Straightforward litrpg plots?

[ThisAdamGuy]

One thing that's stopped me from writing a litrpg is that my stories tend to be very straightforward and to the point, but when I think about RPGs I imagine things like sidequests, exploration, factions, guilds, grinding, and taking every excuse you can find to avoid the main storyline--basically, the opposite of a straightforward, to the point plot.

Would you say it's a necessity for litrpgs to have long, drawn out, meandering plots, or can they work with a more straightforward approach?

 

[JayMark]

I decided to try writing a litrpg and it has a long, drawn out, meandering plot. But that's also the type of writer I am. I like to write worlds over characters. That and I want to try making a whole bunch of different odd power sets and character types and put them to the test in battles.

I think if someone is determined enough they can make a straightforward litrpg, just remain focused on the main character.

 

[beast_regards]

Not LitRPG.

Webnovels.

Serialized webnovels must be meandering.

Not because they are LitRPG, but because they are serialized webnovels. That's the format what you on the sites like this, or that one I am still struggling to not mention in every single post.

Not only that webnovel are purely electronic format eschewing the issues like the print expenses, they also operate under the different business model than the traditionally published novels. Webnovels, if monetized, are subscription services. They need a constant stream of content for the readers to consume, rather than the well-defined product, and would fully benefit from the fact they are, by design, endless, and of course, unconcerned by the physical formats. No one cares if the story is ultimately one million words long if you don't have to haul the huge printed volume anywhere, and you consume it daily in small bites rather than in the single book.

If a web novel is ever published as an anthology of sorts, is always unbearably long, because it was originally published as serialized work rather than a single novel.

 

[Paul__Michaels]

One thing that's stopped me from writing a litrpg is that my stories tend to be very straightforward and to the point, but when I think about RPGs I imagine things like sidequests, exploration, factions, guilds, grinding, and taking every excuse you can find to avoid the main storyline--basically, the opposite of a straightforward, to the point plot.

Would you say it's a necessity for litrpgs to have long, drawn out, meandering plots, or can they work with a more straightforward approach?

You're thinking about in way too simply. With any story you have to look at it in length. If the of your story in going to be contained within 500 to 1000 page single story then having a simple straightforward plot works better. If the story is a LONG, overarching series that will be serialized or going into to be split up into volumes, then you'll need a mixture of the straightforward plots and a long drawn out plots for the overall story.

I feel the biggest problem that most amateur authors have to deal with is what is the target audience for LitRPG genre. It mainly attracts 10-year-olds all the way up to early 20-Year-Olds. So, the bulk of your audience it going to be teens and the stats that you create for your world need to make sense. You can't just throw out bullshit and hope for it to stick. You got to create the formula and stick to it and if the MC has some skill that breaks that formula then you better come up with a good reason for why the MC is allowed to break the system or you will lose your readers.

At the end of the day, the longer LitRPG novels go the more the system starts becoming irrelevant as beating up new opponents that supposedly have higher stats gets dull quickly or the author screws up when they start leveling up their character way too fast and they become a literal walking god.

It's not easy writing a story about a god that can't die and nothing is more funnier than an author creating a new MacGuffin out of nowhere that no one knew about until the MC destroyed all the obstacles at the beginning of the series too easily.

 

[MarekSusicky]

you consume it daily in small bites rather than in the single book.

Uhmmm... I'd like to binge read it all over the weekend, please.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

One thing that's stopped me from writing a litrpg is that my stories tend to be very straightforward and to the point, but when I think about RPGs I imagine things like sidequests, exploration, factions, guilds, grinding, and taking every excuse you can find to avoid the main storyline--basically, the opposite of a straightforward, to the point plot.

Would you say it's a necessity for litrpgs to have long, drawn out, meandering plots, or can they work with a more straightforward approach?

It is possible to make anything work in any length/style. The LitRPG genre tends to lend itself to longer arcs due to the need for clear but gradual character growth to "feel" like an RPG, but the right author could make shorter arcs work well, and the wrong one could make longer arcs flat out tedious.

 

[beast_regards]

Uhmmm... I'd like to binge read it all over the weekend, please.

OP's have the link in the signature. Since he is always to the point, it won't take you more than a weekend.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Straightforward litrpg plots?​

Take a gander at this plot: A kranky old lady who hates video games is hit by a golf cart and dies before pressing her life-alert. She wakes up as a young lady in a litrpg/vr/game logic world, and she's enraged by all the otherworlders using cheat abilities to live out their selfish fantasies, so she becomes a serial killer to hunt down all those cheating gamers for messing with the natural order of this world. She'll go after the undetectable super assassin, the jobless guy who can switch classes, all those appraisal skill dorks, the hypnosis/mind control villain, the impenetrable defense jerks, the shapeshifters, the ones with a guide/internet connection, the curse user, etc.

 

[beast_regards]

Take a gander at this plot: A kranky old lady who hates video games is hit by a golf cart and dies before pressing her life-alert.

Wouldn't it be too obvious a self-insert for the OP?

Though, I could give it the benefit of the doubt. I said that the original works are rarely self-inserts.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Wouldn't it be too obvious a self-insert for the OP?

Though, I could give it the benefit of the doubt. I said that the original works are rarely self-inserts.

Its only a self-insert if it was written by a cranky old lady (or a serial killer).