what readers' opinion of the author

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by nananaem, Jul 10, 2021.

?

should i write or not?

Poll closed Aug 10, 2021.
  1. sure why not

    53.8%
  2. uhmm.. no.. u will get ban

    7.7%
  3. you can try

    38.5%
  1. nananaem

    nananaem Member

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    so.. I have a plot that sticks in my mind and I really want to write it, but I want to write about a Chinese historical book, but I'm neither a Chinese person (but I'm asian, southeast asian).. I'm still studying Chinese historical terms and words.. i will never write the story until I fully learned about Chinese culture.. so I need your opinion about this.. will I get banned from chinese readers because I include the politics in the story? but this is just a fiction story (keep this in your mind)

    thank you:D
     
  2. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    if you put on english site, nope~
    you will get flame if you carelessly touch japan china love hate relationship, taiwan ~
    which history part you wanna poking tho?
     
  3. PossaSimon

    PossaSimon Well-Known Member

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    I believe that if you do not include real historical events (altered for your story), I do not see problems.
    In case you could use a Chinese pseudonym
     
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  4. Shaiole

    Shaiole Mad scientist

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    Just be anonymous and see how it goes. Even the best stories has their haters.
    It be best if u put a disclaimer though. That it is just a fictional story. If they dont like it then, who cares?
     
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  5. PotatoZero

    PotatoZero Well-known Potato

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    This guy cares
     
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  6. Amaruna Myu

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

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    Chinese people probably won't read your story in English, but non Chinese people maybe sometimes critique I guess
     
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  7. Airlol

    Airlol Well-Known Member

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    Just make sure you praise Chinese high to heaven then it's an alright. Make sure not touch any bad thing about Chinese for them will say "it's not our wrongs, but the other that wrong" and will flame you in internet or maybe in real life but this only happen when you be famous so don't worry much.
     
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  8. rhianirory

    rhianirory Well-Known Member

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    some might choose to be offended by the simple fact that you are not Chinese and yet trying to write about Chinese culture. I personally wouldn't touch Chinese politics if you paid me, it's a very touchy subject.
    your story might not even make it over the wall but even if it doesn't, there are a lot of Chinese living in other countries.
     
  9. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Chinese historical novels are some of the most political books in the world so as long as you're respectful, you should be okay on that front. The problem though is that these novels are also a huge showcase of how well the author understands historical events and period culture. Which means that if you write this stuff without the background knowledge the readers will pick up on it.

    So what does that mean? Well, there are a lot of fake historical novels out there because Chinese writers don't feel like they have the ability to pull proper ones off. They know that if they try to fake it, their readers will catch their mistakes and they'll get a lot of criticism. Note that most of the books labelled "Historical" on NU are actually fake historical novels with no relation to actual history. Only authors who are confident in their skills and knowledge will try to write these proper Chinese historical novels.

    In the end, when even Chinese writers avoid a subject, it's going to be very hard to write unless you're super familiar with the subject. A fake historical novel would a lot easier, but it's still very easy to get names, ranks, politics, and language wrong. And if the mistake is big enough the book will feel wrong, and that's something that readers will notice. It doesn't matter as much if your books isn't going to have Chinese readers but it's still going to be hard to make it feel authentic. My honest advice is that if you really do want to write a historical novel, pick any subject other than China. These other subjects are going to be a lot easier to pull off.
     
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  10. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    Well, so long as the terms are correct and you don't offend people by portraying a real life historical figure that some hold in high esteem badly. Easiest way around the second bit is to make your own fictional time period (which, no worries, is something that's pretty common in Chinese historical novels anyway), and thus all the characters can avoid association with real historical figures. But if you want to write one in a real time period, just make sure you don't do anything to portray certain elements badly.

    The second reason is actually a pretty real problem, apparently. Even Jin Yong had a lawsuit filed against him because one of the daoist antagonists in his novel was a real person who was respected within his sect.

    As for the cultural appropriation issue...that's ridiculous. Anyone can write whatever genre they want. It's not as if European ambience novels are limited to European folks to write, so why should Chinese historical novels be limited to Chinese people? It's fiction, anyway. As long as you don't mess up the setting, you're fine. But do your research properly, since accurate settings are pretty important.
     
  11. nananaem

    nananaem Member

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    thank you so much for your long explanation!:D

    thank you so much for your explanation!(y)
     
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  12. Gin_Hindew

    Gin_Hindew Well-Known Member

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    So long as its not for chinese people it will be ok
    But if you ever try to present it to a chinese audience, remember the chinese government shut down tons of novels that presented the government in a bad light
    In the mainland only praise is allowed