A 'Light Novel' Tag?

CadmarLegend

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Well, I just noticed that there's a glaring difference between a novel and a light novel, especially in the story structure and dialogues.

It might be helpful if we put in a 'Light Novel' tag. What do you think?
These 'Add tags' requests have been around for a long time, and I agree with most of them, unless they are useless... so I will upvote this one....
 

Agentt

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Well, I would surely love to be able to tell people that.
 

Ai-chan

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Well, I just noticed that there's a glaring difference between a novel and a light novel, especially in the story structure and dialogues.

It might be helpful if we put in a 'Light Novel' tag. What do you think?
Light Novel is just the Japanese classification of the genre to refer to shallow, easy to read novel style for teens. Its counterpart in Chinese is Light Fiction, which caters to the same demographic. In English, it's Young Adults, which refers to the same demographics. Instead of trying to be Japanese, just use the existing English name for the genre, which is Young Adults. This is an English original website after all.
 

TunTun

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Light Novel is just the Japanese classification of the genre to refer to shallow, easy to read novel style for teens. Its counterpart in Chinese is Light Fiction, which caters to the same demographic. In English, it's Young Adults, which refers to the same demographics. Instead of trying to be Japanese, just use the existing English name for the genre, which is Young Adults. This is an English original website after all.
I disagree. When you pick a YA novel in the west, is mostly Romance and Teen drama. When you pick a Light Novel, is more than always either Isekai or psychological.
 

AliceShiki

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I disagree. When you pick a YA novel in the west, is mostly Romance and Teen drama. When you pick a Light Novel, is more than always either Isekai or psychological.
Your opinion hardly matters when faced with the official definition of the term...

What makes a Light Novel "Light", is that it usually has a lighter usage of kanjis, when compared to what you'd expect from a published novel, in order to make it easier to digest for the target audience of teenagers.

By default, a novel written in English can't really be a Light Novel because you're writing in English, which has no kanjis...
 

DarkGodEM

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LNs are published in Volumes
WNs are published in Chapters

WNs are Light Novels in your definition BY definition.
Nobody here writes full fat 500 pages of editorial bullshit like 50 shades of gray


Have a nice day <3
there's a glaring difference between a novel and a light novel, especially in the story structure and dialogues.
One is properly written and and edited, the other is amateurish on average and written like shit most of the times
 

TunTun

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Your opinion hardly matters when faced with the official definition of the term...

What makes a Light Novel "Light", is that it usually has a lighter usage of kanjis, when compared to what you'd expect from a published novel, in order to make it easier to digest for the target audience of teenagers.

By default, a novel written in English can't really be a Light Novel because you're writing in English, which has no kanjis...
YA is dominated by teenager girls. Go ahead and ask men what they read when they were young. Young men don't go and read Young Adult Sci-fi or Young Adult Fantasy. Young men just straight up read Fantasy and Sci-fi.

You and I aren't talking in Kanji? right? Call it cultural appropriation or whatever you want, but Light Novels in the west is a word with a different meaning to what it means in Japan.

And let me tell you, language evolves over time. I don't know where you are getting your "official" definitions, but it is rather pretentious to try to define a trend that barely started in the west like 10 years ago.
 

Ai-chan

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YA is dominated by teenager girls. Go ahead and ask men what they read when they were young. Young men don't go and read Young Adult Sci-fi or Young Adult Fantasy. Young men just straight up read Fantasy and Sci-fi.

You and I aren't talking in Kanji? right? Call it cultural appropriation or whatever you want, but Light Novels in the west is a word with a different meaning to what it means in Japan.

And let me tell you, language evolves over time. I don't know where you are getting your "official" definitions, but it is rather pretentious to try to define a trend that barely started in the west like 10 years ago.
Ai-chan doesn't know why you think YA is dominated by teenage girls. You know Percy Jackson? Harry Potter? Artemis Fowl? Mortal Engines? Hunger Games? Those are all categorized under Young Adults. Those aren't romance.

Heck, Ai-chan can't remember any two popular YA novels focusing on romance or aimed primarily for girls. Sure, Twilight is aimed at girls, but that's just one book in a sea of non-gender specific young adults novels.
 

DarkGodEM

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Ai-chan doesn't know why you think YA is dominated by teenage girls. You know Percy Jackson? Harry Potter? Artemis Fowl? Mortal Engines? Hunger Games? Those are all categorized under Young Adults. Those aren't romance.

Heck, Ai-chan can't remember any two popular YA novels focusing on romance or aimed primarily for girls. Sure, Twilight is aimed at girls, but that's just one book in a sea of non-gender specific young adults novels.
Percy Jackson is 1000% a Romance. Did you read the 5th book?

Harry potter is ALSO a romance. A full fat 8 novels romance.
Hunger Games starts as a romance, it's just trash.
I didn't read either Artemis or Mortal Engines bc I thought they were worse than Hunger Games.
Having read over 200 romances over the last 10 years, and having about 300 in my personal collection I think I know what a romance is...

And let me tell ya, those are as much of a romance as El Zorro, The Legend Begins from Isabel Allende. They are just worse in many aspects. See, El Zorro is a young adult book, written for a different generation that actually read things that made them question themselves and their beliefs, instead of cooked garbage that only serve to fuel mindless fantasies of romantic adventures that don't deserve even a one-shot.

I'm looking at you The fault is on Our stars.
And if we want to talk about dense narratives that are boring and tedious, His Dark Materials from Pullman is also Young Adult, rather, it's first book, Northern Lights was adapted as a teen movie called The Golden Compass, after they stripped it of the implied sexual abuse and rape shit...
 
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Ai-chan

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Percy Jackson is 1000% a Romance. Did you read the 5th book?

Harry potter is ALSO a romance. A full fat 8 novels romance.
Hunger Games starts as a romance, it's just trash.
I didn't read either Artemis or Mortal Engines bc I thought they were worse than Hunger Games.
Just because they had romance doesn't classify them as romance. That's like calling Russia as Mordor just because it has an authoritarian former KGB as its head. One element does not make the story, it is the main element that counts as the defining characteristics.

Percy Jackson is a Fantasy/Adventure Young Adults. It is the story of children of gods trying... Ai-chan doesn't know... settle quests or something. No, Ai-chan doesn't read the 5th book, Ai-chan got bored at the second book. But what happened in the 5th book, if it's truly 1000% romance, would be an anomaly, the novel serial itself would still be Fantasy/Adventure, unless if in the 5th book the author did away all of that, in which case, it's still called an anomaly, not a definition.

Ai-chan doesn't know why you would called Harry Potter a romance. Might Ai-chan suggest that you read Sidney Sheldon, Nicholas Sparks or Lisa Kleypas in order to know what a romance novel actually is? Granted, Sidney Sheldon wasn't a romance author, but he had more romance in one book than Harry Potter had in five.

Yes, Hunger Games started as romance, but the theme is not romance. It is a dystopian fantasy. And whether or not you or Ai-chan think it's trash, does not change its definition. Please leave your personal feelings out of scholarly discussions.

Ai-chan also doesn't read Artemis Fowl and Mortal Engines, but that still doesn't change that they're not for girls.
 
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Bernie1117

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And here I am reading your fiery thread replies and thinking...

"I only suggested." :blob_popcorn: :blob_popcorn::blob_popcorn:

Also, I'd like to ask (seriously), would it be difficult or affect the site significantly if it is implemented? (I'm not that good @ coding, see?)
 
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CadmarLegend

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Just because they had romance doesn't classify them as romance. That's like calling Russia as Mordor just because it has an authoritarian former KGB as its head. One element does not make the story, it is the main element that counts as the defining characteristics.

Percy Jackson is a Fantasy/Adventure Young Adults. It is the story of children of gods trying... Ai-chan doesn't know... settle quests or something. No, Ai-chan doesn't read the 5th book, Ai-chan got bored at the second book. But what happened in the 5th book, if it's truly 1000% romance, would be an anomaly, the novel serial itself would still be Fantasy/Adventure, unless if in the 5th book the author did away all of that, in which case, it's still called an anomaly, not a definition.

Ai-chan doesn't know why you would called Harry Potter a romance. Might Ai-chan suggest that you read Sidney Sheldon, Nicholas Sparks or Lisa Kleypas in order to know what a romance novel actually is? Granted, Sidney Sheldon wasn't a romance author, but he had more romance in one book than Harry Potter had in five.

Yes, Hunger Games started as romance, but the theme is not romance. It is a dystopian action. And whether or not you or Ai-chan think it's trash, does not change its definition. Please leave your personal feelings out of scholarly discussions.

Ai-chan also doesn't read Artemis Fowl and Mortal Engines, but that still doesn't change that they're not for girls.
I'll help you out with Percy Jackson.


Percy Jackson is a YA adventure/fiction.

The story revolves around Percy Jackson, a demi-god, born from a Greek God, Posidon, and a mortal. He was originally not supposed to be born because the Big Three, Zeus, Posidon, Hades, were under an oath that said they would not conceive another child again, cuz their children were too OP. Percy was destined to not be older than 16 because of some circumstances. He has ADHD and dyslexia, which he has because ALL demi-gods are hardwired for battle and whatnot against monsters from old Greek Myths and they need to be able to know about all the possible dangers that may happen. Yes, Greek Myths. The plot of the story is that ALL of the Greek Myths are real. Example: The Olympians, Chiron the centaur, Medusa, etc.. He arrives at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demi-gods, and makes some friends. He then meets Annabeth Chase, the heroine of our story. Now, sure there is romance, but it isn't that big of a deal in this series, and only becomes a big deal in a sequal series, 'The Heroes of Olympus'. He goes on Quests assigend by the Oracle and has to stop Kronos, a Titan, an enemy of the Olympians, from rising again. The Gods couldn't help him because of the restraints put on them by nature. The Quests are the plot-movers for the series, and the main genre is Adventure and Fantasy. If I needed to say, I'd say that romance was basically not a part of the genre until the very end, and even then, only a little bit.
 

Ai-chan

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And here I am reading your fiery thread replies and thinking...

"I only suggested." :blob_popcorn: :blob_popcorn::blob_popcorn:

Also, I'd like to ask (seriously), would it be difficult or affect the site significantly if it is implemented? (I'm not that good @ coding, see?)
It won't be difficult. It as easy as a few clicks and 11 keystrokes. Ai-chan's point was that instead of copying the Japanese classification, why not just use existing English classification, the tag of which also doesn't exist yet.
 

Bernie1117

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It won't be difficult. It as easy as a few clicks and 11 keystrokes. Ai-chan's point was that instead of copying the Japanese classification, why not just use existing English classification, the tag of which also doesn't exist yet.
Well, there's a number of JLN-inspired and styled stories in the main site. I suggested this because several readers would often apply the Japanese definition of LN to a supposedly-'English' site. So my point is, why not put that tag in there to avoid issues?

Besides, SH already did it with 'isekai' tag.
 
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Reisinling

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I think that instead of tag "light novel" we could add something like "pulp fiction" vs "serious fiction", or "light-hearted", maybe also "japanese-style" and "chinese-style"
 

Bernie1117

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I think that instead of tag "light novel" we could add something like "pulp fiction" vs "serious fiction", or "light-hearted", maybe also "japanese-style" and "chinese-style"
That's also plausible. Japanese-style tag works as well, since some readers had to be reminded that the story they're reading is inspired by such.
 

DarkGodEM

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he novel serial itself would still be Fantasy/Adventure
No, Percy Jackson is an Epic Romance, the story of a boy who grows to sacrifice his humanity to protect the earth and loses it all, but the love oh his life, who manages to recover him from death with love and affection. The books are about Percy's and Annabeth's love.

First things first let's correct your gravest mistake
Just because they had romance doesn't classify them as romance.
There is romance and romance.

"A romance is a narrative genre in literature that involves a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest."
A Romance is a tale of a person, from beginning to end, and talks about their Quest or Journey. Most of the times, this is also the development of relationships over the course of their life. This could be Romantic Love, Fraternal Love, or any other kind, including even the love to things and dreams, like in the ROMANCE Don Quijote.
This is what a Romance is as a novel. Romance as in "from Rome", is a 12th century French term

A romantic story on the other hand, that has the GENRE romance , based on the 18th and 19th century definition of Romantic School of Poetry, And Romanticism, the artistic movement, of which books such as Romeo and Juliet inspired, is a different thing.

You want this to be a Scholar Discussion, get your terms right first.
 

Bernie1117

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No, Percy Jackson is an Epic Romance, the story of a boy who grows to sacrifice his humanity to protect the earth and loses it all, but the love oh his life, who manages to recover him from death with love and affection. The books are about Percy's and Annabeth's love.

First things first let's correct your gravest mistake

There is romance and romance.

"A romance is a narrative genre in literature that involves a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest."
A Romance is a tale of a person, from beginning to end, and talks about their Quest or Journey. Most of the times, this is also the development of relationships over the course of their life. This could be Romantic Love, Fraternal Love, or any other kind, including even the love to things and dreams, like in the ROMANCE Don Quijote.
This is what a Romance is as a novel. Romance as in "from Rome", is a 12th century French term

A romantic story on the other hand, that has the GENRE romance , based on the 18th and 19th century definition of Romantic School of Poetry, And Romanticism, the artistic movement, from which books such as Romeo and Juliet sprouted, is a different thing.

You want this to be a Scholar Discussion, get your terms right first.
Kinda like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, yet there's no romance.
 
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