Just RRL things...

#1
ITT: 

We post things that we only knew were actual things when we got to RRL. Here is my list:

- Overpowered VS Underpowered protagonist debate

I wonder if Tolkien, when he made Lord of the Rings, had a heated debate with C.S Lewis regarding whether should Frodo be a frail hobbit or a super powerful bald deity-like warrior. Or if Roskólnikov would have fared better if he had grinded levels before he became overpowered and axed his landlord to death.

Drama/tension used to be a "Must" whenever I wrote/read anything. However, it seems that not only that was a wrong prejudice, but there is an entire reader base out there that is actively seeking stories without any risks, drama or stakes. Contrary to the traditional formula where we root for the protagonist to overcome the odds and triumph about whatever is troubling their life--thus growing as a person and completing an arc--, many readers seem to desire a genre that is devoid of any uncertainty. Maybe the enjoyment comes from the feeling of being successful and enjoying one's success?

The most popular novels are not like this, but the number of works with this theme does beg the question of how many fans 'Overpowered Protagonists' have.

- Harem

One of the most heated debates on the forums. 

The romance triangle is a trope of YA novels in general, but the people who love web novels go one step beyond and make entire casts of girls for the protagonist to choose from. 

I still cannot tell if the people like these harems, or if they just tolerate it because so many novels have this trope.


- "The novel's system..."

It's strange how used I've become to this sentence after a while...
JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND CHECK OUT Glitch!
It is funny, has colourful tables (the wonders of technology!) and art!
https://i.imgur.com/Das02fT.png

RE: Just RRL things...

#2
my list is pretty much the same as yours for things that i only got to encounter around when i started on RRL. if there is one more thing i would like to add to that is, fiction dominated by fantasy. i don't know what happened to sci fi and aliens, they seem to be on a break.
Regarding system novels as much as it pains me to say this, it is just a weak excuse for an author to od and add in whatever he/she wants at any point in the story, hell sometimes or rather all the time they write themselves into a corner and fearing the readers will just ask ''why did the protagonist not just use X or Y from the system?''' they have to add an entire paragraph before hand to explain why the reader should feel tense about the situation :/
Regarding the underpowered/overpowered debate, i will be honest with you, deep inside i am a huge love of the struggle and i think a lot of people are as well, we humans might always choose the easier way over the harsh way but i believe that is just in situations where one can take the easy route. ''when the going gets tough, the tough get going'' . i love reading about underdogs, i like being uncertain and wondering how a charachter will overcome a difficult situation, but it is just i have seen it done in the same ways over and over again in published fantasy books i got sick of it. the last series i remembered i read was Raven's shadow and my god that series fascinated me at least before the tthird book reared its ugly head and deleted every ounce of goodwill i had towards the second book. (the first book is a masterpiece and should have been a standalone book, anyone who says otherwise come and fight me!)

Basically what i am trying to say is, underdog stories are done often in such similar ways that it all just feels pointless, when one character struggle can hardly be distinguished from another, you just WTH and go to the opposite end towards a story with no tension but that has its conflicts in much simpler and mundane forms. (i am talking about series with op characters that go around learning cooking btw, i hate series where a characters opness is the main point where we have to be shown how op Mc is every other page it just makes for a boring story. )

as for the harem thing, i have always been a lover of no romance, or sweet romance, where everyone knows ''this is the girl/guy mc will end up with'' and we just accompany them in their journey to getting there. I just never understood why every damn book has to have romance in it, if it relates to the main conflict(want to kill the king to take the throne, in love with the princess for example) or maybe IS the main conflict then i am down, but in a story about bringing a cultural revolution to a backward country with a time traveling MC i just see no point in it, (unless it is to further root him/her into the past and make mc more reluctant later on to go back.) thats my thoughts on traditional romance. RRL Romance however, just boggles my mind, i don't think or imagine any healthy red-blooded male in his right mind, would not try to get with all the Girls in quesiton if The settting of the story Allows it. and i have to say when i am saying ''girls'' i mean Maximum of 3. Maximum. the reason i say that is because the only ''harem'' novel that i have ever read and loved The wheel of time has exactly that number, one more would have been too much. There is a cap on how much space you can give a love interest to develop without taking away from the main story.

oops. I wrote too much :/