Discussion (Slight rant) Is it too much to wish fan writers would do some amount of research?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Saikyi, Sep 4, 2019.

  1. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    Just something that's been bothering me after looking at some fanfics, specifically western cn novel fanfictions. And i guess authors attempting to write stories set in china after reading cn novels like xianxia & tranmigrating and such. Some of the stuff an author will write is so out of place with China and/or just plain wrong and could be easily corrected if a minimal amount of googling happened....

    Like if you know you know nothing about soemthing, would you not at least research a bit regarding what you want to write, before you start writing about it???

    Ex; ancient china , bride and/or groom going to wedding with hair straight down and unadorned....
    This is literally equivalent to going to your own wedding with messy uncombed bed hair.

    Ex2; a wedding veil that goes all the way to the floor covering the entire body?? google will show you a million chinese wedding veils and pretty much every one only just covers the head! Why modernize it??

    Ex3; chinese names, which is really easy to figure out...if only basic research is done. Chinese names are picked based off what characteristics you want your child to have. (Ex. You want your son to be healthy and strong, you would literally just use the words healthy and strong as his name) Don't just randomly make sounds up and call it a name. =__=

    Ex 4. Bamboo blossoms do not look pretty ppl....

    There's so much more...But I guess this is becoming more of a rant, but I'm also interested in the thought process involved... Do you just ...not care??? Like it's not even unique and creative at that point... It's just completely disregarding this culture that you are writing about and you don't even realize it
     
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  2. replay

    replay ★Milk and Honey smelling Merchant★

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    well. . . .
    are their story based on our history or a divergent of ours. . . .

    hmmmmm what I'm saying is, damn let them be, they ain't writing a thesis or something,
    and hell a lot of authors do have a fault like that, JP, cn, kn, en all!
     
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  3. VesperNyan

    VesperNyan Well-Known Member

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    As long as the story is decent, I don't think it should be too much of a problem.
     
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  4. CrispyNoodle

    CrispyNoodle 『Noodle Overlo*d』『Open Pervert』『Onii-chan』

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    This... So much pent up stress... Let's talk about this o.o
     
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  5. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    Mate that stuff happens even in chinese novels writing about non chinese novels, like some fanfictions about marvel and DC :cautious:, not to mention non chinese authors writing about non chinese novels, if you ask me, people want to give the vibe but change what they think is right to change to produce their kind of events and plot, strange as it is but if it works then it works :blobsweat_2:
     
  6. Bakaturq

    Bakaturq Tell me, what do you see?

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    I always imagined it was because they come from alternate earths where the culture/customs were different
     
  7. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    :blobjoy: I usually avoid western chinese fanfics for this reason... So many things just wrong and it bothers me to see my culture so butchered sometimes...but I came across something today ...and it was ridiculous....(and i was cranky)
     
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  8. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    I guess that makes sense...i just use to read a lot of western written fanfictions based off anime&manga and its never as bad as what i get from cn novel fanfiction...maybe i just don't know jpn culture enough so it didnt bother me then :hmm:

    I'm not even really mad about it, but more like a story is good...but the details are so jarring its disappointing...:blobcry:
     
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  9. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    Well since we are on topic of fanfiction not living up to expectations... I must include the obligatory image!

    [​IMG]


    But I will say this, I think it is important to note if the setting is historical china or an alternate world china. In alternate world china, the rules and culture does not particularly match the rules of ancient china. I can understand if humans start behaving off, but simple cultural things? It isn't that much of a deal. Not sure why people expect an alternate world to be exactly like this one but with cultivation. If anything, I find it more sad authors half ass the implications of adding things like cultivation and how the world actually functions as a whole. This is why I tend to prefer Korean Murim vs Chinese Xianxia which tend to explore the world more as a whole.
     
  10. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    That image :blobjoy: exactly what i feel sometimes...

    Although..i can accept alternative worlds, just not bad attempts of historical worlds or fanfiction of a novel based on historical worlds

    Though... Xianxia can be considered a newish genre, i feel like that's why a lot of it is so 1 dimensional

    Murim is based on wuxia , which is a slighty more developed genre, and not as fantasy focused as xianxia. I love wuxia genre best too :blobhero: but its so hard to find nice ones
     
  11. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    Well, I would be lying if I say I don't know how you feel :blobsweat_2:
     
  12. TamaSaga

    TamaSaga Well-Known Member

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    Yes.

    I'm willing to give it a pass as long as they're not grossly inaccurate. it's basically AU.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  13. faulcon

    faulcon Well-Known Member

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    Welcome to our world says every reader of Chinese web novels written in a western setting
     
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  14. Matteus

    Matteus [潜んでいる] [Com Fome]

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    That's how it works, I was reading an Korean webnovel and there was a part about South America that was straight up fucked up. Japanese people think that Europe is only France and blonde people with "Von" in the name and it's not rare to find some CH WN being racist when it's a modern setting. What I mean is, writers don't give a f*** about being "right" or "wrong", let them be.
     
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  15. ludagad

    ludagad Addicted to escapist novels

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    Hey! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, don't just diss bamboo blossoms :blobsweat::blobsweat:
    I don't know how old you are, but I reckon most of those writers you speak about are still teens? Like 13 to 16 most likely. They don't even know that they don't know what they don't know. Give them time. As soon as they hit 20 they'll start researching a bit more if they're still trying to write. Once they hit 30, they'll start planning the novel layout and the characters and the settings with more care and patience... And so on. Except for a few rare prodigies, most authors need life experience and maturity that only comes with age in order to enrich their writing. So, my advice is to avoid some novels at the first sign of cringe if you don't think you can stand it. That's what I do. Like if I see script-like writing copied off of a bland translation of a badly written Japanese web novel, I'm outta there quicker than you can say 'passive protagonist'.

    Also, when I was 16 and writing 'fiction', I had a red-haired, green-eyed uke character with a Japanese first name. And frequently, I'd have characters use Japanese words in their speech, regardless of the fact that none of them were Japanese or in Japan. or maybe they were in Japan, but none of them were Japanese?... I mean, talk about cringey. My weeb past, haha...... :facepalm::blob_coughblood:So, I can sympathize with those writers.:blob_zipper_mouth:
     
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  16. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    :blobsweat: lol i agree with this, i tend to skip those stories too...cant even figure out the supposed english names sometimes
     
  17. Saikyi

    Saikyi Well-Known Member

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    I have no idea how old these writers are either....and i was gonna say i hope 13yr olds arent reading and writing x rated fanfics...then i remembered when i first discovered fanfiction.net....:blobwhistle:
     
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  18. IceLight303

    IceLight303 Well-Known Member

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    I don't care.....
    Though I'm American and our "culture" Is basically everything mashed together. So getting things wrong or mixed up is pretty common. Doesn't bother me in the slightest. Though to be funny I find it funny that allows people in the USA have blond hair and everyone in South America is dark.
    As for your naming issue, I have a friend who's name translates to hairdo and another into cow. Names are inherently weird.
     
  19. Har D Rai

    Har D Rai Well-Known Member

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    I don't really care as long as the story is good and the plot is enjoyable , all I want is a good , fun read.
     
  20. Galooza

    Galooza The One True Walapalooza

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    Depends on the type of novel. If they're specifically writing something meant to emulate history as it was, that's certainly an issue. In fictions where culture isn't a focus, no need for it to be an issue.