Anyone else bored of there being no real consequences?

You have been crit by a @Matthew James novel post <3

 

Seagrim said everything I did in 1/100th of the word count... so I need to get this "the forum is my personal blog!" bug out of my system.

 

@Matthew James that was a fantastic rant. I would like for you and @Seagrim to do a podcast together where you just complain about the genre. I mean that sincerely.

 

And get @Matthew Siege to be a co-host as well. It would be epic.

 

I fully support a LitRPG podcast, but I want to raise you and see it as a vodcast! All the more engaging! You guys would be amazing!

 

Meh... I don't like video because I'm an old fogey. However, I'm willing to support a VODcast as long as they provide a text summary.

 

You can totally produce both at the same time! Voice as podcast, video on da youtubes! I'll be the happiest Felicity if anyone ever does this. Together we shall build an empire! *practices nefarious heh heh*. Yeah, I need practice, despite what SOME may think. *cough*

I'm sitting in the chat for a great example of a podcast that dual produces, the SFF Marketing podcast with Lindsay Buroker, JM Pool, Jeff Lallo, and random guy says:

- I found all three of you through the podcast. Because of that I bought your books. I've shared the podcast with others who also have purchased your books.
- The podcast is a great marketing tool plus all three of you write and tell a great story!

Proooof!

 

I don't think I could do what Ramon does or what Crowbaits manages with reading everything, and honestly I don't want to. I'd rather get out my own story, and let other people rip off all the good bits (if they are accepted as good), and then keep writing. I think the American LitRPG scene needs to straight up copy the Japanese content treadmill and get creators creating and artists drawing, there is no reason that the flow of Western culture to Japanese culture shouldn't extend to these LitRPG stories as it does with so many other things from Music to Clothes.

LitRPG is poised to do just that in a way that other creative story genres aren't, because most of the Western mores don't translate perfectly. Game content however is this massive shared language that has been flowing back and forth between Asia and the West since video games were first a thing, and so I think there is a very good chance there will be an emerging "Author, Artist, Publishing Studio, Animation Studio" trend for LitRPG and probably many YA novels. Oddly it looks like Ramon has heard of people networking for Audio Book work, splitting the audio book profits instead of paying up front, and that is similar to what happens with Pixiv artists teaming up with web-novelists. But its such a huge discrepancy in upfront cost and time invested compared to Light Novel artwork...

There has to be some entry point for actual literature and artists into a larger market that doesn't just involve Youtube / Streaming services, direct support from patreon, and ad monetization. All of my favorite gaming and news platforms have died because they reached an ad saturation point that got them bought out. Success shouldn't be the kiss of death for someones desired creative efforts, selling out a website destined to die after it changes hands isn't as ideal as Notch leaving Minecraft filthy rich and his creation surviving and thriving.

So far every step down the LitRPG path is filled with people saying "We like things how they are" when things right now suck for anyone that wants to create and move the genre forward in a way that favors those that want to work within the genre and master it: and have shit last. Instead of the "Maybe anything I create with a fun premise might get cranked out someday like a half assed Japanese Anime or Manga adaptation..." we have this defeatist self limiting anti-quality anti-f**cking literature attitude in the greater community that is the equivalent of high brow Literary critics "exclusive" mindset. The quality isn't just whats in question, the "worth" of the entire endeavor gets crapped on too. Now instead of writing my own story I'm writing a guide book to LitRPG that says, "Yeah anything goes" but with a lot of words. Thats just to get off the ground within the damn genre, and after that with no Japanese content treadmill in place and no likely "accolades" for the genre on the horizon with the culture war crap going on, every LitRPG author is up not just against snobbish literary critics, but every god damned person that wants a custom tailored game story to their tastes that provides them with wish fulfillment uninterrupted by the author's desire to reach a broader audience and make the genre worthy of a greater audience than them personally.

Right now a lot of people are writing for themselves, and I think fundamentally for a game or sports game story, or just for entertainment meant to be a product and not solely a passion project uncorrupted by commercialism and story structure, trying to reach the audience that doesn't yet exist should be part of the goal, especially when what you want from a genre doesn't yet exist. Creating what you want to read while making sure to stay true to yourself as a creator within the constraints of good story telling and the rules of a genre that doesn't eschew rules for a non-sensical anti-literature standard. In the same stroke writing the story you want people like you to enjoy, a personal ambition that has become this hugely awful sentiment. Awful at least when such a goal disenfranchises those that would rather a product not exactly to their tastes had never existed at all.

I think this genre is going to blow wide open, and I'd rather ride the wave then lead the charge... and god help you poor bastards if I ever actually end up near the front of this thing.

edit: lmfao, that demented little purple thing was masturbating, I mean its possibly a more accurate representation of me now that I got a good look at it, but I thought it was just a dorkily deformed fetal alcohol syndrome teletubby that was enthusiastically clapping against its gimp arm... I thought Paul was trying to keep it PG-13 for google!

 

Soooo many people are going to check this book out. Also predict huge, swirling controversy in reviews. You are a brave man sir, I respect that!

 

@Matthew James first, I wouldn't want you guys to do a review show. Review shows, to me, are pointless and boring. I don't want to be held prisoner for an hour so I can hear someone say: 'Good book' or 'Bad book'. I can get that in 5 seconds by reading Amazon reviews.

I want a rant show. Actually, I don't even want a show. I just like reading your screeds. You bring so much passion to your posts. I love it.

I hope you're right about where the genre is going. I'm skeptical, but I hope I'm wrong. I would love to see that artist/writer treadmill thing take off here. I say that as someone who works as an illustrator. I've thought about doing comics for a long time, but it just takes so long when you're doing it all by yourself.

At one point, I considered submitting webcomics to Wizards of the Coast. The basic idea for the comic was that one of the characters, a dwarf paladin, had figured out that his actions were being controlled by some mysterious external force. These were done years ago before LitRPG became a thing, but looking at them now, they're basically a visual form of LitRPG.

 

Don't tempt me with crazy talk. It almost always works...

 

I'm telling you that the three of you could do a fantastic show. Just get each other wound up about something and go off.

 

As tempting as it is to let myself believe that my fury may fall upon the ears of the willing, I am not in any way comfortable with taking perceived shots (albeit I'd call the criticism constructive...) at books/authors in the same genre where I hope to ply my trade. That way lies madness...

Though if we did a more general "Seagrim and some Matthews start shouting about (nonspecific) fiction until they are hoarse", well... That sounds fun.

 

Yeah, just read Matthews post above. He doesn't mention any specific authors. He's just ranting about the various shortcomings of the genre.

 

*Nods*

 

If you were to do it you should probably do a what Im reading now segment so you can rant about that rather then directing anger at a particular person or book talking about what your reading gives a less deliberate feel to the rant. I can say for one I would totally listen

 

The only thing I've ever been able to write are rants and nerd theory crafting, and Seagrim and Matthew Siege (and some of the guys that only drop in occassionally that have contributed to the "What is LitRPG?" thread) say exactly what I try to say in a fraction of the length. I think about 2/3rds of the relevant points from the book on LitRPG I'm writing have already been posted around here in less detail, or they are points I've included in my own stories and outlines that are 100% litrpg stories.

I'm expecting people will say, "TLDR: Author loves sound of own voice"

I talk about the "Games" genre, switch to the conflicts within gaming, switch back to LitRPG, and by the end of Chapter 1 I'm done with all the reasons why "Crunchy" LitRPG isn't any more LitRPG than "LitRPG Lite." That's about the end of the controversy. The rest is arguing for stakes that matter but that aren't by necessity "life and death", while building up my case for LitRPG Lore that bridges video game adaptations and fantasy or sci-fi stories meant to inform a game world, even without a single game element. The "no game element" LitRPG Lore might be going to far, but I love my old fantasy serial idea that I repurposed as an example of hiearchies and game lore etc that could fit into a Game Guide or be reworked for all sorts of different game types from RTS to City Building to NPC faction systems and player rankings. Part of me just wants to be done with it, and cut out half the content of an already short book, but I might as well be done with it in one go.

 

Well, just for a warning, I don't have a camera for the computer. I do have a gaming headset (surprise surprise). We could do a blue collar LitRPG rantcast. Just keep in mind, there will be scotch on my end.

I was also a big Mel Blanc fan when I was growing up. I'm out of practice on the characters he could do, but, I do use my voice as a deadly weapon of comedy and sarcasm.

Also have a wonderful singing voice.

 

You could do musical reviews.