About reincarnation novels

[Roseuwuowo]

What do, in your opinion, reincarnation novels lack? What do you want in them? And what do you find unpleasant about them?

 

[Dezel]

That's kind of vague. Are you thinking of a particular genre?

 

[Owl]

Character consistency. I hate it when talented people reincarnate and suddenly they're like newborn idiots, or the other way around. In most cases there is no explanation why the characters don't act according to their life before reincarnation

 

[Jemini]

Well, this is an interesting question to answer considering I felt reincarnation novels were lacking a LOT of things, and my answer to that was to start writing my own series that had all the things I felt the genre lacked. For the sake of sharing though, I can list those here.

1. The MC making proper use of their previous life knowledge. (Se above comment by Owl.)
2. Someone who was 50+ before reincarnation (and portrayed with the broad knowledge base and slower more cautious way of doing things that would come with this age.)
3. The MC revealing their reincarnated status to their parents. (Basically because the trope of hiding it is just way too tired and old, especially when the typical fears and justifications behind it are shown to be unfounded.)
4. 50% chance of gender change during reincarnation. Realistically, there ought to be 4 possible scenarios. 1. Male before, male in 2nd life. 2. Male before, female in second life. 3. Female before, female in second life. 4. Female before, male in second life. I feel if you have more than 1 reincarnator, your cast of reincarnators should be divided out with approximately 25% fitting into each category. (I literally put my first 4 reincarnated characters into each of those 4.)
5. Gender role influenced by body in the case of gender change with reincarnation. It is generally believed that transgenderism is caused by a chemical issue in the brain. Therefore, the soul should not influence your gender identity. I find it pretty annoying when a gender-swapped character gets so up-tight about their gender change, especially when it manages to last even when they get to age 3 when they have been their new gender since birth. I also don't like them instantly accepting it either though. There ought to be at least some initial discomfort or unease with the gender changed body before realizing it actually feels kinda natural despite memories of being the opposite gender.

 

[Roseuwuowo]

That's kind of vague. Are you thinking of a particular genre?

Nope

Character consistency. I hate it when talented people reincarnate and suddenly they're like newborn idiots, or the other way around. In most cases there is no explanation why the characters don't act according to their life before reincarnation

Pretty reasonable opinion

Well, this is an interesting question to answer considering I felt reincarnation novels were lacking a LOT of things, and my answer to that was to start writing my own series that had all the things I felt the genre lacked. For the sake of sharing though, I can list those here.

1. The MC making proper use of their previous life knowledge. (Se above comment by Owl.)
2. Someone who was 50+ before reincarnation (and portrayed with the broad knowledge base and slower more cautious way of doing things that would come with this age.)
3. The MC revealing their reincarnated status to their parents. (Basically because the trope of hiding it is just way too tired and old, especially when the typical fears and justifications behind it are shown to be unfounded.)
4. 50% chance of gender change during reincarnation. Realistically, there ought to be 4 possible scenarios. 1. Male before, male in 2nd life. 2. Male before, female in second life. 3. Female before, female in second life. 4. Female before, male in second life. I feel if you have more than 1 reincarnator, your cast of reincarnators should be divided out with approximately 25% fitting into each category. (I literally put my first 4 reincarnated characters into each of those 4.)
5. Gender role influenced by body in the case of gender change with reincarnation. It is generally believed that transgenderism is caused by a chemical issue in the brain. Therefore, the soul should not influence your gender identity. I find it pretty annoying when a gender-swapped character gets so up-tight about their gender change, especially when it manages to last even when they get to age 3 when they have been their new gender since birth. I also don't like them instantly accepting it either though. There ought to be at least some initial discomfort or unease with the gender changed body before realizing it actually feels kinda natural despite memories of being the opposite gender.

I agree with most of it, but i don't really like the idea of the parents knowing about it. Its pretty weird in my opinion. But i dont really think they should conceal it forevet either, maybe at a later date, not when theyre like 5.

 

[CL]

What do, in your opinion, reincarnation novels lack? What do you want in them? And what do you find unpleasant about them?

You ever wonder why the powers-that-be go through the trouble to pick these people for a second chance in another world? Why were they chosen? Did they win the galactic lottery or something? If it has to do with them having the ability to correct some issue on another world, rather than getting outside help, wouldn't it be better to fix it from the inside? It feels like these reincarnations are more likely the gods saying, "A kid, still in school, could do a better job dealing with the Demon King (or whatever is the problem)."

 

[Yiphen]

I don't like the ones that lack character growth or the main character is so overpowered that the author is sort of forced to write the story slowly so that they don't instantly end the plot.
Though the primary turn off for me are the ones that go like, "I reincarnated as a [insert random clickbait-ey word]!" If the title says that it's pretty much admitting that the only reason why you should read it is that the main character is a [previously inserted clickbait-ey word]. Some novels with that idea aren't that bad, tbh, but there are also those that fail miserably.

 

[hawlol]

Reincarnations must fufill a story purpose instead of the cheap reader immersion effect:

-Good: MC uses his knowledge in the new world, like scientific(Release the witch) or of the plot (Novel's Extra/Otome Reincarnation Novels).

-Meh: His knowledge is used as base for the powers/cheats he'll have (Every Anime/FanFiction System novel). In this case the MC doesn't really matter and everything is kind of given to him. At most the MC speaks the same pop culture language as the reader but it's otherwise replaceable.

-Bad: MC's reincarnation is forgotten a few chapters in (Ex: Battle Through Heavens, several other xianxias), MC acts like a stupid and naive child although being 20+ years old (Pretty much every japanese reincarnation isekai). MC is totally interchangeable with any other mob in the story because his knowledge of the other world brings abolutely no impact to his current one, whatsoever. (Too many)

 

[TLCsDestiny]

Upon first finding the genre, I read a lot and felt like most of them were alright for the first few chapters. Is it me or is the beginning of a novel always somewhat interesting...
After a while though, it has indeed turned different and my interest has indeed somewhat lowered.
I tend to see a lot of them all about the same type of thing, revenge being number one. After revenge, it was they had to fight off or be fought for with the other half.
I don't mind revenge, but most of the time it was all for stupid reasons, or the same reason...Like 'she was the legitimate daughter and so pretty'...Yeah, that in itself is scary because it was a kid doing the work. I can understand an adult female (like that of being a concubine of the female lead's father) doing it but some had a kid at fifteen doing it and I have a child and would hate to think she was like that at that age...In fact, the children in the books really tend to drive me away from them!
There was one that had a child born out of wedlock and he was only five but knew how to scheme...Everyone loved him and thought he was cute and I was like, this is terrible! One, he shouldn't be this smart, even if he was somewhat a genius (meaning unrealistic to me), two, it's considerably sad to see a genius so young want to waste his time on scheming...I felt like that story had lost all it's appeal due to that poor 'child' who wanting to help his mother.
For others, they might like that kind of thing but for me, I think that is wrong. A child at five years of age shouldn't be scheming, if they are scheming, they are being brought up wrong and so...I ditched the novel.
I guess what I think the reincarnations novel lack, is probably real reasons, instead of a concubine or concubines daughter wanting to get rid of the female lead, to have a more valid reason...Then, the kids. If you're going to have a child in a novel and they are scheming at the age of five, I will not be reading it.

Granted, a while ago I started my own novels, I see now that they could be better. I do have nonsense reasons why the female lead was picked on and honestly think there could be a better reason...Also, I do have a child in one of the reincarnation novels I've made and he is quite untamed, but at least he's not scheming...
Oh well, I guess I can somewhat use those books as my beginnings, as I try to write better.
Of course there might be a few other things but these two things seemed to stand out the most to me. I don't think revenge is too much problem, just the reason behind it. (I believe Anonym in 'Anonym and Switch' has a good enough reason, so I'm not going to ditch the idea of revenge at all. It is a bit cliche though...SIgh.

 

[binarysoap]

Reincarnation novels as a whole don't really lack anything, since it's such a broad topic.

Sure, there are a few gripes I have with a majority of them, but if I look through enough, I can always find one that covers the issue I had with them. The problem isn't really with reincarnation novels, but how people tend to write about them, but that's an issue with writing in general.

 

[Ram5]

The normal human got reincarnated into another world, suddenly fine killing people despite it was his or her first time, just because you watch gore and slash movie, doesn't make you instantly okay with murder.

 

[XianPiete]

I think the thing that is most often overlooked in a reincarnation novel is the separation from everyone and everything the reincarnated left behind. Not only are they suddenly in an entirely new place, time and sometimes life of someone else, but they really, for the most part, seem to have no motivation to try and get home which makes no sense. They just go all murderhobo turning that trash young master into a martial god like an unfeeling beauty conquering machine.

 

[shiopan]

MC being too OP while they were a normal human before, or even worse a NEET. It's fine if it's RPG like and they were good at the game before, but aren't they feeling pain now? real emotion? real exhaustion for no proper housing and stuff? I just hate when they adapted easily and gained members for their harem.

Some of them are really good though. I love it when they actually have a proper reason for reincarnating/transmigrating.

 

[AliceShiki]

3. The MC revealing their reincarnated status to their parents. (Basically because the trope of hiding it is just way too tired and old, especially when the typical fears and justifications behind it are shown to be unfounded.)

Mmmmmm, I feel like this one would depend on the setting? I mean, if someone claimed to be reincarnated, they might be branded as someone possessed by a demon and then burned at a pyre or something.

In some cases it's fine, but I don't think they should always do it.

4. 50% chance of gender change during reincarnation. Realistically, there ought to be 4 possible scenarios. 1. Male before, male in 2nd life. 2. Male before, female in second life. 3. Female before, female in second life. 4. Female before, male in second life. I feel if you have more than 1 reincarnator, your cast of reincarnators should be divided out with approximately 25% fitting into each category. (I literally put my first 4 reincarnated characters into each of those 4.)

Depends on the way the reincarnation happens I think? If the reincarnation happens because a deity wants to give you a new life (with a cheat) because you died too young or something, I think the bare minimum they could do is to reincarnate you with the gender you identify with.

If reincarnation happens randomly though, then your point makes sense~

5. Gender role influenced by body in the case of gender change with reincarnation. It is generally believed that transgenderism is caused by a chemical issue in the brain. Therefore, the soul should not influence your gender identity. I find it pretty annoying when a gender-swapped character gets so up-tight about their gender change, especially when it manages to last even when they get to age 3 when they have been their new gender since birth. I also don't like them instantly accepting it either though. There ought to be at least some initial discomfort or unease with the gender changed body before realizing it actually feels kinda natural despite memories of being the opposite gender.

Mmmmmmmm, I don't think human beings are simple enough to the point you can say: "Your soul, personality, habits and experience don't really matter, because the brain is the only thing that defines rather or not you're comfortable with your body." I think humans are more complex than that~

That said, I also get bothered if the character stays gender bent for a long time and never gets used to it nor becomes seriously troubled about it. Often times the gender change is only a mild discomfort that lasts forever, yet is never something that matters much... I think that's really bad.
The MC should either adapt to it or enter a crisis because of the mismatch of gender identity and biological sex, I think that would make much more interesting storytelling~

Oh, and I totally agree that it's not really interesting when they're instantly fine with the new gender either... I mean, what's the point of gender bender at that point!? >.<
I read gender bender for the drama and the internal conflict! Don't make the gender bender an unimportant part! >.<

 

[Polarize4777]

In my opinion, Reincarnation novel can be wonderful if done right. They have many way you can spin them with different scenarios, but they also come with a risk, your character base setting must be consistent and change slowly. I find that some reincarnation story just skip the slow changes to jump into the action and there was a lack of build up for character development. This may be great for a fun read for some people, but I find it quite boring in certain scenarios. It could just be me enjoying seeing how their world view slowly changes as they age and adapt, but I also find the situation with being good at magic or anything really without struggle in certain setting kind of off putting.

At this point, all i can say is that if you are gonna right a reincarnation story, then please choose your settings carefully and spin it in a way that is unique and fun for us readers to imagine. Also most reincarnation story seem to have the trend of going for revenge or to be number one in whatever it is they were pursuing previously. I prefer the slow adventure of daily life reincarnation story, since it can be a nice slow burn with interesting things to explore that doesn't feel rush, but fully thought and fleshed out for us readers to digest.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Why is it reincarnation novel? Why isn't it "the absolute quality we're getting out of reincarnation novels", cause' aside a dozen gold, it's a bag of shit.

 

[Ral]

Remember Sturgeon's Law: ninety percent of everything is crap.

If you talk about quality of anything, especially when it comes to literature in the internet, remember that adage.

 

[glenn-fletcher]

I feel like, more often than not, there's not much of a purpose for the character to be reincarnated besides using it as an easy way to deliver exposition. It's also usually forgotten later on, and reincarnated characters rarely have much of a trouble adjusting to an entirely new world, which seems a little unrealistic.

 

[Domn]

Well, this is an interesting question to answer considering I felt reincarnation novels were lacking a LOT of things, and my answer to that was to start writing my own series that had all the things I felt the genre lacked. For the sake of sharing though, I can list those here.

1. The MC making proper use of their previous life knowledge. (Se above comment by Owl.)
2. Someone who was 50+ before reincarnation (and portrayed with the broad knowledge base and slower more cautious way of doing things that would come with this age.)
3. The MC revealing their reincarnated status to their parents. (Basically because the trope of hiding it is just way too tired and old, especially when the typical fears and justifications behind it are shown to be unfounded.)
4. 50% chance of gender change during reincarnation. Realistically, there ought to be 4 possible scenarios. 1. Male before, male in 2nd life. 2. Male before, female in second life. 3. Female before, female in second life. 4. Female before, male in second life. I feel if you have more than 1 reincarnator, your cast of reincarnators should be divided out with approximately 25% fitting into each category. (I literally put my first 4 reincarnated characters into each of those 4.)
5. Gender role influenced by body in the case of gender change with reincarnation. It is generally believed that transgenderism is caused by a chemical issue in the brain. Therefore, the soul should not influence your gender identity. I find it pretty annoying when a gender-swapped character gets so up-tight about their gender change, especially when it manages to last even when they get to age 3 when they have been their new gender since birth. I also don't like them instantly accepting it either though. There ought to be at least some initial discomfort or unease with the gender changed body before realizing it actually feels kinda natural despite memories of being the opposite gender.

I'm interested in your novel. Could you please tell me its name

 

[BenJepheneT]

I also don't like them instantly accepting it either though. There ought to be at least some initial discomfort or unease with the gender changed body before realizing it actually feels kinda natural despite memories of being the opposite gender.

I'm no woman, but I don't think after being a man for so long I'll just instantaneously get used to having periods in a fucken fantasy setting where tissues are sandpaper.