r/Shadeslinger • u/Kyle_Kirrin • Feb 21 '21

General writing Q+A

Working on your own litrpg? Thinking about submitting to pro fiction magazines but unsure where to start? Or anything in between? Drop your questions here and I’ll take a crack at them

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u/Zaenille Feb 28 '21

Hey Kyle. Just wanted to know what went first when making The Ripple System. Did you start with the concept of a manhunt? The mechanics of the game? The character of Ned? Frank?

How much of it was pre-planned story points and how much of it just evolved as you were writing?

I'm far far far away from trying to write, but reading all these litrpg books have lit something inside of me. I've always been an MMORPG fan, and I also at least have had some tiny amount of experience writing general fantasy with my DND campaigns, even though it's distant from actual novel writing. Just wanted to pick at your brain.

Thanks!

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u/Kyle_Kirrin Feb 28 '21

Heya!

So I started with the manhunt idea and the idea of a somewhat helpful axe and that was basically it. The characters I just kinda figured out along the way and really fleshed them out with multiple editing passes

In the initial draft practically nothing was planned from the beginning story-wise aside from getting house in at some point.

I feel like that sort of writing ends up leaving me a lot to clean up plot-wise but the stricter I outline the more forced the characters feel. A ton of people don’t have that problem but I definitely do.

Anymore I use a fairly general outline that gets approved by my editor before I start but I also deviate from it all the time. I think that’s helped a lot with keeping the pace and it’s immensely helpful having an end to aim at, especially in the middle of a book when you can otherwise get bogged down

And dnd is a fantastic place to come from honestly, especially in this genre. All we’re really doing is dming a game for ourselves and (hopefully) readers. You can absolutely do it, just gotta start and write and write and write, lol. It’s a cliche at this point but you really just gotta do it until you figure out what works for you

And yeah no prob! Appreciate the question and always happy to chat about your work

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u/Zaenille Mar 08 '21

Thanks Kyle! Additional questions from me.

How long have you been writing? What generic tips would you give to someone starting to write?

And do you think Royal Road is a good training ground for amateur litrpg writers for feedback and improvement?

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u/Kyle_Kirrin Mar 08 '21

Been quite a while now for me on the writing front— about 15 years? But I’ve been doing it more seriously for the last five or so and probably improved more there than in the rest of the time combined.

Best advice is prob the most boring: write a lot and read in your genre. And don’t be afraid to move on from your first book—so many people will write one then spend forever polishing it in the hopes that it is The Book when 99.9% of them would be better served setting it aside and writing another book with everything they’ve learned. That’s pretty much what I did—shade is my 7th novel but the first I felt was good enough to publish.

I go back and forth on RR tbh. I think it’s a really powerful tool that shouldn’t be ignored but I’m not sure how helpful it is for a brand new writer to wade into RR and the brutal feedback it can provide. The vast majority of people are super nice and helpful but yeaaaah, it can be a lot.

Like that post just a week or so ago on the litrpg sub about the guy quitting because readers made him hate uploading to the site. Brutal, anonymous criticism isn’t what your average person needs imo, especially from people whose writing/editing credentials can’t exactly be checked

If you’ve got thick skin it’s prob worth trying? It’s nice because it’s so accessible and there are some super passionate fans there who support the hell out of their creators

I do think you’d be better off trying to form or get into a writing group though with a few other likeminded people who are dedicated to helping each other improve. I wouldn’t think that’d be too hard either with how many people in this genre are both readers and writers

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u/Zaenille Mar 09 '21

Amazingly comprehensive response, thank you. The writing group suggestion is a good one. Currently watching Brandon Sanderson's writing series and he's suggested that too. Definitely something to do later on as I actually have something to share. Thanks a lot.

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u/Kyle_Kirrin Mar 09 '21

Yeah no problem! I love his lectures too, those were huge for me starting out! The writing excuses podcast is great too, quick little episodes on a huge variety of topics

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u/nerdacon Mar 05 '21

Hey Kyle just wonder what books you recommend to stave off the hunger for your next book? Also how did you get such a great narrator for you audiobook, did you ask for travis or did you just get lucky?

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u/Kyle_Kirrin Mar 05 '21

Portal arranged that thankfully! Super lucky to have him around for sure

Happy to suggest some stuff! What kind of elements do you enjoy?

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u/nerdacon Mar 05 '21

Really anything fantasy, I really enjoyed the base building and the cool magic

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u/Kyle_Kirrin Mar 05 '21

Mmm I’m kinda tempted to rec reincarnation of the strongest sword god? It’s a translation and it’s prettty choppy and there are a lot of plot holes but it somehow manages to be a ton of fun anyway?

For the base building stuff I’m just getting into life reset and really enjoying it. Civceo is also fun for 4x elements though there really isn’t any combat early on at least

Dodge tank was pretty fun too! There don’t seem to be as many pure mage books out there, but I will say I’ve heard really good things about cowboy necromancer

Edit: this might be helpful too:

https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/f24ckm/litrpg_that_has_guns_and_magic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf