another world" or "Summoned Heroes" tag on, the focus becomes... vague in the long run. I guess I've been reading too much Light Novels and such but because the protagonists are detached from the fantasy setting themselves, the story became less inclined to follow common rules, and with the common 'food on the silver platter' as well as 'nerds know-it-all', the conflicts quickly became boring.

In such case, what kind of 'focus' is needed to appeal the readers, without having to go through the common traps and cliches?

By the way, 'harem' and 'extreme luck' are prohibited. The first being too much a hassle and the latter being a reason why so many fantasy stories look no different than one-another.

The reason reincarnation stories and the like seem to have a vague purpose is because japanese LNs tend to get slice of lifey. If you want to write a story with a purpose, one of the best ways to go about it is to think about what kind of themes you want to include. General themes like magic find their way into most webnovels on rrl, and the better ones will touch upon things like loneliness and discrimination, but imo the best 'focused' stories are ones with a clearly defined purpose (clearly defined in the author's head) that the main arc of the story leads towards. This central theme could be an exploration of morality, power, human emotions or whatever, but as long as it exists, your story will not lose its focus (even if you sidetrack sometimes with subplots and other smaller themes) So yeah, just pick a theme/idea and make it the point of your story!

Here are what I believe to be the two biggest reasons this "lack of focus" occurs, and ways you can stay focused.

REASON 1: Since the protagonist's journey is the central to the story and the theme, it's easy to forget that there is a whole world out there. It's tempting to delay major plot points until the protagonist is there to deal with them. But if you do, your story becomes a lot like Skyrim, with the hero wandering around doing side quests the whole time because the main quest can wait. Fun to play, not so much to read.

SOLUTIONS: Break down the villain's diabolical plan into smaller chunks, all steps toward the end goal. The capture of a particular city, or the death of the archmage who keeps the wards active. Remember the Butterfly Effect; how events in your world could ripple out and affect the hero's journey, or vice versa. Give the hero two incredibly important missions at the same time, and make him choose one to complete and one to abandon. Perhaps a minor moment early in the story has major repercussions later on.

REASON 2: There is no overarching conflict. It's just an adventure with a general goal, like becoming the best swordsman in the world. Leads to a lot of fun scenes and awesome drama, but everything advances at a snail's pace and the lack of any urgency in the plot denies you the ability to build tension for more than a single story arc.

SOLUTIONS: Find a way to include urgency. If Swordboy is trying to get stronger to defeat Shadowman, don't leave Shadowman in the corner doing nothing. Make him active in the world. Have him meet Swordboy and kick his ass. Maybe Shadowman cursed Swordboy to die in ten years, and the reason Swordboy is on this quest in the first place is to kill Shadowman and lift the curse, which continually grows stronger. Even if your story takes forever to resolve, as long as readers know there will be a resolution, it's easier to become invested and hang in through the slow parts.

The problem with many of the light/web novels is the lack of prearrangement. Quite a few light novels are published with just one volume finished and sometimes even no ideas beyond that. It's about getting published and if it's successful enough it has to stay this way with each book. Because of that many series tend to be episodic, with one arc in one volume to the point, where they are commutable. The single volume just has to sell on it's own and if not, you maybe won't even get a last volume to finish the series.

I think the best thing you can do is to think about the ending of your story. The last scene you want to show the reader before the curtain drops. And with that in mind one can start and define all the things the hero has to learn/experience. From things like "learning magic" to "being betrayed by a close friend" or even "seeing the own child die". And now one can just use this list for each arc and see if it actually add something to the overall story. And maybe it's a good idea to rethink or drop the arc if there isn't enough consensus.

You don't really have to spell those things out for the reader, but it at least helps me to stay focus on the development. Even if your big villain appears late in the story, you can still work towards him. You can also use Morph's solutions with this. Showing some small horror in the early story and when the hero finally connects all the dots he already has a reason to "hate" the new villain...

Hmm. For me, reincarnation or transported to another world give an excuse for author, so that mc has a modern knowledge. Which, in turn, can give mc an excuse to cut corner at becoming stronger.

Focus is probably the most important element of a fantasy LN. Having adventures is great and all, but if the author shows no real character development, long-term goal or adversary, then the reader will become bored. The author need to have an END GAME. They then need to write towards that end game. Doing this helps the story become more cohesive and compelling. They can have a ton of chapters where the MC just shoots the shit, but the story must feel like it's moving forward.

I think the best example of a fantasy story that is not compelling at all or lacks cohesion would be "Slave Harem in Another World". There are about 168 chapters (or more) translated of this LN, but nothing has happened. There is no enemy. No goal. No end game. The MC just kills monsters, makes shit based on items from his world, makes money, and buys female slaves.