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INTEREST: Light Novel Contest Overwhelmed with Alternate World Entries


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CoreSignal



Joined: 04 Sep 2014
Posts: 727
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:17 am Reply with quote
This made me laugh. I have to say, the headline is a little misleading, as 14 alternate world entries out of 46 isn't exactly overwhelming, lol. Some of those titles are hilarious.

"The Chronicle of the Male Virgin Who Travels to the Alternate World Chiirem [cheat + harem] and Gains Healing Magic."

^This title is hilarious, in fact, they might as well have a contest for best title already.

CrownKlown wrote:
I mean honestly the number of works that you could say have any originality at all a year are maybe one or two, so its kind of moot to single out alternative/magic school because you just happen to not like that genre.

If that is what people want to write and what people buy so be it.

Going back to the contest with the ban, this point goes both ways. Why aren't the organizers allowed to dislike alternate world stories? If they don't want alternate world stories then so be it, too.
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cloud8100



Joined: 30 May 2010
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:41 am Reply with quote
Haha Laughing . Those titles. Alternate worlds don't really bother me as I haven't seen many tbh lol.
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Koda89



Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 2:47 am Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
Z-Raid wrote:
On another note, if contests can ban alternate world entries, can they ban entries from having a freaking long sentence as their title? It's supposed to be a title, not a brief summary of the written work. It's kind of funny at times but the sheer number of sentence-title series is getting ridiculous.

As far as I know, those are encouraged by editors and publishers to gain notoriety. Writers are just following the trend since stuff like "The secret of the blue witch" won't be noticed or liked nowadays.


This is also encouraged because people just legit can't be arsed to read the story blurbs/synopsis on the back of the book nowadays, so they literally just make the central crux of the story the title of the book/series.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 4:45 am Reply with quote
CoreSignal wrote:
This made me laugh. I have to say, the headline is a little misleading, as 14 alternate world entries out of 46 isn't exactly overwhelming, lol. Some of those titles are hilarious.


If i read it right what the article said is that "Of the 46 winning stories listed on the "Net Novel Prize" contest's website, 14 have "alternate world" directly in the title"
We don't know how many of the others (winners or not) don't have "alternate world" directly in the title but the setting is in a "alternate world".

Quote:
"The Chronicle of the Male Virgin Who Travels to the Alternate World Chiirem [cheat + harem] and Gains Healing Magic."


"The Chronicle of the Male Virgin Who Travels to the Alternate World..." can be the beginning of the title for 80% of this LN's because we know 80% of MCs are male virgins.

As a fan of LN im a bit tired of the Travel to Alternate World trend. We could have similar stories in the MC already born in fantasy worlds, or born in the past or if the world was regressed, for example.
Is really necessary to born in this world and "traveling to alternate worlds".
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 5:37 am Reply with quote
I'd say that (at least) 30% of the chosen entries being set on alternate worlds when pretty much anything goes is quite overwhelming.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3453
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 6:04 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
So, how to interpret this? The cynical "They only write alternate world stories because that's what sells these days" or the more positive "they love alternate world stories and wanted to write one of their own."

Or they just want to try to forget this real world thing even exists (reading the news everyday, can I really blame them...).

Quote:
In fact, the 1st place Grand Prix prize, which included publication of the story and 1,000,000 yen (about $9925.80 USD), was won by a story about traveling to an alternate world titled, "The Chronicle of the Male Virgin Who Travels to the Alternate World Chiirem [cheat + harem] and Gains Healing Magic."

That's got to be satire, no way around it. Very Happy

...On another note, that prize sure seems seems better than Kyoto Animation's equivalent, especially if it lets authors keep their IP rights?...
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BlackPoint.



Joined: 23 Oct 2015
Posts: 708
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 6:07 am Reply with quote
Just keep em coming need moar of this type of anime because both konosuba and re:zero proved that they can either provide great comedy or simply great story. So people can trash it all they want but fantasy world settings is one of the best thing we can get, because it can provide everythin if neccessary story,adventure, visual scenes etc....
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jojothepunisher



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 799
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:27 am Reply with quote
That moment when you want to escape reality so bad that you had to fantasize about an alternative reality world story.

Is this an indication of the degree that people in Japan wants to escape reality or their lack of originality in coming up with premises for a story? Probably a mix of both.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 9:15 am Reply with quote
chex mix wrote:
I'm all in for "I Found Myself In An Alternate World Where I Instantly Felt 20 Years Younger And My Back Stopped Aching In The Mornings" which I think would also fit the title length requirement.

Sounds like an infomercial pitch Wink
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 9:23 am Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
chex mix wrote:
I'm all in for "I Found Myself In An Alternate World Where I Instantly Felt 20 Years Younger And My Back Stopped Aching In The Mornings" which I think would also fit the title length requirement.

Sounds like an infomercial pitch Wink

Well, considering the current age demographics of Japan, why not Smile ...
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ninjamitsuki



Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 591
Location: Anywhere (Thanks, technology)
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 12:04 pm Reply with quote
How the heck did the most cringeworthy one WIN?
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 2:23 pm Reply with quote
ninjamitsuki wrote:
How the heck did the most cringeworthy one WIN?


Based solely on the title, I have to agree, it sounds like the least interesting one out of those, but we don't actually know how the story pans out. We can only assume it defies the expectations of its title.
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chex mix



Joined: 28 Mar 2015
Posts: 415
PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
Joe Mello wrote:
chex mix wrote:
I'm all in for "I Found Myself In An Alternate World Where I Instantly Felt 20 Years Younger And My Back Stopped Aching In The Mornings" which I think would also fit the title length requirement.

Sounds like an infomercial pitch Wink

Well, considering the current age demographics of Japan, why not Smile ...


"I traveled to an alternate world using a sensible mode of transportation, and the climate there did wonders there for my arthritic joints, although when I got back I found the neighbourhood kids had trampled all over my lawn, so I complained loudly and persistently to their parents, because kids these days need more discipline."
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2126
PostPosted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:47 am Reply with quote
Oh, hey, I've seen some of these.

#narouN8697CX #narouN2046CP #narouN4448CY #narouN7352CT #narouN3202DA #narouN5077BK

encrypted12345 wrote:
It's not the first one, but I'm almost certain Zero no Tsukaima popularized the genre in Japan. It's honestly mediocre with some good points here or there, but I have a great deal of nostalgia towards it.

I'm also sure Oreimo popularized ridiculously long light novel titles. ...I feel old for knowing thos for some reason.


I'm not convinced of either. Certainly El-Hazard was quite popular several years before ZnT. And Oreimo was certainly popular, but long titles had precedents like Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku o!
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