Forum And Writing Directory for Authors.

#1
This post links to material for reference that you can use to improve your writing. 

This is recommended for both the amateur and the experienced writers. 

(Note:
_ Some of the advice should be taken as a grain of salt. Because even though most of this will help improve your writing, but not all are true or suitable for you in some case, beside don't follow strict advice because they say that there are no rules to writing a good story. Advice are good, don't get me wrong, but if you get too caught it in it, it's not really 'your' story anymore.
_ If you worry about copy other authors style without making your own style ? It fine if you don't have a good foundation for your writing style. Look for the stories you liked and copy their styles. Then by combining them, create your own style. It won't, probably, be perfect after the first time but by the time it will certainly be better. Maybe even reach a level where people would look to your fiction just for your style alone. 
)

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New Update:
_ [Pinned] 14/9/2018: After have a talk with mod for my post to be pinned, he/she said my post still quite chaotic so he/she give me some advice to improve this, at least this time it did not cost that much time and annoying to edit so here is the detail, I will move certain topic to certain post and link it here below (plus the name of that topic so you know what to expect) where each post contains a specific theme, so it's not getting all mixed up and they are still easy to find from the first post.
Oh and also after I update new notification, I will move the old one to the changelog at the bottom of this first post, the topic where I will move all the new material, it will still at the bottom of post 2


Hyperlink and name of topics in each post:

 - This first post:

+Tool for navigating this post. (it just right below this, so why not ? And it help search faster :v)

+RRL Guides.

+Articles on RRL.



 - Post #2: 


+Good novel list which can be used for reference and for entertain.

+About harem.

+About Litrpg.

+How to deal with a crime organization and how underworld work.

+For new material/tips/videos. (this is where I update new material and tips, and after a while, around 1 week, I will move the old "new" material to fit with a certain topic here)


 - Post #4:

+Tools for spelling, grammar, and editing.

+About Amazon/selling book.

+Cover Artwork.

+Description/writing style/writing technique.

+Chapter titles recommendation.

+Name/ideas generator.

+General Writing advice. (any new reader can start reading in this as a random basis of everything, and maybe some advance there, too)

+About character.

+World Building Tools.

+List of good channels for research.

+For making a 3D custom character with a game (mostly female character).

+About dialogue.

 - Post #5: 

+About politic, psychology, and power.

+About crafting and knowledge.

+About strategy/tactics.

 
 - Post #6:

+About chine fantasy (like Xianxia, cultivate,.....).

+Sign of bad tropes in a novel

( Note: for the scattered material post like most of the page here, I haven't selected out and sent to a suitable topic yet, and it was a remnant of the earlier time where it still chaotic, so feel free to read it, I will cut off most of them and bring back to a suitable topic later [because after edit all of this, I run out of juice and become lazy again :D ] )
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Tool for navigating this post:

Have you thought about using Ctrl + F yet ? It a tool that helps find the word/sentence you are looking for in that tab, so it can be very useful for editing chapter here (copy the part that hasn't fixed in the comment and search), and also to find the topic of what you need in this post


RRL Guides:


  • How to keep your sanity when facing this kind of problems (infamous 0.5-star reviews/rating).for a summary, instead of focusing on stars, focus on these two instead:
    1. The number of your followers
    2. The numbers of favorites
    3. The total views. (oh, that's three but whatever)


  • Reviews Explained (this also explain the aspect that many new authors don't know if it good or bad here)


Articles on RRL: 


*Changelog




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_Update at 21/9/2017: Check the comment on page 3, I have copied an author’s rules when it comes to writing novels, for new guys here. It’s neat, and there’s some interesting detail about "Good" and "Evil" on the same page.

_update at 4/11/2017: for good define of characterization  and what type of character, check page 4 near the bottom

_ [Special] Wow, after a year this thread has already reached 10.000 views, as a thank for this, I will try to spend my free time for one day in this week to organize most of this stuff so you guy can have a better reading experience and less chaos, I will also test the "spoiler" code so I can package most of the long text part in, you would only need to find the title for what you need at that time, mostly (oh, and the reason I haven't done so in the past is because I quite busy nowadays + don't know about spoiler code thing)

_ Update at 13/8: FINALLY, managed to edit all of them in my first post, since I crammed a lot of text here, it make the editing so hard in this first post because of keep getting lag and even froze, now you can find what you need easier, the bottom part of the second post will be where I leave new tips/material/link there so you can easily know what new, then after a while (around 1~2 weeks), I will edit to move them in a right place, for the longer text one and the rest of my material in other page, I will slowly move them into my second post and create some missing topic there so you don't have to search all over the difference page of my threads, and another reason is this first post are getting overflow now that I can't edit it easy without getting lag/freeze

_ There are a bug that make the link to certain post in my thread going wrong place, so the "general advice of 'pastey5' ", I have to copy the detail and leave it in spoiler below, this may not be the problem for you guy, but this will surely make this post more compressed so it harder to edit dude to laggy, if you see any error or link not going to the expected one, then PM me

_ Update at 28/8: I have added another topic about advice related to Amazon and selling books

_ 20/11/2018: Good new, I finally found a job and doing it for around 3 weeks now, bad new is now I even have less time so expect the update/edit will be delayed, and if I in the mood and not so tired, I will edit/add more in free time (at least the "lazy" symptom are lessened). after a week will move this down to the log, the top new above will alway there for the new viewer of this thread

_26/3/2019: Fix a spoiler code for new novel in the "For new material/tips/videos" topic, and fix a link for the "Enlightened Empire" novel

_18/4/2019: add a new topic, name 'Sign of bad tropes in a novel' at post 6, if you guy know any more tropes, then PM for me and I will add it 

_17/5/2019: I edited by adding note for the advice website 'curiosityquills.com' after I get a feedback from another veteran author about it, it on the start of 'General Writing advice' if you don't know where (basically it only for starter and medium skill, but not for veteran/professional skill later, and you shouldn't follow the rule rigidly )

_3/6/2019 Wow, didn't expect it jump to 20k views already, even though I didn't care about fame much in the first place but thank for checking my guide thread anyway. I will try spend some more time to edit this thread to be better this week then (but don't expect it so much since I still have a job to do anyway)

_ Update at 14/10/2019: Fixed and add a note about this part at the start of 'General Writing advice' topic, for the feedback about 'curiosityquills.com' site
Considering women have 101% more tastes in terms of appearance compared to males, and if viewed through male POV, you would immediately judge her external appearance the moment you make contact out of her silhouette.  (note from 14/10/2019: Although this author comment I copy do give good feedback, but this part about woman ?, it very sketchy and not true for female characters here, other girl author have point this part out, and here is her quote 'Telling a new writer that that a male PoV should immediately inspect and judge a woman based on her appearance and silhouette is not only sexist and disgusting, it has the potential to real damage to their career if you take what certainly looks like your advice to heart ' ,

like I said, take everything with grain of salt, and that part I didn't notice in the first place and though it was for that website, but if you do take a grain of salt, you would have notice that part about woman are not right in the first place )

Finally, sorry for a snail update speed, since I get a job a few month ago + reading a lot of new good stuff, I tend to lazy forgot to update more for this thread, so apology for this, I will try to update from time to time, but I can't guarantee to do it everytime for now (unless I quit job or in a long holiday, which I think only the Asia 'Tet' event at new year is available from now on)

_ [Important notify] at 16/10: in the same day as 14/10, for some reason all the detail and word in 'Post 2' for the following topic [About Litrpg. ] [How to deal with a crime organization.] and [For new material/tips/videos.] have disappeared, I don't know why it gone, but I do know that the last time I see it is when I editing to add some more, it still there and if I do accidentally hit a key that delete it, then the whole post would be gone and not just that part, quite a weird problem, good thing is that the topic isn't that important and I still have backup draft for the two topic, only the one in 'new material' category are lost though =.=!, will try to find the time to fix it back
_ Have fixed those topic, and there are more new stuff I add now in the 'How to deal with a crime organization and how underworld work' category that I forgot in the draft, the only thing that lost is a bit of stuff in 'About Litrpg' and all of them in 'New material' one =.=!

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RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#2
Good novel list which can be used for reference and for entertain:
(I will separate into two type, one with interesting idea/Unique or good research in certain part like crafting,although some are quite bad but I still add, mostly for the idea and some of the good deep research like crafting, other will be mostly professional novels with tangible success or the one that nearly at published/Amazon standard for novel. Reading published novels is how most successful authors learn to write )

  • Interesting/Unique novel:



-The Dao of Magic (Just check the top 4 reviews. Still continue)

There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns. (funny, cute and good dungeon novel, better than "haven in a dangerous world", still continue )

-Fayde of the Void (The first is version was already good, but the new version is even better. Not sure it continue or not

-Kingdoms Online (want a quite decent novel about kingdom building and crafting ?,this is the one for you because this author research a lot of stuff that you can use for crafting and building stuff there, try to check my review to know the good,the bad and the ugly about this novel,even though there are a lot of haters who not even read past chapter 20 keep down vote my review, dropped)

Irregular (Rewritten) (a unique story with the mc and his group of friend who are forced to change into the non-human race, hiatus ?)

Orc Lord  (a very good reincarnation, into a monster story, have quite a good crafting and city building, some Unique magic and lore system, haven't read a while but I'm sure this is above average standards of novels this site, still continue )

-The Voyager (want a mc who is really cold-blooded and very calculating, a mastermind, but know how to acting, still justify and still quite likeable in some way ? , then you are finding a right one, btw it writes in a realistic point of view rather than the original game where the Raider win every encounter without loses, just read the review, only warning is MC will do ANYTHING to achieve her goal, so expect some betrayal, dropped, but she rewrite into new one, and it better than the old version, Instead of being blindly emotionless, the mc was now cleverly emotionless, which was more chilling)

Greatest Xianxia Book (want to know all the Xianxia tropes and cliche' ? [in a nutshell way], read this one, it very funny, short and fast release here, it a good quick read, hiatus ? )

Diary of the Shadow Queen (read top review and my, it an APOCALYPSE CULTIVATION STORY DONE RIGHT, still continue

Reborn with the All-Seeing-Eyes (if I have to compare with most of naruto fanfiction, it beat a lot of them, you can check review to know more, just my advice is you should at least read to chapter 15~16 to get the good part there, and you will learn some art of ninja onion cutting competitions there, then chapter 19~20 going dark quick but really good there, too bad it dropped)




  • Professional novel:



-The Simulations (Check my review to know what to expect, this novel is like a professional work, dropped)

Artisan  (a Very good AI mc one, but dropped)

-Impera (if you are a fan of realistic kingdom building, OP mc, and Roman theme, then this is for you, very realistic and he also finally stop rewriting/draft, so now you only have to wait for a new chapter, still continue)

-Threadbare (want to find a perfect and good example of LitRPG, non-living MC novel ?, then this is the one you looking for, it also in the best-rated novel in this site, finished)

-Painting the Mists (finally a really great,quite unique Xianxia novel with great execute and no tropes like "everyone is ridiculously hostile towards the MC for no effing reason", check the review for further detail, oh and if you worry about slave arc, don't worry, it very well done and only around 5~8 chapter, it also where the lowest point of the story so there won't be anything more lower there, still continue)

-the Mediator (Has great character development and contains a lot of meaningful lessons, but it dropped)

Hardcore: Qi Worlds  (The thing I like the most about this story is even though it's a chapter a day it still retains it's uniqueness, most chapter a day story's loss a little bit of individuality for the sake of consistency but not this one. [comment of author about his novel: I can't stand other Litrpg and other Vrmmos that spend 50 pages in the real world creating an unnecessary backstory. They are all the same. I wanted to jump straight in. Now we have some real-world stuff happening that actually matters and effects what happens in the Qi Worlds.], I think it in hiatus now )

-The Tale of G.O.D. (if you are new to royalroadl, then this is a "must read" series of this author here, you can google to see which order you should read first for the timeline, but still it not really that matter, book 1 finished)

-A Gentleman's Curse (it is one of the rare gems when it comes to reincarnated story, this is how most reincarnated story should be written [mostly] in a quite realistic way, you may see me mention again about this novel for some of it aspect example, still continue)

Dragon, Silver Dragon (this is how a OP mc story should be, It explored a creature (dragon) that all of us are familiar with, but in a completely new and unique way, also show a lesson about problem and some solutions for a immortal character,here is it quote "What goal do you have when there is nothing that can challenge you? Where do you find drive when you have entire universes at your claws? What do you buy when you own the wealth of a thousand worlds? Where do you call home when you don’t even know the name of the planet you live on?" the start are quite rough, but a bit later the story evolved in its own way. Finished)

Necrotourists (have you read One punch man ?, then this novel will 10/10 make you rolling on the floor laughing, and plot twist on the cliche's everywhere + reference, like Gundam, and have a Unique magic system with OP mc, also have good lore, taking a rest )

Lia and Lara will seek the One Piece (if you like fanfiction, including naruto, One pice, Mass effect, then you can check other novels from this guy, it very good, especially this one and the Mass Effect one, he has changed the original to fit in and yet it does not feel strange in any way at all,and Kestix also prove that OP MC's can live without harems to those harem crazed authors and readers,oh and in this one the two mc become less psychopaths, sociopath and bloodthirsty now compare to the previous novel,you can check the review, still continue)

Cultivating Civilization (it about the different take on cultivation with a bit of science and logic behind all the discoveries of the mc, and it is a story of an old man that reincarnates in a world with cultivation, but with a nice twist soon in the beginning. I cannot tell much without spoiling, even in the original site it is still in the very beginning. All I can say is that the mc will use all the knowledge he has, his relationships, the good and bad ones, and his wits and intelligence, to survive. There is no fucking quasi-omnipotent item or talent to defeat his enemies, in almost all novels with something like that, the quality goes downhill, fast. For more information, check my and other reviews, hiatus ?)
Ero Dungeon Evolution (warning, 18+ novel: want to find great sex material and LEWD stuff for writing that chapter ?, or you just there to satisfy your weird fetish, then say no more and check this out, still continue )

The Red Lands (A REALISTIC STORY OF ENDING UP IN A MEDIEVAL FANTASY WORLD, and see the mc from the bottom of society slowly rising up, from surviving and using his wit + merchant/marketing skill and some of real-world knowledge he barely managed to remember, like us since we don't have perfect memory anyway, read the top review, still continue

Starcraft Unbound (you can read my top review there for a better idea, it about a normal soldier get send to a hell mode + 1 game in Starcraft 1, and it won't just go through normal campaign story, and it also quite realistic, still continue

Rise of the Lord (For those who like kingdom-building this novel is a definite must-read! The Mc is logical and scheming. the Heroine is cute and powerful, and the struggle is real, the plot it's very plain for the moment but well build, there are emotions with sense and not random just to move forward with the plot, very good characters, The MC is not overpowered, uses brains to solve his problems. MC is the underdog in the fight, but in his case, the brains are a lot more important than pure physical strength or magical.)

-#NEW Enlightened Empire (this is how a kingdom building novel done right, and it a realistic type, only difference is the prince get all the knowledge from the modern guy, but it just that, and he also isn't a "genius" or the one that "never forget" invention detail like other kingdom building novel, so he do have to write the knowledge down to avoid forgetting, and of course in English so other can't read it, and read book 0, since he finishes it and it purpose to fill in the big time skip he originally write for book 1, and it also help you get idea for starting from 0 to a big merchant at first, right now he is rewriting for book 1, mostly the first 10 chapters, the rest is minor edit) 

-#NEW World Domination System (well, this one is quite an exception and good, usually the system novel type in this Webnovel site are not great and there are some that also good early on but then gone bad later, mostly with the china cliche' novel thing and priority word count for money, but this author do listen, do invest this novel thoroughly, the early chapter you may mistake with typical bad reincarnated novel + this one is quite slow pace a bit, but after the mc get to that magic academy, everything become faster and better, don't worry, the school arc thing not that long, not that boring and not that meanless, when you reach to chapter 80 at arc 2, that where you get one of the big shine point of this novel, and the newest arc it going on another higher lv compare to the early one

and know why I say this novel doesn't use cliche' ?, the first is the mc is an underdog type, and most of the time he use brain to fight/deal with problem, early he a bit too rely on the system, but he soon do notice the problem and try to not rely on it too much now, only really use it as a tool, of course the mc isn't a typical violence cold blood killer one, but do it when it really needed, and he become a greater scheming and outsmart enemy,  and second is the 'arrogant young master' DO ACTUALLY LEARN from their mistake, even if it the hard way, and this author update chapter quite fast and not the usual 'longer and longer word to cheat the system to get more money' one, I am read to it latest chapter right now )




About harem:

  • problem and solutions about harems (read the comment, and you should read this part of the chapter I leave bellow, they are very good and meaningful if you want to give the mc harem a good meaning)


    _ You should check this novel, it pretty good and this chapter gives more good ideal about the harem part (this novel also show how to use the tropes but in a good and more interesting way somewhat)

    http://royalroadl.com/fiction/13445/reincarnated-lets-be-a-pirate/chapter/157108/chapter-18 (read chapter 17 and 18 for the topic about that harem problem)
    if you are lazy then maybe just check this part in chapter 18 

    [
    "But the place Cole is from doesn't have a concept like multiple spouses does it?"

    She turns to me this time. Had she read my thoughts maybe? She's clearly leading me towards the issue I have seen from the start.

    "Mhm, that's correct. In fact, I find it hard to imagine a successful relationship with multiple people. Where I am from, it's normal to love only one person, anything else will lead to disaster. It's impossible to love each equally, someone will always feel left out. It causes strife within the once cohesive group and anger forms on all sides."

    "That's what I thought, so it is the same world as Damien's. I will tell you their feelings since it's pointless for them to tell me." She points to the girls who are holding their chests as if in deep pain from my words. I imagined the reaction would be like this. "They don't care about equal love. They just want you. To choose one and pity the rest? Or none? Is that better? I will add this part myself. Don't make the choice Damien made, don't hold back for their sakes and run away once you can't face it any longer. Don't force them to think 'they' are the reason you ran. Don't leave them with the regret Damien left us with. Please, change your line of thought for their sakes. Don't push aside their love in an attempt to shelter them. Trust them with everything, I don't think they will disappoint you."


    ~ ~

    That was heavy. This whole meeting was heavy. I had expected a nice talk with a Goddess instead I met one of the Demon King's Harem members. And she revealed all my secrets. Even ones I didn't know. She revealed or rather forced me to reveal my issue with our current relationship. She brought a lot to light. She forced me to rethink what I want.

    Do I want to continue as I have? Ignoring their feelings as it suits me. Lazing around with no intentions. I suppose I don't, but to do anything else seems impossible for me. 

    This Damien, he felt the same then? Was he like me? Someone not used to the attention. Just happy to have people close, but keeping them at arm's length for safety. It seems it has hurt his friends. Can I imagine a Rou and Aqua who hate each other for my sake? An El who ignores Mirna's request to play hide and seek? It hurts to try. I want to continue living happily as a family. Does that mean I have to come to terms?

    I refuse to force myself. It wouldn't be fair. I want to love them the way they love me. It doesn't seem fair to do anything less. I will take Aquarou's advice. But I have to stay within my pace. Anything more and as Aquarou said, I would likely run away from them. Sparing them the pain by separating. But she is right, that's not better. It's just selfish.

    "I have been, wrong. For some time, for that, I am sorry girls. I am grateful you accept me so easily when I still have trouble accepting myself. And I don't just mean this Demon king business, I mean in general. You asked about my confidence. 'They' are my confidence. They trust me so I have no choice but to trust myself too. I love you, Rou, Aqua, El, Alice, and you too Mirna. You are the closest things I have to family in this world. I would do anything to avoid losing you. And if that means disregarding my world's logic, I will. If you trust that I can love all of you enough, then I have no choice but to trust you."   
    ]


    _here is a input from a comment



    _ This comment for those who not done a proper plot and just slap the "harem" in

    [Too much harem. More girls equal more time developing the girls and relationships and less time for actual cool fights and adventures and actual character development. Think about the story as a focus. If you want romance and sex comedy as the focus then harem is fine. Just don't expect much to happen in terms of plot. Or worse don't have any depth of characters and each harem member is a bland trope or stereotype. Like cat girl nayaaah. Or tsundere. Or cold noble. Or fiery battle maniac. ]




How to deal with a crime organization and how underworld work:
_This part show how a OP guy who know about dealing crime organization by "dealing fire with fire":
(From this chapter: http://royalroadl.com/fiction/10211/necrotourists/chapter/131391/kingdom-of-angolia-arc-11-the-new-crew)

+Note:this part is the guy need to use them for information network and to fight again other bigger crime organization, so if your mc just want to clean criminal then he may need to do a bit more differently 

[“You idiots. You can’t just kill off a major organization and expect no long-term repercussions, barring the fact that there would just simply be a power vacuum, creating a massive war for control. Who do you think we are? Some kind of mindless heroes?”

“So, what are we going to do then?” Daggerless asked.

“Simple. We make our own criminal gang. One that would control all other criminal elements in the entire continent. We could benefit greatly from this.” 

The first task was to obtain more information about any criminal elements in the town. In order to bring them all under our control, I had to know where they were first.

“Now, let’s get down to our first task. Shadow fiend. Interrogate that man and torture him for answers as to locations of other gangs,” (that guy was leader of a gang)
]

[I was simply trying to bring all of the gangs under my rule, not annihilate them. I needed people to keep my pawns in line while I plan a grander scheme. (need to chose one who is competent but also obey/not power-hungry too much/not a threat to us )]

+Here is an example to deal with those very competent from trying to backstab the mc, this could work for both the crime organization and the power position a bit (like king,...):

[The situation was clear. Nyon had absolute power, but he needed a lower ascendant to keep an eye on the chain. Both Ji’nara and Alarak were suitable choices and any one of them would work, but Nyon put both of them in place to minimize the possibility of a betrayal. Two betrayals at the same time was much more rare than one. For Nyon it meant more sources of information and more trust in the loyalty of those sources.
For Alarak and Ji’nara it meant the only way to rise was by taking each other out. Thus the competition among the two ascendants.
(and Nyon fleet is bigger and stronger than the other two fleet combined,that one factor in making them not working together to betray him,and those two didn't like each other anyway,just make sure their backstab each other don't affect his fleet,economy,.... too much)]

_Here is reason why that organization crime don't need to hide,unlike normal criminal
Why Yakuza Don't Need to Hide (you can search on youtube this name if you not so sure)

_A good chapter about dealing with other gangs (kill all the one holding key position, unless one of them are likely want to switch side and not bad)
some detail summary about it 

“All those holding key positions in the Walsh gang has been eliminated. The gang consists of seven key members, along with twenty-four subordinates and thirty informants. Should the survivors fail to heed the message, we can conduct a sweeping purge.”

“I expect infighting and defiance as the stupid ones seek out power. Find me a capable stooge.”

To establish control over these low-income areas discarded by the larger gangs, Doug followed a plan hatched from a little rural farm. Cut the head and support a puppet ruler from the shadows. The candidate must be someone who enjoyed the taste of power but feared death even more.


_ As a normal adventure when dealing with crime organization (just add anything that can give idea about it, so you would find most part are copy of some paragraph in the chapter, also warning, very long since it a copy of a lot of part in those chapter):


What they should do about it ?. If it's an organization, not knowing how far it reaches could be dangerous when trying to expose it. After all, adventurers don't have any social standing to speak of, since they're considered drifters

"I think it'd be best to let the Guild know about this. We can have someone adept at stealth search his carriages to see if there really are slaves on board, then deliver him to the city watch on departure."
"Yes, that sounds good. Let's go and find the three that attacked Runa. If we capture them, we can get them to confess."


what would you do if they belonged to a large group with an extensive underground network that includes skilled assassins and mercenaries? At least that's how these things usually go in these stories.

"I don't think we should do that. If they have powerful people backing them, then we're at a disadvantage." Yes, listen to Gram. "If the slaves are being delivered to the capital, it can only mean they're being sold to the nobles there. Running afoul of them at this stage would be quite dangerous."


now I'm with a group that's talking about breaking up an underground slave ring that might be operating on a national scale. You're only four people! Oh wait, maybe with the whole adventurers guild, they also have quite some reach? But what makes you think they don't have their finger in the pie, too?

"So, our next move is to contact the Guild." Rolan is entering his leader mode. "Gram, talk to your friends in the city watch. Only those you really trust, we don't know if they're in on it, too. 


"What do you think about this whole slavery affair?"

"Very textbook for such a fantasy setting."
"I know right? At least the demons really do some evil stuff and the humans aren't the actual bad guys, as is often the case when one is reincarnated on the demons' side." I've read a lot of such stories. Escapism? No such thing.
(from Maou Shoujo Magical Chaos-Chapter 13,for reminder)



"We told her to close her shop for the time being." Yeah, I think that might not have been the best way to deal with that. Especially considering that in reality the three guys didn't return from the job, so maybe they'll send more people this time, and be more persistent. I doubt they'll be stopped by a locked wooden door at that time.

"If it's true that they're targeting elves, then they'll try to get her again. A locked door won't be a problem." Our thoughts are aligned, I see. "I'll send someone to bring her under the Guild's protection for the time being. Even if Sveinn turns out to be a slave smuggler, the slave trade ring isn't going to stop, if he's captured. They'll find someone else." So we'd need to get to the core of things, and that is to break apart the organized underground crime.



"But there's something else. Lady Nightwane has disappeared. The door's lock was broken and there were signs of a struggle."
"So they came back after all!" 
"I have my best trackers on the their trail already" (cut shorter)
The big man brought good news from the city watch. Those he trusts would take over the night shift with some trickery and bribery, and close the gates firmly, so that no rats can escape. I'm sure an organized criminal group will have some hidden pathways running underneath the walls, but at least the obvious escape routes have been closed.


"We followed the trail to an abandoned building complex in the slums. It's very likely that they have their base inside it. The problem is that we don't know how many entry points there are, and we can't tell if there are any hidden underground passageways." So even a town this small still has slums.

"Halfdan should be able to deal with the passageways with his earth magic. But we might be too few to completely surround the place as well as raid it. I'll need a layout of the complex, but the slums are notoriously hard to grasp because of how much of it is constructed in a half-assed manner." Ingrid seems troubled.

"Miss Luna can cast ice magic, right?"
"Could you not use it to freeze the outside of the complex?"
"This way nobody gets out on street level. Then we could use an underground passage to take them by surprise." This might be easier said than done, since I don't know the concept behind magic in this world, and where it comes from. If it requires something like mana, then I'm sure she'll run out of it quickly, when used this way. At least that's what I know from game logic.


"I could do it, but if they have someone proficient in fire magic, they can just melt it away." The typical rock paper scissors of elemental attacks, huh? But I feel like you're forgetting the fact that the building here are mostly made of wood, as far as I can tell. If you use fire magic inside a building to melt ice on the exterior, it's the easiest way to burn the house down.


"Of course we would still need lookouts on street level. But I doubt they'll be having a lot of fire mages, so their exit points should be very few. If we concentrate our forces there, it creates a bottleneck." Ingrid rides on my suggestion. It seems you don't need me anymore, I made my point.


I look at the building and it's covered in a thick layer of glowing ice that illuminates the surroundings. Oh, this is quite convenient for those on the lookout for anyone who might actually break out from there, since it lights up the street.


Two people are left behind to guard the exit, wearing heavy armor and wielding a shield and spear each. Perfect to hold a bottleneck like this. Not that they'd get out, since there are people guarding the exit above ground, too. (small tunnel, and someone outsite to lookouts in case some try to sneak out)


the slavers have been fighting a losing battle since the beginning and several isolated members have surrendered already. Very few have died and most have opted to stay alive rather than try and fight their ways out of this. Slavery doesn't pay, in many ways (don't have strong guy in their group)


--> "But really, why would someone with a double elemental alignment become a criminal?" Luna wonders after the slavers are bound and taken away. "The academy offers great incentives for such a talent." Apparently not as great as what the slave trade ring has to offer. In either case, that's the same everywhere. Crime is the easy and fast way, high-risk high-reward. It's like gambling, with one's future at stake. But there's no way out, you have to keep at it until the day you lose. Some lose earlier, some later. Those thugs who died here or were captured just lost at this simple game.


_ About spies:

+We've got a lot of literature on real world spies, from antiquity to the current era. People have all sorts of different reasons to betray the people or group (tribe, king, nation, whatever) that they're allied with or part of. That includes wealth, sure. But a competent spymaster won't kill those people because, at the very least, those same types of mercenary spies will stop selling information to you and that's not good. Plus a good spy would likely have some contingency in place to screw said spymaster over.

+ Some detail from a real spy: part 1 (If anyone know some good one a bit similar to this video, then PM me so I can share it, I didn't managed to find that much material related to real life spy)

+ How a Espionage in each race work:

Espionage is a normal part of diplomatic relations. Every race does it; the only question is to what extent. Some of this depends on the tendencies of the race in question. Some races place more emphasis on information and go to great lengths to acquire it, even if they never truly utilize it, while some view such actions as being beneath them or somehow dishonorable. Another limiting factor is the methods available to each race. A Human can't exactly infiltrate a Mrrroww city by pretending to be one of them, so they have to arrive for other legitimate reasons. Some races allow members of friendly races rather free access to migrate, while others keep a strict leash on such matters for various reasons. Being a trader or a diplomat is an age-old cover, but they are also the people that are most suspect. Vagabonds, mercenaries and other travelers can work as spies but they will rouse suspicion if they stay too long.
 
Another potential way of performing espionage is to simply buy information. You can bribe members of a race to give innocuous seeming pieces of information for a price, and then deduce greater details from the things you learn. An increase in military recruitment and propaganda is usually a sign of increased likelihood of war for example. This kind of information has the problem of being unreliable though, and could even be deliberately fed to mislead potential spies. In the end, the methods for espionage are many and varied. They each have their good and bad sides, including potential legality. Buying information, for example, isn't illegal in most places, but if caught, the spy is likely to face reprisal of some sort. Some races take a harsher stance of counter-espionage than others. As with many things, no two races are exactly the same in their methods and some are better at both espionage and countering it than others.”

+Some good detail for new spy

"Since you are new at spy work, your first disguise shouldn't be too different from your real identity in order for you to get used to it faster, however, it shouldn't be similar enough that your persona reminds others of the real you, thus allowing them to make the connection easily."

"Is it even worth it to make the persona similar to my real self?" I ask.

"Yes, very much so. The spy's act can fall apart from the smallest of slip-ups, by making the persona similar to the real self, we essentially decrease the number of possible slip-ups." She says. "Think of it like this, how hard would it be to pretend to be the same person you are now, except with a different name?"

"Quite easy, right?" "Now if we add something else, like, let's say the persona should love eating sea products. That would make it slightly harder, but not by much. But if we add that he is left-handed or completely blind, the difficulty jumps up to another level entirely, and so does the dissociation with the real identity."

(some magic part)
For stealth training, it's not only about being unseen and unheard, but also... 'unfelt'? Is that even a word?

Anyway, even one's mana circulation can grab the attention of anyone with enough training, nevermind magics and spells.

The trick to staying hidden is all about control, an easy way to understand it is to think that sudden movements of mana make 'noise' and to avoid making noise one needs to keep their mana, magics and spells moving gently and slowly, in this case, the less mana one uses the better.
+This show what type of spies and their use
13 Use of Spies | The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Animated)

+ How to spread rumor:
Rumors had three qualities that Dee was relying on making the situation even juicier. Firstly, the more fantastical or scandalous a rumor was, the quicker it spread. Secondly, the harder someone tried to suppress a particular rumor, the more everyone believed it to be true. And thirdly, the rumors would always grow with each telling

+The orphanage idea (children spies):


- The orphanage idea is the first of its kind, and will gather all the slum children towards you. With free food, shelter and coin, you will soon map out every inch of the slums and city.”

Mr Thomas sighed while secretly praising the idea. The brat had dropped the idea of using beggars and paupers as spies, since they could easily betray the cause for coin. Children on the other hand, could infiltrate anywhere without notice.



- His first action on entering the city had been to purchase a house in the better part of the commoner’s quarters. Under the guise of running an orphanage, he recruited the grateful children from the slums.

The expectations Chu had of those struggling to live day by day, bore fruit. Not only did Doug gain some diehard supporters, but he also found some experienced subordinates. Pickpocketing, stealing, scouting… these children possessed a plethora of suitable skills.
Currently, he had established outpost like the one located within the Walsh gang, deep inside the territory of the five adjacent gangs. The children roamed free under the radar of beggars and thugs, gathering information.
Through a contact, this child network spread across the city. The orphanage provides food and shelter for a price. The slum hideouts served to handle the growing numbers while keeping the children within their familiar grounds.
Every hideout had a nominated child who reported to the orphanage and receives the assignments. Copper coins passed when Doug or another member verified the task completion. Chu stressed they ran a business and not a charity (guess this part just a option).

_ Corruption, and how to survive in it world :
+There was no way that he could allow this farce of collecting fee, at least from him, to continue.
There were only two ways to get out of paying such fee: One, have a high enough social standing either using background or personal power.
Two, have a side business whose services can be exchanged.

_ About scam and how to scam:

+The best kind of scam was one where those being scammed had no idea that they were being scammed. Also scammer had to be prepared for moments when his prey might question him.

+Second scam "Create a problem, then sell the solution" :
It was inspired by many scammers from Earth, who used this same concept to steal millions of dollars yearly from rich, hapless citizens.
For example, one could call someone rich, who had engaged in corruption, and tip them off that the government might be on their way to seize certain assets.
At the same time, a solution could miraculously appear, which would seem trustworthy despite its timing.
Using the rich person's fear, the scammers would manipulate him to accept this solution by only giving him little time to accept.
After that, it would be discovered that it was all a ploy, with the solution being flawed in such a way that it stole away the rich person's wealth.
Scams like these were very common

Example of second scam:

With the upgraded system, Daneel made a spell at peak Champion level (so they don't figure out easy) which would make a buzzing sound effect anyone who was asleep.
Then, he chose targets at random, targeting around half the sect's population.
After all, if he went overboard and targeted everyone, it might bring down the higher-ups, which was something he didn't want.
Right now, this was the second phase: allow others to make bogus products to rectify the buzzing, when only he had the real solution.
+ The classic method of scamming people by making them give up what they have, with the allure of giving them something many times greater

+ Classic method of framing someone (with advanced version, "planted false evidences in both of their abodes, who both hate each other, So that they would be instigated to fight against each other" )


"You do know of the classic method of framing someone, right?"

"No, I mean frame as in make them look like they committed a crime they didn't!"


The classic way is to put evidence in the other person's abode, before giving a tip to the concerned party about that evidence. It is always harder to prove that one is innocent when one is caught red-handed, and the evidence would pit our target against anyone we wanted. Yet, that's too simple to use here. I need to get creative."



The best way to deceive someone or manipulate them was to make them think that it was their own idea.


"Young King, you said that framing someone means planting false evidence in their abode. But you planted false evidences in both of their abodes! Why?"

"Two reasons, but you should be able to guess the first as its obvious. Try, Drakos."



"I got it! So that they would be instigated to fight against each other!"

Sighing and thinking that Drakos still had a long way to go, Daneel spoke.

"Yes. But the second reason is that I planted false evidence about a false crime in one case, and false evidence of a real crime in the other. Even though a lot of care has been taken to cover up that real crime, if investigation starts in the earnest, don't you think that some or the other clue might be uncovered? After all, no crime is perfect, at least, not when there's someone like me to help the investigation. What do you say, Drakos? It's like a thief who has stolen something accusing and being accused by another thief who is innocent, with both thieves finding false evidence which lead to the accusations. If you are the investigator, don't you think that you have more chances of finding some clue to prove the crime of the first thief, because it really has happened, and because although the evidence is false, it points to that crime?"

"Yes! Of course! Brilliant, Young King! You're using his crime against him!


+ One was a scam which involved the infamous "hidden charges", which would allow anyone to change prices as they wished, and the other was a "Pyramid Scheme" which had ruined millions of lives, and continued to do so.
 
He had clearly outlined everything – a certain level of profit which was almost impossible to obtain was being projected as the most likely figure, and a lot of hidden charges had been added which would make it so that much more money than was needed would be pumped into this project by all these successful business families.

A portion of that money from the hidden charges would be added to the profits to show them that a lot was being made, which would entice them to put in even more, which Jordan would once again siphon away with even more hidden charges.

As for the other portion, it would actually be invested into the plans, too, but the intention was to use it in such a way that the overall cost of whatever they were doing would come down at least on paper, which would also increase the profit margin and squeeze more money from the others.

This was a notorious cycle which would definitely be successful, but it would take a little bit of time.

The latter was meant to target the smaller families which had benefited from the larger ones, so that no stone would be left unturned in the objective of implementing stuff using others


+Confessions of a Con Artist (below is from this post, it seem about defending again scam):

Don't Get Burned

  • Never make a buying decision when you've just heard the sales pitch. Always give yourself at least 24 hours to think about it. This gives you time for the emotional effects of the sales presentation to subside — and time for you to do research.

  • Don't ever share personal information about your family or about your worries with people who are trying to sell you something.

  • In any interaction with someone trying to sell you a deal, always ask yourself, "What's in it for them?" In other words, if this is such a great deal, why are they calling you about it? Why don't they just do it themselves?

But if you do:

  • For investment fraud, file a complaint with your state securities regulator.

  • For insurance scams, file a complaint with your state insurance department.

  • For all other instances of fraud, file a complaint with your state attorney general's office.



+ List of confidence tricks (or common scam)

+ Art of blame/to ruin other public image:
  -Two major ways to incriminate someone: either spread a rumor about their involvement in a particular event, or plant false evidence to make others think that they had done something they hadn't in reality.


+ Classic tricks of divine and conquer, with a twist (make other faction fight each other):

"Well, I once heard a story. A group had been brought together to rob a ban-…err, I mean, a house of someone powerful. Each of them had different duties- one needed to bypass the formation, while another was in charge of taking out the guards. However, the man behind it all had planned it in such a way that each such person was charged with killing the team member whose job was done. That way, those remaining would have a bigger share. In this way, the number of team members kept decreasing, as they could never have known that they were all fighting each other as planned by the one behind the whole thing. By the end, only one was left…and he was the one who had planned it all, and had disguised himself as a team member."

"I wanted all of these factions to fight against each other and keep wiping themselves off. For that, I had to assemble them, and then make them face off against an opposing faction. That wasn't too hard. But the problem came when a certain faction was weaker than the one they were facing. If only one of them got wiped out, it wasn't ideal.

"So…I took it a step further, and I found a way to change the power levels using those balls, which held the consciousnesses of Kellor and Faxul. The balls allow consciousnesses to enter and control Fighters easily. Mages, or Champion level Fighters would be able to resist in the blink of an eye. Warrior level Fighters, though, have pretty vulnerable minds. If there's a strong group, I would send in Kellor's consciousness to weaken them by making the strongest Warrior's of that group not use their full potential, resulting in their defeat. He is a Mage, so he knows jacksh*t about Fighting. If there's a weaker one, Faxul would enter the fray and make a weak Fighter 'burst out' with power, as I gave him a way to burn the resources in a body for a small burst of power. Basically, I manipulated the factions to be on the same level so that they would keep getting wiped off, while covering all that up so that the Heroes wouldn't know what's actually going on. To them, it'll look as if different people are changing according to the pressure in different ways, while I am skilled in locating Champions. After all, I only need to hide the consciousness thing from them, as its a simpler version of a Hero level spell which I'm not supposed to have. They can follow along with the rest, as all the other trinkets can be made by a Warrior, anyway. That's all. Simple, isn't it?"


_ Personal moral choice thing:

from this chapter comment (https://www.webnovel.com/book/11413811606356705/35276945109344703/World-Domination-System/Unexpected-Outcome), it about the "doing the necessary" or "if you don't do it then who do it":

+"However, Daneel felt no qualms at all, as he knew that sometimes, actions shouldn't be looked at on the surface. Instead, what should also be taken into consideration was whether the targets deserved it, and whether the end result would be beneficial on the whole, while not violating any inviolable bottom lines." 
How... conveniently consequentialist... 
And those must be pretty low "inviolable bottom lines." I am somewhat disappointed that someone purported to have studied practically the whole intellectual tradition of Earth has such vast gaps in his moral reasoning.

+I have to disagree with you. If someone told you to save millions of lives including your own you had to kill a serial rapist and mass murderer it wouldn't really be much of a choice. Also what bottom line has he crossed in your mind? He isn't even killing them, he is just leading them both into a political trap. If you have learned anything on earth it should be to feel no sympathy for politicians.

+Another comment: It is not a problem with moral reasoning, and he isn’t even saying that what he’s doing is moral. He is recognizing that it is immoral and doing it anyway. Not every immoral action is because someone had faulty moral reasoning. Not every problem in the world is because people didn’t reason it out enough. Seriously, it is comments like these that make people hate academia.




About Litrpg:
(It seem I have lost some other good part after that weird malfunction, and this is the only one I save in the draft =.=! )

_What you can implications with VR like in SAO , From "Mythran's Master Of All - Continued"
(all of this is from a comment )

+ That physical therapy setup would have so many implications.  Infinite practicing at 8x time, 100% safe sex, sex simulator (zero gravity, underwater, etc), paperwork, reading, homework, etc.  That time dilation would probably explode further once Gloria sinks her fangs into the coding.

 
And I seriously see Ren paying thousands of dollars to put virtual food into it, so he could eat literally infinite gravy fries on demand.  That alone would probably make Ren more money, as then he could start ANOTHER project for a virtual real world, where businesses could sell their products in a virtual setting.  I can guarantee that EVERYONE has agonized over ordering food because they don't know how that restaurant makes their food or how it tastes.  Well, now you can try it in VR before you order it.

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8220/mythrans-master-of-all-continued/chapter/140481/chapter-273-mixing-business-and-pleasure


+ From comment, summary of what it can be use for:
 

With many of the mechanics that are in place in the game, I wouldn't be surprised if this could be utilized in a lot of areas
office work - get 8 times the work done in the same amount of time

LAW - zone of truth court room and there will be no one lying to better themselves

government - again zone of truth so the population can trust its politicians, you could probably give reading enhancement to them too, so they have more reason to actually read those ridiculously long bills

hard and software development - again 8 times as much work could be done and since blueprint are made on computers anyway it is easily copied to the real world

Schools - 8 times the time, comprehension bonuses, AI teachers

Military - I would not be surprised if you could remote control let say a Titanic Jaeger from within or a small spy drone

 


+ How to torture with VR:
Knock the everliving shite out of him, sedate, buy a new helmet, forcefully log him into their server. After the "work" is done, sell the idea to the CIA. And they would get off scott free! Can't say it was coerced with torture since it was done in VR. At most, they could do a kidnapping charge or false imprisonment, but I highly suspect them using the obscene time dilation to get the goods before the cops get there. Gotta love technology, it's advancing at the speed of sound, while the law is advancing at the speed of... smell


_ A unique VR tech from "Party hard":
 + How this game work and make the below possible:

There was a time when playing a video game for eight to ten hours a night would have been considered far too much. There could even be health risks with that kind of sedentary living. And that would still be true if it were just a normal massively multiplayer online role-playing game, but Carpe Noctem was anything but normal. What made it unique was that the time its users spent in the game was the time they would normally spend doing nothing at all. Well, not nothing. To be more accurate, it was the time they spent sleeping. This was because the system that ran the game, dubbed Somno, the Latin word for sleep, created a sort of a shared dream. And among other things, it allowed players to enter the nighttime world of Noctem when they went to bed, and log out when they woke up in the morning.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t even a complex system, since most of the heavy lifting was done by the user's brain. All the Somno had to do, was guide the visuals of the dream state and feed information in and out so that players could interact with each other. It didn't even have to process much of the sensory information, since the player's minds filled in the blanks. It could even populate most of the background elements using whatever it could find in the memories of its inhabitants.
In that regard, if the system said, ‘Hey, brain, we need a sunset!’ the brain would respond with, ‘Oh, I have one of those from last summer.’ The result was a world nearly indistinguishable from the real one. Well, other than the fact that it had dragons.

After its release three years ago, the Somno had taken over as the dominant entertainment system in the majority of households. Although, this was due to the device's secondary benefit, which was the simple fact that, in Noctem, users gained back all of the time they lost to sleep. And when the average person spends a third of their life in bed, it wasn't hard to see the value. There was no more wishing for more time to relax after work or waiting until the weekend to spend time with friends. In fact, for many people who were working two jobs just to get by, it was the escape that they needed. So, it wasn't a surprise that, with over two hundred million units sold, and billions in monthly fees, Checkpoint Systems had become one of the most profitable companies in the world almost overnight.


+ Part 1, related with business:

Airships drifted through the sky, transporting people across a world that begged to be explored. Joining them, were a number of private transport shuttles, mostly carrying the city’s workaholics, who spent their nighttime hours making deals and racking up more money than Max would ever see in his lifetime. In fact, business was booming in the city of Valain. So much so, that it had become something like Noctem's unofficial capital of commerce, with corporations renting entire buildings of virtual space for their online operations. With a system like Somno out there, things like international travel had become a thing of the past. Hell, Max had even heard of large corporations holding entire trade shows and conferences right there in the city. Not that he would ever be invited to one. And, thanks to Checkpoint (company), it was all kept hidden within the well-designed towers that reached high into Noctem's sky. Business was good and all, but that didn't mean it was allowed to interfere with the game. That would have gone against everything that Carpe Noctem seemed to stand for.


+ Part 2, related with entertain district :

He hoped that by taking a detour they could avoid some of the crowds that gathered in certain parts of the city. The worst being the entertainment district, which was essentially a long street lined with clubs, bars, and other distractions. For those users who didn't care about questing (game quest), and just wanted to take advantage of a few extra nighttime hours, it was the place to be. Well, to be more accurate, it was party central. And with no risk of a hangover in the morning, it could get pretty crazy, which was why Max and Kira avoided it at all costs.
It wasn't that they didn't like fun. There was just something about the crowd there that made them feel a little uncomfortable. It certainly didn't help that last time Kira had set foot in the area she had been forced to activate her cage, which was a failsafe option that forbade other users from touching her by creating an invisible barrier just above her skin. Players under eighteen had this option locked in active status at all times to prevent certain activities that might be considered inappropriate. Hence, the reason why it had been referred to as a cage.
Most of the party-people in question never ventured beyond the city's walls. Hell, most of them were level one and didn't even own a set of armor, so their impact on the game was minor, to say the least. They were background characters, not adventurers. And just like the world's businesses, Checkpoint had gone through the trouble of designing Noctem's cities in a way that kept that part of the world hidden as well, which made the crowds easier to avoid. But, hidden or not, they did still serve a valuable purpose, which was consuming virtual content like it was going out of style.

The economic setup of the game world was pretty impressive. It offered two distinct types of products and operated on a dual currency system that kept everything balanced. All equipment and items that influenced the game could only be bought with virtual credits that could be earned by simply playing. And any transaction having no bearing on it, could be purchased at a reasonable price, with regular money. Checkpoint taking a percentage, of course. So, if a user wanted to see a movie, buy a beer, or purchase a new outfit for the club, they would pay for it just like they would anything in the real world. And since there was no way to exchange one currency for another, it ensured that players would never be left struggling to afford important things, like crafting items. Although that didn't mean that it was impossible to purchase game items outside the system, the demand giving rise to a number of websites where users could post requests for help in exchange for real money. Sometimes it was something simple, like needing to purchase a transport shuttle to get around, and other times it was something more complex, like escorting users through high-level territories. It was a system that had funded a road trip up the east coast for Max and Kira just last year. It had been fun. They saw a deer.
(take this part bellow from other chapter, show that they don't alway have the crazy fun type, they have the normal type )
- Just a short walk from the teleport point in the City of Lucem. People drifted around her on all sides, creating an exciting yet somehow relaxed atmosphere, that upon contact was down-right infectious. Unlike Valain, with its suffocating entertainment district, Lucem was entire city devoted solely to fun. The colorful streets were filled with theaters, casinos, arenas, and clubs. The sheer spectacle of the place gave everyone a reason to visit. Kira appreciated the effort.



For new material/tips/videos.

_#NEW Have you hear about 'Toxic Positivity' ? (more idea for real life, and for novel writing, this could be a traits idea for character developing here)
The Shadow Of Toxic Positivity

+ If you don't know about it, here is one example (find from a comment) :

- Body positivity (and by extent many types of victim culture) are very strong examples of this toxic positivity. "You're beautiful how you are now." "You don't need to alter yourself, the world needs to bend for you." "it's okay that you're agoraphobic. In fact we should accommodate the fact that you physically shake upon leaving your house, and scream when around too many people, as forcing you to overcome that might make you saaaad and sad is a bad emotion." The Western World is collapsing due to this thinking, it's such a toxic, negative thing.

+ Here is another highlight comment that explain deeper about this topic, and other comment for 2 kind of 'positivity' and optimism (copy from comment in video so you don't have to find it) :

- So toxic positivity is basically being in denial and naive?

- I think denial, yes, but rather than "naive" it's more about fear. It's about being afraid to really look at and touch and go to a place of emotion that is hard or difficult. Super positive people, or I guess you could say toxically positive, are just as out of touch with reality as super or toxically negative people who can't ever seem to see past negative emotions and look at the bigger picture. Toxically positive people only see the bigger picture (there are many fish in the sea, anything is possible, it's all good, etc.). But, I want to point out, that either extreme is mostly from learned behavior from childhood. The video is interesting and pointing out an interesting fact, but fails to go deeper to realize that if you were taught that there's no hope and everything is impossible, from a toxically negative parent, then you are likely that type of person. A toxically positive person usually comes from a family that denies emotion or denies all negative emotions or hurting as "bad" and pushes everyone to ignore these emotions and sweep everything under the rug.
I know my family is like this, and also the family of my friend who went through a marriage breakup that was really hard for him, but I, and also it seems his entire family of origin (parents, siblings, extended family, and also co-workers and friends) just pretty much pretended like everything was cool and tried to lift him up by taking him out and being present physically, to go out to dinner or whatnot, but not emotionally. Because he also was taught to deny negative emotions, he bottled it all up inside, and made himself sick. Developing MS (Note: the only inconsistent in his comment is this stuff shouldn't cause MS, other author have point this out), and then heart disease, and died this year at age 48. I also wanted to be there for my friend who was going through a breakup when his fiancée left him, but I was afraid to bring him down more by talking to him about it, so I just texted him and said something positive and pretended like it was all going to be fine. He ended up committing suicide. I know that neither death of my friend was my fault, but in both cases, I really wanted to be there for them emotionally, but I didn't know how to approach any kind of emotional conversation, and also I was afraid to do so, because we never had any type of conversation about emotions when I was growing up. I guess you could say that "toxic positivity" is a form of emotional immaturity, just as toxic negativity is.

To be unafraid to go to a place of sad or painful emotions and touch it and talk about it, I think, for the most part, is a learned behavior that most of us can learn. Yes, it's basically ignoring the elephant in the room and being afraid or not knowing how to approach and connect with emotion I think.


- So i think there two 2 kind of positivity:
1: toxic one: be positive to deny a problem that you are facing. Be positive to hope bad thing will gone, tommorrow will fine without doing anything or change anything. Ect.
2: be positive to deal with the problems you have. Be positive to forward to happiness even you know bad thing still there, but you accept, dont piss off with it than deny it. I think toxic positivity may be have dark side. But overall, it still better than too negative.
- So it's basically indeterminate optimism and determinate optimism.
- Also blind optimism (stems from only good vibes) vs practical optimism (which is positive thinking learnt from constantly overcoming obstacles in your life to the point that you’ll know it’ll work out because of your experience)

_#NEW Found from the royalroad 5th birthday event, it about a website that help give more idea for character personality, here is the quote:
'Try using sites like 16personalities.com for a personality test, roleplaying your character and answering the questionnaire in the character’s voice to try and understand for yourself what type of character it is. Write it down in your own words'

this could be very helpful when you try to write a new character here, since you understand your character more to make it consistent (Note: after I try it myself, although not 100% accurate about me, but it very close enough, and actually good here, it can be a good character material here if you want to develop deeper)

_#NEW It seem there are such thing as this, and it seem even better than the china repeat crossbow ? (since this can use for the longbow version) Archery | Instant Genghis Khan ft. JoergSprave

(Check the comment from 'chicoarraes' and other in his comment section for more detail idea, here is two comment example):

+A foot archer with a standing shield a couple of these and a squire constantly reloading could be a virtual machine gun
+Yup. Same with two rows of archers firing in turns. It took Nu 10 seconds to reload (leisurely) and 7-8 seconds to take four aimed shots. Assuming a more powerful bow took slightly longer to shoot, two rows of archers could keep up a non-stop hail of bolts until their quivers were all empty. Nu's rate of fire here was 16 bolts per minute, reloading included. Two rows of archers could thus maintain a steady rate of fire of around 32 bolts per minute or more. Even if it took twice as long to shoot a more powerful bow, at 15 seconds per maganize, the rate of fire would still be impressive. That would be around 10 bolts per minute with a single row of archers and 16 bolts per minute with two alternating rows of archers. And that's just with the rate of fire that Nu demonstrated in this video without even attempting to be fast. With training and haste those numbers would go up.
Still, other author also give a comment about repeating bow:

Looks good but using a longbow or recurved composite bow requires training... lots and lots of strength training and practice...

Like how the old Longbow men of England grew up using their longbows since a child, which made them very dreaded by the French leading to any English longbowmen caught, the French cut off their bow finger which is the middle finger, which later on lead to the English bowmen giving them the finger and cursing "Pluck Yew" which should be where Fuck you came from...

Anyway bows needed a lot of strength training/usage to be proficient even with the repeating mechanism.

Now crossbows does not require much training... a peasant can easily learn how to use a crossbow in a matter of hours compared to a bow which needs months to years of constant practice.

Hence, a repeating long bow and crossbow both has their own good and bad points... but if u need an ranged army fast, repeating crossbows will be the better choice. Giving a longbowmen a repeating longbow is basically just like an ROF (rate of fire) upgrade, but you still have to factor in arm fatigue, shooting dozens of arrows rapidly with a 150 pounds(68kg) pull bow is super tiring compared to the chinese repeating crossbow which the archer can keep firing all day long.
Of course, repeating crossbow has lesser power vs traditional crossbows/bows, still they can fire all day as long you have the ammo, and you don't get tired compared to firing a bow all day long...
the only limiting factor for a repeating longbow i guess is stamina and training time
if they can be solved than yes... a repeating longbow will triumphant over a repeating crossbow

_#NEW 1,000km Cable to the Stars - The Skyhook (It's basically a space trebuchet that uses orbital momentum to throw things to/from space Much more cost efficient than rockets Going to Mars would require around 80% less fue. But the video didn't tell the cons much like it actually needs a shit lot of tech and science to set it up, and quite dread on what happens if a skyhook goes out of control,....)
_#NEW How to Win a War (good detail and short summary, for example, in ww2 they have to use a lot of bomber and lot of bomb just to try to destroy certain important part/place in the city, so lot of damage to the city asset and lot of people die, today though just one plane with smart bomb/missile and you get the important target without kill any civilian or city asset )
_#NEW Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator (this site will give some idea to use this a bit, although it the generator type, but it still allow you to edit detail enough to form your own map there, not to mention it free and no need to download, so it a plus, and it seem you don't need to have good drawing skill as long as you spend time to learn how to use the tool there)
   

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#3
Ah, thank you very much for your consideration, royaldarkness.
If there are ever any grammatical nuances I'm unsure of, I'll be sure to use your references.

As an aside, I've already begun writing a story on this website. I welcome you to give it a look here: royalroadl.com/fiction/13361/orc-lord
If you spot any noticeable issues, or are just simply enjoying the story, please feel free to drop some comments.

Have a wonderful day. Sincerely, docemoon145.

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#4
Tools for spelling, grammar, and editing:

Grammarly* (Most recommended)
[reverso][languagetool][hemingwayapp][onlinecorrection]
Bing  (comparing with google translate the bing is better)
Plume Editor (somewhat professional editor, there you can write some background and other scenes so you don't forget)
prowritingaid (best editing machine, of course, it still have a downside, check the 4th comment in this forum post to see it, or this review)
wordcounter.net (author feedback: I use this website nonstop when writing chapters. Why? The website tries to calculate the difficulty/sophistication of inputted writing. My goal is to have all chapters at the "College Student" reading level (many are at the 11th-12th grade level, though none fall below that). You can check what that website used for right away )

_For newbie: 15 Grammar Mistakes That Make You Look Silly

_#NEW
 Text to Speech (it quite good, and voice are human enough, compared to the robot voice in google translate, so if you want to see if that part of the paragraph are easy to read or not, or use this for audio book [somewhat], then this will help you do it, my personal view on this so far, if it just simply English voice and need spell accurate, then I advise you use only the three voice, British and American (2 difference woman), and remember to check that paragraph/word in all of the three voice since some of it speech quite wrong, or faster than normal for certain one )

About Amazon/selling book:

- Just a heads up, if you put it in Amazon it's in their contract for it to be pulled from other sources for a minimum of three months if you plan on using most of their services, I do hear another thing that you would only need to remove the content if you signed for KDP Select ( which make the book available on Kindle Unlimited) 

[SPECIAL RECOMMEND] A way to remove the stolen novelthe talk about that problem 
(In case the link die, the main point is: To get your story off Webnovel.com, the only option is to send them a DMCA email (link is in their footer ), as they completely ignore community reports. Even then, from what I know it is an extremely slow process. You can also fill out a Google DMCA form to remove the link from Google search results)

#NEW warning before sign contract for publishing novel (especially on webnovel.com): 
Seriously, have an IP lawyer go over any contract before you sign. You may be Ok with them owning the rights to your story, but would you be OK with them owning every word you ever write? This has happend to other authors, and some magazines and newspapers today are attempting to rewrite their contracts with their journalists to do exactly that, so don't laugh it off.

Usually the rights owned by a publisher are temporary. How long will they own the IP to your story? What is the process for turning it back over to you? How 'deep' does the ownership go? (For example, can they 'fire' you and get some other author to take up you story?)

The ways authors have been screwed over by publishers over the years is legion, and one should NEVER sign a contract without fully understanding what it says. Don't take this lightly.

(Credit: DaftWully)

Cover Artwork:Description/writing style/writing technique:
  • Why question mark aren't alway good (I copy this from some author a long time ago, only read this for better understanding, not apply to your writing completely):

    A question mark is not a sentence. To show that the character is confused, use a tilt of the head, a perplexed look, a flick of the ears or something else. Avoid using question marks. It’s lazy story writing, also don't use "Ehh" and "Ahh" frequently. Think back to all your favorite books (not anime). How often do characters say that? Not often. Another is that you use of "...." instead of using natural pauses through your writing. If you use words like hesitating, pausing, or describing them looking off to the side, or rubbing their head sheepishly, or any other way that can show that a character is not speaking immediately, it’ll improve your storytelling a great deal.
  • How to do a Tournament Arc (after watch this I also notice that "My Hero Academia" plays perfectly to the tropes of shonen manga, a really good executed one here)
  • On Writing: how to kill your main character [ Game of Thrones l Vikings ] 
    (useful tips from comment of video:I think adapting similar aspects into anyone's own story is a tricky thing to do - a lot of writers tend to focus more on the character's motivations and make that decide who he is as a character, rather than writing the characters and letting their decisions be decided by their own traits, ideas and flaws)

    -Deeper about "how to kill a character", have titles for each aspect of that topic you can see there (don't worry, this only take 1/5 of that page, the rest are just comment about it) [recommend]

    -Found some new advice about killing your character (will add it into the exiting topic one to expand that):
    example about this (warning, a bit spoiler about "Gurren Lagann"), "Kamina from Gurren Lagann":

    A. He doesn't get an exposition dump right away and is paced out for him and everyone over the episodes.
    B. He doesn't have "I will die or turn evil" stamped on his forehead.
    C. He is effectively in a contest for main character for the episodes he is alive. He's both the driving force behind the team, energetic and charming and the center of attention. 
    D. Unlike other expendable meatbags you listed his usefulness was far from over, you actually cared for him and the other characters did as well; his lost affected them throughout the entire series(and the viewer feels it as well).
    He is a prime example of a character death done right. Impactful, sudden and leaves a obvious hole in the cast throughout the rest of the series

    -Some advice for writing a interesting villain/antagonist from a random reader instead of kill him off

    As an author, you invest "character creation points" into your characters. Ralph has A LOT of points invested into him. Lots of authors fail in transition between one "villain" and another because they kill off "villain #1" and then have to develop "villain #2", and the time do that makes the story seem dry. The "villain #1" was "alive" due to all the character development ahead of time. "Villain #2"? Not so much.

    I would argue that if you want to kill Ralph at some point, you first have to develop either a serious Henchman for him or a big Boss that he meets somewhere. The Henchman or Boss needs to be character-developed (or at least intriguing hints of their superiority to Ralph need to be given), before Ralph is killed. That would make a transition between "villain #1" and "#2" natural.
     

    (from this comment of "monster-core-revised-version" novel, at the end of book 1)
     
    *second comment in the same chapter:

    On one hand, it would be great if the mind control thing would be permanent but in this magical land who's to say he won't find a way to beak it? It would be great plotwise to have such a mind-controlled minion moving around to aid and later join the MC. However if Ralph does get over the mind control he could be an interesting antagonist for the story (not a main antagonist), 
    the problem is that most readers (this potato being one) generally detest the idea of having a character the MC could have eliminated earlier becoming the main antagonist because of how annoying it would be seeing their (protag and antagonist) interactions further into the story. In my opinion, I would end p thinking "oh look a chapter about the guy the MC failed to kill (due to arrogance) causing so much grief to the MC". In terms of characterization it might seem interesting that the MC makes mistakes like that but in my opinion, the MC does not seem like he'd make such an obvious mistake.
     
  • Detail about fight strategy and the "DBZ fight" (found from some reader):

    I always found that writers never really found a balance when they try to mix warriors capable of defeating entire armies by themselves and strategy in the same story...they would always start more tactical and slowly but inevitably become more like dbz as the story progressed (ie: i am the monarch, the book eating magician, etc...that is, besides pretty much every xuanhuan story and a fourth of the xianxia ones)
  • One good example of how to make that certain event/incident not out of nowhere (from this chapter)

    Yuck, I like it the way it is and hate for something to come out of nowhere! Majority of stories I disliked when they just have revolutions happen out of nowhere or a major incident that the MC happen to come across. Said events should happen naturally and not thrown in just because the viewerbase complain

     
    Edit: For example this chapter had the woman attack him but it was hinted at her suspecting the boy a demon and might even be against him chapters beforehand so it isn't coming out of nowhere. That is a good incident. Bad would be if he was immediately attacked by the warrior this chapter for no reason besides being an assassin even though we had no hint of him being a traitor.
  • How to Plot Your Novel Using Dan Harmon's Story Circle
  • Good example for descriptive:

    (note: this advice is from the Ietls website, and it could be helpful in writing novel and for examination here)

    The difference between these scores is about how we support our ideas with explanations and examples.

    Band 6 – Gives relevant ideas but these may not be fully developed with explanations or examples or the explanations and examples given are irrelevant.

    Example– The main problem causing traffic jams is too many cars. There are lots more cars these days.

    The idea is relevant but they have failed to explain why cars cause traffic jams or give examples.

    Band 7- Gives relevant ideas and these are developed with explanations or examples but these ideas may be too general or lack focus.

    Example- The main problem causing traffic jams is too many cars. In lots of cities around the world there are lots of cars and this causes traffic jams. For example, the number of cars purchased in developing countries is increasing year after year.

    This student has presented a clear position, but they have given a very general explanation and their example lacks focus and is not specifically linked to the main point.

    Band 8– Gives relevant ideas and these are developed with focused and specific ideas and examples.

    Example- The main problem causing traffic jams is too many cars. When we have more vehicles than a city’s infrastructure was designed for it leads to congestion. For example, Ho Chi Minh City was designed to cope with around 500,000 cars and the city now has over 2 million cars, resulting in chronic traffic problems.

    This student has explained their point very well, explaining exactly why they think too many cars are the problem and given a very specific and relevant example to prove their point

  • [RECOMMEND] How to Write 1,000+ Words in Just Minutes (Tips for Writers Series) (legit one, only need microphone, even if it a cheap one, you can see how it work right away in middle of video, but just keep watching for his experience and advice in using this trick )
    (feedback from other about this trick)

    -pros: like I said above, and I guess it depends on each writer, some may even have a problem of transition from thought to writing down, so maybe this trick will work for them, beside, not a lot of author in this site can write that fast and may not even have much time to write, so this can be used for a quick draft for the idea out, then they can edit later, that way they don't forget what they try to write, and another plus is you can train your English speaking from this, too.  

    -cons: Probably, dictating to a Voice-to-Text program takes him more time in editing than he realizes. He should just learn to type as fast as he can think of what he wants to say. That's way easier and cuts down on the whole editing process, which is still the major part of writing something. For someone like 'Andur',7000 words feel really slow. With 2h of not being interrupted, he can write 3000, so with a full day of uninterrupted writing, he would probably end up somewhere between 13.000-17.000 words

  • Check out the podcast Writing Excuses. It's focused on fantasy & scifi writing, mainly book. you will learning stuff with each new episode.
  • [RECOMMEND] How to deliver exposition (so you can avoid info dump, the summary at 15:50, but you still should watch the video fully to get the concept and example better)
  • [RECOMMEND] PLOTTING A STORY - Terrible Writing Advice  (I know, it should be in my 'how not to write' thread, but this one is more important compared to other of his video here, and it also show which type of writer you are, a 'builder' or 'explorer' writer )
  • Story Endings: 10 Tips to Help You (although it 20 minutes long, but you could just skip it to the note tips that he showing up, like one at 0:46, that could be enough for the idea)
  • How One Punch Man Turned Bad Storytelling into a Masterpiece (oh and also check the top comment I highlighted for you, and the video analyze it very good and easy to understand)
  • To keep an additional pov from feeling pointless to readers, make sure it has connections in some way to the main story, even if its a small one. Multiple pov's begin bogging down most stories if you can't see or feel that connection. (credit: ssj782)
  • #NEW Some advice about cliff:
    Everything in moderation. Using a cliff at the right moment amps up suspense, but using it too often desensitizes the reader, leaving an underwhelming result in the future when a cliff might be necessary.
Chapter titles recommendation: 
Instead of listing your chapters as "Chapter X: Title" my recommendation is to list "Chapter X.Y: Title" with the X referring to part/volume/arc and the Y referring to the chapter number. 


Name/ideas generator:
Tip: there are other versions for Name generator in accordance with cultures, such as "Japan name generator". There is also a city or World Map name generator (Simply google it).General Writing advice:
  • [Recommend] curiosityquills.com this is a website with tons of different topics covered for writers, from female protagonists that don't suck, How to avoid bad infodumps to creating languages.
    (_ Note: But it only quite good for those who quite new to the writing (and somewhat for medium skill), but not good for those who want to go further and professional way. Here is the comment of one author for reason: I see that the 1-7 list is just... For me, I don't know for others but, it is just plainly Stupid. Considering women have 101% more tastes in terms of appearance compared to males, and if viewed through male POV, you would immediately judge her external appearance the moment you make contact out of her silhouette.  (note from 14/10/2019: Although this author feedback I copy do give good feedback, but this part about woman ?, it very sketchy and not true for female characters here, other girl author have point this part out, and here is her quote 'Telling a new writer that that a male PoV should immediately inspect and judge a woman based on her appearance and silhouette is not only sexist and disgusting, it has the potential to real damage to their career if you take what certainly looks like your advice to heart ' ,

    like I said, take everything with grain of salt, and that part I didn't notice in the first place and though it for that website, but if you do take a grain of salt, you would have notice that part about woman are not right in the first place )


    I am not hating Quills but rather, I don't like how it formulates rules for you to follow. Writing should be free, and pieces of advice that chain you with a number of rules are not a must to be followed. As I follow this rule from Alessia De Luca in Quora. I follow my writing by this rule so, therefore, I invalidate everything from Quills all except for some other materials that are quite essential. I write in perspectives so, therefore, personalities are a must to build and every character must be unique in a sense you don't feel like they came out of reference on somebody's books.   
    I might go check out Atwood, it looks really useful for finding bits of advice on how to write professionally.
    _ Another note: I notice that the early part like 1-7 of that topic tips is Quills earlies topics advice, so it may not as good or as edited as the later one, so I think that could be one reason that make him think the site advice is that bad, but he is still right that you shouldn't follow the rules rigidly, and this advice site is only for reference and should take a grain of salt) 
  • Universally advice for writing from pastey5 , that every reader can check out (mostly new writer)


    -Write about things you're familiar with, or get familiar with them. When you write about a topic you don't know about, it stands out to anyone that does know about it. Think of all those corny science or investigation shows where they 'enhance' the images.

    -Only suspend the users disbelief when it makes sense to do so. It makes sense to a user that there are fire breathing dragons because of the story, but it doesn't make sense that a two year old can hold a decent conversation. Additionally, inserting modern day philosophy and politics into non-modern day scenarios sticks out poorly too if it's just thrown in there.

    -Don't go into to much detail. The more you define, the more you restrict yourself. Define things as you need them, use perspectives of characters to understand them through those perspectives, but be careful of going all in on something you don't want set in stone. A lot of writers use long exposition in substitution for writing, a symptom likely due to a desire to world build too quickly.

    -If you break the rules of your world, then anything beyond that loses its suspense because now anything can happen at any time. Dragon Ball Super is a huge violator of this with their power levels. There's no real suspense compared to Z since they violate their own rules on an episode basis.

    -Don't be in a rush to world build. Let it develop over more chapters. Isekai in particular suffers from this where a lot of Isekai manga start with an 'idea' for the beginning of an Isekai, then once that beginning is rushed through have nothing else and just wing it with random stuff from there on. Stop and think are you trying to write a story, or are you trying to write a character/story beginning?

    -Use words to describe sounds and actions. Using text like "?!?!?!?!" or excessive capitals like "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" is poor quality and stands out as beginner writing. Sometimes the shape/style/font of text can be used to convey meaning, but in 99.9% of cases you can translate those things into descriptions. Show, Don't Tell.

    -Show, Don't Tell. You're writing a story, show the things you want the user to see and know. This is related to many of the other points. Sometimes you'll need to tell because you're likely writing something with strange concepts, but even then you can likely cut down the amount of exposition being used.

    -If you are writing a LitRPG (a story with video game mechanics) try to cut down on the outright in-your-face-ness of the mechanics. A lot of stories use video games as a basis for not only the world building and mechanics of the world, but for the writing as well. You'll find massive pages of stats, explanations of generic video game mechanics that go on for chapters. Overlord (with the skeleton) is a good example of it being done nicely. It's there, but it feels more real. Though Overlord doesn't have menu screens. This also plays into the other points about showing, not telling. 

  • How to build a fictional world - Kate Messner (for someone have an idea but don't know how to write that idea out)
  • Brandon Sanderson - 318R - #1 (Course Overview) [Recommend to watch for every author,including experienced author]

    _Comment from one author: I discovered that I'm a discovery writer, need to keep better track of my own characters progression and development, figured out I need to take a step back from my own story once in a while and all in all gained a shitload of inspiration.

    All in the first two lectures. (how long for all of those video from him ?, around 12 hours, but I'm sure you will become an expert writer after watching this, lol)


    _Comment from another author: I'm more of an outline writer, but I leave the outline kind of vague. So when I'm writing the actual chapter, I surprise myself with what actually happens because I discover the details of the plot unexpectedly. >u< I think that creates real surprises within plots! 



    (my note: It's long (10+ hours) but it's a free college-level writing class focused on writing fantasy and sci-fi from Brandon Sanderson himself. Author of the "Way of Kings" series and the last few "Wheel of Time" books )

  • For new reader interesting in your story from the start: 
  • Random Dao generator (if you need a profound DAO saying for a certain topic then this is for you, easy to use)
  • If you have a "power creep" problem then check this video, it shows a way to solve it. (also for dungeon novel)
  • For plot twist ideas:

    Imagine dedicating yourself to a dream, or hope, or hatred or an ambition, but when you reach your destination. It was all in vain.

    Example: She was led into believing that she was a girl that was cursed into being a futanari, but was actually a hermaphrodite, to begin with?

    (From this chapter, try it, this novel’s very entertaining and funny. If you read the first dungeon battle part and not the first 2 volume then you’ll see it. There are no dark and tragic elements, except for volume 1.):
    https://zirusmusings.com/ldm-ch239/
  • if you want to attract more reader, here is a few tricks: 

    -you can sign the writers pledge:
    this is a pledge/promise authors do to their readers, promising to finish their novel with a satisfactory ending, promising not to drop it, and you will receive a banner ,Signatories are advised to promote the pledge thread to maximize the benefit they receive from the assurance of readers who know that their fiction will end properly.

    -you can stock more than 5 chapter and release it nearly at one (minimum is 1 chapter/hours so the system recognize it for better effect, there are schedule mode to help you auto release it) or make a daily release for a week (make sure it in the same week) ,this way will make your story easy to climb on "popular this week" and attracting more reader from that (want near 100% sure to climb up there ? ,do the same ,but with more than 10~20 chapter and you will surely jump to the top spot for a while, that will be enough for a good start) oh and make sure the first chapter (or around 2~5 first chapter ) are as good as possible since it reflects the skill of your writing for the rest of the novel (for a reader that just want to find a good novel without wasting their time by reading the first chapter 
  • do you know there are rain sound simulator ? This will make your mood feel better (there are other rain websites, like this one that allow for further option )
  • About Rewrite :

    1) Reason to not rewrite. Yet. Wait until you reach a definitive 'end' of it  (in the comment)

    (in my options, unless you have a terrible Prologue or very bad grammar to the point unable to read, too big of the error/plot hole or really need to make a major change of plot then don't try to rewrite too soon)


    2)  -Short version: Hate rewrites, but if you have to go about it, do a flowchart with the beginningkey events and locationkey character, and an ending.
    Barebone, but follow it.
         -Long version

    *Just a simple advise about rewrite(from other comments):
    Changing or rewriting you do, needs that you love the change. because it's your story, so you need it to like. without it heading the suggestions of the reader headless would end up with you having a writing block and no motivation whatsoever to continue writing it. Consequence you dropping the story and I can't read it to the end.
    (source: http://royalroadl.com/fiction/17197/a-dragons-dungeon/chapter/202688/announcement-not-a-hiatus?comment=1532036#comment-1532036 )

    _How to do good rewriting (at least for essays for IELTS, but this still may give some idea for you)

    good rewriting is about more than just grammar corrections; there are many other things that you could improve, such as:

    - how well you address the question
    - clarity of your position
    - sentences or phrases that are vague or irrelevant
    - level of detail in your explanations
    - overall paragraph structure
    - paragraph movement
    - coherence between neighboring sentences
    - repetition and variety of vocabulary
    - use of connectives to link sentence clauses
    - anything else that 'tightens up' your writing

    _Another good advice when it come to rewrite:

    Number 1 tip for writing I’m going to give you. ‘Finish your first draft first!’
    That means making stuff up, dues ex machina’s, ass pulls. Pretty much create anything and everything to bullshit your way forward. After everything is said and done then you rewrite.
    Reason for this is because some people become entrenched in rewriting as they feel like they need to fix something a while back which stunts their writing.
    Just my opinion, but save the rewrite for when you have a finished story or arc. (God knows the editing sure isn’t as much fun as writing)
    Anyways, this is just my advice. It’s your story and you can write it however you want. Keep up the good work and have fun.

    _My comment about this : but from my experience when reading other novel, at least you should make the first chapter readable and not too bad so at least it not turn off the reading right away (at least in grammar and logic/plot-wise that make sense), no need to go full 100/perfect grade in rewrite, at least make sure it above 50~70 grade

    (source: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/19492/everyone-loves-fluffy-tails/chapter/294136/a-fluffy-beginning-rewrite?comment=1848781#comment-1848781)

    _ Advice about make a summary note from a rewrite by another reader:

    Your story isn't convoluted. The problem are the rewrites for people who have been following the story since the beginning. I think it would be worth spending the time to make a summary of the plot with a footnote describing what you've changed. I know you mentioned you would be rewriting a couple of chapters, but it has been a while since you've posted so people might have forgotten that's what you were going to do.
     
    It worked well to catch up readers to the story as well as marking out changes. This was great because that way if anyone wants to read those chapters they can go ahead. If not, then they would already have a footnote to explain what's gone and what's new.
     
  • basic understanding about most of the magic system (realistic or game type) that new writer should read (in the comment):
  • basic understanding about stats and skill apply to a lot of RPG novel/game (but this is not 100% true and only for reference,try to make your own status/game system here  )
  • 5 LIFE HACKS That Will MOTIVATE You To Do ANYTHING (if ain't nobody got time to watch that, then just skip to 6:45 for summary tips)
  • This guy gives a lot of good idea for dungeon environments here

    _ Good idea for a dungeon, part 
  • Set a goal for each chapter

    Well, it might help you to set a goal for each chapter (i.e.: dungeon discovered) and then refuse to end that chapter until the goal is reached. Once you've noticed that you've gone waaaaay past your word count allocation and haven't even come close to reaching your goal, you'll know to go back and start trimming and re-writing like mad. Over time, this should help you to need fewer edits.

    If you're not sure what to cut, just ask yourself if it would change the story in any meaningful way if people were to just skip a particular section
    (source)
  • _ About write good comedy without becoming bad anime tropes thing (like the beating just by accident touch their boobs one)

    note: this is the comment I found that do make sense
     - from one comment:
    Honestly, what I've gotta say kinda goes back to what you said about everyone having fun, but I have a big rule when it comes to comedy in general, and ecchi in particular, that most anime seem to miss:
    Funny is fair.
    This mostly applies to tsunderes, but I've seen it involving other archetypes, too. The main character accidentally ticks off one of his love interests through reasons entirely outside of his control, and all of them gang up on and beat him up because of it. THAT'S NOT FUNNY, it's just frustrating! If you wanna have a joke involving the girls beating up the guy, make the guy ACTUALLY do something wrong for the girls to beat him up over!
    The biggest example is probably the ever-present hot springs scene, and I'll give a couple examples:
    Persona 4: The guys don't realize the girls are still in the bathhouse, and, seeing that the sign outside says it's now the guys' turn to use it, walk in on them accidentally. The girls are angry and start throwing things at the guys, but later find out the guys honestly didn't know what was going on. What's their response? "Oh, well. We don't have to apologize at all." That doesn't make me laugh, it just makes me mad, ESPECIALLY since the Persona protagonists are meant for the player to project onto.
    Konosuba: Kazuma tries to peep on Darkness and Megumin in the hot spring, and gets his lights knocked out by Darkness in return. He was doing something wrong, and got his comeuppance for it. It's FAIR, and that makes it all the funnier. We can laugh because he deserved it, instead of getting frustrated because they just aren't being fair to him.

    This doesn't just strengthen the comedy, though. If the power dynamics between two characters are fair, even in the jokes, it can also increase our appreciation of their relationship

    - Another comment:

    suffering without cause is funny for S/M, but only when you play up the tragedy. I was watching some movie about Martin Luther King Junior, and towards the end, everything is going great, a new law has been passed that attempts to improve black's ability to vote, everyone is cheering, and white text appears on the screen describing what happened after the movie... and one of the supporting characters dies a few hours afterwards, and I just start laughing uncontrollably. I'm not usually amused by suffering, but dissonance is fucking hilarious... only when it feels realistic, though. Stupid unbelievable shit is unbelievable.

    I also hate the stupid trope where some guy accidentally gropes a girl, and the girl hits him. That's not interesting. I love the inversion of it, where the guy accidentally gropes a girl, and the girl smiles in response. It feels more realistic, and also subverts standard tropes. But also hilarious would be the extreme version. If the most chaste character gets put into the accidental groping situation and brutally suffers for it, despite making every effort to recover. Ie, someone who is virtually asexual barely touches a girl, apologizes, offers to do anything to make it up, and the girl opts to ruin his reputation instead, and throughout the remainder of the story, he's can't shake that infamy, no matter what he does. What makes it funny is how dissonant it is to our desired expectations, yet realistic it feels to reality. If he is only hit once, it feels like his injury is sort of justified, so it isn't dissonant. But if the injury far outweighs any possible justification, but is still realistic, that is hilarious.

    tldr; most modern anime thinks that meaningless suffering is what's funny about slapstick, when it's actually dissonance which is funny.


    (source 'from this highlight comment section' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC6wit4Epeo&lc=UgxIvswl7ceE9iabOBh4AaABAg.8kmcKsOdmMt8koEa7_KXmj )
  • [RECOMMEND] Reviews Explained (this also explain the aspect that many new authors don't know if it good or bad here, and you will be surprised how many authors haven't read this and do most of the bad part the thread show as an example there)
  • Fail Faster - A Mantra for Creative Thinkers - Extra Credits (The secret is, the faster you fail, the faster you discover what doesn't work, the faster you discover what doesn't work, the faster you discover what does work, and the faster you discover what does work, the faster and more efficiently you can make something great.

    This doesn't apply to everything in life, but it does apply to thing like game design or write a story)
  • Welcome to Fanfiction.Net! (and Wattpad) (at least it a good wake up call for any new writer, so they don't become like "most of them" in this two website, yes, there are good one, but it quite rare, and yes, this site also a bit similar problem like those, but a lot less so )
About character:
  • RWBY | Why Ruby Rose is a Bad Protagonist (this point a way to distinguished and avoid writing static character,and do show clear example of it ( if you haven't finish volume 4 and maybe volume 5 of this series, then don't watch this yet,unless you don't care or don't mind it),btw the highlight comment section may justify for why they do that in the first place but get f*ck up in writing it )
  • about the character growth chapter (found a guy said this): 


    If you try to write character growth all in one chapter. Don't do that. Character growth is NEVER a 1 chapter thing. It's a 1 ARC thing. (8-40 chapters, depending on the book) forcing his character growth in 1 big change in 1 chapter, and then having him be fun for 7 chapters of action and experiments, and then 1 big chapter of a character change, is annoying and a trap a lot of young authors on here seem to fall into. 

    If you aren't super good at character growth yet, that's fine. Just don't FORCE it into the story. Figure out where you want him to be, then write the plot backward on an outline with just major points if you want. 

    so far I see trends developing that a LOT of other people fall into and don't try to stop and their stories die. 
  • This is actually a lecture, sorta. It’s very good for anyone that likes character development. If u got the time, then please watch this. 'Investigating Human Behavior - Jacque Fresco [HD]' (1:11:44 long)
  • advise about 'not' writing character personality (from someone comment, this is one general advice):

    You should NOT tell us that you change your MCs personality. Either rewrite it or gradually change it. Especially DONT. UNDER. ANY. CIRCUMSTANCE. tell us how to perceive a character. Show us, don't tell us. The reader MUST form their own opinion of the character. Personally, I refused to read past the part you said how you want us to view the character. I recommend you just wipe that authors note. It's a big NO!
  • want to know how to write reincarnated mc in the start as realistic as possible ? Read this first chapter (especially near the end?, This was panic portrayed correctly, a mind under true duress.)
  • For the first time in ages, I'm sad to leave the infant stage, this was one of the most satisfying transition chapters of the whole "reincarnated" genre I've read. There is actually a believable transition between the careful/untrusting state of mind to the acceptance/trusting one. With the right dose of emotion (here are the main part of the dialog that nail it right for how a family react to that truth about the mc, it near the end of this chapter link btw)



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "You... mad. I'll... leave. Not... wanted. It's... fine." I turn back and respond, tears streaming down my face. Don't wipe your eyes. Don't try to elicit sympathy.

    "Yeah, I'm mad! For a lot of reasons! But mainly because you're MY SON," He yelled, the feeling in my chest worsening. "I don't CARE that you're smart. I KNOW you changed after you suffocated (my note: this part is where the mc possess this new body), and a part of me knows you aren't the same boy that you were and that hurts. But we were given a second chance in the form of you. You're MY SON and it pisses me off that you'd pretend not to be! If we are your family like you claim then put a little more faith in us! You think I'd throw you out just because you act a little different? Am I a monster in your eyes!? I've done everything I can to make you feel welcome for over a year now. Emily has done more! You think we didn't notice you were uncomfortable? Different? Do you take us for idiots?!" 

    He paused to take a breath while my knees gave out beneath me and I crashed to the ground, back leaning against the door. "I, WE don't care what you know, who you are, what the story is behind how you came into our lives. You've brought us the joy that is having a child and that is all we EVER expected from you! It doesn't matter who you were, boy. Your name is Damien, and if you try to walk out that door again, I'll throw your ass in your room myself and seal it off with ice!" The man was exhaling like a bull after a rodeo, red in the face. He stomps over to me and picks me up by my arm and gives me a rough hug.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • This give an idea for a good and bad villains idea here with this short picture, and a advice about it 

    + It still possible to write a great "sh*t tier" villains, so don't afraid to use them, this just only help you know, and also the higher tier may already help you somewhat in character writing (still in the end, you still need to make character developing, just maybe less work or have easier time to make better quality) 

    + A good clues for the top tier villains here that I think I found, "the extremist", for example (this is a cultivate type world), that guy could be one of the nicest/likeable people you meet, but the only problem is, while he also want to save that continent (like the Angaria continent, where both he and the mc born) and you (the mc) also want the same, the difference will be, one want to save both the land and the people, the other only want to save the land/nature itself that he even willing to genocide (and he no longer have family or anyone that understand him, have no way to save both people and land, or almost out of time) 
  • [RECOMMEND] The Simple Character Creator Formula (this one is very well-made, if character creating is not your thing, then this will help, and you can ask other about your Strength + Weakness character to see what type of character is it)
  • The Thing about Self Inserts (other comments: Self-inserts have the potential to be very good characters... But ONLY, and I mean ONLY if you have enough confidence and knowledge to know and accept every little detail about yourself. That is something that I dare say only a tiny percentage of writers/people in general are able to achieve. Because if you don't have that level of acceptance for your TRUE self, your flaws and everything, the chance will be high you won't include them in your story either. You will insert your wishes and not yourself.

    And of course, as already mentioned in the video, it always helps to make a character more lively and interesting to exaggerate certain traits)
  • The Types of Conflict (for plot and character developing, 4:19 long. Note: edited the link because the orginial video get deleted by youtube)
World Building Tools (Name Generators, Power Generators, Mood Generators, etc.)
  • link for World Map Maker:
  • Springhole - Builders and Generators for almost everything you could ever need.
  • Want to make a custom and realistic fantasy world map ? , check this: Fantasy Maps & Plate Tectonics (show basic knowledge and tool to make, check other comments for more)
  • If you need a deeper biology or ecosystem for a monster, including how living armor works, then there’s chapter about that. It’s actually some type of shellfish that has an outer shell that looks as if it’s part of the armor there. Then read this manga. It’s very entertaining and detailed. It’s also hilarious and delicious, imagine "Shokugeki no Soma" version monster dish: "Dungeon Meshi"
  • I think everyone should watch this video "FINISHING A STORY - Terrible Writing Advice", this happen like nearly "every author who dropped his/her novel" all over the time  (mostly on this website)
    (a comment from this video)

    The worst thing about excessive worldbuilding, in my personnal experience, is that at some point your main storyline become so complicated and based on lore elements that it becomes impossible to start writing the actual story without a long and boring exposition dump. It's a good thing to have hundreds of sub plots, secondary character and lore elements, but when they end up becoming vital to the main storyline, you have to spend time to reorganise that, and thus waste even more time and effort that could have been dedicated to actually writing. 
    That being said, I think many of us who suffer from the worldbuilder syndrome are mediocre writers who could, however, be a great worldbuilders. Maybe books just aren't the right way to tell our story and expose our world. Maybe other medium, like video games or roleplay, are more appropriate considering the type of stories and universes we end up crafting.
  • This video and the highlighted comment will give you a lot of idea on how fantasy city work and reason why they make the city there (warning, big wall text, but at least it clear enough for what you are looking for)
    How to Create a Fantasy City Map - Game Master Tips - How to be a Great Game Master


    1-Settlement: any group of close by, independent, houses.

    1-Hamlet: A Settlement wich provides (for the rigth price) some service (inns, blacksmiths etc)

    2-Village: a Hamlet with a church/temple

    3-Town: a Village with a market (the church might still be under construction when the market take place, or have being destroyed in a tragic accident, such as an arson, but market require people to travel somewhere to sell their goods, and no one would do that in medieval Europe to a hamlet in the middle of nowhere. The church appeared first, then the market, either to supply the workers building the church, or when the city starts to grown to much and start requiring people to work full time as guards intead of working the fields, meaning they can't earn their own food, requiring someone to go around collecting excess of food and other goods to sell to the guards, and, further on, to other people who can't produce their own goods.

    4- City: a big and/or important Town, by this point you can expect a standing government structure, tax collection, and pehaps some presence of "superior" forces (the king's army maybe?), also, by this point it likely have at least one important resource that justify it's astonishing growth compared to the majority of settlements, we are talking about the middle ages after all, food requires lots of work and space to come by, and big cities usually don't have said space, requiring for other communities to export food, hence why cities usually have influence zones, areas in which the smaller communities send their goods to the city.

    It's something I usually keep in mind when drawing maps, though not every community in the Middle Ages followed this system, it should have being common enough for the classification to appear this way, and it helps figuring out what is "missing" untill you reach the classification you are looking for.

    Also, I usually consider what drove people to stablish themselves there. It's no big deal if it's just a settlements, hunters following prey build temporary settlements, pehaps some refugees stablished themselves there, or some long forgotten noble had a Estate there once, and as the family abandoned the region, or died in warfare, the workers stayed in the same place, pehaps demolishing the original building to build their individual houses;

    *But, if we are talking about a place that would attract enough inabitants (and sustain them) to become a Hamlet or more, then there should be a reason it originated, and, as I studied the history of old cities, I found that (before industrialization at least) those are the common reasons people would group up to live somewhere:


    I- fertile lands: it doesn't need to be miraculous fertile, but fertile enough to sustain lots of people with easy compared to most other places. Sure, humanity is quite ingenious on how to extend agriculture on some of the most barren lands, but so much work is usually spent only when there is enough food to sustain the workers untill the arid lands have become fertile enough, which usually means there is already some stablished community nearby.


    II- precious resource: gold, silver, stone or any other resources with enough monetary value that people would go live there to extract it, this Settlements usually grow quite fast, and are the most likely to skip the church part on the "line of construction", but they die out equally fast, as the resource is fully exploited and people abandon the region in search of other sources. Some particularly rich veins may sustain cities for around a century, or even 2 before dieing out, but by them, either the coty have already become important enough that people will stay there because of the city it self, or it died out as the reason of it's existence dies out, removing it's capacity to import food and other exensials of survival.


    III- relics, santified soil and other religious aspects: pehaps it is the rumored place a Saint meditated before reaching winsdom, or local monks received/found an important relic to a popular church, or even it might just have had a sucession of highly carismatic priests, but people came here for the religious reason alone, and before long they were stablishing houses around the temple, either exploiting the land or depending on merchants to bring food and goods from other, self sustainable, lands. Obviously, the church/monastery/temple is the first building in said communities, yet it tends to receive religious names before checking the other requisites to become a Village or City.

    IV- tradepost: when 2 or more communities that export goods to each other are more than a day of travel away, merchants end up having to camp on their way, and as soldiers, guarded caravans or other able fighters start to remove robbers out of the way, the first to notice end up building inns along the way so said caravans can have some confort. Not only the existance of the inn intensifies trade, as there are now some confort for those that have to sleep on their way, some times it just so happens to be in the ideal spot for traders coming from both ways to stop by. And why travel all the way to the other city an back when you can just sell your goods around to the other traders just there and return in half the time with your reward? As any enterprise, however, this is a high risk, high reward attempt, if it flourishes fast enough, it usually ends up becoming the local City, supplied by the very Towns the traders travveled to, leading to the first inn, however, humans are ALWAYS looking for ways to travel longer and faster, and if the spot don't become a Fair (market without the pre requisites to become a City) before saind attempts dissolve the need to stop in that place, the inn will soon go bankrupt. Also, if the campaing happens to go beyong the middle ages, take note that trains destroyed more communities than every modern war combined, as they made the travel between cities so fast that it just wasn't worth stopping on old tradepost Towns, some Cities were important enough that trains would stop by them, but the majority of smaller communities faded into obscurity, becoming ghost towns as the trade disapears from them. It does, however, offer a good place for bandits to stablish themselves, complete cities, willingly abandoned by their inhabitans... or pehaps the very inabitants that lost their way of sustain (trade) resort to robbing those who would travel by the new road or whatever way of transport that made their town obsolete. If your world have magic systems (or just underwent a considerable technological upgrade), consider not making teleports an option, and you have a complete quest just waiting for your players to use the new ways of transport. Pehaps add some twists, why just go there and kill every bandit? pehaps the players found out it was the case that fathers that lost their way of providing food to his kids as the new travel method made trade go away from their town are just tring to feed their kids untill they are old enough to travel to somewhere better... or untill they get confortable enough with robery that they teach their kids the same... will the group just kill the desperate father and let their hungry family starving to death? will they take in on their hands to provide another way of life for said families? it can be as simple as providing safe travel to the nearest City, convincing the train owners to build a stop on the town so it flourishs once again, or even gathering followers if some of the characters just so happens to have a noble background, and were just looking for some new workers to tend to his Estate, Villa, Shire, whatever...


    V- the military post: by the fall of Rome or at the start of the reunification of Europe, military posts spread all over the frontiers of the States capable of keeping them, but soldiers are usually too busy being soldiers to be farmers (though Rome's legionares specialized in either hunting, mason, carpentary, etc), and will, inevitably, need people to feed them. It might be that the State that keeps them there can pay for it, or it might, for whatever reason, not provide such resources, and so they need to take from locals... but "taking" usually makes people angry with the soldiers, and angry people are more inclined to help an invading army than those "taking" their things, and so it's usually better to pay people to work as farmers for the army. Or to have some soldiers work ad farmers from times to times. Anyway, unless the military post is a trench in WW1, they are very likely to stand long periods of tedious nothingness as the enemy they are supposed to keep in check plan their next move, and bored soldiers are prone to doing what they shouldn't, and the smart commander won't object to some sort of entertainment taking place near the base. But the entertainers need their food, their clothes, their tools... there you have it, soon enough people interest in providing said resources will establish themselves nearby, now you have a community.

[Recommend] List of good channels for research (in a lot of aspects that can be used for writing, depending on the topic you write):
  • If you to writing about blacksmith thing then you can check the list of youtuber below in that site, there are few good youtube channel talk about it, like this one that teaches about basic of it 
  • "Psych2Go" Your weekly dose of fun and interesting psychology, creepy psychology, psychopaths, serial killers, pop psychology, political psychology. Pretty much whatever you learn in school, but just in a way that you can apply and relate.  
For making 3D custom character with a game (mostly female character) :
[warning, it an eroge game, as long as you only use to make the character and take a shot for a picture (with cloth, of course), then it will be fine]
  • you need a Unique custom make for your 3D realistic characters girl ? , then try "Honey Select", it free (but I think some part need a mod for your character like elf ear or clothe and scenery here, for example, check this chapter)
    here is the link for the guide of most thing like download,.... (don't ask me, I haven't played or download it yet, you have to do it yourself)https://www.reddit.com/r/HoneySelect/comments/6er9ww/so_you_want_to_play_honeyselect_updated_dlcs/(oh and this one do include non-human model if you use a mod, and you can have action model, here is the example from this author picture, unlike the game below)
  • want to make your 3D anime girl appearance for your novel ? ,then check  "Custom Maid 3D 2",it quite similar to the game above,including the "getting it installed and working is such a pain in the ass if you've never done it before that it would probably deter most minors." part, The game does have sexual content, so user discretion is advised.


About dialogue:
  • [Recommend] 7 tools of dialogue (if you struggle with your "robot dialog" then this advice is for you )
  • Whenever you get some free time just google "Dialogue Tagging" or "Dialogue Formatting" it would help you a lot since the rules are about as arbitrary as things get in English
  • An example of Clear Dialogue. By writing like this, you can also find errors more easily upon editing (this is for reference so no need to follow 100% )

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other tall man with a beard seemed to reach out for something.

“Don’t touch that!” Malsour barked across the room.

The man’s eye met Malsour’s with an annoyed expression.

“We’re not sure if that will destroy everything in a ten-foot radius or plant a forest for ten miles!” Malsour yelled.

“Bob, what the hell is this place?” The man asked.

“Well, it's good of you to ask, Water,” Bob said with a smile as he walked over to Malsour.

Fire looked pale as she crossed her arms protectively over the very visible stomach bump.

“What the hell are all of these things doing in the same place and what is that over there?” She asked, pointing right at the ‘sun’ and mana wells.

“Damned bomb factory in here,” Malsour muttered.

“Malsour Dracul, you will explain what you are doing with such dangerous magic!” Fire demanded just as the door to the lab closed, Dave and Deia walking in.

“Bob! What the hell, dude? This is supposed to be a secret lab! Not a damned tourist attraction!”

“I wanted to show them the stuff we’ve been working on. They’re some of the oldest people after me and they do have a lot of knowledge about magic,” Bob said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is from a novel, it’s very well written. This is how most conversation, in English, looks like:
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8262

  • Another good example of what dialogue should be, this is an example from that reader 


[As I lean forward in the chair, staring at fathers glass of whiskey "Father, I need a moment to think about this."

"That's fine, it is a lot of information to take in" he states as he takes a sip of his Amber liquor.

'It does seem like being a blood soldier would suit me as my main talents fit its criteria. I don't have the skill set to heal people. On the other hand, while spying and assassinations may have its place in the world, the thrill is not there for me. '

After leaning back I to the chair, I ask them both "How limited are my options with this note on my file?"

Quietly speaking for the second time, Vitta grumbled "It makes you a black sheep with most employers. Being a blood soldier is a respectable duty where questions are not asked outside of the chain of command. In fact, your father is one of the few weird ones that would react so calmly to your situation at school. Should it have been an average parent, their reaction would have taken a different, more emotional turn. To which you seem to have understood by your questions earlier."

"Would it entail anything special before I turn 13?" As I furrowed my eyebrows.
...
_reader comment: And blah blah blah. It adds some more detail but at the same time doesn't repeat what was said. Plus, full stops. You can actually take a mental break before a headache builds from a run on sentence that just goes on and on and on and on and on, a little like this, which isn't good since you were expecting a moment to breath two commas back but you can't because the paragraph isn't finished.]

_from this comment
https://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/18514/devil-cultivator-in-a-ability-user-world/chapter/231666/chapter-24-home-and-a-decision-about-the-future?comment=1700305#comment-1700305








RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#5
About politic, psychology and power:



  • [RECOMMEND] This youtuber can give a lot of realistic knowledge about few topics with some animation for easier to understand, here is few of topic series:

    The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Animated with Examples)

    The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (Key Ideas Explained ) [P/s: it is fundamentally about power. Specifically, it describes how to acquire it and then how to keep it]

    Crowd Psychology, Manipulation & Propaganda

    Historical Figures [P/s: learn what they did and how they become successful]

    Practical Philosophy [p/s: How to apply classic philosophy to modern life]

    and more,just check his channel Eudaimonia


  • how to manipulate and read people (machiavellianism), this channel have a lot of good videos there


  • Inspiring talk about taking hit from life and keep moving forward  (and they do make sense)


  • Problem with Cerberus Syndrome that claimed many good novel (from the comment)


  • About Female warriors in history (reason why there are not much female warrior in the first place, also for woman system thing like marry multiple women, but still, you should check other comments for more information for sure if you want)


  • By the way, are YOU a GOOD PERSON? | Harvard Moral Dilemma (also funny,and have some good question from Harvard Moral Dilemma,you can check out from the description link in the video ,there are a lot of good video here like "Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?",one example from the video:"if you look at the history something that used to be thought as right,now is completely immoral" )


  • Rules of war (in a nutshell, and check Highlighted  comment to see how American/Russian go around that rule)


  • The Threat of AI Weapons (yes, this is what we can do right now, can give the idea for politic behind it, along with good animation example for easier understanding)




  • This will let you explore most type of mental health through character design here

  • The Problem With Modern War





  • Why Humanity Destroyed Itself (quite a good one, although some part may not true but it still good enough, and you can read the comment to decide for your self about this)






  • ...but intelligent people believe in God (this video show how the religion appear in the first place, but this doesn't mean it bad, read the highlighted comment to know the basic use of religion, still it depends on each person view anyway, and in this video, instead of "ridiculous claim", "claims lacking proof" maybe more suitable and this highlight comment show a good counter-argument here, my point ? This are only to help expand your idea about this topic )





  • Why The War on Drugs Is a Huge Failure (idea for the suspenseful plot , how about drug war ? , even in modern time, drug is still a big problem that most of the country still have problem there (especially the very bad one like METH), there maybe even magic version of drug/ or something that give addiction)




  • [Recommend] How to hold a government together (in direct response to the video "The Rules for Rulers" from certian author) :

    1) Distribute things of value among the people who guarantee you power, including generals, priests, businessmen (that's the content of the video)
    2) However, besides money, there is a good number of other valuables which can be distributed by a ruler. Those can include, but are not limited to: prestige, land (as in european feudalism), education and political power (as in much of ancient china).
    3) If you distribute among your entire population, or most of your population, evenly, it means that the ruler won't be dependent on the support from a few individuals. That's the reason for the original creation of bureaucracy and leads to either absolute monarchies or democracies. Both systems are fantastically stable and let the rulers work without outside interference, but only so long as the people of the countries are doing well. As soon as there is some economic trouble you might risk a coup.



    *This isn't a response to the video directly, but here is a more general way to keep a country stable/avoid revolutions:

    There is two basic factors to guarantee a country's stability:

    1) Common Goods: A common good is something which costs money to provide and benefits everyone in the country. At the most basic level, that includes external and internal security (army, police and courts) as well as roads and other infrastructure. If a government fails to provide these basic common goods which were provided before, the government is in trouble.

    2) Wealth: If people lose hope, they will start a revolt to improve their lives. This happens if too many people in a population fall below a level of wealth where they can support their basic needs (food, clothes, shelter) and in systems where most people see no hope for an improved life in the future. The second point is more nebulous, so I'll give two examples:

    In 91 BC, the roman empire fought a war on the italian peninsula against other italian cities (called the Social War). The reason: The Italians outside of Rome were barely allowed to take part in the spoils from roman conquest. They also wanted to be Roman citizens with the same rights, to get the chance to become senator for example. At the end of the war, Rome allowed their italian cities roman citizenship and there were no other uprisings like this. 
    This sort of practice actually had a great impact on roman policy, even slaves, or their children, could become free citizens under certain circumstances within the system. It is one of the reasons the gian roman empire stayed so stable for so long despite all the different cultures unified in it.

    Maybe a bit controversial, but the american dream looks very much like this sort of strategy to stabilize a country, especially the repeated assertion that anyone can become rich in america so long as they work hard enough.


    (credit: Sociable Hermit)






  • Can You Start Your Own Country?  (this channel "The Infographics Show" have a lot of interesting and good info video, but some of them are not great/true, especially when it come to army/weapon if I am remember, for example is the "TANK Facts" and "hellicopter facts" videon one, you can double check on comment just for safe)





  • The Greater Insult (if you need "ammunition" when it come to talk back again fanatic or the "church", then this video could be one good one, of course there are still good and bad atheist, and for the "believer", it very eye-opening and challenges your beliefs in a good way)

  • What Really Makes The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer - The Five Laws Of Gold (check other comments for more idea, although it still give you some idea, it still incredibly simplistic view on wealth. At least some part still work though [according to a 'kingdombuilding' author after see this, below also from him]

    It also buys into the sham that everyone can become a millionaire if they just try hard enough, even though the entire western system, especially the US, is set up to keep the poor poor.)


  • If you need some idea for civics and Government Type, then this will be helpful since it lists a lot of traits and stuff here that you can check for reference (damn, Stellaris sure have a lot of ideas to get, even for the medieval time, in term of this, oh and this only for reference, not mean to gamefy it)
    Civics
    Government Type


About crafting and knowledge:


  • For Fantasy/medieval:


    - For more details on sword and weapon fighting. (Including guns and what happens when that specific gun and ammo hits armor) Check out this "Skallagrim" youtuber [recommend]

    - The Fantasy Re-Arm by Shadiversity. He basically analyzing the fantasy creatures anatomy, environment and lore to give them the best fit weapon and fighting styles. Especially the fairies in this video, he also sometimes make a good video like "The problem with giant SWORD[recommend]

    - This game, Absolver, is very detailed when it comes to martial arts. It shows the different moves, strategies, and stances that are to be used in different situations and confrontations. Yes, it also includes some real-life martial art like Taekwondo (too bad the game only allow for limited move available to use in one match, at least they have diversity move there to chose), you can check this video to have better view on how high lv player be like (to be honest, this only for give idea and some inspiration, if you truly have no idea about how those move/martial artwork, then I suggest not watch this):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dHKGiLWkQ


    - This one is also useful, have you check it out yet? (human body weapon, this is a realistic fighting technique, Recommend):


    MEDIEVAL WEAPONS AND COMBAT - Knights Armor (MIDDLE AGES BATTLE HISTORY DOCUMENTARY)

    MEDIEVAL WEAPONS. Heavy Armour

    - Near the end of this chapter, the author makes a semi-auto paint gun rifle and also makes its cartridge like this, so it still works without needing gunpowder. It works with wind runes. (Just skip to the part near the gun/bullet picture to see the explanation. It’s near the bottom of this chapter.):

    http://royalroadl.com/fiction/11714/king...-vengeance

    https://postimg.org/image/cmncnc1c9/ (the picture link die =.= , and most of his picture in the novel chapters)

    Here’s the comment for more detail about this gun and ammo. (If you need to make a gun in a fantasy world with some magic elements.):

    The metal for the ammo needs to be soft like lead to engage the rifling. Bullets deform when they’re shot, that makes a bit of them sink into the grooves (rifling) of the barrel. If you use iron or something harder it will be worse than a smoothbore weapon because you’ll lose the force of the explosion/wind as it goes around the shot.
    The air tanks could be charged ahead of time and then have can have a mechanical release that would give you hundreds of shots, like paintball markers of today.
    A weight that gains momentum has more force so the astrilium would make a better smoothbore shot. E=MC*MC
    He could have made a wind and a fire rune with maybe something to condense the wind to make an explosion, instant modern day weapons with no cartridge.

    - found this list from a guy, if the world your mc is in didn't have any of those (medieval age) then here are a lot of simple inventions that the mc can invent even if he doesn't have a great memory or isn't a crafter in the first place here (like how normal people like us can remember and do), they will greatly help the people/kingdom in medieval era there :

    gear (easy and simple to make, cheap material like wood, just need some small iron part for some invention, can apply to make a lot of invention with this, like the well handle thing, city gate,.... )
    paper clip
    velcro
    Non-electrical Refrigerator: Mohammed Bah Abba made a really cool invention, which won a Rolex Award of $100,000 –a refrigerator than runs without electricity. Here's how it works. You take a smaller pot and put it inside a larger pot. Fill the space in between them with wet sand, and cover the top with a wet cloth. When the water evaporates, it pulls the heat out with it, making the inside cold. It's a natural, cheap, easy-to-make refrigerator. Evaporative fridges are a relatively well-tested, proven, low-tech approach to cooling. They can cool products, food and beverages at about 15-20 C below ambient temperatures. They are most appropriate in hot, dry (not humid) climates



    Create fitness equipment: weights like dumbbells, barb bells etc.
    Batphones (hear amplifier): The name alone makes these worth writing about: Batphones. The low-tech hearing aid is an update to simply cupping your hand to your ear. The side “scoops” channel sound from in front directly into the ear, much as a satellite dish focusses the signal into the antenna. Matthias Ries' concept isn't meant to be a replacement for regular hearing aids, but more as an enhancement for people talking in loud places, or those with a small amount of hearing loss. - MC could use for scouting etc.

    horse collar device: A horse collar is a part of a horse harness that is used to distribute the load around a horse's neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plough. The collar often supports and pads a pair of curved metal or wooden pieces, called hames, to which the traces of the harness are attached. The collar allows the horse to use its full strength when pulling, essentially enabling the animal to push forward with its hindquarters into the collar. If wearing a yoke or a breast collar, the horse had to pull with its less-powerful shoulders. The collar had another advantage over the yoke as it reduced pressure on the horse's windpipe.

    semaphore line/heliograph / shuttered lantern for faster communication - using light or candles for moving quick messages.

    distillation of products for stronger alcohol?

    introduce higher mathematics for accounting?

    double entry book keeping?

    cast iron plow

    moldboard plow

    Two-horse straddle-row cultivator patented

    Spring-tooth harrow for seeding

    Grain cradle and scythe design for easier grain harvesting



    then there are this picture that give other simple but important idea

    https://i.imgur.com/ODWJSED.jpg


    -Want to build a very good wall in the medieval era ? Check a lot of technique from China here

    How clean were Medieval people?

    -If you to writing about blacksmith thing then you can check the list below, there are few good youtube channel talk about it, like this one that teaches about basic of it 

    Swordsmanship: The Basic Types of Defense

    Best Fight Scenes: Eastern vs. Western Martial Arts (you should read the comment like this highlight since some are not right, but this still give a good idea for choreography fighting there)

    -MEDICINE THROUGH TIME - TEACHERS' RESOURCES AND THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICINE, SURGERY AND PUBLIC HEALTH

    -SENSIBLE SURVIVAL (Build a Bamboo Survival Bow in 30 Minutes)

    Real Shaolin Disciple Reacts to Marching Fire Expansion (For Honor) (this help analyse and give better idea for how accurate the fight in this game are)

    -Could You Survive Trial By Combat? (well, the old time are sure more barbaric than I thought, at least in term of proving innocent )

    -Medieval Knights Were NOT Noble, But Cold-Hearted Killers

    -Can GIANT SWORDS be practical in combat?

    -For those of you who are interested in farming culture I advise you to watch the anime, Gin no Sagi (English name, Silver Spoon) it is very educational, it has a good comedic side to it as well (comment I found somewhere, so I do not guarantee this one is 100% legit in real life, from this anime)

    -The Bird Poop That Changed The World (this can help to deal with the land that isn't fertile here for farming, only 3:08 long)

    - Is boob plate female armor dangerous? (yes, it is practical, if it isn't a weak ass copper armor, beside there are other factor here)

    -#NEW The Modern Martial Artist (a super useful channel for describing action scenes. It's super focused on footwork. Once you get that part down, the rest gets a lot easier. Comment from author who provide me this: The reason most video show Boxing and not much of other, probably because boxing is the biggest martial art in terms of publicity etc. There are other martial arts too though, and those can be pretty enlightening.

    Plus, boxing is the martial art with all the fancy footwork, more than anything. Lots to learn there for almost all applications)

    -#NEW If you want to learn the term, realistic technique and how to fight with a melee weapon, then check this video (it easy to understand and short, don't leave because of game term thing in early video, it more complex than that and you could learn some insights of how they do it more, like parry, riposte, morph...), if you wondering what this 'Mordhau' game is, it basically chivalry but better and don't have the same cons as the old game (like the 'ballet' at 1:50 )

    (of course, it isn't 100% realistic, but it is as close as possible already, so great starter for a newbie to learn this history fighting stuff, if you still wondering about the term true meaning like 'parry', just google/wiki it. But think about it, while it is quite realistic, it can't do some movesets like the one in 'For honor', although that game isn't as realistic as this game, but it still have some realistic move that can be integrated for the fight )


  • For modern/sci-fi:


    - If you are quite a newbie to understand the Piercing power of each ammo/gun type then check this video (he shoot a damn LEGOS WALL) 

    - There is a site called Orion´s Arms, its hard sci-fi content is to inspire authors 

    The Threat of AI Weapons (yes,this is what we can do right now, and I paste here again since it do give idea for what they can do)

    -This site was mainly intended for science fiction authors who wanted a little scientific accuracy 

    -For your character learning to fight and defend in modern time ,check this one : Krav Maga is a tactical mixed-martial art/combative and self-defense system that combines boxing, judo, jujitsu, and aikido)

    -Ultimate Tank Ammo guide (simple, easy to understand with his demonstration, short, some operational principle of it can be used for some magic attack like earth + fire here) [Recommend]

    -Do you know the best modern armor is called "Dragon Skin" ?, it's made of Kevlar and overlapping ceramic plates, it can stop all small arms, most rifles, shotguns, and grenades with minimal damage to the person it's on

    -How to Defend Earth Against an Alien Invasion

    -How an AK-47 Works

    -Engineers Created A New Bionic Arm That Can Grow With You (cyberman, here they come :D)

    -How to Dogfight in Space

    -War Thunder Wiki | Rockets (how it work, the difference type of rocket, what each of their effect, and how to use it, in 11 mintues and easy to understand video)

    -So You Wanna Be A Soldier? Then Stop Training Like A Civilian!! 

    -Real DOCTOR reacts to CELLS AT WORK! Anime review (this will give you good idea about how cell and bacteria work in our body, this anime are easy to understand and this doctor can verify any part that are real of not here, no need to be at collage lv to understand )

    (site note I found related to disease and symptoms: Remember people, a message from me (a doctor): Reducing Symptoms IS NOT THE SAME AS curing a disease. And no. There is no drug that can cure Diabetes (and Cancer, Hypertension or Stupidity), no matter whatever herbal/natural/wonder/pharma-secret/super drug shill might says. If that drug is really ‘effective’, it will be mentioned in the ADA, AACE/ACE, and IDF’s guidelines. You might be cured from diabetes if you receive pancreatic cell transplants, though. [E/N: Yeah, symptoms are related, but they’re your body’s RESPONSE to the disease. Essentially, your immune system is waging a suicide war against the disease, which is using your cells to multiply. Either you die first (from the symptoms) or the germs do. That’s why you need to actually cure the disease first or else your own body might kill you before the disease does.] The Kamikaze spirit is strong in this one.)

    -The Supersonic Submarine - New Secret US Army Development?  (for tech idea and it application, and read the highlight comemnt for deep talk about it)

    - This guy "Roanoke Gaming" youtuber have a lot of great videos analyzing of the biology and anatomy in a video game like dead space, Metro, Doom, and other game here (oh and I notice there are also some technology video, as long as it related to biology )

    #NEW Some idea about 3 type of hacker (dark/grey/white)

    #NEW How destructive the cyberwar is (the early part just only tell what is happening, so be patient a bit)

    -#NEW The Natural Selection of Altruism (this could help give you clear idea about it [the animation do help make it easier to understand], and the way it could apply for some idea in writing about the nature of "survival of the fitness", also applying this to a fantasy world with different superintelligent species other than humans, this could opens up so many thoughts)





idea for the building town novel type :
have you check some game like banished,life is feudal: forest village, ancient city, Knights and Merchants,Settler 2 (10th Anniversary),.... ?
here is review for that settler 2 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgtg_X2J8o

About strategy/tactics:


  • This guy show a good real life army strategy in an easy to understand video here (and I do see some other good strategy video on the right of youtube screen on this link, not sure it the same for you guy) [RECOMMEND]


  • Have you checked total war series ? Can give you a better basic idea of army strategy here (since warhammer version can give you a better idea for an army in the fantasy world, but still Total War isn't a fully realistic simulation and never claimed to be, and playing against AI will only teach you the absolute basics, especially how bad the enemy A.I in later Total war game series, but it can still give you a decent idea of how armies interact and how a commander might react to a given situation, you can get deeper talk about this topic in the comment), here is two  [RECOMMEND]  

    FORMATION GUIDE

    BATTLE GUIDE

    And there are more video guide and tactics from this guy, very good and to the point for example 'MASS & UNIT DEPTH! ' (you can check other total war strategy guide for better idea, they are still game though so of course there will be some unrealistic part in it, but at least they are as good and easy to understand as they can be anyway for those new in this army strategy stuff )


  • Pro's Guide to: Hand to Hand Combat (this channel have some neat video guide, but I feel they mostly work with the untrained opponent or you know what you are doing, although their company channel is not the military one, but the outfit/cloth one so they usually not accurate, but their video are interesting anyway, you just need to read comment like the highlighted comment in this video to confirm if they legit and good or not)









  • Alexander the Great: Logistics (a lot of people underestimate the logistics thing here, no army can fight/conquering while they are starving, especially in medieval time, and the video show some good medieval solution for this)


  • The Art of War - Sun Tzu - An Animated Book Summary (read highlight comment for more advice, and one good modern strategy comment)

    there is a lot that can be done militarily before nukes are used.

    Drone assassination, freezing of assets, using tanks and infantry, blocking trade routes with a navy, placing trade embargoes on countries, training and supplying resistance organizations, using soft power to influence the citizens to stop supporting their government.

    I see nukes as a deterrent that cause loose-loose situations and the only organizations that I can see being willing to use them in this era would be small countries put under huge amounts of pressure (North Korea, though her enemies try to stop that sort of escalation) or terrorist organizations (if they somehow are able to buy or create nukes).


  • "Rebel Inc." is a unique and deeply engaging political/military strategic simulation from the creator of ‘Plague Inc.' (my note: from what I see so far about this game, it really good and do give a good idea of how political/military, and city/land building work in real life, at least in the "stabilize the country" scenario, but a lot of it still can apply for other scenario things, mostly kingdom/city building stuff, beside in the upgrade part, it also do give a good explain/solution for how it work, that you can apply for the story here )

    The war is ‘over’ - but we all know that doesn’t mean anything. To stabilize the country, you need to balance military and civilian priorities to win the hearts and minds of the people, whilst also stopping insurgents from seizing power!
    Rebel Inc. offers a deeply engaging, strategic challenge inspired by the complexities and consequences of modern counter insurgency


For random insight (here is place for material that I'm not sure which topic it suit, and most of them are long text, it could be a dialog, or summary of scene that I copy somewhere, the point is it do give insight/idea for the situation like in those novel I copy down, plan for most of the random post in this thread go here)

_ Idea for kingdom related

here is more idea : 
_about the kingdom part (like plotting,...) part 1:
in this novel chapter (and previous),when the noble of east trying to secret planing to rebel the king because of the action and hear about the new change of system that is oppose the noble (and one part is because it hindering their greedy action),the king (mc) have come here (of course with hiding protection to deal with those who still try to rebel) and explain the benefit and advance of this new system (of course some of them will try to point the disadvantage out ) so not only you will find and deal with the problem you even get more ally,in this case of novel is more than 50% of them stop trying to rebel (since the benefit outweigh the risks and cons here ,so why try rebel if this new system can let you have chance to get even more power and wealth here than when you are a noble) ,
if you worrying about that the bad guy can in position that hindering the mc  then just let them in a position that make them too busy to compete with each other ,and also find a way to make sure those bad influence is contained and even a way to fish out a talent there (just make a condition/reward that make sure they don't back stab you and woala ,you have a good functional kingdom/organization now) ,if that stilln't enough then just make sure they won't get in a key/important position and you good to go
https://lnmtl.com/chapter/release-that-witch-chapter-865

_about the kingdom part (this one is for the litrpg type ) part 2:
if you read this chapter and the previous ,you will see that you can have one or few player that start with trying to climb the politic power and plotting in order to get more power and maybe finally get opportunity to steal the king throne here,and can be your mc main villain here

https://royalroadl.com/fiction/8220/mythrans-master-of-all-continued/chapter/158656/chapter-346-that-was-quick

_ Idea for a random event that not necessary an "evil plot" or planned

in this chapter, the reason why that monkey monster not stay in their area and begin to move/attack the other area is that because the other tribe nearly overhunt them which make those monkey monster scared and run away to make a new home in other areas
so one conclusion :
I like the fact that the Monkey invasion is not an evil plot by an evil mastermind behind the scenes, but a mistake, it adds realism when every problem has a reason not necessarily world-shaking.

btw you should read this novel, it super good and have very good character developing and quite realistic reaction and her act here (and have good part when it come to do past story and a way she deal with that pain here)

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/13361/orc-lord/chapter/155725/50-the-first-meeting-with-expansionist-orcs


RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#6
About chine fantasy (like Xianxia, cultivate,.....):


  • This novel, not only show you how to implement background building for the main character, it even points all the problem the writer has with cultivation worlds and MC’s in every cultivate novel ever. Read this chapter to learn it. (There’s no need to start reading from the very beginning.):


  • [recommend] some really good insight about the Xianxia novel in general here, there are 3 comments that you can clearly see talk about different part of a genre, and you may see some problem you are doing/writing/encountered are mentioned in this one: 

    (source from most of this comment: https://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/16320/painting-the-mists/chapter/223781/book-3-chapter-6-hope?comment=1660017#comment-1660017 ) 



    _The idea that the strong rule and the weak suffer is present, but people take sides. It's annoying how many Xianxia start with the character with an op ability because he got good karma from helping poor people in their past life, but as soon as they become cultivators all that "caring for others" goes out the window. Or when an OP "good guy" MC sees an injustice that would take him just to snap his fingers to solve he goes like "well, not my problem, this world is like this" of course is like that if they don't do anything to change it. 



    _I don't like the power stripping in stories, but that's because I hate angst. He hasn't been too angsty, either working, trying, or watching children. Not whining and lashing out at friends. The building back stronger than ever aspect is something I like. Most cultivation novels sects and schools start you out with shitty techniques and even if you stumble across op technique, the idea of the character being able to improve it is much more appealing than just getting things. 


      

    _I love Xianxia but the way the Chinese write characters and their philosophies etc get on mhm nerves, this one is much more humane, much more emotional. It’s an amazing blend of Xianxia immortals and Morden western philosophies and ideals. 

    most reincarnation books either make reincarnates a dumb idiot, an intelligent super genius with modern skills or neglect it completely. 

    You displayed the characters modern earth identity through his mindset, philosophy, ideals and little tie bits of knowledge and memories, rather than through a shallow display of modern inventions (machinery, technology etc) or dumbness due to a lack of common sense. 

    There are also some novels where you see the MC shed his original identity as an earthling and completely accommodate the conventions of the world they live in. Which isn’t bulls##t, that’s not character development, that’s just the author losing the biggest asset of what reincarnation novels can give. 

    if there’s a thing I never understood about most cultivation novels is how it keeps talking about defying the heavens or immortals not concerned with mortal things etc. Is that then why the hell are they so goddamn stuck to convention, they’re defying the goddamn heavens for gods sake, why do they wise men keep giving advice like their so wise, but what comes out of their mouths is essentially talking banjo how the world works and that they should accept it and if they don’t then they’re idiots. Like, isn’t defying the heavens and cultivation, essentially going AGAINST how the world works?! Do you even understand this paradox, like sometimes it can’t be helped, but non-existent of these cultivators for some reason ever think about changing things. No, they kill things, get things, invade things. They’re always looking at the heavens but never below them. They defy the heavens, but Then live a conventional cultivation life, kill things, get things, invade things etc. 

    They live in law of the jungle, just like Wild animals do. I sometimes can’t see these guys as anything special. Greatness comes from the mind, and what you do with what she inside the mind. 

    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” 
    Your novel does none of that which I love, the way you develop your characters make a lot of sense, takes time, and they don’t lose their original beliefs but rather evolve them. 

    Cha min is both a reasonable man, but also unreasonable, he’s reasonable in that he’s always thinking of others, and think everyone should have choices. But he dislikes fate, he dislikes the way the world is, and while he has adapted, he also rejects it. He continues a vegetarian diet and continues to do illogical things, risking his life for a fox he just met. Etc. Essentially fighting for one's ideals is unreasonable. And in Xianxia novels I see very few characters that do that. Which is very ironic, considering they get a string in order to change their lives, but then they become the same people that they hate or take revenge against. 

    I feel like more than any other cultivation novel, I can see how these characters come to understanding with the workings of the world, without completely shedding their identities. There are some who try yes. But is narrated to show the consequences and the night impossibility if it. 

    Ok, some of the stuff I said may not make sense since I’m writing this is at 6 am in the morning without sleep. I’ll edit this later or smth.




  • Idea for a way of cultivating, they are in the comment section (in the comment there are sh*t tons of way to cultivate from reader here, even the weird/freaky/odd one ) 


For the reason/motivation for the mc action:  (from this chapter: https://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/8262/emerilia/chapter/157609/ml-chapter-12-stalemate . But this is only one of the example, not a absolute one )

“To most people I would answer because of all of those lost and because it’s the right thing to do, blah blah, human race and so on,” Dave said. “Honestly I started all of this and I was just swept up in this I was doing it because I was scared, I don’t want to die, no one wants to. I had Deia, imagining me leaving her behind leaving the people I’ve met here behind and being nothing but a footnote in life. It pushed me to do things that I never thought possible, to attain heights that amazed even me. Nothing is a greater motivation than knowing that,” Dave clicked his fingers. “Like that it can all be gone and you have no control over it. Now I’ve known that for a long time, but having someone else deciding when I’m done and pressing a button. That’s something that I couldn’t just sit back and accept. I didn’t know what I was going to do, by everything that I would do, was going to be aimed towards once again putting my life back into my own hands.”

“At first I was doing this all to prolong my life. Then with the people that I came to know it was about getting us all out of this. Then Koi came along,” Dave took a sip of his beer a smile on his face.

“I’ll never forget the look in Deia’s eyes as we looked on Koi, kicking screaming and alive. I didn’t realize how much of an impact that had on me until later. Well, until now really. All of those people lived on Earth, taking shit or being treated a certain way to make them play video games, they grew up, came to Emerilia and were watched by the Jukal as if they were some kind of interesting toy. Their lives didn’t matter and for the people of Emerilia it was even worse.
Deia was a player but Koi wasn’t at that time, I felt so protective over her, as I feel with the rest of my party that aren’t players and even with Deia when she was pregnant with Koi. Those smug fucking Jukal they sit in their ships, they watch everything that’s happening and they don’t give a flying fuck. We’re nothing to them. Creatures that can be ignored, the laughingstock of the world. Do you know that they watch our camera feeds at times when we’re with our loved ones, they pollute every moment that we’re not in a mirror of communication or within a stealth rune covered zone. I want my daughter to be free to make her decisions. That was when the true weight of all that the Jukal have done hit me.
How many sons and daughters have the Jukal killed how many brothers and sisters like mine have died? And what? All of this just so that they could stay on top of the economic pile. Fuck them and fuck their empire. I might die, I might never see the end of this, but I sure as hell am going to let the Jukal know that those people mattered, that the people of Emerilia matter, that my Daughter matters and that no matter what, even if they look down on us, they should never treat us any differently. My daughter deserves freedom, the sons and daughters of Emerilia deserve freedom to not live in fear of some random event, to know that they’re going to be safe at night. So, why am I doing this? It’s not for some noble reason, it’s because I care for my daughter and the people around me. For them I am willing to do horrible things so that they might live a good life,” Dave said with fire in his eyes as he drank from his beer.
He would take on all comers and not bat an eye, the Jukal had killed off trillions of humans. Dave might not know them and he might not have a connection to them, but any one of those people could have been someone in his family, any of them could have been his daughter.




Sign of bad tropes in a novel:

(Note: some part are me just copy from other comments/chapter, so those won't mean to talk to you directly, but still give the idea or about the problem there)

_ Novel that similar to this in term of reincarnated/similar stuff + VR thing and their tropes: 

*Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God 
*MMORPG: Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian 
*Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World 
 - Here is the patterm:
"Serious business" VR game + MC gets killed + MC reincarnated/ time traveled/ respawned/ quick-loaded/ groundhog-dayed + time for REVENGE! 

+ And other tropes:
 - MC with perfect memory and phenomenal luck, who gets showered with super rare loots that only drop like 0.001% of the time. 
 - Super OP MC that steamrolls everyone with ease. 
 - Female characters who fawn over MC because (1) he gives them lots of stuffs and (2) "He doesn't drool over me although I'm super beautiful! + Delusional villains who gloat and then get face-slapped (at least, not many of those, perhaps one per 70-80 chapters) 
 - Laughable game mechanics. Examples: (1) Dying locks you of the game for 24 hours (2) It's possible to spawn camp someone and kill them back to level 1. 


+ Comment: So are the developers and admins going to wonder, "Hey, isn't it super suspicious that this guy conveniently goes up this mountain, looks behind a bush by a random boulder, enter the hidden tunnel to dodge the monsters that has 10+ levels on him, and "surprisingly" find and unlock the chest containing the unique and only gun in the game?" That's the one thing with the 'goes-back-into-the-past' trope that always irritates me. They never seem to attract suspicion.
(answer: Most of the resources are being spent on fixing bugs or responding to players' complaints instead of spying on everyone in every corner of the massive world.)

+ There aren't many relaxing/slice of life VR novel much, they usually try to make the plot too serious or add too much edgy shit, completely missing what made games fun in the first place. While in the novel like "Data Dragon Danika" that have mc plays for fun, not to earn the cost for her [enter heartrending story here], she's not blackmailed to win XYZ or her little sister get's it, there's no evil AI/hacker/corporation that wants to take over first the game, then the world.
It's just a game and we can all enjoy it with the mc, we're not supposed to enjoy her struggles as she plays because she's forced to do so, like so many other LitRPGs out there.



_ About normal reincarnated (Isekai thing, there are still some tropes that common with xiaxian novel though, and versa):

+ So.. Smart two year olds can speak in sentences, so that really shouldn't be his concern if he's trying to be low key (which seems to be entirely arbitrary BTW). What he should be worried about is the fact that two year olds generally can't read (except picture book)...
Speaking of which, how the hell have his parents not noticed him sneaking off and reading and throwing around small fireballs all the time? Are they the most neglectful parents ever, or are the playing pretend too?

+It's a reoccurring issue with and reincarnation story that drops the main character, fully formed and conscious, into the body of a child. The parents have to range from unobservant to outright neglectful.
Up there right alongside ignoring how much of our thoughts are influenced by brain chemistry and hormones

+The info dump on his powers feels cheap and unearned. An omniscient narrator telling us what's going on rather than someone figuring it out in-story is the epitome of telling rather than showing.

+Have your character act more like a god instead of an OP MC that wander around pretending to be human and then shocks everyone with his powers if insta-killing and pure (it seem I lost some word in the draft, so sorry for this part)

+ One thing that other "smart mc" novel tend to fallen to :
 

Their little group was far too reliant on the decisions of others. For mc plans to work, the enemy/ally had to act in the way he had predicted: Logical, calculated and with forward vision (or whatever your mc expect them to). However, people weren't so easy to understand. Especially when there are incompetent/idiot among your ally/enemy and also in your own group/force

Then there are this Quote 
”It’s always the unknown that makes things difficult. This maxim is true in all walks of life. We all make plans, whether those plans are to develop a career, to win a game or a competition, or to defeat an enemy in battle. The plans seem good enough when we make them and start to implement them, but that’s when the unknown gets you. Either the enemy, or just another person we are dealing with, has a competing plan that renders our plan impossible, or we run into a complication that we didn’t anticipate. Sometimes that complication is something we could’ve predicted, but we just didn’t put in the work. Sometimes the complication is something we couldn’t have anticipated and couldn’t have done anything about even if we had. In the end though, the unknown gets us.”
 

+ Found a good comment about the problem of mc that at first reincarnated as non-human, or more like the non-sapient body one, then get human body later  (from novel about reincarnated as aircraft carrier thing):
 

I don't see how they'd have to be a passive part of the story. The MC could build drones, has fighter jets, and helicopters. They could easily use radios or computers on the ship to communicate. For myself, I think it would be far more interesting for the mc to need to trust people as its crew. If for example, the mc could only control one thing at a time such as one jet, drone, or helicopter. Then they'd need to train people to fly and even captain other ships or equipment. There are many many creative ways to get around the mc being a passive bystander without them being human

Stories that say the mc reincarnated as "__" but then immediately have them become human in order to interact with the world around them suffer from the fact that the mc then never returns to their true form. They just become an overly powerful human in another world. The fact they reincarnated as something else doesn't even matter anymore. If the mc reincarnated as a plant, or a dragon, a war machine, and even a Nimitz class aircraft carrier then the story should deal with the struggle around being that. It shouldn't completely throw that out the window by immediately making them human again. Its a copout I'd say.

But if they absolutely have to have a human form then give it some glaring weaknesses that make it so that its a secondary thing, only used when absolutely necessary. For example, whenever they transfer their consciousness to the human form they lose control of their true body along with everything else and have to rely on a human crew. Or they can only use the human form when its on away missions and whenever the human form is on the ship they can only be the ship.

Example for that would be the human form needs to be a hundred miles from the ship before they can transfer consciousness to their human body, and in doing so they lose all control over everything else. If they get trapped in human form they have to rely on their crew to come and rescue them or they die after being away from their true body for a certain length of time. So there are ways of making the human form a tool and not a complete grab for easier writing.

Came to read about a person being a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, not just another Isekai with a poor excuse as to why the mc is overpowered with dreams of a harem.
 

_ In term of harem:
+ I don't mind with it as long as mc can be decisive and only pick one for his queen, or if love equal then the maximum of harem should be around 3~4, more and it harder to write and take most of the screen-time for like action,.... Usually in other stories, when author put harem plot, it became ridiculously unserious and over time the story will only focus on these possessive girls busy claiming their rights over mc. I definitely don't want that cliche happens here
+#NEW The maximum of girls is 3 (for me and other you don't like bad harem), beyond this it's just a waste of time and words. Harems are only bad when you fill it with girls with no purpose or personality, just a personal toy for the protagonist (which is what most of the novels do)

_ In term of dungeon novel:

+At least for the space/void one (need to collect more tropes example, and this was a reader comment for a certain space magic dungeon type):

  • I worry that you're gonna have to make the MC willfully ignorant going forward, to avoid him becoming so powerful he's never in any danger from mortals, assuming you WANT him to be in danger from Mortals. 

    A lot of books using space/void/vacuum style power's have this exact same issue. 

    Just remember, you can have a monstrously overpowered MC and the story can still be absolutely incredible. Power creep is only a problem if you don't have a plot outline, and plan on just writing till you get bored and go on hiatus.

  • I can't tell you the number of magics I would have put together if I was in Dale's place. Heck, just using what he has now in smarter ways would be powerful enough. See, it took me all of about 30 seconds to think of this exact solution. It seems so obvious. I worry that it's so obvious that Dale should figure it out...which then breaks the story since it's so easy then for him to solve any wayward problems like this.

  • I like that you're thinking in terms of power creep. So many authors fall into the trap of painting themselves into a corner because their MC curbstomps their problems away. Then you have the whole backlash where they either give up their novel or forcefully redirect the plot by mutilating the Protag or making them dense and pretending it never happened.


  • #NEW About some tropes in this chapter of dungeon engineer (there are some more but forgot to save). They convince themselves that they’re not going to murder others but then some group of plucky adventurers comes along and attacks them. Naturally the dungeon main character proceeds to kill them in self-defense at which point they get power or something from absorbing their corpses. Then the story kicks off and the dungeon in question is constantly under siege.  Nope. You see, in those stories the dungeons must have some sort of connection to the surface for some reason that the author makes up. Me? I feel fine! No cliched pesky instincts telling me that I must make an opening to the surface or anything like that! I’ll just chill down here in my little cavity!


  • #NEW Clichéd people cast-outs of society forced to start again in a new land (which is next to mc dungeon)


  • The encounter (involving active participation by the MC ) didn't involve the core coming up with some Complicated battle formations/strategies/new modifications on insects etc just to take care of big Frog as usualy happens in stories over here. (just simply carve a big rock on the top of cave right on the frog and let the gravity do the rest, of course that frog are mostly sit there for some time).  Logic and efficiency over an exciting battle. Which is also what I prefer in kingdom building or resource management type of stories


  • #NEW Solitary confinement is a harsh punishment for humans, and any human soul in a dungeon core without a pixie or like tons of friendly adventurers/monsters to just chat up, or without the overpowering instincts of a dungeon will in fact just go nuts.I guess its just a little jarring how few stories are on here that are lacking all 3 of those conditions




_ Xianxia/china tropes and those in webnovel.com site:

 + You have to remember that this is not a Xianxia story where all the random mobs are given an understanding of the MC's attacks and that these people are not so overwhelmingly powerful that they can see such details from across a massive arena such as the one this occurred in.
...
Be grateful that we get to read actually logical reactions of other characters instead of a "narrator/author" who shoves the details into side character discussions. A lot of Chinese novels have this failing.


 + Common tropes include :
   - Every bad guy is a rapist.
   - Every girl is either helpless/useless or a princess (who is also helpless | Chinese stories are "kinda" sexist), or just there only for a love interest that need constants helps. Almost no strong Female character that is not just an accessory in the story or worse, just an object for sexual fantasies
   - Everyone steals from everyone.
   - There is ALWAYS an auction house with a hot and SUPER relevant female host (at least until she dies or becomes useless).
   - There are hundreds of sects (groups of cultivators of the same style) | And every sect has a mortal enemy.
   - There are always entitled and self-righteous bastards from sects who are 10 times better than the MC with the BEST grandfather but die in 1 hit.
   - Everyone is obsessed about face (show of respect) and kills|dies because of it if someone looks at another funny (literally EVERYONE).
   - The Main Character always meets at least 5 females along with the story, most commonly Auction House - Princess - Powerful sealed Spirit - Childhood friend - Rival.
   - The MC always kills people one realm above.
   - The MC always finds a "heaven-defying treasure".
   - The bad guys always try to steal the MC girl
   - Everyone postrates (kowtow) to anyone who even appears stronger than them.
   - Everyone behaves like gods with their inferiors and treats them like nothing (S...).
   - Women were un-killable because they were women? (especially the 'sky scattering beauty', it not even matter if they deserve death)
   -These powerful experts never cared about the consequences of their actions or how they inconvenienced other people. They just moved on with their lives, leaving the victims to fend for themselves. Instead of being overjoyed at the fact that they were now free, they were more concerned about what would happen to them in the future.
It was only those who are brand-new to this, such as the young lady standing next to the woman, who could easily move on from the situation.
(this apply to any novel type)
   - The "family" cause harm to mc like try to kill/brainwash/slander and later they will be like why did he choose Bennett (other faction/friend) over us, cause typical enemy viewpoint.
   - Additionally in pretty much every cultivation story the protagonist is the only reincarnated individual in the whole cast with no exploration of the seemingly obvious combinations or extrapolations of the various tropes....
   - In 90 percent of wuxia mc parents are either dead or kidnapped
   - Complementary Spirit Beast gacha machine companion. Halfway through the story, the mc will get a mount that could change shapes from either being a beast of legends to the ultimate fluffball

(source : http://royalroadl.com/fiction/10703/the-godkings-legacy/chapter/198573/volume-2-chapter-3-tribulation-2?comment=1504778#comment-1504778)

   - #NEW Being on a cultivation world makes you a dumbass by default. You're either part of victim masses, the thugs that die in droves, the young masters that can't help but piss off the hero because you tried to rape their woman/family member/bestfriend, one of the countless masters that are little more then stepping stones for the hero, or the hero him/herself, who rapes, pillaged, and murders across the heavens for no other reason then because its there....
   - #NEW Vengeful female assassins and doctor geniuses these Chinese female protagonist novels are usually plagued with 
   - #NEW Endless power up novel with no goal in sight (I mean you can infer conquering the universe/becoming the strongest would be end game, but idk)
   - #NEW (comment from other) I simply tired of chinese style novels which full of massacre, slaugther, aggression without reason. I understand when china write something like that (kind of their culture or mentality Maybe)
BUT when original novels take this path its... 
   - #NEW But I really enjoy that he didn't meet any "young lords" just before he could leave the forest (they are in survive competition), demanding he hand over his spoils (they wouldn't know his spoil, but had all failed miserably in getting anything noteworthy themselves), who he would then have to teach a lesson. Though, due to his tiredness and low amount of Qi left, he'd take quite a few hits while dealing with them, and in the end make it just in time for sunset. When arriving, everyone would inwardly, but some even openly, laugh at him, for looking so beat up and just having made it out in time. That would then of course be turned around when his spoils get revealed, slapping all their faces. (source: this chapter
   - #NEW The card "mc gets stronger shit then arrogant brat" can be twist in a comedy way by have his enemy screw/slap himself by bring thing that actually worse than standard (for example, mc get rare, strong snake that almost higher tier, while the other bring a very big looking one, but actually just a normal pig that just eat rich Qi stuff, and aren't even cultivated, add to the insult that it seem very delicious but get ruined due to him never hunting in forest before, hence not recognize and bad at make a clean cut + cheat with poison weapon)
   - #NEW "wandering without destination and everything resolve by itself" (the random ruins/person/object who give him information about his family/enemies every twenty chapters...)
   - #NEW If it a china novel: then they tend to be racist/stupidly nationalistic and "foreigner" hater (make other nation people either stupid or 'evil') sooner or later
   -#NEW Vengeful female assassins and doctor geniuses which these Chinese female protagonist novels are usually plagued with 
   -#NEW Endless power up novel with no goal in sight (I mean you can infer conquering the universe/becoming the strongest would be end game, but idk)
   -#NEW (comment from other) I simply tired of chinese style novels which full of massacre, slaugther, aggression without reason. I understand when china write something like that (kind of their culture or mentality Maybe)
BUT when original novels take this path its...
   -#NEW But I really enjoy that he didn't meet any "young lords" just before he could leave the forest, demanding he hand over his spoils (they wouldn't know his spoil, but had all failed miserably in getting anything noteworthy themselves), who he would then have to teach a lesson. Though, due to his tiredness and low amount of Qi left, he'd take quite a few hits while dealing with them, and in the end make it just in time for sunset. When arriving, everyone would inwardly, but some even openly, laugh at him, for looking so beat up and just having made it out in time. That would then of course be turned around when his spoils get revealed, slapping all their faces. (source: this chapter
   -#NEW The card "mc gets stronger shit then arrogant brat" can be twist in a comedy way by have his enemy screw/slap himself by bring thing that actually worse than standard (for example, mc get rare, strong snake that almost higher tier, while the other bring a very big looking one, but actually just a normal pig that just eat rich Qi stuff, and aren't even cultivated, add salt to the wound that it also a very delicious meat that everyone would like to enjoy and that guy end up ruined the meat because he is the spoiled home type and didn't go hunt before, so the wound on the animal is very messy + poison weapon)
   -#NEW "wandering without destination and everything resolve by itself" (the random ruins/person/object who give him information about his family/enemies every twenty chapters...)

 + Another comment about xianxia tropes thing:
I hate this type of situation where only the MC has power and all of his subordinates or soldiers are useless in a war or battle, typical Chinese novel, overpowered MC with useless subordinates, a war decided by one single strong and powerful person, what's the use of being a king when you can rule with fist if power is everything.
(from this chapter comment: https://www.webnovel.com/book/11413811606356705/32543538247954992/World-Domination-System/The-Knight(2))

 + About blindly defends their own:
The key here is that those same guards were all alive and relatively unharmed and she made no aggressive moves against anyone that didn't move against her first. She was also a singular person that acted with calm and certain level of civility. This is one of those cultural differences. With the Lacademonians, if someone picks a fight, they have to deal with the consequences themselves. They're not a Xianxia sect that blindly defends their own. As for consequences, you can only inflict consequences if you have the power to do so. The random Lacademonians saw the guards and knew they could not do much. The higher-ups realized she had connections and might be able to help them. They also didn't have the power to cause problems. That's not kowtowing, that's paying attention to the realities of the situation (beside there are zero casualty and simply a beating)


+ Type of non-sense that common on webnovel.com:
 - Many readers read a non-sense story which mc was betrayed by her fiance and then met super powerful ceo whom is powerful than president of the country. Or cultivation story which after that can revive again in another body or his lover die then he revive her, blabablabla. I am very sick already with all those stories.

 - With respect to Xianxia in general as Chinese works females are often neglected as characters and not mentioned unless intentionally relevant which can be quite jarring as the population either is an apparent sausage fest with exception of designated female leads/harem candidates.

Unless of course the MC is female in which case she will not only be inexplicably talented and beautiful, be a reincarnated transmigrated assassin/doctor/spy/thief or some implausible variation of those professions mixed into one and thrust into some hated or shamed young miss with some untapped cheat. And you can bet their will almost invariably be some absurdly dominant male lead(s) to one up her.
That said I have found one (translated) story with a female MC that has so far defied and subverted most of the female MC tropes (she has more in common with male tropes) Phoenix Destiny That said I don't know how long that will continue.

 - #NEW Aaaah I really don't understand. How come this novel 'My house of horror' is stuck at around 30th place and lord of the mysteries is stuck around 25th place? Trash novels with constantly repeating plot and never ending face slapping like library of heavens path are in the top 10? Or generic psychopat mc that kills anyone who crosses him or trash young masters with the only purpose to suck the mc d*ck.

(other comments: Because people generally like face slapping, and there seem to be lot of 'Kpop fangirl' type on webnovel.com so that why those cheap romance novel tend to on top)


_ The infamous resurrecting that breaks many good stories:

+from that author of "lament of the fallen" (a bit of spoiler in a later chapter):
I have to admit I argued with myself about the whole resurrection thing, as bringing Nyx back will reduce the feeling of consequence which is already a slight problem in the story. It will also reduce the weight of the earlier loss. Still, I had this possibility in mind while I wrote the part about Nyx's soul and this ties some things together too well to leave out. I just want you to be aware that this was something I debated with myself, and that it will not be something that gets repeated.


+ I'm normally not a fan of resurrecting people who's deaths mattered to progression, but at the same time, using resurrection as part of the story and not just a way to get a character back makes it feel like it still mattered. Nyx's death isn't being brushed aside, you're simply using the rules of the world you created and characteristics of those involved to bring her back.
This isn't some Deus-ex where shes magically ok for no cost. Dee is having to trade protection for a group she considers herself at the very least highly antagonistic towards, a blatantly manipulative deal with a goddess even though that straight up goes against her own desires and basics personality as one who is uncontrollable. It fits well and suits the story and characters.

+ The biggest issue I see going forward is if Nyx's death had no long term effect on Nyx herself. I imagine being dead, stuck in a soul well with trillions of dead people, inside the domain of an apathetic killer, whos domain is all about control and domination, would have minor effects long term

 - Ressurection should come with a penalty, loss of Ranks, a long recovery, not feeling right in their body or attached to the world. Something at least temporarily crippling.

 - Still, cheapening death and the potential consequence of said death is really ruining the story for me. I don't mind op mc and lack of consequence in general, but i feel this came out of nowhere with pretty much no foreshadowing and is unwarranted.
And while resurrection does make sense in a fantasy world filled with gods and immortal, I don't think you can say the same about a story in this setting. Death was the only thing with actual punishment for your characters. And Nyx's was used to further the character growth of Dee and Moira, now it all feels hollow and pointless. I don't even look toward the eventual vengeance on the Solarians because why would I if the reason for my anger is gone ?
The feeling of risk and potential harm happening to her group is also gone.
Even if you say you won't do it again, it already happened once and it's immersion ruining. Because why would Dee not do it again ? What's keeping her from doing it again ? Nothing. Because Dee would stop at nothing to do it again should one of her friends die.



_ Competent enemy/ally :

+ Yeah, competent enemy, but with incompetent man/ally, there usually didn't show up here (in a lot of novel), aside from the usual incompetent enemy, but with competent man/ally, or just go all incompetent, only the full competent for all is rare though
+Well, fully competent is rare in real life too. I think it should always be a mix of both, if only for tension's sake. Sometimes novels introduce idiotic main villains and then come up with the most outlandish nonsense to stretch the novel, when the villain should lose to his own idiocy way sooner otherwise.

+One thing that other "smart mc" novel tend to fallen to (including your, but in old version, not sure how much still in your new one):
their little group was far too reliant on the decisions of others. For mc plans to work, the enemy/ally had to act in the way he had predicted: Logical, calculated and with forward vision (or whatever your mc expect them to). However, people weren't so easy to understand. Especially when there are incompetent/idiot among your ally/enemy and also in your own group/force

+Then there are this Quote 
Quote:” It’s always the unknown that makes things difficult. This maxim is true in all walks of life. We all make plans, whether those plans are to develop a career, to win a game or a competition, or to defeat an enemy in battle. The plans seem good enough when we make them and start to implement them, but that’s when the unknown gets you. Either the enemy, or just another person we are dealing with, has a competing plan that renders our plan impossible, or we run into a complication that we didn’t anticipate. Sometimes that complication is something we could’ve predicted, but we just didn’t put in the work. Sometimes the complication is something we couldn’t have anticipated and couldn’t have done anything about even if we had. In the end though, the unknown gets us.”

+ Alot of characters just become the audience
mostly in the Chinese face slapping ones

_ Ghost/horror story:

+ You see I’ve always hated ghost stories in the past because the spirits were always unreasonable assholes. You couldn’t talk to them and they just hurt people indiscriminately. In this story however if you know enough about them or understand the situation, any spirit even a vengeful one will be able to reasonable with (of course the full "evil" one will still try to hurt/kill you, but you still can reason with them a bit if you have thing that picks their interest), and of course there would be some good one that (despite their cruel deaths still remain (relatively) kind) look out for you and protect you (at first you will still freak out thought, until you understand the situation)

+#NEW I love how the ghosts in this story can be surprised and feel other emotions. It makes them more interesting entities rather than the mindless murder-monsters they’re usually depicted as.


_ About love interest:

+ (this one is a idea I found) One of them is actually a villain. She and one of the heroes interact, get to know each other and attract each other, but neither loses track of their own goals. Just like a hero wouldn't turn evil because of a woman, making the villain become good all of a sudden due to the power of love isn't a plot that appeals much to me, since that tends to make the female character generic and bidimensional, those characters then end up being just a trophy partner for the hero as they no longer have any goal in life other than being the good wife of the hero, which I want to avoid. 
I want my characters to be memorable and stay true to themselves. 

Right now I'm still thinking up ways to make them get to know each other and interact before conflict among their factions forces them to clash, but I think it could lead to great character development on both parts and many interesting debates on morality and human relationships. 


_ Common love related tropes:
+ Usually the one-sided love usually last longer throughout the anime, if the other you love said "I love you too", then it mean you going to die in the next episode 

_ Tragic and drama:

+ I hate tragic endings and meaningless drama. Drama will involve the characters mostly strengthening each other, not misunderstandings and childish squabbles, also those misunderstand type I hate the most are those that lead to needless heavy negative emotions, then the type of misunderstanding types that still keep persistent and haven't resolved, which even worse one if it drags that character down from doing something or similar. As long as things are light-hearted or positive (if it the negative, but for a short time and get resolved quick), then I'm fine with misunderstandings.

Overlord's Momonga/Ainz Ooal Gown and One Punch Man's King are the ones that come to mind when I think about misunderstandings that I like.

_ The problem about royalroad website and other web (for book, author or reader)

+#NEW Too many books basically start the next volume/book by having something bad happen at the end of the previous one. It's important that we want to read more, but ending on a happy note is just as important



_ #NEW About kingdom building type novel:

+#NEW A lot of kingdom building can feel like paraphrased wikipedia article
most recent example will be gasoline were you put it as a waste byproduct of the smithy without getting into full wiki in that regard I appreciate more the image transmitted from the mc messing around with the various substances and textures of the waste till finding the right one than an hyperdetailed explanation of the hows and whys

_ Of course, there are this channel "Terrible Writing Advice" which show cliche' and tropes for each video topic there, check it out, it funny and still good to give idea for how 'not' to write those topic and avoid bad tropes/make fun of them or execute it better.


RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#10
about unique culture of other world:
{
[Fun fact: The Dwarves territory is inside the mountains that stretch around most of the continent. Most of their major cities are placed near volcanoes to utilize the geothermal energy. So there's a saying in the world: "A Dragon above and a Dwarf below."
Sometimes it's used as an insult for someone who's all bark and no bite--or, depending on the context, to declare a man with authority or a good appearance to be lacking a little lower down.]

(comment for this novel chapter)
the little bits of culture and unique insults really make this a world. Right now I'm reading a series called Red Rising and in it everyone is divided into color coded castes. The pink caste are basically sex slaves. Thus it is an insult to call someone " as timid as a pink". Bits of flavor like that are what makes a different world, really a different world. It separates the ok, lazy authors, from the great ones
(the above is from this novel chapter : https://royalroadl.com/fiction/13361/orc-lord/chapter/158649/72-traveling-west?page=1 )
}

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#11
about perspectives of reader and author when it come to that novel:
I'm pretty sure some of you have heard of the saying "Everyone lives under the same sky, yet not everyone sees the same sky."
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is about perspectives. 

You should check out this link,he give a good ideal about "perspectives" here (a problem that is he will delete this post in a few day so I copy the important part bellow)
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/11537/number-one-under-heaven/chapter/158775/a-few-questions-for-you-my-readers?comment=1210688#comment-1210688


How does one(me) take advice from someone who does not even see the same story as you(me)? There is a difference between listening to criticism that's actually related to the story and listening to those who straight out has a different perspective in the story different than what you are trying to convey or just don't like the theme/genre.


I'll give you an example. Let's say someone 'reads' my novel and thinks I'm writing it with the intent to degrade females and sexualize them. Now even though such intent has never crossed my mind when I write, some people truly think I do. Maybe I could've written something that may seem like it without realizing it? Maybe. But how do I change something that has never crossed my mind before?

Some people think I do not care about criticism and ignore anyone who gives a bad review by calling them trolls/haters. Now I don't recall ever calling bad reviews/comments trolls/haters(mostly my readers calls them that), I also don't 'not care' about criticism. 

Now, this is where it gets complicated. How do I listen to somebody that has an entirely different perspective of the novel than what I, the author, is trying to convey? I make tea, yet some think it tastes like black coffee. I can't make tea turn into tea because that was what I made in the first place. In other words, I can't change what I don't see. People will believe what they see and think is right, and I cannot change that.

However, with all that said, what I can do is tell you my perspective when writing this novel. Things such as how I feel or what I think when writing this novel.

First, the story. I wanted a story about someone strong, someone who has real power, someone like the Son of the King of Gods to just travel around the World and see/experience new things. It is as simple as that. Nothing too crazy or too serious.
Second, the characters. I will say that I love every character I have created so far(except the ones I kill off just cause). Some may not like them, and some may even hate them. But I, as the author, know what they feel and why they do the things they do when I write them. Emotions/feeling of a character is something that is hard to convey to the readers, especially through texts.(Especially with my style of writing because I do not like to show everything about a character in one go) Now even if it does happen and some of my readers happen to see what I am trying to convey, it will not be the same way as I see it. So if you happen to hate a character, sorry, but I can't change the way I see them.

Now the main character, Tian Yi. I will say this straightforward. HE IS MEANT TO BE EXAGGERATED. I want him to be a 'so perfect he's beyond perfect' character in MY perspective. Call this a wish-fulfillment all you want, because that is true. I want the World to revolve around him. I want girls to chase him around like crazily. I want someone THAT perfect.
As for the more mature parts, I.E masturbation, and full nude seduction, I think it is something normal. People masturbate to what makes their blood boil, and that is no different in my Xianxia World. I'm a healthy young man, and I won't deny it as if I was a little kid. People masturbate, and it's normal. I also know that not everybody here is an adult, which is why I try to keep it minimal. Also, I wanted you, the readers, to know that THERE WILL BE MATURE contents here. I won't pull what some real Chinese novels pull. I.E Main character fucks a girl out of nowhere even though there have been no prior mature contents, making the readers go, 'what?'. And yes, the MC will fuck someone one day. However, I don't think I want to take away that pure part of him just yet... (Some may be fan service, but it is still something I enjoy)

As for how the plot goes? I have no idea what to tell you because I just write what goes with the flow. (I have to enjoy it obviously). I rarely erase much during writing because I don't write thinking 'Hmmm, will my readers enjoy this...?'. Instead, I write what I enjoy, which is something many don't do. The only reason why I'm even here is because I enjoy what I do. (Also how I am able to throw out 4-6k words a day.)

All in all, I love every single second I had spent and will continue spending on this novel. I have a smile on my face as soon as I start typing. It's just that fun and enjoyable to me.

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#12
about all stuff that related to farming and earth for farm (in the comment)
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8220/mythrans-master-of-all-continued/chapter/160338/chapter-354-a-new-way?comment=1219549#comment-1219549

and for a good reference when it come to the ideal of sci-fi survive crafting game then this maybe the one you are looking for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luu5Rrc140o (still in beta)

and here is one very damn good sci-fi vs fantasy novel here (it have real time strategy element like starcraft a bit),too bad it have been dropped
Pioneer 0: Rise of the machine in a world of sword and magic.
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/9425/pioneer-0-rise-of-the-machine-in-a-world-of-sword

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#14
about the MC When it comes to LitRPG :
These characters get special cheat abilities, or they continually luck into the most awesome loot ever despite their luck stat. The plot armor is so thick that you wonder if you can use it to build a wall. That sort of thing super overpowered, can do anything, protagonist.
I shall call this Team Snowflake (Because snowflakes are beautiful and unique)

Other people vastly prefer the MC only be able to get abilities that anyone else could get if they wanted, and then use those to rock the house.
I shall call this Team Atlas. (for Atlas Superpower, all you need is training and you too can be exactly like this.)
here is the link for the further topic ,it very interesting if any of you writing a LitRPG story
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety/permalink/1412113205553603/

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#16
here is the rule of a quite experience author for writing novel here (the author is "Lone" btw ):

1. Try to be descriptive enough for readers to understand, but not too much to overwhelm. Let their imagination do the rest of the work.

2. Avoid using the same word over and over if possible. I use Grammarly to fix this since double clicking a word gives a list of words with the same meaning. This helps with the flow.

3. Try to make the characters do slightly different things, but not too different as to make it seem awkward. This helps add several dimensions to the characters, granting them life.

4. Make sure paragraphs aren't too long to avoid losing readers interests, creating skimmers.

5. If using tables, be detailed and clean. Choppy tables are worse than no tables.

6. Never purposefully extend a scene or arc. This is easy to notice, so end a sentence, paragraph, scene, chapter, arc, book, story, when it feels right.

7.Try to write roughly 1.5k words per chapter (this is my own guideline, no need to follow this. But no less that 1k per chapter or readers will start complaining).

8. Always follow schedules. A bad rep is the last thing you want, be that for never keeping deadlines, being rude to a reader (regardless of if they were rude first) or anything that would damage your image.

9. Have fun while writing. If you lose interest and start dreading writing, readers are perceptive and will feel the life's absence from the story, so take a break to get your mojo back.

10. Listen to all criticism, no matter how mean or hurtful it is. They might just be right to some extent.

11. Be consistent. Keep a separate page of character profiles and locations, dates, abilities, whatever, if you struggle to keep track of this. Being inconsistent is very, very immersion breaking.

12. Good spelling. Spelling matters more than grammar. Most people here can forgive poor grammar, but bad spelling is a no-no.

I try to follow these rules as best as I can, sometimes I mess up, but it's a decent guideline. I'm no expert, so follow these rules at your own risk.

Oh, also, if you're after a popular novel, just copy the genre of already popular novels but make it your own. Like this story follows the same premise as Infinity Tower, Master Hunter K, God Devil World(although the author abandoned his whole safe town/market idea for some reason) etc, but as you can see, I've made it unique to me and it isn't a carbon copy.

I hope that helped.

----------------------------

I copy and paste my tables from templates that I made, so tables are simple enough. The only annoyance is splitting and merging cells.  
I'd suggest to just write. Get a foundation to work from. No matter how bad it is, or good, I don't know your talent. Try to find a style for yourself, a format you can use regardless of what you're writing about. Be consistent though, try to not cut points of view too much, stay focused. Hrmm, I'm bad at explaining stuff. Oh, listen to criticism. You can always improve no matter how bad or good you are at it. That applies to all aspects of life.


if this isn't enough for you then this will give advise for Prologue part here: 
http://royalroadl.com/blog/4/prologue-dos-and-donts

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#17
about Good and Evil (in social way but not a right way, see the feedback at bottom for good example):
Good and evil are social constructs. Good is acting in a way which is beneficial to the society, while evil is acting in a harmful way. Simple as that. You are more likely to be good when your needs closely correlate with the need of everyone else around you. Evil is committing an act which serves your goal at the expense of the social benefit. If we were individualistic apes in the wild with no need of a social grouping then the ideas of good and evil would not exist.

here is a link to the post that discussing about this topic deeper (try to check other comment,some of them are very good):
https://9gag.com/gag/aRjz68G#cs_comment_id=c_150613158869183490

and if you want a simple but detail enough about good & evil then this "lawful,neutral,chaos" can help you show that
http://easydamus.com/alignment.html

fun fact :even if he/she is a Lawful Evil doesn't mean he/she will completely Opposition or harmful to you ,if they can satisfy some of their agenda/need just by joint/help you then they can be a good ally for you here (so I can say that there are still some "good" Lawful Evil among Lawful Evil,same for other type of evil alignment and the same for opposite alignment )

[NEW] _Feedback from nubdog about this, and a good one there: I bet you would say its ok to bully someone if everyone around you says its okay if that was defined as correlating with the need of everyone else around you , and in another case if helping an outsider not from your company would make your company lose money since your company is trying to legally force something out of the outsider's hand for their profit using gray law areas you would be defined as evil since serves your own goal at the expense of the social benefit.
Use your brain a little and think for yourself, society is not perfect. You make it sound as if that if they are for you/society they are good and if they are against you/society they are evil , this is pretty much the most self serving definition of good and evil which is made for the sole purpose or being convenient for yourself/society , similar to how in wartime the enemies are of course defined as evil and your own country as good, but is that truly so ? No that's just a complete farce to justify themselves.
I can choose to help someone being oppressed by you and your company regardless of whether it is harmful to you/society personally and while you probably deem me as evil at that point since I went against you/ society, that would be defined as true good.

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#19
about category of "show don't tell"  (from FirstDragon ) :
Can't say I'm a huge fan of the swap to the evil enemy's point of view where they are plotting and explaining everything with Crystal clarity to the reader. Such a writing trick is somewhere between too easy and too lazy. You can convey the same information overtime and/or merely through the behavior of all the characters as they slaughter their way through the MC's city and various characters perhaps identify aspects of their origin, magic/sword/movement style, features / equipment, speech/accent, etc. Whatever is not clear from the attack itself will soon become clear after the attack and/or with some investigation from the MC himself. So there's no reason to jump in and lay out everything before you describe it in future chapters.

This lesson falls into the category of show don't tell. You told me all about what the baddies are doing. But you could have skipped all of it and achieved 70% or 80% understanding via other smoother and less heavy handed methods. Sure, at some point the evil child may need to say "now that I have pulled ahead of my foolish brothers of the X, Y, Z clans, I can do X" Insert evil laughter here...or some elder friend of the MC may need to pass on the news that X,Y,Z were scrambling for power to show off to C and your family got shafted as a trophy.

RE: here is the post synthesis that I have drafted for newbie and inexperienced writer

#20
about First person/Third person:
Third person :

Generally, a story is more easy to write in third person because you describe what you imagine directly. You don't need to always think at how your MC see the world around him.  Moreover, this give you a lot more liberty in what you want the reader to know. You can tell him thing that your MC doesn't know without stopping the flow of your story with  "infodump/POV" chapter about character or your world.  

Example : John gave her the roses. After staring blankly for one minute to all these flower, she started to cry and run away. These rose made her remember the last time she has seen her mother... before killing her. He was so surprised that he didn't even think to follow her....  

See, you can easily drop a little background story about a side character. So, the reader will have a better understanding of all character and situation Vs the MC.



First person :

- More easy to give depth to your MC and to create a connection between him and your reader. We see what he sees and we feel what he feels.

Example : I gave the roses to my crush. After one minute of a long and weird silence, she cry and run ?! Why ? I was so surprised that I didn't even think to follow her...

Then you know more about the MC feeling/interpretation of this event VS the third person version of my little story BUT the reader doesn't know why the girl cry and run.



personal opinion : if your next story is about a OP character or principally a one-man show. The first person form is generally better. If not, I advise you third person if you want to develop other character easily (as you seem to like).