At the end of each volume, we'll have an Author's Retrospective wherein I'll share my thoughts, ideas, and plans. It's a way for me to sort out my mind, become closer to the readers, and receive feedback since building this story is a joint effort between writer and reader. This is what I do with my other book, and I think it’s good to apply it here as well.
The first chapter of the original Getting Hard was published on August 5, 2016, and the last chapter on July 1, 2017. It wasn’t able to reach a year and had sporadic updates, with only 48 chapters (including Eclairs POV chapters). I wanted to become a writer back then and did write during the rare free times I had in between schooling, work, and various other commitments. However, life got in the way of my hopes of being a writer, and I had to stop writing (all my novels) entirely.
However, readers of the old GH still messaged me over the years, encouraging me to continue it. And eventually, I did manage to get back and decided to rewrite it from scratch. I’m truly grateful to the readers of the original version who are still here even after five years of hiatus. Also thank you and welcome to the new readers who join the journey of the new Getting Hard.
Why A Virtual Reality Story?
Around six years ago, when I started writing the original GH, VR stories are the popular form of LitRPG on RoyalRoad. That's not the case anymore as fantasy stories with LitRPG elements, not VR stories, seem to be the norm on RR and Scribblehub (maybe on Webnovel too, but I don't visit that site).
So why did I stick to a VR story when I could’ve transformed GH into a fantasy LitRPG instead to go with the trend? Several people had advised me to do this to get more followers. My reason couldn't simply be that the original version was a VR story and so I stuck with it because I had made plenty of other changes already. Furthermore, many readers dislike VR stories for various reasons, such as having supposedly no stakes and the real-life parts of the story (I'll discuss those further down).
Making Crazy Builds Not Jarring
The main answer is that I believe the story I wanted to tell was best told as a VR story. A bit of background first.
I had played many RPGs and was always fascinated with creative builds, especially if it was a tank. There's the Immortal Sorcerer in Diablo 2, for example. The 55 Monk Build in Guild Wars is also creative. GW has a complex system of combining skills from different classes, resulting in tons of crazy builds. Grim Dawn was newly released back in 2016, and it also allowed combining skills from different classes. Furthermore, GD had Retribution which is akin to Thorns in Diablo 2/3 but more fleshed out.
But the game that inspired me the most to write GH is Path of Exile. For those not familiar with it, I can say with full confidence that PoE has the most complicated skill system out of any RPG. The builds that PoE players come up with are incredibly insane. The gimmicky PoE builds especially are very interesting to me.
And so, the main thrust of Getting Hard (pun intended) is for its main character to explore all sorts of tank builds, combining game mechanics in “unboxlike” ways. To me, this cannot be done if GH is a real fantasy story instead of a VR story. I suppose it can be written that way, but it'll be very jarring.
Take for example Totem Juggling. Herald's discussions about how he solved spamming it, as well as its play style, are too immersion-breaking for a fantasy story narration in my opinion. I'd personally find it weird if Herald was discussing the percentage of max health and regeneration, and it's the actual magic system of a fantasy world.
A way to solve this is to make GH a VR game that became reality. There was a time that this was also the trend. And this will actually do nicely. However, I have a few reasons why I'd rather not do it that way and leave GH as a VR game.
Builds That Are Too Risky In Reality
The difference between stories where the VR world became reality and those wherein it remains a game is pain and death.
There are builds in various RPGs that require the character to have low health. The common form of this are DPS builds that have higher damage and other buffs the lower health the character has. These can work well in a fantasy story—imagine a berserker MC becoming stronger the more injuries he got. It can also work for a tank—the tank becomes harder to kill the more he gets hurt.
But if in a world where there is actual death, it's too risky to build around that mechanic.
There are tank builds that are "low-life" (intentionally small health pool; not a degenerate). The 55 Monk Build in GW is called that because the player aims to only have fifty-five health to take advantage of skill interactions and become invincible. The Immortal Sorceress in D2 is also low-life because it relies on energy shield and damage reductions.
In PoE, there are builds where the health pool is intentionally made to be below half-full (by paying for skills with health) because there are bonuses in that state. There are even PoE builds that have only one health. I’m sure there are many other RPGs with mechanics like that. I don’t think we’ll eventually go with it but having a one-health tank is pretty funny. Even Pokemon has a monster with only one health that can be built tanky.
Logically speaking, a tank, or anyone for that matter, shouldn't try a low-life build if the risk of death is real. There'd also be weird scenarios with real pain. For example, Herald hurting himself in a VR game looks comical, but if he's hurting himself in a fantasy world then it'd look...questionable.
Other Things That Work Differently in a Game
But what if there’s no risk of death? There are comedy or slice-of-life LitRPGs with resurrection mechanics that make it so no one can die. Herald can do his Mirdabon cliffing schtick in a comedy fantasy LitRPG and it wouldn’t feel out of place.
My answer is that there are mechanics and social interactions that work differently in a VR game compared to a real-world LitRPG.
For example, AoE spells hit only monsters (unless in a PK/PvP area) in RPGs. Tanks are usually right next to the monsters they are taunting. Some party members will inevitably have AoE spells. If a VR game is turned into reality, those AoE spells should hurt and probably kill the tank as well. I can think of a few more examples, but I’m not going to point them out now because they might be spoilers.
Social interactions in a VR story, a VR game-turned-reality story, and a fantasy LitRPG story are all different. It’s subjective which one you’ll prefer. I’d say a majority prefer fantasy LitRPG, although there was a time when survival VR game-turned-reality was the trend.
The first reason I went with simply a VR MMORPG is that I like MMO social dynamics.
I know I’m catering to a smaller chunk of readers by going for this instead of the other options, mostly because not all LitRPG readers are MMO players or even play RPG for that matter. However, this choice is more of a personal one.
Back then, and also now, I barely have enough time to play any MMOs. I wanted to write a novel around an MMORPG for nostalgia reasons. Also, MMORPGs’ social interactions aren’t focused that deeply in most VR stories as many MCs are solo players. Eventually, as the world of GH grows big, I’d like for there to be interactions among huge guilds, as I’m a huge fan of guild wars as a former Ragnarok player.
The bottom line is that I’m writing a story I’m interested in. To be candid, it did cross my mind that I’ll have more followers if I went with more popular setups or wrote something for a wider audience. But then again, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to maintain a story that I wrote for marketing purposes and not because I enjoy writing it. Eventually, I’ll get around to rewriting another story of mine, and I think that’ll be more for general audiences.
Can There Be High Stakes in a Story Without Death?
My view on death equated to stakes is that we know the MC of a web novel isn't going to die, so the MC dying is not really an issue whether it is a VR game or a fantasy world.
Maybe the MC can die in the end if the author wants to have a sad conclusion to the story, but web novels (the ones that don't get dropped *cough, cough*) usually run for hundreds of chapters. But until the end of it, a web novel reader knows that there's no way the main character is going to die. (Unless it's a reincarnation or a time loop type of story.)
But even if there's no death, the possibility of pain can be a good way to raise the stakes. And if not the MC, the side characters can still die. The MC being able to kill also adds a different layer of tension and perhaps catharsis for reader self-insert purposes.
However, I believe that despite lacking the risk of death, or even pain, a story can still have high stakes that can hype the readers.
I could've made GH into a VR story where the MC’s motivation is to earn money to cure a dying family member or something along those lines. That’s an easy way to have high stakes. But I didn't want to. Other than there are already many stories with that premise, I don't want Herald's motivation to be serious at all. (It's serious to him but comedic to the reader.)
I believe that even the most “trivial” goals can feel like high stakes if the readers are invested in the character. But before moving on to Herald's character, I'll discuss first how I came about deciding that I want to challenge myself in writing a character that readers will root for even if he may not be that likable or relatable and have “trivial” goals.
Stakes Connected to Characters
I find sports manga/anime interesting. No one's going to die if the MC loses a high school basketball match; the characters won’t probably barely care about it when they’re twice their age. But I know that I'm not alone in getting hyped up when it comes to sports manga/anime.
What's more fascinating to me is that I get hyped even for games that I'm not familiar with. Like I had read a mahjong manga and I got hyped about it even though I have zero knowledge about mahjong. And the most hyped I've gotten over any story (in any media) was a manga about cycle sports. The last I've ridden a bicycle was when I was in high school, and I certainly don't have any experience or knowledge of cycling tournaments, yet I truly felt that the races have high stakes.
That made me realize that perhaps if characters are written well and the readers connect to them, the readers can get hyped about plot points even if they are "trivial”. This was my thought back then, and I confirmed this when I experimented with it in my other story, REND.
REND has a psychopath MC, and it has a lot of deaths and very high stakes. However, I had written a scene about a minor side character trying to fake a document. Even if the fake document has weighty implications, it was obviously nothing compared to life-or-death battles with monsters. It was also only one chapter. And yet, many readers say that it was a very stressful chapter.
And so, that strengthened my resolve to maintain GH as a VR story and focus on practicing how to write good characters that readers will root for, feeling the stakes even if it's just a game (of course, to Herald, this isn't just a game).
What's Up With Herald Stone?
I think it's safe to say that Herald Stone is not a typical main character for a web novel. I’d say that he's contrary to web novel "marketability guidelines" (I'm not sure what term to use.) What do I mean by this?
On the topic of writing a good character, there's always the discussion of character flaws and that they’re important. However, this isn't completely true when it comes to web novels. Main characters in web novels are usually for reader self-insert. I'm not saying that negatively, but rather pointing out the industry standard and audience demand. Unfortunately for GH, Herald is not very marketable.
Yes, flaws can make a character more real and whole, but this isn’t actually advisable in web novels given that they’re more for reader self-insert. And if character flaws are included, only certain kinds are “accepted”.
In Herald's case, the initial impression of many readers is that he's a narcissistic asshole, and he's acting childishly when inside the game. These two traits don’t pair well with reader self-insert; why would readers want to be an asshole and childish?
And so, many readers dropped GH or didn't try to read after seeing the negative reviews. But as we go along the story, those of you who have stayed now know that Herald's more nuanced than that.
Herald is a narcissist, maybe an asshole sometimes. But I'd rather describe him as an altruistic narcissist who does care for the people he loves. And his narcissism is played for comedy, while his "assholeness" is to spice up his internal dialogue. On the other hand, his childishness is very realistic. I'm sure those of you who have given up being a gamer as life responsibilities caught up will agree that we'll also behave quite immaturely when given the chance to spend hours and hours playing computer games again.
But despite the not-so-good idea of making Herald this way, I decided to go with it because I’m interested and enjoy writing atypical characters. Readers of REND know that's just the way I am. Perhaps I might have taken a few drastic measures to distance the readers away from Herald, turning down initial likability and relatability, but it was because I intended that he won't be a reader self-insert. I want the readers to root for him as his own person.
This "experiment" of sorts was successful back then, as many readers of the original version still remember Herald despite the five years that have passed. Many of you cheer for him now on his journey to become the hardest tank. I wanted Herald to be more of a wacky friend than a reader self-insert vehicle. And I think it's going great.
The Real World
I think this is the main reason why readers don't like VR stories. It's not the lack of death and pain; there are many comedy/slice-of-life fantasy LitRPG in RR/SH that don't have deaths. But they also don't have real-world parts, and so people prefer those to VR game stories. This is just my observation by the way.
And I can relate to this. A long time ago, when I used to read tons of LitRPGs, many of which were VR stories, I also disliked their real-world parts. I suppose this is because it takes away from the fun of the virtual world, plus it's usually boring.
However, a part of VR stories is making a good real-world, and I'm still working on how to balance that. I suppose that if I can write well enough that readers care a lot about the characters, they'll care about them whether in the game or the real world. Proof of this are the Eclairs chapters. This is a writing challenge for me, and I hope to get better at balancing it with the virtual world and make readers care for the real world too.
Ongoing Edits, Planned Improvements, Schedule Changes
As I've mentioned several times in Author's Notes, I'm currently rereading the whole story. My goal, on top of cosmetic edits and proofreading, is to catch inconsistencies, smoothen the game mechanics, and take notes for the future. I'm taking into account many of your suggestions as I go along. Right now, I'm just at chapter 25 because my free time is invested in writing chapters for both of my stories.
When I finish editing, I'll probably make a changelog, and then you can try rereading the story. Getting Hard is probably a better experience when binged because I paced it like a book rather than a web novel. This is also the same case in my other story, REND.
That said, Getting Hard, as a LitRPG, should probably be closer to a web novel in structuring. Moving forward, I'll hasten the pace of the story and pack each chapter with more development. But I'll need time to plan the story well if I’m going to do this.
There are three threads in GH: Herald Stone's storyline (both in-game and real-life); MCO's thread, both lore-wise (Mardukryons, Dalkanus, etc.) and the players and social interactions), and lastly, the game mechanics ideas that Herald will come up with. I must juggle these three as we go forward.
It often happens that I need to release a chapter as scheduled, but I don't have plans yet for the threads I mentioned, and the chapter sort of meanders. I think you guys also notice this in other web novels, especially in the Chinese novels with very high release rates. I sense that it's happening to me too, and I don't want my writing to suffer.
As of now, I'm writing two stories, Getting Hard and REND. Add to that I'm a slow writer. I just have enough time to maintain the schedule for both stories that I usually don't have time to edit GH as I intended to. Also, if literally anything comes up (more work, real-life responsibilities, sickness, etc.), I'll get delayed. Like right now, I'm delayed for both of my stories.
And so, I've decided that it's best for my stories, and also for myself to avoid burning out, that I'll reduce GH's release rate from four chapters a week to three chapters (M/W/F) starting next month, September. I’ll make up for any delays before it.
I'll work on making each chapter meatier even if it's the same wordcount range, and I'll also hasten the pace to make up for it. I hope you can understand. I can assure you that the quality will go up if I have more time for planning and editing.
Mini plug for REND
I've already discussed a lot of things, and we'll leave other matters for Author's Notes or maybe the next Retrospective. But let me just promote my other story, REND. It's a psychological dark urban fantasy with a psychopath main character. Note that this isn't a murderhobo story, but rather a psychological one. It's quite different from most web novels, and if you're looking for a new experience, try it out.
Supporting Getting Hard
A huge thank you to all the patrons that financially support Getting Hard. Also, thank you to all who have rated, reviewed, and commented on Getting Hard. Even comments go a long way in motivating me to write knowing that there are people out there who like my story.
As I've mentioned, Getting Hard isn't that marketable when it comes to web novels, and it received its fair share of toxicity. I thought of discussing it, but it's probably better to just ignore it. But I can wholeheartedly say that your continued support helps me push through the negativity.
To those who haven't yet, I'd greatly appreciate it if you rate or write a review for GH, especially now that the first book is completed and you can see what sort of story I'm trying to tell. It'd be great if you can recommend this to those who might like it. Our community is going to be small in comparison to the mainstream LitRPGs, but I think we'll have fun with Herald around. To Getting Harder!
At the end of each volume, we'll have an Author's Retrospective wherein I'll share my thoughts, ideas, and plans. It's a way for me to sort out my mind, become closer to the readers, and receive feedback since building this story is a joint effort between writer and reader. This is what I do with my other book, and I think it’s good to apply it here as well.
The first chapter of the original Getting Hard was published on August 5, 2016, and the last chapter on July 1, 2017. It wasn’t able to reach a year and had sporadic updates, with only 48 chapters (including Eclairs POV chapters). I wanted to become a writer back then and did write during the rare free times I had in between schooling, work, and various other commitments. However, life got in the way of my hopes of being a writer, and I had to stop writing (all my novels) entirely.
However, readers of the old GH still messaged me over the years, encouraging me to continue it. And eventually, I did manage to get back and decided to rewrite it from scratch. I’m truly grateful to the readers of the original version who are still here even after five years of hiatus. Also thank you and welcome to the new readers who join the journey of the new Getting Hard.
Why A Virtual Reality Story?
Around six years ago, when I started writing the original GH, VR stories are the popular form of LitRPG on RoyalRoad. That's not the case anymore as fantasy stories with LitRPG elements, not VR stories, seem to be the norm on RR and Scribblehub (maybe on Webnovel too, but I don't visit that site).
So why did I stick to a VR story when I could’ve transformed GH into a fantasy LitRPG instead to go with the trend? Several people had advised me to do this to get more followers. My reason couldn't simply be that the original version was a VR story and so I stuck with it because I had made plenty of other changes already. Furthermore, many readers dislike VR stories for various reasons, such as having supposedly no stakes and the real-life parts of the story (I'll discuss those further down).
Making Crazy Builds Not Jarring
The main answer is that I believe the story I wanted to tell was best told as a VR story. A bit of background first.
I had played many RPGs and was always fascinated with creative builds, especially if it was a tank. There's the Immortal Sorcerer in Diablo 2, for example. The 55 Monk Build in Guild Wars is also creative. GW has a complex system of combining skills from different classes, resulting in tons of crazy builds. Grim Dawn was newly released back in 2016, and it also allowed combining skills from different classes. Furthermore, GD had Retribution which is akin to Thorns in Diablo 2/3 but more fleshed out.
But the game that inspired me the most to write GH is Path of Exile. For those not familiar with it, I can say with full confidence that PoE has the most complicated skill system out of any RPG. The builds that PoE players come up with are incredibly insane. The gimmicky PoE builds especially are very interesting to me.
And so, the main thrust of Getting Hard (pun intended) is for its main character to explore all sorts of tank builds, combining game mechanics in “unboxlike” ways. To me, this cannot be done if GH is a real fantasy story instead of a VR story. I suppose it can be written that way, but it'll be very jarring.
Take for example Totem Juggling. Herald's discussions about how he solved spamming it, as well as its play style, are too immersion-breaking for a fantasy story narration in my opinion. I'd personally find it weird if Herald was discussing the percentage of max health and regeneration, and it's the actual magic system of a fantasy world.
A way to solve this is to make GH a VR game that became reality. There was a time that this was also the trend. And this will actually do nicely. However, I have a few reasons why I'd rather not do it that way and leave GH as a VR game.
Builds That Are Too Risky In Reality
The difference between stories where the VR world became reality and those wherein it remains a game is pain and death.
There are builds in various RPGs that require the character to have low health. The common form of this are DPS builds that have higher damage and other buffs the lower health the character has. These can work well in a fantasy story—imagine a berserker MC becoming stronger the more injuries he got. It can also work for a tank—the tank becomes harder to kill the more he gets hurt.
But if in a world where there is actual death, it's too risky to build around that mechanic.
There are tank builds that are "low-life" (intentionally small health pool; not a degenerate). The 55 Monk Build in GW is called that because the player aims to only have fifty-five health to take advantage of skill interactions and become invincible. The Immortal Sorceress in D2 is also low-life because it relies on energy shield and damage reductions.
In PoE, there are builds where the health pool is intentionally made to be below half-full (by paying for skills with health) because there are bonuses in that state. There are even PoE builds that have only one health. I’m sure there are many other RPGs with mechanics like that. I don’t think we’ll eventually go with it but having a one-health tank is pretty funny. Even Pokemon has a monster with only one health that can be built tanky.
Logically speaking, a tank, or anyone for that matter, shouldn't try a low-life build if the risk of death is real. There'd also be weird scenarios with real pain. For example, Herald hurting himself in a VR game looks comical, but if he's hurting himself in a fantasy world then it'd look...questionable.
Other Things That Work Differently in a Game
But what if there’s no risk of death? There are comedy or slice-of-life LitRPGs with resurrection mechanics that make it so no one can die. Herald can do his Mirdabon cliffing schtick in a comedy fantasy LitRPG and it wouldn’t feel out of place.
My answer is that there are mechanics and social interactions that work differently in a VR game compared to a real-world LitRPG.
For example, AoE spells hit only monsters (unless in a PK/PvP area) in RPGs. Tanks are usually right next to the monsters they are taunting. Some party members will inevitably have AoE spells. If a VR game is turned into reality, those AoE spells should hurt and probably kill the tank as well. I can think of a few more examples, but I’m not going to point them out now because they might be spoilers.
Social interactions in a VR story, a VR game-turned-reality story, and a fantasy LitRPG story are all different. It’s subjective which one you’ll prefer. I’d say a majority prefer fantasy LitRPG, although there was a time when survival VR game-turned-reality was the trend.
The first reason I went with simply a VR MMORPG is that I like MMO social dynamics.
I know I’m catering to a smaller chunk of readers by going for this instead of the other options, mostly because not all LitRPG readers are MMO players or even play RPG for that matter. However, this choice is more of a personal one.
Back then, and also now, I barely have enough time to play any MMOs. I wanted to write a novel around an MMORPG for nostalgia reasons. Also, MMORPGs’ social interactions aren’t focused that deeply in most VR stories as many MCs are solo players. Eventually, as the world of GH grows big, I’d like for there to be interactions among huge guilds, as I’m a huge fan of guild wars as a former Ragnarok player.
The bottom line is that I’m writing a story I’m interested in. To be candid, it did cross my mind that I’ll have more followers if I went with more popular setups or wrote something for a wider audience. But then again, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to maintain a story that I wrote for marketing purposes and not because I enjoy writing it. Eventually, I’ll get around to rewriting another story of mine, and I think that’ll be more for general audiences.
Can There Be High Stakes in a Story Without Death?
My view on death equated to stakes is that we know the MC of a web novel isn't going to die, so the MC dying is not really an issue whether it is a VR game or a fantasy world.
Maybe the MC can die in the end if the author wants to have a sad conclusion to the story, but web novels (the ones that don't get dropped *cough, cough*) usually run for hundreds of chapters. But until the end of it, a web novel reader knows that there's no way the main character is going to die. (Unless it's a reincarnation or a time loop type of story.)
But even if there's no death, the possibility of pain can be a good way to raise the stakes. And if not the MC, the side characters can still die. The MC being able to kill also adds a different layer of tension and perhaps catharsis for reader self-insert purposes.
However, I believe that despite lacking the risk of death, or even pain, a story can still have high stakes that can hype the readers.
I could've made GH into a VR story where the MC’s motivation is to earn money to cure a dying family member or something along those lines. That’s an easy way to have high stakes. But I didn't want to. Other than there are already many stories with that premise, I don't want Herald's motivation to be serious at all. (It's serious to him but comedic to the reader.)
I believe that even the most “trivial” goals can feel like high stakes if the readers are invested in the character. But before moving on to Herald's character, I'll discuss first how I came about deciding that I want to challenge myself in writing a character that readers will root for even if he may not be that likable or relatable and have “trivial” goals.
Stakes Connected to Characters
I find sports manga/anime interesting. No one's going to die if the MC loses a high school basketball match; the characters won’t probably barely care about it when they’re twice their age. But I know that I'm not alone in getting hyped up when it comes to sports manga/anime.
What's more fascinating to me is that I get hyped even for games that I'm not familiar with. Like I had read a mahjong manga and I got hyped about it even though I have zero knowledge about mahjong. And the most hyped I've gotten over any story (in any media) was a manga about cycle sports. The last I've ridden a bicycle was when I was in high school, and I certainly don't have any experience or knowledge of cycling tournaments, yet I truly felt that the races have high stakes.
That made me realize that perhaps if characters are written well and the readers connect to them, the readers can get hyped about plot points even if they are "trivial”. This was my thought back then, and I confirmed this when I experimented with it in my other story, REND.
REND has a psychopath MC, and it has a lot of deaths and very high stakes. However, I had written a scene about a minor side character trying to fake a document. Even if the fake document has weighty implications, it was obviously nothing compared to life-or-death battles with monsters. It was also only one chapter. And yet, many readers say that it was a very stressful chapter.
And so, that strengthened my resolve to maintain GH as a VR story and focus on practicing how to write good characters that readers will root for, feeling the stakes even if it's just a game (of course, to Herald, this isn't just a game).
What's Up With Herald Stone?
I think it's safe to say that Herald Stone is not a typical main character for a web novel. I’d say that he's contrary to web novel "marketability guidelines" (I'm not sure what term to use.) What do I mean by this?
On the topic of writing a good character, there's always the discussion of character flaws and that they’re important. However, this isn't completely true when it comes to web novels. Main characters in web novels are usually for reader self-insert. I'm not saying that negatively, but rather pointing out the industry standard and audience demand. Unfortunately for GH, Herald is not very marketable.
Yes, flaws can make a character more real and whole, but this isn’t actually advisable in web novels given that they’re more for reader self-insert. And if character flaws are included, only certain kinds are “accepted”.
In Herald's case, the initial impression of many readers is that he's a narcissistic asshole, and he's acting childishly when inside the game. These two traits don’t pair well with reader self-insert; why would readers want to be an asshole and childish?
And so, many readers dropped GH or didn't try to read after seeing the negative reviews. But as we go along the story, those of you who have stayed now know that Herald's more nuanced than that.
Herald is a narcissist, maybe an asshole sometimes. But I'd rather describe him as an altruistic narcissist who does care for the people he loves. And his narcissism is played for comedy, while his "assholeness" is to spice up his internal dialogue. On the other hand, his childishness is very realistic. I'm sure those of you who have given up being a gamer as life responsibilities caught up will agree that we'll also behave quite immaturely when given the chance to spend hours and hours playing computer games again.
But despite the not-so-good idea of making Herald this way, I decided to go with it because I’m interested and enjoy writing atypical characters. Readers of REND know that's just the way I am. Perhaps I might have taken a few drastic measures to distance the readers away from Herald, turning down initial likability and relatability, but it was because I intended that he won't be a reader self-insert. I want the readers to root for him as his own person.
This "experiment" of sorts was successful back then, as many readers of the original version still remember Herald despite the five years that have passed. Many of you cheer for him now on his journey to become the hardest tank. I wanted Herald to be more of a wacky friend than a reader self-insert vehicle. And I think it's going great.
The Real World
I think this is the main reason why readers don't like VR stories. It's not the lack of death and pain; there are many comedy/slice-of-life fantasy LitRPG in RR/SH that don't have deaths. But they also don't have real-world parts, and so people prefer those to VR game stories. This is just my observation by the way.
And I can relate to this. A long time ago, when I used to read tons of LitRPGs, many of which were VR stories, I also disliked their real-world parts. I suppose this is because it takes away from the fun of the virtual world, plus it's usually boring.
However, a part of VR stories is making a good real-world, and I'm still working on how to balance that. I suppose that if I can write well enough that readers care a lot about the characters, they'll care about them whether in the game or the real world. Proof of this are the Eclairs chapters. This is a writing challenge for me, and I hope to get better at balancing it with the virtual world and make readers care for the real world too.
Ongoing Edits, Planned Improvements, Schedule Changes
As I've mentioned several times in Author's Notes, I'm currently rereading the whole story. My goal, on top of cosmetic edits and proofreading, is to catch inconsistencies, smoothen the game mechanics, and take notes for the future. I'm taking into account many of your suggestions as I go along. Right now, I'm just at chapter 25 because my free time is invested in writing chapters for both of my stories.
When I finish editing, I'll probably make a changelog, and then you can try rereading the story. Getting Hard is probably a better experience when binged because I paced it like a book rather than a web novel. This is also the same case in my other story, REND.
That said, Getting Hard, as a LitRPG, should probably be closer to a web novel in structuring. Moving forward, I'll hasten the pace of the story and pack each chapter with more development. But I'll need time to plan the story well if I’m going to do this.
There are three threads in GH: Herald Stone's storyline (both in-game and real-life); MCO's thread, both lore-wise (Mardukryons, Dalkanus, etc.) and the players and social interactions), and lastly, the game mechanics ideas that Herald will come up with. I must juggle these three as we go forward.
It often happens that I need to release a chapter as scheduled, but I don't have plans yet for the threads I mentioned, and the chapter sort of meanders. I think you guys also notice this in other web novels, especially in the Chinese novels with very high release rates. I sense that it's happening to me too, and I don't want my writing to suffer.
As of now, I'm writing two stories, Getting Hard and REND. Add to that I'm a slow writer. I just have enough time to maintain the schedule for both stories that I usually don't have time to edit GH as I intended to. Also, if literally anything comes up (more work, real-life responsibilities, sickness, etc.), I'll get delayed. Like right now, I'm delayed for both of my stories.
And so, I've decided that it's best for my stories, and also for myself to avoid burning out, that I'll reduce GH's release rate from four chapters a week to three chapters (M/W/F) starting next month, September. I’ll make up for any delays before it.
I'll work on making each chapter meatier even if it's the same wordcount range, and I'll also hasten the pace to make up for it. I hope you can understand. I can assure you that the quality will go up if I have more time for planning and editing.
Mini plug for REND
I've already discussed a lot of things, and we'll leave other matters for Author's Notes or maybe the next Retrospective. But let me just promote my other story, REND. It's a psychological dark urban fantasy with a psychopath main character. Note that this isn't a murderhobo story, but rather a psychological one. It's quite different from most web novels, and if you're looking for a new experience, try it out.
Supporting Getting Hard
A huge thank you to all the patrons that financially support Getting Hard. Also, thank you to all who have rated, reviewed, and commented on Getting Hard. Even comments go a long way in motivating me to write knowing that there are people out there who like my story.
As I've mentioned, Getting Hard isn't that marketable when it comes to web novels, and it received its fair share of toxicity. I thought of discussing it, but it's probably better to just ignore it. But I can wholeheartedly say that your continued support helps me push through the negativity.
To those who haven't yet, I'd greatly appreciate it if you rate or write a review for GH, especially now that the first book is completed and you can see what sort of story I'm trying to tell. It'd be great if you can recommend this to those who might like it. Our community is going to be small in comparison to the mainstream LitRPGs, but I think we'll have fun with Herald around. To Getting Harder!
