Hi everyone!

I am currently in the process of writing a LitRPG (because there are not enough of those out there, right? Right?) and I was wondering if my start is too slow. I would love to hear your opinion if possible 

I noticed that in a lot of this kind of web novels, by chapter 2-3, the MC has either fought their first big fight or they have established important relationships with other characters.

In my case, things are a tiny bit different. 
Instead of going: Isekai'd -> blue box -> big fight, my approach is: big fight -> Isekai'd -> blue box 

This means that the MC has a big, epic showdown in chapter 0 and then snaps back to reality, op there goes gravity (reality = Isekai world introduction).

The benefit is that I can create a big, high-level fight from the get go, but the drawback is that the reader may not be as attached because these are not the abilities the MC with keep. And then we go normally, world introduction etc.

That means the tutorial would commence in the middle of chapter 3 or so and that's when the MC will start using his actual, current abilities.

So, what do you think? Would this be too slow?

The most important part of a LitRPG is the blue box so I would say it is probably too slow if you're looking for the most mainstream success. Ideally you'll have your first blue box in chapter 1. I would consider if a random, out of context fight at the very beginning is necessary at all and why you can't combine the isekai and first blue box to put them right at the front for readers to see. You want to hook your readers as fast as possible and for the most part that means falling in line with reader expectations if you're not actively looking to subvert them for some reason.

Thank you so much for your answer!
The reason the fight comes first is to show why the MC acts the way he acts later on.

Basically at the end of the first chapter you get the indication that this is a "system" and at the start of the second, you get the blue box. The entirety of the second chapter and part of the third are used for the blue box and then the tutorial commences

But if that's indeed too slow, I'll have to rethink my approach.

Thanks a lot!

So if I’ve understood you right a flash forward or dream sequence as opening chapter?

I don’t think that’s too slow, but then I personally go about introduce the litrpg elements and the isekai ones together in the second chapter, not apart over the following two.

Paradoxcloud Wrote: So if I’ve understood you right a flash forward or dream sequence as opening chapter?

I don’t think that’s too slow, but then I personally go about introduce the litrpg elements and the isekai ones together in the second chapter, not apart over the following two.

Basically, the MC is already in the system, but he dies in that fight and he gets a second chance to start over, supposedly completely from scratch, but he has one key memory that drives him throughout the series 

P.S. Thank you very much for your reply!

If I'm understand you correctly, I think we open our fictions in a similar way. 

Big fight -> loss  ->  Isekai'd (due to loss)-> blue box.

Personally I'm always a fan of explosive openings because they are gripping. But I also recognize that this method also set expectations when it comes to pacing. What I tried to do was give the MC another fight to show A the difference in power level and B that they can adapt to changing circumstances.

But we'll have to wait and see if that works! 

FoundForester Wrote: If I'm understand you correctly, I think we open our fictions in a similar way. 

Big fight -> loss  ->  Isekai'd (due to loss)-> blue box.

Personally I'm always a fan of explosive openings because they are gripping. But I also recognize that this method also set expectations when it comes to pacing. What I tried to do was give the MC another fight to show A the difference in power level and B that they can adapt to changing circumstances.

But we'll have to wait and see if that works!

Yeah, I read the first two chapters of your fiction and I'm going for something similar, maybe a bit faster.

I really like your story so far btw! Both the idea and your writing. I'll come back to it 

I will share a counterexample of a slow plot. I'm on chapter 20, and the only thing the MC has killed so far were [Level] 2 snakes. Chapters 2 to 6 were exposition, with a 1-paragraph fight observed by the MC (that was over in one dash + punch). There was a bit of tension along the way, but not much. Chapter 1 was ordinary daily life + death + woke up in fantasy land. And there were some random things later, but also nothing too juicy, and the MC has barely started progressing. (He was meeting a few characters, doing a bit of grinding/training and trying not to die (twice), exploring the area...) 

My pace is quite slow, but I know of novels that are unironically far slower than this, and they still got huge. So sure, having banger moments in Chapter 1 - 2 - 3 hit the reader like a Tekken combo, air-juggling them is great, but it's not necessary for a story to do well. You might be overprioritizing it! And yes, I've gotten complaints that my pace is too slow (because it is), but you don't need to be 10x faster than me, in terms of chapters/excitement ratio. If my story was better planned / structured, I'd have a slightly better rating and a portion of extra readers, but it's nothing that's absolutely mandatory! I'm working on fixing it as we speak, but this is Royalroad, the stories don't have to be perfect. Especially if it's your first one.

There is no way that what you described would be "too slow" unless you're going for a 20k followers the-next-biggest-thing blockbuster, where every detail has to optimized. Both options you described sound fine to me, and sadly I'm not sure which one is the better choice.

Cheers, and good luck with your story~

Ararara Wrote: I will share a counterexample of a slow plot. I'm on chapter 20, and the only thing the MC has killed so far were [Level] 2 snakes. Chapters 2 to 6 were exposition, with a 1-paragraph fight observed by the MC (that was over in one dash + punch). There was a bit of tension along the way, but not much. Chapter 1 was ordinary daily life + death + woke up in fantasy land. And there were some random things later, but also nothing too juicy, and the MC has barely started progressing. (He was meeting a few characters, doing a bit of grinding/training and trying not to die (twice), exploring the area...) 

My pace is quite slow, but I know of novels that are unironically far slower than this, and they still got huge. So sure, having banger moments in Chapter 1 - 2 - 3 hit the reader like a Tekken combo, air-juggling them is great, but it's not necessary for a story to do well. You might be overprioritizing it! And yes, I've gotten complaints that my pace is too slow (because it is), but you don't need to be 10x faster than me, in terms of chapters/excitement ratio. If my story was better planned / structured, I'd have a slightly better rating and a portion of extra readers, but it's nothing that's absolutely mandatory! I'm working on fixing it as we speak, but this is Royalroad, the stories don't have to be perfect. Especially if it's your first one.

There is no way that what you described would be "too slow" unless you're going for a 20k followers the-next-biggest-thing blockbuster, where every detail has to optimized. Both options you described sound fine to me, and sadly I'm not sure which one is the better choice.

Cheers, and good luck with your story~

Thank you very much! Both for sharing the example and the wishes 

I don't think I'm overprioritizing it as I'm losing my mind over every aspect of this story -- almost definitely overthinking it though 😅

And, yeah, a slow pace is not inherently wrong, especially in the later chapters, I would argue that it's good if you are planning to make it a long-running webnovel. 

I guess what I'm afraid is not the story being too slow but being too boring (because I did not write it in a way that justifies the slow pace), given my personal strengths and weaknesses 

Good luck to you too!

Whenever it's slow or fast, it depends on execution. Judging your outline alone is pointless.

On top of that it doesn't affect engagement too much. Primal Hunter had a slow opening but used emotional baiting, Paranoid Mage also had a slow one but keeps people engaged through opening, The Perfect Run had fast and snappy opening, etc, etc.

It can be as fast or slow as you want, as long you can grab and hold onto reader's attention