What makes a webnovel different from a light Novel?

[Yati]

The biggest difference is the medium. The web and on paper. There is also a difference in how it is released.
Webnovels in general are published one chapter at the time, and light novels are mostly released as a completed work in one go.

Authors will adapt their content to make the most use of the medium in question.
ex. Webnovels will often have cliffhangers at the end of a chapter to entice readers to check out the next release. While light novels only have to worry about that by the end of a volume.

 

[Tsuru]

The biggest difference is the medium. The web and on paper. There is also a difference in how it is released.
Webnovels in general are published one chapter at the time, and light novels are mostly released as a completed work in one go.

Authors will adapt their content to make the most use of the medium in question.
ex. Webnovels will often have cliffhangers at the end of a chapter to entice readers to check out the next release. While light novels only have to worry about that by the end of a volume.

I add :

When a WN get a publication of LN by a company, the author often will adapt or correct details of the origin WN

For example, there was japanese WN in novelupdates, where there is the cliche "female childhood friend joined hero party and fell for him, discarding MC" at beginning, basically slight-NTR (even though i adding the tag in NU i guess mod or another user kept deleting it).
It got LN adaptation and manga adaptation.
But interestingly, as NTR was not so popular at that time before the "NTR boom (doujins)", author modified the story so the childhood friend saint Aria in fact didnt fall for the hero, it was just the hero trying to kiss at celebration and MC seen it and ran away. Without knowing that Aria punched the hero right after because she still liked MC.
Also author beside adding her in the end harem and not being cheating/NTR, another waifu was added compared WN
but nonetheless, the damage is done because WN clearly written Aria going with the stupid hero. It is canon for the mind. Once, a good webchinesenovel had a good story but wrote a wtf-dark ending, the author erased it and wrote a better one. But for readers it can't change the fact they seen what the true ending was for the author.

SAO began as a LN

so you can see author tried hard to catch the readers attention with first volume
Time skip right after the beginning -> MC op
and vol1 finish the arc of the VRMMO at once
Now that the author is rich and other companies milking the IP with games-etc, he can calmly write the part of the story during the time skip

Just like the fact original animes are rarer, today its better to do a WN first compared to LN
= low entry (you can go any webnovel website and write anything) + failure is not a problem


Nowadays kids also prefer on internet compared to having a cumbersome book. Easier to access too. Can read on smartphone anywhere. Problem of stockage (readers of OnePiece probably can understand the most xD).

Isekai Ojisan manga, in one recent chap, had the young guy have discussion about E-book x LN.

 

[AliceShiki]

Not...really. I mean, the popular market for Light novels these days is primarily out of Japan, but that's not how it is by the definition of the term "Light novel."

What the term literally means in the literary world is a book that is between 50K and 70K words long (as opposed to a novella which has less than 40K words, or a full length novel with 80K+ words. Yes, there are 10K word gaps between the definitions where it could be called either way). Most western publishers prefer to release full novels. The main reason Japan has found a niche for light novels is due to the long-form story format in Japan, which has been adapted into light novel serial stories. As in, a story that continues from one novel to another (provided they can create some kind of 1 LN long arc contained within the greater story) instead of being fully self-contained in a single book, or becoming a trilogy at max.

This Japanese trend of long-form story-telling was first pioneered for the Mana format, which primed the market for this style of story-telling. This is also the reason why the Japanese were extra receptive to the webnovel format when it became a thing, and then these webnovel authors later got the chance to adapt their stories into light-novel serials.

(It's also worth noting that the light-novel serial format of publishing has grown popular enough in Japan that sometimes they now like to stretch the use of the term "light-novel" a little bit beyond it's official definition. In this manner, they have started using the term "light-novel" more for branding purposes rather than being books that adhear to the strict word-count associated with the definition. Several Japanese-origin "light-novels" actually have word-counts that meet the definition of full novel.)

As I stated before, there's nothing specifically Japanese about light novels. The term "light novel" refers to a novel with 50K to 70K words. It's just that they are more popular in Japan due to various circumstances than they are in the western market, but you used to find them in the west quite a bit more frequently than you do today.

The only thing specifically Japanese is the Light Novel serial, which is a series of Light Novels that tell a single continuous story. (And this serial format is the thing that has caused the rise in popularity of Light Novels in Japan.)

You need to learn how to do basic googling.

Or no, you don't even need to do this much. You just need to read the 3rd post of this thread, it's quoting Wikipedia. Let me quote it for you again.

Light novel :​

A light novel (ライトノベル, raito noberu) is a style of Japanese young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students.[1][2] The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called ranobe (ラノベ)[3] or, in English, LN. The average length of a light novel is about 50,000 words,[4] and is published in the bunkobon format (A6, 10.5 cm×14.8 cm or 4.1"x5.8"). Light novels are subject to dense publishing schedules, with new installations being published in 6-9 month intervals.


A light novel bookstore in Macau

Light novels are commonly illustrated in a manga art style, and are often adapted into manga and anime. While most light novels are published only as books, some have their chapters first serialized monthly in anthology magazines before being collected and compiled into book format, similar to how manga is published.




Light Novel is a term exclusively related to Japanese novels that fit some specific criteria, which Ai Chan already noted above.

Yes, people do wrongly use the term in English at times, that doesn't change what the term means. It's a term referring to Japanese novels, and the (more or less) western equivalent of it are Young Adult novels.

 

[Jemini]

You need to learn how to do basic googling.

Or no, you don't even need to do this much. You just need to read the 3rd post of this thread, it's quoting Wikipedia. Let me quote it for you again.

Light novel :​

A light novel (ライトノベル, raito noberu) is a style of Japanese young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students.[1][2] The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called ranobe (ラノベ)[3] or, in English, LN. The average length of a light novel is about 50,000 words,[4] and is published in the bunkobon format (A6, 10.5 cm×14.8 cm or 4.1"x5.8"). Light novels are subject to dense publishing schedules, with new installations being published in 6-9 month intervals.


A light novel bookstore in Macau

Light novels are commonly illustrated in a manga art style, and are often adapted into manga and anime. While most light novels are published only as books, some have their chapters first serialized monthly in anthology magazines before being collected and compiled into book format, similar to how manga is published.




Light Novel is a term exclusively related to Japanese novels that fit some specific criteria, which Ai Chan already noted above.

Yes, people do wrongly use the term in English at times, that doesn't change what the term means. It's a term referring to Japanese novels, and the (more or less) western equivalent of it are Young Adult novels.

Source, Wikipedia. In other words, someone's opinion that got accepted as fact, not actual factual definition. There's a very good reason why Wikipedia is not accepted as a source in school writing.

Also, you could do without the condescending tone. It only makes you look like an ass-hat when you are proven wrong.

EDIT: (Actually, it makes you look like an ass-hat even if you do turn out to be right. So, yeah, all around not good.)

 

[Kilolo]

SAO began as a LN

Sword Art Online started as a webnovel actually. Reki wrote that when he's still 15 years old.

but i think he already remove that on syosetsu and the only things available are the SAO we knows nowadays.

 

[AliceShiki]

Source, Wikipedia. In other words, someone's opinion that got accepted as fact, not actual factual definition. There's a very good reason why Wikipedia is not accepted as a source in school writing.

Also, you could do without the condescending tone. It only makes you look like an ass-hat when you are proven wrong.

EDIT: (Actually, it makes you look like an ass-hat even if you do turn out to be right. So, yeah, all around not good.)

Uhn... Stay in denial, I guess? It's better to just admit when you've been proven wrong, you know?

2) In chinese webnovels, among the masterpieces of the past, one is famous because of it's crappy quality. "Invisible dragon". Just like a movie can become famous for being the worst movie in history, this CN (chinese novel) is the same. Some people theory that it was written by a kindergarten kid or by a smart dude that aimed that all along for popularity. You can think like the notoriety of 177013.

It's a Korean novel. And most people don't see it as a popularity stunt, but as a critic towards the current state of their webnovel industry.

3) Like youhei said, "narou" is the number 1 website for WN of japan (R18 not accepted). Mushoku Tensei for example, is the grandpa of all current isekais. He is the one that popularized the term "isekai" (creating the trend) despite not being the first one (Inuyasha and co are earlier). It was among the early webnovels, even earlier than NO GAME NO LIFE, but its only now we get the anime.
4) Syosetu is the R18 website for ero web novels of japan. There are others though.

Narou and Syosetu are the same thing.

 

[Jemini]

Uhn... Stay in denial, I guess? It's better to just admit when you've been proven wrong, you know?

If you want to 1. Stop being an ass-hat, and 2. use a proper source (for which Wikipedia doesn't count,) then maybe you will actually be able to convince people. As it stands, you are not being in the least bit persuasive.

 

[Ai-chan]

As I stated before, there's nothing specifically Japanese about light novels. The term "light novel" refers to a novel with 50K to 70K words. It's just that they are more popular in Japan due to various circumstances than they are in the western market, but you used to find them in the west quite a bit more frequently than you do today.

The only thing specifically Japanese is the Light Novel serial, which is a series of Light Novels that tell a single continuous story. (And this serial format is the thing that has caused the rise in popularity of Light Novels in Japan.)

In reference to the novel with 50k to 70k words, no such thing. A light novel can be of any length, with the majority of the light novels Ai-chan had bought being under 50k. Length is not the determining factor of a light novel, that's the determining factor of English novel classifications. Generally, less than 15k is novellete, less than 40k is novella, 50-100k is novel. Light novels do not have that restriction.

It's not that they are more popular in Japan, it's that Japan created the classification. 'Light novel' is a specific classification under 'teen fiction' in Japan. The classification was specifically created to separate the novel from other 'more serious' novel meant to target the same demographic. This was mostly for commercial purposes. It attracts the kind of people who had no time to get too involved with the 'more serious' novel who want to read shallow, noncommittal stories while they're waiting for the train, on the train or during school break.

Light novel ONLY appeared in the west after popular light novels were translated into English, such as Log Horizon, Oda Nobuna, and Haruhi Suzumiya. You can argue that novels similar to light novels had existed before Japanese light novels appeared in America. But that's the thing, those weren't called light novels. Westerners only called those as light novels to capitalize on Japanese successes.

4) Syosetu is the R18 website for ero web novels of japan. There are others though.

Ai-chan just wants to clarify that shosetuka ni narou is not for ero web novels. Nocturn Syosetu is for ero web novels. If you post R-18 in the main syosetu site, they will ask you to move it to nocturn.

 

[Jemini]

In reference to the novel with 50k to 70k words, no such thing. A light novel can be of any length, with the majority of the light novels Ai-chan had bought being under 50k. Length is not the determining factor of a light novel, that's the determining factor of English novel classifications. Generally, less than 15k is novellete, less than 40k is novella, 50-100k is novel. Light novels do not have that restriction.

It's not that they are more popular in Japan, it's that Japan created the classification. 'Light novel' is a specific classification under 'teen fiction' in Japan. The classification was specifically created to separate the novel from other 'more serious' novel meant to target the same demographic. This was mostly for commercial purposes. It attracts the kind of people who had no time to get too involved with the 'more serious' novel who want to read shallow, noncommittal stories while they're waiting for the train, on the train or during school break.

Light novel ONLY appeared in the west after popular light novels were translated into English, such as Log Horizon, Oda Nobuna, and Haruhi Suzumiya. You can argue that novels similar to light novels had existed before Japanese light novels appeared in America. But that's the thing, those weren't called light novels. Westerners only called those as light novels to capitalize on Japanese successes.

Take notes @AliceShiki. This is how you form a proper convincing response to someone.

 

[Tsuru]

Sword Art Online started as a webnovel actually. Reki wrote that when he's still 15 years old.

but i think he already remove that on syosetsu and the only things available are the SAO we knows nowadays.

WELP

Ty for the info ! ovob

Uhn... Stay in denial, I guess? It's better to just admit when you've been proven wrong, you know?

It's a Korean novel. And most people don't see it as a popularity stunt, but as a critic towards the current state of their webnovel industry.

Narou and Syosetu are the same thing.

Oops my bad XD
Mistake

Its because i was among the rare novel readers at that time to NEVER ever read it

 

[AliceShiki]

Its because i was among the rare novel readers at that time to NEVER ever read it

It's a pretty fast read, and it's honestly a bit funny to go through it.

Like it has "50 chapters", so it may look big, but it's actually really short. The entire novel's length (after translation) is just 6077 words. You can easily read it in a few minutes.

And about half those 6000 words come from chapter 50 alone, for the record.

It's an interesting "critique" of the more generic webnovels out there. I suggest giving it a try, regardless of the memes, just to get a notion of what it's all about.

Alternatively, you can assume it was written by an elementary schooler and just laugh at how bad it is. It's not a story to be taken seriously unless it's viewed as a critique~

 

[Alfir]

Web novels are episodic, by chapters. But light novels? They are done with the aim to fulfil a word count.

 

[Tsuru]

It's a pretty fast read, and it's honestly a bit funny to go through it.

Like it has "50 chapters", so it may look big, but it's actually really short. The entire novel's length (after translation) is just 6077 words. You can easily read it in a few minutes.

And about half those 6000 words come from chapter 50 alone, for the record.

It's an interesting "critique" of the more generic webnovels out there. I suggest giving it a try, regardless of the memes, just to get a notion of what it's all about.

Alternatively, you can assume it was written by an elementary schooler and just laugh at how bad it is. It's not a story to be taken seriously unless it's viewed as a critique~

Yep thx for info
Already knew most of it though

Web novels are episodic, by chapters. But light novels? They are done with the aim to fulfil a word count.

O_O Do you know its basically the contrary ?

Lightnovel. Its volume that are episodic. Try hard to catch readers with quality often. Or are simply adaptation of webnovels of syosetu.
For words count. Just go try a shitty xianxia-urban faceslap chinese webnovel, and you will see ultimate padding-of-words.

Not kidding. For most chinese authors (now its less common) padding words is like breathing. Have you ever a shitty-villain surviving everytime the MC ? Have you seen a villain giving a long speech or thugs taunting MC with paragraphs ? Welp, that exist. And seriously its puke-inducing.
But in fact sometimes this kind of people are not to blame.
Because they write 2 CHAPTERS A DAY ! or 1 or maybe 3+
Unlike LN, chinese authors on internet, are not paid by readers but more because of "rewards" AND WORDS COUNT.
AND years ago, the quality of chinese readers were horrendous. It's like EN people rushed to read cliche-isekais but ignored niche good quality slice-of-life jp series. The chinese readers at that time, because of bad living, just wanted to de-stress by reading ugly faceslaps to vent, before sleeping for a next horrible day of work full of despotism and abuse of seniority from superiors.

Now even chinese readers became better, and you can even see in some urban chinese webnovels, the characters criticize faceslaps novels as "third-rate = probably irl too it happens.

EDIT : BUT you do have point that web novels can also be episodic now i think about it

 

[BearlyAlive]

I always thought one is made of spider poo while the other is just not heavy... Still makes more sense than the current definitions, imho