Really, has anyone noticed how often media with bad dialogue overuses "looks like"? Anywho, call me Yuli. It's possible (only very very slightly) that someone may have passively heard of me if they've been to the right (read: wrong) places on the Internet. I only just discovered LitRPG not too long ago. Like, maybe a month? Already, I've decided to throw my hat into the ring as a writer. That sounds incongruent, but here's the damnedest thing— I've been sitting on a LitRPG concept ever since roughly 2008. And it's definitely LitRPG. It's got all the conventions and tropes— hell, I thought I was clever with the whole deal with stats, XP, HP & SP, leveling up, game world rules, etc. But since I was a snot-nosed possibly temporarily-Aspergers (still looking into what happened between ages 13 and 17 there and why it lifted) fourteen-year-old, naturally I never wrote it. And thank christ I didn't, because that meant the concept simmered in the weirder parts of my mind for the better part of a decade. I had read Ready Player One years ago and was intrigued by its concept but I was more enthralled by the story itself. I watched a few episodes of Sword Art Online and I absolutely adored it. 'S concept and setting. The anime itself, I dropped after seven episodes because it was getting so aggressively boring to me. I've tried picking it back up again since people said it got good again, but apparently they were basically trying to convince themselves the turd they were chewing on was actually a candy bar or something. Seriously, screw Kirito. The light novel was better. My first foray into LitRPG proper has to be Awaken Online: Catharsis. Damn, did I love that one. Still do, but also did. The Weirdest Noob is also a good one. I'm currently reading this new one, Pangea Online Book One: Death and Axes. Fairly certain that was only the guy's second novel, and he hit it out of the park! I don't play video games quite as much as I used to, only because I've been writing for other (ahem) "niches" for the past two years or so. In terms of what games I play, it's a really mixed bag. I have a huge soft-spot for pseudo-medieval fantasy, but I'm kinda sick of it now. I've been dying for a cyberpunk/sci-fi GTA/Saints Row clone for years, and the closest we've gotten is Watch_Dogs 2? Publishers and developers, I am literally willing to sell you my left kidney to develop this! (I already gave my right one to CD Projekt Red in thanks for Cyberpunk 2077). Well look, I'm getting off track. Just remember me as the guy who coined the term "slice of tomorrow" and is in love with the aesthetics of Jet Set Radio, The World Ends With You (which my original LitRPG concept was loosely based on), Scott Pilgrim, and Hover: Revolt of Gamers. I have two LitRPGs on the brain right now. One that's actually that original concept, and one that's a bit more to market in terms of aesthetics, which I guess we'll hafta discuss later because good lord this "intro" is pompously long.
You won't find professional help here. Oh, you mean writers! Well, hell, there are a few here. Also, what the hell happened with that one pack of sentences there. It suddenly got really small at the end... I think I'll just walk away from that one....slowly. I like SAO, but the Aincrad story arc is the best writ stuff in the anime, but, it does seem like the anime crew started mixing around the character tropes and story tropes a bit. Also, helps to keep in mind that Kirito and company are in their early teens, and, at some points have spent most of their teenage years in the game.
As is the case with my future. Also, I need more forums. One of my favorites got taken over by a bunch of characters from the Devil's Sesame Street who now insist with all their heart that Trump is the new Supply-Side Jesus saving an America that was in the grip of the world's most brutal anti-White anti-Christian anti-Coal Dictatorship of the Proletariat under Comrade Barack "Stalin" Maobama. Every friggin' thread had to be about politics, particularly how evil the Democrats are. You know, that'd actually make for a interesting little story, but considering that was a tech/futurist forum, you can imagine it got old after a few weeks. At least the other one I frequent's still pretty healthy with the debates and neither the anarchocoms or ultra-caps have chased each other out. So trust me, this forum? It's an improvement on the first one at least. Even if that hadn't happened, it's always good to be part of more forums.
Cool deal. If you have any questions, let me know. Don't forget the shops! https://litrpgforum.com/dbtech-shop/
I just don't want to rush into this and I don't want to sound like I'm trying to jump in on a gold rush in the months before the gold rush kicks off so I can get some extra cash (Ready Player One is destined to be the Fifty Shades of Grey of LitRPG, except it's actually a fantastic piece of literature with a Clockwork Orange-meets-Pac Man font to boot), but I have recognized that it's probably the biggest selling thing right now with a very high floor for newcomers. Like, there are only 300-odd actual LitRPGs total and at least 70% ranks below #5,000. Or above #5,000? I can never get the terminology right in that case; it's <#5,000 is the point. So I think that's what enticed me— I essentially practiced with romance for so long so I know how to write a novel, and I have a LitRPG idea that's been festering for close to a decade now (to the point that I've created subreddits either on it or stories in that world). I just never wrote it because I never got around to it. The thought I could actually write it and get paid is what ultimately drove me here, I guess. I bet that sounds rather greedy of me and completely opposed to what I said earlier.
Welcome! Lot's of facebook groups with both authors and writers of LitRPG also if you haven't checked them out. Gives a good idea of what the audience base consists of.
Holy mother of intro's. That was long, but I read it all. Welcome to you sir/ma'am! LitRPG is a blast to read and you are in good company here ^.^
