Webnovel.Forum

It's not that surprising since the writers on this site are usually younger, first-time authors who are starting out at writing. (Not that this a bad thing though; everyone has to start somewhere.)

This is nothing new; it's also evidently clear (at least, for male readers) that the prevailing style of writing that they ascribe to and emulate is that of what they consumed before they became writers -- Japanese light novels, Chinese web novels, anime, manga, video games, etc...

I really do not want to bash on these mediums since they have their own select gems that show real sophistication and maturity in the themes and topics they deal with, but the vast majority is total hogwash. Very entertaining and fun stuff, but in the end, most of it is not very serious or well-written in nature. Let us be honest about that.

ML stories are almost always concerned with action and the basic progression of something (typically a character getting stronger, getting more heroines, building a bigger kingdom, etc...) because that's what sells for male readers. They want stories with a solid endgame goal, fanservice (wish fulfillment), and a large helping of engaging conflict to fill the chapters. Anything else is extraneous and not that necessary in the long run of the story.

They aren't interested in character development, interpersonal drama, or semi-serious romances that FL stories often have. And many FL stories are also chock full of the same stuff I mentioned for ML stories too but in a different flavor. The pot can't call the kettle black, tbh. Though I admit that they're usually not as ridiculous as ML novels.

In the end, it is crucial to understand that Webnovel is a site for digital pulp fiction. That's not a bad thing, but it means that the quality of the stories here will naturally not be the greatest. You have to take that into account with the stuff that male writers are trying to base their work off of and give our lads some leeway. They're learning the ropes.

Surprisingly, we only have human readers on this site, so writing human characters helps since they can relate better to them. Humanoids (elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, etc) also work, too. It's far easier to write characters from viewpoints that you understand (as a human) and others that you can approximate with good certainty (fantasy humanoids). After all, they're all reskinned humans with some superficial tweaks.

But there are plenty of stories that subvert this and have protagonists and characters that are far out of left field (viruses, snails, sticks of wood, sea urchins...) and those stories do well enough from what I've seen.

In the end, it's not the nature of your content that matters, but rather your execution. If you're a pro writer, you can work with just about anything and still make it highly engaging.

Constructive criticism is a wonderful thing, but sometimes authors can take that well-meaning act as an attack on their work. Giving a good review is an art of its own, to be perfectly honest.

While I am an advocate of gently pointing out what you determined could use some work and polishing, you should also make sure to point out what you liked from the work and perceived to be enjoyable. I cannot stress this part enough because if all you do is write about what you disliked, your review is going to appear very hostile to an amateur author (which is the predominant case here) who has not yet developed his or her thick skin to criticism.

A good review should obviously never have any form of insults towards the author and the work, as that will obviously put you in the immediate bad side of the author and will, most likely, give the author all the incentive in the world to delete your review. There's nothing constructive about posting garbage, after all.

All in all, you should strive to write a polite review and include both the positives and negatives you discovered about the work (you're reviewing the novel as a whole and not what you just found terrible). A common courtesy that is optional, would be to wish the author the best in improving their writing abilities and the success of the novel. Ending your review on a positive note is a surefire way to communicate your goodwill and sincerity as a reader, be it as a passing lurker or a dedicated fan.

Many authors rarely get praise at all for the efforts or even thanks for the work they've written. Heck, some don't even get comments in their chapters, if at all. You'd be surprised what a simple, "Thanks for the novel" can do to make an author happy. (Source: Me)

The average chapter length for most authors is usually between 1,000-1,500 words. Some people even go further than that and publish 2,000-2,500+ word chapters depending on what their goals are.

My advice would be to write 1,000 words a day and raise the word count slowly over time as you get used to writing larger chapters.

I'm not sure what your goal is, so I can't give you specific advice, but 1K words should be good enough for the average reader. Are you updating daily to garner more views and collections? Are you updating daily because it's just a fun hobby? Are you trying to get contracted? What's your angle?

Nasu I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, mate. If it has its roots in another work that isn't his, it's a fan-fiction. He's not taking a unique spin on a previous work or concept; the author was the one who did that. He took world mythology and used it a unique way that separated it from what it based of off (gods from all mythologies descending upon the mortal world, among other things). Einlion took what the author created and ran off with it, that's it. Danmachi's shadow will always be there and that will always relegate it to the status as fan-fiction.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but if you started with something that wasn't yours, it doesn't become yours just because you added a mountain of paint on it. You can reference off of stuff you like, but you gotta start from pure scratch for it to be original.

Edit: Your response comes off funny as hell considering whom you've chosen as your account name.

Einlion I won't argue for him, but you must admit that fan-fiction stories have a legitimate unfair advantage over original novels. Here you guys are using highly popular, renown franchises for your novels and you're acting like you're being suppressed? Excuse me? Did I catch that correctly? Good lord.

Yes, all fiction is derived of other stuff and we've all been jacking each other's ideas since the beginning of literature, but you're not doing that. Don't confound yourself with them; you don't take concepts and breath new life in them by giving them a unique spin. You just wholesale take the whole damn thing and lightly reskin it. That's it. That's what a fan-fiction is. A fan-made story of someone else's creation, no matter how you may try spinning it.

You've put in effort to get where you are now, but it isn't the same effort original authors have had to make to reach where you're at. That's where some people like that guy get their superiority from; that they didn't rely on the easy route. They didn't lean on something already successful. People feel pride about that, but I doubt you'd understand atop the mountain, eh?

Must be nice having a massive, pre-established fanbase by default. I've seen a dozen fan-fiction novels blaze through 100K views with less than a dozen chapters written because they were fan-fiction novels of either DxD, Harry Potter, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Marvel, or DC material. A bunch of other stuff, too. It's absolutely crazy how fast people will jump on board for fan-fictions over some obscure original work by an author that hasn't proven him/herself yet.

Must be nice having all of the world building, world/fighting mechanics, politics, and an entire cast of already fleshed out characters to work with from the start, mhm? A world and cast that's already adored by the readership before you even started writing, no? Man, that sounds reaaal tough, man.

Many fan-ficitions don't make it to the top 100, but instead they dominate the lower rankings, far out of sight. They snuff out smaller, lesser-known works near the bottom instead. It's been happening for the longest, but I doubt you've ever noticed from up there, right? That's my two cents on your nonsense.

Write your fan-fiction; it's cool and everyone should not feel obliged to write anything they don't want to, but know that not all novels are born equal and seperating fan-fictions from originals is a merciful act.

Michael_Ryman
I can agree with some of what you wrote, but you have to understand that people will read what they want and ignore what they dislike. Simple as that.

It'd be nice if Qidian purged inactive, abandoned novels after a generous grace period if the author hadn't already put it in hiatus themselves for safekeeping. Purging novels on the basis of an author's writing ability, or something as trivial as a book cover would be overkill, though. You're expecting too much from amateur writers; especially since the main demographic of this site is mainly younglings.

You shouldn't be expecting that much from them in the first place — for many of them, it's their first time writing a novel, period. It's also noticeable that for many of these young folks, English isn't their native tongue. That makes it even harder for them, so it's doubly unfair for you to judge them so harshly.

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that'll make you want to grab bleach so you can cleanse your eyes. Yes, there are many novels with sub-par writing and a myriad of other flaws. Just understand that everyone has to start somewhere on the road to mastery, and for many, this is the perfect place to do so. Give 'em a chance; who knows, maybe one day down the road, they'll surprise you in return for the patience you've shown.

ShinSungmi
MiniAce
Peachwoodgirl6

Phew. I've finished all of your reviews, friends. Took me a bit, but it's done, lol. Had fun reading all of your novels, even if it took me longer than I expected. Sorry 'bout that, but you know how RL can be sometimes. Cheers!

Clowniac I've got you, fellow brother. Had a giggle or two (maybe three) reading Jack's mishaps on his adventure. There's nothing like taking an offer made by a mischievous, clever god. I love Frumpkin's character above all else. Keep fighting the good fight, my man.