Soul Merger

So as I said before this was my attempt at writing a webnovel instead of a novel. Two similar and different exercises. And I think I've learned a lot about my writing strengths and weaknesses, as well as a little bit about what people get out of a lot of webnovel stuff. (Or at least what I'm getting out of it.)

The big thing I noticed is that a lot of what people love is world and character building. Probably why litrpg does so well, because it's a hefty dose of crack for both. But there's a great deal of desire for non standard building. The response the monsterpedias got was far above and beyond what I expected for filler (even with cute slime Fili as a cheat). The problem that I (and a lot of authors have) is that at some point your world is built. You either start going so deep into the weeds that the flaws show, or you run out of ideas. Especially if you're centered in a fixed city.

(Big secondary problem : World building and plot advancing don't always play together and you need to maintain the balance between 'what people came here for' and 'having a story worth caring about.)

Another thing I noticed is I am easily hit by character bloat. I can't write characters out easily. That's partly a me problem and partly a story design problem. If people stick around why wouldn't they get to know each other and rely on them for help?

Next personal issue : I'm terrible at responding to readers as webfictions usually do. Now I know I'm never gonna be the type of writer who has a discord to jabber about stuff 24/7, but I do think I can cater my extras more to things that interested commentators.

Lastly I find I have issues with deadlines. Not hitting them specifically. A deadline is a great way to force me to write 9 times out of 10. But in terms of quality I think there's an impact. And especially in terms of setup / payoff. I need to find a deadline balance to properly push stories out while not getting locked up purely in delivery mode.

So what do all these words mean?

For my Helena books? Nothing, I'm gonna keep at it making solid medium length fiction. Hoping to have another one edited and out sometime next year.

For more webnovel style fiction? I'm going to play to strengths. Traveling adventurers, unique viewpoint character, episodic regional plots, and a deliberate focus on interesting locale details. I've already got a new story started, and with this one done I hope to increase the speed of writing. My goal is ~100k ready before starting to post giving me a solid starter for people to enjoy, while leaving gaps in the extra sets to flesh out setting details readers are interested in. And also get some art commissioned and in hand.

Teaser Title : Diary of a Traveling Mimic

Again thank you all for staying with me. If you've got an interest in my already completed work I suggest starting here. And I hope to see you all again in the not too distant future.