Plot Formulas Are Popular

[Love4NovelGuy]

I think we can all agree that Solo Levelling has proven that if you have a good plot formula for your intended audience, it’s easy to get a good following. You can’t help but admire the finesse.

i myself am struggling to figure out which is better: Being given what I want, or being surprised by new things.

Although I kinda hate writers who play it too safe, I also get that some ideas are too out there and thus harder to pull off.

Truthfully, the reason I’m even bringing this up is because my own last Webnovel (storyline) is on the drawing board, and I see a pattern in the types of mistakes I make by straying from formula.

There are times I can make some impactful scenes here and there, but the build up and delivery is all over the place. This makes the reader feel confused on what they’re in for.

Writing an appealing synopsis is also easier when you have something in mind, which can save a lot of time for readers to know whether this is their kind of story or not.

For me, I’m looking at Omniscient Reader Viewpoint (becoming a novel extra) and Ending Maker (Two players becoming game avatars with plot included)… while thinking that their plot formulas would be useful if I copied them.

isn’t that what Isekai authors think too nowadays?

I know some of you guys only read a novel if the synopsis is in the title.

My point: I’m not sure if it’s wrong or not to give readers what they want in such a way…

 

[SailusGebel]

I think we can all agree that Solo Levelling has proven that if you have a good plot formula for your intended audience, it’s easy to get a good following. You can’t help but admire the finesse.

No.

 

[ModernGold7ne]

I think we can all agree that Solo Levelling has proven that if you have a good plot formula for your intended audience, it’s easy to get a good following. You can’t help but admire the finesse.

Read too many stories with the same premise, so no.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

I think we can all agree that Solo Levelling has proven that if you have a good plot formula for your intended audience, it’s easy to get a good following. You can’t help but admire the finesse.

i myself am struggling to figure out which is better: Being given what I want, or being surprised by new things.

Although I kinda hate writers who play it too safe, I also get that some ideas are too out there and thus harder to pull off.

Truthfully, the reason I’m even bringing this up is because my own last Webnovel (storyline) is on the drawing board, and I see a pattern in the types of mistakes I make by straying from formula.

There are times I can make some impactful scenes here and there, but the build up and delivery is all over the place. This makes the reader feel confused on what they’re in for.

Writing an appealing synopsis is also easier when you have something in mind, which can save a lot of time for readers to know whether this is their kind of story or not.

For me, I’m looking at Omniscient Reader Viewpoint (becoming a novel extra) and Ending Maker (Two players becoming game avatars with plot included)… while thinking that their plot formulas would be useful if I copied them.

isn’t that what Isekai authors think too nowadays?

I know some of you guys only read a novel if the synopsis is in the title.

My point: I’m not sure if it’s wrong or not to give readers what they want in such a way…

The only reason people read solo leveling was because godly art and it’s plot armor

 

[LostLibrarian]

Going with a more business focused point, a mix of an old premise/story with new details/twists is the most likely model for financial success.

In general, people are looking for something that is similar to what they already know and like. Sometimes it's even just "more of the same" to "relive the same excitement". We can see that a lot with all the "Insert Trendy Book"-Clones in traditional publishing. Those trends appear because they more or less work.

The problematic part is the oversaturation when people get tired of reading the exact same story over and over again. That is why traditional publishing often tries to combine the same storyline with a new exciting element. With that, less readers will get tired of the same story.


A really simple example would be Star Wars. Which is the same old journey we know from a million fantasy stories. Combined with a futuristic setting.


We can see the same with Solo Leveling. It has the same old tropes, the same old ideas, the same old problems... but it is presented in a fresh way (both webtoon and artstyle). And - with a bit of luck - it fit exactly in that time where more people started to show interest in webtoons, often picking it up as their first webtoon (and the fresh first time feeling later turned into sweet "that was the best thing ever" nostalgia).

We saw the same thing with Korean or Chinese novels when a lot of readers switched over from the "always the same boring beta jp"-webnovels after translators began to translate more or less any jp novel there was, no matter the quality. But now, those same old stupid tropes in a new style became the best thing ever. Until people got sick of the usual "second young master" or "I against the grim dark world" tropes...


Also I would completely disagree with the "good formula makes big following". A good formula and idea might make for a nice story, but with the market's saturation it often comes down to simple luck. Of course, quality can make it a bit more probable... but that's it.
The reason jp publisher write half their story into the title is because quality or story formula alone won't work...

 

[Anon2024]

I think we can all agree that Solo Levelling has proven that if you have a good plot formula for your intended audience, it’s easy to get a good following.

Only a following, but the more it’s copied the more diluted the market and the more difficult for late comers to get the same following.

All those stories you mentioned have boring and Uncharismatic protagonists.

 

[Kilolo]

wait, I'm interested in this topic.

I honestly dislike Solo Leveling due to the lazily made world building and those one dimensional characters.
but it's an irrefutable fact that it's a popular series even since it was a webnovel format.

but you know what, I don't think it's popular because of it's using a plot formulas. there's plenty of WN out there that using a similar plot formulas but didn't see any lights of the day. I'm pretty sure it was something else.

 

[Anon2024]

wait, I'm interested in this topic.

I honestly dislike Solo Leveling due to the lazily made world building and those one dimensional characters.
but it's an irrefutable fact that it's a popular series even since it was a webnovel format.

but you know what, I don't think it's popular because of it's using a plot formulas. there's plenty of WN out there that using a similar plot formulas but didn't see any lights of the day. I'm pretty sure it was something else.

Power fantasy.

 

[Daitengu]

"The hero of a thousand faces" book really breaks down most story telling into a formula. After reading that, it's very apparent how to write a story to have a more mass appeal.

It's also spoiled every story for me lol.

 

[ModernGold7ne]

"The hero of a thousand faces" book really breaks down most story telling into a formula. After reading that, it's very apparent how to write a story to have a more mass appeal.

It's also spoiled every story for me lol.

You haven't read every story yet.

 

[Kilolo]

Power fantasy.

lots of my reading list are power fantasy and most of them are actually on the lower side of the popularity. so, no.

 

[Anon2024]

lots of my reading list are power fantasy and most of them are actually on the lower side of the popularity. so, no.

You didn’t read the other posts.
1st if it’s kind, power fantasy.

It doesn’t matter though, not like anything productive will come from figuring it out since it’s old ideas.

 

[BlackKnightX]

There’s actually a proven formula for a popular product. It’s trend + twist/surprise/unique-element.

Put simply, when you consume something you really, really like, you will want more of it. A person who’s just played RPG for the first time and got hooked will naturally want more of the same. Though, consuming the same thing over and over again will bore you real fast, that’s why you need something new, though with the familiar element to it.

Oftentimes, someone might say the formula for a popular product is novelty and originality. But, as we might have seen time and time again, complete originality rarely becomes popular. Some people might call this kind of original product underrated, and maybe it really is, but you can’t deny the fact that it fails to capture the mass appeal. It‘s too foreign, thus people don’t want to risk it. They just want to stay in the proven path as it’s much safer and guaranteed to deliver what they want.

Take Isekai for example. I think this trope or genre proves my point really well. Isekai has been done over and over, to the point that it has become somewhat of a cliché. Though, people are still reading it. Why? Like I said, it’s the trope that people like, so they want more of it. Though, if you read an isekai novel and then read another with exactly the same plot and everything else, you’ll get bored eventually. That’s why you have to add twist or surprise or unique element to it. (E.g. isekai but the protagonist is reborn as a spider, isekai but the protagonist goes to another world with his mother, isekai but the protagonist becomes a vending machine, etc.)

See what I mean? Before giving something new to the reader/consumer, you have to give them what they want first. Give them what they want, then subvert their expectation. That‘s a proven formula.

 

[Oreo]

That’s why you have to add twist or surprise or unique element to it. (E.g. isekai but the protagonist is reborn as a spider, isekai but the protagonist goes to another world with his mother, isekai but the protagonist becomes a vending machine, etc.)

Or Isekai, but with Austrian Painters.

 

[Love4NovelGuy]

lots of my reading list are power fantasy and most of them are actually on the lower side of the popularity. so, no.

They say Solo Levelling is ‘Power Fantasy done right’. Rather than trying to make character and the power trip separate, the story and character development IS about him gaining new might.

Other works tend to switch focus to other things down the line, but solo levelling is consistently a power fantasy since it’s deeply part of the main character’s growth.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Solo Leveling is about as entertaining as watching a Youtuber play grindy games. Meaning it's actually boring if you think about it.
If you think about it.

So yeah, brainless fun to waste time