Stories You Want to See pt. 2

[Absolution]

In my previous post I asked the community what kinds of stories they would like to see.
Out of the responses I've seen, I managed to distill these answers:

1 - non-humanoid or otherwise messed up protagonist (a monster, war machine, monke, etc), but done in a way where it actually matters story or action wise.

2 - long term survival in a hostile environment (with other people who are in the same boat as you)

3 - a wuxia/xianxia-type setting without unnecessary slapstick, in-built metaphysical hypocrisy ("good" cultivators wiping out entire countries over an argument but they're still "good") or unreasonable tropes - current year level of technology and development or lower.

4 - no isekai, reincarnation, game interfaces or comedy as the main genre.

5 - low powered protagonist who doesnt fly up the ranks like tesla rocket, and goes up no more than 1 level of the power system throughout the story.

6 - reverse harem?

This seems like a nice blend though number 6 is something I wouldn't be able to stomach as a primary focus. I thought for a long time how to cram all of these into a single concept. I wrote out one original idea and remixed something I've been stewing on for a long time to fit these themes. And these are the story concepts I ended up with:

A - Hillbilly Martial Artist Shoots Down Drones With a Sling Shot
The setting is a modernized xianxia-esque world dominated by matrilineal noble houses and an extremely powerful religious sect that defines what orthodoxy is. The backdrop is a war between the martial world and an alliance of unorthodox cultivators and mythical creatures that took place centuries ago where a large part of the male population died leaving bereaved wives to manage martial clans and sects. The latter faction sued for peace after a series of defeats and the newly established order turned the unorthodox and more human-like monsters into second class citizens and confined those who cant pass as human to reservations (demonic cultivators who ceased being human, and various monsters like tigers that talk).
The protagonist is an ogre-like creature (at least 50% human) who only recently got assigned to a nearly uncharted mountain and has to make a living while shit goes down in the wider world. Also, there are other creatures and unorthodox practitioners (read - cultists and pagans) up on the mountain - a place that hides a dark secret.

B - Remote Controlled Mecha Pilot Gets Too Immersed, Becomes the Mecha
The setting is a more advanced version of our world, where the discovery of other universes and a way to traverse them lead to exponential economic and technological growth, after a period of extreme human suffering and desperate battles against invading monsters. The Earth is ruled by a giant, Manhattan-sized computer complex that uses otherworldly artifacts and what amounts to magic to outperform mundane technology. This machine-god was once conceived by (AN AGENCY OF AN EMPIRE) that was wiped from history as a weapon against enemies foreign and domestic, but has become so powerful its only limited by its sensibilities (wanting to promote human wellbeing) and variables like human irrationality. The military branch of the world government sends war machines, built with technology and parts of otherworldly monsters, to conquer otherworlds and drain them of resources while building up an inter-dimensional infrastructure that would one day allow the machine to effectively achieve godhood and immortalize the human species thus achieving its goals.
The protagonist enters the military to become a pilot because of financial strife and quickly discovers he has a knack for killing aliens before a combination of desync, dimensional shenanigans and alien magic (we're getting there) rips the connection between his original body on Earth and the mecha on the other side. Thus creating a perfect copy of his mind inside the robot, while his original body seizes out and spews blood for an hour before paramedics can stabilize him and bring him back to life.
The otherworld his cloned instance, in a mechanical body, is left in is a mysterious, extremely mountainous world that seems to be populated by humans and non human animals with supernatural powers (here come the martial arts). An unknown being seems to be maintaining a powerful barrier around that world, allowing only brief incursions by Earth's world government that end in wasted money and failure. And while the MC is doing his best to survive on that side and built up an outpost, it seems that the mission to take the world over has been abandoned. Here, the protagonist is only as strong as his machine, which can only stand up to the equivalent of a cultivator who's just made a golden core. And the rest of the story from then on would mainly revolve around his involvement in local conflicts - wars between cultivators and mortals, strife within clans and countries, etc. All the while the protagonist copes with his transformed state, trying and failing to cultivate because his body is animated by electricity and something like ether, instead of the qi of native humans and animals.

Pokemon go to the polls and vote which one you like best!

 

[HelloHound]

I like A more because I'm not too big into mechs

 

[Kamelingil]

low powered protagonist who doesnt fly up the ranks like tesla rocket, and goes up no more than 1 level of the power system throughout the story.

So, how can the protagonist grow at this point? Getting stronger even in level 1? Too generic. Always been weak until the end of the story? Too disappointing.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

So, how can the protagonist grow at this point? Getting stronger even in level 1? Too generic. Always been weak until the end of the story? Too disappointing.

I disagree. It's like writing an arc from a story as a story. It doesn't have to be disappointing. In a story set in a capitalist society, the story won't necessarily be disappointing if the character does not become a billionaire by the end. A story where there is a war going on and the protagonist survives and doesn't become a distinguished hero who John Wick's everybody with his pinky finger and takes down attack planes with his stare alone is not disappointing. The focus can be on other things.

 

[Absolution]

So, how can the protagonist grow at this point? Getting stronger even in level 1? Too generic. Always been weak until the end of the story? Too disappointing.

There are novels that focus on crunchy power progression for people who like that sort of stuff, but turns out not everyone likes those. On its own "getting stronger" is a trope thats been ridden to death 10 times over. Why does the mc have to get more powerful constantly? It makes sense in settings like Mushoku Tensei or generic korean fiction settings, but its not a universal thing. Its a feature of worlds that work basically like games or epic fantasy.
Realistically, there's always a limit to how strong an individual person can be in any given setting. Personally, I like settings where no one is truly safe or all powerful, at least on the scale of the story, maybe there are gods or smth that can just snuff anyone out. It adds a sense of reality and tension to the story that is lost when a character is simply so powerful that it doesnt matter how many enemies theyre up against / they can become that powerful eventually. Often, characters win no matter what and its treated like its oh so hard but in reality, the pain, effort, etc associated with getting that strong are basically excuses, if that makes sense.
Even in action centric stories there's a kind of power beyond numbers (levels, cultivation stages, etc) thats usually not well explored. Strategy, experience and simple psychology. A guy who is as strong as 10 people and has an eeby deeby magic barrier will still die if he falls down a 10 story deep pit with spears and caltrops at the bottom, or if he's locked in a metal box and air is drained out of it, or if someone throws a dead bear down the village well and he drinks the wormy, rabies and botulism infused water. A low powered person outthinking and outfighting a powerful opponent is a million times more impactful than an op dude using his falling star dragon slash to cut the fabric of space time and defeat everything that comes his way (in my opinion).

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

Number 4 types of stories are quite rare on web novel sites in general, from what I've gathered. Or at least are rare nowadays. About a decade ago, such sites were practically non-existent or deeply obscure (Wattpad being one of the few exceptions), but they had mostly... ahem, "traditional" stories, let's say.

Makes me kinda swim against the current with my own narratives, but when I considered the option of going public on such sites, I had no idea readers' tastes were that skewed.

 

[MajorKerina]

It's one I want to write soon which I had I dream about but it was sort of a weird mixed technology time uncertain western style story where this family lives on this homestead away from civilization farming and the eldest daughter has been away for a while and the younger brother is excited to see her return. But a group of bandits attack and slaughter the family except for the son who is hiding underneath the house. He's able to get a jump on one of the attackers and that attacker had a living weapon gun attached to his arm and a detaches upon his death. The boy then puts the living weapon on his hand to kill the other bad guys but putting it on his arm forge is a contract with the weapon which then talks in his mind and tempts him with bloodlust. Tone of the rest of the story would be similar to what you see in the manga and anime series Parasyte where the protagonist is slowly losing their humanity and actually their parasite/symbiot is oddly gaining humanity but the goal throughout the story would be the boy trying to find his sister and complete his revenge and recompense for his family. That's a kind of narrative that I really want to see.