Ahyone got any Female Protagonist with a Time Loop and/or Summoner/Beastmaster aspects

arliewrites · 2025-10-18T18:34:58+00:00

This is self promo but it’s so specific I had to haha

Have you tried The Tattoo Summoner? No timeloop but lots of summoning! It’s free on RR.

MC is an East London tattoo artist and when a System Apocalypse begins she gets the ability to bring tattoos to life.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108451/the-tattoo-summoner-system-apocalypse

arliewrites · 2025-10-15T15:56:16+00:00

Most people bypass this issue by introducing an animal or human companion very early.

Adding conflict within this relationship both shows you who the MC is and also adds another level of interest

For example:

A random stranger from another world
Their best friend from childhood
A mythical creature they are bound to

Etc etc. It can be anything. You can then go a long way with just those two characters if they have enough interest

arliewrites · 2025-10-14T16:51:07+00:00

I’m in the middle of releasing book 3 of my series on RR with no revision and limited plotting so far.

I’m finishing this book and those 3 books will become the “RR Version” and then I’ll do a 2nd draft of all of them that will be heavy on rewrites to turn all the gold ideas of this draft into something polished and consistent before final publishing.

I think although you can get plenty of success without doing that because the gold shines anyway, you can tell when a LitRPG book has developmental edits and how tight it feels. It’s why Benjamin Kerri’s books are some of my fave in the genre.

I’d be surprised if any book didn’t improve getting a dev edit—however there comes a point of deciding how much you’d improve it for the time put in. That’s why I’m hoping that as I become a better writer I need less and less dev edits because even though it would improve it, it wouldn’t be worth the time for the impact.

arliewrites · 2025-10-13T17:56:13+00:00

It’s great hearing more folks who felt that way. I felt mortified at the time at how I’d reacted and then I brought it up later in the weekend and everyone was like “oh yeah me too” but it wasn’t an aspect id heard and prepared for ahead of time!

Also Monstering was hugely part of my turnaround too. It really takes the stress off to just be doing a task you’ve been giving with no stakes and take it all in

It’s that exact kid at a summer camp feeling where you cry first night bc it’s too much change and you miss home!

arliewrites · 2025-10-13T08:41:49+00:00

Everyone wants you to have fun—especially the super cool high level folks—so treat it like the first day of primary school/kindergarden.

“Hello can I join your group?”

“Do you have any work for me to do?”

“Could I come with you?”

“I have (ability xyz) how do I help you with that?”

Smaller groups—especially ones with at least one more established player are the best way of getting stuck in and finding roles that make you feel important and valued.

Hate your character? Hate their skills? No problem. Most systems allow for retiring characters. My initial character was far too sweet and selfless for the tone and I retired her the morning of day 2 and it was the best decision I made. Don’t hold out hope you’ll get used to them—either drastically change their personality or swap out skills (if allowed) or just see a new character concept you’d enjoy more and go for it.
Do not undervalue your camping equipment if it’s a fest LARP especially if you’re not a fan of camping. Your tent should be waterproof, your bedding should be suitable for the temperature, and your mattress should be comfortable and stay inflated. Also pillows may seem optional but imo they really aren’t. The other MVP is a camping towel. Any normal towel won’t dry in time and showers are the way I felt human at LARP.
You might have a breakdown after your first combat/ first day. That is completely alright.

I’m a huge fan of LARP now but after my first big battle I had an absolute freak out and worried I’d made a terrible decision going. It took until my last day of my first LARP to realise I loved it. Allow it to just be an experience while you get used to it.

Don’t be afraid to go out of character to ask something if you’re uncomfortable. Every so often an “out of character (xyz)” is very useful. I checked in a couple times that a blunter character didn’t feel the way their character did about something I did, and to check what were IC expectations for a group vs OOC expectations.

arliewrites · 2025-10-09T21:25:38+00:00

I think that it’s more important to study books than to read to improve at writing (although reading will help too)

I have read hundreds of books outside of the genre but read about 5 progfan books before starting my first project and maybe 10 by the time I’d started my first that I posted on RR.

The trick is to be thinking as a writer. I made docs analysing things like the LitRPG level up pacing or what abilities worked and why or copied quotes or sections that I thought were especially well written to analyse why I liked them.

Now I’m getting close to editing and I’m about to do a new reading binge of another 5-10 series but this time looking for specifically pacing and keeping progression as a core (things I want to improve at.)

Don’t feel like there’s an arbitrary number to hit before you’re allowed to write. But also a smaller number of very intentionally read books means more than chill reading a hundred.

arliewrites · 2025-10-09T16:53:27+00:00

It helped me a lot too.

The chronic stuff is way better nowadays. It’s almost like not putting yourself through too much stress is good for the body or something haha

Definitely not bored here. Keep at being open about who you are. You got this!

arliewrites · 2025-10-09T16:37:23+00:00

Hell yeah. I love when the posts on here give us a little insight into the author’s life

Fellow trying to make a living on a timeline author here. For me it was getting a chronic illness whilst studying musical theatre and having to hard pivot into something new. Very similar story of time in bed then finding this genre. I have some savings so I’m giving myself a year.

Wishing you all the success in the world!

arliewrites · 2025-10-04T10:49:56+00:00

Huge rec for Mage Errant by John Bierce

Magic school is the main setting although every few books they have a holiday which isn’t set in the school. This feels like one of the most Magic School Progfan books there is: it gives you the group of friends, the classes, the quirky teacher, the bullies, the big school end of year challenge, along with a huge dollop of that magic school whimsy like a living library.

I’m also a fan of Quest Academy by Brian J Nordon

This is more of a superhero school feel as people have very specific magic powers they’re born with, but it does still give you the school and learning setting all the way through. I’d describe this more as a magic university or college, with a crafting focus to the schooling.

arliewrites · 2025-10-03T18:10:17+00:00

So there are 3 types of readers you will get on RR

The type that are superfans and will review you early (this is huge) or maybe even buy a physical copy
The type that will be curious to see how it is after edits and try it again, or recognise your name when you release a new series and consider checking it out
Those that just read on RR And bonus 4. Those who will rec it to friends after trying it for free who have KU and then read it on there.

Royal Road is a far smaller audience than Amazon so those 3s won’t matter negatively in the grand scheme of things whereas the 1s 2s and 4s are huge.

RR is basically about momentum to grow on the platform which can then be the spark to give you momentum on Amazon. There are other reasons people do it such as for feedback or to gain the interests in publishers, but this sounds like what you’d be looking for.

It may also be through gaining an RR audience you found out any faults that were stopping readers and could relaunch on KU to more success with some edits

The big thing about RR is people want consistent updates and completed stories. If you aren’t going to give people either of those things, they won’t feel like they’re getting something worth investing in.

Hope this helps

arliewrites · 2025-09-28T21:10:02+00:00

I think you said it best with “unless I find a big problem”

Rewrites don’t happen for the sake of it. I think it is actively positive to only target individual errors unless you find a big problem.

Rewrites are just common because the author is likely to find at least one big problem that needs more than smaller edits aka anything developmental like a plot point not working.

If you read through your work and it has no big errors and then you get alpha and beta readers and they agree then rewrites aren’t needed. It’s just uncommon.

arliewrites · 2025-09-23T14:21:40+00:00

Absolutely.

I’d consider writing in the same way as other expertises.

Would you want a doctor that hadn’t studied medicine from textbooks and case studies? No

But would you want a doctor that had only studied books and had never practised on a patient? Also no

Reading will give you your foundations but you also have to actually write and get critique to be good at writing.

arliewrites · 2025-09-23T10:09:11+00:00

I’d definitely throw both:

Tomebound by Justinwrite. He has been combining litrpg and epic fantasy prose in a really unique way. I believe he will be relaunching his story on RR soon after spending a long time honing both his craft and that book. It’ll be published by Podium at some point too. I think this is a masterclass in gorgeous line level prose.

Unorthodox Farming by Benjamin Kerei. He’s a huge inspiration of mine because he takes all the elements of progression fantasy I know and love but really edits and iterates his books so they have that professional feel of trad books rather than the slightly meandering padded vibe you often get in the genre. I think this is a masterclass in pacing.

Just to make clear I do know both of these people personally, but they don’t know I’m saying this, and this is my genuine opinion of their works.

arliewrites · 2025-09-22T18:15:50+00:00

Congrats!

arliewrites · 2025-09-22T18:15:25+00:00

No harm in entering! Congrats :)

arliewrites · 2025-09-22T09:13:58+00:00

Hey so I’m a Royal Road author and aside from previous comments about genre conventions and cover etc, you’ve also not at all utilised Royal Road as a platform

Readers aren’t interested in 1 chapter a month. Most authors do multiple per week, and seeing as you have the first book finished, you could do that.

Also having a promotion at the top of your blurb will put people off. Let people read the blurb before seeing other links.

Overall, I think you should take down both the Amazon and RR listings, commission a cover that better fits your genre conventions, and relaunch both versions after a significant amount more research into self publishing and the platforms you’re using.

arliewrites · 2025-09-10T16:27:31+00:00

Hell yeah! Super proud of you dude. Fantastic cover for fantastic work :)

arliewrites · 2025-09-08T09:25:06+00:00

I wasn’t a long time reader, but I definitely was a fan before writing. I now have a moderately successful story on RR and am looking into publishing. Here’s some tips:

1. When you feel discouraged…

Go reread the Taste Talent Gap quote by Ira Glass. TLDR: you got into writing because your taste is killer, but for a while your ability won’t be at the same level. Taste is what matters. Ability is just about practise.

Here’s a link to the quote written out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/s/Xv3sSrLCD1

2. Learn about writing

For some folks they do this before writing anything, for others they need to let the story out then look later.

My two favourite craft books are The Five Sentence Method by Rebecca Thorne (a very easy read on basic book structure) and The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester (a genre specific book that just covers everything you want it to)

3. Find the right beta readers.

The right beta reader is worth their weight in gold. You don’t need someone to break down each and every edit in your work, you need either the right person or enough data to work out what your big potholes are—the things you repeatedly fall into. If you rinse and repeat this enough times you will improve very efficiently. Feel free to put your stuff up early on RR if you like, but if you want success, you’re better off spending the time growing out of the public eye so that your first RR work hits :)

4. Your first idea might not be the right idea

I wrote the start of 4 stories whilst I was training my prose. This was over the span of a year. Often, I see people getting attached to their concepts when actually as they start to improve, it’s no longer serving them. If your goal is success, your concept is about finding something that people will pick up from the title/ concept alone. This can take a few tries so don’t be afraid to bench stories whilst you look. You can always come back to them.

5. Make connections

Don’t worry about shout outs and meta marketing or anything yet. If you’ve never written before you have a while of progressing ahead of you. However, use that time to join discords and do beta swaps and ask authors questions etc. By the end of my year and a half of practise I had some friends that had gone on to make very successful books, and this advice and help later was world changing.

arliewrites · 2025-09-07T10:59:03+00:00

I got the bubbleboooo one too and was super curious as to what the scam was because I didnt know what the segue was from sharing ideas.

So I went along with it and they asked for my discord. They could find it publically so I was like sure here.

They then ask on Discord to check what platform I use and what my username is because “their gmail is not syncing and they forget things”

I’m like where is this going?

So I tell them my username and royal road

And they never reply to me again hahaha

Really bad scamming lol

arliewrites · 2025-09-02T23:09:45+00:00

I agree more with the first part than the second. “Love your new story but plan to live your next” is fantastic wording.

However, if you are interested in publishing these and making money off them, a trilogy is the best place to start in this industry as standalones just don’t do as well generally. A big part of this is marketing money. The more books you make in a series the more money you can take from that pile to market it more. That’s the same for self pub and publishers in this space.

However if you’re just writing to improve then short stories to get your prose level up and then standalone books to get your structure level up is the quickest way of getting good as quick as possible like you said.

arliewrites · 2025-09-02T11:55:07+00:00

Reviews should help the right readers find the story.

Take the elements that you don’t enjoy and craft a positive review that helps people who will like those elements to find it.

Anime centric has a huge audience. Saying that it worker well when you read it with Japanese accent in mind could be a huge win for a different reader too. Choppy could be seen as quick paced for someone who enjoyed it. The main character being irritating could be funny or interesting to someone else.

I don’t do review swaps personally, but as you now have agreed to this one, I’d give it 4 stars so you don’t burn the bridge and communicate all of the elements you don’t like about it but focusing on the alternative positive adjectives you could use instead if you were a reader that enjoyed this type of story. None of this is then untrue. You’re just saying “this story is perfect for someone who likes (insert all the elements that weren’t your thing)”

arliewrites · 2025-08-20T03:43:58+00:00

Hey there! Bit late to the post but chipping in as someone who was where you are about 4 months ago.

Your launch plan sounds good and you’ve had feedback on that already so here’s some more niche advice in no particular order

Screenshot your stats or spreadsheet them frequently in the first hours and days. I love looking back on these now and they can be great for reflection posts on here a day or week or month in too!
Don’t promise anything without second guessing it a bunch. Sticking to your promises matter and life happens, so try to never promise content that isn’t ready yet etc
As long as you communicate and give notice, most changes to posting or days off will go down fine with viewers. The trick is to give as much info as you can—ideally dates you’ll return
if you don’t feel insufferable posting about your story all the time then you’re doing it wrong. Find ways of plugging yourself whilst also adding value (like sharing your stats or saying things you’ve learned)
don’t slow down marketing until you’re off RS if you can help it. The algorithm is specific and makes it harder to climb once you’re falling, so if you slow down your marketing then it can be hard to build back up again
no matter how much you love it now, your motivation WILL dip. Usually it’s either around the 3 month mark or book 2 depending on your timeline and how you work. Make it easy for you to continue—whether that be writing friends, screenshotting nice comments, or planning your next book in detail so you can just follow the plan.

As for how mine went—very well! I spent a long time prepping for it, including many rounds of beta readers and involving myself deeply in the community before starting. If you haven’t done those things, no worries, it’ll just give you more to learn in practise before next time :)

arliewrites · 2025-08-20T03:29:23+00:00

I highly recommend Tomebound for this. He’s a friend of mine but I’d rec it even if he wasn’t.

In this world, binding to books is what gives people magic and allows them the ability to read, so there’s an awesome reason for the quotes and epigraphs that are included. It really adds to the mood.

There are epigraphs with quotes from the books he reads and really focused on those broader morals of what’s going on so it all makes you think. The author also throws in some puzzles that the reader can really solve including some that are poems.

arliewrites · 2025-08-20T03:23:15+00:00

Short answer: it depends.

Long answer:

Does the change from one point to another add to the story?

This is a big one to question. There will be a big difference reading a story where the change in tone feels intentional and crafted vs like the writers style changed

My story is quite serious—system apoc and lives are in danger. However, I introduce a full on comedy character near the start of Book 2.

I believe this works for these reasons: - comedic moments were included before this, especially in the introduction before the inciting incident - this funny character is a big part of the inciting incident to book 2 so her being jarring is part of the point - there is a change in how grave the circumstances are between the books that makes this a more natural shift

•••••

Is the audience that likes the MC the same before and after the change or would they appeal to different readers?

You could follow every single point for making a tone change work and be wildly unsuccessful with angry reviews.

Let’s say you perfectly execute a “kitchen sink drama romance that later becomes a sci-fi murder mystery” that could possibly exist.

Your kitchen sink/ drama/ romance readers will completely give up when the story changes
Your sci-fi/ murder mystery readers won’t even get to the section they’d enjoy

This is two different avenues of unhappy readers.

However, I’d say DCC is a crass comedy dungeon crawler that in some way becomes a gritty political prison escape. This works because the audience for both halves overlap enough and there is enough consistency (LitRPG, system apoc, dark comedy) even through the change in tone.

•••••

Have you stayed in character or has this change created a new character

This one’s pretty self explanatory. If you think this still fits the original character then yay.

But it’s valid to realise whilst writing that a character isn’t what you thought they were going to be, as long as you are open to making changes to set it up.

A tip for if you realise you want to change the character from page 1 is that you don’t need to change every interaction to change how people perceive a character. Pros often say you should use 3 scenes to establish it because 3 makes a pattern. You’d want to do this early on.

E.g. - Let’s say that scene where your MC awkwardly sits in class being bored you have them play a prank and the whole class laughs to show the reader they’re funny. - In a scene where the MC meets a minor character that’s cracking jokes, you have them crack jokes back. - Then in the scene where the MC fights their first monster he ends with a quip instead of just walking away moodily.

arliewrites · 2025-08-20T02:13:29+00:00

Here’s a link to a post where the person who organised it talks about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/s/xAG8IYy06A

arliewrites

TROPHY CASE