Need some advice for the original xianxia novel I am writing

--To begin with, the novel will take place in a world similar to that of Swallowed Star. The story takes place in Year 2050 or so. The background is that the world has recovered from a devastating Apocalypse, and cultivators fight against monsters that have taken over most of the world.
Like this, the world is reasonably similar to the modern age, Cultivators are less murderhobos and loners, preferring to band together and fight, and most importantly, there are extremely few Cultivation Skills and Techniques.

--The protagonist is basically, a random guy over at the NU forum who died and ended up in the body of a 7 year old kid. He knows and has read about xianxia novels, so he knows and can avoid common pitfalls. He also has a memory problem (not memory loss) caused by his reincarnation, which makes it easier for him to kill and clear his mind for cultivation.

--There are few cheats. The MC is the son of a somewhat wealthy guy and has access to resources which allow him to quickly train. He has a rare condition which allows him to use telekinesis, while overtaxing his body. This means that he has to train his body, or he might get crippled.

--There are extremely few cultivation techniques and martial skills. Most commonly available techniques are created by humans with only rudimentary knowledge about cultivation, hence there are extremely few 'easy to train' techniques. The top-tier techniques are extremely costly and extremely difficult to train in. Also, there is a large array of forbidden techniques, which will help you to unleash great power in a pinch, but will cripple you and make advancing further in cultivation difficult. The focus of the first arc is creating a new technique.

--'Basic' knowledge of qi which is common in most other xianxia is not accessible. The meridians and acupoint structure of the body is not known, circulating qi to a weapon makes it explode instead of reinforcing it, circulating qi in the body in the middle of a battle might overtax energy channels and turn the cultivator to a cripple... Basically, the only thing a cultivator can do safely is cultivate closed-doors and circulate qi to ward off impacts.

--One of the few plot devices to make things interesting is a VR Simulator. In this, a person can safely train and try to understand qi without any danger. A major part of the story involves masochistic training, where random parts of the body explode due to wrongly applied qi, in the hope of finally creating a unique technique.

So, I've put forth the basic idea. Anyone with some helpful advice?

 

honestly I say just roll with it while you are writing you will likely get inspiration on how to progress the story or at least thats how it was for me on my first novel i had only a basic idea of what i wanted to do then it turned into something lovely too bad i had to drop it due to time constraints irl..... but eh....

only decent advice I can give is dont make things too chuuni sounding, for the love of god dont make them call out the attack names when they fight..and well.... just have fun with it.... try to stay away from cliches as much as possible they have been beat to death recently

 

Thanks for the (generic) advice, but as the synopsis states, there isn't going to be anything cliché about this. The story is basically a xianxia on Nightmare mode, where even a single step can end with your death. What I need is more ways to advance the story, modern xianxia plotting, etc.

 

Please do not put random things just right in front of the mc and let him be the one to coincidentally earn it even though he wasn't even looking for it. Try to not make him op as then the story will get repetitive such as dragon ball z using the strong but stronger for comes trains and becomes stronger then kills the foe carry on. Make the characters have a personality and don't make it revolve around the mc only but make the surroundings and the people have a part in the story. Make a good world building and don't just ignore the world building but balance it with the story.

 

Make the character relate able to us (the readers) by not making him a complete asshole and make him do thoughts that is human not self righteous but yet not evil.

 

Make the MC lose things that he can never get back. Make him make mistakes, make those mistakes have consequences, and when he does get an OP power-up, it's only through sacrifice (what that really means is up to you)

 

Thanks, that's some sound advice! But I don't think I'll be able to use your suggestion that much. I mean, some mistakes like Linley losing Grandpa Doehring, are permanent and impacting. But doing it again and again will turn the story into a tragedy like Xian Ni. I am not that good with tragedies.

 

You don't have to keep on killing people. Sacrifices can mean many things. Say instead of being good at two things, he's forced to focus on only one. Or say in a battle where he manages to kill somone much stronger than him, he loses a hand, or losing a battle in order to win a war.. Stuff like that.

 

Make the mc experience mistakes and make him improve on that and make him advance through hard effort not just some random bs. Make the antagonist not evil but have a meaning not some character that is just beaten by the mc in a chapter only to be forgotten in a few chapters later. Since it's modern try to make the government corrupt or care more about their well being. Don't make him a self-righteous bastard but someone who cares about himself and others. You could make a war between different countries and monster attacks more frequently so re mc can advance. Make the antagonist maybe someone who is close with the mc but becomes hell bent on a reason that strays path with his friend (the mc). Let him experience things and let us the readers feel those changes as well as those experiences.

 

Personally I like the idea of having the antagonist be someone close to the MC, yet not be evil. Having the antagonist rightfully turn against the MC for certain actions he has done. Not just some random bad guy, but someone who has a rightful grudge/hatred of the MC. Preferably the antagonist is also a good guy, but one who despises the MC. The best antagonists are ones that you agree with, and ones that you know where they're coming from and sympathize with.