Ch. 2a found HERE.
Gonna be brutally honest: recently I’ve been reading a lot of Kingdom Building novels. I had intended for there to be a development arc later on, so I went to read them for research. Turns out, I actually really like the genre. Go figure.
…and yes, this is supposed to be a subtle warning that my current and future writing might be heavily influenced by what I’ve been reading, whether I like it or not.
Oh, which ones did you read? It’s not my favorite genre: it often seems to me like the result of their decisions is just what the author wants rather than what logically should have happened, or that it worked out because of luck .. 10 times in a row.
I like it a lot when it’s not too detailed, like just a few key moments in leadership and the results months/years later
I’ve been reading “Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter” and “A Realist’s Economic Reform”. Duke’s Daughter has a rather severe case of Mary Sue, but I do like the politicking that it deals in. As for “A Realist’s Economic Reform”, I have to admit that the harem focus is kind of killing my enjoyment of it in the recent chapters.
I read Common Sense of a Dukes’ Daughter, it did seem wierd how everyone supposedly hated her before the story started, and yet afterwards everyone feeled guilty and liked her even though she didn’t do anything to change their minds …
I don’t know the other.
My favorite webnovel of that genre is Release that witch. I’m not sure why I like it because it’s got many flaws too, but as far as webnovel goes imo it’s alright. Maybe because he starts as the underdog (everyone love underdog stories, right?), it was enough to get me started
Anyway, I’d advise reading more “traditionnally” published works: books (it’s usually much better than webnovels). One that’s been very popularised by a certain TV show for example would be A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, in the unlikely case you’re not familiar with it, there isn’t much of … I don’t know, building things, economic reforms and such, but it’s filled with politics and intrigue.
One of my favourite series of book is the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. It starts off not at all as a “kingdom building” book (though there is some politics in the first book), and even afterwards it’s not the main show but still, it’s there. It’s Fantasy (Epic Fantasy I think? I’m not too clear on what exactly are each subtype of fantasy). Anyway, if you like fantasy, I’m pretty sure you’d like it.