Web novels stand apart from their paper counterparts by their great freedom of form. Each author is free to build their story through hundreds, sometimes even thousands of chapters
In China, novels are no longer being read by turning pages, but on the internet. This digital book format, known as web novels, has already conquered millions of readers in the country, and is now set on conquering the West.
It took some time for European readers to get into e-books, the digital books read by scrolling through pages on a reading device. The Chinese have long been used to reading fiction on their smartphones or computers, and they are particularly fond of web novels—novels specially designed to be read on a screen.
In China, this craze for digital novels dates back to the emergence of the internet, with the advent of cyberliterature. Web novels stand apart from their paper counterparts by their great freedom of form. Each author is free to build their story by means of hundreds, sometimes even thousands of chapters