So having read a lot of these kind of novels, there are many that tend to use the same tropes over and over again. While I understand a lot of this caused by wish-fulfillment or capitalizing of popular themes, what do readers find themselves wishing to see more in these kind of novels?

I just finished my 2nd volume of an isekai story, so I'd be interested in what people think. Personally, I don't force myself to use the following tropes as a crutch for my story. While I'm not demeaning anyone for using any of these, I wonder how many stories would be just as good without them, or by using them in a more inventive way.

Harem:
- Often shallow, 1-dimensional girls (or guys) that are just there to add to the MC's hopes and dreams.
- Devoid of realistic romance, rather just trophies to enhance the MC's awesomeness.
- People like smut, I guess

OP characters for the sake of it
- Power trips that give readers instant gratification
- Powers that people wished that had
- A sense of a 'I can do anything if I try', (screw good ol' hard work and perseverance)

Creating items that somehow only the MC knows about
- objects that people with half a brain should be able to make, but amazes everyone
- no reason as to why it didn't exist in the first place
- btw, said item is all of a sudden crucial to an instant win the next chapter

Fight, lose, train, win
- as if all you need to do to win is to try a little
- I have all the time in the world to cultivate, my enemies can wait for me

MC granted with all he/she needs right at the beginning
- I have all my memories, how convenient
- This is untechnologically advanced world, time to use my modern knowledge
- I understand the system better than anyone else because I played a game like it

MC must be always cool and can come up with the best possible options
- Making mistakes makes him weak
- Doubting himself makes him weak
- Anything that suggests that he is anything but the perfect human makes him weak

I can probably think of many more, but I'm probably boring you by now.

Anyways, leave me your thoughts. I'm hoping for ideas to bring about something different than what people usually see in these kind of stories.

    kazesenken

    Just encountered a bit of this in my story, had a couple of readers wondering why my MC was doing the things he does while I was avoiding some of these tropes. Seemed to really throw them for a loop that my guy Xing Lei wasn't the smartest and strongest every chapter, or wasn't getting instant rewards for every situation he found himself in.

    Though I do lean on some of the tropes a bit, hard to really be isekai if you completely avoid what makes the genre so fun, but nor does it hurt to throw the occasional monkey wrench into the gears.

    Personally what I aim to see in the genre is characters with their own 'life'. They're not goodie two shoes who have to help the world cause they're a ren faire lover or similar silliness. I like the MCs that are flawed, have their own desires and goals. Like RE:Monster, the MC is sorta good, he protects what is valuable to him, but he's not on a mission to bring love an justice to the world, hell usually he's content to let the world screw itself as long as he and his are left alone.

        I find that some of my reader are frustrated with how little motivation or ability the MC has. I purposefully threw him into a disadvantageous situation with a typical mindset of a person who is "just trying to get by in life".

        Apparently, there's a lot of impatience that the MC has to find his way and figure out a path for himself, rather than "Hey, I just got summoned! Let's go take the world by storm!" or "I'm super pissed! Time to take revenge on the world because it just gave me the shaft!"

        Of course, I'm not saying people shouldn't use the tropes I've said above, but the question is how to use them effectively as part of the plotline and not just as a way to hook someone's attention.

        It's like the difference between offering someone vanilla ice cream from the store vs. high quality vanilla ice cream made directly from the beans and slow churning.

        Darth_Xiane this is on point 👌! When an mc has their own life and goals not just motivated by external factors, it really builds character.

        A funny (yet not so fun) thing I encountered was when the mc found himself in this world and after struggles, some wins, some loses, a lot of cultivation struggle to aid his people, the mc finally becomes a god-like being.

        Unfortunately, now the mc is detached even from those he just saved and no longer spends time in the real world. It ended with him somewhat pondering Dao in the heavens and no longer caring about reality.

        It leaves me wondering, why would he become all so powerful only to become a force of nature without any more goals or even a will? (he became the will of heaven lol)

          Darth_Xiane by the way what's the name of your story? I'd like to check it out some time. It might be the next hidden gem 💎

              Dextuary
              You can find the link in the promo thread that's pinned, mine is The Immortal Kobold.

              As for hidden gem, maybe. Depends how often hidden gems get raged at for a weak MC in the thirty chapters that exist... 😋

                kazesenken

                So there are really two things that I absolutely LOVE... Number one can only happen if the MC gets reincarnated into someone else body, and what I love is when one of the friends of the bodies previous owner found out that she wasn't the same person he used to know and she had to confess that she was from another world. It was a really emotional moment and I really loved seeing it even though it is kind of niche.

                The second thing is when the MC is actually clueless as heck but everyone thinks that there borderline omnipotent because everything just kind of works out for them even though there actually not that smart.

                IMPORTANT NOTE. If you want a good example for a trope breaking isakai RE ZERO is a good example. The MC is really weak and actually just normal, the only thing is that he has infinite tries because every time he screws up and DIES which is often, he starts over from a checkpoint.

                    Scott_Crosswhite
                    Sounds like you just quoted the MCs for Ascendence of a Bookworm and Overlord.

                    I actually used Re:Zero as one of my references. I liked thinking of how my MC would take his conditional abilities and work out interesting ways to demonstrate them.

                        kazesenken

                        lol I pretty much did, there weren't exactly genre breaking or anything but they were different twists that I enjoyed. I think what you really should do is aim for breaking a few of the regular tropes but not all of them, the reason there popular is because there cool, well most of them. Sometimes its refreshing to have a super week MC that relies on her friends like Ascendance of a bookworm, and sometimes its comical to have a MC that totally incompetent but everything works out for him. Maybe try making a character that is supper strong and charismatic but for some reason all the girls stay away from him. XD

                            Darth_Xiane

                            Super strong and charismatic, huh? Sounds like Hayate the Combat Butler, who is riddled with a huge debt and a possessive master.

                            Shield Hero was interesting to me because he did fight against some standard hero archetypes, the self-entitled ones that you would find in a wish fulfillment setting.

                            I'm realizing just now that I've probably watched most of the isekai anime that exist...

                              babery
                              Oh, really? Glad that this helped you out. I was just doing some thinking out loud.

                                  babery
                                  Actually, not really. I tend to read a few chapters of various things just because they pop up here or there, or someone asks for honest input. But rarely do I end up following anything, due to being very busy.
                                  I'm fairly new to writing myself, but I've gone through a lot of anime/manga. Somewhere in the range of 1300 series, so I'm fairly aware of the tropes, especially for isekai.

                                      kazesenken I think this is the reason why I've moved toward transmigration slice of life type stories because the only trope generally relied upon is modern knowledge. I do really enjoy isekai, but too often, I find "and suddenly a wild harem appears!" That just ruins everything for me. I can tolerate the other tropes and even quite enjoy them. I think one other trope I'd like to see less of is integration with other identity's memories.

                                      Come to think of it, you wouldn't happen to be able to recommend any normal peasant from less technologically advanced time/world transmigrates to the present, would you?

                                        I just realized Kara Kyou Maoh is an Isekai! 😅 Man. Never guessed it all this time. I think this one is different. Maybe?

                                        I've never done the R&T the way peeps at WN do it here. My rebirth stuff is based on myths like Hades or Quetzalcoatl. I feel more comfortable referencing Mesoamerican mythology for rebirth stuff. No idea why. I'm weird.

                                        I don't really know much tropes for either too. I kind of don't pay much attention. If the story is good, the trope doesn't matter.

                                        Isekai is transport to another world. Stargate would be one of these?

                                          10 days later

                                          Hello, OP! I want to provide you with an unpopular opinion that I think I need to share.

                                          One of the biggest draws to the popular and OP tropes is how very easy they are to read. For a short bit of reading and not-too-much-thought, the reader receives instant gratification (like you mentioned.) It's the same reason why the Shounen genre is incredibly popular: Creative OP stuff/power creep happens. Heroes win. Groupchat your friends about it.

                                          Examining the trends, you already know the answer to what most readers tend to want... It's everything you've pointed out, with a bias towards whatever each reader's sense of enjoyment/time-spent, considering their personal preferences, values, fetishes, etc.

                                          I'm struggling with the same issue, myself: "How do I make my own story unique in a sea of thousands of OP System-assisted characters and powerful female CEO's?" But I've always set a lot of (silly) personal rules like "I don't want to feel like I'm repeating myself."

                                          That stated: You're an incredibly astute Author to analyze this far, and ultimately, that sort of mindset will make you better. But remember that every story is unique and that every reader is different. You're probably doing fine. Personally, I like stories like @Darth_Xiane writes. And I've added yours just now, OP.

                                          Let's all work hard, together.

                                          Veronica8

                                          Basically just a Japanese expression for a typical kind of story with a fairly long history.

                                          Gulliver, anyone?

                                          Of a more recent production date we have Narnia, but even then we're rapidly heading towards the 100 year old story.

                                          The Fionvar Tapestry is an even more archetypical isekai story, which goes to prove where the Japanese versions come from.

                                          Gate-fantasy is a staple. Older than television to begin with. We have the folk tale about partying with the elves only to return back one hundred years later.

                                          If you want to go older than print we have Greek and Japanese mythology where the main character strongly disagrees with his wife dying and promptly journeys to the land of the dead to get her back.

                                          Even the caught in a video game is a lot older than Sword Art Online. Tron comes to mind.

                                              Oooo I got mentioned. Snoopy happy dance

                                              🥳🥳🥳🥳

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