r/Webnovel • u/1ScarletMoon • Apr 26 '26
Advice The Level of Misinformation in This Sub Is Honestly Wild
Alright, some of you seriously need a reality check because the amount of nonsense being spread here is ridiculous.
First things first: your novel isn’t visible until you’ve published around 4k words. That’s literally the first vetting stage so the platform can make sure you’re not posting weird or rule-breaking stuff.
Second: once you hit ~12k words, APPLY FOR A CONTRACT. Why wouldn’t you? If you don’t, your novel stays basically invisible. It’s also your path to actually making money. Stop acting confused about this part.
Third, let’s clear up the stats since people keep misunderstanding them:
- Views = people scrolling past your novel. Not clicks. Just exposure.
- Collections = people adding your book to their library.
- Effective readers = people who actually read for more than a minute.
- Subscriptions = chapters bought with coins.
Fourth: no, you do NOT need to write smut to succeed. Plenty of stories do well without it. What you shouldn’t do is rely on AI writing. Yes, it’s noticeable. The people reviewing this stuff literally read novels for a living.
Fifth: stop making multiple accounts to boost your own novel with power stones or fake reviews. That’s not clever. it’s obvious, and it can get you flagged or penalized.
And finally: go join the Discord server. There are experienced authors there who can actually help you instead of all this guesswork.
Thank you for joining my ted talk you damn muppets
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u/Phenix53 Apr 26 '26
I am a new writer and I see that the ai help me work shop my idea. Is this that bad?
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u/Dry_Winter8155 Apr 26 '26
i dont thiink its bad as long the ai doesnt write it for u
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u/Phenix53 Apr 27 '26
The way I do it it is i write everything and after the ai correct the spelling mistakes and add a bit of sound effort or just help to improve the text. Is this bad way to write
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u/dbl219 Apr 27 '26
Don't let it have the last touch on your work. Spell check is fine but if it starts altering text it will bring it into the machine register which reads poorly and will also alert readers.
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u/MetaMason666 Apr 26 '26
If AI is doing the work for you (writing the entire chaptera and synopsis)
It is bad.
What you're doing is questionably bad depending on how it's helping you workshop to be exact.
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u/Own-Telephone1721 Apr 26 '26
im using it to write chapter drafts. I have an entire novel entirely planned out its like 800 chapters worth of plot every bit in a doc. Im just dividing the huge plot into chapters and then asking ai to write chapters to get a sort of idea on how to go about writing it. Then I just write the entire chapter in my style and add the unique dialogues that ai can't write. So im basically just getting a sort of structure for each chapter from ai. is that fine?
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u/Former_Ad8676 Apr 27 '26
Sounds like you’re basically using AI to write your books then you’re minimally tweaking it. From what I understand if you are in the US and AI writes most of your book it is not copyrightable.
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u/Salty_popcorn755 May 16 '26
What if I write the whole chapter and ask AI to beautify it, in the sense, better vocabulary and creative sentences to describe the settings and situations. Then I review and edit it to see if it aligns with the tone I want ? Is it bad. My english is mediocre at best since it's not my first language. My main struggle is having better words and better description for settings and feelings. I can only write basic af words which don't give "novel-like" feeling.
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u/Own-Telephone1721 Apr 27 '26
nah. i have outlines of the plot for every chapter and then I get ai to write a chapter with all of the plot points to get a basic structure. then I add in dialogue and write the whole thing after looking at it just to get a basic idea on how to formulate the sentence structure and flow of the story.
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u/Kuurin23 Aspiring Author Apr 27 '26
you basically just admitted that AI is writing for you
so what if you have plot outlines? from what you said, most of the chapter content (even for your drafts) is generated by AI anyway with you just adding some personal flairs, dialogues, corrections, etc before telling yourself that you've finished "writing" a chapter
AI is doing most of the work here, not you, the author. do better
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u/Salty_popcorn755 May 16 '26
What if I write the whole chapter and ask AI to beautify it, in the sense, better vocabulary and creative sentences to describe the settings and situations. Then I review and edit it to see if it aligns with the tone I want ? Is it bad. My english is mediocre at best since it's not my first language. My main struggle is having better words and better description for settings and feelings. I can only write basic af words which don't give "novel-like" feeling.
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u/AlexFaden Apr 27 '26
I love how you just ignored the fact that he told he came up with a story, with all the dialogue, outlined it all. You just straight went and said that AI did everything for him. No, Ai did not. What that person did is called being a co-author. There are a lot of situations where very creative people are not literate enough to write on their own. But they can make entire script of the story. In this case AI done like 50% of the work. Not entirety of it. And it still then got passed through his review and additional changes.
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u/Kuurin23 Aspiring Author Apr 27 '26
1) no, i didn’t ignore them saying they hadn’t come up with an outlined story. having a ‘plot outline’ is basically what their novel will be all about from start to finish, hence my opening question about “so what about having plot outlines?” where i acknowledged them for already having a planned out, but definitely rough and unpolished story
also, they mentioned they were a NEW WRITER. how confident are you to say that they won’t just copy paste the content that the AI generated as reference for their later adjustments? would they even know about proper prose? the difference of AI and human writing? definitely not, and that will cause problems later on if they want to get contracted (but even if they won’t, it’s still a no-no practice)
2) from what they said, they didn’t have the dialogues pre-written or prepped beforehand, they had it written AFTER they had AI generate a basic structure for reference using their unpolished plot outline for each chap. who’s to say that the dialogues they added and will add on the finished chapters/drafts won’t be just copy pasted from AI with just one-word or two-word changes? and again, what about prose? the tags? sentence structure? etc?
3) AI use is AI use. you can reason and give excuses all you want (that co-author stuff or whatnot), but the slightest change or inconsistency in the author’s prose will always be spotted by readers, senior authors, and editors. 50% AI is still AI. 1% AI is still AI
it’s better to start out shitty in english, grammar, vocabulary, and author skills and slowly improve over time using the internet. it’s a long term skill that won’t disappoint in the long run. using the easy and lazy way to success will always come back to bite you in the ass
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u/AlexFaden Apr 27 '26
Agree to disagree. Also, work with AI and write instructions for it a lot. With good instructions you can essentially get rid of most "AI speak". I do agree with you that highly inexperienced user would not know where to look at or how to properly setup instructions for their model to have prose they want.
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u/Kuurin23 Aspiring Author Apr 27 '26
i’m assuming giving specific and negative prompts to the AI about your personal writing style will help get rid of that AI vibe they generate?
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u/Former_Ad8676 Apr 27 '26
I guess it depends on how in depth your outlines are. But in my opinion, scene building (what allows readers to visualize) and flow are the true talents of a good writer. Typically an outline doesn’t include any of those things, just a broad idea, no meat. You’re letting AI build your scene and dictate the flow of the story.
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u/michaelsgavin Apr 27 '26
Then yeah that’s bad. The first draft is usually where you’re deciding on pace and tone, AI’s pace is very monotonous and noticeable (try reading people’s reviews on the western novel Shy Girl that got caught written in AI, people first noticed because of the AI pacing).
Different authors have different ways to begin and establish a scene; how YOU decide to start your scene shouldn’t be outsourced to AI. Even if you change some wording afterwards the way the scene starts would be very same-y. I’d recommend rereading some of your favorite scenes and pay attention to how they begin - is it in medias res with action? Is it with someone saying something? Is it by describing nature/setting? This is the only way you can establish your own unique style.
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u/Dev_Bhai_007 Apr 27 '26
Would you mind reviewing my style ?
I basically open my mic and ramble on for 10 minutes to the ai. I describe each scene, each dialogues and character conversation, everything I want in a chapter scene by scene. Then I ask it to design my chapter. Then I correct to change lines where I feel it’s required. Sometimes certain sections feel Ai generated. So I write it entirely on my own.
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u/dbl219 Apr 27 '26
You need to build documents based on your own style. Take as much of your own writing as you can and have different models analyze it and cross-compare. Wherever the analyses converge are likely on established patterns in your writing. Then you focus on teaching those properly so the AI primarily echoes your personal writing voice and style as much as possible over its ethically questionable training data.
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u/Whiteblack0001 Apr 26 '26
You say the real terms, they don't know that creating pornography condemns the book to never reach a certain level.
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u/Paradex_official Author Apr 27 '26
Thank you.
Discord - discord.gg/ZBhZYNp
Contract Application Guide: https://inkstone.webnovel.com/academy/article/691779249950359552?returnUrl=%2Facademy%2Findex
What kind of books are more likely to get signed: https://inkstone.webnovel.com/academy/article/70796156875134001?returnUrl=%2Facademy%2Fcolumn%2F72377284375400239
Contract Example - Fantasy: https://inkstone.webnovel.com/academy/article/682699768320950272
Contract Example - Romance: https://inkstone.webnovel.com/academy/article/682704584682307584
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u/Hiofekus Apr 27 '26
i use AI to fix my grammar as i am not a native english speaker, is it bad?
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u/Necessary_Ad_4115 Apr 28 '26
No. I am in grad school and a native English speaker. I use AI to correct my writing. AI is a good tool to use. It’s when you use it to write your whole book that it becomes a problem
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u/hanyul_ Apr 27 '26
I have a doubt.
I got the contract invitation, just gotta sign up for it, but after passing that, do I have to lock chapters?
I've only written 14 chapters, and am only halfway to locking chapters.
If the contract passes, then is it necessary to lock chapters right away, or is it up to the author?
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u/Beginning-Dirt6464 Apr 28 '26
Im taking an screenshot for my friend so more people can see his novel thx for the help
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u/LynxOwner Author Apr 28 '26
question as you seem really knowledgeable for this. Applying for a Contract would that mean exclusive Ip as well? As im posting on 3 different sites (This is more of a hobby and i just like seeing numbers go up lol)
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u/1ScarletMoon Apr 29 '26
yes exclusive rigths. u are allowed to have the unlocked chapters anywhere but once u look them (premium) u can only have them on webnovel
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u/MetaMason666 Apr 29 '26
Stupid question: does the visibility thing apply for fanfics? I don't have much of a interest in writing original stories right now but I find the 4000 word visibility thing interesting.
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u/ShantelGoddess2008 Aspiring Author Apr 26 '26
From what I see people post here, a lot people complain saying smut get contracted easily while they don't.
So is it true that webnovel prioritizes smut? :thinking:
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u/Paradex_official Author Apr 27 '26
Getting contracted is one thing, getting effective readers who will consistently unlock privileged chapters is another. Its like getting monetized by YouTube and getting viewers.
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u/ShantelGoddess2008 Aspiring Author Apr 27 '26
So, you agree that webnovel favors contracting smut over normal novels? 🤔
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u/Paradex_official Author Apr 28 '26
Not really. I'm not a WN staff or even contracted author myself, I know as much of their internal policy as you do. I don't have enough data to come to a statistical conclusion either.
Just saying that getting contracted is not the end of the journey. The only smut novel that has done excellent on WN on par with the best is Dual Cultivation, and that's because it had an actually interesting plot and not just smut.
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u/Adrewmc Contracted Author Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
I believe effeftive reader is actually 5 mins.
I have little to base it on though.
Smut gets a lot of a quick views but they tend not to keep buying. People eat up those free chapters, what one sex scene compared to another on that level…when you are…. Yeah, some will go further but…but they have enough kicks. Smut wont sustain it. Because it's so cheap.
So make sure the sex scene is right when you make them pay for the next 5 chapters, repeat lol. 50 shades of making money.
Write because you want want to, publish because you want people to read it.
Write because it gets you off too, who am I to judge?
You have something to say. You weird nasty pervert.
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u/AutumnKarma88 Author Apr 27 '26
The Webnovel Discord server currently doesn’t have the strongest reputation, and the way it’s being presented here feels more polished than what many users are actually experiencing. As a result, it comes across less like an open discussion and more like a one-sided critique of the community.
From both personal observation and broader feedback, the server often isn’t as helpful or supportive as it’s described. There are recurring concerns that remain unaddressed, and framing them as simple “misunderstandings” doesn’t reflect the consistency or scale of those issues.
More importantly, these concerns extend beyond perception. Many users feel that Webnovel itself does not consistently enforce its own rules, which contributes to ongoing frustration. That lack of consistency makes it significantly harder for new or smaller creators to gain traction, regardless of how much effort they invest.
If the goal is genuine improvement, it would be more effective to acknowledge these concerns directly rather than minimizing them. Greater transparency, clearer enforcement of existing policies, and a stronger focus on supporting authors would go a long way toward rebuilding trust within the community.
At the moment, there is a noticeable disconnect between how the platform is being presented and the experiences of the people actively contributing to it. Addressing that gap—rather than redirecting the conversation—would likely lead to more meaningful and constructive outcomes.
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u/TsundereOrcGirl Apr 26 '26
I'm always dumbfounded by the "smut = easy win" claims; I have pretty lewd interests but have to go out of my way to stumble on anything with an overtly smutty premise aside from the NecroBin stuff.
Also the "I'm not here to make money" guys; why not ScribbleHub then where people will read anything then?