I've been devouring web novels left and right for the past few years and the idea of writing my own has finally started taking root in my head.
The problem is that any story or setting I've tried making up so far has simply not been up to my standards. So it occurred to me that instead of creating a whole new original and interesting world from scratch I try building upon an existing framework.
More specifically, there's this web novel called "Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World" which the author seems to have abandoned. The novel, if you haven't heard of it, made a pretty poor impression on the internet as being some crappy shallow harem isekai with a very tedious and boring story. For some reason though I liked it a lot. I also find it's settings to be an easy starting point for me to write, as the world building in it has a few well-established elements but is otherwise incomplete and lacking, leaving plenty of space for me to build upon.
What I fear though are the downsides of going for a fanfiction setting, such as the need to read the original material first (which is rather obscure in the first place), or my novel not being taken into consideration by potential readers because of the reputation of the original novel.
My intention is to create a slightly more in-depth world and story than paranoid MC wants to get laid but is too afraid of any girl he doesn't have on a leash. I am also not interested in becoming an actual proper author, I already have a career in engineering. I intend to write only as a side hobby. I would, however, find satisfaction in knowing there are a few people who read and actually enjoyed what I wrote.
So is going ahead with the fanfiction setting a bad idea, should I just scratch it and keep trying to come up with something myself?
The problem is that any story or setting I've tried making up so far has simply not been up to my standards. So it occurred to me that instead of creating a whole new original and interesting world from scratch I try building upon an existing framework.
More specifically, there's this web novel called "Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World" which the author seems to have abandoned. The novel, if you haven't heard of it, made a pretty poor impression on the internet as being some crappy shallow harem isekai with a very tedious and boring story. For some reason though I liked it a lot. I also find it's settings to be an easy starting point for me to write, as the world building in it has a few well-established elements but is otherwise incomplete and lacking, leaving plenty of space for me to build upon.
What I fear though are the downsides of going for a fanfiction setting, such as the need to read the original material first (which is rather obscure in the first place), or my novel not being taken into consideration by potential readers because of the reputation of the original novel.
My intention is to create a slightly more in-depth world and story than paranoid MC wants to get laid but is too afraid of any girl he doesn't have on a leash. I am also not interested in becoming an actual proper author, I already have a career in engineering. I intend to write only as a side hobby. I would, however, find satisfaction in knowing there are a few people who read and actually enjoyed what I wrote.
So is going ahead with the fanfiction setting a bad idea, should I just scratch it and keep trying to come up with something myself?