Tempokai

  VRMMORPG novels are bullshit. They're all the same: some generic world, some shitty quest to complete, and an ending that's never worth reading even if you actually like it. The progression is linear; there's no sense of exploration or discovery, just a series of fetch quests that get more annoying as the story goes on. If I want to py some stupid fucking fantasy game where I kill things in my underwear, I'll go to Steam and buy Dragon Age: Inquisition. But it's shit too.

  The VRMMORPG novel doesn't have any of those problems though. It has its own set of issues—like, how do you make the story interesting when the only thing you can interact with is text? LitRPG is a thing, but with varying quality; most of them are just about leveling up your stats without really having to think. And then there's the whole "you know what would be super cool? If we could actually walk around inside this book" problem.

  Protagonist reincarnating in the book is usually pretty boring too. There aren't many books where you can say that though. A lot of the time, it's just a throwaway line at the beginning like "I was reborn into this world." And then completely disregard that after some female lead or male lead gets stabbed by a dark elf on page one or something. It's not like that's very exciting either. For a long time, I thought I might have been doing something wrong. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. I wasn't searching hard enough for these great stories.

  But that was before I stumbled across [REDACTED].

  There were no other reviews on Amazon. Just one review from a person who bought it because they liked the cover. I must admit, the cover does look quite enticing. Especially if you're a fan of RPGs. I don't know if anyone else did, but I mean, come on—it looks exactly like Dark Souls!

  Anyway, I started reading the first chapter and I couldn't stop. I was obsessed by it. I'd read it while waiting in line for my fast food breakfast, after brushing my teeth, during lunch break, and even on the way home from work.

  Eventually, I read all 400 chapters and wrote a review. It said, "You need to buy this book right now. This is literally the best LitRPG novel I've ever read. You won't regret it. Not even when you die."

  It was definitely written by a god.

  ***

  Another compint. Gender bender stories. They're so clichéd these days. Really, why do people keep writing them? Men becoming women, women turning into men. It's like this author went out of his way to write every single cliche he could imagine.

  Let me show you an cliched novel I read yesterday.

  It all started with protagonist James walking down the street, minding his own business. He had nothing against men or women, but after getting dumped by his girlfriend, he gets smmed by Truck-kun, dies and he wakes up as a woman. Now, this is a terrible cliche already, but let's continue. It was one of those medieval isekai fantasy stories where everything is so badly described. I guess the author thought giving away too much information wouldn't be necessary since the reader would just fill in the gaps themselves. But that's not how it works. I hate it when authors don't describe anything. And 500 words per chapter, seriously? No wonder it's so bad.

  Anyway, James, now Jamiel, lives in this world where adventurers must defeat the Demon Lord and save the kingdom from destruction. The only problem is, James doesn't know how to use any weapons. Well, except guess what? He awakens overpowered abilities that no normal human being can possess! So she becomes a badass warrior. Of course.

  Then fight that spans 10 chapters, climaxes with a sword duel to the death against the Demon Lord's right hand's right hand, and after that, she ends up in love with the princess. And then, fuck, I forgot the rest of the novel. Oh yeah, there's also a secret organization that tries to bring back the Demon Lord.

  Overall, a badly written wish fulfillment gender bender novel.

  I mean, what the hell was the point of this? Why even bother writing such a pointless plot? The characters were just so bnd. James was kind of a bitch, but that's understandable. I remember saying that the words in a book describe the author, so I don't bme her for being a bitch. After all, the guy who wrote this novel was probably a total dick. But still, come on. It's like, what did you expect?

  And that's another thing, the protagonist always wins. Always. Even if he loses, there's a second chance or some bullshit. That's why it felt like the story wasn't over yet.

  That's the problem with most of these novels. They're basically a bunch of guys talking about their adventures while they kill monsters and level up. How many times do I have to read about the same thing? The webnovel "industry" has gone downhill so much that it's almost unrecognizable. I can't believe anyone would pay money to read this crap.

  ***

  There are three types of authors. First there are those that write novels because they genuinely enjoy writing. It would be me, for example. Then there are those that write simply to make money. Those authors are the ones that put out mediocre content just for the sake of making quick cash. I'm guessing this is the type of author who writes cliched gender bender action adventure novels.

  Finally, there are the authors who write to entertain themselves. These authors try to create a world where they can live out whatever fantasy they want. I don't think they care too much about whether or not people will actually read their novel. They just want to build a world that's fun for them. I'd like to think this is the type of author that wrote The [REDACTED]

  On the middle spectrum, there's a third type: the writers who write with both profit and entertainment in mind. This is the type of writer that puts out high quality work. Their goal isn't to make money. It's to make readers happy. I wouldn't say this is the ideal situation, but it's better than the other two.

  Anyway, that's how I see it. I know this is just my perspective, but I hope that expins why I enjoyed The Book of Legends so much. As if author experienced it itself, I'm sure.

  I guess this means I'm going to have to write my own novel someday.

  ***

  When you're a child, you dream of becoming an astronaut. When you grow up, you realize that being a space explorer is really hard. So you give up that dream, and start to write about that instead. At least, that's what I did.

  I didn't really have any experience with science fiction, but I wanted to write a novel where the protagonist explores space. Then, after I got a little older, I realized that space is fucking scary. In the vast emptiness of outer space, you can't escape from danger.

  So I gave up on space exploration novels and started writing a novel about a man that writes about sci-fi, but never actually gets off Earth. That's what I call a win-win situation.

  ***

  Fantasy books are the greatest thing ever. They allow you to forget your real life for a little while. A fantasy novel can transport you to another world filled with magic, dragons, elves, and other mythical creatures. Or to the world where magic exists, but no one believes in it. You can become a hero, or you can simply enjoy the journey. Whatever suits you best.

  If you don't like fantasy novels, well then you're wrong. Even non fiction books are exaggerated. Nobody thinks that the world is really like in Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. It's just a story, and you can choose which one you want to believe in.

  While fantasy novels are amazing, they're not perfect. True authors are too few in between, and most of them have been forgotten. Most fantasy stories are too simir. They follow the same formu. A young boy or girl finds a magical item, is then set free by the gods, and joins forces with others to defeat the evil. Or the opposite, evil viliness sets off on a quest to destroy the world.

  Obviously, it's easier to write a story like that. We all want our heroes to be victorious, but it makes for a rather predictable tale. But by making your novel too unpredictable, you lose the audience that enjoys predictability.

  To avoid this dilemma, some authors choose to make their characters so overpowered that there's no way they can lose. While this may seem like an easy solution, it also removes the power of choice from the protagonist. Like in the Mary Sue genre; characters are so powerful that there's no need for them to do anything. They can just sit around and wait for something good to happen to them.

  If you want your characters to be believable, the best option would be to write from their perspective. Or at least think from their perspective. Imagine how the protagonist feels, what he wants, and what he fears. By thinking like your character, you can find the right story for him.

  There is a saying that the life is full of coincidences. If you take this seriously, you can give your characters realistic reasons for their actions. For example, if your protagonist is an assassin, he will naturally want to survive. This leads him to befriend others and use them against his enemies. Thinking is so important. The more you think about the events in your story, the more you'll understand them.

  By writing a life, you become a small god to the people in your story. But don't abuse that power. Your stories should be about them, not you.

  Give them a challenge of life, beauty of love, and humor of friendship. Let them experience the ecstasy of victory, agony of failure, and satisfaction of success. Let them fall in love, feel pain, mourn and ugh.

  After all, that's what life is about. Don't be emotionless robot, but be a human. Let your characters be alive.

  Even if you write about a self insert character, it's important to think as the character, not yourself. Think about how he would react to different situations and how he would interact with other characters. There's no need to go overboard, just enough so that it feels real. Amateur writers tend to forget that their characters are actual humans. They just assume that their protagonist is the same as them.

  Life is strange, and so are stories. Life is full of dreams, hopes, and regrets. Your job as a writer is to transte those emotions into words. Put your protagonist in situations that he can't get out of, and let him struggle to overcome them. That's how you write good stories.

  ***

  I don't read very often, but when I do, it's usually fantasy. My favorite genre, perhaps.

  The only problem is that there are so many fantasy novels these days. It's hard to tell which ones are good and which ones aren't. Since the popurity of webnovels, the attention span of readers has declined significantly. People are used to reading short stories without much effort. This is why most webnovels are so poorly written.

  But that's why I like fantasy novels. Even if you stick to a formu, you can add your own spin to it. Sure, a lot of fantasy novels are about wizards and magical swords, but that doesn't mean those are all the options avaible to you. You can still make your protagonist a bcksmith, or a fisherman. Even a god, perhaps, if you want to be original.

  Don't limit yourself. Don't be afraid to experiment. But most importantly, don't be afraid to fail. Sometimes, the biggest lessons in life come from failing.

  My first story was about a guy that was transported to another world, helped to defeat the evil, and got stuck in another world. Sounds pretty cliché, huh? Well, it was my first novel, after all. I wanted to write about a world where everything is different from what we know, but it turned out that wasn't so easy.

  You can't just make the world "different". Everything has a cause and effect. For example, if you start with different animals, you will end up with different pnts. And if you don't care about the pnt life, you won't have any food. This is a basic principle of ecology.

  Simply hiding it under a rug doesn't work either. In order to hide the fact that the ecosystem is changing, you have to change it completely. Maybe you could create a new ecosystem using magic, but that would create its own problems. How your magic works? How will you expin it? What happens when someone else finds out?

  Another option is to py it safe. You can keep things the way they are, but try to make it sound more interesting. Don't go overboard with it though, otherwise you will lose the reader's interest.

  In my opinion, the most effective way to make a fantasy world different is to think about the environment before you start writing. Make sure everything fits together. Even if it's a another world, there should still be ws of nature. The climate, the seasons, the trees, the water, the animals, and the people. All of them must be consistent and logical.

  For example, it doesn't matter how technologically advanced your world is. In the end, interactions between the living and the nonliving are governed by the ws of physics. Just because you can move objects with your mind, doesn't mean that pnts will suddenly sprout legs and walk away.

  People might enjoy seeing a world where technology has evolved past our imagination. Where the technologies that are impossible in our world are commonpce in theirs. But that kind of world needs to be carefully crafted. Don't just throw in random concepts to make it look cool. Instead, think about how the world would actually function.

  Teleportation is a thing? Cool. What drawbacks it has? How does it work? Why is it so hard to achieve? Is it expensive? Dangerous? Will it require expensive equipment? Can anyone learn it?

  And so on.

  You can always decide ter, once you have a grasp on the entire world. Or you could bullshit it up if you really feel like it. After all, it's fiction.

  ***

  I'm not exactly a professional writer, but I've managed to write a couple of novels. It's not easy, but it's possible.

  They didn't attract much attention though, so I decided to write about the process itself.

  Writing a novel is a long and difficult process. It requires a lot of dedication. First, you have to come up with an idea for a story. Then, you either refine it until you're satisfied with it or discard it completely. This part can take weeks, even months.

  Next, you have to create characters. Some authors try to describe all of their characters' physical appearance as well. Making a cheat sheet helps a lot, especially when you're unsure of your abilities.

  It's also important to spend time to develop your characters. Give them a background, a personality, a history. This will help you decide what they will do in every situation.

  Speaking of situations, this is where your outline comes in handy. Outlines are short summaries of the events that will occur throughout your book. Once you have an idea of your plot, start filling in each event on your outline. They can be as detailed or vague as you want, but try to make them realistic.

  Once you finish your outline, you can start writing the first draft. Don't be shy with the amount of text you put on paper. No one cares if you wrote a thousand words or ten million. As long as you're satisfied with the result.

  Afterward, revise the text as many times as needed. Take it apart and rebuild it. Cut the parts that are janky, and add the ones that are missing. If you have enough time and patience, you'll eventually reach a point where everything clicks.

  Then you can finally start editing. Read through your story from beginning to end. Give your dog a treat, or something. Afterwards, read it again. Try to imagine how it would sound if you were hearing it for the first time. Check grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency.

  Once you're done, hand the story over to a friend. Or a dog. It doesn't really matter who you ask. Just make sure you have one.

  Most authors recommend taking breaks between each step, but I prefer to finish editing before moving on to the next phase. It's better to wait and fix your mistakes than rush ahead because you're impatient. Use the technology, like ProWritingAid, Grammarly, or Microsoft Word's spellchecker. These tools will save you a lot of time.

  Finally, submit it somewhere. Submit it everywhere.

  It's never too te to rewrite your story. Just be patient and don't worry too much about the results. Most people will never notice the difference anyway.

  ***

  Storytelling is a skill. An art form. But it's also an ancient practice, thousands of years old. Since the ooga booga times, humans have enjoyed telling stories. Everyone loves a good story.

  Everyone likes to hear about their own experiences, but everyone can rete to other people's stories as well. For example, even if you don't know how to swim, you probably remember watching movies where somebody goes swimming and you try to replicate their movements.

  Stories are universal. They can be told in many ways, and different cultures can interpret them differently. They share the same underlying structure though, regardless of whether it's a fairy tale, epic poem, or a webnovel.

  Archetypes, tropes, cliches, whatever you want to call them – there are a few recurring themes in stories. We always have stories about heroes and vilins, or about people that don't fit in. Stories about the triumph of good over evil, or stories about how the protagonists learn something important from their mentors.

  Struggle, empowerment, and learning are common themes among stories. Struggle is an inherent part of the human condition. Everyone struggles with something. Whether it's with school, work, retionships, or life in general. Empowerment is when you overcome those challenges and make progress. Learning is the act of acquiring knowledge, both consciously and unconsciously.

  Every story has some sort of struggle, either internal or external, and the protagonist must overcome it in order to gain something that he or she values. The journey is almost always more important than the destination.

  Stories about learning are especially interesting. Everyone wants to find out what they are capable of. When we grow up, we have all sorts of expectations for ourselves. However, reality rarely meets those expectations. We learn more about who we are and what we can do when we overcome our limitations. We discover new things about ourselves and we realize that there's still more to explore.

  The best stories contain struggle and learning. The protagonist will face some sort of challenge, and he or she will have to overcome it in order to succeed. A great storyteller knows that the audience is waiting for the big moment, and he or she will build up to it. From a wimp to a legendary hero.

  A good story always contains conflict. Every character has conflicting motivations, and every conflict has a solution. Good storytelling is about finding the bance between what your characters want and what they need. They might have to sacrifice one for the other, but it will be worth it in the end.

  If you want to tell a good story, you have to give your characters a goal. They should want something in the worst way possible. Something so important that they will risk anything to get it. Or even goal to be with the flow, but the surroundings won't allow it.

  Everyone wants to be happy. To feel like they belong somewhere. To find something meaningful. But at the same time, people have to accept themselves for who they are. They should embrace their individuality and become comfortable with their pce in the world.

  Love is a complicated thing. You shouldn't force it if it doesn't happen naturally. You should let it bloom when it's ready. Love is a powerful emotion, and it can ruin lives just as easily as it creates them.