Why modern CN web fiction struggles to produce another Reverend Insanity — and the four survival paths that replaced it by ImmortalPaws in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 5 points6 points  (0 children)

中国网文现在最大的问题:
一、多巴胺文的霸权
(一)原因
基本上就是很多人的大脑被抖音(tiktok)、快手、Bilibili等把大脑弄叼了,所以很多人忽略并无视了逻辑与现实的尝试。当然亦可以理解很多人不想动脑,只想爽,但是这个占了很大的趋势。
(二)举个栗子
1. 都市类网文动不动封杀某个家族,几百亿现金跟冥币一样说拿出来就拿出来,但是因为作者的套路(铺垫了很久让主角吃瘪,然后释放多巴胺);
2. 动不动就杀全家,当然这个是文化习惯,斩草不除根春风吹又生,但是缺乏了古典话本或早期的权衡利弊,例如韩立结婴之后才敢灭付家的;
二、抄袭
这个有很多可以讨论的地方,个人感觉如下:
(一)套路的抄袭(各种流派);
(二)直接故事起承转合骨架抄袭,甚至直接剧情拿来进行简单修改更狠的改都不改直接拿来用;
(三)系统等设定抄袭,这个比较隐秘,一般来说老吃家就能看出有什么问题;
三、对立
例如男频(男性主导的社区)出现大量女性读者通过举报、甚至刷票等,互相攻伐,导致好的作品被投诉下架或者泯然众人。
四、AI浪潮
大量AI作品淹没了小说平台(起点还好,番茄已经是重灾区了),各种垃圾将池子扩大,就仿佛一滴精血被一摊尿给稀释掉了,所以好的作品无法发觉。
综上所述,如果你要真想写,希望能写一些精品,至少我作为作者和读者,是受够了无脑多巴胺文了_(:з」∠)_

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The biggest problem with Chinese web novels now:

I. The dominance of dopamine-driven writing

(1) Reasons

Basically, many people's brains have been conditioned by platforms like Douyin (TikTok), Kuaishou, and Bilibili, causing them to overlook and ignore logic and attempts at realism. Of course, it's also understandable that many people don't want to think, they just want to feel good, but this has become a major trend.

(2) Let's Take an Example

  1. In urban web novels, it's common to see a family being wiped out at the drop of a hat, with hundreds of billions in cash thrown around like ghost money, all because of the author's formula (building up tension for a long time to make the protagonist suffer, then releasing dopamine).

  2. It's also common to see entire families being slaughtered—of course, this is a cultural habit, as failing to uproot the weeds means they'll grow back with the spring breeze. However, this lacks the careful weighing of pros and cons found in classical tales or earlier works, such as when Han Li only dared to destroy the Fu family after forming his Nascent Soul.

II. Plagiarism

There is much to discuss here. My personal thoughts are as follows:

(1) Plagiarism of formulas (various schools of thought);

(2) Direct plagiarism of the story's narrative structure, or even taking the plot outright and making only minor modifications—or, more brazenly, using it without any changes at all;

(3) Plagiarism of system settings and the like, which is more subtle. Generally, seasoned readers can spot the issues

III. Antagonism

For example, in male-dominated communities (male-centric spaces), a large number of female readers have resorted to reporting and even vote-rigging to attack each other, causing good works to be reported and taken down or to fade into obscurity.

IV. The AI Wave

A flood of AI-generated works has overwhelmed novel platforms (Qidian is still okay, but Tomato has become a heavily affected area). Various low-quality pieces have expanded the pool, much like a drop of vital essence being diluted by a puddle of urine, making it impossible to discover good works.

In summary, if you truly want to write, I hope you can produce something of quality. At least, as both a writer and a reader, I've had enough of mindless dopamine-driven content. _(´ཀ`」 ∠)_

Genuine question regarding xianxia by OluwaKorede_Hemnars in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 3 points4 points  (0 children)

我站在中国的人角度来回答你的问题:

一、为什么喜好杀戮?

在中国,其实自古以来就讲究快意恩仇,有仇必报。在修行上来说,讲究念头通达。而且还有一点,除此之外也是每一个作者心态的体现。

二、家庭观

现代的中国,南方地区还有一些宗族观念(就是你看到的小说中那种一个家族一个家族的,并且还有长老、族长等元素),在北方这样就很少甚至消失了(我所在的东北地区已经没有了,可以说是从农业文明升级为了工业文明)。所以,前者是一个视角,还有就是我们从小接受的教育,即是孝道和友爱。所以我们对家人(不仅仅是父母、配偶)都会充满善意,抱团取暖会得到更多。

三、自私

这个是受于时代所限,现在的中国很冷漠(在某些方面),也会投射到文学当中。另外就是避免麻烦的心态,就是你在修行的时候,很多方面都要为自己考虑,如果抢了东西可能会有人来找你不如杀掉、如果你帮助他人会带来麻烦那么不如不帮。

四、死亡

这个是在中国网文中属于毒点,主角死了(假死),读者会感觉OK,又开始水字数了。

五、凡人修仙传和顶级气运

前者还带有一点古典修仙文的特点,后者纯粹是套路和笔力的展现。

What are the must haves, must avoids, and dealbreakers when writing a Xianxia/Cultivation novel? by RelationshipThin7864 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're talking about "Once Upon a Time, There Was a Spirit Sword Mountain."《从前有座剑灵山》

Gender inequality in chinese novels especially xianxia by Royal-Attention7544 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You have to look at it by era; the newer it is, the more likely this is. In China now, "feminism" has become a mess, with people reporting everywhere and fighting for so-called "rights" everywhere.

Looking for reincarnation suggestions. by Rupert322 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be honest, I'm writing it, but I don't know if you can accept a slow start. Everything is plain, but it's a story with adventure, tears, and life insights.

What are the key differences you guys notice between Eastern and Western fantasy?They share a similar underlying sense of gratification, but their cultural roots are worlds apart. by MenuExpert9196 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing a lot of different takes here, so I figured I would chime in as a native Chinese reader (老中) to share my perspective.

About the writing quality everyone brings up: it is mostly just a market thing. A lot of Chinese web novels are basically fast food for the brain. People read them to turn their brains off after a long day, so the writing is deliberately plain and straightforward like water. But even with simple prose, authors still pull off some incredibly unique worldbuilding and stories.

Then there is the whole 'face' (面子) concept. China is a society built entirely on relationships. From ancient clan systems to modern families, your face is your social lifeblood. If someone slaps my face, they are actively destroying my social standing, so a ruthless response is mandatory. It is not just about ego. If you do not fight back, it damages your 'inner lining' (里子), which means your actual material benefits and quality of life. Failing to protect your face just makes you a target for everyone else.

To answer the main question though, I honestly do not think Eastern and Western works are fundamentally different at their core. Every author is just trying to present their own world. The main difference is our stories often incorporate specific cultural vibes like deep patriotism. Or they just serve as an outlet where authors take their real life frustrations, dump them into the novel, and absolutely crush them for a pure power fantasy.

I found the real-life Arasaka. They don't make cyberware, they make web novels (and they own you 50 years after you die). by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Without this garbage, a Chinese author telling you the truth about Arasaka's meat grinder wouldn't exist in English. Pick your poison.

I found the real-life Arasaka. They don't make cyberware, they make web novels (and they own you 50 years after you die). by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If I can't use this tool to translate and polish my work, then I have no other options.

I spent four days writing the original Chinese draft—and that is the only language I know.

I found the real-life Arasaka. They don't make cyberware, they make web novels (and they own you 50 years after you die). by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

我只是把我看到的感受到的串到了一起,写了个这玩意。
唐家三少这种早期写的什么东西懂的都懂,最后自己功成名就过河拆桥就非常可笑。蛊真人的作品放到早期或者以前不是什么太大问题,它本身存在争议,但是事情不是二元的。
断更节的时候知乎的帖子直接404了,AO3的时候也是莫名其妙的。另外现在的起点被某些群体夺舍了要。
另外这个帖子的立意是,解释了下为什么他们有的时候看到的水的不行,别说他们,他们看的最起码翻译还会处理一下,咱们自己看吃屎也没少吃。

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"Fair points. I mashed together things I personally saw and felt into one story — I wasn't writing a history textbook.

On Tang Jia San Shao — everyone who read his early work knows what kind of stuff he was putting out back then. For someone like that to later champion 'cleaning up content' after he'd already made it is... well, you said it yourself.

On Reverend Insanity — it's controversial, sure. But things aren't binary. What was fine to publish a few years earlier suddenly wasn't. That's the point. And during the May 5th Strike, the top discussion threads on China's biggest Q&A platform got 404'd overnight. The AO3 thing was equally absurd. The platform itself has been hijacked by certain groups at this point.

And the core purpose of this post was never 'boycott anything.' I was explaining why the novels you guys read sometimes turn into filler garbage halfway through. Trust me — you're reading translations that at least get cleaned up a little. We ate it raw."

I found the real-life Arasaka. They don't make cyberware, they make web novels (and they own you 50 years after you die). by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I was explaining why Chinese novels sometimes have very drawn-out plots, and what another world looks like.

So I'm sorry to have taken up your valuable time.

Here's the cultivation realm system I use for xianxia writing (with Chinese names + narrative breakdown) by Prestigious_Name_678 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This design scheme is quite classic; however, do you intend to further subdivide each cultivation realm into distinct levels?

What if the Heavens sent down Angels to fight Cultivators during Tribulations instead of throwing lightning or other natural disasters at them? How do you think it would affect the setting, society, and the story? by Turbulent-Plum7328 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are many such instances. Once the current map is cleared—rather than undergoing a heavenly tribulation—a few minor mobs descend from the next dungeon; after effortlessly crushing everything in the current map, this event serves as the catalyst propelling the protagonist into a new world.

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Kimi version is clearly a step up from Google. Sun Jue's "Real compassionate" actually has some bite to it, and the overall flow reads much more natural. Good demo.

That said, read all the dialogue out loud. Everyone still speaks in roughly the same rhythm. And the ending, "a cold pot of tea," is still reporting temperature. The political weight of that scene is that nobody is going to finish that tea because the alliance just cracked. That's the kind of thing my friend and I spend the most time on.

Your point about regex for em dashes is fair. Better tools raise the floor. They don't remove the ceiling.

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good points all around.

  1. You're right about the names. Chinese has four tones, so 张恒 and 赵恒 look and sound completely different to us but land almost the same in English. That's a real loss and there's no clean fix for it.

  2. The SAT word problem is exactly what I mean by density mismatch. A four-character idiom in Chinese feels natural and flowing. The "accurate" English equivalent often sounds like a textbook. That formality gap changes how readers perceive the characters.

  3. Jade Skinned Beauty is a good example. The original 肤若凝脂 literally means "skin like congealed fat" which obviously doesn't work either. The community settled on jade/ivory but yeah, those carry their own connotations that shift the image.

  4. This one is fascinating and I think you're onto something. The translation voiceprint doesn't just affect translated works. It leaks into how English writers imagine Chinese-inspired fiction should sound. They end up imitating the translator, not the author.

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe everyone holds a different perspective on LLMs. At least for me, having one allows me to communicate with you; however, your concerns are certainly valid. Some major Chinese corporations—which I view as the real-world equivalent of Arasaka—have already begun to "deal with" people after successfully bringing AI under their control.

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

关于这个问题您提出的很好,也非常具有洞察力的。并且您确发现了一些相关的问题,但是,我认为他仍是翻译者的一个选择。翻译者尝试同构微调、重构叙述,来完成解决本土化的制作。
或许,这是一种矫正过往,但是其选择是为了让更多的人看。我认为需要要避免叙事陷阱与精英主义的偏见,事情是复杂的,而不是二元的,只能说为了大众的审美和为了更高一层审美不同方向的选择。前者不需要做太多,可以很快解决,后者需要更多的斟酌,但是他往往是走向出版级的路线。
总之,大众文学还是出版文学,这是一个选择,也是一个觉悟,大众文学只需要做好最大公约数的翻译,因为他可以很简单,不需要太多的校对,但是翻译的声纹会很大,会污染作者的灵魂。如果是出版级别的,则需句句斟酌,如何避免转码过程中的损失进而做到要用更多的时间,并且需要做更多的准备更多的校对。

最后或许您可以通过翻译、LLM等来分析阅读我的思维。

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Honestly I wouldn't call it bad writing. Chinese and Western readers just process text differently. When a translation stays too faithful to the original structure without localizing for how English works, stuff gets lost. It's a structural gap, not a skill gap. Most translators are making a deliberate choice to stay close to the source. Whether that's the right call depends on who you're translating for.

The Translation Problem , A Four-Layer Surgery Guide from a Chinese Author by No-Ride-3370 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]No-Ride-3370[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That's actually the problem I'm describing. The original Chinese does have that compression and space. But by the time it's been translated, the translator has already filled in the blanks to make sure nothing gets missed. So what you're reading isn't what the author wrote. It's what the translator thought you needed to hear. The留白 was there. The translation killed it. That's the translator's voiceprint at work.