kcorny I feel like the term "fillers" have been misused and thrown about too often and very unfairly. At some point, anything that the readers don't want to read or find boring gets labeled "fillers."

Take Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, for example. Li Yao boards a train to get to his university, and something happens there that has a significant impact on the way he views cultivation, as well as expresses the general world-view of cultivators. But you have a ton of readers jumping in and complaining that the entire arc was a "filler" despite the event being life-changing, important and relevant for Li Yao and the story, all because...they just want him to get to the university and start, I dunno, kicking ass.

Now, I can understand if you call the irrelevant chapters of Battle Frenzy where the author goes off to talk about the Empire and politics, which have absolutely nothing to do with Wang Zhong (and very tangential to the main plot) "fillers". Those sometimes come across as massive info dumps that deviate from the current arc. However, you have annoying readers who complain about every single slice-of-life scene, when Wang Zhong goes out with Scarlet or when he interacts with his schoolmates/society members as "fillers" just because they want to skip everything and go straight to the action. Like, seriously? Stories are not 100% action, the characters don't spend 100% of the time doing nothing but train and fight. Character developments, exploring their relationships with other characters, seeing what they normally do in school outside of training/fighting is also part of the story and the world. But no, if they aren't fighting, it's automatically classified as "filler" and readers whine about it.

I can understand complaints where the writer goes off on massive info dumps on things that have absolutely nothing to do with the story as fillers. I can understand word padding or whatever as fillers. But some of the accusations readers make of certain chapters being "fillers" are just inane. Just because you don't want to read them or you find them boring doesn't mean they are irrelevant or "fillers." It's a story, not a collection of action scenes incoherently stitched together. Protagonists have their own lives too, they don't just fight 24/7.

      yaoyueyi

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anyone's side here nor have I read anything above the first post. I would assume that there are various discussions from the authors' or readers' side. To make it clear, i am one of the authors as well i guess? I found the first post, interesting so here i am replying to it.

      Just write at your own pace and make sure that you type out what you intend. Never compromise the quality just because you are pressured to release a chapter. I've never minded the demand for more chapters from readers because, in the end, I/you as the author will be the one to decide when to publish.

      You took it upon yourself to publish your work, you need to deal with the pressure that goes along with it. Though i think that the things you mentioned in your post is true, this is a subject that will incur all kinds of reasons/discussions from both sides. as this is the internetzzz.

      Readers will never understand what authors go through to write their stuff unless they try and write something and publish it themselves. They would rather complain and pick off the words from your or other authors here to justify themselves. Authors will also somewhat act in the same manner and it will only be a downward spiral.

      WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL
      Please lock this thread. I think only the first post would have mattered as it was supposed to be a message from an author to readers, simple as that. this was not meant to be a debate or discussion.

            Ruruci Uh, this is a forum. Yaoyueyi posted here because he/she was aware it would turn into debate or discussion. Webnovel just stickied it because it was an extremely good post, but that doesn't mean they never intended for it to be discussed or debated.

              Tomoyuki Wait, people seriously thought that train-episode was filler? What the actual fuck. That was the most heroic shit i ever read and it was obvious it was definitely not filler.

              People can be stupid that way, but the tricky thing about filler is that it is often only obvious in retrospective what is important to the story and what is not.

              A good way to handle Infodumps or Statscreens is to not count them towards your total word count. Realm of Myths and Legends does this. The stats and System-Messages never factor in, but thats kind of the exception i suppose.

              Fact of the matter is its contextual and the hardcore readers have enough experience to call bs out if they see it.

                  yaoyueyi
                  So true!
                  Ahh, it takes me a long time to type, translate and edit. Amazingly there is editing in the chapters, unfortunately, it is not a professional edition. In my case it is faster for me to type in my language and translate, so I have "bent work". If I want to keep the publications stable.

                  Your outburst is exactly how I feel. I love the comments of the readers, but when they say "The story is good I just wanted the author to update more!", I am very disappointed because I am already giving the best 2 chapter a day!
                  Worse is when a reader comes to "negotiate" by saying something like mass launch for more power stones as rewards ... As if the work already done wasn't enough for readers to donate power stones!

                  This is so frustrating!

                  On the other hand, I have readers who always ask about my health and this encourages me more than the bulk release request or more updates.

                  Anyway, thanks for your words that were a big outburst for me!

                  Thank you very much

                    kcorny I didn't title my post that. originally when I wrote it, it was simply "an open letter to readers" when webnovel pinned my post, they added that part in. if you scroll, you'll see evidence of that in the top

                        Ruruci I'm cool with discussion lmao. interesting to see what other people think :D

                            Though I've read some 'plz 10 chapters a day' comments, I always took them as joking compliments. Dunno, maybe it's just my readers, but from my experience they're rather understanding. Writing daily chapters with ~2000 words on average isn't really difficult for me as I'm usually 30ish chapters ahead of official releases so I can usually skip a day of writing if I don't feel like it and just make it up another time, but on those bad days, it really is impossible to get anything out. Usually the chapters I write on those days are just boring go-arounds that add nothing to anything and anyone and are just a chore to read. Just pace yourselves out, fellow authors. Comments can be a good way to see what's working with your readers and what's not, but stick to your own story and tell it the way you want to. That's at least a whole lot more fun for me than trying to accommodate.

                            Reinesse for some its month, years. It doesn't need to be a block of creativity. A block can also be the lack of motivation to write due to other things; mental health and so forth. It's also possible the block is due to development. A writer has reached a limit in skill and not sure where or how to proceed next. This is a reason why I spend time doing an end to end outline/blueprint. No matter how far apart chapters are, I can always pick up where I left off to finish.

                                Ethan_young contracted author, I imagine you'd have to write to a schedule since you're something of a contractor employee. As a hobby writer , you're not bound. The schedule is you're own.

                                    I think what I'm sensing here is there a two kinds of storytellers here and story types being muddled. Authors and Writers. Stories and Books

                                    Authors write to sell a book; a product readers commit to under whatever conditions. If they don't receive those promised conditions, tongues wag.

                                    Writer's write stories free from commercial commitments as a hobby. They go at their own pace when their energies and whim allows it. As a reader, you pick up and put down with the same freedom.

                                    Webnovel, being what it is, Authors and Writers get muddled together.

                                    Readers come to expect a certain level of product commitment when money is exchanged for goods, regardless. So, when a Writer regularly unfolds a popular story then stops. Some readers might be under an impression the story was a product, so a level of commercial commitment was required. Even though the obvious markers of said Writer not being a WN Author was before their eyes.

                                    Veronica8 nah, contracted authors get to set their own schedules, and get to take breaks whenever necessary too. they just need to put out a certain amount of words each month to get paid though.

                                      I take 3-4 hours to write just 500 words. With editing, that's another hour. If the chapter calls for a higher word count or higher quality, it may take up to 10-12 hours. My readers are more understanding(bless their souls), but I hope other readers can understand! :)

                                      yaoyueyi Oh for fucks sake. Goddamn WN fuckers.

                                      Well, whatever.

                                      Free Hongkong, Taiwan #1, Tibet is not a part of China.

                                          thank you TT

                                          Preach. If you are gonna demand so much, please write yourself.

                                          Gourmet_DAO Since the original short story for novice authors is primarily a test - a test to see if the author will be able to develop the habit of writing at least 2500-3000 words a day or not. The goal is to write in 1 year - 1,000,000 words.

                                          What a load of bs. There are no such goals. Not even webnovel sets such a goal. Test? What test? No there are no "tests", to see if an author will have a habit of writing 2.5k word chapters. My average is not even close to that, yet I have readers who support me. What is important to the readers ultimately, is not how many chapters you produce, but how well you produce them, and your schedule. I keep to my schedule, and that is that. If someone comes over and tells me "Dude, release more!", my answer is "Fu*k off".

                                          I think that what yaoyueyi said is mostly true. Authors do struggle, and people simply don't appreciate our commitment. They simply crave "moaar!", yet they have no idea how hard it is to write something. Reader point of view? What bs is this? Obviously reader would love it, if Author abandoned all his/her social and private life, just to write for them. I myself already sacrifice a lot to write, and I don't intend to sacrifice even more.

                                          What I will add to yaoyueyi argument, is that the authors need to be more firm with their audience. In other words, learn to say "fu*k off", when someone crosses the line. I have no problem telling someone "go read something else", if I see he or she doesn't enjoy my novel. There are many novels out there, not everyone will read yours. Just forget about those readers, and focus on what you have. That is my advice to the authors. As for the trolls or whatever, ignore. Believe in yourself and the people who support you, not an idiot who claims you can write 3k words a day no problem. Peace to all Authors and understanding readers :D

                                                DarkRay This is your point of view, but do not impose it on others. You have your own goals, I have my own. You probably didn’t carefully read https://www.webnovel.com/book/10589139205070105/Book-of-Outnors or my English is not good enough that I did not understand correctly. But anyway, this is your vision, and I have it.

                                                I have my readers, they read my not very good English text, because the material is interesting. I appreciate my readers. I have something to share. There is a lot of material, so I don’t see any big problems in sharing this information.

                                                I am not saying that every author should write 2,500 words a day or write 1,000,000 words per year. It's my goal! I have a lot of material on the history of the Silk Road, probably enough to write all 5,000,000 words in a couple of years.

                                                Thank you for sharing your opinion nonetheless.

                                                P.S. If you treat your readers this way, then they will leave you. Readers make authors, otherwise, why write at all?

                                                    Web Novel Novel Ask