#also disagree abt hua cheng

[memory-lane-and-back-again]

Lan Wangji would probably jump with Wei Wuxian Into the abyss

Or

Find a way to close the abyss

I was talking to @shizunitis about what the MXTX characters would do if they were in Shen Yuan’s position and were forced to push their love interest into the abyss. I’m posting here because I’m curious what other people think!

So far, my assessment is:

Hua Cheng would rather die.

Wei Wuxian would toss himself into the abyss instead.

Xie Lian would probably also toss himself into the abyss.

And Lan Wangji???

[cruelsister-moved]

Omg I thought I was the only one who thought MDZS is a better written story. Like the major criticism that I have seen (that's not sex scenes) is the structure of the story and side characters, that a linear story like that in CQL would have been better and it should have had more focus on the side characters but I vehemently disagree. MDZS is about defying expectations and re evaluating the narrative, the purpose of the past in MDZS is to re- contextualise the present, every new information presented makes us rethink our stance, there is a reason that the story starts with declaring Wei Wuxian as the villain. Plus withholding information is essential for a mystery like?.

MDZS is also very character driven story with the major focus on Wei Wuxian, I don't think focusing excessively on side characters just for the sake of it achieves anything especially if it doesn't add anything to the plot, narrative or themes.

As far as TGCF goes I love it and I think it is MXTX’s most ambitious work. I think she went crazy with the worldbuilding but it requires so much editing and polishing to do considering TGCF as it exists now isn't even the final version (mxtx said she would heavily edit it and some things might be changed but she hasn't been active since 2 years). I think it's expansive world can be entertaining but also a drag.

I feel like that the way MDZS and TGCF are written are also affected by the the publishing site(JJWXC). MDZS is definitely the most experimental of the two and comparatively short . MXTX had complete control of her work because it hadn't reach such widespread popularity back then. Compare this to TGCF which is pay-by-chapter right from the start because mxtx's work is hot shit right now, JJWXC wanted to bank on the length of TGCF and mxtx was definitely encouraged to write longer. I am just parroting what the Chinese fandom has to say about this but also I absolutely agree

yeah ummm the cql style linear story was super boring n hard for me to watch and the similar tgcf thing with huge chunks was hard to read like i guess it can be hard to follow idk but i have adhd so my style is just preferring shorter bites i wouldn't want to go through the whole sunshot campaign and meng yao arc and shit all at once and like u said the way the past is constantly recontextualised.... like in the audio drama finding out abt the cave scene right at the end n seeing wwxs actions and lwjs reactions in a whole new way at the same time as wwx himself for example is sooo good.... like tgcf doesn't try to withhold information in the same way really like it's kind of obvious that this guy is san lang and this guy is san lang and this guy is also san lang <3 which I think is fine but then those scenes have no mystery to drive them so they could've been way shorter!

also yeah i think tgcf is very ambitious and to be fair when I try to think about what could be edited out i start to see how each part is useful to the plot or the characters BUT that's what an editor is for because there is just a lot going on and it could use some quality control and focus (to be fair i reckon the donghua will do a lot of editing to some extent bc they are going to have to). also it frustrates me at times that all that world building sets up a LOT of things to explore and then doesn't necessarily explore all of them so again it could use an edit like don't introduce a theme if u aren't going to explore it -_- it is good for fans though in how it offers a lot for fans to explore themselves and other stuff like the whole debacle with babyified hua cheng feels a lot like fanservice and an unnecessary tangent but at the same time like ppl love drawing fanart of it lol.

also that's a point i hadnr thought about at all like if tgcf was pay by chapter then... yep. like I think it could do with a serious bit of editing to the point it sometimes feels much more amateurish than mdzs ever does, but why would u want to edit it down if ur being paid per chapter. -_-