The problem when Westerners write wuxia/xianxia 😱 

Even though westerners don't seem to do a good job at creating believable xianxia I, your father, am glad this genre is getting some love in the west.

As long as the story is entertaining, I don't mind. I started reading Xianxia's because it was a new fantasy 'system' that had a huge potential of having stories built around it. It's why I also enjoy stories with game-like elements, with MC levelling up skills and stats.

I have read many Western Novels which attempt to emulate the Wuxia/Xianxia Themes and they include many of the concepts but miss some of the details that a person who grew up in Chinese culture would have included. They are still great stories and I enjoy them and would recommend them. I have no issue with the author calling it Wuxia or Xianxia because it gives me a general idea of what to expect from the novels and if I know that it is written by a westerner, so I know it will be a little different but if I enjoy the story who cares. One of the first Xianxia I read seriously and got me into the scene was "Coiling Dragon" which I would say is Xianxia aimed at a Western audience because it used names which had not Chinese equivalent and simplified the Cultivation System. Which is why I recommend it as a good starting book as it bridges the gap. Maybe if Western Wuxia/Xianxia novels become more prominent we might need to create a term which defines it as a distinct theme all its own but for now, I think we are alright using the Chinese terms. It is how cultures grow, we take something that interests us and change it to meet our interests and it develops into some new and unique which people will be inspired by to create something new. It is wonderful to see the development of imagination and creativity.

This is exactly the type of video I needed. I have a few friends (both chinese and from western countries) who are currently writing xianxia/historical novels themselves and they seem to have a very good grasp on what the genre entails as well as all the small details of traditions and customs. But for a westerner like me whose gateway to xianxia was MDZS/The Untamed and is new to it completely, I want to write a xianxia/historical novel of my own but am scared of the possible ignorance and inaccuracies that would come up in my writing. Which makes it difficult because at that point it's a choice of either trying to be as accurate as possible or going and creating my own world/version of cultivation.

I am a British Born Chinese amateur fantasy writer. To me the hardest thing is that there are a lot of things that make sense when I say or think them in Cantonese, but not when I write them in English.

I've "written" xianxia in the sense that I have a third book on the back burner that I've been wanting to write for a while but my two other books that are actively being written take all my time. And yeah, I see a lot of what has been talked about in other western cultivation novels. Though that is the thing. Even if the author calls them xianxia or in the style there of, what I refer to them is just that, cultivation novels. Xianxia in my opinion is now a sub-genre of cultivation novels. What has really taken the western world isn't xianxia as a whole but the cultivation aspect. That continual grind towards power and eventual godhood. It is just like how every game now has roguelike elements to it. They are taking the bits that inspire them and turning it into a broader category. I think this is a good thing because while these cultivation novels do take some of the pie from xianxia novels it is also growing the pie as well so there is more to go around.

Honestly a lot of the stories seem to want to shoehorn it into High Fantasy, when it's much more suited to Sword & Sorcery. The stakes are always personal and only "fate of the world" type stuff by virtue of the power scaling.

Funny you mention your "western" film analogy. In my opinion wuxia and xianxia novels are most similar to pulp western novels in the USA. The tropes are all quite similar, the MC's family is killed, he trains, then he kills everyone responsible and then leaves town, then his new adopted friends in the new town are killed, etc. I used to read those novels all the time, they weren't high literature by any means. But you knew what you were getting when you bought one.

This actually gave me some tips, I'm writing a Xianxia novel myself and now I know how to give it more of an authentic Chinese feel

While matters of fate might be Chinese, Ruthless and Dog eat Dog world are not Traditional Chinese values. Just because many modern Xianxia writers likes to write such a gritty and violent world, doesn't means it's the way the genre should be. Older Wuxia written by Hong Kong and Taiwan writers during the 50s to 80s have a lot more heroic and decent MCs. The Shu Mountain series, which is one of the earliest precursor to Xianxia, also have heroic characters whom helps the weak, protects the innocent, and self sacrifices for the good of all living things.

It goes both ways. Have you read Eastern/Chinese versions of Lovecraftian, Cosmic Horror, the Occult or even SCP novels? Lovecraftian story in a Victorian, Renaissance themed setting but humans can "cultivate"(power fantasy) and eventually ascend to godhood and fight the Old Ones. There are of course the usual xianxia troupes thrown in like trying to save face, revenge driven plot etc, needless to say it really feels out of place BUT... The most DAMNING thing is that they forgot the true essence of Lovecraftian, which is the horror of the unknowable. There are things unreachable to humans and beyond human comprehension. Humans are not meant to wield the power of gods, the unimaginable price of power and the sacrifice through blood and sanity. While fighting monsters, you risk becoming one too for when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. These are the ideas that form the pillars of the genre but are all absent in eastern version novels. Yup, the authors totally ignored and contradict the core philosophical meanings of the Cosmic Horror genre.

You know, most of the time i don't even look at the video, i just have it playing in the back-ground like a Podcast while i am working. Love the video.

My take on it is that "western" wuxia/xianxia takes the kung fu, but throws out the jiang hu. They take some superficial elements and put it in a story through a western worldview, but neglect or ignore the cultural context of the genre.

I, a slavic person, am writing a slice-of-life isekai set in a cultivation alt Earth. and I came to realise that my culture is somewhere in the middle of the wester and the eastern culture/mentality and it's truly fascinating. but I'm very afraid of not understanding stuff properly and being unintentionally offensive and being called racist because of that

Hey DB I've tried my hand in writing my own version of xianxia or xuanhuan novels and I gotta say its tough. The thing I find the most difficult in my opinion is the point of view most of these stories are written in. I don't even know what kind of point of view it really is. Is it a narrator ? Is it the main character sometimes the point of view is skewed If you could do a how to video on the point of view that would be much appreciated. What captivated me towards chinese novels was the cultivation concept. I think it would be interesting to see a video on the unique cultivation concepts author's come up with and how they evolved or expanded them. For example: Soul Land 1, Soul Land 2, Soul Land 3: The first series came up with the interesting concept of spirit rings and advancing your cultivation based on the number of rings you've absorbed each granting you different abilities. To me that is a well written concept that was expanded upon in later books. Issth, Xian Ni, AWE ect: Came up with cultivation concepts that you generally see in other cultivation novels. However the way the author explains how to achieve or breakthrough to each stage and what benefits you get while doing so is something I find intriguing. For example: the immortal/celestial stage in these novels in issth you had immortal meridians and that they became power buffers for the stage of immortality the more you had the better. In Renegade Immortal the Ascendant stage where you fuse your domain and celestial spirtual energy together to turn into an immortal. In Awe the mahaya realm had this concept where if you succeeded you would be able to create a brand new daoist magic. I also think it would be great if you did a video about the dog eat dog world they have in these novels. What would you say is the bare minimum authors would take with the survival of the fittest concept and what the maximum over the top thing you've read that maybe pushed it too far (destroying planets is kind of the norm nowadays). Could you also do a video on how to officially access the webnovels that people from China do is baidu the website to go to or is it something else (I know its a search engine). Another thing I would like to discuss is how often do authors based their book on chinese mythology is it a common thing or is it rare nowadays ? One more thing sorry about all this but this is crucial. What would you say based on your own personal experience and history of translating novels and reading them. Is a common personality trait you would find in most xianxia, wuxia novels? Another thing what would you say be the differences between western and chinese novels in terms of romance? What would people in China see in novels as romantic and westerns see as domineering forcefull advances and viceversa ? P.S What is with the JP, KR, CH novels with harem troupes. Is this an asian thing I get the appeal but why is it that a majority if not all the characters can't remain faithful to one partner (why are they so horny, also why do the authors justify rape)?

This is an interesting discussion. What's the difference between wuxia and Western fantasy? I would say that Western fantasy revolves around a primary antagonist or antagonistic event, that ends in the protagonist reconciling with that narrative. In Western stories, the protagonist might try to avoid conflict, before having to step up to his responsibilities and fulfill his destiny in overcoming the villain, exact revenge and justice or whatever, and ultimately become the better man. In contrast, wuxia stories (especially Jin Yong novels) revolve around a protagonist finding his own path, and often ends with him rejecting the antagonistic narrative altogether. It seems to me that in wuxia, the antagonist may still be the primary mover to set off the events, but more often than not through that confrontation the protagonist learns that the responsibilities placed upon him by society is not necessarily the only way. The Western protagonist finds his own path to defeat the antagonist. The wuxia protagonist uses the antagonist to find his own path. This might be an oversimplification.

I am not sure this is a "problem??" Like, by analogy, would you also say a Chinese writer couldn't write zombie fiction? It would never have all the same sensibilities as *authentic* zombie fiction.

omg i just found this channel and as a westerner trying to get more into wuxia and xianxia i am fully just 😍😍😍😍

This is a great video. I fell in love with cultivation novels a few years ago, and I've been writing one in english and it certainly is hard to give it a proper feeling. I openly admit that I now almost nothing about chinese culture, I've only read translations (started with yours, Deathblade btw

I think that as long as the author doesn't try too hard to be seen as Chinese and embarrasses him/herself doing it there's no problem for westerns to be inspired by those novels and try to emulate them. It will be different from the novels written by chinese authors and may even look a bit silly for that, but things change and evolve, now days most people don't go complaining that western fantasy novels races are not like the ones in Tolkien, like how the dwarfs and elfs that we see in most medias are clearly inspired by the ones depicted in LotR, but at the same time look more like caricatures of the originals. Since the popularity of xianxia novels in the west started just a few years ago is hard to know if the same will happens with them.

This is exactly what I've come up against in wanting to write a "xianxia" novel. Been sitting on a power concept since the days of DE that I haven't seen one use yet, but have to stop and consider if I really want to since it's the Chinese culture and charm that I wanted to emulate in writing one. But, you can't truly understand a culture through research, nor will westerners emulate a writing style they consider ridiculous. So, have to consider hard if I really want to write one from the original basis.

1. Wester fantasy focusses more on mortals, and their issues. Chinese fantasy focus more on the MC's journey of transcension from moral to immortal. 2. Another important difference resolves around fate, destiny, luck or whatever you want to call it. The fate in wester fantasy generally focused on the world. The chosen ones destiny is for the world, for example maybe doing something like defending the world from some horrible disaster. The fate in chines fantasy novels is more focused on the individual, and rather then destiny it is more like the wester concept of luck (except not always positive initially). The function of this force is to propel the MC towards their ultimate journey (i.e. the transformation from mortal to immortal (or as close to immortal as that fantasy world allows))

thank you for this! I've started to get into xianxia and wuxia novels and other media and I honestly want to try to make my own. I've been doing some serious research and this video honestly really helped me understand what makes xianxia/wuxia feel like those genre! Also your books look sick as hell i wanna check them out

NGL, even though I understand face is very important to chinese society, I could do with less face slapping in recently translated novels. I really cherish authors that know just the right amount of face slapping to put into their novels to make it satisfying without tiring the readers of the same old storyline. Unfortunately a lot of the new novels that are being translated these days have face slapping occurring practically every arc along with the obligatory bystander comments. That being said it's hard for me to pick up a western fantasy novel because I'm so used to xianxia now and long novels with hundreds of chapters where the mc undergoes countless tribulations and where we essentially follow the mc for most of their life, that I just am not satisfied reading western fantasy novels that last 2 or 3 books. Also the amazing cultivation system and abilities of some novels just make it hard to go to simpler systems. That's why I usually refrain from reading xianxia from western authors. Though some chinese authors are also pretty bad at writing non repetitive stories so I try to avoid those generic novels as well. Er gen's novels are probably my golden standard these days. If someone has any recommendations for xianxia from western author's that they think is comparable in quality to er gen's works let me know, I'll give them a shot.

This helped me put words to what I find so different and fascinating about Chinese fantasy compared to Western fantasy (as a whole, not just western Wuxia/Xianxia). One of my FAVORITE parts of Chinese fantasy is the politics and what I believe you call "matters of face" in the vid; I LOVE when a world has inbuilt consequences for almost every action the main character takes.

I have really been enjoying wuxia as a Westerner. I have so much trouble finding really good translations, however. I can see how that could be a barrier for writers who want to take inspiration from the genre. I hope that the growing interest in Chinese fantasy means better translations and more stories to go around. :)

Omg you have a youtube channel ! I have been reading your work for years. Thanks for enriching and ruining my life at the same time xD haha Love your work, thanks for doing what you do !

So... If a rude Spaguetti Western (SW) character finds and helps a Wuxia MC in the middle of the Wild West, in a "lost in space" situation (unconscious after a brutal fight, for example)... Would the Wuxia MC thinks that the SW is... "candid", or "pure", kind, etc... because his world is more brutal? Or it will be more "balanced"? If a Wuxia MC comes to a present "western culture" city, would he think that our society is "weak"? because the power flows in a diferent way? Too many questions, sorry :P

The difference in names is quite amusing as well, right now I'm reading Spirit Realm and there's a dragon named Scott :D There are sometimes more Chinese names in western novels than in actual eastern ones.

Glad you made this video. There's been a lot of debate about cultural appropriation vs appreciation in the donghua fanfic world and I didnt even know it was a problem for actual novels too. Really like the idea of the wuxia xianxia xuanhuan video too. I believe I know the general idea but would love more knowledge.

It kills me that he used spaghetti westerns un ironically in his example as that term refers to a western made by Italian filmmakers who didn’t quite understand the culture of American westerns

I think it's easy to some extent to get the elements that you like "right", but what's helpful is to read or watch wuxia stories and take note of the stuff that seems weird, inexplicable, or where characters are doing things that seem odd or even foolish to you (for characters who obviously aren't fools) and then try to find out what that stuff means or how it plays to Chinese people. My wife is mainland Chinese and loves wuxia, so her explanations and my own research are very informative. Often digging into that stuff gives me a completely different understanding of what's going on and gives me ideas for plot/character development I would never have gone down that have a lot of energy. I don't know if my wuxia writing would read more authentic than other westerners, but it definitely makes the stories feel more Chinese to my fellow westerners and less like typical western fantasy fiction, and that in itself is a win for me.

So what would you call these "Half-xianxia/wuxia"? I actually enjoy a lot of western xianxia because while the genre is good too many eastern authors copy and paste stories just changing a few names. I've recently started reading a series that really really isn't xianxia but it uses a lot from the genre. Its The Ten Realms Series. What would that be called? Its not just western fantasy its something entirely different as I feel it kinda combines both.

About to go through your channel! Have read martial peak and martial universe and a couple manga! Love how you have so much content like this and I plan on writing a book!

The more I learn about buddhism the more I realize that buddhas wouldn't fight. They'd smile and forgive you while you cut them down for.. what exactly? Practicing compassion? lol

Interesting point with the spaghetti westerns. There's actually a korean spaghetti western called the good, the bad and the weird that somehow nails the vibe despite being set in pre-ww2 korea. I wonder if there's any western xianxia that have the same sort of thing going on.

i hope the devs of the game, Tale of Immortality reach out to you.

I think the distinction between Western Xianxia and Western Cultivation stories should be acknowledged. A lot of the time the only thing being copied is the cultivation power system and not the other aspects of Xianxia (such as the mysticism, the culture, common mythical beasts, and parallels to actual mythical Chinese stories).

thus far, will wight's cradle series is the best attempt at xianxia by a western author. i've tried all other books and they are just downright painful to read.

Only western wuxia story I’ve found is so far is the cradle series by Will Wight. While a few of his characters feel distinctly western he is able to take a character from 0 and over the course of 11 books cultivate the character into a godlike being fighting in the “celestial” realm of his setting. A lot of the conflict comes from butting heads with those of higher rank and performing life or death trials to get just strong enough to survive the next battle. Not to mention the main character being tricked or lead into these trials by a playful elder brother type. It has the elements of personal honor and face but at the same time it’s something that most of the main characters don’t really deal with although the one character that does it creates some great drama as she clashes with her family which is one of the ruling bodies of the world.

Actually i'm a western hobby author who got into Wuxia just a short time ago and i pretty much fell in love with the stories and world and Qi techniques, clans and philosophy, dresses... etc. So far i watched kind of "the big 3" wuxia movies i was able to get my hands on (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of the Flying Daggers). Also i'm about to start reading Yongs Legend of the Condor Heroes pretty soon (all in english because i just can't understand chinese language). And i was thinking "well... if i like it that much, maybe i should write something Wuxia like" but i did not so far because then i was thinking "but i've no actual idea of what i'm doing here and what kind of a big cultural treasure i'm messing with". And now i try to find out how to write actual Wuxia, what i have to look for and what to avoid etc. So in case somebody likes to give me a few opinions and suggestions, i would be very happy :-)

I actually love Xianxia well what I know of it Wuxia tend to always have sad endings but I seen a few Xianxia they tend to be nicer. This video kinda why I not tried writing one cuz no matter how much research you do or try not to offend I'm not Chinese or live there so I feel I couldn't get it right and make it acceptable as a Xianxia

Wonder if Deathblade is giving a subtle shot to the Cradle series.

Actually, that not western sounds like a cool movie... but I take your point. I still love The Two Week Curse, even though it doesn't seem chinese at all (and really isn't meant to) but it does have a lot of the xianxia "feel".

Thank you so much for this video! I'm Chinese American and I grew up with wuxia and xianxia. Lately I have been noticing that's it's gotten popular where people are writing but it's just not... It seems out of context. Thank you for being able to explain it so well!!!

I've always thought of "xianxia" as cultivation power system stories where the characters progress through the realms. Nothing complicated. I think of xianxia like that because ACTUAL "AUTHENTIC" Chinese xianxia have so many... problematic qualities. You all know them. The tired cliches, depicting women so poorly, repeating the same plotline 4 times, etc.

The face culture and ruthlessness parts always irked me, so I was surprised when someone described a cosmology I wrote up a draft for as "like Xianxia". That said, despite sharing the "there's spiritual resources one can intake to become stronger" aspect, it also has morality, sincerity, and ideals built into the mechanics; neutrality is weaker than good or evil, and the worst aspects of "Face Culture" will likely sap the strength of anyone who isn't aligned with Trickery or if its a self delusion Madness. That said, its not like it lacks all facets... When I wrote up a small region, one city went through a magic item industrial revolution just to be able to contract enough spiritual entities to build a wall to hold back demonic corruption; given that offering magic items remain one of the main ways to contract with them short of a kind of ritualistic service.

I'm slowly developing a D&D campaign that I want to be basically a wuxia military campaign: foreign army invading the continent and the party has to mobilize the feuding warlords to defend the land. Anybody have any tips?

It's actually related to philosophy which in East is more focused on the path while West focuses on the result, that is why Western versions read more like a fantasy novel and Eastern more like a biography.

I am interested in reading some Xianxia novels but I generally don't have time to read so I tend to listen to audio books. When I tried to look up if there were any in English, most of what I saw were written by westerners. I'm afraid of getting exactly the spaghetti western scenario you discussed as my first experience with xianxia novels and would rather avoid it. Do you know if there are any xianxia audio books in English or where I can find a better resource for looking for them? So far my only experience with xianxia is a few episodes of that Chinese anime Master of demonic cultivation and I was liking what I was seeing.

Lol, this is so right. For me, the Westerner wuxia/xianxia are more like the Jedi Order, while the novels written by Chinese authors are more like the Sith Empire (Star Wars: The Old Republic) Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power. Through Power I gain Victory. Through Victory my chains are Broken. The Force shall free me.

The German language western The Dark Valley is like the example of this phenomena.

1:38 question's answer sounds as tragic as a greek myth

It's like comparing American-Chinese food and authentic Chinese food. Both have roots in Chinese culture, but there is significant differences between them. One is not better than the other, both are great cuisines! I am saying this as a Chinese person who grew up with my parents running restaurant businesses selling American-Chinese food, so I have a lot of respect for this cuisine. I love the food and always will. Note: Calling American-Chinese food as non-authentic, shouldn't be seen as a dig or an insult!!! Just because it isn't authentic, doesn't means it is bad.

I am trying to make a xianxia rpg but researching on it is so difficult as I can't seem to find anything helpful in English other than the stories themselves.

That's only a part of the differences. You could also add Most westerners have no real clue about Eastern culture. Also, the West is far more modern socially. So you'll find mistakes or inconsistencies in certain things Women in the modern west behave, think, and act almost like a different species from women back a few 100 years. The difference is even greater when it's women from other cultures 100s years ago. And yet, in Western wuxias/xianxias, their behaviour never adds up. Most westerners have no experience/knowledge with women who are traditional (like 300 years ago minimum types), nor do they have much experience/knowledge with women from 'backwards' (what they often feel regarding those people/cultures) cultures. This led to them trying to write a traditional female character in a world (i.e., the story world) where men rule, women are property, and real slavery exists. And the women that they write in that world behave and think and sometimes even act like modern women or an anime girl. Marriage. they dont have a clue about real traditional arranged marriages. The attraction of wealth. The girls in western wuxias care too much about looks and too little about wealth. This is more of a modern thing. Sex before marriage for girls and how traditional girls wouldn't give it away easily. The importance of family The importance of face The almost absolute obedience of children towards their elders in family. Repect for elderly esp educated elderly. To be honest, a lot of Eastern stories also get things wrong as some Eastern authors are influenced by anime, novels, and manga from other cultures and by other eastern authors who were influenced by other cultures. However, they dont often have multiple glaring obvious inconsistencies. I could go on, but i guess I've ranted enough. I've been annoying me for a while as i read a LOT. Grateful to all authors who try their best though 🙏

it's the story structure as a whole, Westerners tend to focus on the plot, everything is very plot bases while eastern, it's more abt the characters esp character growth n how they feel etc.

I saw one that said “your father, I”

would you enjoy a wuxia centered around justice and western sense of hero?

I have a story that’s technically a Xianxia except i was able to westernise even the concept of a ‘Dao’. It’s a Fusion Fantasy with RPG Mechanics but no blue screens (stats exist but only one person can see them).

It sounds like there needs to be a new term for western, xianxia-inspired stories, which would help readers find what they're actually looking for.

Making up Chinese named characters and places sound cool, but they don't make much sense. I think western adoptions of wuxia/xianxia shouldn't copy concepts 1:1. They would turn out shallow or just wrong. Cultivation of Dao is in essence a way to get supernatural strength. Takes those concepts and incorporate them into things the author actually knows about or create something unique.

When it comes to wuxia, I think Western authors focus too much on the exotic nature of the Chinese setting and really try to weave together the mundane and the martial, whereas the approach Chinese authors take is more comparable to the approach of series like X-Men or Harry Potter. That is, wuxia heroes are generally outsiders to mundane society, and they have their own "Wainscot Society" thing going on with the wulin. There's an important concept that in mundane society, the imperial government tends to have a monopoly over force and violence, but this government generally matters little to the wulin due to the martial mastery on display there. Many wuxia stories just can't take place in an environment where a strong government and powerful law enforcement matters due to the interplay of reciprocity and vengeance. That's not all the time, but it is what I generally notice.

Nice, non-judgmental explanation!

Love your videos

My only problem with this video is that it says "the problem when westerners write wuxia/xianxia" as the title. Dog-eat-dog world can be done without the ridiculous importance to face. The problem I have with authentic wuxia novels is the "I was defeated in public so i cannot live under the same sky" mentality, they take losing as if no one would ever respect them again which is ridiculous.

Closest thing to Xianxia I would say are those fantasy shows inspired by Greek mythology and Norse mythology.

How about Avatar? When American Comic Writers make animation/comic with genre murim/martial art world/wuxia. The result is Avatar.

So what do you think of the Cradle series? It's defiantly not classic Xianxia but it's got the flavour of it and is still a brilliant series.

a westerner can easily make a real wuxia/xianxia if they just read up on chinese culture, history, what names means and frazes that are often used etc etc. it's not like todays chinese know exactly how people used to live long ago (counting out the actual fantasy and just focusing on the stae the country was in around that time). No matter if you're chinese or not, you still need to do your research in order to make a good book situated in a scertain point of time in a countrys history. If you don't research enough you're not gonna write a good book of the genre no matter who you are. The only advantage chinese people have is that they write in chinese and can then easierly smooth in the chinese wuxia elements in the novels language

Do you have any Wuxia How To Videos?

Why not write a novel literally being a Daoist Spaghetti Western? It would make much more sense and be easier to grasp by a western author.

I want to write a novel built around cultivation in ancient china but i'm hesitant as to if i am allowed to write a novel regarding ancient china since i'm not chinese myself...

Some are weebs who copied Dragon Ball and Naruto.

Hello daost. Making movies base on the novels which have destructive power levels like ancestor, immortal, god and ascendant level is very difficult if the animation will include the detail fight like a " ancestral land is blown by a single punch 😂 " wtf is that hahhaah I can't imagine that in movies. It can only minimize the damage if there is a sort of formation to absurd the damage

Can you make a video about cultivation rank or level.... Because I tried to make a novel with wuxia/xianxia genre and I don't know how to make a cultivation rank or level..this thing stress me out😩😩😩

Where the hell did i come from mxtx........ i love it

Can you make a video about xuanhuan? I'm still trying to write a xianxia+xuanhuan novel... Is adding the 4 chinese constellation into a xuanhuan novel also means it's a xianxia novel?

Funny, I searched for Wild West Wuxia looking for cowboy/Samurai schlock but found this very cool video instead. Are you familiar with Exalted or wuxia tabletop rpgs?

Hi Deathblade, just found your gem of a channel here. I recently started doing some light research on Wuxia, and Wuxia translation, and would like to ask some of your expert opinion. 1. In your opinion, what are some Wuxia Books that are well written by non-Chinese authors? 2. Do you consider books such as the Poppy War as wuxia? Why or Why not?

hello Deathblade, I normally never rant about something i read but i wanna ask about your opinion since I just started reading "A Will Eternal" and just got to chapter 51. i can't shake the feeling of it being a lot like issth since MC doesn't have parents, oh he gets flown to a sect, oh he becomes a servant, oh he finds an item that no body wants and it turns out to be so OP, oh because of the item he is leveling fast. it seems to me like a remodel of issth instead of a new novel. i know its the same author but can't he think about something different? :(

I thought this was going to be a video about cultural appropriation issues. This video kind of addresses some of the issues there but there are other problems too. I've considered writing quote-unquote "wuxia" before but I'm scared to do it as a Westerner without hiring a cultural sensitivity reader (which seems to be what most people in the writing community recommend when writing cross-culturally).

Hmmm, yeah I think it's him.

Maybe western won't constantly, CONSTANTLY repeat themselves for word count

Whats the difference between Xianxia, Wuxia and Xuanhuan? I see so much mixed info about this. I mostly read cultivation novels from authors like IET and this terminology has confused me. At first me and my friend called is wuxia, since wuxiaworld was the name of the site where we read our first novel (we didn't even say woosh-a but wux-iea, only found out about this some months ago), then we started saying xianxia because I had googled this question I had and saw somebody saying that xianxia was the right term, but the exact definitions still allude me. Only heard of Xuanhuan like... 20 minutes ago when I first found your channel and website. Is swallowed star by IET an example of this? Its apparently based of the real world and sci-fi? Desolate era also had a MC who lived in the real world but this was barely ever mentioned in the novel, is this also Xuanhuan? I'm basically just asking this because I wanna know about some good Xuanhuan novels.

You really couldn't think of a more American phenomenon than 'Westerns made by Italians'? Just saying.

I'm kind of odd for this crowd, as I don't really enjoy xianxia as much as wuxia, and I have not found very much of it written by westerners. Actually, could someone maybe point some of it out for me? I'm kind of curious of how it reads after watching this video.

Considering the absolute dogshit that comes out of the "authentic" xianxia scene, I'll be more than happy to read "unfaithful" western works. One of the best cultivation novels I've ever read is written by an author who openly confesses to never having read xianxia, and it shows. The novel uses the basic concepts of cultivation with a magic system and mythology based on european mysticism and alchemy, and actively makes fun of stupid xianxia tropes and commonly repeated phrases.

Deathblade would you consider the dragonheart series by Russian Kirill Klevanski as a wuxia series. He’s Russian so not western per se.

Based on history and language culture, you cant translates chinese to English very accurately, especially for xianxia novels. but your translation I would love to give it 9 of 10. The biggest problem for Chinese novels translate to English is when Chinese read those sentences in a novel, they could imagine it in their brain-based on their culture system, thus they could easier understand what pictures that the writer wants to message to readers, and that part is hardest for foreigners. Not only history and myth difference, but also because of differences in values, social outlook, and even moral values, these affect foreigners' reading of xianxia novels.

Ok. So, first real comment and im nervous😂 hello😁 Ive been a fan and following the wuxiaworld site and now app since I found it. And I have to say that I've seen the good, the bad, and the very ugly😂 in the stories. Ive seen the repetition of the stories themselves throughout the life of it. But something that people here are admitting is true. Everyone is walking on eggshells to please a massive audience and not just for size but age group too. The dirty and "hardcore" of the translated novels that everyone does is part of what makes them so damn good! STOMP THE EGGSHELLS LIKE THE HEADS YOU WRITE ABOUT😂😁 because its not supposed to be a childrens fairytale that puts them to bed. Everything they write about is (as stated in other comments) influenced by their lifestyle and the history of their home. So while we can try to write the stuff that makes some people angry, or cry. Anything that makes someone feel a solid negitive emotion, not everyone is willing to do it. Not many people can keep morality from influencing their writing to some degree. Its just the way they were raised. Im not saying the other stuff is bad. Just different. So long as you like what you read, thats that😊 now, sorry for the rant lmao and take care everyone✌

They should just write xuanhuan

Young Master Sixth..

this ancestor is second

Maybe we reached a point when we should get rid of a bunch of randomly named genres which overlap and are often misleading or limiting. And maybe we should expand it into some kind of multi-dimensional scale which grades fiction based on the degree of it's various aspects rather than shoehorns it into a bunch of very specific boxes. Wouldn't that be neat...

Maybe they are writing Xuanhuan not Xianxia, but of course if they label it Xianxia then it's bad terminology.

In spite of the subject matter Deathblade makes very uninteresting videos. I wonder if it's just the way it is with being on the autism spectrum. Oh well.

This is why I create my own Fantasy System...borrowed heavily from many other 'systems'. 🍄

Fanfictions on webnovel are horrible. Its all Against the god wish fulfilment thats so bullshit its not even funny. Even when someone tries to write quality they get insulted for not having wish fulfilment.

This is why i don't like coiling dragon, it feels too much like its a kids cartoon where this kid is a hero fighing with his friends. I guess its the lack of ruthlessness that i dont like but theres something else idk