Discussion Don't you hate descriptions that describe nothing?

There you are, perusing the latest series in search for something to save you from the binge reading of "Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation" (that doesn't have dual cultivation at all, the author foolishly calls it "evil cultivation", how silly), and you look to the description, to see if you get interested in it, if it's the kind of novel you want or something.

Yet, the description doesn't describe the novel. It's only the MC babbling about how great he is, or how unjust the world is, or how he will trample his enemies, his friends, his lover, the author, the editor, the reader, and their families.

Like "Second Coming of Avarice", for example. The description describes... nothing.

Or "I Shall Seal the Heavens":

What the novel is about? I don't know, and without reading the first 300+ chapters I wouldn't learn it. Because all these novels are slow-starters...

What is the point in having a "description" that describes nothing? Why they can't be like the description of "Dead on Mars"?

There you have it, you learn what is the situation, who the MC is and get a general idea of what the novel is about. Why can't all descriptions describe the novel? What is the point?

 

Chinese description are all hogwash, the authors don't even know what they are writing so how would they describe their novels?

The second coming of gluttony describes the mc before coming to paradise and getting a chance to turn things around. Also the it describes his 1st life where he doesn't become a person who leads.

 

Because dead on Mars' description sounds boring. The second coming of avarice is a good describtion that introduces the themes of the novel well without telling much of the plot, but you still get the gist of it.
If every novel had a description of what they were about, they would all sound the same.
He is bla bla and he has been reincarnated/gone back in time and is now doing bla bla bla

And the majority of novels on this site don't have overarching plots, but are divided in arcs. That creates a problem, how do tou create a description for a novel that doesn't have one big plot, but instead large arcs?
And why do you need a description for a xianxia? They are all the same.

 

Authors got to hit the word count somehow.

 

Tbf 95% of the CNs are complete and utter garbage... if your novel has no content you won't be able to write a proper synopsis.

The second coming of gluttony isnt't even that bad. It describes a lot of the central themes without actually spoiling the novel.

 

You have a point, here...

 

Nah, it describes nothing to me. You can tell what the novel is about without revealing much of the plot or revealing enough so the reader can learn if he wants to give it a try.

 

"MC is trash until something happens and he starts cultivating and building his harem." That should be enough.

 

One thing i know is that the redundant repetitive nature of some chinese novels actually helps a lot in undestanding a novel when it is redt on LNMTL..
More clues to pick up on the broken sentences in the page..

 

You won't know it if you are a new reader or if all your life you read Japanese WN/LN... I mean, the nature of some Chinese novels. You have to read some novels to learn what is the pattern.

 

And thats why i just don't read CN that much, mind you Japanese one with practically a synopsis for a tittle aren't that much better.

 

Dafuq? SCoG's description says a lot. If it doesn't say anything "to you" then it's not the description's problem as far as I'm concerned.
Other than that, yeah, most Xianxia descriptions are the same abstract shit since the novels also all feel the same.

 

That's why I read the first chapter when the description doesn't make any sense. It's still a bad move for The Second Coming of Avarice though, coz' the first 3 chapters of TSCoA is unbearable. If the first chapter is just a massive info dump then I'll just skip it, or if I have really nothing else to do or read I double check in the reviews.

 

Sure, a title that is 50 words long and counting doesn't help.

Well, there's such thing as The Results From When I Time Leaped to My Second Year of High School and Confessed to the Teacher I Liked at the Time

You almost don't need a synopsis.

 

Exactely the thing is that sometime anything interesting they could put in the novel was on the tittle, the actual work feels shallow.

 

There's a valid reason for that tho.

 

Here,

 

I think it was trendy. In the XVI century. At the same time, every chapter had a synopsis that spoiled what the reader would find in it. I think that they had few ways to hook the reader...

 

I disagree. IMO OP is right. SCoG's blurb is pretty bad. It gives you an inkling of what's going on in the MC's life but it doesn't tell you what the actual story is going to be about.

Blurb: A short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional purposes.

In short, it fails as a blurb. A lot of us don't mind because (a) we're getting this stuff for free, (b) we've got time to burn on taking chances, and/or (c) we've got NU's tag system, which gives us a rough idea of whether we'll like the story or not. But judged purely on its merits, it's awful. You would never see a blurb like that for a mainstream novel unless the author is already famous enough to draw readers with their name alone.

Unless, of course, it's literary fiction, but there's a reason publishing houses have to subsidise lit fic with their genre sales