What is a Web Novel?
WritingIMO
A web novel is love, is hate, is comedy, is the mental derangement of an author and everything that it’s on his mind. Ultimately is like building a world only yours and presenting to the world. Now that my rant is over, what really is a web novel?
A web novel first of all like the name says, Is published on the internet, anyone can do one with less or more success and that’s one of the beauties of web novels, everyone can (try) be an author.
A web novel is a story the author wants to tell the world, most of the time it’s almost a draft of a real history and full of plot holes. It can be free or behind a paywall, depending if the author wants to live on writing or at least make some changes with it, where 99.9% of paid web novels are hosted on webnovel.com or wattpad.com, both detained by the same company. The main pro of web novels is you can write whatever you want, especially if self-hosted like me, no bullshit, no kind of agenda or propaganda, and no one to force to you do something. (an exception to pedophilia, sex, or certain themes in webnovel.com or wattpad.com) The main con is related to one of the pros, there is indeed no one to force you on something, but at the same time there is no one to show you the way or to be your mentor, advice and comments, like: “this thing this character is doing doesn’t fit this character” or “this phrase doesn’t sound right”. Unless you have a group of beta testers or some loyal readers who comment and help you, you are on your own.
Plot holes, in web novels there are a lot, did you know Albedo, one of the main supporter characters and public favorite doesn’t exist in Overlord web novel and was only created in the light novel, to fix a major plot hole? In this case, the main character leaves his organization/kingdom frequently, and the fans wonder how the chain of control works without the MC there, so the author created Albedo the rules of the floor guardians to rule when he is away fixing a major plot hole. Can you imagine Overlord without Albedo?
Albedo the fans favorite created on light novel
There are many situations like this, that you only notice when readers give feedback or when your book is finished. Because a web novel is just a draft, a wannabe book that if gets popular there is a chance of becoming a real book.
If there is a web novel and a light novel from the same work, people will tell you to read the light novel instead because it was revised and corrected multiple times, I don’t agree only the web novel shows you what the author was thinking, and the extra details that are cut or revised on the light novel, the only way to know an author is to read is raw unrefined, unadulterated and untouched web novel.