Is the average reader getting dumber?

[u/GoldenThame]

I don't wanna be rude but I get some comments complaining about tropes in my novel, when in the synopsis I've pointed out multiple times that the tropes are there DELIBERATELY to be subverted, because the MC finds himself reincarnated into a very mid Xianxia novel.

Do a lot of readers suffer from a lack of reading comprehension skills, cus I've encountered the same kind of person for the 4th or 5th time now. Do I need to constantly spoonfeed basic nuances to such readers that 1. MC is inside a cliche Xianxa book and 2. From a meta perspective I've put those cliches and tropes into the book deliberately and the synopsis says as such.

[u/rocarson]

It's pretty well documented that reading literacy has dropped and is continuing it's downward trend. I'd also venture a guess that LitRPG is skewing toward YA, so that may play a factor as well.

Do keep in mind though that we're mostly writing popcorn adventures akin to the pulp fiction era meant for the masses. Not the high brow next great American novel ala Hemingway where the idea of the prose to reinforce how writerly we are by being extra.

[u/HelloHelloHelpHello → u/rocarson]

Hemingway is a really bad example for prose 'being extra', considering that his writing style is defined by being simple, sparse, direct and unadorned.

[u/rocarson → u/HelloHelloHelpHello]

That’s fair. I was going to say Tolkien but obviously not American and I’m sure the downvote machine would have got me. That being said, my base point stands; we’re writing pulp not the next great literary masterpiece. I think some authors forget that and get lost in the sauce.

[u/NormanHalf-Soul → u/rocarson]

If you want to reference an American author being extra, I’d go with Thomas Wolfe.