I came across Lit-RPG tag a couple of days ago.
To be honest, I thought it was “this is LIT. A LIT book.” No. Lit didn’t stand for ON FIYAH, no. It meant Literature RPG.
So what is LIT RPG? According to Wikipedia:
LitRPG, short for Literary Role Playing Game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The term is a neologism introduced in 2013.
… It has visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience
I find it interesting… because although there were books from 1997 that dealt with this, I think the most popular, wide-spread story-telling medium of a story taking place like this was from an Anime called .hack//sign in 2002. (High five to my anime fans who loved this series)
The story was about being trapped in an online game that was advanced VR, and not being able to escape. Of course, menu screens, stats, classes, weapons, dungeons, even PVP was mentioned in this story. For those who will get the pitchforks to say this isn’t LIT RPG because it wasn’t literature…
It became a novella. (Like every popular anime in Japan does)
With rise to MMORPG and online games, it stirred up a lot of people’s imagination: What if I get trapped in this world? What would I do?
Since the success of .hack//sign, there’s been a BUNCH of anime that deals with this.
And now I see it coming to life in the western novel world! Pretty cool!
I haven’t picked one up yet, as I’m not a fan, but isn’t it interesting, that new genres will open up to catch up to new technologies?
A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!
I am willing to make a bet.
There’s going to be a new genre soon. I’m seeing this trend in Korea, with their webnovels. Omg you cannot escape! And holy cow, it’s an amazing formula. I kick myself for not writing a book in this genre earlier.
So: What happens in this new genre… let me call it LRF. Lit-Romance-Fan (Yeah it’s dumb. Look, I am running out of time)
A girl is an avid reader. She is a huge fan of a certain romance novel
It’s set in western/fantasy world
One day, she wakes up: She is reborn as a baby/already an adult female protagonist/antagonist. SHE IS IN THE ROMANCE NOVEL WORLD SHE WAS A HUGE FAN OF. OMG
She either: wants to live her life in this fantasy world, so she will:
Avoid the main characters at all costs (usually they get embedded extremely close to the main protagonists by accidents.)
Make sure the main characters get together and they remain an extra. (This also doesn’t work. Usually the main guy prot falls in love with her)
Happy to live her life and keep a low profile.
Usually she takes the main girl character’s position by accident, and she will struggle to remove herself from it, but it never works.
This is GENIUS.
Basically the girl protagonist’s super powers is that she knows how the story will pan out. She also knows the backstory of all the characters. She never has to work for anything, because technically, she already posses this power.
COMPLETELY RELATABLE. Any avid reader would’ve dreamed of inserting themselves in the book they love. This is basically fan fic come true.
They poke fun at all the cliches of romance stories, AND THUS PUTS THE CLICHES IN WITHOUT MAKING IT LOOK LAZY. OMG
This basically puts women readers on a pedestral, and panders to all their fantasy.
And, not too scary, because technically they have superpowers of knowing what will happen.
of course, after the initial shock/interest, it will read like a normal romance fantasy novel. Sprinkled in are questions like: Are they… going back to their home soon? Is this all a dream?
I can’t wait to see where this is going to go! Will it flow over internationally? Maybe there’s already a movement?
I love how this genre came about because of the saturated romance stories out there. People now assume people would’ve read at least one romance story, and poke fun at it.
Similar to Lit RPG, where Lit RPG probably targets gamers (dare I say men), I believe this will target readers (women). Let’s see how this goes :)
Or heeey… who wants to write this genre with me??