How long before isekaization?

[ThisAdamGuy]

If you're reading an isekai story, what is your preference for how long it takes for the MC to get isekaid? Do you like to see what their life is like in the real world for a few chapters before being yeeted across dimensions so you have a better idea of who they are and how different their life is going to be going forward? Or do you want it to happen in the first chapter so that they can hurry up and get to the cool parts?

 

[NotaNuffian]

I don't care what MC was.

I care what MC will be.

 

[l8rose]

Chose immediate but generally prefer a bit of backstory of where the MC came from. Just not a bunch of chapters because the previous life isn't the focus of the story. So like... 1 chapter, I guess?

 

[Kay_Ship]

Is the characters history or previous living condition important to the story and how he develops? If so, then a little backstory is probably a good thing.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Immediate and then spread past life backstory over some chapters in the future.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I'm asking because the pirate isekai story I'm writing features two main characters (arguably three) instead of one, and their relationship with each other is going to be a huge factor in how the story plays out once they get interdimensionally flushed. So I need a bit of time to introduce them and flesh out how they feel about each other and why. Plus, one of them has to discover the isekaizer and learn how to use it before isekaization can commence. So we're looking at a minimum of three to four chapters before yeetage occurs.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

If you're reading an isekai story, what is your preference for how long it takes for the MC to get isekaid? Do you like to see what their life is like in the real world for a few chapters before being yeeted across dimensions so you have a better idea of who they are and how different their life is going to be going forward? Or do you want it to happen in the first chapter so that they can hurry up and get to the cool parts?

Depends on the style and the goals of the author.

But FFS please have some thoughtful variation of the isekai trope. Hurrying to cool parts will just make the story a photocopy of the 'isekai trash' many hate but consume.

I, for one, made my novel's MC isekaied already and revealed his former life slowly as I go through the entire narrative. Did the readers like it? My feedbacks said yes.

I also read other isekais where the author showed the MC's former life and it is also effective.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It varies. One of the audionovels my wife was listening to had it happen in the third chapter after showing the MCs life. Another had the character return to the original world (with powers gained while Isekaied) in the first sentence - and revealed what happened during the five missing years (which were five millennia to him on two different worlds) slowly over the next several chapters.
That latter (God Among Men) was one of the more interesting ones, really - the guy has nearly unlimited powers but is trying to be a normal guy (for the most part), even connecting with the five-year-old daughter he never knew he had.
Most have it happen some time in or at the very last line of the first chapter but there are no hard-and-fast rules, and it seems to be "whatever the author feels will fit the story"

 

[aToTeT]

I'm asking because the pirate isekai story I'm writing features two main characters (arguably three) instead of one, and their relationship with each other is going to be a huge factor in how the story plays out once they get interdimensionally flushed. So I need a bit of time to introduce them and flesh out how they feel about each other and why. Plus, one of them has to discover the isekaizer and learn how to use it before isekaization can commence. So we're looking at a minimum of three to four chapters before yeetage occurs.

If the characters are interesting, have chemistry, or have a setting in the real world that is deeply impactful to the characters: go for it.

If they don’t? You’re the author: you control the flow of time, the placement of plot devices, and who the characters are.

If there is a choice in the matter in your mind, I’d say that the story probably isn’t nailed down; so you might as well start with the hook and introduce the story elements over time through… any number of literary tools.

Here’s a thought exercise:

Does this ‘chapter’ serve a purpose?

If so: is that purpose deeply necessary to the story you’re telling?

I throw away most of my ideas before I get to writing them… but my good ideas are like cement-filled tires anchoring down a buoy line: I can drag them around if I motor hard enough, but cannot change them, and trying too hard just snaps the rope (chapter six of my only story that currently gets so far is a representation of the artless unsalvagability that is trying too hard to pivot that which is crystal and clear).

If your ideas are not immutable to change: reiterate until you have something that you cannot defy in your head: there’s something there you need express.

I’ve read stories that start with the hook, and I’ve read stories that hold onto the hook for about…. Well, Robinson Crusoe doesn’t step on that island for a while if you know what I mean.

 

[NineHeadHeavenDevouringSerpent]

If it crosses two chapters and isn't relevant to the main plot than I'm leaving. The first few chapters are really the hook and bait, if it ain't palatable than what's the point?

Though exceptions are there, if it really picks up strong later on in the chapters than some leeway could be given. More often than not, this is seen in original works where the first arc is really the worst part of the newbie writer, but the idea of the story should be actualised to have any hopes of retaining readers.

That is why I seek works that even though written by novice writers have clear defined idea, vision and theme. If your inspiration is strong and sound the idea will be solid, if you've managed to pinpoint the core of the story than you have vision and theme follows along with it. Do you know if your story is an action/thriller? What kind of audience is your work going to attract? Hopefully the story is focused on one or few core aspects so it excels at that, instead of trying to squeeze in everything to make it more "universal"

It's not hard to find this out. The point when you feel this novel is nothing like its synopsis than the writer has skewed their theme horribly. Way too many tags, unless it's fully completed novel you have at hand you have no buisness adding 10+ tags, having more might sound like a good thing but in truth it just creates false expectations, leading to more disappointment that the story didn't turn out the way readers hoped.


There's plenty more cues, and is something writers should be aware of. The first arc of the story is crucial introduction to the world you're creating, if it doesn't sound interesting to you after couple of repetitions in your head than probably it really isn't interesting. Keep at it, and find more ways to make it interesting.

 

[Skyley]

If you're reading an isekai story, what is your preference for how long it takes for the MC to get isekaid? Do you like to see what their life is like in the real world for a few chapters before being yeeted across dimensions so you have a better idea of who they are and how different their life is going to be going forward? Or do you want it to happen in the first chapter so that they can hurry up and get to the cool parts?

I find it better when there's a backstory of how they got isekai'd or just the key points that led to it, then the rest of the MC's past is revealed through out the course of the story

 

[beast_regards]

You seem to have a difficulty understand the basic concept behind the isekai (and few other sub-genres)....

At least, the present day isekai.

Or, I suppose, you live in the past.

The character being briefly trapped in the other, often imaginary, world in order to learn a life lesson, and then returned to reality, was an isekai story concept popular within the anime (manga, light novels) roughly 20 years ago, give or take. My first experience with anime came from time where Inuyasha was still a super popular sensation, and that was a long time ago, and the stories changed since then. Evolved? If you say they devolved, I wouldn't argue with you, but if you are familiar with it, you couldn't deny they changed massively. The audience changed too. It used to be an anime for young girls back then, do you remember? If Inuyasha isn't proto werewolf romance, I don't know what it is. Now the isekai is more for male audience, and they don't want to go back to the shit they know too well.

The present-day audience wants to escape the reality, not return to it, and your dilly dallying around the protagonist's old life in the isekai story screams of "bait and switch" suggesting that you would just sent the main character back to Earth, rendering the whole story (and the isekai plot itself) essentially pointless.

Web novels are reliant on the constant upvotes, you don't want to be pointless.

 

[Clo]

I don’t know how many people have played Xenogears or Final Fantasy VII.

Games from roughly the same era, both from Square-Enix.

One is one of my favourite game of all time, the other isn't.

FF7 is almost the father of games starting in media res. It became so much more common after if came out to tell the story of characters through flashbacks, after you are invested in the game and events.

Xenogears started the opposite. You didn't learn that Fei had a normal life before the incident. You saw it. You lived it. You care a lot more about his dead friends, because you have been with them before they died. (Well, also because Fei is blaming himself for getting them killed.)

Personally, I would always go the Xenogears route. My entire first novel is "24 hours before anything happens" in my story.

Some people will certainly disconnect before that happens. Which is why I seed lots of hints that something is wrong along the way.

So for your question, what would I do? Instant Isekai, or show the character in their previous environment a long time?

Well, if all that time spent there is instantly useless, ignored after they get Isekai'd then please skip ahead, thanks.

But if your narrative is about how homesick your character is, how they try to find a way to return to that life they still think about for most of your story?

Then I would rather see their life before the events, instead of flashbacks, or being told about it.

To me, that's just a "show, don't tell," but at much larger scale: at the end of the day you're the showrunner, and you know what part you want us to care and focus on.

Make informed decisions from there.

But if "the cool parts" only happen after the character is Isekai'd, as you said? Then it looks like your answer is right there. Skip ahead. Don't bore us, just for background sake.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

My first experience with anime came from time where Inuyasha was still a super popular sensation, and that was a long time ago, and the stories changed since then.

Hello there, fellow from 2006-2008 timeline!

 

[beast_regards]

Hello there, fellow from 2006-2008 timeline!

We time travelled to the future the slow way, didn't we?

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

We time travelled to the future the slow way, didn't we?

Aye. Imma say though, Inu Yasha years are peak anime.

 

[Clo]

You two make me feel so old.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

You two make me feel so old.

Face it, we are old. I'm already 36 this year. Still a weeb, though. And I enjoy being old.

 

[Clo]

Face it, we are old. I'm already 36 this year. Still a weeb, though. And I enjoy being old.

I am nearly a decade older. Still a weeb and teenager at heart.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

I am nearly a decade older. Still a weeb and teenager at heart.

Aye, me too. Even better when I fool around with my students, and I'm the head troll.

Still, I apologize to @ThisAdamGuy for derailing the thread.