Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

League of Legends Novels?

Aerki Jyr·9/6/2016, 2:27:51 PM·2 votes·3,231 views

Going to Amazon Kindle store and typing in 'league of legends' gets you a list of 'how to play' books but no novels. Why is this? There is so much story potential there why hasn't this been explored? I'm a professional scifi author who is also addicted to league, and I'm interested in finding out if there's an opportunity to delve into and flesh out Caitlyn's backstory (my first main). I've looked for contact info to give to my agent but I can't find anything beyond the generic 'submit questions' portals. In the info it says Riot watches these boards so that's why I'm posting here. My name is Aer-ki Jyr and my agent is Ethan Ellenberg of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency. If someone official is reading this, please pass along to the writing division. I make my living writing novels and especially novellas in the 20,000-30,000 word range, which I think would be a perfect length to explore the League of Legends world. I have a busy writing schedule but I can make time to squeeze in some LoL writing and I wouldn't ask for any money up front. Just royalties off books sold. I'm a fan and I'd like to apply my profession to helping grow the community...but not in fanfiction form. I'd like to do this properly, but can't find any contact info to get past the Riot social media fortifications. I know there are a lot of people that WANT to read about their favorite champs and the LoL universe in general, and I'd very much like to help make that happen. So Riot, if you're reading this, I'm ready and able to dive in if you give me the word. For everyone else on the boards, if you'd like to see LoL novels please boost this post as much as you can so it'll get noticed.

3 Comments

Lost R9/6/2016, 5:04:02 PM4 votes

I am writing this as a self-publishing author (Fanfic, Rule 34 and otherwise) for nine years as of last month.

Long story short, if Riot wanted to, they would have done it by now. It's not like the idea hadn't occurred to them yet.

League used to have a lot more story content put out; that was the Journal of Justice, and then they discontinued it I'm guessing around the time they internally decided that the Institute of War had to go. Now the lore is established through events and the champion backgrounds. It's not a lot, but it's enough, and it prevents... problems... from happening.

Aside from most of the League lore needing to be updated to fit the modern theme and the fact that Riot publishes it themselves, fluff stories are generally outsourced to a contracted author who doesn't have much guidance over the project aside from certain facts that are set in stone (Demacians don't raid and pillage, for example). This would cause problems both internally AND publicly if and when Riot decides to update a champion's lore (more than likely anything post-2013 is set in stone, but that still leaves over seventy or eighty champions who have yet to be addressed as of this post) or change some minor detail. Nearly half of the Star Wars community came this close to committing ritualistic suicide last year because of the canon change with Force Awakens, and the last thing you want is for this guy to show up and start asking questions about details made that you weren't aware of in a giant wall of text in one of many books you commissioned. And the League community is full of these people.

On top of that, with such little management on the project, you can run into... problems... depending on the author. And overmanaging the story is not an option; I've been in that scenario, myself, and the story gets butchered by everyone who ISN'T a writer to the point that it it's a massive pile of shit that nobody likes. Basically, Riot's option is the best one for them.

Honestly, if you want to write a story, just go write something on your own and post it here as fandom (unless there were labyrinthine contracts and NDAs your publisher and/or makes you sign that disallows you from so much as TWEETING without their permission). I know that writing takes time and a boy's gotta eat, but honestly, that's probably the best you're going to get.

Unless you want to try and apply at Riot directly.

Cambuscus9/6/2016, 4:02:41 PM1 votes

i would totally read them {{summoner:2}} {{summoner:2}} {{summoner:2}}

Tattersall9/6/2016, 11:22:39 PM1 votes

My theory is that Riot is hoarding their paper for the day when League popularity plummets, at which point they'll release all the lore in books and collections, and with that League will live on.

Other than that, we can only hope. [zombie-nunu-bummed]