“Aaahhh!” I screamed, tearing my hair out at the sight of the 210x297mm of white space in front of me. In my apartment, there was nobody around to hear me scream — not even Daemon — so I allowed myself the luxury of continuing to do so for seventeen more days.

That wasn’t to say I was only screaming. No, I got some stuff done while I did — the screaming was just to get me through the pain and the horror of perceiving the work still to come, and the intimidating process of interpreting abstract thought into concrete words. It’s just a shame that everything I did get done was purely worldbuilding.

Worldbuilding unlocked!

+100 Class XP

+1,000 Worldbuilding XP

Worldbuilding increased to level 3!

Class leveled up!

You are now Class: Level 6 LitRPG Author

I’d kinda been counting on unlocking something useful with that level up, but it seemed that not every level was accompanied with a reward. This made sense, at least. After all, otherwise by the time I reached level twenty billion — which I still fully intended to do — I would've unlocked twenty billion rewards. Even a seemingly infinite intelligence like the System would surely have trouble coming up with twenty billion rewards.

But this lack of reward for level 6 meant that I had three skills, and only two specialism slots in which to put them. We’d reached a point of opportunity cost — the core decision in any good litRPG story, and also by far the easiest one to write in. Like the protagonists in the stories I read, I considered my decision in excruciating detail, spelling out to myself every single permutation of pros and cons for each skill, before finally deciding to switch out Market Research for Worldbuilding.

Class: Level 6 LitRPG Author

Specialisms: Worldbuilding (Level 3), Character Depth (Level 5)

The sensation was even less pleasant this time around, if such a thing were possible. While before I’d just had extra knowledge or capability magically placed within my brain, this time I had some being forcefully ripped out, too. My understanding of the market diminished a good some, and I forgot some stuff I was sure I’d once known.

Armed with knowledge of my world and my character, I prepared myself to take the next step: words on page. Upon this preparation, the screaming grew louder and more strained, particularly because I realised I didn’t really have the third component of a story nailed down: the plot.

So I figured I’d make it up as I went along, as all good authors do.

At long last, with heavy fingertips and a heavier heart, I put down my first word: The.

Words: 1

A tracker popped up in the top-right corner of my vision. I tried another word, putting down the first word that popped into my head: carrot.

Words: 2

OK, maybe not ‘carrot’.

Words: 1

This was good to have, but I didn’t quite see what purpose it served. Maybe it was just another way to quantify my progress, another way to offer me tiny, incremental serotonin hits.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I gritted my teeth together — which did surprisingly little to muffle the screaming — and pressed on, setting the scene in chapter one of my story with three hundred words of dense worldbuilding. It was nice to see that counter go up in the corner of my vision, and it was nice to put all my worldbuilding into the format that people would actually read it — as essentially a string of facts in paragraph form.

But still the screaming continued, for I could see another blank page approaching, beyond the page break. This was my life now, I realised, always in fear of the unknown, of the great emptiness that I must fill. It was an immense responsibility, one with the potential to overwhelm, frighten, alarm, and — perhaps — kill.

Words: 345

Still I wrote, in a daze of confusion and anguish, my throat growing rapidly more sore with every moment that past. I put world onto paper, and started to introduce my protagonist. Though it felt a strain, this process, I was doing it! I was slowly getting towards completing my very first scene. Next stop: chapter. Stop after that: book. Stop after that: series. Stop after that: well, who knows? Maybe a film deal.

Words: 500

Achievement unlocked!

Achievement: Word Milestone #1 [500]

+100 Class XP

Class leveled up!

You are now Class: Level 7 LitRPG Author

At level 7, you unlock:

(2) Writing Stats

Writing Quality unlocked!

Writing Speed unlocked!

Now, this? This was the kind of reward I’d been looking for — something to help me with the hellish task of filling blank space with black squiggly symbols in the most compelling way possible. Would it stop me screaming? No.

But it might quieten it some.

If these two writing skills were anything like the Worldbuilding, Character Depth and Market Research skills, then my best way to level them up was to make a concerted effort. You know, like, actually applying myself; not something I was particularly used to doing.

The screaming intensified as I placed fingertips on keyboard once more, this time moving on from simple worldbuilding and details of the protagonist’s partner cheating on them to give him some kind of motivation. Then I wrote about the so-called ‘Exciting Incident’ which would—

Wait, was that right? I checked my notes.

Then I wrote about the so-called ‘Inciting Incident’, wherein the protagonist was rudely ripped from his world and placed into an entirely different reality — one which looked a lot like a bog standard fantasy world with gaming mechanics overlaid on top. He adjusted quickly to his new existence — what strong-willed young man wouldn’t? — despite having no money, friends, or any [BLEEP]ing clue what the [BLEEP] was going on. Once I was partway done with this thrilling examination of the human condition and its ability to adapt to new situations, I’d reached…

Words: 1,000

Achievement unlocked!

Achievement: Word Milestone #2 [500]

+100 Class XP

OK, no more level ups just yet. That was fine; I had nothing if not time on my hands, in this strange, dirty apartment. I would get there in time. For now, I could at least be happy about hitting my second milestone — and the serotonin flowing through my system.

I wondered about these two writing-related stats. Surely a thousand words in — aka a huge amount of work — was enough to trigger me getting some experience in either of them.

Yet here I was, having not progressed a level in my class or skill in what felt like ages. If I was a character in one of these litRPG books, reviewers would have complained that the book was “too slow” or “not focused around progression” or “[BLEEP]”. But the truth of it was that in real life it didn’t always work this way; you couldn’t always get experience points at what would be the best time for the plot. Instead, you had to—

+100 Market Research XP

Market Research increased to level 6!

“Oh, nice!” I said to myself, then resumed screaming. It was a shame it wasn’t one of the skills I currently had as a specialism, but I wasn’t in the mood to complain; especially because I was pretty sure growth in a skill still benefitted me even if it wasn’t taking up a specialism slot. And even if it didn’t, I could always swap it in for one of the others whenever I wanted.

Satisfied that I was doing something right, I continued on writing, keeping my eyes peeled for any white text appearing before my eyes — like there was any chance of me missing it, considering it took up almost all my vision. It was really not a very practical system. Sorry, System.

So I continued on in this way, part man, part writer, part screaming machine, until finally Daemon popped up, and his sudden interruption wrenched me from my state.

“Hi buddy,” the mouse said. “Rough few days?”

“Hi, Daemon,” I croaked, my voice hoarse. You know, from all the screaming.

“Sorry it’s been so long; that was quite the fire.” He sighed. “Anyway. I see you’ve written a thousand words or so, that’s good!”

“And yet with every new line, I run the risk of being presented with a blank page once more,” I whispered.

“...Yeah. Alright. Look, buddy, I’m gonna help you out, so listen up: here’s a sneaky tip for you,” Daemon said. “Only because I like you; I’m not really supposed to do this.”

“I thought you were a guide.”

Daemon ignored me. “Best chapter length? 1,500 words. Not a word more or less. Any more and you’re wasting your own time, and you’ve got plenty of chapters to write, so you gotta be efficient with it. Any less and your audience won’t be satisfied. So 1,500 words, yeah? Even if—