Discussion Why Xianxia/Wuxia/Xuanhuan are generally repetitive and low quality?

Ah, before I started this discussion, let me say a few important point:
1. This topic is actually racially/culturally sensitive. It's fine to stereotype and say racial jokes, but keep it moderately.
2. Play it nice, guys. I know some people are 'a bit' disturbed by how most Chinese authors made their novels, but try to keep it down a little, so that it won't offend anyone.
3. You're free to vent your frustration and state your honest opinion, but be mindful of others that like such genre. Don't be too hard, is what I meant~
Now that's done, let's get to the topic

If you've been around on NU for a while, you will understand why I ask such question.
Every type of novels have their downsides, that's just how most tropes or genre works.

Just like how most 18+ genre or comedy stories don't have much plot quality, but people feel that it is fine.
Some people even think that it is overkill to have a good plot on such genre:
"Are you here to read a good story or to f*p? If you want a good story, then you're in a wrong neighborhood, mate."
Or just like a Shounen trope with 'The power of friendship', which existed on nearly every mainstream anime. People feel that it is normal and fine with it even if it's repetitive and predictable.

But then here's the good point: Why?
Why Xianxia/Wuxia/Xuanhuan are generally repetitive (The arrogant young master trope/stupid plot armor/faceslapping/instant fall in love/etc) and low quality (Repetitive plot/1 dimensional characters/Shallow plot/etc)?
Note that almost 70% of all the genre's book are all having the same problem. Only a few book able to exhibit a higher level of writings and quality.
Is it because most Chinese authors are incompetent?
Is it because there are politics/cultural tradition involved?
Is it because most Chinese readers of the genre love it? If yes, why do they love such low quality stories?
Is it because the limitation of Chinese-English translation?
Or Is it because that's just how the genre works?

What do you think? Tell me your opinion bellow!
Thx for reading

 

Because its China~

 

I like cultivation novels bcuz they empower loner hikikomori. To get stronger, you have to level up your hiki-meter. Also, when someone insults you, you can faceslap them into oblivion.

Plus, I love the concept of Dao, its comprehension and enlightenment. There's no bullshit "friendship power", or bowing down to societal norms so prevalent in JPNs. As long as your fist is big enough, there's nothing/no one stopping you from doing what you want. It appeals to the visceral part of me.

Cultivation is all about celebrating the individual.
It is the ultimate wish-fulfilment fantasy.

That said, most of them suck.

 

It's more of the nature of china where copying everything doesn't really have any consequences, even if its 90% identical.

Once a successful formula pops up people copy it and saturate the market. It's how trends go.

Web novels are easy low budget quality effort.

Also, the bare base of a xianxia/wuxia/xuamhaun is all based around training arcs and conflicts. Its modeled heavily after Dbz predecessor w.e. it was.

So you'll always have the bare base of all the novels being the same concept wise but it's up to the author to add in twists, subverting tropes, character development, interesting lore/world building, and even bringing the story to life so you can visualize it.

None of the vast carbon copies do that. Cause they're all about mc getting cheats, climbing back up out of the pit of despair and taking revenge in a endless cycle. Then pissing off the next guy and going through the same cycle again.

It's why novels like condor hero and disciple died yet are very rare and amazing to read. Cause their unique and portray the story, world, characters, and development amazingly.

 

Not much else but scorn from me. I read CN novels for a while, and it wasn't the repetitiveness that killed it for me. I got tired of both the protagonist and the antagonists raping(or trying to) every beauty they came accrossed. then there is the many young masters that "must" have their ass kicked which then kicks off the revenge arc against the MC.

On a side note It always makes me wonder where they get all the extras from as well. With as massacre happy as everyone is in those settings it always surprised me they haven't depopulated their chunk of flat earth, floating thrue the void.

 

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

HmMmMmMmMmMmMmMMmmMmMmmmMm...

I mean... kinda ... there's incompetent authors in every part of the world.

Yeah, I don't think so... You can have politics and culture with a novel and be left with a great result. Just depends on how you - the author - decide to utilize and write everything.

Yep (at least, I think so). If yes, why? We have guilty pleasures and like to read until our brains go numb. Or, you actually think the novel is great (in terms of quality)--- which is um...

C o u g h. I'm not being harsh, am I?

I wouldn't think so...

Probably not? Low quality and repetition is the writer's fault.












I have a headache, so if anything I say sounds stupid then--- wait, I'm stupid in general.

 

also when writing modern setting story they are too patriotic and always portray china as the strongest while insulting others specially japanese and korean (this also happen in some korean novels).

 

Chinese web novels, ahhh. They get paid based on how long their chapter is, so of course they will be padding words and repetitively adding power creep. Also these kinds of novel are aimed at a very specific demographic. If you like it, you will like it, but if you dont then you will see it as trash. I used to read MGA, ATG and what not, but thats 3 years ago. Personally i think its a phase, you will grow out of it eventually and move on to better novels.

That said, there are plenty of good novels in the genre.

 

It's more of like junk food because most people start off on Japanese anime, manga, and novels.
They jump over to chinese due to mass spam of updates and get hooked due to how different the mc is and how much they relate to the mc being a chad.

 

Personally i jumped over because of the mass exodus following baka tsuki DMCA nuke. I had nothing to read (2015-2016)

 

A big problem is also that most of what we see translated is written by amateur writers who would have written fan fiction in the US. Most of those novels are taken from Qidian who allows anyone to write and if somewhat successful monetize. This usually means that the typical xianxia/wuxia novel we encounter were written by people who have limited to no experience in writing. This leads to a general lack of planning in the story and some fairly bland writing. Add in that Qidian's monetization model is based on word * views and you end up with a lot of filler. Another problem is that the typical release schedule on Qidian is generally at 1 chapter every 1/2 days this means that to reach this release speed an author will need to rely on tropes as inspiration since if his story wasn't already planned by now, he no longer has the time now.

 

Most things that people write suck*, especially if there's no editors and oversight (read: quite a few web novels). There's also the fact that a lot of these novels go on FOREVER and plots start being poorly recycled instead of the story changing meaningfully and ending (particularly true with wish fulfillment stuff). There's also a high possibility of cultural nuances that aren't being translated or understood that can create a barrier.

* - Talking here about grammar, story structure, characterization, plot, etc. Some genres aren't to everyone's taste and that should be respected. Some people don't really care about books being "good" as long as they are entertained and others shouldn't be bothered by that either.

 

Understandable, considering that's the same time I hopped on too when isekai was like shooting off again.

 

I think we can all agree that in the end they’re amateurish works. That’s why there are only few gems out there.

I also hear a lot that the Editors push their writers to make a harem or add things that the Author finds disagreeable but have no choice but to write it. Editors might force their likings to it when it simply ruins the novel. You hear things on the downside of what Chinese writers have to deal with.

 

Yeah I miss Japanese Light Novels =/ now all we can do is scrape by with that Genre. There are some WNs that are good but tend to have a lot of errors

 

I entirely Agree with Jind? and Bee.
The webnovel qidian system is basically a sweatshop. No wonder it is low quality.
And I guess we have that phase when we still enjoy MGA or ATG indeed.

 

Mostly I'd say that it's the reader's fault. By that I mean that anyone thinking this way doesn't really know what these three genres are and are making unsound assumptions. I don't read xianxia so I'm not going to comment about it, but wuxia doesn't tend to be repetitive at all. In fact major wuxia novels tend to wildly different from one another to the point that they often don't even resemble one another. For instance, there's no way that you'd ever confuse "Legend of the Condor Hero" with the Chu Liuxiang novels, with "Seven Swords" or with "a Step Into the Past".

It's threads like this that make me feel that people who complain about wuxia novels haven't actually read them in the first place.

 

This is a great point. These novels are clearly being read, and the authors are being paid, so why stop and make something original as it has a chance of not making anything for them.

 

Actually, those 3 are the few example with high level of writing. I know and understand exactly the few exceptions and the vast difference between them.
Wuxia is especially less apparent because it has the highest quality average among the three.
The readers of Wuxia is the most sophisticated among the three genre, because it has the most depth. Readers of Wuxia are more picky about what they want to read, thus the higher requirement.

But, you also have to understand that Wuxia is also the rarest genre among the three. Notice that it is harder to find Wuxia even on Chinese websites.
Notice that Xuanhuan has more than 20 pages list on NU, while Wuxia is only 7 pages. Note that this is only the translated list.
So, you can see that Wuxia has a smaller pool and fewer readers requesting the translator or fan-translating it personally.

That said, you can still see the repetitive element and low quality plot even from that.
Few examples: Poison Genius Consort, Princess Medical Doctor, My father in law is Lu bu, A Valiant life, etc.

Finally, please don't misunderstand my intention as if I want to downgrade the 3 genre. In fact, I'm trying to do the opposite. By making people understand that it is not the genre's fault, but rather the Qidian webnovel system that making the general quality quite bad and there was a phase when we can still enjoy it.
Chinese literature level is not at all inferior compared to Western novel. In fact, some of the philosophical element are more advanced. Which, unfortunately, aren't captured well in English translation.