Let's Talk About Lengths...

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by otaku31, Apr 7, 2021.

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  1. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    Japan's authors have it, China's have it, Korea's have it. :blobpeek:

    The Chinese have cornered the market on novel lengths, the Japanese continue to further their dominance over title lengths while the Koreans would go to any lengths to stop fan-translations.

    But I am here to let you know Japan has done it again! :blobparty:
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    EDIT: When My Childhood Friend Dumped Me and I Was Expelled From the Soccer Team, My Other Childhood Friend Started Hanging Out With Me to the Point Where I Didn’t Want To Be Around Her (Ex) Anymore. EH? You Want Me To Come Back Because You’re in Trouble Because I’m Gone? I Don’t Know Anything About That Now. (at 304 characters has finally broken through the 300 barrier)
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Exiled in a Class Trial for “Poor Dexterity”. Because He Was Dexterous, He Lived on His Own. Because of His Dexterity, He Was Able to Use All the Skills and Magic of the Higher Ranks, Making Him Invincible. I Decided to Live on My Own, but the People Around Me Wouldn’t Leave Me Alone. (285 characters, just 15 short of 300)
    Credits to a certain reptilian mod

    Link to prev. thread: https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/longest-nu-title-loses-title.118106/

    Someone needs to let the Japanese know that this isn't exactly what people mean when they say 'it's the character that counts'. :blobwoah:

    Now you might be wondering why is it such a big deal. Well, I was bored and suddenly felt 'twas extremely important to let NUF know. :blobpats:

    BTW, the title has four freaking full stops. Period. :blobtriumph:
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2021
  2. Xane

    Xane Well-Known Member

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    Why think of a creative 1-5 word title when you can just summarize the book in the title.
     
  3. Aachiin0914

    Aachiin0914 ☼Sunnyshies☼

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    I just realized that I don't remember any title of Japanese novels and manga I read before.

    I miss classic Japanese works...
     
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  4. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    no, nay, nada~
    its alll because of....
     
  5. Halcyon Observer

    Halcyon Observer Full stop

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    At some point, Japan has to ask itself:
    Why make excessively long titles if you already know you're going to shorten it into 2-5 characters/syllables. They know their fanbase is going to. Even when they are trapped in some kind of otome game or rpg or whatever, they still shorten those titles.

    Sure, it might draw some attention to the novel, but I'm not going to sit here, read it, and think, "Well, the characters are a bit bland and I saw the convoluted plan of evil dude a long time ago, but I did recognize the author sprinkled a bit of long title into his writing, which made it a lot more palatable. 4/5"
     
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  6. CardOne4All

    CardOne4All Well-Known Member

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    I remember: That time I got reincarnated as a slime
    A certain magical index
    Overlord ​
    Aaaaaand thats it
     
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  7. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Honestly, what surprises me the most is that the translators actually translate the whole title.

    If I was the translator, I'd probably translate the novel's name as "Invincible Dexterous Loner" or something.
    Syosetu doesn't have covers to draw readers' attention. Pretty much the only thing you have that can attract them to click on your novel and read the synopsis is the title itself. The long descriptive titles are a consequence of Syosetu's medium that favors descriptive titles over succinct titles.
     
  8. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    maybe they only know or just goes with Literal Translation of The Title
    they can choice hmm re translate or re phrasing

    tldr

    it can apply to novel too!
     
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  9. Ddraig

    Ddraig Frostfire Dragon|Retired lurker|FFF|Loved by RNG

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    Aye but the shortening only happens when the series becomes popular, which to be fair is more than enough. I havent heard anyone almost ever use the full title - it is always the shortened ver. or the initial 2-3 words. That being said I feel like a cycle will come that authors will go for super short titles to stand out, for example - "86" or relatively short names like "Tantei wa mou, Shindeiru".
     
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  10. UnGrave

    UnGrave ななひ~^^

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    I had my suspicions that it might be the new longest but I'm glad to hear that's the case! I might need to decide my next tl by the length of the title so we can keep getting this record broken.
     
  11. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    JP authors might be making their titles longer in the anticipation of their story becoming popular. After all, it's only when a title is long that it can be aptly abbreviated. :blobhyperthink:

    There are records waiting to be broken, and as dutiful TLs, they must respond to the call. :blobhero:
    See what I'm talking about?


    Yass! And can you make it 300 chars pls? :aww:
    I will make a thread eulogizing your feat if you do, pinky promise. :blobok:
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2021
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  12. 01

    01 [REDACTED]

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    :blobjoy:
     
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  13. Ddraig

    Ddraig Frostfire Dragon|Retired lurker|FFF|Loved by RNG

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    Nah even shorter titles get abbreviated, infact it might be a good idea to find out what is the shortest jp title that gets commonly abbreviated - like we all expected sukasuka abbreviation for "Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?" but even "Seishun buta Yarou series" get abbreviated as AoButa
     
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  14. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    When you check the top 5 rankings on syosetsu, only the title is displayed. When you do searches or check the daily/weekly/etc rankings specifically the synopsis and tags are also shown, but the title is bigger and easier to read anyway. I don't know if it matters more than the tags, though.

    It's helpful for attracting readers early on and the JP community has the helpful habit of abbreviating titles down to 4 syllables in discussion even when the original title is just 6 syllables so any length doesn't hurt.
     
  15. UnGrave

    UnGrave ななひ~^^

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    It's interesting because as far as I'm aware, story sharing subreddits are also following the same pattern due to titles being the only thing most people will see of the story at first glace.
     
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  16. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    short attention something is common this day spread among multiple field~
    if you look at online news portal it can be more severe with dangerous click bait to multiple news titles which actually lil bit different each other cuz come from as long as it fast its ok~
     
  17. MidstNost

    MidstNost 【 Reigen's Saltshaker 】【 Lingtian Raider 】

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    Sounds like an Alternian Movie title
     
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  18. prasantbagale

    prasantbagale Well-Known Member

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    Maybe Japan will create separate rankings for the longest title. Who knows! That's why authors are making the titles so long, to win the award.
     
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  19. Isaac20

    Isaac20 Dark Lord | RS

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    Wow, is this really a novel title? Until I saw the link below I thought it was a spoiler or a summary of a novel plot. Now I get why I can't remember any of the titles of the Japanese novels. But I like their novels tho...
     
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  20. Isaac20

    Isaac20 Dark Lord | RS

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