Light Novels. Yay or nay?

[wrentemple]

So If you read a lot of translated light novels you'll notice that they're often written with a 1st person p.o.v.

The main character becomes the narrator and heavily injects their personality into the style of storytelling. Oregairu, Danmachi and Muskoku Tensei would be three drastically different examples of this.
The vocabulary is often short and to the point without a heavy emphasis on emotive or descriptive writing. Not to mention they can get dialogue heavy.
I find this style incredibly charming.
With the short, direct and immerse writing style typical of light novels it also makes them easy to digest whilst holding interest.

I wanted to get a general idea of what people think when it comes to light novels?
Do you like them as opposed to normal-type novels or do you hate them to the point where you'd burn 'em in the streets?

I've been penning out the plot for a story to run in tandem with my comic and I've been deliberating over how I should write it.
previously I've written in dozens of styles but I've been edging towards a meta-aware type light novel for this one.
I'd just like some opinions before I make a final decision. (Call it market research)

Do you read light novels?
If so, do you like them?

[WarkDatch]

i would say it a yay (because i write stories in a light novel way) tho i never read a light novel personally (because there's no bookstore selling light novels around my area )

also a quick question, does it count if the P.O.V is a nobody? like:
"Raven and Ellice were shocked when they learned that they will fight a guardian spirit that resembles a dragon"

or does it have to be written on the main character's P.O.V?

[Raven_C]

I haven't read too many light novels, but I've written a few short drabbles before in a light-novel style. I don't mind the style of writing, I actually like it. Short and to the point as you said.

[GlanceReviver]

Translating between Japanese and English is tricky for a lot of reasons, one thing being that a lot of Japanese language mechanics are implied. That is not to say there aren't plenty of wordy Japanese novelists as well, but translations of into English can end up in short and direct sentences. There's also the fact that light novels are intended for a younger audience (similar to young adult) so it's often written in a more simplistic, dialogue-oriented way.

I like styles of writing that use limited POV and utilitarian narration, so the light novel style works for me. I think that if I was writing something though, I wouldn't want to shoehorn myself into a specific concept of literature that very few people outside of otaku culture even know about. Iinstead, I would probably try to classify it as a novella or YA novel, or something that is recognizable to the market that uses the language I'm writing in.

[starlightcityentert]

This is a cool topic, I've also been thinking about writing a type of light novel side story to run alongside my series R:ILPERSONA, but I don't have too much experience with them. Aside from what you described wrentemple what are some other typical elements in light novels? Are there pictures? I may try to blend in the light novel style with my own writing style to see what comes out

[ippotsk]

Haha, the only LN I've ever read was To Aru Majutsu no Index by Kazuma Kamachi.
It had a narrative style, with all the characters being referred to in 3rd person. It was veeeery descriptive, especially considering its "battle-scene" oriented-ness.
Personally, I kinda like that style. It's a bit heavy to sit through (20+ volumes of it, no less), but it's backed up with nice illustrations, that make up for it. ^^

[gateofselidor]

I tend to prefer heavier and more literary writing styles in the prose I read, but I'm not opposed to reading light novels if the subject matter interests me. I've read a couple of translated light novels, but I haven't been very impressed with them. I don't know whether that was the quality of the translation or the source text, but I've also read a couple of light novels in Japanese, and wasn't very impressed with those either. The only other Japanese prose pieces I've really read have been literary classics and fairly dense science fiction, so right up the other end of the scale in terms of difficulty, quality and style. I enjoy heavily descriptive work, so light novel stuff tends to feel a bit sparse, not to mention that in terms of those well-known among English-speaking fans and those that have actually been translated, I'm not really the target audience. There are a few BL novels that were brought across, and most of the rest seem to be aimed at the typical straight male otaku audience. Still, I'm pretty flexible about what I'm willing to try, even if I'm very picky about what I stick with.

[wrentemple]

Hmm. Sorry I've been away for a little while :')

It's a little hard to say what classifies as a LN.

I only know what I know. For lack of a better explanation.

@EmmM I've read Ln that are written explicitly in third and first person. The majority I've read are actually a mix of both.
For example the scene or piece of lore is set up with a third person narrative then it'll jump into that main characters p.o.v.
from then on it'll switch when necessary.

@GlanceReviver I understand completely. In the instance of light novels the short and direct nature is part of making it easily digestible for a younger audience. It still loses a lot of the nuance or expression when translated to English, however some translators try to compensate for that.
Limited P.o.v's work with my writing style well so it was an easy choice to use a LN as a basis to work from.
Imagine a more direct version of The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (if you've read it, it's the only example I have ahaha)
I have no intention of shoe-horning myself. In the first place I couldn't, I'm far, far to influenced by a wide variety English literature.

I'd just like to use a LN a basis to work from as my intention is a series of books that;
- work as a supplement to a comic series
- work when hosted on a site like tapastic before initial printing
- can be read by anyone from 13 to early 20's
- work with illustrations in a similar art style to parent series
- retain readership without being overly heavy.

@starlightcityentert & @ippotsk I'm not an expert so don't qoute me ahahah I'm only going on experience so google might be a better friend in that sense. But generally I'd say it's the illustrations that put the nail in the classification :')

@gateofselidor I have my own library (it's only an old bedroom filled with book shelves.) so there's no limits to what I like to read from Robert Jordan to Rifujin na Magonote.
To be honest I've read more light novels that I don't like than light novels that I do. But it's the same with western literature and films.
For that reason the ones I do like stick out.

Well keep it comin'
And additional question, would you read a series of Light novels, Novella or books because it was linked to the comic/web-comic you liked?