Xianxia Rant (Unconstructive and Bias, just me venting.)

What is a story?

I guess it's something you read to pass your time for the goal of entertainment.

The goal of a story is for the writer to express himself in his own way.

But who cares about what a writers truly trying to express through letters?

Nobody, and I mean nobody.

Even I don't care about who wrote some of my favourite fictions.

All I care about is one thing.

And that is what I like about the story.

I don't care how the writer if an amateur teen or an skilful old man.

If their story is good then it's good. If you've read up to this and haven't just skipped to the bottom, then I commend you for being such a patient person.

Moving on, what kinds of stories do I like as your average, everyday reader?

Don't bullsh*t me and ask why I'm not asking you about your thoughts, if you've read this description then you know I'm here to be long-winded.

I like just about anything that can properly get its point across and is entertaining to read throughout the writers journey as he explores his concepts. What I like is when people have the guts to write no matter how they think others feel about their work.

It shows motivation, it shows that even if your characters are flawed and unreasonable, it shows that you as a writer are a person who loves to write.

I commend you amateur writers.

I commend you for your ingenuity in trying keep your works fresh and new.

Now don't get embarrassed because I might curse you later on if I read you're works that have horrendous English.

Now let me try and put my meaningless thoughts onto this as an outlet.

What's with martial artists in xianxia novels anyway? Why are they always cardboard cutouts of the same formula.

If you've read My Disciple Died Yet Again on Novelupdates, a breakdown of the Xianxia tropes, you'd see that there are a lot of bullsh*t written these days- No, if you've read a bunch of Xianxia novels you'd realise the same thing: Reincarnated Xianxia MC's are f*cking morale-less d*ckheads.

What do I mean by that? Let's go back and think of a novel I hated to my very core: Peerless Martial God

Don't get me wrong. When I first read the story, it was my second Xianxia I read after Coiling Dragon, so I found it quite good at the time I read it.

However, after reading things like ISSTH and World of Cultivation, I've come to the conclusion that most writers only know how to write one kind of male protagonist in a novel.

You might have wrote a similar book and have done the Xianxia tropes I have listed justice, but I'm here to talk about my thoughts, so stop reading this if you think I'm aiming at you. This is just a rant I'm writing to express my bias thoughts.

1. Protagonists NEED a Harem.

It's not that a protagonist can't be faithful to one girl, it's just that he doesn't want to, because 'beauty'.

A protagonist who sees a beautiful girl needs to stick to her until he's done messing around with her, then move on to the next harem target near him.

Some people do the harem genre justice by showing how the Female Leads would fight for their lovers affection or not accept the each others existence unless there's a very good reason for them to like each other.

The novel named Sevens does this in a good way by making it so each female harem member has their own reasons for being part of the MC's harem. Some have affection for him, some just want to stick with him because he has a lot of strength, and the list goes on.

However, most writers decide that such interactions are unnecessary and that adding more reasons to love that girl through an entire 'arc' is passable.

Well, I'm here to tell you stupid writers who were about to make a Xianxia about a protagonist who is supposed to be likeable that it's not passable at all.

Take the likes of Against the Gods as an example of why you shouldn't try to force in harem members because 'plot'.

The MC loses his girl and decides that he will live his new life brightly.

He has a fiancé, who he marries, then is forced to grow stronger in order to gain a place in the irrational world he was in and in order for him to survive.

The first part of Against the Gods was amazing because of how unique the character was and his shamelessness.

And no, I don't mean he was a lustful *sshole that chased around women, I mean the Meng Hao type of shamelessness that really gets us to laugh with his antics as he grew.

That was until the real idiocy of the novel came along and he had a bunch of 'love stories' with different women.

All of them, who for some stupid reason, don't know if each other's existence or a completely fine with him going and being an adulterous b*tch!

You can write love stories, you can say that their hearts connected because they went through life and death together, but how the hell is a guy supposed to truly 'love' a big harem.

Does he remember all of their names?

Good, then does he remember which girl he slept with first and last? What bullsh*t writer calls this 'true love'?

It's basically Disney style for them because now that he saved them from some horror, they HAVE to like him for one reason or another, no exceptions.

Some writers take a step beyond that and make the girls 2D images of whatever fetish they might have and not even try to characterise them.

Take Martial God Asura as an example of this, do you remember the name of even one of his harem members? If you do, do you even remember their personality?

I especially hate it when some character is just supposed to be a b*tch because that's their character trope. Then think they can be forgiven for everything because they are beautiful and no other reason.

Take the misuse of the Tsundere trope as an example. People like Tsundere's because they are a lot more entertaining than cute girls who don't talk much and blush all the time, but just making a girl hyperactive like a guerrilla just 'because she's a Tsundere and no other reason' doesn't cut it.

You can't simply write that a girl has anger management issues then call her a Tsundere! Now I'm gonna have to mention a Tsundere done right.

Toradora, Monogatori series, perhaps someone has already made a list on YouTube on different dere tropes.

Getting back to the main point, you can't just personify a character as a Dere trope, a female lead must have their own motivations other than the MC. Though doing that for side characters is acceptable in such a story.

After you've written a female lead, you must not let them become 'baggage that must be protected because females are useless in a fight' because that sexism right there. Who says a female can't be badass? I'm sure that there's many none revenge-driven/special/reincarnated female leads in other novels that are strong and wise.

Having a Female Lead doesn't mean having a damsel in distress that can't do anything without the help of the MC. A Female Lead must at least grow to become stronger in such a story or they'll just become cannon fodder for the MC's enemies that are really strong. And if they start off strong, don't make them that criminal bitch that thinks all is water under the bridge cause she fell for a guy.

Getting laid doesn't equal becoming a good person. If you watched Kill Bill, you'd see that just because your character has a family now, doesn't mean that the atrocities they committed can be easily forgiven.

Why is it all female Xianxia characters being special due to some weird reason or another in order to gain ridiculous power?

Can't a normal female character gain strength? I get that girls usually have less physical strength in such novels, but a Xianxia is a world with magical power called Qi, who says a girl who uses Qi to defend herself HAS to be weak?

In fact, compared to blockhead guys who normally use brute force to get things done, shouldn't girls be more skilful in utilising Qi due to them having more of a reason to use their intellect? Do the only things special about women in Xianxia's have to be their Physiques?

Oh and let's just not mention that physique in ATG that made the Female Lead a universal target for all cultivators under the sun. In fact, just adding sexual elements to cultivation just makes it sound retarded, so just fucking a girl for a few days equals power? Why doesn't everyone in a Xianxia world use it if it's so awesome.

Oh yeah, because most of the time such methods are 'evil', and all the general population of a Xianxia world that's usually showed as morale-less and selfish who'd do anything for power actually care about right or wrong.

It was a good concept when it was used in Martial World, within a faction of the first Sect he joined, but the execution was done wrong due to them saying that such people are naturally evil. If you're going to use such a mature element in your novel, just don't turn it into a reason to turn females into sex objects, a dark part of society doesn't have to be all evil.

Sometimes, people just have their circumstances, maybe some are not evil but misguided in the path of cultivation or something. Either way, objectifying woman in novels is just stupid.

Stories like this are what get on my nerves the most, they portray the protagonist as a saint who's doing the girl a favour by sleeping with them and basically turning those Harem members into a target for his enemies.

The next thing closely relates to this.

2. Antagonists = stupid motherf*ckrs.

Every antagonist has to be evil for the sake of being an evil guy with no other motives than to d*ck around.

They are characters who the readers compare the MC to and think: Isn't the MC fricking Jesus-like in this world?

There's no antagonist that is against the main character for a good reason.

In Dragon-Marked Martial God, these kinds of evil mob-like antagonists were actually very good since they were fleshed out as template photocopies the MC knew about of beforehand. They were interesting despite their lack of depth due to the Author's ingenuity.

But other people just don't understand how these enemies are supposed to play out. They tend to just get a random evil guy, make him somehow bump into the MC, then the action of punching each other pursues.

They don't have any other meaning than fighting each other or becoming a stepping stone for the MC's glory.

They pop out the bushes everywhere like Pokemon, but these are the kind the MC HAS to either cripple or kill.

It's not like they have to be written in such a way. Some authors do a good job of showing a misunderstanding between the MC and antagonists.

In fact, the other guy might not even be an antagonist, since you could write it like a the difference in views caused them to have no choice but to fight.

That's not saying that cardboard cutout antagonists are bad, nope, you just have to write more about the reason they do what they do in the first place. It could be greed, love, hatred, whatever is fine. Just don't make them a generic evil.

If you're a really good writer and want to make a memorable antagonist. Make one that actually wins against the MC without losing anything in return. An antagonist that really makes the MC feel powerless due to his strength and scheming mind. Such characters are ones that people love seeing defeated.

I remember that the only true villain that kept me engaged was from True Martial World, it was a villain that had his own backstory, his own potential.

He wasn't just some snob who's going to get his *ss handed to him by the main character, he was guy who you hated to the bone, but also understood somewhat and sympathised with even after he got his just desserts.

He was an antagonist that was stronger than the MC and defeated him in battle. No plot armour helped the MC win by default nor was there some sudden master popping up and saving the MC plus family at the last moment.

The MC lost in an unfair battle, and was caged as a result. Even though he was in the right, the Antagonist was just that strong and scheming.

He was a true antagonist that made me hate his personality to the bone, but I never got tired of seeing him be trampled upon by the MC, the one who at least had some morales in his heart.

Maybe I'm just ranting about nothing.

Maybe adding antagonists like that would waste too much time for the author to flesh out. But either way, you can't just say someone is evil because they are evil, there must at least be something that makes them hated.

Like greed, anger, a judgemental personality, whatever is fine really. It just has to be a reason that's believable.

Now let's look at the most important point that I really hate in Xianxia's.

3. Morale-less or retarded MC's

Writers are addicted to portraying their characters as the personification of Jesus who can never do wrong, even if they kill, rape or murder people.

Take Martial God Asura as an example of this. The MC is a pitiful guy, other people plotted against him that made him like an 'Asura', but his whole attitude towards it was like: 'I'm still a good person even if I act retarded.'

Oh wait, how could I have forgotten to mention the 'Anti-Heroes' who are good people despite being *sshats.

You can write that character is morally wrong and be done with it, but if you try adding an excuse on top of it, the story becomes really retarded fast.

Anti-Heroes are generally people who you can emphasise with, not sympathise with, because murdering is bad no matter how you look at it.

If you want your character to be a villain, then make him a villain, don't try to make him an abomination that tells the reader how sad he is after doing something so ridiculously sinful!

I remember a scene in Limitless Sword God (I think it was called.) where the MC raped a girl and started to say useless shit about how he is still in the right while he was doing the deed.

Rape, Murder, and every other criminal act is a crime no matter how you put it. A long explanation on why the character is good person despite doing that is bullshit.

Someone who does such things for survival can be forgiven to a certain extent depending on circumstances.

I remember a scene in Wu Dong Qian Kun where the MC was barely still morally right because his will was messed up by a mind technique.

The girl he was trying to talk sense into really wanted to cut off his manhood and ruin his cultivation to save her own life. Plus, it was her fault for not checking whose tomb she was robbing anyway because that guy she wanted to steal from was completely bananas.

Now, making the girl unlikable and then putting a scene where he 'accidentally' rapes her isn't forgivable in its own right. Just because a beautiful female hates you, it doesn't mean that you've suddenly earned a rape pass, because it wrong on so many levels that I just can't describe.

However, if you were to write a scene where the rape part was unable to be avoided like in that Jewel Kingdom thing... (Can't remember that other novel the author of Dalu Douluo wrote.) Then it can at least be forgiven in some extend depending on how the two react to it. And yes, I meant the both of them, because how the girl takes it matters more than the guy.

Have you ever heard of a story that depicts the girl getting raped as something forgivable? The guys heart doesn't matter in such cases even if he is regretful of what happened. The sadness he experienced will never be able to compare to the girls trauma.

If you want to make an antagonist out of the MC instead and skip the girls feelings, then never justify criminal acts like that as something 'good'.

Never pull a MGA and say that the MC is regretful before moving on.

Either way, whether the MC is right or wrong, he will always be on the 'light side of the force'. The antagonists on the other hand will always be on the 'dark side'. Everybody will hate them regardless of why they do their evils.

Let me tell you writers, yes, I'm talking to you there who was about to pick his pencil up to write about your saintly protagonist who never does wrong.

An MC's imperfections make him more human. I'm not saying give him reasons to be a complete d*ckhead, I'm saying that imperfections are fine.

Take the MC from stories like Otherworldly Evil Monarch and Realms in the Firmament as a good example of this. The MC's make mistakes and lose battles because of their mistakes. They are MC's that sometimes don't understand those mistakes themselves, that's why the writer addresses them and makes a joke out of their lovable antics.

Those MC's are a lot more believable than your average high schooler becoming the saint of the realm because he's the only good guy.

That's not to say that I hate goody two shoe MC's, since those nice guys are nice to read, but even in the end of that they are not really that memorable at all.

In fact, I know that murder is normal in a dystopian society with a Xianxia world, but saying murder is right because of it doesn't sound believable.

In Chaotic Sword God, the MC kills a guy within a restaurant and everyone just decides to ignore it as if it was none of their business to judge.

However, such a scene is unrealistic for many simple and obvious reasons.

For example: Even if you live in a world where the murder count has already crashed through the roof, would you not be scared of a psychopath who kills people in broad daylight?

Wu Dong Qian Kun is known for its good fight and bullshit power jumping that doesn't make sense, but even that had a lot more believable world built.

Killing may be the norm for Xianxia worlds in general, but making Xianxia worlds that don't at least put Life and Death Arenas for bitter hatred doesn't make sense, having it at least it shows that there's some authority keeping order enforced.

Also, saying why the MC is smart isn't enough for the reader to judge his intellect, you must show and not tell when it comes to that type of stuff.

Just by saying an MC's certain action is ingenious won't make him one. Since it will only display how much of a retard he is if he can't continuously make such decisions throughout the novel.

If the MC is just a regular guy who somehow thought of a ingenious idea due to seeing the problem in a different perspective, the character will look less retarded later on when he makes mistakes, because that will showcase how he isn't a perfect person because his good ideas are due to his different perspective.

A character can be smart and calculating, but putting a bunch of numbers he calculated in his head isn't enough for him to be smart.

Which now brings me to the last one.

4. The MC is a special OP existence

If you're not going to make full use of reincarnation besides giving him a cheat, then the main character might as well be a guy who either comes across a cheat artifact or is born from a special blood lineage.

Don't pull a BTTH on your readers by disregarding it halfway through.

Writers tend to make special MC's for the sake of spicing up the plot, but in a world where the distance between the MC and those around him grow to a level it becomes unsurpassable is what turns the readers off from Xianxia's.

Only stories like Undefeated God of War that have a likeable MC that is surrounded by a cast of interesting characters can be forgiven for having an MC that can't be beaten. Actually, it is not like the MC of that novel can't be beaten, it's just that he's basically an immortal cockroach that always survives no matter how dangerous the situation becomes for him.

Which is normal because he's the MC, no reader truly expects their MC to die because he was beaten by someone.

Even if he loses a battle, all he needs is to learn from his mistakes, and grow stronger as climbs to the worlds peak.

Take Naruto as an example- And yes, I mean that Naruto anime you probably threw to the side after the shipuden ruined the entire ninja experience.

I'm not going to talk about how everyone turned into overpowered mages that could shoot of bullshit spells with fast-paced hand signs.

What I'm going to talk about is how you were REALLY affected as time went on in the naruto franchise.

The main character was a special guy who had an OP fox inside of him, but what really made him special wasn't his strengths, but his weaknesses.

He was a guy used basic tactics to fight his enemies and lost horribly. He grew stronger with other as the anime progressed like any other character.

However, the change from that reckless and special teen in the first half and the saintly guy in the second half made all the other fleshed out characters meaningless when sh*t hits the fan.

Like when Pain destroyed the Leaf Village and the only thing they could do was sit tightly while watching Naruto fight for the village without help.

In most Xianxia's, those characters we all liked in the beginning are all thrown aside because they can't keep up with the MC's improvements and are unable to harm him in any sort of way.

The MC is always invincible, and even if his weakness is exploited, he's like Superman who's been exposed to cryptonite or whatever.

The MC can be special, but if he's too special the whole meaning of him interacting with others becomes another part of slice of life, they never make a difference because he's strong.

Well, it's not like you can't have someone who's both special but has room to grow. But like I said before, he must lose a battle completely if you ever want him to look like he actually struggles, no exceptions allowed.

He can be saved after having his ass handed to him, because if he doesn't then the story would end, what's important is to always showcase that there's always someone stronger.

Peerless Martial God and many other Xianxia's do this by having the MC get chased, but fleeing from a battle isn't losing, it's just a draw. Allowing your character to understand his weaknesses like in Absolute Choice is what you must do in order to flesh him out.

A special MC doesn't make him perfect.

If you are able to think of more things you hate about MC's in Xianxia's, just comment your honest thoughts.

Well then, I'm out, see you later.

 

I came, I saw, I read a little bit, my eyes now hurt, I gave up reading~

 

Too long, didn't read.

 

Tl;Dr lol

 

Talking abut MGa till now it was pretty good,but the last chapters,It has started to be VERY VERY xianxia like.

Mc suddenly is sooooo strong that even 1st disciple can't defeat him,and he didn't even train!

 

please go read the mambling of crazy men

and if you read long enough you get bored cause you realized that nothing is happening and that world his badly build

you are right, thats an yandere

he forgot to put trust in the brick

deadpool disagrees with you, we aren't good people

nope those are word to describe the legality of a action, murder is the illegally killing someone, killing without context isn't evil, bad or criminal, same applies to the others

would you be scared if you spent 20 year in a battlefield and suddenly one guy that you don't know 20 meter to your right is shoot in the head?

any character can't be more intelligent that the author, unless plagirism, plagirism is always the answer or google

the reincarnation is important cause when he was 3 he molest the xue'er (i think that her name) and that is the reason she loves him

and fight in Namek that last 20 episode cause it rotates between 5 characters

@Love4NovelGuy come back i've finished

 

After reading, I understand your ranting, but xianxia novels aren't great masterpieces of writing. They are web serials, with the author pumping 2 chapters a day to keep the crowd fed. The story has fights, OP protagonist, trash antagonists, jade beauties, powerful legacies and techniques and godlike weapons. You keep reading this for the fights, not the plot. After 500+ chapter, you either love it or you leave it.

 

Logged in to post this...

 

Nice bro.No sarcasm intended.But what can you do?Just lay back and enjoy the phenomenon that is xianxia.
P.S:We all know but still love xianxia.By the number of stories you mentioned in your (long as hell) rant,I guess you do too.

 

I have just one thing to say

Spoiler

that wall of text lol

 

I read about 1/5th ...
Too long...
U R Vicious!

 

A like for you, simply because you took the time.

 

holy fuck, that is a long rant

 

Read your rant. Agree with you on some points. Disagree with you on some points. Not gonna say what and what cause it's tiresome.
Just here to say one of the most basic quote I know "Everybody has their own opinion, we might not always agree with it but it's their own just like you have your own opinion"
(If you are here to vent your rant after the latest ATG chapter then I understand)

 

Are you done or are you finished?

 

You realize your rant is longer than some xianxia chapters?

As for the faults pointed out...I just ignore them primarily. I've never went in expecting an amazing story with great character building. Also there has to be evil in such things as how else do you drive a story about becoming stronger? You need something more than just wanting to be a badass for the main character to progress. As for sex for cultivation it is simply one of the easily detested methods that were written.

2d side characters are almost a given in a web novel industry that requires word count and quick releases of chapters. The authors know this when they start writing with plans to release 2 chapters a day. Even some of the best web novels with slower releases can't help but end up with 2.5d side characters at most as building side characters into a believable character with amazing depth is extremely difficult without harming story progress.

It is also an alpha male trait that women should be protected and that is especially noticeable in Western cultures. It is sort of an ego feeding thing.

All in all your rant doesn't do anything but complain that tropes exist and that you think they are used poorly and you want a woman to come along and sweep you off your feet and protect you from the big baddies out there. Well that's what I got from what I read...

 

When no one cares...