What RRL Readers Want...

Paul Bellow · Sep 22, 2017

As posted by @Zakyrie in another thread...

- Readers want CONSISTENCY!
They are more likely to stick around if you have a weekly or biweekly release (and daily works best).

- Readers are hooked by interesting twists on established concepts.
The usual fare (no matter how well written) isn't likely to gain a lot of traction as represented by followers and ratings. But for those who like your work, they are genuine fans who want to see you succeed. And you'd be surprised by what counts as usual fare. With so much out there, ideas that were novel a week ago are steeped in overused tropes tomorrow.

- Readers will forgive poor (sometimes even egregious) grammar in favor of an intriguing storyline.
There are writers on RRL whose first language isn't English, so readers are willing to accept unprofessional work so long as it entertains them. After all, they came looking for LitRPG there because they couldn't get enough of it elsewhere.

- Readers are voracious.
If you like writing bite-sized chapters indulge yourself. But if you prefer each chapter be it's own novella complete with Shakespeare's five act structure (it's three acts if you're a screenwriter that dropped out of highschool) - don't sweat it, they'll love you for it if you can churn out chapters by the dozen.

- Readers are afraid of abandoned projects.
If they see a wildly inconsistent release schedule or a huge gap in your releases they will likely shy away. And anything longer than 2 weeks will garner you comments that invariably look like "Write Faster!", "I hope this isn't the last chapter", "This guy is on vacation" and "Don't bother reading, the author dropped it."

- Readers don't mind extensive alterations.
Think a chapter needs to go? Axe it. Feel like your story deserves a new prologue? Shoot the old one in the back and pretend it ran away. The only rule is more is better and updates should include grammar fixes and the occasional author note if the direction of the story is drastically changed.

- Readers are normal people.
They have preferences that are in line with traditional genre fiction. If they came for horror they'll leave as soon as it's gone from your pages. If you wrote 'Romance' and 'Female Lead' as tags in the description of your fiction, and the star-crossed lovers literally go down in a blaze of fire five chapters in - expect them to rage quit.

- Readers read reviews and trade recommendations but respond well to both low and high ratings.
It might seem odd to see a three-star review inspire a slew of new readers because it seems illogical in abstract. Why would anyone be in a rush to eat at a 3-star restaurant? The answer lies in the details. And readers are surprisingly self-aware when it comes to what they like. Expect to run into reviews that look like these: "Excellent story, but too many POVs I couldn't keep up", "Grade-school grammar, but I couldn't pull myself away from the pages. Read the whole thing in one sitting", and "This is a Naruto/WOW/Something-famous clone. It doesn't have an ounce of originality. Loved it though, can't wait for more chapters!"
Click to expand...

Zakyrie · Sep 22, 2017

Here is the excellent summary of How to Post on RRL by @Apollos

Posting on RRL

How to Post
*Consistency - (Stealing this from Zakyrie because its that important.) Whether you post daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, try and inform everyone when you are going to post.
*Post bulk, or multiple chapters.
*Its the most important to post in bulk when you first begin posting over on RRL to get more initial readers. Get maybe 5-10 chapters, or maybe 10k words written, and post them.
*If posting multiple chapters in one day, schedule them with a few hours between each post. This will give your fiction more time on the front page so more eyes can see it. Each time you post it shows up on the front page until other new chapters from other fictions knock it off. Getting the most time on the front page is a big deal for getting the most reads.
*Ask for feedback. Use the pre and post chapter sections to solicit feedback. Not just reviews.
*Use polls to ask specific questions. People are more likely to click twice and give their opinion than write it out.
*Use fun polls to build a group of followers that consistently comment on your chapters. Something that gets people discussing in your comments, especially about what your writing is huge!

What to Post
*Make sure you have a hook in the first chapter. It is especially important to have this when posting at RRL. There are tens of thousands of fictions so if you don't catch their attention quickly, you've lost them.
*Make sure your first 2-5 chapters are in decent shape. (Well edited.) Not perfect, but don't give people an excuse to move on. The later you get into the story, if they are already hooked, you can get away with a lesser degree of editing.
*Burn info dumps! Don't start the story by just telling someone about the world, character or game system.
*Show not tell. This is one of the most common pieces of advice that you will get. Now it is actually appropriate to tell in some cases, but new authors almost always got to the extreme of telling. As you practice, you will learn. At first, focus on writing a scene, similar to a movie. You will have to go back to getting this write for the first few months your writing. Not a biggy, just do the work and you will keep getting better and better.
*If you are just starting, you may or may not have a plot in mind for your story. Some people are more discovery writers and won't know the plot until they get to the end. Often they will have to go back in their revisions and rewrite and tighten the plot. Others are extensive outliners and you may have the plot for an entire trilogy already in mind. Most of us fall in the middle. RRL is plagued with fictions without any plot, just episodic chapters that sometimes are only time together by the timeline. If you want to write a novel you need a plot. (Go to youtube and search for Brandon Sanderson's lectures on writing. They will prepare you for everything you need to get started.)

Final Advice
*Remember! The first draft is garbage, even if its entertaining. A lot, maybe most, Litrpg authors don't take this seriously. They may revise a little and even get their stuff edited, but its still just a cleaned up rough draft. Most of the successful litrpgs have one thing in common. They were rewritten or extensively revised.

If you are interested in publishing. What his looks like is different for everyone. Here's a few methods others have, and then I'll give you mine.

Step One: Feedback
*They write the draft and send it to their content editor. They give them feedback on the plot, characters, etc. and give them an idea what needs to be fixed to get it publish worthy. (This can be expensive.)
*Other's use RRL feedback to find out what works and what doesn't.
*Some use beta readers.
*Others do nothing.
Step Two(or Three and Four): Revision/Rewrite
*Rewriting - Taking the feedback, and the first draft as a skeleton, you completely rewrite the entire fiction. This is a hard process to begin, but as you get close to complete it becomes very obvious how much better the story has become. (Not all people do, are willing, or need to do a full rewrite.)
*Revising -Very strait forward, but a lot of people don't do the work. I have found that most issue work themselves out if you are willing to sit down and just work on them.
Step Three(or Four and Five): Beta Readers
*In other words, another round of feedback, or eyes on the document to start cleaning it up and fix any remaining character flaws and plot holes.
*Some beta readers are more technically minded, so you will have people that start to copy edit your work even if there are still revisions you need to do. This isn't a bad thing. Just try to use the technically minded before you send the document off to get it copy edited and proofed.
Final: Copy Edited/Proofread
*Now this can be split up into two really. Sometimes the editor will find further revisions to fix before you publish. There is overlap between what editors do and are willing to do. *Sigh*
*You know what Proofreading is.
Publish!

Here's my process.
RRL feedback on rough draft.
Rewrite/revise
Beta readers
Revise
Second round of technically minded beta readers
Revise
Editor
Revise/clean up typos
Publish

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

What RRL Readers Want...

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Zakyrie Level 5 (Veteran) LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen

Share This Page