#as is LWJ even with his own missteps

[marquisguyun]

for the questions for fic writers ask game, 7 and 49?

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I really like my worldbuilding from diplomacy (and other fun things to do with strangers) which is a post-canon Scum Villain/post-canon The Untamed crossover. I already knew going into it that it was going to be an interesting one to write bc the requested ship was YQY/NHS, but then in order for me to actually write it I decided I needed to figure out how these two worlds were combined.

I settled on two mostly separate worlds (partly established as a measure to keep PIDW's flora/fauna from bothering the people in CQL land, with CQL not having any direct contact with the Demon Realm.) And in the fic Chief Cultivator LWJ is reestablishing diplomatic contact with the other side. (Writing this now makes me wonder what Jin Guangyao's policy/thoughts about the SV world had been. Since the fic says they hadn't been in contact for centuries, maybe he was happy to keep that status quo while he got his own house in order with the watchtowers, etc.)

What I really liked about it too was that we got our views about the names and differences of the two cultivation societies from Yue Qingyuan, with the implication that if you talked to someone from CQL you'd probably get different answers.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

As ever, most of what I'm writing these days is for exchanges, but I do have something that will be posted soon for the Bingqiu Minibang:

"He’d gotten a good education, if one that was a tad haphazard. His calligraphy was excellent, his weiqi was passable, and his knowledge of flora and fauna was the result of years of obsession. He even dabbled in cultivation studies, which noticeably improved his poor health, but without a sect or even a master he wasn’t going to be winning any awards with his skill any time soon. Really, he was lucky he hadn’t misstepped, qi deviated, and died. But if he did, there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it anyway, so he mostly just didn’t think about the possibility."

Thank you so much for the ask!! 💜

[plan-d-to-i]

It's really funny that ppl think lwj standing beside wwx in his 1st life will change things. When lwj did this in wwx's 2nd life, he got called a traitor, & this was 13 years later when ppl's hatred was supposed to have lessen by time. He'd get killed on sight if he did this at that time w/c is exactly what the lan clan feared. The conflict is so easy to understand but these victim!wwx stans are just too deep in their victim mentality they just missed what mxtx wrote.

Well, I thought this passage was pretty telling:

"At this point, a small voice suddenly spoke up, “Dad, I feel that maybe he really didn’t do it. Last time, in Yi City, he was the one who saved us. This time, he seem to be here to save us as well…”

He followed the voice. The person who spoke was OuYang ZiZhen. However, the father immediately scolded the son, “Children shouldn’t talk so carelessly! Do you know what situation we’re in? Do you know who that is?!”

Withdrawing his gaze, Wei WuXian spoke calmly, “Now I understand.”

He had known from the start that no matter what he said, nobody would listen to him. What he denied could be forced; what he admitted could be twisted.

Lan WangJi originally had quite a lot of weight in his words. But, now that he was with him, he was most likely a target of the people as well. " (68)

LWJ alone is ineffective once he publicly sides with WWX against the mob drunk on their own righteousness. Regardless of how unimpeachable his reputation had previously been. The juniors' voices alone are dismissed. You need the help of someone from the inside. But people forget about NHS (which frankly NHS would love). Even at the second siege of the Burial Mounds, NHS is the one who runs into the cave first. And again, that was a perfect inimitable situation and a huge strategic misstep from JGY (also caused by the pressure NHS put on him w the threatening letter) because this environment is created where everyone is forced into a room cave, exhausted and powerless, essentially forced to listen to WWX. NHS's little comments spurn the conversation on too.

Yi WeiChun shouted, “There’s nothing for us to chat about with you!”

Wei WuXian, “How could there be nothing to chat about? I’m not buying it—don’t you want to know how you’ve suddenly lost your spiritual powers? From the bottom of my heart, I’m not so powerful as to have done something to all of you without anyone noticing.”

Just as Yi WeiChun spat, he heard Nie HuaiSang respond, “Yeah, I think he makes a lot of sense.”

WWX gets room to speak and slowly weave a trap for SuShe. He saves everyone there in the most heroic way possible. And finally, at Lotus Pier, Nie Huaisang's witnesses come to take down JGY's reputation from all sides, firmly refocusing everyones' zeal for "justice". So many things had to happen for WWX to get a break. Not in the least, there being a new focus for the angry mob to rally against. But ppl are like: WWX won bc of the power of love and hopes, wishes and dreams! Well the story is more cynical. Having support is nice on a personal level, but "justice" still comes about because the goals of someone on the inside, are temporarily aligned with those of the protagonist. Someone who perfectly weaponizes his image to appear as unthreatening as possible to the established order while subverting it. No matter how wonderful and brilliant the protagonist is, or how perfect the love interest.

[androgynousblackbox]

i don't know why anyone would listen to somerton when his summation of 'the untamed' is that it's about "a guy with magical powers and a prince." like... he's just some white guy talking about his ass. the entire subgenre of xianxia has it's own genre conventions that is based on chinese mythology, taoist, buddhist, and confucian beliefs. the main character is expected to cultivate, which nearly anyone can learn to do, to reach immortality, but he deviates from the norm, which disrupts the social order and incurs the public's wrath. and lwj is not a 'prince.' there are princes, obviously because there's an emperor somewhere because it's set in fantasy ancient china, but lwj is the second son of an affluent cultivation sect (not the son of the emperor) who is a fundamentally good person with unwavering conviction. 'the untamed' is about two righteous people who come from different beginnings that form a strong bond and stick to their morals, even after one is penalized by society for doing what's right. the fact that he can't even get right these very, very basic things is pathetic. it just makes me wonder why in the year 2021, people have suddenly forgotten that white people typically have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to different cultures. why is somerton any different? how has he built a huge following on youtube? his end will probably come too after he makes one too many cultural missteps. why can't he just make predictable videos about marvel movies or something?

Because he is just like Sarah Z on the sense that they both found out how profittable can be to shit on niche online communities in front of normie audiences. Normies who have not a fucking clue of anything and aren't going to be doing any research themselves are going to look those videos and coming out thinking that they have discovered something new, so satisfied for being educated, while the niche online communities are going to talk about what you got wrong and, basically, it's just win-win situation for the shit-talker all around because it means more people watching their smug ass faces. He has also made a video on Yuri On Ice, about Painter of the Night and probably is planning to make even more videos on asian properties because those means good numbers to him. Before, he had to steal of someone smaller than him or from a obscure enough article/book, but now? He can just rant his immediate thoughts in front of the camera, barely any googling if at all, add some editing and voilá, profit. It's really fucking lazy and gross to take advantage of common ignorance to elevate your own because you don't see those genres/cultures/works worthy of being known on a more deeper level. I am really fucking sorry for fans of the genre or chinese people in general that they have to see that gringo motherfucker profitting like this. It's not fair, it's not cute and, anon, I am there with you just waiting for the chance of his ass being properly dragged as it deserves.

[yahargul]

saying mxtx made a mistake by not making lwj and jc friends is just...you can have your own desires for how you wish characters would interact in better circumstances but it was in no way a misstep that these characters do not get along given ESPECIALLY given the way they both care for and view wwx and how they move in their society in general. jc's relationship with wwx is fundamentally tainted by their parents bullshit because even if they feel like they are brothers there is always a sense of inadequacy where one person must be in front with the other behind. lwj threatens the relationship he has with his brother bc it means wwx has a priority outside of the jiang clan, outside of the promise to stay by jiang cheng, and from jiang chengs perspective this conflict of interest cost him the lives of his loved ones and his entire home.

meanwhile lwj has a lot of hangups about caging another person, about expectations, and you can see how dissatisfied he is with the way the gentry clans behave when challenged on what is right and wrong. lwj openly dissents while jiang cheng largely plays passive. when it comes to helping wwx, jiang cheng views lwj as an enabler whereas lwj views jiang cheng as useless. they both blame the other for how things turned out and the resulting death of someone they cared about so. yeah, of course they hate each other, of course lwj barely treats jc with any respect, of course they sit silently and dont talk when forced to share a table. if you're going to say it would make any sense for these characters to be chatting as if nothing happened then you just dont understand these characters or their relationship with anyone let alone each other tbh

[crossdressingdeath]

I assume CQL made LWJ chief cultivator instead of NHS because of the black/white morality. In CQL where everyone got more good (LWJ, WWX) or more bad (JGY) NHS is a rare case of grey. I feel like in CQL they felt as if NHS ending as chief cultivator would be the show rewarding his "evil plans" so instead at the end WWX tells NHS the rule to not befriend evil and NHS says the will not meddle in things that aren't his bussiness, and they made chief cultivation the totally good guy LWJ instead.

I guess but like... this is where CQL’s decision to take the simplest choice to get around censorship really fails them, because while from a censorship perspective making LWJ chief cultivator makes sense from a story perspective it does not. LWJ doesn’t want to be chief cultivator! He’s shown no inclination towards that role! His political ability is limited at best! He’s bound to obey a sect leader who would be under his command as chief cultivator! To make this decision work they would have had to rewrite parts of LWJ’s character to make him interested in and experienced with politics! You know who would make a good chief cultivator if they’re going for black and white thinking and want the decision to make some modicum of sense? Fucking LXC! He’s a sect leader and so experienced with politics! He’s well-respected! He’s a peacemaker, or at least he tries to be! His missteps come from lack of knowledge and can only be seen as malicious if you’re deliberately trying to read it that way!

People excuse so much of the bad writing in CQL “because censorship”, is the thing. “Oh, but the Yin iron is because of censorship!” “LWJ is chief cultivator because of censorship!” “Wangxian split up at the end because of censorship!” I don’t care! I do not care! The plot changes could be mandated by a fucking unicorn sent from the heavens and I wouldn’t care! Bad writing is bad writing no matter what the reasoning is! The things they did were not their only options! WWX can’t invent demonic cultivation and he has to be completely innocent of all wrongdoing? Maybe have him be possessed by some sort of entity in the Burial Mounds that uses him to achieve his own ends! NHS can’t be chief cultivator because he’s too morally grey? Put LXC, the most morally pure adult sect leader alive at the end of the show who’s shown to have any political knowledge, in charge! Wangxian can’t be together because that’s gay? If LXC’s the chief cultivator WWX can just work for him on his request, removing WWX’s relationship with LWJ from the equation! It would take some shifting of characterisation, but to a certain extent that’s inevitable in adaptations even without censorship and they’ve changed characterisation around with other characters! And those three things are options I came up with on the spot at 11 pm and they’re not bad ideas (if I do say so myself), so imagine what professional writers could come up with given time and a full team! The changes CQL makes are downright lazy, and them having to make changes because of censorship is no excuse for laziness.