Stories mesmerize people all the time. And stories are everywhere - in speeches, in prints and in videos. We live in stories anytime and anywhere. The reason why snack culture has appeared in our society is that our society now has the environment where stories are easily accessible to anyone who want them. With just a couple of finger touches, one can now be introduced to the content of a number of stories. One can find stories whenever and wherever s/he wants. Books, TVs, or cinemas are no longer needed. A mobile device is all we need. It is so easy to find fun stories. Or I should say it is too hard to choose just one out of so many fascinating stories. Mesmerizing the users who spend brief time in consuming content is the first requirement of snack culture.
Web fiction or web novels in Korea take a unique position in snack culture in that they have been existing on the web for quite long. Web fiction in Korea was first created when the dial-up internet connection was in wide use in the country. As they were distributed and consumed online, such fiction has gained increased portions on the web by growing on separate websites designed solely for fiction. Then the online novels have earned the name ‘web novels’ on the platform provided by Naver, one of the top web portals in Korea. One of the factors that enabled the quantitative growth of web novels is low entry barriers for writing. Anyone who wants to write can start a story on the platform. The fact that anyone can write and read has contributed to the rapid growth of web novels in Korea. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, web novels market was estimated at 600 billion won (around USD 500 million) in Korea as of 2000. This growth can be attribute to the fascination that ‘stories’ give. Major portals of Korea are expanding the platform for web novels as they recognize the growth potential of web novels. Though there are already many web writers on the market, major platform companies seek to find new talent writers and to increase exclusive works through open contests with an offer of prize and a promise of official serialization.
In most platforms, web novels are basically free. Readers have a free access to the first several episodes of a novel, and for the following episode but not for the latest one, they need to wait for certain period of time, say 24 hours from the last reading, on a ‘free-if-you-wait’ system. Yet as in most serial work, each episode of a novel ends in a climax of a certain event, and readers cannot but wait to read the next one for free. This system leads the consumers who want to enjoy fun novels to open their wallet. Most episodes cost about 100 won (around USD 0.1) each, and this economical price attract the readers’ easy consumption, which in turn contribute to boost the market value of web novels. It brings about a virtuous circle, where appealing stories draw more readers and then the readers’ purchase helps the platform grow. That is how the web novels market has grown rapidly in Korea.
The platforms attract consumers focusing on specific genres such as chivalry or romance. Munpia or Joara are among those for web novels that have been run since even before the current major platforms (e.g. Naver or Kakao Page) were established. Considering that the web fiction started to bloom at the web clubs of the dial-up internet access, most works may well be genre specific. While most web fiction distributed among web clubs in the past were of large genres such as fantasy, chivalry or romance, recent web novels can be categorized into many different subgenres. This, with the help of hashtag, makes it easier for the readers to search and choose the work that fits their taste better. It is clear why platforms are categorizing web novels into many different subgenres with hashtag keywords. It is to quickly provide web novels that meet the demands of readers. Readers wouldn’t spend time and money for what does not amuse them. Like this, the platforms structure the website in reader-friendly ways.
Web novels have has the best potential to be expanded to other media because they get active and clear feedback from the readers. Quality web novels attract highly loyal readers, and the loyalty and popularity can be the driving force for the novel to be adopted to other type of media. For example, when a web novel is adapted for a webtoon, the webtoon is published in the same platform in most cases, which lets the readers have the fun to compare two different versions of a story. Readers can recall the original story dramatized to a webtoon even if they already know the whole story from the web novel. The same applies to the dramatized movie or TV shows. Web novels not only serve as an ingredient for adoption but as a catalyst for enlarging the universe of the story.
Unfortunately, web novels are still being underrated in spite of their values and growth rate. They are marginalized to somewhere in the subculture for the reason that they are not ‘pure literature.’ But the public still want stories - stories that can satisfy their desire. Web novels might look simple or even childish at first glance, but people do have fun reading them. People get absorbed in stories and have catharsis in them. It is true that such stories have a simple structure and cliché, but it is web novels that let us know what kind of stories people want, how they want to release emotions, or what kind of fun people seek to have. The environment that people live in keep changing, but the fact they keep indulged in stories does not change. Web novels are the stories about us who live here now.
Han You-hee studied Korean literature for the doctoral course at Kyung Hee University. She won the 2021 Newcomer Award for culture critique of 《Cultura》and has been working as a culture critic.
Translated by Ok Eurom
* 《Cultura》 2021 October (Vol. 88) *
