Should Western and other Asian/African countries create Light Novels like Japan ?

[Nymene]

I'd like to see more variety in the types of Protagonists that star in LNs, so I think that other Western and Asian/African countries should create Light Novels like Japan so I can read one that has an MC that shares my skin color.

There are many times I saw so many cute heroines in LNs but can't feel happy to read them because the Protagonist isn't someone I can self-insert as. This problem can be solved if my country has people making LNs like Japan too but fat chance of that happening here.....

What can be done to make this a reality in other countries ? List the most possible countries that'll raise a decent amount of Anime illustrators and LN-style writers here :

Here is my list for now ( I'll add later )

1. America ( with over 300 million in population and a rising middle class of POCs, the market will become mature for it by the late 2020s_

2. France ( A strong Anime-loving culture makes it happen eventually )

[Tenzen12]

What can be done? Someone actually does it and is good enough to popularize it. There is no other way.

To be fair western world has its own alternative to LN. It's called "pulp fiction"

Also this belong to "general anime" not "reviews & recommendations"

[Sheba]

The western equivalents are Young Adults fiction. If you want those to be closer to japanese LNs, get those illustrated by anime inspired artists. One such example of attempt at a westernized light novel is a french LN called Blind Spot, about a blind girl trying to become seiyuu.

[serenade_beta]

After seeing "anime" produced by Netflix and Crunchyroll and whoever else, it is safe to say that it isn't a matter of if they should or not, it is if they can or can't.
...They can't.

[Tactics]

This thing called "light novel" is product of Japanese culture.

Smaller book, simple language, long-detailed title with wish-fulfillment theme are intended so even Japanese busy workers willing to read it.
Majority of protagonist being teenager, with ossan in second place, combined with reincarnated theme also aligned with said reason; living in Japan is harsh, you know?
You can't ask other countries to simply make it; there's invisible culture vein that kept Japan LN different from other LN from other countries that tried (Chinese, Korea, etc.)

Each countries have their preferences as well. If they didn't want to took Japan's LN format and direction that's not their fault.
Probably their target audience are not into everyday life with cute girls but unveiling some big conspiracy while surrounded by bunch of cool people for no reason, or living fantasy of using magic and riding dragon, traveling to the unknown.

[jdennis007]

The Three Musketeers, The Man In The Iron Mask etc..
These have been around for ages (30+) so they are not new.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Tactics

This thing called "light novel" is product of Japanese culture.

Smaller book, simple language, long-detailed title with wish-fulfillment theme are intended so even Japanese busy workers willing to read it.
Majority of protagonist being teenager, with ossan in second place, combined with reincarnated theme also aligned with said reason; living in Japan is harsh, you know?
You can't ask other countries to simply make it; there's invisible culture vein that kept Japan LN different from other LN from other countries that tried (Chinese, Korea, etc.)

Each countries have their preferences as well. If they didn't want to took Japan's LN format and direction that's not their fault.
Probably their target audience are not into everyday life with cute girls but unveiling some big conspiracy while surrounded by bunch of cool people for no reason, or living fantasy of using magic and riding dragon, traveling to the unknown.

Oh sure, because there aren't any people in other countries who're exploited and abused in their workplace. And it's not like high school boys in other countries aren't ostracized, mocked, talked about behind their backs, molested, brought to the point where high school has practically nothing for them... oh, wait, that was my high school life. Every last bit of it. No, there are plenty of people, especially among anime fans, who can understand very much if not every last bit of the feelings felt by many LN main characters. And as others have said, there are indeed "light-reading" and "young-reader" books out there in every nation that aim for simple language, short stories and wish-fulfillment. Even the difference of showing harems of women all flocking to one man and stuff like that, it's more a matter of these other places having not awakened to those trends on a large scale, though it's quite obvious there are tons of us that'll gladly consume such fantasies. And the long title is a stupid gimmick that arose quite recently really, and has gradually been getting worse. It's not a part of the definition of light novels, there are plenty still out there that are rather simple and straightforward, it just turned into a "thing" to try and make a stupidly long title that gives away way too much of the plot.

All that said, I'm not saying that a work made by someone who didn't grow up in Japan will be able to fully capture the same perspective. Plenty of us have no clue what it's like to go to a school that's barely above freezing in the winter and approaching a hundred degrees in the summer. In the States at least most high school students aren't so familiar with what it'd be like to have to wear the exact same uniform as everyone else, with almost the exact same hairstyle, no cosmetics or accessories, strict regulations on any adjustments, etc. Similarly, many of the cultural practices do differ. The emphasis on how your actions affect those around you is not as strong in many other countries, nor the desire to avoid standing out. The specific behaviors in a given situation naturally differ. And even a devout Christian will show differences in perspective having grown up in a culture where the "standard" belief includes countless deities, reincarnation, and an emphasis on things like tranquility and enlightenment.

Yes, a work written by someone from a different nation will show a lot of differences with stuff written by people from Japan. Any nation is likely to have a lot of differences in their perspectives. But there are plenty of personal experiences that people all across the world can empathize with. I'd say there's no problem with trying to emulate the LN style, even bringing in tons of themes. There are aspects that might be hard to do anything but emulate (you might be able to gain a good, deep understanding of a belief set but if you didn't grow up in a society where that belief set was the norm it's likely to show), but there are plenty of aspects that can be very directly appreciated.

If you're trying to write a light novel with the intention of publishing it in Japanese as a Japanese light novel, you may have some difficulties as those differences may stand out; people could still resonate well with your characters' feelings, but they may still notice that some aspects of his perspective are a little unusual. If you're trying to write a light novel in your own language for your own nation, those problems aren't such a big deal. It could even be a bigger hit if it does well at combining the feelings and desires that resonate with anime fans around the world while feeling a little more close to home. Heck, it could even get foreign publications and from there end up a hit in Japan. There've been several anime based on foreign novels; if you're able to make something that hits the readers hard anything's possible.

So yeah, I think it's fine to try, and certainly to dream. I myself have been playing with ideas that I'd love to make into novels/LNs, mostly things I wish I could see an actual anime of. Just be sensible and careful, and don't focus too hard on emulating perspectives that don't entirely work for you.

[RichardFromMarple]

Quite a lot of western fiction used to be published in magazines (not just the pulp fiction already mentioned), along with Dime Novels & the Victorian Penny Dreadfuls & Shilling Shockers. More recently there have been Airport Novels reading while waiting or on flights.

[Endscape]

I mean, there are LitRPG that are very close conceptually with light novels.

[AnneMore]

I would say America has two ways in which it already has its versions of LN.

The first one is the huge comic industry that although is mostly dedicated to super- heroes, there are some LN around there (or at least I saw them when I was younger) and with so many amazing artists that could be doing this, it could probably be a huge thing.

The other is that in this side of the world we have Young Adult books which are HUGE, if anyone starts illustrating those then it will be also a mighty thing, with these new generations that is a high possibility since people are more attracted to illustrations than writing.