I think my goal for now is to write a non-autistic litrpg who speaks to the system the entire book, and instead just have a regular underdog main character who has lots of dialogue with other somewhat regular feeling characters who are trying to cope with a dangerous situation

wait theres actally ppl lurking lets clean this up

'm starting to find it a bit tiring listening to books with MCs that constantly passively react to things like "William gulped" or "William shook his hea and said I don't think so." where most of the story revolves around the MC reading over an instruction manual pretty much of his system.

I want there to be more life to the main character, to let him actually speak like any other character, with character and with a voice that sounds distinct and unique to himself. I want him to actually be opinionated and strong willed in some ways, and weak willed in other ways.

Instead of making the main character this autistic system obsessed minmaxer, I would rather he be a relateable chicken delivey boy who has big plans with little to no power to back himself up.

---

The peak of storytelling is when you take a power or setting that is so cliche and silly, pretend to make it serious despite sounding almost like a terrible parody, and still having it be a gripping and moving story. That's when you know that you have transcended rationality and have, with your storytelling, touched upon something deeper, something more ancient within the human spirit.

Below are some examples that I am working on of scenes that will be, and I take credit for making this phrase up like many phrases, "emotionally synonymous" to scenes from other famous works. You can copy nouns, verbs, and settings, and people will be upset, but you can never copy emotions. They resonate the same no matter how many times you experience them.

I will answer these questions through the eyes of William, and you should commit these to memory. Also note that William's moral sense around killing, betrayal, and returning a major favor will continue to evolve through the story as he experiences things. I will also skip the questions that are not relevant to the story.

3. This is a situational answer. William does not feel any moral quandry using manipulation or deception to gain his goals if and only if those people he is manipulating are people who actively wronged him in the past or people he doesn't care about. If there is a situation where William must lie and actively hurt someone he cares about to gain something, depending on what's to be gained, he may still do it, but he will definitely feel guilty about it. This is in line with most people. For example Ned Stark from Game of Thrones is the ultimate example of this. Ned never lied and never deceived once in his life, with the sole exception of covering for John Snow's lineage to protect him and Lyanna's last son from Robert Baratheon's rage. This ethical dilemma for Ned Stark, and the very slow reveal of it, is the pinnacle of Game of Throne's emotional and excellent writing. We as readers and watchers of the show deeply resonated with Ned's breaking of his moral boundaries for a deep love for his family, and his sacrifice in keeping that secret. William is similar in this respect. There will be people who help William to a degree without any expectation of return of the favor, and it is precisely because they helped him when he was down and could not do anything to return the favor, that he would be willing to take the path of self sacrifice on order to help them in return. This is a bond forged in blood that evokes some of the most ancient emotions of humanity. This leads me to the next point and a scene I am planning that is emotionally synonymous with a commercial from thailand that I watched once, about a little boy who stole from a street peddler, and was caught and was being yelled at by the street peddler lady.An old man who ran a noodle shop came over to the crying boy and chastising lady, to ask what was going on. The lady said that the boy stole from her shop. The old man noticed that the boy stole medicine, and he asked the boy who had his head held down staring at the ground, and the boy said that the medicine was for his sick mother, medicine that he couldn't afford. The old man bought the medicine for the boy with pocket change, and gave it to him free of charge, and even included a container of noodles and soup, without expecations to ever be paid back. Twenty years later, the old man was diagnosed with cancer. The bill was an astranomical, unaffordable amount for the old man who simply ran a noodle shop. His daughter was crying and desperate and begging with the doctors, but no one would take the case for an poor old man who ran a noodle shop. Then, one day, she received the letter that the old man was taken to the operating room and that the ten million bill was paid for in full, twenty years ago, by a handful of pocket change, a container of noodles, and a cup of soup. This commercial shows the power of the ancient bond invoked when someone does something for someone else, without expecting anything in return, knowing that the other person was desperate. This scene will be emotionally replicated in my story, as William used to live in the dumpsters when he was discovered by Mr. Hiroshi (his name may change but just know that he is the owner of the fast food chicken shop that William now works at), and Mr. Hiroshi fed William and gave him a job. Now, more than ten years later, Mr. Hiroshi is starting to show signs of sick, and William keeps a watchful eye on him and his business. I will not immediately show William returning the favor to Mr. Hiroshi, but I will show just how indebted William is to Mr. Hiroshi, and that Mr. Hiroshi is starting to decline, and possibly add some other details, for example maybe Mr. Hiroshi has a daughter who is missing or in trouble or something and William vows to save her. This is still a work in progress and I haven't fully fleshed it out. 5. Dealing with a betrayer. William operates under a moral code where he will show absolutely no mercy to those that have hurt him and wronged him, and will show great respect to those who spared him. I know this does not answer the question specifically about a betrayer. If the betrayal is deep, like the person tried to kill William, this would actually trigger a transformation of William's morals. I am still working on how exactly. I also know that you didn't ask this question, but I will answer it anyway to give you context on William's personality. He is not a killer at the beginning of the story, he has never killed another human before, but he will do so when greatly wronged in the future, by people that he and any other normal person in his situation could not possibly ever forgive. Besides these moral quandries, William's personality is generally speaking inquisitive, he is willing to take on risks for great rewards (with proper planning), and I will need to further explore his personality. With all these answers in mind on William's personality as well as the open items on his personality, let's do an exercise where you generate dialogue exchange examples of how William would speak or react in various situations, both benign situations and more tense situations (tense does not necessarily mean combat, but rather tense due to conflicting interests between those people talking). Include conversations where William is shopping or even selling monster drops and rare equipment in a ritzy auction where people think he is poor and couldn't possibly afford or possess things of that rarity, and other situations you can think of.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.