Are generic stories acceptable?

[f0Ri5]

Recently, I've been scanning novelupdates and webnovel for stuff to read. It's been a while since I checked them, so I was hoping to see some new stories.

While I found what I was looking for, I also didn't. Those who frequent those sites will know what I mean. Basically, when reading these new top-listers, it's like reading the same stuff all over again, but with different settings in characters.

It made me lament how generic stories had become. For some reason, writers seem either unable or unwilling to innovate.

But then I started wondering if that really was the problem. Does a story have to be completely 'novel' for it to be good? Actually, I think it doesn't.

Rather than that, I feel stories can be generic, but then the execution has to be amazing. If you're going to rewrite the same medieval fantasy hero isekai ten million people have written before, there is simply no excuse for the writing to be sloppy, given how the plot threads are basically copy-pasted from other people, but just shuffled into a different order.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

One problem these stories all seem to have is bland characters, especially the female leads. My question is... how can these writers fail so spectacularly at producing compelling characters? Literally, just go and read works of fiction with amazing characters and base yours off that. Hell, you can even rip them straight from other novels, but change the names and appearances.

Maybe these light-novel writers believe they actually are doing that, inserting the usual tsundere/kuudere/yandere suspects into their novels. The thing is, those aren't actually characters, but tropes. Making a good character goes beyond giving them one superficial trait and calling it a day. I know as well as any writer that making good characters is damn hard, but again, the work has already been done. Literally, just google 'anime/novels/movies' with great characters and steal some from what you find. Not rocket science.

Bad world building is the next thing that bugs the hell out of me. This one is actually a bit harder to explain, but I think we all sort of 'feel' it without necessarily being able to put it into words. Like those fantasy novels that are too fantasy. Unless you are specifically writing a crackfic, the world needs to make sense. Don't go overboard, having wizards, dragons and sexy elves everywhere. If everything is fantastic, nothing is. While it may be hard to explain what bad worldbuilding is, good worldbuilding is in my opinion, pretty easily. Just as yourself 'how would the real medieval word be if it had magic/dragons/zombies etc.' and go from there. Many great fantasy writers follow this exact principle and, while it won't necessarily make your worlbuilding perfect, its waaay better than just stuffing the world full of as many outlandish ideas as possible.

Or, you know, just google 'movies/anime/novels with the best world building' and copy that. No brainer.

I can keep going, but you know what I mean. If the story is already generic (ala, a rip-off of what others wrote) why not go the extra mile and rip off stuff that's actually good instead of copying the garbage. As it is, I feel we're being fed a bad copy of a bad copy of a bad copy... and so on.

 

[Maven]

I feel like "just copy what seems best" is a rather slippery path to go down on but on the whole I can agree. Writers, online most of all, seem rather lacking in imagination and more than that, any actual feeling for their settings or characters.

Look at almost any story on this site alone. Chapters seem more like a long ramble of events more than anything experienced by human characters, which in turn drags down any attempt at worldbuilding or setting of a scene. It's all well and good if a generic fantasy world appeals to you as writer, but at least try to make it appealing for your readers to explore your world and fantasy.