Discussion Rant on Current Novels

Funnily enough I went from EN to JP to KR for the same reasons and now I prefer CN over the rest with occasional dips back into EN novels.

I find that the novels I enjoy the most have good writing more than new storylines, this is a problem that is compounded with translated novels as you now have to rely on the writing skills of both the author and translator. There were a few novels I thought I disliked but ended up enjoying when they got picked up by different translators with much better writing and grammar.

 

You assumed I haven’t read those novels and you’re wrong. I have lol, I’ve read majority of the Xianxia and Xuanhuan novels on here. I’ve never once made a reading list but trust me I’ve read most except for a couple I didn’t even bother reading.

 

I’ve read other genres, trust me. I went from xianxia to wuxia and there are barely any wuxia novels on here. I’ve read novels with system, novels with cunning mc using intellect, novels with mc being evil which is my new favorite thing but those are a very minute few on here. Especially the ones that are worth a damn. I’ve been reading EN novels since I could read which was young maybe 4-5 comics and whatnot and then 7/8 seriously reading, then I got tired of them which drove me to manga then the world of xianxia etc. JP novels have a lot of gems but they never get translated, KR novels I love but most of them are translated slowly other than a select few. So yes I’ve tried everything but there’s just something about xianxia, it just takes me to another place... literally. Magic novels I hated for a while until I found some gems.

 

for cn wn it popular start around 2014? I forget was it late 2014 early one if we put aside Stellar Transformation from 2012? hmm it xuanhuan then xianxia thing pop up~ put aside proper term hmm 6 years? compare with baka tsuki era from 2006~08? peak around 2010~12.... damn this cat is old.....

why bombardment of da shieet? well it cuz most translators prefer such story.... for whatever reason.... maybe cuz they like it maybe cuz money maybe who knows~ that not count da site orientation~
it like repeat of history, jp ln with harem battle school, jp wn isekai, cn xuanhuan xianxia, kr vr games, shoujo genre with villain otome, bl pop up ect....
this cat have complain since baka-tsuki so.....
deal with it lul

 

read short stories, one shot in between though most of cultivation and system novel and wish fulfillment recycle same material but taking breaks and reading other material also helps.
Though changing genre doesn't help much as same shit is going onto contemperory romance or historical romance or female centric novel or any other genre of novels.

GOOD NOVELS ARE RARE

you just have to discover them from pile of normal novels. Also good novels doesn't get their due. Many goods novels were dropped because of unpopularity or lack of readers.

 

i suggest goodreads

 

I just would like to share an opinion as I agree with your viewpoint but a problem with asking all these authors is that their literally impossible to find even if you search their names, they do not have a public or business email that can be used to talk to them or discuss whether their comfortable with their stories being translated.

Another thing I would like to argue would be the paywalling or patreon basically in general, no one is forcing these people to buy or donate, most translators anyway will have a like 4-6 chapters a month? <—- For free viewers, translators are not to be blamed for people who are anxious to read the next part and more than happy or willing to pay for these advanced chapters.

Next you mention about the fan translations and the monetary benefits. Yes it is unfair that they are benefitting from piracy, but when times are difficult please take a moment to consider it from a translator viewpoint. Translating is by no means easy, some translators search and scower every corner of the internet to make sure readers can get the best reading experience and never miss out a single or detail or misunderstand the story. All this takes time and effort and by no means am I defending them for making money of translation but still, what they are doing costs them time and effort, if you look at it from a bigger angle, that $3 or $10 you donated is basically a Macdonalds burger or meal but can help support your translator or someones life instead of you wasting it on an unhealthy, don’t mean to get all healthy and etc, I like Macdonalds, KFC and texas chicken as much as the next guy but u get my point.

 

I'm not talking about translators trying to get enough to pay their web hosting, all of the costs and having a little more as a safety net or a small bonus, I'm ranting about some translators uploading chapters for nothing less than 200$ donations or with very long patreon lists for a huge total monthly sum for translations of pirated chapters (and asking for more donations or patreons subscriptions multiple times through their translated chapters...), never giving any cent to the original author, or those who scream bloody murder about agregator bots "stealing" their translations to put it on websites were there is less intrusive ads and it's more confortable to read than their drowned in ads anti-bot minefield style website...
I'm talking about this kind of greedy translators.

And about contacting the original authors, there is almost always comment sections, social media linking or at least a contact system in all webnovels websites as to provide feedback from the readers to the authors...

 

Then why are you complaining, son? If you really did read a lot of CN novels, then you should know there are good ones in the list. What about wuxia? Try reading them. If you still don't like any of the novels here, I recommend reading somewhere else. You can't change how CN novels work. You can't make TL choose a CN novel of you're liking when there are other readers like you having their own pick. Move on or deal with it.

 

That's why I read the reviews here on novelupdates before I dive into a webnovel. Thank you reviewers! I don't read your genre, but there's a lot of OP FLs out there as well.
I've found a few FL that aren't too OP and am really enjoying the read. Many readers also makes recommendation lists and I check those out.

I also suggest trying to translate it yourself - if you want to read other novels that aren't being translated.

there are some tools out there and I created this post and got some really good suggestions:
https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/how-do-you-mtl.107917/#post-5685714

For me, I've just started to read webnovels (I didn't even know these existed a few months ago) - so I haven't gotten tired of these tropes yet...But I also second/third recommendation to read actual novels and check out goodread.

 

I was more or less addressing an issue that a lot of readers have. You’re response as to deal with it, is exactly why we get shitty novels consistently shoved down our throats. Also you’re mention of good novels existing, is true and once again I’ve read the majority of them. There are plenty of shitty novels on here that outweigh the good so my point still stands. At least other people recommended other novels, or websites I could go too. You did none of that all while inadvertently making my point. They give us shit because no one speaks out against it, and yes it’s their choice to translate but anyone with a pair of eyes and common sense can see that some of these novels are just recycled trash. It seems like every story is the same. Every novel has a Jiang or Qin, hell Jiang Chen might be the most used name I’ve seen. It’s like where’s the creativity, that’s all I’m saying.

 

I don't actually remember any character named Jiang Chen Is the name that common?

Can you tell me those good ones? I wanna try reading them

 

You weren't asking, boy. You're just ranting shit. Hell, this is your rant thread with a poll for fuck's sake. Majority agree with your thoughts and so do I, but talking shit ain't solving anything. You're telling others to make a change but look at you. You ain't doing shit, just "repeating the same shit" as anyone has over the years. Recycled shit, eh? Smells awfully familiar like a certain someone's point, right? If you're so hungry for new shit, then go eat them. Talk down with them translators then! I ain't have somebody talk shit to me while feeling their hot shit. You go ranting about the same shit over and over, but then you'll realize this shit ain't for you in the first place. You ain't the target audience or are you a mainlander, huh? I respect your shit tastes, because everybody has shit tastes according to your standpoint, eh? Fuck this shit, I'll publicly apologize in the forum if you show me that the characters JIANG and CHEN have the same meaning, because ya know? One Jiang's is another Jiang's for fuck's sake! You ranting shit like some young master. You hurt my petty pride, so let me rant on your smug ass.

 

just don't read cn novels since majority of them are crap. i rarely read them since there is too much racism in them too and it goes over 1000s of chapters and there may be gems in them.if anyone wants some good cn novels which i read and recommend tell me.i will reply then
i prefer kr or jp novels but chinese novels have the most mtl translators
one of the better chinese one and one of my favourite is awakening(read some time ago and i didn't find anything racist in it) thought this was japanese untile checked 2 days ago since it was such a good story

 

Try my novel. It's a sports comedy about poker. No other one on the subgenre.

Emperor of Poker - webnovel

 

LOLL, some of these replies are really funny
I agree with OP tho, even tho im a sucker for xuanhuan, i can't deal with the same plot anymore
If i see that the female protagonist's ML is some crown prince or her marriage contract with the crown prince is broken, im not reading that novel and that's just the one annoying trope

 

Hahaha. I have the perfect solution.
Do not read them.
That's what I do. I watch drama adaptations instead.
I can't stand the novel but King's Avatar was very enjoyable as an anime and a drama
The same with Martial Universe: I won't even get paid to read that crap.
The music was also great. Something novels will never have haha
I tried reading Battle Through The Heavens and the translations were crap.
The drama though was fun even though it was so low budget, you had episodes with just two dudes talking to themselves haha

@Zheya I agree with you. It is easy to rant and talk crap. Start your own translation website like I did. These dumb community will have people who will curse you instead of support you though. Don't be surprised. That way, you can translate novels that you actually want to read

I disagree with @FranckOA . Good translations ain't cheap. I know a lot of MTL crap get passed off as translations but to me those are not translations.
$200 seems much but with the lowest estimate of $10 per chapter. a 1000 chapter novel will cost $10,000 to translate.
So someone saying $200 donation like it is a lot feels insulting.
Also, commending pirate sites for having fewer ads. Now that's just even a bigger joke. Of course, they have fewer ads, they are not paying for the translations.
Let's not talk like we are some naive kids.
License the novels? Get author's permission permission? Hahaha what a joke.
More appropriate term would be "satisfy your ego" or "get author into legal jeopardy".
Before throwing those words around, at least learn how crappy the industries are.
There is a reason Wuxiaworld couldn't even license novels given all their cash and had their novels taken down.
If you think asking for permission and getting all novels taken down is the way to go, be my guest.
In case you didn't know, getting permission means paywall by the way.
Something people here complain about and you did in your own post.
It is very contradictory since license and paywall go hand in hand
So I do not get what they really want
Cheers!

 

Just read the good ones and drop the rest. I've stopped short a few hundred chapters from finishing novels that I didn't enjoy, even though I've already read thousands of chapters. There are a lot of novels that progressively gets worse because the author keeps dragging out the "plot".

 

go out of the box, you're probably picking novels from the rankings. There are hidden gems out there, I'm just too lazy to find them so tag me when you found some.

 

The fact that most translator and readers are of chinese descent makes chinese novel hugely popular here. This site should be called chineseupdate instead of novelupdates. Im trying to filter homepage daily release by filtering common chinese tag but to no avail since there are a lot of chinese shits that doesnt have wuxia xianxia nor xuanhuan in it