Not sure if these are still being written anymore after the incoming storm of Webnovels that have recently been dominating online. It brings a tear to my eye as I've remembered RoyalRoadL to be the first to make writing Webnovels a popular hobby.

It's too bad the Light Novels don't have an equivalent. Not only do you need someone to draw one or two illustrations for you to make it top-notch as a stand-alone work, you also need knowledge of Anime to pull off the 'aesthetic' of a Light Novel...

Recently, I've been having thoughts about them though. The more I see generic Light Novels being adapted into cash-grab Anime that only the people who don't watch it themselves much can love, the more I feel like there's so much wasted potential...

Although good to masterpiece (at least in my opinion) Light Novels have existed since the beginning like Boogie Pop and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, there a lot of those who miss the point of a 'writing a Light Novel' in their passion.

There's too many tropes and cliches Authors of such things feel the need to add as if not adding a tasteless scene or two that is somehow 'meta' would jeopardise something. As if no one will accept their Light Novel if they wrote normally.

Writers of Light Novels also take too much inspiration from the visual mediums of Anime and Manga before getting mixed results depending on talent. Their passion is usually what bleeds through the pages and makes them worth reading.

But by taking inspiration this flawed way, some with potentially great stories are chained by the fact that they don't know the first thing about the literary medium of writing. The flare in their hearts can't be properly expressed due to this problem.

Light Novels, for the most part, usually contain large narratives in the volume-by-volume arc structure, making them easier to pick up and drop depending on how much you enjoyed Volume 1 of the story, thus deciding whether it's worth reading further into the novel. This is beneficial to really get those impactful moments to tug heartstrings.

Though I also have to express dissatisfaction in how some storylines are too bloated to fit in a Light Novel when they could in a Webnovel. There's a kind of simplifying effect that happens to Webnovel power systems if they don't want to end up like Irregular at Magic High School. Everyone knows how confused people reading that were...

I'm pretty sure if Irregular at Magic High School had the chance of being written as a Webnovel instead, it would be able to easier flesh out its complicated and vast magic system. Though that is probably just a idea unlikely to ever happen...

Anyway, you can feel that all the effort of Light Novel writers tend to focus on is structure and interaction. Unlike those who plan out too far ahead yet end up getting nothing done with the story in the end, competent Light Novel writers make a big deal of making sure their themes and messages dye the first volume in its shades.

It it's bright and colourful, the interactions will be slapstick and comical. If not, then there will generally be a dark and really edgy undertone like in Assassin's Pride. Which will be extremely uncomfortable for those allergic to the cheesiness of reading what is essentially a power fantasy with a self-insert loser main character being the only badass who can succeed and get all the girls...

People tend to tell me that there's no right way to write and that arc structure should be seen more as 'guidelines' than rules. However, I'm pretty sure that understanding these guidelines allows for an author to write much better than not knowing.

Knowing the structure means you can take advantage of it better than those who are just aimlessly trying to subvert things without knowing which parts should or shouldn't be messed with. 

Those who write Webnovels get the basic outline of a novel's structure well. It's just that focusing too hard on 'visuals' that can only be imagined thanks to overused cliches and ruins some potential compared to those who simply write it like a novel.

It's weird... Why is it that fiction that doesn't use Otaku tropes like nosebleeds and stuff aren't considered proper Light Novels compared to the ones that do? Is light influences from Anime not enough to make a Light Novel seem like one?

Well, I guess Light Novels are supposed to appeal to Otaku anyway. You can't get works like Welcome to the NHK without knowing just how lonely and depressed we Weebs be when there aren't other Weebs around us to really 'connect' to...

Digibro already got a whole video about how Light Novels came about, so I'll get to my main point:

Light Novels are interesting. Even in this era where trashy Webnovels that aren't being finished are being pumped out by the shitloads, there are still those dedicated enough to write a Volume of a Webnovel that can draw a reader in.

For every trashy incest Light Novel we get, there also appears a Re:Zero, and these stories also come in larger quantities and quality compared to how many 100s of chapters need to get done just for one arc of a Webnovel to finally conclude.

I also like how people go out of there way to find others to illustrate their works just to show them how epic their story can be. The love and care you see put into Light Novels will always touch my heart no matter how much better I get at writing or how much I start to see flaws in structure. The torch of we Otaku hasn't burned out just yet..,!

If you want to write a knockoff of Harry Potter or something else but translate it into Anime form. I highly recommend this format. The words for each chapter may seem daunting at first, but once you realise your story can be completed without having to go through all the headaches of thinking too heavily on a purely unique plot line, you start to feel that sense of community in the fandom, and start writing more to express your own personal style...

I find it fun to read stories with more than just passion put into them. A deep understanding of how stories work helps to write something that others can remember better than most Light Novels that are written without forethought.

Those were just my short thoughts about Light Novels. Ask away if you want more Analysis blogs.