The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#1
My character is sufficiently socially awkward that the audience, being a bunch of introverted weebs, can relate. Similarly, his immediate and immense power gains resemble the hopes and dreams of the readers: impossible, and kind of pathetic. Somehow he possesses the ability to think entirely rationally (while being incredibly stupid at the same time) in the middle of fights, and is amazingly proficient in any weapon they care to use. His only source of character development is their easy path to strength: be it a litrpg, where at least he has to do something to level up, or - god forbid - a cultivation story. Hmm, I wonder what's an interesting and novel way to make my character get stronger? Oh, I know! Let's make them sit down and pop hundreds of pills a week, and at the end their newfound brilliant insights will result in them becoming a god, or whatever shallow aim they have (almost definitely professed with an abundance of punctuation at the start of the story, after they have taken in their situation).

Since my entire romantic knowledge comes from watching anime and reading furry smut, I think I'll give my MC the time-honored harem. Everyone loves the super realistic 1 guy 5 girls ratio! Ok, the childhood friend, the edgy Japanese samurai girl, the transfer student/foreigner, the cat girl, and the similarly-overpowered-but-just-that-little-bit-weaker girl that initially thought the MC was as much of a piece of trash as the story. They will of course fall in love with him for his overwhelming power, which is what all girls look for in guys. Alright, I've successfully made my main character the most powerful thing ever and given him a thousand different girls to choose from (I say different, I really mean they might have different hair colours and ways of speaking - cat girls always end sentences with “nyan~~”, after all). Now I realise that there is and never was anything in the way of plot to go around, I’ll leave the story and its 10K readers waiting for a few months before I announce my rewrite. “I'm going to make a lot of drastic changes to the story and rework the universe!” After editing three chapters and getting rid of half the typos, I think it's time for my new project - something completely different from all the other stories on this site, something wholly and utterly original in every way:

And so starts the saga of ‘Reborn into a litrpg apocalyptic world as a legendary godlike dragon cultivator, with a destiny to reach the heavens and destroy the demon king?!?’

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#4
'InYourEndOh' pid='825316' dateline='1497827227' Wrote: My character is sufficiently socially awkward that the audience, being a bunch of introverted weebs, can relate. Similarly, his immediate and immense power gains resemble the hopes and dreams of the readers: impossible, and kind of pathetic. Somehow he possesses the ability to think entirely rationally (while being incredibly stupid at the same time) in the middle of fights, and is amazingly proficient in any weapon they care to use. His only source of character development is their easy path to strength: be it a litrpg, where at least he has to do something to level up, or - god forbid - a cultivation story. Hmm, I wonder what's an interesting and novel way to make my character get stronger? Oh, I know! Let's make them sit down and pop hundreds of pills a week, and at the end their newfound brilliant insights will result in them becoming a god, or whatever shallow aim they have (almost definitely professed with an abundance of punctuation at the start of the story, after they have taken in their situation).
Since my entire romantic knowledge comes from watching anime and reading furry smut, I think I'll give my MC the time-honored harem. Everyone loves the super realistic 1 guy 5 girls ratio! Ok, the childhood friend, the edgy Japanese samurai girl, the transfer student/foreigner, the cat girl, and the similarly-overpowered-but-just-that-little-bit-weaker girl that initially thought the MC was as much of a piece of trash as the story. They will of course fall in love with him for his overwhelming power, which is what all girls look for in guys. Alright, I've successfully made my main character the most powerful thing ever and given him a thousand different girls to choose from (I say different, I really mean they might have different hair colours and ways of speaking - cat girls always end sentences with “nyan~~”, after all). Now I realise that there is and never was anything in the way of plot to go around, I’ll leave the story and its 10K readers waiting for a few months before I announce my rewrite. “I'm going to make a lot of drastic changes to the story and rework the universe!” After editing three chapters and getting rid of half the typos, I think it's time for my new project - something completely different from all the other stories on this site, something wholly and utterly original in every way:
And so starts the saga of ‘Reborn into a litrpg apocalyptic world as a legendary godlike dragon cultivator, with a destiny to reach the heavens and destroy the demon king?!?’

certain readers in RoyalRoadL:

Reader: Everything in RRL is so generic and I want a character who is realistic because I am a sophisticated reader who is cut above the rest while others are weird weebos.

Author: Okay, let's try one. (He then creates an MC who can't get the girl with just being cute, girl finds other cooler character, MC gets rejected. He kept his true friends and never gets himself a harem as he struggles to survive in a world full of danger and barely survives each encounter mostly by luck.)

Same reader: What a pathetic pussy ass loser MC! Dropping this stupid LN and going back to my Harems!
Check my fictions
"Invincible"
"Gamer of the Dead"
And the newest  "Slam No Basuke"

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#10
'theeyecansee' pid='825384' dateline='1497955287' Wrote: Yep. Sounds about right. You can copy ones idea while understanding it enough to reshape, readjust it to your needs but still having your own purpose behind it.
Many of reincarnation stories on RRs are written without accepting the real idea behind reincarnation. And that is remembering your past, living through your death, suffering a giant lost, making peace with it, facing once again the same choices in your life while remembering failures of your previous, bad choices that you made... Fear of losing things once again, trapped in a reincarnation cycle. Feeling lonely, different because you remember your past, having problems with your identity - past identity vs new identity, with accepting new family. Calling a new lady your mother while you already had one. One that you lost forever, together with all members of your family.

They make mc whose past doesn't really exist. To them it's just a way of transport mc to a world full of magic, to become op. But reincarnaction is defenitely a psychologic genre. They don't quite understand the idea behind, ignoring illogical lack of problems of the mc with his past. They don't give a much thought into it.

lol, do you really believe that none of the authors here never thought of doing things like that? 

Exploring the intricate question of reincarnation and the inevitable question of your faith and beliefs, the emotions of the loss, regret of what could be and philosophical understanding of your role in the universe. As a writer, I would love to explore those questions in a reincarnation story but the truth of the matter is that people interested in that kind of backstory are the minority. 

If anyone writes that kind of backstory for more than 5 chapters, I could guarantee you that by then the author will have received 2-3 0.5-star ratings already. Now, personally speaking, at this point in time in my writing experience in RRL, I couldn't care less about that, but the point is that those stars ratings are a good indication of the whole reader base in RRL.

That is my biggest beef about the site, because as readers complain about dense MCs, authors are plagued with dense readers as well. There is a reason why cliches are popular, it is because, despite the protestation of many on the site, people eat it up. You simply cannot make a light novel too deep or the majority of the readers will simply not read it. 

When readers mention that they don't want a stupid character, what they mean is that they don't want a character that will do the opposite or different option than the one that they already decided to do if they are in the character's shoes. An example is a MC who hesitate to attack a dragon with his sword and decided to find a different way to defeat it. The MC will be branded anywhere from a coward to a pussy or a retard. 


That is just the way it is.   :whosh2:
Check my fictions
"Invincible"
"Gamer of the Dead"
And the newest  "Slam No Basuke"

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#11
Writers get stained by what they read (Japanese Isekai, Chinese Xianxia/Xuanhuan, etc..) even before they begin writing. 

It simply becomes a matter of following the template that they've already internally memorized through reading or trying their best to pull away from it instead.

It's surprisingly hard to pull away from all the tropes and cliches , at least in my opinion.  Which does suck, but then again, we can edit our stuff anytime we want.

But don't get me wrong, if the template works (It does, no matter what which one you choose, JP or CN) and if it's what the audience wants,  no need to fret.

Unless you're actually trying to hard to make something entirely unique, in which case, good luck! Uphill climb for you in terms of writing and difficulty of getting attention. But mad props!

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#12
'theeyecansee' pid='825407' dateline='1497997381' Wrote: So you want to say they were brainwashed?

It's pretty close to brainwashing but not completely, in my opinion. Authors become heavily familiarized with certain stylistic and narrative elements present in the many novels they've read before.

It's a shit example, but it's more like a chef only eating cheese burgers everyday, so when he has a chance to cook something up, he sort of falls back on what he knows from innate experience (cheese burgers) even though he has a wide array of ingredients to choose from.

You could try something completely new or you could walk down a path you've seen others walk down, the whole path already outlined for you.

I don't account this "fallback" for every single time someone has made a reincarnation/isekai/dungeon crawling/cultivation/god king/OP MC/harem story, because I'm sure plenty of people made their stories out of genuine love for the genres (myself included).

But I'm positive that the accumulated literary know-how of to plot one these stories by the community does account considerably as to why we have so many here on RRL. 

It's a like microwave easy story you can make with your own personal tweaks, which makes it so damn hard to fight against it in the creative process. In the end, it's up to the writers and I wish 'em the best.

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#13
This is happening because RRL is straying away from being( or at least the community) a place for hobbyists(Including fanfiction writers) and professionals to improve their writing and more about a popularity contest and enjoying the echo chambers that are created from this.

I have seen quite a number of authors that focus more on getting on the top lists instead of trying to improve and listen to critique/advice. The echo chambers really help with that.

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#15
I can vouch for the idea of it being really easy to draw heavily from works you've read and loved—I've personally willingly allowed Nisio Isin to corrupt me into some half-baked knockoff version of him, Frankenstined together with some Wataru Watari and others along similar lines. I do try to make sure I'm at least not being, you know, brainless about it, but the influences are still very much there and very much strong as shit.

I'd guess it ties into the whole "write a story you'd want to read" thing, in that regard.

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#17
That's just the stuff that's popular here because that's what this site is famous for (just like how you'd expect a bunch of werewolf smut on wattpad.) You can find different stuff eventually. Also, I personally feel like RRl hasn't really left its fanfiction roots, and it definitely hasn't left its cheap east asian online literature roots either (there are good light/web novels, just not translated or translated so long ago nobody cares about them anymore) Which is why you'll find what is essentially 'original fanfiction' like the kind you described, following the same general pattern save for a few tweaks here and there.
But yeah, it's very unlikely to change. People come here for Litrpg, chinese xianxia rip-offs, and cutesy anime tropefests. This isn't exactly the new york times best sellers list.
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RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#18
Hi,

This might sound offensive, but these are my honest thoughts about this thread.

I agree with you that there are many such novels and authors. These novels are really 'stupid'. Since I didn't wish to base this reply on my assumptions, I looked at your reviews etc. Maybe you meant this as a prank thread since your reviews were positive.

But in case you was being serious, then this is my message to you and the people who agree with you:
In my opinion, this site is a place where people should be more friendly and constructive. I don't think that it was created for the reason of flaming.
Many authors here are about 14-18 years old, who didn't even finish maturing. I understand that they like harems, overpowered protagonists, etc. In fact, I too like many such novels. But you forgot a few crucial points. For one, you are reading here for free. You aren't in a bookstore where you see professional works, edited and stuff. Porbably 70-85% of the novels on this site are just a way for the authors to pass their time.

This is also the reason why most of the novels are wish-fulfillment related. And there is nothing wrong with that. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. I'd add that downrating these novels just because 'those have that kind of content' is stupid. Just ignore them and move on for fuck's sake. I don't understand this hate and flaming. On a side note, I too sometimes just want to relax and read something completely unrealistic. The characters can be 2D, the story can be stupid. At those times, I am happy with the mentioned type of novels. If you are looking for something serious, then go to a fucking bookstore and buy a book you like. There are a few of them here too.

Talking is really easy, but try writing. (I did in a google drive folder, but I failed miserably. It felt shit.)
Anyway, the second thing you missed. These people are spending their free-time with writing. Even if you don't like it, others might do. Would you commit the rest of your school/workday to write about something YOU like and then share it with people who have similar taste, only to see flaming people attacking you? It surely wouldn't feel good. If I don't like something, I just leave silently and try to encourage the authors I like.

(Although I haven't been on this site for long, I have seen quite a lot of novels.) So once again, my point is that if you can't do anything but flame over the generic novels people spend time with (which they do for free and out of their own accord, even if it is a piece of shit), then you should leave this place or anything that is work-related. Be it novels, music, or whatever there is. I'd advise the same for many other people, who can't appreciate the effort put into anything. I agree with the generic part. They really don't put much thought into it. They really write utterly stupid things, but why the hate?

If you can't even understand this much and appreciate the FREE stupid/good novels/books put in front of your face, then you fail at thinking like a mature person should.

P.S. Also, try writing your own novel if you have so much hate in you, and see how it feels when random people start flaming at you because they don't like it. Try posting a novel which you spend hours with (daily and you have no free-time left), only to see the kind of people you seem to be after this thread, hating your novel. I apologise if you aren't. If you are, then shame on you.

RE: The vast majority of authors on RoyalRoadl

#20
'M3M0RY_Err0r' pid='825999' dateline='1499449027' Wrote: Hi,

This might sound offensive, but these are my honest thoughts about this thread.

I agree with you that there are many such novels and authors. These novels are really 'stupid'. Since I didn't wish to base this reply on my assumptions, I looked at your reviews etc. Maybe you meant this as a prank thread since your reviews were positive.

But in case you was being serious, then this is my message to you and the people who agree with you:
In my opinion, this site is a place where people should be more friendly and constructive. I don't think that it was created for the reason of flaming.
Many authors here are about 14-18 years old, who didn't even finish maturing. I understand that they like harems, overpowered protagonists, etc. In fact, I too like many such novels. But you forgot a few crucial points. For one, you are reading here for free. You aren't in a bookstore where you see professional works, edited and stuff. Porbably 70-85% of the novels on this site are just a way for the authors to pass their time.

This is also the reason why most of the novels are wish-fulfillment related. And there is nothing wrong with that. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. I'd add that downrating these novels just because 'those have that kind of content' is stupid. Just ignore them and move on for fuck's sake. I don't understand this hate and flaming. On a side note, I too sometimes just want to relax and read something completely unrealistic. The characters can be 2D, the story can be stupid. At those times, I am happy with the mentioned type of novels. If you are looking for something serious, then go to a fucking bookstore and buy a book you like. There are a few of them here too.

Talking is really easy, but try writing. (I did in a google drive folder, but I failed miserably. It felt shit.)
Anyway, the second thing you missed. These people are spending their free-time with writing. Even if you don't like it, others might do. Would you commit the rest of your school/workday to write about something YOU like and then share it with people who have similar taste, only to see flaming people attacking you? It surely wouldn't feel good. If I don't like something, I just leave silently and try to encourage the authors I like.

(Although I haven't been on this site for long, I have seen quite a lot of novels.) So once again, my point is that if you can't do anything but flame over the generic novels people spend time with (which they do for free and out of their own accord, even if it is a piece of shit), then you should leave this place or anything that is work-related. Be it novels, music, or whatever there is. I'd advise the same for many other people, who can't appreciate the effort put into anything. I agree with the generic part. They really don't put much thought into it. They really write utterly stupid things, but why the hate?

If you can't even understand this much and appreciate the FREE stupid/good novels/books put in front of your face, then you fail at thinking like a mature person should.

P.S. Also, try writing your own novel if you have so much hate in you, and see how it feels when random people start flaming at you because they don't like it. Try posting a novel which you spend hours with (daily and you have no free-time left), only to see the kind of people you seem to be after this thread, hating your novel. I apologise if you aren't. If you are, then shame on you.

HI! Can I forward your comment to my own stories for my very own flamers and haters? 

:4dawin:
Check my fictions
"Invincible"
"Gamer of the Dead"
And the newest  "Slam No Basuke"