Brandon Varnell
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Thoughts on WIEDERGEBURT
🕑 Added 2019-08-02 15:00:03 +0000 UTCNow that the first sex scene of the main timeline is available for human patrons, I wanted to express my thoughts and views on the series itself.
While WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior is something of a pseudo-xianxia story (I don't think my cultivation system is good enough to call it true xianxia), a lot of the ideas come primarily from Japanese tropes found in anime and manga. I'm sure lots of people have noticed.
The flashbacks are something I thought up as both a means of showing off Eryk's past so you can understand the current him better, but also because I wanted to write sex scenes in a way that wouldn't interfere with the growth and development of my characters.
Japanese harems have always had a major issue when it comes to relationships. The protagonist is almost always too dense to notice the feelings of the women shoving their titties in his face. Meanwhile, the women might smash their breasticles all over him, hop in the bath with him, and even argue over his affection, but they never actually say "I love you." Because no one communicates their feelings to the man who is too stupid to recognize they have feelings for him (and because the man himself either doesn't have any of his own or doesn't recognize his own feelings), the romance is always stagnant.
On the other hand, western harems have the opposite problem. The protagonist might not be dense, but he and his harem get together too quickly. They begin fucking barely a chapter after the girls are introduced, which is just unrealistic. There's no buildup in their relationship, and so the characters feel just as flat and one-dimensional as their Japanese counterparts. While this is okay sometimes depending on how the characters develop, I feel like most of the writing for harem stories is juvenile. Of the authors I've read, the ones I really think do the harem genre well are CebeliusWrites and Mike Truk.
WIEDERGEBURT is meant to be a slow-burn harem romance. I introduce the women who are going to be a part of Eryk's harem, but I don't have them officially get together until Act II. The biggest reason is because I want them to develop feelings for each other naturally. I also felt like adding a bit of relationship drama was necessary for some of the characters feelings to grow.
While Eryk and Kari's relationship was mostly smooth sailing (in no small part due to Eryk already being in love with her), the relationship between Eryk and Fay had a lot of bumps. A part of the reason is because Eryk didn't believe he could love Fay. He felt like it would be unfair to her if he accepted her feelings when he was already in love with Kari.
Of course, we all know polygamy is acceptable in this series since I introduced the concept early with Hilda and her husbands. However, Eryk's feelings for Kari are a lot more complex than simple love. Another reason I showed his past is because I wanted everyone to see how dependent he was on Kari not just for survival but also emotional support. Kari and Eryk's relationship in the past was one in which the two became reliant on each other and could not imagine life without the other. Because of this, Eryk's romantic focus was very narrow. He couldn't see Fay as a potential partner for that reason, which is why he didn't accept her feelings even though he was beginning to fall for her as well.
This actually brings up an interesting subject. It took Kari's machinations for Eryk to accept his feelings for Fay. The past Kari probably wouldn't have let Fay join them, but the present Kari is different. Present Kari did not go through the hardships her past self had, did not grow to rely on Eryk for emotional support, and therefore does not have the same hangups her other self possessed. She also has a clear and concise motive for letting Fay join Eryk's harem: She wants her friend back.
On that note, Lin was basically added because Kari was already giving Eryk permission to court Fay and thought, "Well, if I'm going to let him marry one woman, I might as well add another."
I think giving the characters in Eryk's harem a clear reason to want him to accept another woman is important because it makes them seem more real. Kari doesn't want Fay to marry Eryk because she thinks Eryk just has a big heart and is willing to accept and love all of them equally. She wants her friend back, and she thinks that if she and Fay are married to the same man, it will force Fay to become her friend again. It is a very selfish reason, but I feel that is why it works.
Back to the flashbacks. There will eventually come a time when the flashbacks end. Since Eryk traveled to the past during his battle against the Overlord of the Seventh Plain, the flashbacks will stop after I reach the point in my writing where Eryk goes off to confront him. I'm thinking the flashbacks will probably end in Act III, which is the last planned Act where Eryk and the others remain in Nevaria. I plan to have them travel after that, so it would be a good point to conclude them.
On that note, I'm leaving a lot of background and lore out of the flashbacks since I want to introduce them later when they actually become important. The Northern Plains and Endless Desert are big places with a lot of history. I plan on showing that when they begin setting off on their journey.
Of course, this is still a long ways off. We haven't even finished Act II and there's one more Act after that before they leave Nevaria.
Anyway, that's all my current thoughts on the series. I hope you guys have been enjoying it. Please let me know what your opinions are so far. Do you like it? What do you like about it? Is there anything you feel I should add to the story?
Comments
Yeah. It's definitely easier to read as a web novel. When I was writing this, I kept writing without pausing to consider how long it was getting and ended up writing with a more web novel format for my story. Oh. I'm not sure how far you've read, but the sex scenes are actually really important. Maybe I could have removed them, but, well, I'm a perv. I like writing sex scenes, so I am happy you enjoyed them. I'm gonna keep working hard to write a good story.
I definitely noticed on the Kindle publications that the story beats don’t change at the end of the volumes. I love this story, but it’s easier to read as a web novel here than as a volume on kindle. You’re slow burn building the characters is fantastic. I don’t think the power system needs more work... adding more details to the power system could make the story lose immersion on the characters. I also love the sex scenes, but I feel like the story could stand alone without them and you could reach a wider audience with a less mature build. That said I personally like it better with the sex scenes. Thanks for this fantastic story!
That’s makes a lot of sense actually
I think this is one of the benefits from writing this as a web novel instead of a more novel format. Novels are supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end, but web novels tend not to follow this format, which allows for a truly epic story but at the cost of volumes not always feeling complete. All my other series are written as light novels. They have a beginning, middle, and end. This means the character development amd world building is constraint by the writing format itself, whereas WIEDERGEBURT was written with no such constraints tying it down. And I'd be very disappointed if you weren't turned on to my stories. XD
Quite honestly I feel like this is the most natural story you’ve written of the 3 I’ve read. What I mean by that, is that this story is like you said a slow burn story but you’re making sure to mesh out as much detail as possible in the main story while telling the story of the past without giving away details to ruin the new timeline. With A Most Unlikely Hero, the story feels a little forced at times I want to say but because it’s, I believe you called it your own version of To Love-Ru (which I thoroughly enjoyed), the story doesn’t feel as natural. Overall I still love the series heck I read all 6 volumes in 3 days. In American Kitsune I can feel the fun you have in writing that story just with the sheer Shonen style harem it is, but again it feels like it’s trying to live up to something. Again that’s just my take; I definitely love this series too and it’s an incredible read when you’re feeling down because the fights are epic and the comedy moments leaving me rolling. And of course the sexy shenanigans can’t be forgotten. But I liked how you slowly built up the relationships in the new TL and then started making things more intimate because I 100% agree that Japanese harem stories always leave you wanting more and that it’s just a giant cocktease for the MC to be so dumb. I’m curious to know if Eryk’s harem will continue to grow or if it’ll cap out at the 3; honestly either way is fine with me. I’m also curious to if Eryk will gain any of the other 5 elements without someone having to die and give them to him which I feel has something to do with the light that keeps appearing on his lovers’ chests. Sorry for such a long comment. Again though this story is by far my favorite and I regret not contributing to your Patreon sooner. Overall keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see where this story continues to go, and one could say that I’ve been turned on to Brandon Varnell’s works. Wait that sounded weird.
Every chapter comes out on Monday and Thursday.
Do you know when the next chapter comes out?
Thank you! I feel like this system could use some work, but this is also my first attempt. I plan to get better at this next time.
Xianxia is apparently the term used for Chinese martial arts fantasy novels--at least according to what people keep telling me. I'm glad you agree. I always found it hard to get behind the characters having sex when I didn't even care about them.
Aaron Henley
Thats a perfect way for a story and I agree whoelheartedly. If we dont care about the characters and their relationships prior to sexy times, then whats the point to have those scenes to begin with. We want them to be happy with each other and relationships take time to develop so I cant wait to own this story when its ready. I just have to google that xiexie, i know i misspelled it, word now
Arthur V.
I really like the way spiritual power works, since I'm a huge geek about settings with detailed power systems
