#like i have used webnovel before as a reader

[laisai]

webnovel is uh, not great

but they do actually pay people

it's a pittance or nothing for most though. only the most marketed and popular works get any money and the pricing is ridiculous

and the writing is usually not great

even the stuff that's been translated from chinese is pretty hit or miss. the translators do get paid, but not much i think

it's serialized fiction though so that's probably why they're going after fanfic authors.

but if you want to make money off of serial fiction these days, it's possible, but webnovel really isn't the best platform imo, especially if you're a native English speaker and writing more typical western-world stories (i can't explain it exactly but have a look at the stories on webnovel and you'll see they're pretty different from typical western stories, tho there's common tropes like billionaire romances or male zero to hero power fantasies)

I'd suggest looking at radish, yonder, tapas, kindle vella, even wattpad before going to webnovel for publishing your original serial fiction online

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

[emrowene]

Webserials and Why You Should Read Them

Welcome to a short primer on webserials! The concept behind them is pretty simple: webserials, also called webnovels or webfiction, are serialized online novels. If you read long fanfics OR webcomics, you're probably already familiar with the concept. Authors release new chapters on a fixed basis, usually one chapter a week (but sometimes more, sometimes less).

You can find webserials in several places: on big platforms like tapas and royalroad, on individual authors' websites or patreons, or on newsletter platforms like substack.

So now we know what webserials are, but why should we support them?

Because webserials are fun. Because webserial authors are sharing amazing works online for free! Because the publishing industry is disproportionately hard to get into for queer and marginalized folks, and those are the people writing webserials.

To climb a little higher onto my soapbox, I believe webserials are the future of accessible and diverse publishing. There's been more and more discussion about the problems with traditional publishing: how publishers are turning it into a "fast fashion" industry, spitting out books while overall book quality decreases. Regardless of whether you believe that, it's true that the industry prioritizes "marketability" over anything else. Experimental books, passion projects, books that have a lot of heart but no pithy "tropes" -- they stand little chance in the world of traditional publishing, and self-publishing is incredibly inaccessible for most of us. It's expensive, but more than that, it takes an incredible amount of time and effort. It's a business, and at the end of the day, some of just want to share the stories we love with people we hope will love them too. And that's the beauty of webserials!

One complaint I've seen about webserials is that "you never know what the quality will be like" - and I've seen this from people who regularly read fanfiction! Like fanfiction writers, we have our beta readers, we have our editors, we pour our hearts into developing our stories. So give us a try!!

Some recs and places to get started under the cut:

My webserials:

Fractured Magic - A queer epic fantasy series about a broken hero’s hunt for redemption and an elven prince’s quest to rescue his kidnapped king. The two estranged friends are racing against time - and dead gods - to achieve their goals. Will they make up and work together before it’s too late? (This story is currently ongoing)

The Case Files of Sheridan Bell - An old-school detective mystery set in Tamarley, a fantastical city with magical murders and doors to other worlds. Basically (queer, autistic) Sherlock Holmes but with more faeries. The first mystery is complete; the second will be published soon!

Some other webserials I follow/followed from start to finish:

What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling - a queer gothic romance novel about a priest and a vampire.

The Warthog Report by @warthogreporter- this substack contains a selection of nonfiction writing, misc. fiction writings, and Battles Beneath The Stars, a serialized story about a tournament in a fantasy world, styled like a fighting game script/walkthrough.

Kiss it Better by DogshitJay - A (definitely 18+) queer adult romance about the messy endings and messier beginnings of love.

Warrior of Hearts by Beau Van Dalen - a queer slice of life romance following an online friendship that blossoms into something more. (Beau has lots of other great webserials as well!)

More places to look:

Tapas (Community novels page)

Royalroad (mostly known for its litrpg scene, but you can find other novels and genres here as well!)

The ao3 "Original Works" tag!

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Round 3 Match 9

Propaganda:

Haru -

"Haruka, ever since seeing a waterfall as a child, has had an extremely autistic fondness towards water. Enough so, that early on in the days of the fandom, we joked he was watersexual. He does indeed almost see all water as a person, and personification of things is common in autism. He constantly talks about how the water feels and what it feels like to swim in water, something that could be sensory for him. He also doesn’t like being constricted in how he expresses his love for water and even has something of a breakdown during the second season (eternal summer) at having to finally choose to become a professional swimmer or to keep swimming freely in the water he loves so much. Haruka is also very expressionless and somewhat monotone and has been that way since he was a child. His close friends are shocked to see him loudly laugh at one point due to being tickled. He very much masks his emotions, which during season 2 becomes a point of contention from his close friends as he won’t tell them what’s wrong. As I somewhat mentioned before, he doesn’t like change and does not adapt to it very well at all and the main problems for his character for much of the series is that he has trouble confronting change and accepting it and learning to live with it. Anywho, he’s a great character, in my opinion, and deserves to make it far in this tournament. Thank you for reading."

Kim Dokja -

"kdj spends over a decade reading a webnovel and uses it as a form of escapism. SPOILERS him reading this book and forming such a deep attachment to it is the cause of literally every event in the book. his wish to be part of the story turns him into the equivalent of a god, and at the end of the story, he turns into a god (again? sort of?) and goes on to spend tens of thousands of years reading and re-reading in order to allow time to move END SPOILERS also he's gay for yjh."

[makethosenarratorsfight]

UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SEMI FINALS

*NOTE; propaganda is out of order due to the post length!

Eugenides Propaganda:

the entire plot hinges on a detail he lets the reader (and every other character) assume is true. I don't want to spoil it because it's a really fun reveal but he is lying from the first second he appears on the page and you can't trust him to tell the full truth about ANYTHING related to himself and his goals. he mostly does it to keep his advantage and not have other characters be suspicious of him but it's just so fun when you realise he's been lying the whole time

Kim Dokja Propaganda:

I haven't read orv but he's fucking gotta be from what I've osmosised

He tries to remove his emotions out of the narrative soooo much, literally the most repressed guy ever. Okay so for context orv is about how this guy, Kim Dokja, has been the only reader of an obscure post-apocalyptic webnovel for years and the novel suddenly becomes reality. And at first you'll probably get the weird impression that his behavior is pretty strange for, you know, a literal apocalypse happening in his world - like yes, he is concerned with survival but he doesn't seem all that scared and he kinda treats it like a video game where he has to grind to make himself stronger and he also treats his companions like a party in an rpg. Then there's also the way he approaches the protagonist of the webnovel, from the start he just kind of describes him as a ruthless psychopath and jerk that is unfortunately a pretty useful ally. And also there's the fact that he carefully omits any mention of his past and when somebody asks if he's worried about his family when the apocalypse starts he just kinda... brushes it off? Anyway so yeah, this bastard is definitely traumatized, although I don't know how much of spoiler territory that would be, considering the fact that literally when he first reveals his trauma he's also unreliable about it. And turns out he does indeed, care A LOT about this world and the people around him. Because well, he kinda didn't care to mention that this webnovel that has become reality was like... literally his whole world before it literally became his whole world. Like, it was the only thing keeping him going for 10+ years and the protagonist that he likes to call a stupid jerk was his comfort character who he pretended to be when he felt like he couldn't handle something in his life by being himself. The protagonist is also canonically the person he loves the most according to a prophecy and he literally can't fathom the thought of him dying, even the timeline versions of him that directly oppose him. And I haven't even mentioned the Fourth Wall yet but I feel like this propaganda is a little long already

misreading the intentions of his companion (yoo joonghyuk) so many time.

YOU DON'T UNDERSTANDDD DOKJA IS SUCH A UNRELIABLE NARRATORRRRRR GOD I COULD WRITE AN ESSAY BUT I KNOW YOU LOVE DOKJA TOO BUT OMG HE'S JUST SO AAAAAAAAAAAH

Rest of Propaganda under cut!

he is the worst like actually. he starts the story talking about how normal and average he is. he is not. he is constantly mischaracterizing his friends and he's so good at lying to the readers that you don't even realize it at first. almost every single time he cries we have to be told by other characters because he never says it himself. there is literally a scene where his narration says "i wasn't crying" and then the in-universe entity that narrates the actions of people (orv is really weird and meta) says that he was, in fact, crying. honestly genuinely anything he says about himself (or doesn't say) cannot be trusted. he is just so frustrating. he drives me mad. i love him dearly. but he drives me so mad.

Dictionary definition of unreliable narrator. Does not tell the reader anything and then things happen and he's like oh yeah btw there was also this and this earlier but i just didn't feel like mentioning it. There's even a thing called the "Fourth Wall" that is able to see through kdj's bs so occasionally you get gems like,

Kim Dokja: I didn't cry

The Fourth Wall: [Kim Dokja was crying]

Imagine being so unreliable as a narrator you need a more powerful narrator to call out the actual narrator.

^ same submission, just spacing it out

This goes into spoiler territory, but; Kim Dokja is in possession of a skill called the Fourth Wall, which on the surface seems like it appears because he read the book that reverse-isekai’d into his own. However, as the story goes on it becomes clear that it’s pretty much a souped up version of his pre-existing dissociation. You cannot trust him to be honest about his feelings, his past traumas or his feelings about his past traumas, not to mention his tendency to just outright omit information that only gets revealed later on either when it becomes relevant or when an outsider POV reveals what’s actually happening.

Exhibit A: he says (in 1st person POV) that he’s not crying. The Fourth Wall immediately contradicts this (as it is literally words of the novel) by saying (in 3rd person POV) ‘Kim Dokja was crying’.

Exhibit B: Fails to mention entire actions when it shows him emotionally honest even in the slightest; we had to read from another character entirely when Kim Dokja was being physically affectionate with his companion. It’s so bad that there’s this entire paragraph about Kim Dokja describing himself hiding his eyes in his hands in jerky, weirdly specific detail and just AVOIDING EVERY WORD THAT MIGHT SHOW HE’S CRYING. The brilliance of ORV is that when you re-read the entire thing you get hints that ‘yes, this WAS hinted at the entire time’ but you have to dig it out of Kim Dokja’s repressed, depressed self-hating internal dialogue with your own two hands.

^ same submission, spacing it out (i really should've done this earlier.)

i am a simple man (not a man). i see a tumblr text post with the words “unreliable narrator in it”. i read nothing else. i reblog & tag #kim dokja okay but in all seriousness i’m just going with the musty basic example: so there’s this moment where he sacrifices himself to save this guy. as he lays on the ground bleeding out, he says “hey, you don’t like me, right? you should kill me to get some money” the guy says “no kim dokja i cant do that (going through the five stages of grief except there’s only one and it’s anger)” the constellations (twitch viewers irl) are like omg he (the guy) doesn’t want to kill his companion (kim dokja) and shower him (the guy) with money kim dokja: oh, he’s not killing me for the money. smart!

as i quote a brilliant youtube video (all of omniscient reader’s viewpoint in 6 minutes) “yoo joonghyuk sees kim dokja as a c_____”

yoo joonghyuk: companion

kim dokja: cunt

^ same submission, once again. spacing it out.

Hides his true feelings, tells the readers what he thinks is convenient for the plot and that his own personal feelings don’t matter or are not so significant. Has unreliable thoughts abt his companion and is a liar. And is also an omniscient reader.

Kim Dokja always perceived his companions in this like nonchalant way like “oh yeah we get along but really we’re just fighting to survive (apocalypse setting) it doesn’t run that deep” when they all do genuinely care for him and he does in turn. He just, doesn’t think of it as an equal relationship? Dokja’ll sacrifice a lot for them but will get seriously flabbergasted if they do the same thing, so fricking problematic. Not to mention Yoo Joonghyuk, his “Life and Death Companion” (read: husband). Kim Dokja always seems to think that Joonghyuk has it out for him, which is kinda true, but he is literally blind to the fact that he’s attached to him. Like, it’s so obvious??? Also they have hella sexual tension but that’s another thing entirely

se get some many pov changes where kdj in his pov just assumed things based on what he knew the characters would do. however because of his interference the characters have changed and he wouldn’t know that if it hit him in the face

He's an unreliable narrator because he lies to himself and thus the audience. He literally rewrote his own childhood core memory. If someone says, "this guy is my friend!" He will go through so many hoola hoops in his mind just to rationalize it. Because he fundamentally believe that no one could love him and even if they did they couldn't know him and he's just gonna hurt them. He cries sometimes in canon but a lot of those times it's not even mentioned as crying he's that unreliable of a narrator. No joke, one time this guys he has a gay thing with called him his "companion" to someone who had just killed him (long story) and this bitch thought "oh wow he's doing it for the coins (another long story) he's so smart i wish I'd thought to that. He's terrible. He literally has an exchange with something called the Fourth Wall (an even longer story) where it said "you're crying" and he said "no I'm not" but he was crying. He makes me insane because the reader is supposed to project onto him. He made me see how much of an unreliable narrator I WAS. ORV is just like that tho.

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 154 spoilers n thoughts n all that yeah

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HE DID THE THING HE DID THE >:3 THING YESS YAYYYY YAYAYAYAYY HAHAHAHAA

GOD HES SO FUCKING SILLY WAHAHAHA

jesus christ running from the cops every which way LMAO i really like their faces here javier w exasperation and lloyd just. being him

AND THE UGLY COSPLAYER BIT WHAT 😭 HELP LOL?? i guess cosplayers walking around isnt really a common thing in korea idk i feel like. they didnt really commit an offense until lloyd tried bribing that cop guy lol

like it makes me think back to dkc and how michael and the other guy (I FORGOT HIS NAME SORRY) went to seoul for a bit and kind of caused several accidents and i feel like that fits better w getting the cops attention compared to,,, rummaging thru trash? but also i am not familiar w korea's police system! nor do i know their policies on foreigners n whatnot so who am i to say yknow

i also really really wish that besides the cop chasing, we got to see a lil bit more of javier's reaction to seoul and its citizens, the clothing and the culture and how the buildings look, what does he think of them? whats his feelings on an environment so dissimilar to his own, and does he notice anything abt it that reminds him of lloyd and his sudden acquisition of all his knowledge? maybe theres more of that in the webnovel,,, itll be a while before i get there tho unfortunately

anyways thoughts aside more reacting

UUUAGHHHH JAVIER NOTICING EVERY SINGLE TIME LLOYD APPEARS SICK OR UNWELL BUT LLOYD BRUSHING IT OFF. EXPLODES INTO TEN BILLION PIECES. AAGHH AAGHHHH AAGHH screaming crying god that engineer needs a god damn hug

also them in civilian clothes! they look so dorky lmao the hats r super cute tho AND I REALLY LIKE THAT JAVIER HAS GLASSES THATS SO SILLY how can he see though wouldn't it be like vaguely blurry . most glasses are prescription,,, tho they did find this stuff discarded so maybe theyre just,,, decorative??? do people still wear decorative glasses???

i have more thoughts on their attire but it coincides with some thoughts i have for the latter half of this ep so i'll bring it up then!

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE EPISODE THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL AAGHHH AAAHHH

i started tearing up oh my FUCKING god i feel so insane ohhhhhhhh ohhhhhhh my heart ohhghhh

trying to keep his bluff up all the way through even though he's visibly struggling im gonna throw up im gonna throw up

most if not all the panels in this latter half of the episode make me feel like this so i'll try not to be repetitive and jump straight into my thoughts LMAO

i think the way lloyd is drawn in these panels is really, REALLY well done, and not in just an "oh the art looks good" kind of way, but the choices they make with the posing and the camera angle makes me feel insane

because the moment we cut to the shot where they're on the trail, we do not see lloyd's entire face at ALL. the most we see is his nose and mouth, and that makes my heart squirm like a motherfucker, because who else did we see that way in the webtoon?

kim suho, all the way at the beginning.

we don't actually get to know suho's face until way, way later in the webtoon adaptation, which is once he's way more secure in his position as lloyd frontera

so seeing this,,, it's like we're thrown back to then, it's like LLOYD is thrown back to then, back to when he was just suho kim; someone who thought of himself as nothing, as someone who just couldn't function correctly in this world, and god does my heart ache

and lloyd right now feels it too, the anxieties he once had coming right back. and i think that makes the clothing choices for lloyd specifically really impactful too, specifically upper body

the blue poloshirt is eerily reminiscent of the blue tracksuit suho used to wear, and it's the layer underneath a green jacket with a collar similar to lloyd's usual coat. it's like a reminder to the reader that once upon a time, he was just suho wearing lloyd's mask in a strange, new world. i think this experience is a reminder of that to suho, too,,,

also, the bucket hat is able to cover most if not all of his hair. in some of these panels, you can't even tell that it's lloyd underneath. it might not be the same body, with the way the camera is positioned, especially with some of them being from javier's point of view, it's like,,, "who is speaking right now? the face of lloyd frontera, or the heart of suho kim?"

and in the middle of this, we hear javier speak and ask suho if he hated his behavior, blamed himself for his anxieties, and only then do we get to see one of his eyes, but just one.

idk if the timing of this is intentional (i dont know if ANY of this direction is intentional) but id like to think that javier responding in search of clarification (rather than responding in silence or in disgust) helped suho be a little more inclined to opening up and being honest with who he was in this world. i really really like that

AND THIS ARGHHH ARGHHH AAAHHHHH ROLLING AROUND ON THE FLOOR LIKE A PILLBUG HAVING A SEIZURE AGHHHH

it makes it so so telling that he's the type to live for others, he always has been, to the point of being a workaholic. a quiet, good kid, trying to make amends for the struggles he has by burdening himself with the responsibility of protecting his parents names, of protecting the people he loved. he's done that since the beginning and he keeps doing that over and over and over, both here on earth and there in lorasia.

it makes me so upset (in a character drive way! not in a "this is bad" way) that he thinks of himself as nothing without this responsibility, when this ability to move forward and endure and fight for people is something beautiful in and of itself. it's not every day that you meet people like this, selfless and hardworking and tenacious to their core. back then he encapsulated his identity based on his inability to function in a world that requires social and physical interaction - something that isn't his fault! - and while he was able to move past that in lorasia, he was thrown back to this encapsulation once in seoul. he started to think of himself as "suho in lloyd's body" again, instead of "i am lloyd frontera" as he said before his "bluff" failed. MY HEART HURTS.

and i think that's why javier's concluding note, that in the knights eyes he is just the same person, is so impactful too.

because javier doesn't see lloyd based on his anxiety. he sees him for who he is. someone who protects the people he cares about. someone who is brilliantly cunning, quick on his feet, rational and brave and tenacious tenacious tenacious. for all the things suho admitted to javier, these truths haven't changed for the knight. he's the same person.

javier sees a guardian. javier sees kim suho.

AND THAT is what gets suho to his feet and we finally see his full face again. AND OOHHHH THE LOOKS THEY GIVE EACH OTHER AGHHHH AHHH

the marks of tears streaked on his face but he's smiling with so much renewed energy and javier softly smiling back IM GONNA THROW UPPPP THESE TWO MEAN THE WORLD TO MEEEE AHHHHHH AAAAAAHHHHHH

exploding. exploding. exploding. exploding. exploding.

anyway that's all (for now. if you see me on twitter i might still be agonizing over this /pos) i will SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! i hope we get a cool view from namsan tower and javier reacting to that that'd be nice :3 ANYWAYS BYE

[linghxr]

5 years of linghxr 🎂

Today marks 5 years of linghxr! Well, technically Tumblr notified me of my blog’s anniversary 2 days ago. But I didn’t make my first post until July 12th, so I’ve decided to celebrate today instead.

I started learning Mandarin Chinese as a little kid attending weekend Chinese school, and I also took it in high school. I got 认真 about it in college after realizing my Chinese wasn’t even good enough to test out of the 1st year Chinese course. I spent all my free time studying the Chinese Grammar Wiki and successfully placed into 2nd year Chinese!

I started this blog the following summer as I tried not to forget everything before the 3rd year Chinese course, while also studying Russian. Over the past 5-6 years, I have…

…read 3 webnovels and 1 book

…watched 17 cdramas and 25 seasons of variety/reality shows

…posted 282 times on this blog

…made 8313 flashcards in Anki

07/20/24 The contest is closed, and I have contacted the winner.

To give back to the langblr community, I am gifting winner’s choice of prize from two resources/platforms I have used myself. They are both digital to make this more accessible.

Prizes

The lucky winner can pick one of these options:

Option 1 - iTalki gift card for $60 of iTalki credits

Option 2 - Pleco Pro Bundle worth $59.99 (see under the cut for bundle content)

Requirements to enter

To enter, all you need to do is like, reblog, or comment on this post. You can do more than one if you like, but please don’t spam the post. Feel free to vote in the poll too, but that’s just for fun 😄

You have one week (until next Friday, July 19th) to enter. Shortly after, I will select a winner at random and message them to coordinate details (make sure your Tumblr settings allow me to message you). If there is no response after 48 hours, I will select someone else. If you are under 18, please get parent or guardian permission.

Thank you for 5 wonderful years of blogging!

Via Pleco, the pro bundle includes:

Our more expensive bundle includes almost every "feature" add-on plus 6 different dictionaries; two English-to-Chinese ones (one smaller one with Pinyin and one larger one without), the massive ABC Chinese-to-English, the bidirectional Oxford Chinese Dictionary, the small-but-example-rich Tuttle Chinese-English, and (to stretch your reading skills a bit) the Chinese-to-Chinese Guifan dictionary.

Bundle contents:

ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary ($19.99)

ABC English-Chinese Dictionary ($9.99)

Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian ($29.99)

New Century English-Chinese Dictionary ($29.99)

Oxford Chinese Dictionary ($19.99)

Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary ($9.99)

Enhanced Handwriting Recognizer ($9.99)

Optical Character Recognizer ($9.99)

"Qiang" Mandarin Male Text-to-Speech ($9.99)

Mandarin Audio (male) ($4.99)

Mandarin Audio (female) ($4.99)

Flashcard System ($9.99)

Document Reader ($9.99)

[starfieldcanvas]

You seem like the appropriate person to ask, so might as well. How do I read Scum Villain's Self Saving System? I'm an english only reader that's not very familiar with the danmei ecosystem.

It's been published in English! Big bookstores like Barnes & Noble are carrying Seven Seas danmei these days. My local indie carries them as well. And of course you can buy them on Bookshop or your preferred online retailer. There are four volumes in the English printing, which comprise the original chapters, a lot of illustrations, some translator notes on the basics of cultivation novels and Chinese forms of address, and the "extras", bonus chapters that are a fairly common addition to books that were originally published as pay-per-chapter webnovels.

My local library system has at least one copy of every volume. I do live in a large city (with a large Asian population to boot), but I don't know how relevant that is. The series was an NYT bestseller, so it's totally plausible that even a medium-size county system would have them too. And if you're very patient, you can always request the series be added to your local library catalog.

But the obvious easy answer is that the whole thing is (shh!) still online. 'Lily's BC translation' made it through the whole thing, and there are other slightly smoother fan translations that you can start off with before switching translations when you run out of chapters.

The issue with reading it online is that you're going to run into some odd mixes of preservation vs translation vs localization ('Shidi' sounds much nicer than 'Junior Apprentice-Brother', imo. but why is it always Regret of Chunshan and never Regret of Spring Mountain?) and some transplanted Mandarin dialogue formatting (often it's just [Charactername, "Dialogue"] with no dialogue tag at all) that will take a little getting used to. The translator notes are a lot more colorful, though!

Scum Villain is a fun trip to read knowing pretty much nothing going into it. It's a convergence (and parody) of four different genres: stallion novel, danmei, isekai/transmigration, and cultivation/xianxia. Stop here if you want to go in genre-blind!

Here are my random thoughts about what might be nice for new readers to know IF they don't feel like dropping themselves in the deep end and learning by osmosis:

Stallion novels:

This is the type of webnovel being parodied by Scum Villain's book-within-a-book Proud Immortal Demon Way. Kinda like a harem anime, but more focused on providing a satisfying male power fantasy. Though you can definitely get the gist of it just from the exposition in Scum Villain, there were a few misconceptions I walked away with at the end of the book. This rundown on AO3, Stallion Novels: A Guide, is a brief introduction to the genre and how it differs from or overlaps with other genres of Chinese webnovel.

Danmei:

The popular danmei that have made it the furthest into Western circulation don't necessarily give a representative sampling of common-denominator danmei tropes, precisely because the popular stuff is usually the memorable standouts rather than the generic pulp. So just keep in mind that the common gong (seme) archetype is the dangerous, demanding, quasi-rapist huge-dicked dom who magically makes dry pounding feel insanely pleasurable, and the shou (uke) archetype is the delicate virginal younger man who says no but means yes and cries prettily during sex. These traits WILL be thrown in a blender and parodied, lovingly.

Isekai/transmigration:

This is the trope where you die in real life and wake up in a fantasy world (typical isekai) or in an explicitly fictional setting you recognize from your real-world media consumption (fairly typical transmigration.) Especially in the Chinese webnovel side of the genre, there's often a lot of emphasis on 'leveling up', point farming, and getting 'achievements' like in a video game. Access to this game system typically gives the player advantages over the natural inhabitants of the new world. If there isn't a game system, the player usually still has some kind of magical specialness conferred by being from 'the real world', such as knowledge of how the plot will go. These things will, again, be parodied all to hell.

Cultivation/xianxia:

It's apparently pretty common for westerners ignorant of Daoism and new to xianxia ("immortal heroes") stories to assume cultivation stuff is unique to whatever cultivation-setting book they happened to pick up first. If you had never heard of vampires and then you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'd be forgiven for initially assuming that the show invented vampires, but you'd misunderstand its commentary on existing vampire lore, and it would probably be confusing how much vampire stuff it inexplicably expected you to already know. With that in mind, you can see why it might be helpful to have a vague awareness of what "cultivation" refers to in xianxia novels.

Here's my stab at it: "cultivation" means something like "increasing one's spiritual energy reserves and improving one's control over spiritual energy (qi) through meditation, study, and physical discipline, in order to develop a powerful core of spiritual energy that can heal wounds, enable powerful martial techniques, slow visible aging or stop aging entirely, and allow a person to forgo food and sleep indefinitely as they transcend the limitations of their physical body and become immortal, maybe even ascending to godhood."

Usually cultivators practice cultivation in cultivation sects - these sects are typically depicted as a cross between a temple, a boot camp, a university campus, and a small independent political entity

Everyone in the same sect ("martial family") refers to each other using sect-flavored family terms. Two people of the same generation are sect-siblings and will use sibling suffixes with the "shi-" prefix to indicate it's a sect relationship. Your sect mentor is your shizun/shifu ("honored teacher-mentor-master"/"teacher-mentor-master"). Someone in your mentor's generation is your sect-uncle or sect-aunt; they'll refer to you as their sect-niece or sect-nephew.

Similar to how Chinese family name suffixes differ by age order, sect-family suffixes differ depending on seniority (i.e. when your master took you as a disciple, relative to the other disciples.) But different novels play with these seniority rules differently and may assign suffixes by age alone or by some other ranking system.

Westerners occasionally get freaked out when people in the same sect generation fall in love because the characters are sect siblings. But there's no incest implied at all—it's nothing more than two people being in the same boarding school or church congregation.

If a cultivator is not in a sect, they're called a rogue cultivator ; this confers less stability and political prestige, but despite the name, rogue cultivators are not outlaws or apostates. It just means "independent."

Cultivators will often accept requests from civilians to deal with marauding monsters and mysterious ghost-related deaths. How much money they expect for their services is generally tied to how righteous they are.

Depending on their chosen cultivation path, they may be more martial or less martial. Cultivators of the sword path use spiritual swords that can (1) work like a regular sword but better, (2) project power at range in a glowing beam called a sword glare, or (3) be directed remotely in battle using hand seals (adopted into Daoism from Buddhism, known elsewhere as mudras) or wordless telepathy. Some cultivators of the sword path will nevertheless have non-sword spiritual weapons or favor other qi-powered martial techniques.

Cultivators make use of talismans (spells written in red cinnabar ink on strips of paper and then activated, often used like throwable magic stickers) and arrays (more powerful, longer-lasting spells painted or carved into locations or objects.)

Various stages of core formation may be referenced to indicate power levels. Reaching a new stage may involve some kind of tribulation, health risk, or grueling purification process (e.g. expelling all your body's impurities out through your pores as black goo.)

Spiritual energy is channelled through pathways in your body called spirit veins to key points called meridians. Different people may be said to have different types of spirit veins typed according to the five elements. A trained cultivator can examine someone's meridians to check their spiritual health or cultivation aptitude.

Strain on your psyche or your spiritual energy can lead to what's called a qi deviation, where the spiritual energy circulating through you gets fucked up and you have the spiritual equivalent of a stroke. Sufferers may bleed from all their face holes, lash out mindlessly at anyone who comes near them, hallucinate, straight-up die, or endure wacky shenanigans like temporarily reverting to childhood.

Cultivators may use external alchemy to create power-boosting pills in small alchemical cauldrons.

Dual cultivation is exchanging energy through sex in order to aid in spiritual regulation or to mutually increase power levels. It can be done in a one-sided way to steal spiritual energy, which is known as making a human cauldron. In the real religious practice on which the fantasy version is based, dual cultivation relies on the exchange of men's yang and women's yin, but somehow in danmei xianxia the m/m couples seem to manage it just fine...

Different Chinese novels and shows do different variations on cultivation (the same way Western shows do variations on vampires/angels/demons/etc) but they're all ultimately drawing on the same Daoist tradition of internal alchemy (also called The Way of the Golden Elixir) with bits of Buddhism and Chinese folk religion mixed in. (Chinese folk religion is usually where the monster/ghost/demon stuff comes from.)

Other stuff:

Scum Villain is peppered with a bunch of trope references that will be largely unfamiliar to most western readers, like "white lotus"/"black lotus", "blackened", "black belly", and so on. It also borrows a few Japanese archetype references here and there. "Cannon fodder" is fairly self-explanatory at least.

It's fun to look these up, but it's equally fun to just figure them out from context.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your reading!

[writers-potion]

Writing Webnovels 101

There is one key difference between printed/ebooks and a webnovel: you need to adapt your writing for a highly distracted audience.

Unlike a traditional reading experience, people reading on the web have a gazillion other tabs, windows and notifications demanding their attention. So, here are some things to keep in mind when you’re writing for a digital platform.

Short, To-The-Point sentences

Keep your sentences short so that the reader doesn’t lose themselves in the middle.

Keep descriptions short and to the point while focusing on the action of the story.

Fast-paced

Each chapter must have significant action that contributes to plot progression.

Use well-placed cliffhangers that wouldn’t lose the reader in between chapters.

Trope-Led Story

The function of tropes is to provide a distracted reader with a ready-built framework to understand the story.

Using the right tropes is also important to attract your target audience since it tell up upfront about what kind of experience they’re going to have.

Emotion-Led Story

Deliver emotional highs and lows right off the bat, because big, intense emotion is what the readers are looking for.

Emotional information is easier to digest and retain than technical description.

Big emotions are easier to hook into and relate to.

Linear Storyline

Keep flashbacks, flashforwards, time skips to a minimum.

For a distracted reader, a straightforward timeline is a lot easier to understand and return to after a hiatus.

Focused Plot

Having multiple subplots weaving in and out of each other is probably not the best idea.

Keep delivering the emotional experience that the reader is looking for and provide only relevant information.

Technicals

Choosing the right platform

There are so many ways you can write online, from building your own website to writing short episodes on social media platforms.

You can use: novelfull.com, readlightnovel.me, Ltnovel.com, Wattpad, Webnovel, Wuxiaworld, etc.

Before you start posting on a platform, research into the kind of readers it has, what are the most popular genres, etc. Make sure you are pitching to the right audience.

Promoting Your Work

Many writers now promote themselves through newsletters, Instagram, YouTube, etc. but for someone just starting out, creating digital content on top of writing can be tough.

Join a webnovel community and get to know some of your fellow writers! The goal here is not to span other established works to links of your site. As time foes on, linking to one another and making recommendations would come naturally.

Set a Realistic Posting Schedule

Your posting schedule determines how often your readers get to interact with the story world and with one another. It’s how often life gets breathed into your story.

However, going for five days a week isn’t going to be sustainable, unless your story is already finished.

There is no magic number, so figure out a consistent, regular schedule that you can stick to. At least once a week is recommended.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee! ☕

References:

https://creators.wattpad.com/writing-resources/write-your-story/what-is-a-webnovel-indepth-guide/

https://www.drewhayesnovels.com/blog/2014/1/25/shit-i-wish-id-known-before-starting-a-web-novel

[lurinatftbn]

I’m curious about your process. How do you go about getting a chapter done every week? How many drafts do you write for each chapter, on average? Did you do all your research in advance or do you look some things up as you go along? Do you have an editor? Sorry if you’ve answered this all before, I’m relatively new to Flower.

There's no need to apologize!

Honestly, I find questions like this a little tricky to answer, since I feel like my process is more esoteric than a lot of people I've talked to... The simplified version is that I have a huge master document which I wrote out at the very start that lays out the facts and how the plot is supposed to go/how the mystery tricks are supposed to work in broad strokes, and use that to sketch out extremely rough chapter 'plans' about a month or two in advance that lay out the order I want things to happen and the beats that need to be hit. Then I use those in turn to write the proper drafts - adding flavor and more superficial character interactions in the process - in the week before they go up on the Patreon, then edit/correct typos according to reader feedback for the final version. I don't have enough money and am too much of a weird hermit to have a properly consistent editor, though there are some readers who do really consistent work in that area.

...but again, that's the simplified version. The reality is that webnovel writing is extremely messy, and I often end up tweaking and fussing over stuff at every stage of the process. Sometimes a final draft won't come out right and I'll have to throw entire sections out just so it's not miserable to read, and sometimes I'll push out stuff that feels unfinished just because it's been too long since an update and I'm nervous about losing momentum.

I'm on the extreme architect end of the gardener/architect writing spectrum, but often what makes sense for a story technically is not what's good for producing compelling content in the immediate term, and I often tie myself in knots or cause problems for the plotting when I realize my plans have led to a section that's boring or feels forced. In some regards it feels like writing a very complicated mystery in this format in the first place was probably a questionable idea, even if I do still have fun.

[relatableblorbopoll]

Round 1 of preliminaries, group 6

The first two places get a place on the bracket

Little reminder: there will be 2 more rounds of preliminaries, the losing blorbos of this poll still have 2 chances of getting in the official bracket

propaganda under the cut

Jesper Fahey (Six of Crows)

No Propaganda

Crowley (Good Omens)

"He's gender. He's been in love with one guy for literally 6000 years and then royally fucks up his entire confession. He yells at his plants. He drapes himself over every fucking surface he sits on. He walks like *that*. He just fuckin makes sounds sometimes. He's me fr."

Dave Strider (Homestuck)

"everything that can be said about Dave's relatability will probably sound redundant, clichéd, or overdone if you are at all familiar with tumblrs sort of blorbo culture. this is exactly why he should be in this tournament.

stop me if you think that you've heard this one before: he hides his genuine emotions behind a persona, deflects sincerity with jokes, but also has a deep desire for validation and connection, so that his persona has many cracks where little bits of his true self slip through. deeply insecure, compares himself to others. a defeatist streak, avoids responsibility. does not wish to be troubled by The Horrors. he just wants to hang out and do his lil creative hobbies (making music and drawing comics). talks a lot to the point of being pretty awkward, rambling, and accidentally saying stuff he shouldnt.

all these things I think tend to resonate deeply with a lot of people, especially on Tumblr - that "person who is insecure and struggles with emotional openness so copes by making jokes" sort of trope, it's just like kin bait (affectionate). he also has a complicated relationship with gender which I know many find relatable (shout out to the "Dave homestuck was my trans awakening" homies) but whether it's about figuring out gender or sexuality or trauma or the apocalypse or anything else, Dave comes at it with an initial, learned, fear and reluctance that I think a lot of people have experienced, because it's very human and very much a part of many readers experiences (we live in a society). but he's always good, and likeable and that makes for a very important sort of relatable character. very comforting. even if he's a mess and he's an idiot you can believe he can get to something better, and you can watch him develop and grow.

also, I think he's extremely relatable because he never really knows what's going on in the comic either. I mean, that's gonna be relatable to most people Vis a vis homestuck. he's confused and he just wants to vibe and make his friends laugh. WHO AMONG US cannot relate?? I do not believe you if you say no.

I wrote too much and got way too weird about it. I'm sorry it's late I'd edit down but I really don't have the brain capacity.. which is very Dave core of me actually"

Junior (Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race)

"i relate to him a lot because his whole character is being embarrassed of his dad who tries too hard to be cool, but still loves him anyways. that is literally me"

Kim Dokja (Omnicient Reader's Viewpoint)

"kim dokja. oh kim dokja. so, without going into spoilers too much, kim dokja is very much a character you are expected to relate to and it makes the novel DEVASTATING. here's just a few things about him: - he is obsessed with a particular piece of media, and finds comfort in it when real life doesn't give him any. he's constantly thinking about it and defending it and trying to recommend it to other people (even though no one else bothers reading it, because it is an objectively bad 3000-chapter webnovel). even beyond that one novel, he's been using fiction as an escape for just about his entire life, something that rings true for a lot of people, especially in the modern world. - he struggles with socializing with other people. the first chapter alone gave me so much second hand embarrassment. it's so real but god it's So bad. he has zero friends and has that sort of loneliness where you're miserable but you can't really bring yourself to feel anything but resigned to it. in general he is just very Resigned to his unfortunate life and can't fully understand or accept it when it finally does get better - he has a complicated relationship with his mother. it's the kind of relationship where the parent genuinely does love their child, but they fail to give them what they need & have to accept that they hurt their kid and that they cannot be the most important person in their life. it's certainly not a universal experience but those sorts of parent-child relationships are woefully common but scarcely acknowledged -the insecurity. god there is so much insecurity in that man. it's hard to even completely tell it's there at first, because it's so ingrained in how he thinks that you don't question it until you know more about his character and suddenly it's all too apparent. he cannot believe that he can be loved (or, if that he can be, that they certainly would not be able to love all of him, only what he chooses to show them), and is selfless but like. the literal meaning of the word, where he will throw away all of his being for the people he loves. in general there is a lot of sacrifice as a love language which like. while i'm not off around throwing myself in front of magic death beams for people or anything i sure would give up everything i could if it meant helping the people i love - ok enough of that. here's some funny things i can relate to. the guy meets his favorite fictional blorbo and instead of worshipping him instead he bullies him constantly and internally complains about how unbearable he is both in the book and in real life. it's like a "i love my blorbo. i would not last 2 seconds in a room with him." You know. he gets so caught up in his fanon characterizations and biases about characters that he completely mischaracterizes them like constantly. he literally kills a guy half because he was his least favorite character. -this is a poll about blorbo relatability. therefore i must mention that kim dokja too related to his blorbo (or at least attempted to) and what is more relatable than that. anyways. kdj made me realize far too much about myself and is by far the most i have ever related to a character (and i Hate it). and tumblr would definitely relate to him too so :thumbs-up:"

"(SPOILERS) He is literally all of us. Reader. Just some guy. And then insane tragic backstory. But he’s also just some guy. He’s special and also just a guy. He’s also god. He can be shipped w anyone. He has versatility and interests and motivations. He also never tells anyone anything ever. He is so me."

"He reads a trashy, long-ass novel as a coping mechanism and doesn't think he's capable of being loved. Bro dissociates when he's emoting too much."

"I'm a homestuck fan, a Dave Strider fan even Never heard of Omnicient Reader's before Voted for the kim fellow because judging by the propaganda it looks like he himself would be a homestuck reader therefore making him more relatable than the homsetuck character himself"

"This guy’s been my companion since I was 11, I’ve grown up with Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint and I think that’s pretty funny since he grew up with Ways of Survival (the 3149 chapter novel) and therefore I’m straight up mirroring him. I, too, scare everyone off by being too enthusiastic whenever the webnovel is brought up! His insecurities are severe but I do see myself in some parts of him (which is worrying but whatever.) He is absolutely The Guy Ever. Utterly pathetic wet cat of a man. I love him. He represents the crazy fandom tumblrina in all of us."

Donutella (Tokidoki)

"she's made of donuts basically like me at this point"

[mydearestbeloved]

okay, you said illusion is part of reader's arsenal so i think it would be cool if she has an AOE skill where she creates a fragrant field of flowers that heals and buffs allies but any enemies that step into the field will be teleport back to the other side before they can cross over it, kinda like a never ending loop? samsara? the cycle of life and birth? (i was inspired seeing shu arknights skill set)

?System¿: [Under review. Ideas considered for future versions.]

Interesting idea you got there. 🤩

You might notice by now that I love giving some logics behind what was supposed to be pure magic, if I can. That's one of my ways to make this story concept a bit more distinct than the others, and also a way for me to fit in the original narratives. Because as far as I know, from spoilers of the webnovel/novel and game, and from the webtoon/manhwa and anime, the mechanics of healer class hunter's power is not widely explained and developed. It's like filling in the gaps/plotholes with what-ifs and all that. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. 🙏

So, let me clarify a few things about the current Reader's powers as of now (12/11/2024):

For AOE heals, buffs, and even enemies debuffs, Reader's butterflies already got that covered.

The butterflies' main power is inspired by the very nature of butterflies in real life, pollination. While they might not be as effective as bees in that regard, they still feed on flowers' nectar (enemies' lifeforce). When they do this, their bodies collect pollen (excess energy) and carry it to other plants (allies) to help produce new seeds (in the form of heals and buffs).

The reason I also choose butterflies instead of bees are for their physical appearance. Hear me out first before anyone could get mad.

I'm not saying that I chose butterflies purely because of their aesthetics, over the effectiveness of bees. What I'm trying to say is that bees' have visible stinger, butterflies don't. This fact plays part in the Reader's vibe of being beautiful but deadly. Illusions is one of the reasons we perceive something that were actually dangerous as harmless, it tricked us into thinking that something so pleasing to the eyes couldn't possible hurt us, yet reality says otherwise. As the saying goes, "Don't let the looks fool you."

Now onto the 'field of flowers' concept in what is as of currently the latest drafted chapter of my Trial Player AU.

Plants in general absorb carbondioxide (mana, or other versions of it, like the contaminated ones) and produce oxygen (lifeforce) in exchange.

Additionally, in my story, the concept applied is that living beings continuously produce their own mana while they're alive. If they're freshly dead, there will only be residue mana from being alive just moments prior, limited and will be dispersed into the atmosphere as time goes on.

To simplify: 'Lifeforce' is the essence of mana. Being alive automatically produce mana, hence taking just a small amount of 'lifeforce' sourced from living beings can be converted to an abundant amount of mana. However, while Reader can still take back a mana's essence with the flower field, the field needs to take a larger amount of mana (CO2) just to produce smaller amount of 'lifeforce' (O2) to then be used by the butterflies (conduits) in a cycle and for Reader herself.

Hence the scenes in my Trial Player AU rendition of Solo Leveling's Demon Castle Arc. The land are roaming with demons and the undeads, perfect for the flower field. Though there's a catch that I can't fully explain for now, the 'contaminated' mana of the creatures there. The current Jinwoo in the manhwa can't extract Metus' shadow for exactly that reason, and while Reader was still able to use that mana, the contamination in it will have an effect on her, as shown briefly at the end of the chapter.

Last but not least, your Samsara cycle idea.

Awesome idea actually, one I want to ask for your permission to incorporate this concept in the future since you're the one who brought it up. 🙏

As of you know now, the current Reader's power is limited. To use that idea of yours now would be to imply that Reader could've reversed wounds to heal instead of accelerating cells (or other automatic biological processes) and subsequently trigger <Decay> if too much was sped up.

The current her was already struggling with <Erode>, a spell that supposedly accelerate weathering (not an automatic process) that needs outer factors like water, air, sunlight, or the help of living organisms, in which she managed to substitue them with applying more mana, hence the cost, time, and focus she needs to use the spell.

To simplify, to reverse a wound would be to reverse the cause of that very wound, hence dominion over space is also required, not just time. To make a 'Samsara Cycle' as you described needed the same power of space and time. A limitation for the current Reader...

For now. 🤫😉

---

That's all I can say for now regarding your ask. Hopefully, this was a satisfactory answer.

Thank you, for reading my stories, for your ideas, and for giving me the opportunity to share my own ideas. 💞

[rigelmejo]

Beginner Resources: Studying Hanzi

Are you starting to learn Chinese? Are you trying to figure out how to approach studying hanzi?

First, I would suggest you read some short article that explains radicals in hanzi. Those are the components that 'spell' the hanzi character, there's not very many, and they can often help you guess the meaning or pronunciation of a hanzi you run into. Here is a list of Chinese radicals on Berlitz.com so you can get some familiarity with what they look like, their pronunciation, meaning, and some example hanzi that have those radicals. This Chinese Character Radicals wikipedia article explains how radicals can sometimes contribute a meaning or sound to the hanzi. I suggest reading through both of these articles fully, and saving them to reference later. You do not need to memorize, or spend more than a couple hours reading these. Just having a basic familiarity with what radicals are, and what they contribute to a hanzi, will be helpful as you learn hanzi.

For Chinese beginners, this is still absolutely my favorite study resource for learning hanzi. The book teaches 800 common hanzi, from HSK 1-3, and it uses mnemonic stories it provides you (so you don't have to come up with stories on your own - unlike Heisig) to teach meanings and pronunciation and tone. After studying this book, it's achievable to keep using the same kind of mnemonic story strategy used in this book to keep learning hanzi on your own. That's what I did. This book got me from 0 hanzi knowledge, to enough to read graded readers (I read Mandarin Companion and graded readers sold on Pleco app), and then from there I'd picked up enough additional hanzi to start reading the Newcomer/Beginner stories suggested on Heavenly Path Notion Site's recommendations. (I jumped into reading harder stuff way faster than I perhaps should have, and eventually went back and read some of the Newcomer/Beginner stuff Heavenly Path recommends such as TuTu DaWang 禿禿大王).

Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters; Includes All Characters for the AP & HSK 1-3 Exams

There is also an anki deck, with mnemonic stories provided, to keep studying hanzi if that method works well for you and you need a little more aid for a while before moving onto learning hanzi entirely on your own. This is the anki deck I used for around ~500 hanzi when I was trying to speed up my hanzi recognition, since I jumped into reading BL webnovels pretty fast (faster than I probably should have lol): Mnemonics - 3018 Simplified Chinese Hanzi

There is also a traditional version of that anki deck: Mnemonics - 3035 Traditional Chinese Hanzi

[danmeiarchive]

The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu -- a brief review (VAGUE spoilers under the cut)

Novel length: 156 chapters

My Rating: ♥♥♥♥½ / 5

This novel is a fun silly romp with plenty of face-slapping and courtroom drama. Overall, this is a fun one and while I enjoyed it very much it is perhaps not one for everyone. Our main character is pretty OP and seemingly able to overcome any and all trials with his powers of being a CUTE MAGIC FISH.

Content warnings and some VAGUE SPOILERS in regard to the disability and representation under the cut.

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What kind of story is The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish?

DTPPF is a transmigration story. So anticipate all sorts of transmigration shenanigans and tropes. It's also a story that is clearly meant for fun and not to be taken seriously. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have heart -- there were a few times I teared up and cried as I got hit right in the feels. This is also a story with mpreg -- something that I hadn't anticipated just from the title and synopsis.

(If you are worried about the mpreg just know that it is vaguely referenced and kinda handwaved in a 'it just works' way. The novel does not go into the how or physiology. It just happens.)

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What about the disability? The tyrant is mute -- and there are some genuine moments of how he struggles with it. There's even a couple moments when he sort of uses his muteness to his advantage. It is an integral part of his character as it has changed how others treat and perceive him. It also affects his life in the imperial palace and his right of inheritance as one of the emperor's sons. It does not feel like an afterthought. That being said please check below the cut to see some more of my thoughts on this matter.

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Overall while this story does have a good amount of courtroom intrigue, drama, and backstabbing I'm still left feeling that it's a fairly lighthearted and fluffy story. I think this is mostly due to how seemingly easily and consistently our main character and his love interest are able to solve the problems they run into. It was also terribly endearing as the reader to see the tyrant falling desperately in love and just wanting to tell the main character that he is loved and that he accepts him no matter what kind of creature he is.

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Who are the main characters?

Without going into details here's a little bit about our main squad:

Li Yu aka Xiao Yu - the main character of our tale, he is a modern young man transmigrated into a webnovel he had been reading... but as the protagonist's fish! He is tasked with helping the tyrant but how can he help when he is but a small fish? He gets creative and gains some special abilities that allow him to help cause chaos and help the tyrant before eventually he is able to regain his human form for a certain amount of time. (He is referred to as "Xiao Yu" at first by the tyrant as he is a "small fish" (xiao = small, yu = fish.))

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Mu Tianchi aka Jing Wang - the protagonist of the novel Li Yu had been reading. His name is Mu Tianchi but is often referred to by his title "Jing Wang" especially at the beginning of the novel. He is said to have been born mute and as such he is not considered as a viable heir to the throne. This does keep him out of some courtroom drama but certainly not all of it. As the other brothers are fighting, scheming, and taking each other out Mu Tianchi does continue to prove to be very capable and difficult to manipulate. He also goes above and beyond when it comes to spoiling both "Xiao Yu" (the fish) and Li Yu (his human form).

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Wang Xi - protagonist's eunuch / advisor / assistant / caretaker. He's incredible and deserves so many props. He would do anything to help Mu Tianchi and Li Yu. I don't have much to say about him other than I don't know what Mu Tianchi and Li Yu would have done if Wang Xi had turned against them.

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Chu Yanyu - the original love interest of the tyrant in the novel. I won't spoil things but I will say I wanted to yeet this character every time he showed up. Just when you think you've seen the last of him he. keeps. showing. up.

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What is the plot of The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish?

The plot of The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish follows Li Yu's journey on regaining his human form, helping prevent certain events he knows about from the novel, uncovering the conspiracies and mysteries from Mu Tianchi's past, and securing Mu Tianchi's place as crown prince. Meanwhile Mu Tianchi and Li Yu fall in love with each other of course.

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Small critiques

I've only read this title once (so far) but unlike Silent Reading and Heaven Official's Blessing, I feel like DTPPF doesn't really have clear arcs in terms of where one book would end and the next would start -- I will be curious to see how Seven Seas splits this one up into volumes.

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There are some characters that never get names. This is not the only webnovel I've read where this happens but every time it happens I'm a little disappointed. Like, on one hand it can be hard to keep track of a ton of characters and their names but... it also is just so weird to me whenever a character continues to show up but is only referred to as "the scarred man" or in the case of this novel "the princess of JinJue." She's a pretty great character but she never got a name!

I do hope that when Seven Seas releases their translation that they will include a character list like they have in other books to help keep track of everyone. Because when the emperor's sons are mentioned sometimes it's by their birth order or title and sometimes it's by name. And of course they all have similar names (they even share a generation name -- Mu TianZhao, Mu TianMing, Mu TianChi, Mu TianXiao, etc).

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Click 'keep reading' to see more on the disability (VAGUE SPOILERS) and trigger warnings.

Disability representation in the novel

Without going into the HOW and WHY I feel it is important to mention that Mu Tianchi's disability is CURED pretty late in the novel. While I did find the outcome touching (when the main character hears the tyrant's first words and how the tyrant feels upon finally being able to speak) I think that this could be a touchy subject. I think that the novel could have not had the tyrant be cured and I would have enjoyed it just as much. And I imagine that if you're a person with a disability and or chronic illness that is reading a story where a main character struggles with his own -- only to end up magically and conveniently cured of his disability -- that it could be frustrating.

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There is also discrimination against Mu Tianchi for his disability -- he isn't considered a viable heir for the throne because he is mute, even if he is the best choice. Also since he has this disability the other characters (and the tyrant himself) worry that his children would also be disabled.

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content warnings: there's several times when jokes are made about bestiality (and a couple characters assume that Mu Tianchi's feelings towards his fish are not strictly platonic).

There is also various attempts of harm towards young children that might inherit the throne including poison, kidnapping, and threat of physical harm. Similarly, there are attempts at drugging (with aphrodisiacs, getting someone overly drunk, etc) and dubious consent situations -- (however this does not occur between our main couple). This is done in hopes of earning someone's favor, forcing them to take responsibility, and or moving up in rank and society.

There is also a character that was taken as a concubine (against her will) after her kingdom was defeated in war. All of this seems fairly standard to courtroom drama stories but I figured it would be good to mention. If you've also read this novel and think I've left some cw out let me know and I'll add them to this list.

Another user pointed out that the character of the JinJue princess is 16-- so there's some setting compliant marriages / relationships with folks who are under 18 years old. I would be surprised if she was the only character this applied to but I can't remember others right at this moment.

[verycharismaticdragon]

Okay, continuing this thought, I pulled up the quotes I wanted, I checked back with the original text (or, well, older version of original text), let's see.

---

First, ch.1, p.9 (eng.edition), Shen Yuan describes himself as a "veteran reader of this novel". I double-checked with Chinese, and yes he specifies this novel. So it's not related to his "Expert" status on the forum mentioned in the Airplane extras (that seems to be a general webnovel-discussion forum, not a PIDW-related forum).

This does not really prove anything either way (maybe he considers anyone who made it to the end at all a veteran of PIDW), but I'm putting it into the evidence pile for later.

---

Then, on to the main point from yesterday, Shen Yuan's death:

ch.1, p.12 (eng.edition)

the bit that seems most relevant is: "would find himself persevering before his untimely death to finish a novel [...]"

Now, this has some implications I haven't even considered: the use of "persevering" implies some kind of effort. You could possibly even read this as 'Shen Yuan has been dying before he finished PIDW, and was holding on to see it finished', like some sort of prolonged illness situation. Buuut I've decided not to jump to conclusions before checking with CN text. (Well, once again, older edition of it, but from what I'm seeing, this fragment shouldn't have been edited.)

So, here's the full phrase with the relevant fragment highlighted:

想他一个规规矩矩花钱买V看正版的大好青年，临终之前坚持看完的居然是这样一本种马程度令人发指咋舌的骗钱注水文，他能不骂吗？

Let's break the fragment down further:

临终 línzhōng: approaching one's end; immediately before one's death; on one's deathbed

之前 zhīqián: before; prior to

坚持 jiānchí: persist in; persevere in; insist on; be bent on; cling to; hold on to; hang on

看完 kànwán: to finish reading/watching.

Okay, I know we're seeing "immediately before one's death" and "persevere to finish reading" and it kinda supports the previous theory, but let's not get too excited. Because here's the thing: in all of the usage examples of 临终 línzhōng I've seen, it was not used together with 之前 zhīqián (before, prior to). Probably because 临 lín part already has a meaning of "just before; approaching; about to" included in it (it can also be translated as "to face" for example, making "to face death" or "to face the end" other valid translations of 临终, but the meaning of "just before" is still included in the concept).

So, wtf is 之前 zhīqián, another "before", there for? From what I see in the usage examples, unlike 临 lín which implies immediate before-ness, 之前 zhīqián is about a more removed event. In fact, it seems to strongly imply that the speaker is referencing two points in time that do not overlap. (I mean, correct me if you're fluent and I'm wrong, but that's what I'm seeing in literally all examples.)

Thus, in our sentence, we have two separate events, only held together by referencing the order in which they occur: 临终 línzhōng "to face the end" (I've decided to use this tl for conciseness), and 坚持看完 jiānchí kànwán "persevere to finish reading" (or "be bent on finishing", or "insist on finishing"...) So, "[...] before facing the end, [he] persevered in finishing reading [...]".

And if we take these two events/actions as separate, there is in fact logic in putting them together like this. The previous sentence talks about Shen Yuan's "dying breath", so "before facing death" is a transition from that part. Then, the "persevered in finishing" part is expounded on in the next few paragraphs, which talk about SY finishing the novel despite all his gripes. In other words, this is a transition sentence between SY dying (later event) and the gripes he had with PIDW (formulated before dying, so earlier event).

All this is to say: I think ultimately this sentence does not actually state for fact that Shen Yuan died immediately after finishing PIDW. All it says is that he finished reading at some point before dying - which, uh, obviously - but the lack of concrete proof of him dying immediately is information too.

(cont. under cut)

Then, to the other bit I mentioned yesterday, about the 20 days binge-read:

ch.1, p.38-39 (eng.edition)

Here I'm going to look at the "He'd spent twenty days binging the novel from start to finish, [...]" bit in particular.

The paragraph above, excerpt in question highlighted (ch.4 of webnovel version):

可这不能怪他记得不清楚。你让一个骂傻逼作者傻逼文的人，去记连载了四年、时间线横跨两百年的小说最开头的古早内容？他可是看了二十天才看完的，入门那一段为虐而虐的苦情戏码早忘光了好吗！

Okay, it's a bit longer, but not as scary as it looks:

他 tā: he (as in pronoun)

可是 kěshì: indeed, in fact, or just an emphasis word (can also mean "however" or "but", but that doesn't seem to fit with the sentence)

看了 kànle: had read (to quote my dictionary, most of the time 了 is translated by a past tense, but it can also indicate that one action is completed before another)

二十天 èrshí tiān: 20 days

才 cái: only, just, only after, only then

看完 kànwán: finish reading (same as before, yeah)

的 de: (has many usages but in this case most likely) used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis (SY's narration in general uses a lot of emphases and filler words, very informal/colloquial style. just a note)

Without making it sound like human sentence, and omitting emphases, we get something like: "He had read for 20 days, only then finished reading, [...]"

So, yes, 20 days binge real. But what I wanted to see most was if there's an indication whether this is about the whole novel up to the finale, or just catching up to the ongoning series. "Start to finish" in the translation seems to lean towards the former, but I don't think Chinese is that specific.

To break it down, 看完 kànwán consists of 看 kàn, which in this case means "to read" and 完 wán - generally 'to finish, to end, to complete', but in this case most likely just 'used after a verb to indicate action completion'. In other words, 完 wán here specifically modifies the prior verb into its "finished [verb]ing" form. And while it does have an implication of completeness, this completeness refers to the action (reading) rather than the object acted upon (novel) (which is straight up ommitted from this sentence, actually. that's Chinese for ya).

So, here as well: the text doesn't really specify beyond the shadow of doubt whether Shen Yuan was binging the finished novel, or just everything that was out when he first got into it. (Probably because the paragraph in question is talking about very early chapters, that - in either case - SY likely went through on day 1 of his binge.) Which means that ultimately, the fact of that 20-day binge does not conflict with anything implying he has been following the novel for some time. (Once again, I haven't finished my reread so I don't recall what and where SQQ says about it, but I've recently checked Airplane extras for something and he mentions Peerless Cucumber's "subscribtion payments and demands for updates".)

---

Okay, so this is what I have from earliest chapters. Maybe this post will get a part 2 once I make progress on my reread, but nevermind that. Anyw, tl;dr:

SY considers himself a "veteran reader" of PIDW.

There's no solid proof that SY died immediately after reading PIDW's finale.

There's no solid proof SY's 20-day binge encompassed the whole novel from first to final chapter.

---

Also: thank you to everyone who replied yesterday! There are some points I wanna answer individually, but one was mentioned a couple of times, so: yeah, I also think that the new chapter Airplane is penning before he dies is supposed to be an extra. Buuuuut I also may or may not have played with the idea of sv!cucumber and sv!airplane actually being from two different versions of 'modern world' before... so let's put this under "further investigation needed" for now.

[makethosenarratorsfight]

UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE B

Hamlet Propaganda:

Have you seen the man. Is he clinically insane or just putting on an antic disposition. Is the ghost real

Kim Dokja Propaganda:

I haven't read orv but he's fucking gotta be from what I've osmosised

He tries to remove his emotions out of the narrative soooo much, literally the most repressed guy ever. Okay so for context orv is about how this guy, Kim Dokja, has been the only reader of an obscure post-apocalyptic webnovel for years and the novel suddenly becomes reality. And at first you'll probably get the weird impression that his behavior is pretty strange for, you know, a literal apocalypse happening in his world - like yes, he is concerned with survival but he doesn't seem all that scared and he kinda treats it like a video game where he has to grind to make himself stronger and he also treats his companions like a party in an rpg. Then there's also the way he approaches the protagonist of the webnovel, from the start he just kind of describes him as a ruthless psychopath and jerk that is unfortunately a pretty useful ally. And also there's the fact that he carefully omits any mention of his past and when somebody asks if he's worried about his family when the apocalypse starts he just kinda... brushes it off? Anyway so yeah, this bastard is definitely traumatized, although I don't know how much of spoiler territory that would be, considering the fact that literally when he first reveals his trauma he's also unreliable about it. And turns out he does indeed, care A LOT about this world and the people around him. Because well, he kinda didn't care to mention that this webnovel that has become reality was like... literally his whole world before it literally became his whole world. Like, it was the only thing keeping him going for 10+ years and the protagonist that he likes to call a stupid jerk was his comfort character who he pretended to be when he felt like he couldn't handle something in his life by being himself. The protagonist is also canonically the person he loves the most according to a prophecy and he literally can't fathom the thought of him dying, even the timeline versions of him that directly oppose him. And I haven't even mentioned the Fourth Wall yet but I feel like this propaganda is a little long already

misreading the intentions of his companion (yoo joonghyuk) so many time.

YOU DON'T UNDERSTANDDD DOKJA IS SUCH A UNRELIABLE NARRATORRRRRR GOD I COULD WRITE AN ESSAY BUT I KNOW YOU LOVE DOKJA TOO BUT OMG HE'S JUST SO AAAAAAAAAAAH

Rest of Propaganda under cut!

he is the worst like actually. he starts the story talking about how normal and average he is. he is not. he is constantly mischaracterizing his friends and he's so good at lying to the readers that you don't even realize it at first. almost every single time he cries we have to be told by other characters because he never says it himself. there is literally a scene where his narration says "i wasn't crying" and then the in-universe entity that narrates the actions of people (orv is really weird and meta) says that he was, in fact, crying. honestly genuinely anything he says about himself (or doesn't say) cannot be trusted. he is just so frustrating. he drives me mad. i love him dearly. but he drives me so mad.

Dictionary definition of unreliable narrator. Does not tell the reader anything and then things happen and he's like oh yeah btw there was also this and this earlier but i just didn't feel like mentioning it. There's even a thing called the "Fourth Wall" that is able to see through kdj's bs so occasionally you get gems like,

Kim Dokja: I didn't cry

The Fourth Wall: [Kim Dokja was crying]

Imagine being so unreliable as a narrator you need a more powerful narrator to call out the actual narrator.

^ same submission, just spacing it out

This goes into spoiler territory, but; Kim Dokja is in possession of a skill called the Fourth Wall, which on the surface seems like it appears because he read the book that reverse-isekai’d into his own. However, as the story goes on it becomes clear that it’s pretty much a souped up version of his pre-existing dissociation. You cannot trust him to be honest about his feelings, his past traumas or his feelings about his past traumas, not to mention his tendency to just outright omit information that only gets revealed later on either when it becomes relevant or when an outsider POV reveals what’s actually happening.

Exhibit A: he says (in 1st person POV) that he’s not crying. The Fourth Wall immediately contradicts this (as it is literally words of the novel) by saying (in 3rd person POV) ‘Kim Dokja was crying’.

Exhibit B: Fails to mention entire actions when it shows him emotionally honest even in the slightest; we had to read from another character entirely when Kim Dokja was being physically affectionate with his companion. It’s so bad that there’s this entire paragraph about Kim Dokja describing himself hiding his eyes in his hands in jerky, weirdly specific detail and just AVOIDING EVERY WORD THAT MIGHT SHOW HE’S CRYING. The brilliance of ORV is that when you re-read the entire thing you get hints that ‘yes, this WAS hinted at the entire time’ but you have to dig it out of Kim Dokja’s repressed, depressed self-hating internal dialogue with your own two hands.

^ same submission, spacing it out (i really should've done this earlier.)

i am a simple man (not a man). i see a tumblr text post with the words “unreliable narrator in it”. i read nothing else. i reblog & tag #kim dokja okay but in all seriousness i’m just going with the musty basic example: so there’s this moment where he sacrifices himself to save this guy. as he lays on the ground bleeding out, he says “hey, you don’t like me, right? you should kill me to get some money” the guy says “no kim dokja i cant do that (going through the five stages of grief except there’s only one and it’s anger)” the constellations (twitch viewers irl) are like omg he (the guy) doesn’t want to kill his companion (kim dokja) and shower him (the guy) with money kim dokja: oh, he’s not killing me for the money. smart!

as i quote a brilliant youtube video (all of omniscient reader’s viewpoint in 6 minutes) “yoo joonghyuk sees kim dokja as a c_____”

yoo joonghyuk: companion

kim dokja: cunt

^ same submission, once again. spacing it out.

Hides his true feelings, tells the readers what he thinks is convenient for the plot and that his own personal feelings don’t matter or are not so significant. Has unreliable thoughts abt his companion and is a liar. And is also an omniscient reader.

Kim Dokja always perceived his companions in this like nonchalant way like “oh yeah we get along but really we’re just fighting to survive (apocalypse setting) it doesn’t run that deep” when they all do genuinely care for him and he does in turn. He just, doesn’t think of it as an equal relationship? Dokja’ll sacrifice a lot for them but will get seriously flabbergasted if they do the same thing, so fricking problematic. Not to mention Yoo Joonghyuk, his “Life and Death Companion” (read: husband). Kim Dokja always seems to think that Joonghyuk has it out for him, which is kinda true, but he is literally blind to the fact that he’s attached to him. Like, it’s so obvious??? Also they have hella sexual tension but that’s another thing entirely

se get some many pov changes where kdj in his pov just assumed things based on what he knew the characters would do. however because of his interference the characters have changed and he wouldn’t know that if it hit him in the face

He's an unreliable narrator because he lies to himself and thus the audience. He literally rewrote his own childhood core memory. If someone says, "this guy is my friend!" He will go through so many hoola hoops in his mind just to rationalize it. Because he fundamentally believe that no one could love him and even if they did they couldn't know him and he's just gonna hurt them. He cries sometimes in canon but a lot of those times it's not even mentioned as crying he's that unreliable of a narrator. No joke, one time this guys he has a gay thing with called him his "companion" to someone who had just killed him (long story) and this bitch thought "oh wow he's doing it for the coins (another long story) he's so smart i wish I'd thought to that. He's terrible. He literally has an exchange with something called the Fourth Wall (an even longer story) where it said "you're crying" and he said "no I'm not" but he was crying. He makes me insane because the reader is supposed to project onto him. He made me see how much of an unreliable narrator I WAS. ORV is just like that tho.

[phoenixtakaramono]

Re: Where to Read the Four Butchlander Threadfics on Twitter & Status Update about Them

Whelp, guess what, everyone? Your girl’s Twitter account got shadowbanned for the first time. And pretty much the threadfics are inaccessible until the ban gets lifted. (Let’s hope everything’s back to normal soon. 😭)

The threadfics in question (M3GAN-inspired AU, Fix-It AU, and Sugar Baby AU are the long WIPs; the Vampire & Lycan Hunter AU is the only one complete):

And like I was somewhat expecting, with my account currently submerged in the ether (fingers crossed nothing’s affected and everything’s back to normal once I’m back so we can return to our regular schedule threadfic updates on Twitter), another person’s reached out to me about it:

The Asks in question:

These threadfics were always intended to exist on Twitter as the first draft prototypes where I can write spontaneously and see what works, what doesn’t, and make them reader-interactive so pretty much my readers influence important story decisions for whichever threadfic it is. Then if I were to migrate these threadfics over to AO3, the intention was always to flesh them out more and polish them up, maybe change a couple story elements so there’s a point of difference between what’s on AO3 versus what’s on my Twitter (as an analogy, think of an author’s original webnovel version they uploaded on their website versus the professional light novel version they’ve polished up for publication) to keep it fresh. This migration was supposed to happen after all four chapters of Truce are complete and the only Butchlander fic I have left on AO3 that would still be ongoing would be The Name of the Game, which frees up my workload.

So currently, where we are right now, I am seriously considering moving up the schedule if, after 1 week (10/29/23), my account on Twitter is still Shazamed. I have heard shadowbans range from 2-3 days, to 3-5 days where it’s best if I don’t use the app in this duration of time, before escalating to Twitter Support if it persists. Same goes if my account is restored and I still get shadowbanned in the future for updating any of these 3 long threadfics.

Because, at that point, I might as well just port them over to AO3 if this keeps happening and save myself the headache. But this will have to be tested out. If I see it is truly unsustainable due to Twitter’s current unfriendliness to 🔞 threadfics (😒 …it used to be an ultra friendly platform for such, till you showed up El0n Musk), then I’ll just stop writing 🔞 threadfics all together.

The one thing I will have to say, though, is being a very detail-oriented multi-fandom writer who’s trying to be fair by adhering to the update schedule, for any new content, updates will be slow. Unlike Twitter where I can churn out 25 tweets at a time per update, you’ll be looking at weeks or months per chapter update on AO3 since three of them will be turned into genuine long stories. Quicker updates depend on how much content already exist on Twitter to be adapted from before the time of migration! Let’s see how it goes! ✌️