Discussion What do you like in a BL story?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Jass, Jul 5, 2018.

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  1. Jass

    Jass Well-Known Member

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    BL = Boy's Love, it is a genre that involves romance between two males. Tags that have BL are labeled as Yaoi and Shounen-Ai.
    Danmei = another term that is basically the chinese version of BL, usually written by the chinese

    (This is somewhat of a niche question, considering a large majority are likely not to be interested in BL for personal reasons.)

    What exactly do you like in a BL story? Obviously, you might as well be in there for the romance, but what other things keep you immersed in this story?

    Do you prefer if it placed large focus on the development on the romance?

    Would you rather have an actual storyline that isn't just about developing the relationship between the MC and the ML?

    Is there a particular type of setting/genre/plot point that draws you into the story?

    Do you have anything that you find disliking/annoys you a lot while trying to read through BL stories?

    If you wish, you can put down examples of pairings or BL books that you like and explain why you like it so much.
     
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  2. rhianirory

    rhianirory Well-Known Member

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    i like it when the two are equal partners, like in Rebirth of a Supermodel or Founder of Diabolism. i get irritated when the MC is nothing more than a shoujo heroine in a male body (dumb, naive, and has to be rescued over and over again). its tolerable if there is character growth as the story goes along like The Legendary Masters Wife, but when the MC remains dumb as brick and incapable of doing anything for themselves (or causes other people to die for stupid reasons) i tend to start grinding my teeth and cursing so now i just drop those novels to save myself the tension headache.
     
  3. Amaruna Myu

    Amaruna Myu ugly squid dokja (●´∀`●)

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    Japanese bl is a NG
     
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  4. pocketbear

    pocketbear !!!!!!!

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    I got in to BL when I realized 4years ago if I take the heroine out of any shoujo or josei and replace her with a guy I get a similar story with twice the eye candy ;)

    Then i naturally transitioned from manga to novels.
     
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  5. isecai

    isecai Well-Known Member

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    I actually have a sort of double standard. If it's manga, I want to read it for the romance. But for webnovel, I want to read the worldbuilding, the plot, the goals, the storyline that just happens to involve two male characters in a progressing relationship as one of the elements.

    I found that I love it better when the title has the viewpoints on both the top and the bottom in equal amount. There are too many that focuses on just the bottom, whereas the ones focusing on the top are both rare and can be read as normal wish fulfillment story, only with male harem members. Not that I mind, it just doesn't speak much of quality. ^^;;

    I think the one that I love the most from all the translated novel is Violant of the Silver from JP titles. It has that double POV that I talked about.

    I haven't decided a title from CN titles, though. How can I forget Banished to Another World???? It's pure gold. I enjoy it so, so much.

    It still doesn't change the fact that most CN stories are littered with local jargon, sensibility, and dynamics that somehow pulls me away from just enjoying the story.

    If it's manga, though, let's not start there because it's a whole behemoth on its own. I have so many yaoi manga favorites that I shouldn't start now orz. But for Korean webcomics, I think my favorite is Blood Bank, published by Lezhin.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2018
  6. Shizun

    Shizun 《Jack of all trades》《Artist/Author》《Dao of BLedia》

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    bl has usually more feels and better plot than other genres. One of the reasons why non bl readers get disappointed when an interesting plot with potential is bl. Although some ppl still read it. Bi curiousity :ROFLMAO:
     
  7. Shio

    Shio Moderator Staff Member

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    I like the steamy scenes.
     
  8. LadyBlue

    LadyBlue Well-Known Member

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    Yikes that's a lot of questions

    For me, anything that falls in "love at the first sight" or "love at the first f*ck" is a major turn-off. I prefer there to be actual plot instead of only banging. I like my characters flawed- people I can feel for. Stupid or rude or just complete asshole characters are a no for me. I especially hate it if one character is a stupid damsel in distress type that everyone loves and the other is a rich, muscled, asshole CEO type swooping in to save the day. I like slow burn--watching characters slowly fall in love is beautiful but most authors seem to mistake slow burn for misunderstandings. Unless it's for comedic purposes if there are misunderstandings in a novel, I will drop it immediately. I mean has anybody heard about this amazing thing called "communication". Plot trumps romance for me. I find myself drawn to fantasy type novels.

    Novels that I especially love are
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9305362-captive-prince
    This is what made me a fujoshi. The characters are so different and have a lot of history between them and it takes a lot of time for them to fall in love. The few lovemaking scenes are so beautifully written.
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11250317-the-song-of-achilles
    How to write about unconditional love without making your readers vomit
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17621376-blood-red
    Really fucked up story. Contains slavery, rape, bestiality. There are also s*x scenes in every chapter. I have no idea why I love this

    But these are just my opinions. I love many books which lotta people hate and hate many many many books that everyone else loved. Everybody has different taste.


     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2018
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  9. userunfriendly

    userunfriendly A Wild Userunfriendly Appears!

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    YURI.
     
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  10. isecai

    isecai Well-Known Member

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    As bizarre as it is, I agree. I love it when BL stories include yuri pairings as well lmao.
     
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  11. isecai

    isecai Well-Known Member

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    I agree for webnovels, so far. Overall quality of JP titles didn't carry enough quality. But for manga? If you haven't found anything good I'll gladly recommend some to you, though it should be in another subforum lol.
     
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  12. RottenPineapple

    RottenPineapple Well-Known Member

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    Legendary master's wife makes me love BL so much. I love the character development and their relationship! Lil xiao momo didn't stay as the 'puny mage' that everyone looks down upon and ridicule. I hate those very naive shou who acts all very innocent and shits... i find some of em cute but nah pls dont be too much, its unrealistic. I also hate those uke who let anyone bang them err. And i hate gongs who are overbearing and too forceful to point that they are not being reasonable anymore! I read yaoi manga and watch yaoi animes for years now but BL novels arr just so... great. I fell deep in love ah (fukk grammar)
     
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  13. Alvory

    Alvory Well-Known Member

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    When you are talking about a Bl novel, it is a male gay genre focusing on two male’s relationship. It’s not about who holds the power over who but about balance which is often ruined by the notion on uke and seme. The uke being the naive innocent type while the seme being the opposite. I don’t have anything against them but in reality those sort of people rarely exist. Which of you has seen a gay male with a 2d personality like the one often potrayed in Bl stories. While the focus could be the storyline but it should also focus on the personality of the main characters and how they improve or if they improve from chapter 1 and forward
     
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  14. Shizun

    Shizun 《Jack of all trades》《Artist/Author》《Dao of BLedia》

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    hm... is blood red detailed or fade to black? :hmm:
     
  15. Fuyuneko

    Fuyuneko winter cat

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    I really like Banished to Another World too. But, if the MC had been a woman or if the MC and the ML aren't a couple. I would still like the story. I like the story for the MC's personality, how epic the world was, how the system existed to make things more difficult for the MC XD, and other things.

    It doesn't feel like the romance between two people with the same gender is any different than if the couple are different genders.

    1. Interesting characters
    2. No preference
    3. No preference
    4. No preference
    5. Excessive face slapping. But that happens in most novels, not just BL stories
    6. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System - MC's hilarious internal commentary
      My New Life, Won’t You Please Become Peaceful! - same as above
      The Story of Two Male Mosquitoes - how tragic the story it is. makes me appreciate life more
      Banished to Another World - Too many reasons to list out. I wrote a long review here Permalink
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2018
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  16. isecai

    isecai Well-Known Member

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    @Fuyuneko
    Agreed. And that's probably why I make it an example, I guess... The meaningful part of the story isn't in the male x male pairing, but it's inclusive for the gay pairings as well. Too inclusive, even, because there are a lot of male slaves in the tribe. Not that I love it less lmao.

    Of course I would love it more if it the MC's male gender takes more essential part which will make it more... BL-ish than normal story with gay pairing. But we severely lack that kind of refreshing set up of the characters dynamics.

    To reply to OP again... I actually love Mpreg but not when it's a normal occurrence in the setting, if that makes any sense. It just takes away what makes the pairing has to be BL. xD

    I will still read a shou/uke with many gong/seme harem, but I won't put it on my favorite list to recommend to anyone. x"D
     
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  17. LadyBlue

    LadyBlue Well-Known Member

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    Doesn't shy away from the details
     
  18. Shizun

    Shizun 《Jack of all trades》《Artist/Author》《Dao of BLedia》

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    I'm always troubled with western and original novel ones...., cuz when reading gives totally differently atmosphere than CNs Dx. The only bl original novel that was good so far was The Wizard of Bright Isle
     
  19. Moonpearl

    Moonpearl Professional Yuri Girl ❀ [Yuri Garden Creator]

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    I read way too much BL growing up, so the romance itself rarely draws me to stories now. If and when a BL story does draw me in, it has to have at least a few story elements that appeal to me... Putting a gay twist on typical stories or story settings is one of my favourite things. Especially if it's fantasy or fairytale.
    My favourites are "The Legendary Master's Wife", "The Unicorn Legion", and "No. 6". LMW was the first cultivation setting BL I read, before all the system novel types came in and made it a little less unique... It was also my first cultivation novel full stop, but I think I've come to appreciate it more and more in the context of all the terrible het cultivation novels.
    "The Unicorn Legion" is right up my alley in terms of it being a nice fantasy story with a gay romance. "No. 6" is the sort of story I wouldn't normally touch at all (dystopia is too dark for me) but the main couple really drew me in, and I'm glad they did, because it's one of my favourite books now.
    It's also what dragged me to try "Heard I'm a Hero" and "The Day We Conquered the Dragon Castle", although they were disappointing...

    If it's not a setting with a gay twist, it needs to have some sort of great humour to sell itself to me, or some other form of twist to tempt me.

    As for things I don't like...
    I hate incest, rape, ukes getting forced into relationships as the plot, adults having relationships with minors, Omegaverse, genderbender BL (if those can even be counted), badly done Mpreg, and really stereotypical, tyrannical semes who don't seem to understand that "courting" means treating your love interest nicely.
    There's probably more that I've forgotten. It's actually pretty hard to get me to pick up a new BL
     
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  20. LadyBlue

    LadyBlue Well-Known Member

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    I read the Wizard of bright Isle some time ago. Really sweet book. There are a lot of good original books if you snoop around a bit ;)I actually prefer reading western novels because I hate having to wait weeks for a single chapter:ROFLMAO:
     
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