What’s the difference between web novel and conventional novel?

BlackKnightX

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I have my take on it, but I still wanna hear your opinion. For me, the most obvious difference seems to be the rule—“show, don’t tell.”

Most web novels—either they’re Japanese, Chinese, or Korean—seem to break this rule a lot.

Conventional novels—if not talking about the quality of prose, story, and plot—seem to have far more concern about the cinematic style, which again comes from the golden rule “show, don’t tell.”

The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.

But—I still prefer the web novel‘s writing style more.

Mostly because it moves faster and tends to leave the details to the reader’s imagination. Some stories are still rich in details even if they’re written in this style—ignoring the rule ”show, don’t tell”.

And because the conventional novels add too much details, the story move at a snail pace. I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!

I can’t really finish it unless I force myself to wade through all this mass of boredom.

So, that’s my opinion. What about you? What do you think is the difference between the two? And how you feel about it?
 

SailusGebel

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Like the regular novel printed on paper, like: The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, Jack Reacher’s series, just to name a few.
Oooh, then the answer is obvious. Web novels are written by amateurs and distributed via the internet. Conventional novels are printed on paper and usually are the work of professionals.
 

BlackKnightX

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Oooh, then the answer is obvious. Web novels are written by amateurs and distributed via the internet. Conventional novels are printed on paper and usually are the work of professionals.
Fair. What about the writing style, though?
 

SailusGebel

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Fair. What about the writing style, though?
I'm not experienced enough to judge it. There are so many novels of both types. To me, web novels and light novels are slightly easier to digest, like b-tier books. However, that's because I never actually tried to read a 'serious' web novel. Also, not so long ago, I reread The Stainless Steel Rat, and it was so easy to read and even more simple than some web novels. And after that, I thought, are web novels really b-tier, or is it my taste that is b-tier? So yeah, it all comes down to your own experience and preferences. And the only difference I see in them is a way of publishing.
 

HappyVainGlory

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I have my take on it, but I still wanna hear your opinion. For me, the most obvious difference seems to be the rule—“show, don’t tell.”

Most web novels—either they’re Japanese, Chinese, or Korean—seem to break this rule a lot.

Conventional novels—if not talking about the quality of prose, story, and plot—seem to have far more concern about the cinematic style, which again comes from the golden rule “show, don’t tell.”

The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.

But—I still prefer the web novel‘s writing style more.

Mostly because it moves faster and tends to leave the details to the reader’s imagination. Some stories are still rich in details even if they’re written in this style—ignoring the rule ”show, don’t tell”.

And because the conventional novels add too much details, the story move at a snail pace. I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!

I can’t really finish it unless I force myself to wade through all this mass of boredom.

So, that’s my opinion. What about you? What do you think is the difference between the two? And how you feel about it?
Well, a big difference is that most web novels are translations. The style you read in English is based on the skill of the translator and doesn't necessarily reflect the original author. Because of the fact that it's a translation, and because of the difference in languages, we get different conventions too.

For example, Japanese tends to be heavy on inferred context and dialogue, not so much on description. As a result, these tend to read either very monologue heavy or a bit stiff unless the translator gets creative with localizing things.

Chinese web novels, particularly wuxia/xianxia I would argue show too much. They use a lot of flowery purple prose to describe things and can drag on for a while like that.

Korean web novels are... a bit practical? Not overly descriptive, but also not super sparse.

At least, those are my thoughts from what I could remember. Haven't actually read too many web novels recently to compare, but I remember that it was a pretty clear difference between the three.

In terms of 'conventional novels' showing more, that might be due to some authors wanting to get movie deals... Or because 'show don't tell' is pretty much dogma in traditional writing courses. As a result, the scale tends to weigh a bit more towards showing everything rather than leaving bits to the reader's imagination.

Though one thing to keep in mind too is that web novels tend to have a lot of implied knowledge behind them that the reader is expected to know. Magic, fantasy races, rustic town settings, etc. They're meant for a particular reader base with pre-existing knowledge usually.

On the other hand, conventional novels are meant to be stand alone. They build everything from scratch and by necessity need to show more. They don't get the easy pass of having a foundation and tons of tropes to build on. Usually.

tl;dr - Web novels are mostly translations. As a result, it gets skewed to 'telling' since things are limited by the language itself and the ability of the translator.

Conventional novels show more because authors might want movie deals. Also because authors have to work much harder to build up their own setting from scratch.
 

Farok

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I have my take on it, but I still wanna hear your opinion. For me, the most obvious difference seems to be the rule—“show, don’t tell.”

Most web novels—either they’re Japanese, Chinese, or Korean—seem to break this rule a lot.

Conventional novels—if not talking about the quality of prose, story, and plot—seem to have far more concern about the cinematic style, which again comes from the golden rule “show, don’t tell.”

The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.

But—I still prefer the web novel‘s writing style more.

Mostly because it moves faster and tends to leave the details to the reader’s imagination. Some stories are still rich in details even if they’re written in this style—ignoring the rule ”show, don’t tell”.

And because the conventional novels add too much details, the story move at a snail pace. I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!

I can’t really finish it unless I force myself to wade through all this mass of boredom.

So, that’s my opinion. What about you? What do you think is the difference between the two? And how you feel about it?
I find most web novels to be lacking in terms of quality. Their prose is often amateurish, their plot simple, and their characters forgettable. That's not to say I never enjoyed one, however. Its quite the contrary, and I would even compare them to fast-food most of the time: quick to read, easy to enjoy, but not good per se.

One of the major problems I have with web novels is their content. In a word, it's empty. How chapters have you read where nothing truly happens? Like filler chapters, destined to be forgetten the moment you finish them. On ScribbleHub I've stopped counting.

At the same time, I wouldn't say that every conventional novel is a masterpiece, but I think they often show a better understanding of their work, but that's to be expected.

"I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!"

In my opinion, some stories are great precisely because their overflow with details. They show the love the writer put into his work, they create memorable scenes and characters, they make the stories more complete. Without them a wolf is nothing but wolf; It's neither a ravenous beast nor a drooling mess with fur and an insatiable maw.

To finish, and of course it's my opinion, but I would truly suggest reading into why words have such impact on our minds. Why some stories are so loved, and why something made you cry. By doing so you will learn the inner workings of stories and why details, "Show, don't Tell", and many other things are so important.
 

vaurwyn

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I think the biggest difference is pacing. Web-novels need to have something new every chapter, to engage and satisfy their audience every time they post. It is much quicker, and therefore often more shallow.
Conventional novels can afford to take the time, to truly immerse the reader in their universe, without having to rush to the action/drama scene. Since they are written and heavily edited before publication, they also much more cohesive. An overwhelming majority of web-novels have very week overarching plots. Often, we just follow the growth of a character, who has no goal except "getting stronger to protect his family/avenge himself/just because he loves power".
We don't have a well though out story line where each piece of the puzzle eventually fits together to make a satisfying ending, we have a succession of obstacles that the MC will have to surpass one by one. This makes the ending much less satisfying, but each chapter will be extremely entertaining.
Of course, this is just a generalization. There are web-novels with very well though out plots, and there are plenty of published novels that are a complete mess.

However, I do not think this pacing difference has anything to do with the "show don't tell" rule. Thats bad parctice in any peice of writing, includiing web novels. It also does not necessarily add any words, nor should it slow a story down. That is more a result of the writing style.
Many conventional novels aimed for adults are written in a much more formal style, while web-novel are very simple and easy to read. Honestly, I think at least 95% percent of the novels on this site could be read by 8-years old. (not talking about how mature the content is, just of how simple the sentences are.)

As for why the "show don't tell" rules are lacking in web-novels, it is because they are of an overall lesser quality.
Published novels go through a lot of scrutiny and rewrites, to make sure they are of the best quality possible. That does not stop a lot of them from being horrible books, but the standard is slightly higher, and most likely the writer has at least learned the basic storytelling rules. On the web, any amateur can post, and that is great, but it also means that most of us do not know what we are doing.
This is reflected in the readers preferences. I read online if I want a quick entretaining read, and I read published novels if I want more substantial storyes with deeper themes, that canmake me think deeper than "Oh that is cool".
 

lnv

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I have my take on it, but I still wanna hear your opinion. For me, the most obvious difference seems to be the rule—“show, don’t tell.”

Most web novels—either they’re Japanese, Chinese, or Korean—seem to break this rule a lot.

Conventional novels—if not talking about the quality of prose, story, and plot—seem to have far more concern about the cinematic style, which again comes from the golden rule “show, don’t tell.”

The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.

But—I still prefer the web novel‘s writing style more.

Mostly because it moves faster and tends to leave the details to the reader’s imagination. Some stories are still rich in details even if they’re written in this style—ignoring the rule ”show, don’t tell”.

And because the conventional novels add too much details, the story move at a snail pace. I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!

I can’t really finish it unless I force myself to wade through all this mass of boredom.

So, that’s my opinion. What about you? What do you think is the difference between the two? And how you feel about it?

Web Novels are novels posted on the internet, they generally have no editing and often times the author just writes thing as they come to their mind as they go along with little thought of the plot

Light Novels are often times also called Teen novel. They have editing, but the editing is mostly focused on reader entertainment. So the editor may change not just grammar and spelling, but also the direction of the story.

Conventional Novel are mostly written to progress literature. The author is a professional author who generally it is their job to write, it has professional editors as well.

Of course that is the general rule, and there is nothing stopping for there to be outcasts.

Also, I will note one thing. There is no such thing as "show, don't tell". To put it simply, most rules that you hear in literature are for amateur writers so they don't make common mistakes. Kind of like basic swordsmanship, every swordsmanship has their own style. But regardless the style, you first have to drill the basics into yourself. Only after learning the basics do you move to individual styles. The same applies to writing, once you reach a point where you are well versed in writing, all those rules go out the window.

The reason why most conventional novels go into so much detail is because they are aimed at progression of literature so authors try to show off their writing skills. But generally speaking, english dictates concise sentences. Overall though, your preference aligns more with teen novels which aim simply at entertainment.

Personally, I don't care as much if a novel has long descriptions or short. As long as I am getting a full book. If I am reading a web novel that is divided by chapters. Then like you I hate long descriptions cause it feels like wasting time and then you gotta wait again for next chapter. In conventional novel format, as long as I get a full book and get closure. I don't care if there are long descriptions or not.
 

BlackKnightX

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I find most web novels to be lacking in terms of quality. Their prose is often amateurish, their plot simple, and their characters forgettable. That's not to say I never enjoyed one, however. Its quite the contrary, and I would even compare them to fast-food most of the time: quick to read, easy to enjoy, but not good per se.

One of the major problems I have with web novels is their content. In a word, it's empty. How chapters have you read where nothing truly happens? Like filler chapters, destined to be forgetten the moment you finish them. On ScribbleHub I've stopped counting.
I agree with you on the amateurish prose, but to say it’s empty is wrong. Well, at least for me.

From what I’ve read so far, I still think the rather well-written web novels still have a lot of depth. I still find myself wanting to become friend with some characters in some stories. That can never happen if the story is empty.

But, maybe this is just me. When I read, I usually visualize the scene vividly in my mind. I can see it right down to the tiniest details. It’s like I’m watching a movie or an anime in my head. No, even better. It’s like I’ve really been there. Completely absorbed into the story.

The characters—no matter how unrealistic they seem—are so alive to me.

(this may be because I’m used to the character in anime. But that can be debated. I’ve watched a lot of movies with realistic characters as well, and still feel like the characters in anime are really alive.)

But once again, there are plethora of web novels out there, so maybe what you’ve read thus far are just like what you’ve described—empty. And there’s also a matter of taste. Everyone has different taste, you can’t expect them to like the same thing.

In my opinion, some stories are great precisely because their overflow with details. They show the love the writer put into his work, they create memorable scenes and characters, they make the stories more complete. Without them a wolf is nothing but wolf; It's neither a ravenous beast nor a drooling mess with fur and an insatiable maw.

To finish, and of course it's my opinion, but I would truly suggest reading into why words have such impact on our minds. Why some stories are so loved, and why something made you cry. By doing so you will learn the inner workings of stories and why details, "Show, don't Tell", and many other things are so important.
I disagree with you on this. Saying something is great is fine, but that’s just personal taste.

You said, “Some stories are great precisely because their overflow with details,” and that may be true—for you—but like I said, that’s just a personal taste.

I‘m okay with a lot of details if it’s truly matter to the story, and that‘s the author’s job to do so—to make readers care about the details given. But when I read it, I find myself not giving a crab about the details at all. I just want the story to move on quickly.

And there are also different types of detail. I’m okay with details in the backstory and exposition, but when the writers get fancy describing scene, it gets irritating.

Like when the character just wake up in the morning and go on about his daily routine, if abide by the rule “show, don’t tell“, the writer will write about how he opens his eyes, how he feels on the sheet, how the light shines on the curtain reminds him of something in the past, how he slowly reaches his hand to turn off the alarm clock, how he slowly sits up and moves the blanket away, how he slowly gets off bed, how his feet touch the cold floor, how he stretch himself, and on and on….

See what I mean? Not all conventional novels are like this, of course, but from what I’ve read so far, they seem to go along this way.

But in web novel—let’s say a Chinese web novel in a modern day setting—the writer will just simply say, “The next day, Ling woke up early. He got out of bed and took a quick shower. After getting dressed, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It’s 10.34 PM...”

See what I mean? The everyday morning routine is boring if you get into too much details. I don’t really care about it. But when you tell instead of show—like in the second example—I suddenly feel good about it. I don’t wanna skim it because it gets right to the point.

And more than that, it also gives off a more storytelling kind of vibe, if you know what I mean.
However, I do not think this pacing difference has anything to do with the "show don't tell" rule. Thats bad parctice in any peice of writing, includiing web novels. It also does not necessarily add any words, nor should it slow a story down. That is more a result of the writing style.
The “show, don’t tell” rule is part of the writing style, though. Some writers like to show more than tell, while others like to do otherwise.

But to get into it, let’s make sure we’re on the same pace about ”show, don’t tell”.

From my understanding; showing is when you add different pieces of detail and let the readers figure out the context on their own.

This can be fun the first time around—especially in mystery genre—but if do too much it can be confusing and overwhelming. Most readers—in my understanding—don’t wanna scratch their head figuring out the deep meaning of the prose everyday.

There is this famous example about “show, don’t tell”. It says, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Oh, for Christ’s sake, ain’t that sounds romantic.

Why can’t you just say, “It was a quiet night. The moon shone bright in the starry sky.”?

Don’t know about you, but I think that sounds a lot better. It gets right to the point also manage to paint an image in the reader‘s mind.

Don’t get me wrong, you can still show just like in the first example, but think about doing it over and over throughout the novel. It’s gonna be too painful to read, don’t you think?

Telling is not bad at all. It’s just the matter of how and when you use it.

The rule ”show, don’t tell” is BS, in my opinion. If you wanna abide by an advice, then it should be more like, “show, and tell”, instead.

I really hate this piece of writing advice because it almost ruined me a lot of times already. I wanted to write a quality story, so I just followed this rule.

And what did I get? A tangle mess of a beautiful prose. The prose looked beautiful to say the least—not flowery, but still beautiful and rich in details.

But then—it feels empty. It isn’t my voice no matter how I look at it. It’s not how I TELL a story. (There’s even a meme on Youtube about what it‘d be like if you tell a story to your friend as if it is a YA Novel. Go check it out.)

Point is, when following “show, don’t tell” rule, it leaves me with a prose that doesn’t sound like me at all. It sounds pretentious.

So I just said, “Fuck it,” and decided to break the rule forever. I now have this reminder in my notepad: TELL, DON’T SHOW.

Neat, huh? 😏

I follow this rule and feel better about it. My writing flows smoothly like a river. It also gives my story a more storytelling kind of vibe.

Of course, I don’t just tell all the time. There are some moments that I want to show more details. And I can feel it instinctively about which part I should show, and which part I should tell after following this rule I created myself.

With that experience, you can say that I distrust this golden rule, “show, don’t tell” I really hate it with passion.

And most conventional novels I’ve read so far seem to show more than tell—to the point of it’s being too much.

I remember reading a novel about an assassin, and you know what? The writer takes more than one pages to describe how the assassin walks. More than one pages!

And boy was it redundant. It goes on and on about how he walks, how the weather feels, how he prepares himself mentally (this one’s fine, actually, as it’s related to the story), and then back to describe every bits and details of the surrounding.

Honestly, it was a torturous read.
 
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Farok

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I agree with you on the amateurish prose, but to say it’s empty is wrong. Well, at least for me.

From what I’ve read so far, I still think the rather well-written web novels still have a lot of depth. I still find myself wanting to become friend with some characters in some stories. That can never happen if the story is empty.

But, maybe this is just me. When I read, I usually visualize the scene vividly in my mind. I can see it right down to the tiniest details. It’s like I’m watching a movie or an anime in my head. No, even better. It’s like I’ve really been there. Completely absorbed into the story.

The characters—no matter how unrealistic they seem—are so alive to me.

(this may be because I’m used to the character in anime. But that can be debated. I’ve watched a lot of movies with realistic characters as well, and still feel like the characters in anime are really alive.)

But once again, there are plethora of web novels out there, so maybe what you’ve read thus far are just like what you’ve described—empty. And there’s also a matter of taste. Everyone has different taste, you can’t expect them to like the same thing.
Empty in the sense that if you take a step back, you see that nothing happened, like beach episodes in anime. Neither the characters nor the story progressed or developped in anyway; not empty in the literal sense. And you wanting to be friend with characters doesn't mean a story is good, or that the characters are well-written.

Of course well-written web novels have depth, just like well-written conventional novels do not over-describe things.

And if you have an active imagination, good for you, but whether or not what you vizualized was what the author intended is another matter. By putting details into the story, or even by simply describing things extensively, the author makes sure that the reader gets an image that suits their original vision.

In many web novels things are described plainly, leaving many things to the reader's discretion. This can be great if they have an imagination just like yours, but also devastating if they don't, for they won't be able to enjoy the story as much, because the author didn't gave them the necessary tools.

"Everyone has different taste, you can’t expect them to like the same thing."

Of course, but I think some things can be called intresically good or bad, or at least, less or more preferable.

- - -

I disagree with you on this. Saying something is great is fine, but that’s just personal taste.

You said, “Some stories are great precisely because their overflow with details,” and that may be true—for you—but like I said, that’s just a personal taste.

I‘m okay with a lot of details if it’s truly matter to the story, and that‘s the author’s job to do so—to make readers care about the details given. But when I read it, I find myself not giving a crab about the details at all. I just want the story to move on quickly.

And there are also different types of detail. I’m okay with details in the backstory and exposition, but when the writers get fancy describing scene, it gets irritating.

Like when the character just wake up in the morning and go on about his daily routine, if abide by the rule “show, don’t tell“, the writer will write about how he opens his eyes, how he feels on the sheet, how the light shines on the curtain reminds him of something in the past, how he slowly reaches his hand to turn off the alarm clock, how he slowly sits up and moves the blanket away, how he slowly gets off bed, how his feet touch the cold floor, how he stretch himself, and on and on….

See what I mean? Not all conventional novels are like this, of course, but from what I’ve read so far, they seem to go along this way.

But in web novel—let’s say a Chinese web novel in a modern day setting—the writer will just simply say, “The next day, Ling woke up early. He got out of bed and took a quick shower. After getting dressed, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It’s 10.34 PM...”

See what I mean? The everyday morning routine is boring if you get into too much details. I don’t really care about it. But when you tell instead of show—like in the second example—I suddenly feel good about it. I don’t wanna skim it because it gets right to the point.

And more than that, it also gives off a more storytelling kind of vibe, if you know what I mean.

Yes, and that's why I wrote in my opinion. However details make things feel alive, something that you seem to know about, right? You like certains characters and wants to be friend with them precisely because the author detailed their behavior or expressions, right? It could also be that you have a low standards regarding character quality, but that would be another matter entirely.

"But when I read it, I find myself not giving a crab about the details at all. I just want the story to move on quickly."

Then that's the fault of the author and your personal taste, not of the details in themselves. Perhaps you prefer action-packed, fast-paced story.

"[...] Like when the character just wake up in the morning and go on about his daily routine [...]" Now you're talking about something else entirely. What you're describing is "Overdescribing", those are neither details nor a good application of "Show, don't Tell". It shouldn't be viewed as a rule nor be followed all the time, but rather used in emotional situations as a useful tips.

"But in web novel—let’s say a Chinese web novel in a modern day setting—the writer will just simply say, “The next day, Ling woke up early. He got out of bed and took a quick shower. After getting dressed, he glanced at the clock on the wall. It’s 10.34 PM...”

See what I mean? The everyday morning routine is boring if you get into too much details. I don’t really care about it. But when you tell instead of show—like in the second example—I suddenly feel good about it. I don’t wanna skim it because it gets right to the point."


Well, of course they would say that, because describing a morning routine is usually boring, expect if the character does something unusual. There is not point in describing it, however, I could argue that the author missed a chance to introduce us to the character. Perhaps by showing that have trouble awakening, or that they drink too much coffee, or I don't know. Once again, details where it counts.

They could have characterized their protagonist, but they skipped it. If that's the way you prefer stories then I'm happy for you, but that doesn't prove anything against details or "Show, don't Tell".
 
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CupcakeNinja

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I have my take on it, but I still wanna hear your opinion. For me, the most obvious difference seems to be the rule—“show, don’t tell.”

Most web novels—either they’re Japanese, Chinese, or Korean—seem to break this rule a lot.

Conventional novels—if not talking about the quality of prose, story, and plot—seem to have far more concern about the cinematic style, which again comes from the golden rule “show, don’t tell.”

The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.

But—I still prefer the web novel‘s writing style more.

Mostly because it moves faster and tends to leave the details to the reader’s imagination. Some stories are still rich in details even if they’re written in this style—ignoring the rule ”show, don’t tell”.

And because the conventional novels add too much details, the story move at a snail pace. I find it really irritating to read through all those tiniest details, like who cares about this! Just get to the fucking point and move on already!

I can’t really finish it unless I force myself to wade through all this mass of boredom.

So, that’s my opinion. What about you? What do you think is the difference between the two? And how you feel about it?
show dont tell is just pretentious nonsense writers spout when they wanna sound smart. The real difference between web novels and conentional novels is basically like what you've already said, its the style of writing. I've said it many times, but a lot of webnovels, at least when they come from japanese writers, are often very dialogue heavy but a bit more bare when it comes to descriptive language.

The show dont tell thing doesnt really apply to jap works because they are two entirely different style of writing. CAN you make it better by being more descriptive? Sure, but holding them to the rule is just dumb.

Being more descriptive may have more mass appeal. Maybe it is seen as a sign of being a good writer. But there's many very famous webnovels that have gotten along just fine without having to do that. Adding details is fine, but its not absolutely needed for the story to be good.

Go too heavy into either style, and of course its shitty. I dont need five paragraphs just to describe how beautiful this peerless jade beauty with silky skin looks like she just descended from the heavenly plane like a fairy and blah blah blah.

I also dont like when there's, like, no detail whatsoever. Can i at least be told what these people's hair colors are? Is no one going to explain how the hell you got from point A to B? Is there missing content here, or what? What is this, EA? The fuck is happening? TELL ME!
 

Southdog

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I think most folks miss the point of comparing conventional novels to webnovels, because "webnovel" is a misnomer.

"Internet serialized fiction" is more accurate, since webnovels have a lot more in common with pulp fiction than they do published works. As a comparison, both forms rely on preconceived notions for how things work (isekai, the pulp hero), who the villain is (demon lords, communists/nazis/stereotypical foreigners), the conventions of how things go down (more emphasis on drama and tension than sitting down and expositing), and such.

Now, personally, a major weakness with a lot of webnovels is twofold. They rely on convention, and the way they're written makes it hard to build tension. I would bet if you took 100 novels and filtered them down, a solid half would be isekai, another half gamelit, and then another half isekai gamelit (the venn diagram crossover). Not to say there's anything wrong with that, but it's a product of Scribblehub having little content moderation and that being the "thing to write about," so to speak. The other part is that short chapters and regular updates (and a lopsided writer-editor ratio) means that unless an author keeps meticulous track of details... well, then the fall back is on character drama. I would bet you could pull any random chapter from the top ongoing novels and find it's a LOT of back and forth dialogue with less time spent on world/narrative.

Conventional novels is a very wide umbrella, but it helps to think of it like this. You have a budget of 100k words. The more over budget you go, the less likely it is to survive as one holistic piece of fiction. There are exceptionally long conventional novels and conventional novel series. My two examples are Lord of the Rings and the Dresden Files. The former is 600k words, the latter is hitting 2 million soon. The MAJOR difference? Lord of the Rings was published in multiple parts and given clearer resolutions with each part, and the Dresden Files are (in spirit) pulp novels with more budget and cohesion, but still individually digestible parts of a greater whole.

Most webnovels on this site attempt to be both long-running and holistic, which in the history of the world is only something religious scripture has managed to succeed with.

TL;DR: It's wrong to compare webnovels to conventional novels, because they have more in common with old pulp stories than polished, edited works. They're two formats of narrative, and should be treated subjectively.

PERSONALLY? I try and write in a conventional novel style. I set a limit for how many words I will write (with the benefit of Scribblehub, I usually set it to 150k, which is "long" for a conventional novel) then try and stay close to that limit. I attempted "regular updates" on Redneck Isekai and ended up getting burnt out. So my plan is to finish up my stories then publish them piecemeal before working on my next one. Being able to say, "do I need to write this out, or will my readers just skip over it to get to the more interesting part of my novel?" If I say yes on that, I cut it out. If prose or dialogue does not advance a character, plot or worldbuilding element, then it should not be included.

See what I mean? Not all conventional novels are like this, of course, but from what I’ve read so far, they seem to go along this way.
You have a problem with prose dedicated to tangential elements of a narrative. That isn't a "show, don't tell" problem, that's just a problem with poorly-paced writing. Both examples you use are poor writing, because they don't show OR tell the reader anything related to your narrative. It's a description of an ordinary thing, and people do not read fiction in order to see ordinary things. It's the opposite, in fact.
 

Renaxan

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Since I somewhat tried write on both style now (wn style-ish on my fanfic and conventional-ish on my own series), I will say I prefer either style based on what the main genre of the series to begin with.

Like, if I was reading isekai fantasy full pack of action, I will sure prefered WN format. The same reason as you did, I also hate a scene filled with unnecessary detail. We want to know what happen quickly in those kind of novel, not get bored to dead because author somehow manage to fully detail how protagonist manage to hit enemy and what his enemy feels getting hit by protagonist. I would be get annoyed to death since it would take forever for the story to be completed, lol.

However, when it comes to sliceoflife non-fantasy setting, or story theme where the detail bound to be interesting if its fully detailed, I think conventional much better in this regard. In this kind of novel, we just want know what is character feeling and thought so we can fully relatable ourself with them. Superior example is oregairu novel, a lot people like that novel (I do too) because how fully detail it went, how the protagonist unique thought process manage to interest reader and how his change also manage to change people arround him in full detail. For me, it was incredible reading experience.
 

BlackKnightX

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Web Novels are novels posted on the internet, they generally have no editing and often times the author just writes thing as they come to their mind as they go along with little thought of the plot

Light Novels are often times also called Teen novel. They have editing, but the editing is mostly focused on reader entertainment. So the editor may change not just grammar and spelling, but also the direction of the story.

Conventional Novel are mostly written to progress literature. The author is a professional author who generally it is their job to write, it has professional editors as well.

Of course that is the general rule, and there is nothing stopping for there to be outcasts.

Also, I will note one thing. There is no such thing as "show, don't tell". To put it simply, most rules that you hear in literature are for amateur writers so they don't make common mistakes. Kind of like basic swordsmanship, every swordsmanship has their own style. But regardless the style, you first have to drill the basics into yourself. Only after learning the basics do you move to individual styles. The same applies to writing, once you reach a point where you are well versed in writing, all those rules go out the window.

The reason why most conventional novels go into so much detail is because they are aimed at progression of literature so authors try to show off their writing skills. But generally speaking, english dictates concise sentences. Overall though, your preference aligns more with teen novels which aim simply at entertainment.

Personally, I don't care as much if a novel has long descriptions or short. As long as I am getting a full book. If I am reading a web novel that is divided by chapters. Then like you I hate long descriptions cause it feels like wasting time and then you gotta wait again for next chapter. In conventional novel format, as long as I get a full book and get closure. I don't care if there are long descriptions or not.
You capture the points perfectly. I completely agree with your view on “show, don’t tell” thing.

I know it’s for amateur writers, but it’s just simply a wrong kind of advice. Saying “show, DON’T tell” will just make for an excessive mess of details and descriptions.

You don’t need to show all the time. That’s the job of a movie, not storytelling.

You need to both show and tell in a story. It should be more like, “Just focus on TELLING a story. Do it with your own voice. DRAMATIZE it when you feel like it’s an important moment in the story.”

There, I think that’s better, or at least for me.
They could have characterized their protagonist, but they skipped it. If that's the way you prefer stories then I'm happy for you, but that doesn't prove anything against details or "Show, don't Tell".
I think the problem is the term “show, DON’T tell” itself. It’s just a bad advice, in my opinion.

I know its purpose is to dramatize a story and get an emotional response from the readers, but to say show and DON’T tell is just wrong.

It will just lead amateur writers to over-describing things and show every bits and details of the scene like you’re watching a movie.

And more than that, “show, don’t tell” seems to indicates the writers to be redundant, to give informations in tiny pieces without making it clear what’s going on. It just doesn’t get right to the point.

Actually, that can be fun a few times around—especially in mystery genre—but it will get tiring soon enough.

Most reader—from what I understand—don’t want to scratch their heads figuring out the deep meaning of prose everyday.

There is this famous example about “show, don’t tell”. It says, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

But, why can’t you just say, “It was a quiet night. The moon shone bright in the starry sky”?

Don’t know about you, but I think that sounds a lot better. It gets right to the point and also manage to paint an image in the reader‘s mind.

I hate the term “show, don’t tell” with passion. It should be “show, AND tell”, instead.

You can’t show anything in the story and you don’t want to. It’s just gonna be overwhelming and tedious, if not confusing if done wrong.

And it also leads amateur writers to convey informations in a strange and pretentious way. It doesn’t sound like how you tell a story.
 
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Kilolo

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it's about editor and publishing departments.

I mean, ultimately. publishing departments are trying to makes money, they're not running a charity or doing stuff by being an idealist.
so most (if not all of them) are directing the author to wrote it the way that would appeal to the mass.

have you ever read any works that start from webnovel then eventually got published as LN or even got anime adaptation?
i read some of them, and most of the time : they're always change or add some stuff that would make it appeal to a bigger scope of audience.
and most of the time they're trying to "fix" the writing style so it would be more acceptable to the mass public.

publishing company, at the end of the day are trying to makes money. so ofc they would do things that they think would makes their books more appealing and makes people wanted to buy it from the bookstore for themselves.


webnovel doesn't have those, so most of the time webnovel author have the leisure to be idealist and just wrote the story in whichever fashion they like.

which is why sometimes, just sometimes. there's some webnovels i read that actually become worse when it actually published as a light novel.
i've read some of it and felt get horribly disappointed of course.
 

BlackKnightX

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show dont tell is just pretentious nonsense writers spout when they wanna sound smart. The real difference between web novels and conentional novels is basically like what you've already said, its the style of writing. I've said it many times, but a lot of webnovels, at least when they come from japanese writers, are often very dialogue heavy but a bit more bare when it comes to descriptive language.

The show dont tell thing doesnt really apply to jap works because they are two entirely different style of writing. CAN you make it better by being more descriptive? Sure, but holding them to the rule is just dumb.

Being more descriptive may have more mass appeal. Maybe it is seen as a sign of being a good writer. But there's many very famous webnovels that have gotten along just fine without having to do that. Adding details is fine, but its not absolutely needed for the story to be good.

Go too heavy into either style, and of course its shitty. I dont need five paragraphs just to describe how beautiful this peerless jade beauty with silky skin looks like she just descended from the heavenly plane like a fairy and blah blah blah.

I also dont like when there's, like, no detail whatsoever. Can i at least be told what these people's hair colors are? Is no one going to explain how the hell you got from point A to B? Is there missing content here, or what? What is this, EA? The fuck is happening? TELL ME!
Damn, you and I will get along well. 😂
 

vaurwyn

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I feel like most of you are profoundly misunderstanding the "show don't tell" rule.
It has nothing to do with the amount of detail you give. It is about how you give those details.

For example, if I want to show my readers the old lady next door is kind, I can add a line telling them "My neighbor is an old lady. I like her, she is very kind." The reader gets all of the information, but it has absolutely no emotional impact.
Showing would to add a scene where the readers actually sees the old lady being kind. For example :

[It must have looked pretty bad, because the old lady next door came to see me.
"Are you okay? I heard you screaming, is there anything I can do to help?"]

You see? I did not add any detail, I just integrated the information in the story. The reader should be thinking to himself "oh that lady is considerate, she actually went to see what was happening when she heard worrying noises from her neighbors", without me having written that explicitly. They form a much deeper attachment then in the first example, but it does not have to take more words to write.
Instead of halting the plot to blandly exposit some information, it is conveyed through subtext occurring at the same time as the plot, as a natural conclusion to the actions of the characters.

As for the amount of detail and descriptions, it has nothing to do with the this rule. I can take ages just telling you she is kind.
"The neighbor is very kind. She greets me each time I pass next to her house, and is always agreeable when I warn her I am gong to have a noisy party that will end late at night. She always wears a kind smile, with an impassive temperament, as if nothing in the world could worry her. Each time he saw her, he would feel like the no matter what happened, no matter what horrors the world threw at her, that smile would never waver, and her heart would always remain an untouched paradise."
This is an example of Telling you a lot of detail. I assure you I can write a whole chapter telling you she is kind, but it will always be less effective than a few well-placed scenes of her actually being king. At this point, it is only a difference in writing style.

It is true that by telling, you can go very fast. In my book, A lonely exploration of Tao, I could have told you my MC spent decades trapped alone in an abyss, and that he had suffered severe depression. That took one sentence, but did it cause any emotional reactions? Instead, I chose to show you how his mental state collapse because of his prolonged loneliness. that took me 20 chapters, but that does not mean all of the details were superfluous. It is those scenes where you see the characters actions, reactions and thought process that makes you care about them, not the paragraphs where you tell your audience that your MC is actually crippled with grief, despite acting in the exact same way as before.
 
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The writer will narrate story as if they are a camera. They will give readers more details in every single moment. This, of course, make the story richer.
then you haven't read enough hardcover. not every book is description heavy. some definitely are, but I don't feel an ounce of guilt when I skip the unnecessary prose. webnovels, however, are easier to digest: less descriptions, faster paced, simpler style, less intricate characters, more predictable, etc.. I binge a bunch when I'm too tired to think, and considering most are average/below average in quality - I get pleasantly surprised quite a lot.
 
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