Guide on Novels and Games - STORY

In this Section I'll talk of what a story is.

What is a Story?
A story is basically a sequence of events that designers, in games, and authors, in the other media, show to us but if we want to follow a more "classical" definition than a story is "a tale that a writer or a narrator say to readers and/or witness", this is quite simple but is clear too.

How a story is divided.
When we write a story we need to line the so-called "storylines" and we can divide them into:


 * MAIN The storyline that involve the main events of a story... don't know how work for other writers but I follow this steps that I found "logic":
 * Choice how start and how end the story... in life the journey is more important than the destination but in a novel is a need or there is the chance of made mistakes drifting away from what we originally planned. Another reason for do this is that once defined the start and the end then is possible line the various points of the story better.
 * Make a list of all type of events that may appear in the story, while doing this is better take note of every possible one, for example the classic trope that every japanese schoollife story have are usually the school trip, the school festival and some vacation like the summer one or the golden week, despite they are classic event they themself don't vary because the characters and the author change preventing copy paste that may damage the story or make the readers / players loose interest.
 * Filter the events for personalize the story and make it more original as possible, various times in some web novels I saw comments like "this is always the same trope" or "it was so easy know how that will end that I decided to drop it", ignore such comments since not all the readers are like this even because with	the time various combinations of events came out so is pretty normal that various stories may have similar events or progression, the one that comment like this, sometimes, don't understand how difficult is make an original work
 * Leave holes that don't damage the story so that is possible insert other events for increase the "lenght" of the story or simple for make eventual side stories that an author can make later. Sometimes certain holes are left not because they were forgotten but because none care about them,what is important is that this holes don't damage the main story.
 * Divide the story into arcs for have a better control of all the story making possible shorten or make it more long when and if is need. Fragment a story may seems strange but is not because divide a story in pieces make possible control them more easely and without problems, what is important is never forget that the ening of an arc can connect with the next one.
 * SIDE They are events that don't change the main story, personally I divide them into 4 categories:
 * True Side, they are "interlude events" that are used for fill the space between the various moment of the main story, for example... the MC move from city A to city B, the side story can say what happened while moving between the two cities. Please remember that side story events can be used in dialogues and main events like encounter someone that were helped during a side story in the main story, plus is even possible that true side stories can be treated as if they were flashback.
 * Companion, they are moment of the story that talk about the companions.
 * Different POV, this moments show events that happen in the story from the point of view of another character, in various work this can be used for describe the same event or things that happen at the same time but in different places, for example there is a war and the MC is on the battlefield A then thanks to another POV we know what happen in the battlefield B or in the nearest city that is making preparation for the possible incoming of soldiers.
 * Filler, we mainly see them in anime and are adventures that don't influence in any way the progression of the main story like they never take place... a little example, the Main Character fight against a monster and use a special technique but after that event none talk about it like the Main Character never used it or encountered that monster making that events and technique unique to the filler. Normally they appear when a manga get an anime adaptation, one of the reason for this is for give time for the manga to come out and progress, just think this, if you follow a manga and then an anime adaption come out, knowing or thinking that the ending of the anime is the same of manga, would you continue to follow the manga? Some people may say "yes" but others would start to loose interest in the manga since, in a way, the anime is a spoiler of the manga... in this cases is better that the manga have quite the large number of chapters so that there is quite the distance between them.

In games how work?
In games things are not very different and basically it's used the "quest line" system where there are:


 *  Main Quest Line , all the quests that involve the progress of the story, in open world is always better do a good programming of the triggers because if not is possible create bugs or break the story making the player skip parts of the story, for example let's say that for progress the story I have to go to City D, take a mission and then move to Mountain F, now if the design and the programming are good then the area in Mountain F, where the mission end, will be closed or the trigger will not activate.
 *  Faction Quest Line , if the game provide factions then every one of them have its own set of quests and can happen that certain events of a faction line will influence the main story or another faction line. For example, MC escape from a prison where it was detained for mistake... once out he can choice to clear the mistake joining faction A or go against faction A joining faction B, doing so certain places and NPC may become friendly or hostile toward the player.  Depending on how the game is, the main storyline require to join a faction or not.  Even in this case is better always make certain areas or items that can't be reached, one example of a good work I saw is in TES: Skyrim where a dungeon was closed and impossible to go inside because it was part of a faction.
 *  Support Quest , they are quests done for obtain some kind of support from characters, for example do a mission for an alchemist and then be able to commission it or use its laboratory. This type of quests are always connected to the ability of the NPC or its background, for example lets say that the player want to learn how use a bow then it found an NPC that was exiled from his own territory because someone framed it, helping the NPC regain its honor will unlock it as teacher for learn on how use a bow.
 *  Random Quest , they are just quest put in the game for earn money and items, not really worthy in terms of story but increase the gameplay time granting a way for resources. Despite how I described them I need to say that depending on how the reward they can be used for level up at a good speed so is need to keep in mind this for create a good balance and don't let a player stick in a place till it reach the limit of the level up.

Does stories have genre?
Stories have genre and use them as tags help the work to be know and classified for a quick search:


 * 4	koma, a 4 koma is a single page manga composed of 4 window, in	some mangas I saw 4 komas in column with 2 stories in a single page, they usually are comedy oriented.
 * Action, imply "actions" like gun fights, drive cars at high speed, epic fights, etc.
 * Adult,	this genre involve various topic like mature and psycological topic and in some cases even smut ones, an exampe can be the difficulty of a single father that divide his life betwwen the work and his only daughter trying to don't leave her alone for too much time.
 * Adventure,	the main character start a travel where it will live various experiences... for example explore dungeons or the road that the MC cross for become a god/goddess.
 * Comedy,	as you can understand, imply that the story have various funny events that are used for smile and laugh.
 * Cooking,	the story have as main component cooking and this mean that the story can take place inside resturants and kitchen or is the story	of a traveler that cook using what it found around.
 * Drama, imply that the story is made for stimulate emotions in the reader/player but don't limit on a	single emotion but to a large pool and this mean happiness, sadness, rage, etc.
 * Dramatic, imply that there are emotional elements that hit the MC like a	nuke, for example lost all the family and develop a trauma that	prevent him on create a new one or make friends.
 * Ecchi,	imply that the story have partial nudity in it, here some	example:
 * MC enter a room where one or more girls are half naked or in their underwear that are changing clothes.
 * MC fell on a girl landing with his face under her skirt or in a position where his hands are touching her breasts.
 * Fantasy,	imply the presence of races like beastmen, elves,	dwarves, etc., and involve things like magic and similar, like the classical worlds of swords and magic.
 * Game,	the adventures of players that play games, for example a 30 salaryman play a VR game and all the story tells the events of him inside the game with maybe some light slice of life things that happen in real life.
 * Gender Bender, the story imply that the main character change his/her gender for a reason, is common make male characters that become	girls.
 * Harem/Otome, it's when a single person have different partners, that he/she	know it or not:
 * "Harem" it's when the MC is a male and have 2 or more women
 * "Otome" it's when the MC is a female and have 2 or more men
 * Historical, the story tell historical events and character as they are or is	based on certain historical events and show them in a different way, like tell the story of Alexander The Great but with magic in it.
 * Horror, imply scary and gore elements like blood, death and other things.
 * Isekai,	this genre imply that the main character is transported, in a way or another, into another world and tell his/her life there.
 * Lolicon / Shotacon, this genre involve Loli (girls) and/or shota (boys), the change from normal one is that they involve prepuberal	characters and this mean that they have an age that range from 11 to 14 years old
 * Manhua,	aka Manhwa, imply the works and comics made in china and china	regions.
 * Martial Arts, self explain itself, this genre involve the use of famous martial arts.
 * Mecha, involve big robots, something that every guy love and want at	some point of his life.


 * Medical, involve medical elements, like heal using modern medicine or creating an hospital, most of the story of this genre I know are basically isekai in fantasy worlds.
 * Music	/ Musical, this genre involve stories where music is a central element like teens that make a band and their conquest of the music	world
 * Mystery,	the story have various mystery that are solved or not.
 * One	shot, they are stories that usually start and finish with a single chapter but it happened that they had so much success that	the author continued the story.
 * Overpowered	MC, this genre self explain itself but I'll say it anyway, it	involve a character that is very powerfull to the point that there	is no crisis it can solve and most of the time it's so powerfull	that don't know what a defeat is.
 * Parody, this genre quote things of other series and franchise, for this genre ALWAYS note the elements that are used and say the real owners, this help to avoid some legal problems.
 * Psychological, this tag is used for stories that dwell deep in the mind of the characters explaining various things about them and more than	normal. Remember that this lead to a characterization of the a character even more than any other genre.
 * Romance, the story provide romantic stories like a guy that fall in love	and struggle with that until he confess and receive an answer that normally is a positive one, in some harem/otome works the tag romance is used too but this don't necessarily meant that is between	only 2 partners.
 * School Life, this genre imply that the story involve students of any	grade or one or more teacher and their life at school.
 * Sci-Fi,	this genre involve the use of high technology and beings like aliens, if one want to use "supernatural" elements than first need to make a sci-fi reason for example ghosts are energy	based life form from a distant planet.
 * Seinen / Jousei, in this jenre we have the MC that is not a teen but	neither someone that is over 50... usually they may have an age that range from 20 to 30 years old and this mean working guys/women and university students.
 * Shoujo / Shounen Ai, this genre invole young girls (shoujo) or boys (shounen) in love matters, in other words this genre is a romance one where the protagonist is a young one
 * Slice of life, involve the everyday life of the characters in their	various aspect like go to work or school, go out with friends and things like that, normally it move with other genre.
 * Smut,	it's a genre that involve 18+ sexual materials like mainly is 2	characters that have sex, in some sites this genre is called "Adult".
 * Sports, this genre have its story revolve around a type of sport like	soccer, baseball, sumo or any other recognized sportive activities
 * Supernatural,	this	genre involve place like our world that have to do with events that can't be explained with science and can found some source in the	mythology so things like gremlins, ghosts and youkai can be found in	this kind of genre BUT nothing that come from fantasy stories like elves and dwarves. Can involve magic but must be some type that	already exist and not a "new one", for example the japanese's onmyouji is a type of magic.
 * Super power,	like the name itself, this genre involve super powers, it's not	different if the super powers are genetic, mental (espers) or	supernatural (magic) and sometimes can be found together the	Supernatural genre.
 * Tragedy,	this genre involve tragic events with the characters that suffer some emotional damages like be the only that survive the destruction of its own hometown, being betrayed by the person it trusted and/or	loved and things like that... I hate this genre.


 * Yaoi/Yuri, this genre is basically the romance but that involve the same gender of the protagonist, Yaoi is man-love-man, aka BL, while yuri is girl-love-girl.

Stories have always more than one genre, for example a robot story will have the tags action/mecha/sci-fi and, despite every genre of story require a minimun of research, certain require more like historical (you can't talk about an historical moment without knowledge of that moment), cooking (this genre require knowledge about the tools, the ingredients and their combinations and the method that are used to cook) and medical (basically this genre require the knowledge of the sickness and the way to cure them even in the past).

Common Isekai Progression
The classical progression for an isekai story is influenced by the type of MC we have in our hands...


 * If	the MC is a reincarnated one that have a new body case 1, we	usually have some flashback or summary of the previous life of the	MC.
 * If	the MC is a reincarnated one that have a new body case 2, we see	the MC with his original body and the moment of his/her death for	than do a jump to the time and/or location of the rebirth of the MC.
 * If	the MC is a reincarnated one that have the same body case 1, we	see him in his normal life in the new world and a summary of his	reincarnation with maybe some more detailed flashback in a future	moment of the story.
 * If	the MC is a reincarnated one that have the same body case 2, we	see him/her talk with the entity that is transporting the MC in the	other world, or not since in some cases I saw that the entity that	summon the MC is not show at the beginning or is simple dead, and	its first steps in the new world. I already saw a case where the	MC is transfered in another world and after some exploration found	the body of the summoner that is dead since long time and only the	bones remains this because the summoner prepared the spell for	activate itself quite the time after his death.
 * If	the MC is summoned case 1, we see the first steps of the MC in	the new world from the beginning, with usually a first sight of MC	powers.
 * If	the MC is summoned case 2, we have the MC during his normal life	in the new world after the summon and we have some short flashback	or summary of when he/she was summoned.

After this first step it usually the second that depend on the story and so we can have:


 * The	"hero" that travel for save the world accepting the	mission and reason for him/her being summoned/transfered in the	other world.
 * The	"slow life seeker" MC that try to live a life without	stress but that most of the time fail in do that... and usually is a	corporative slave or a very lazy one.
 * The	"I'll take revenge against the ones that bullied me" where	normally the MC is betrayed by the ones that are summoned with	him/her (now that I think about it I don't know a title where the MC	is a female and is betrayed by the people that summoned her or that	are summoned with her) or that the summoner label the MC as	useless/trash and toss it away or even try to kill him/her failing.
 * The	"I want to go back in my world" MC that go on its own	hoping to found a way for go back from where he come.
 * The	"I don't care why you called me here so I'll do whatever I	want" where the MC don't want to be involed in the reason of	the summoning and so go on its own. I normally saw this type when	groups of people are summoned.

This are the most common one but any other steps depend on the author but since we talk about isekai and so we talk of fantasy, the next common step is usually the MC that become an adventurer, a merchant or a traveler for the sake of it's own genre so lazy life, hero save the world, etc.

Common Manhua Progression
Before start this part I want to point that all the info I'll tell here come from not novel but from the comics, I personally never saw a chinese novel and don't even know where I can found it.

In the case of the various manhua I saw we can have this common situation but remember that they are the common one and this don't mean that there are not other types:


 * Immortal	case 1, the MC is originally a normal human but cultivate and	become able to reach the world of the immortals, sometimes called	too fairy world but dunno the reason. After reach incredible	levels is betrayed for obtain his/her secrets/positions by his pupil	and/or lover and instead die go back in time in his/her younger self	before start to cultivate, mainly various years prior the main	events that lead the MC to a dark period or even some days away from	them.
 * Immortal	case 2, the MC is originally a normal human but start to	cultivate reaching high level and arrive to the immortal world,	there he continue but trying to reach new levels of power it fail	and is transported back in time in his/her younger self for a reason	or another.
 * Immortal	case 3, the MC is originally a normal human that end for luck or	misfortune in the immortal world where he/she cultivate, once reach	a certain level of power try to go back in the human world but	something go wrong and is sent back in time in his/her younger self.
 * Immortal	case 4, the MC is an immortal that lived in the immortal world	but an event (be betrayed or failed in something like tribulation or	a technique) finish inside the body of some random human and try to	go back to the immortal world for have revenge, go back to the one	he/she love or for some other reason.
 * Cultivation	case 1, the MC is a poor person that don't have any talent in	cultivation BUT luck is on its side and for this reason the MC	obtain some cultivation method that make it able to become strong.
 * Cultivation	case 2, the MC have his/her cultivation crippled and is not able	to cultivate until something restore it and the MC recover his/her	past strenght and even more.

Of the points wrote before I need to say that usually the "Immortal case" variations are used for modern age while the "Cultivation case" variations are for ancient age.

Here some common points that I usually saw in the manhua I found around:


 * MC	is born in a poor family, its family is a branch one that is used as	servant or is member of a declined family that lost its power.
 * The	MC have or will have a life of abuse that comes from others (family,	schoolmates, etc.).
 * The	MC is engaged with someone but normally the engagement is broken by	the other party for a reason or another, in some cases I saw that	the parents found someone more powerfull of the MC while in other	cases I saw that is the girlfriend/boyfriend that act arrogant and	break it... I found rare that MC and the other party truly love each	other but the family of the other party decide to annul the	engagement. Usually the possible outcome of the nullified	engagement is:
 * The girlfriend stay with the bully but then when the guy fall she doesn't appear anymore making understand that she fell too with him.
 * In a couple of works I saw that the ex try to go back with the MC but is refused, with the ex that sometimes act all high and might as if the superior MC should be honored to have the attention of that person.
 * In a single work I saw that the author took the decision of show the ex-girlfriend in different moments of the story when the MC obtain more power and fame with her say that she don't regret the annullment of the engagement... little to say that is clear that she say that only for force herself to believe it since in truth she regret that choice... personally I like this thing because show a detestable person that lost an opportunity and regret it, I don't know if this continue for a long time because I lost interest in the work and dropped it.
 * In a single work, at least between the one I know, there is an ex that deeply regret leaving the MC and is show in a event where the MC with his new girlfriend are driving and side the ex and the one she took for leave the MC, is clear that she regret her action and after a comment of her actual "boyfriend" she run away crying regretting her choice and the conseguences she is suffering... for how much she deserved that, I'm still one that love happy endings so see her like that hurt me but this is just a personal opinion, don't mind it.
 * The	MC usually help someone in need that end be connected to a family or organization that become the first steping stone for the MC's grow.
 * In	modern age the cultivation is not something that is know from the masses and so only rich people or the one of certain circles know about it, aside this is common that people that practice some	martial arts are strong.
 * Military	forces offer to the MC to become a member of special squads.
 * The	99% of times, the MC kill people but is untouched by the police and	any authorities, in most cases this is not explained but I suppose	that is due to some protection from some big shots, because they are	unable to found evidences or because they are so scared to lift a	finger against the MC that they just ignore what he/she do. The	only reaction he/she "suffer" is usually the family / sect	 / master / organization of the now dead victimthat go for revenge but fail.
 * The	progression of the events usually follow the city where MC live and	then expand with the region, the country, the continent, the world	and any other superior level.
 * Immortals that go back in the mortal worlds, due to the different values, usually call and see the ones that oppose them "ants"	showing that the so called "powers" the humans have are	nothing compared to immortals that obtained divinity and similar	powers... plus the term "trash" is widely used too not	only by the immortals but from the humans too but while humans use	it for indicate only certain people, mainly the ones they consider	useless and weak, the immortals use them basically with any holder	of "power".