Introductions
May. 5th, 2024 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geraineon posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cnovelsWelcome! You can use this post to share a little bit of yourself! Feel free to also just post an introduction to the community instead of replying to this post! You don't have to follow any format, but here are some prompts:
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What is your favourite cnovel?
3. Do you have a favourite author?
4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
5. What do you hope to see from this community?
1. What are you currently reading?
2. What is your favourite cnovel?
3. Do you have a favourite author?
4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
5. What do you hope to see from this community?
no subject
Date: 2024-05-18 06:25 pm (UTC)Oh, cool! I'm still learning and definitely can't understand it fluently yet, but I'm excited to check out more audiobooks. :) Will share if I find anything interesting!
no subject
Date: 2024-05-19 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-12 11:32 am (UTC)I'm currently reading the short story collection Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan. The stories have been giving me the sense of what it would be like to grow up in South Korea or to work there and the similarities and differences with how and where I'm presently situated on the outskirts of a Texas metroplex.
My favorite cnovel is Daughter of the River by Hong Ying. I'm currently reading the sequel, Good Children of the Flower, which continues the story and weaves past memories and the present together in a similar way.
My other great love is British gothic literature, and my favorite author is Mary Shelley. My second favorite is Lisa See.
My other hobbies and interests are growing roses, doll-collecting, and cross stitch. I also like playing otome games when I have time.
I mentioned it in a comment on a recent post, but I would love to have a monthly read-along!
no subject
Date: 2024-06-12 04:21 pm (UTC)I used to play loads of otome games! What are you playing now?
no subject
Date: 2024-06-14 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-06-18 10:48 pm (UTC)1. What are you currently reading?
Currently near the start of vol. 3 of Remnants of Filth.
2. What is your favourite cnovel?
TGCF, for better or worse! I've been in a deep, deep fanwork-creating pit for years.
3. Do you have a favourite author?
MXTX, sorry. I am branching out, though.
4. What are your other hobbies and interests?
Various and sundry, but most relevant to this comm is that I read a lot of trad pubbed fiction and nonfiction, write, and make zines.
5. What do you hope to see from this community?
Recs and thoughtful discussion! I'm interested in baihe, danmei, and gen cnovels, especially wuxia/xianxia/historical, but am entirely limited to English translated work, so I really appreciate connecting with people who have an ear to the ground in the translation world.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-19 03:35 am (UTC)Recs and discussions seem to be the general consensus on what members would like to see, so you're in good company. Hopefully you'll find plenty more c-novels to love here!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-05 11:13 pm (UTC)I'm currently reading a modern school baihe romance novel called The Girls Who Raise Cats (养猫人家) by author Lin Cheng Mu Sen 林城木森.
Some novels I liked off of the top of my head, recency bias also included (don't have a favorite lol):
When the Wind Arises (风起时) by Su Xian (苏弦_)
Hazy Dawn （晨昏) by Ruo Hua Ci Shu (若花辞树)
You Fei | Legend of Fei | Bandits by Priest
Picking Up Stars (捡星星) by Bu Wen San Jiu (不问三九)
A Certain Someone (某某) by Mu Su Li (木苏里)
Don't really have just one favorite author, but I'll list out a few that immediately come to mind:
Priest - multigenre and depth queen. Ironically, the only tag she hasn't tried on jj is baihe, but it doesn't mean that I don't admire the hell out of her. I love her prose, and I often wonder how she manages to tell a story with such a cheeky tone (courtesy of her protagonists, also my favorite would have to be Xuan Ji), yet the story itself is usually tragic + deep in every stretch of the imagination.
Yi Zhan Ye Deng (一盏夜灯) - the author of the current book I'm translating/editing. The more I read her the more I feel like wait such simple words shouldn't evoke such strong emotions within me, but with her, miraculously, they just do. I have (mostly) read every book she has produced and I love all of them with various reasons.
Liu Yuan Chang Ning (流鸢长凝) - baihe author holding down the north pole section of historical romance baihe. She's got court politics, jianghu, the lives of regular people... everything.
I have too many hobbies and interests so uhhh I'll just rattle off a few. Reading, drawing, music, writing, gaming, watching dramas/anime/donghua. I mostly lean Chinese media/games but anime like Frieren and Violet Evergarden also have my heart. Oh also I'm a Chinese history enthusiast and if anyone would like to climb through the Tang dynasty family tree with me I'll be happy to do so for the 3rd time.
I guess I mostly just want have fun and see everyone else have fun with discussions and whatnot, although I will note that I mostly avoid reviews for spoilers and to avoid forming opinions prematurely. Most c-novel/c media spaces lean heavily into danmei/ male characters which is completely fine and understandable but I definitely like lifting female characters as well, so if some would like to join me in that I'd be very happy.
I mostly lurk but I guess in some contexts I can be pretty expressive so I look forward to interacting with fellow peeps here in the comm. Thanks for having me!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-06 04:17 am (UTC)I'm currently also translating a modern baihe novel called If I Could Mail You A Book.
That's very exciting! Looking forward to reading it sometime (just looked it up! I'll add to my TBR). I hear you about picking favourites! It's hard to pick! XD Liu Yuan Chang Ning sounds like someone I should check out (court politics and jianghu, yum)
This comm does lean danmei (I hear you about c-novel/c-media spaces leaning heavily into danmei/male characs heavy too), but there is definitely enough varied interest for non-danmei (which is what I am hoping for which is why I made it general purpose cnovels including non-webnovels rather than danmei XD)
Feel free to check out older discussion topics and join in, and I look forward to interacting with you in the comm! And if you are up to it, feel free to claim an author to write an author spotlight for (see this post: https://cnovels.dreamwidth.org/11034.html)!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-31 07:55 pm (UTC)Currently reading a couple of things, all danmei or no CP on JJWXC:
1. I Got Crowned GOAT Writing BL Novels on Livestream (Scifi interstellar Zerg novel, just completed)
2. Delicate Charmer Lives Life Again (Xianxia rebirth, WIP)
3. Is Cuteness not enough? (Light scifi, WIP)
4. My Lord, You Mustn't! (Ahistorical period novel, completed)
5. I really won't be a good Emperor! (Ahistorical period novel, almost completed)
My favourite cnovels are Langya List (Drama adaptation: Nirvana in Fire), Bu Bu Jin Xin (Drama adaptation: Scarlet Heart), Daozi, Qing Dynasty's #1 Spoiled Brat and I think that first novel on my currently reading will be added to this list soon xD
I don't have a favourite author per se, but some authors I've consistently enjoyed works from are
1. Yi Shi Si Zhou (Little Mushroom, #1 Sugar Baby/Pretty Boy, C Language Cultivation)
2. Yi Cong Yin (Stigma, Phoenix Bone [Rebirth], Didn't We Agree On Disrespecting Shizun, Reborn as the High Immortal's Treasured Birb, etc.)
3. Three Thousand Great Dreams To Narrate A Life (Let Me Shoulder This Blame, His Highness Wants Me To Restore His Virtue, I'm Super Fierce! [Quick Transmigration], etc.)
4. Yan Songsong (Every work of hers lol. I've been here since her first xD)
My other hobbies and interests include reading cnovels in my sleep, while eating and in the bath (jk jk HAHAHAHA). I like reading about Chinese poetry and the history, translating, sleeping and reading ENG fantasy and biographies.
I would be absolutely thrilled and delighted to get recs of protagonists of delicate health, and to find fellow cnovel readers who like the same. This is my one BIGGEST trope requirement for reading a novel. If the main character didn't start out sick, they must at least be sickly by the end of the story. Otherwise 19/20 I WILL lose interest (it's a bit of a curse).
no subject
Date: 2024-08-31 09:04 pm (UTC)It's fascinating how SF seems to come with Zerg so much of the time (or maybe that's just what I see, so it's all skewed XD)
I remember there are a few people in the comm who likes C Language Cultivation! And I too wish to be able to read in my sleep XD
Maybe if we sleep on the book, we will absorb the story and see it play out in our dreams (wouldn't that be nice?)
YES, I love sickly MC too. Have you read 年终's 送神? I'm pretty sure you've read loads more than I have since I rely on either fan tl or the existence of a audio drama, that's the most recent one that I've read that has a sickly protag.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 11:07 pm (UTC)I'm currently reading... no cnovels right now, just the infinite backlog of longform articles & essays saved to my Instapaper account lmao.
My favorite cnovels are 全职高手/The King's Avatar, 桥头楼上/The End of the Bridge, the Top of the Tower, and 早安！三国打工人/Good Morning! Workers of the Three Kingdoms. Actually, I should amend my answer to the question above—I am rereading parts of 打工人. XD
I don't really have a favorite author. But I like priest's prose style, humor, and worldbuilding, and I'm impressed by 蒿里茫茫 Haoli Mangmang's execution of different premises and protagonist types in the few stories they've written within this historical transmigration sub-genre.
Other interests include (more) reading, translation, hiking, and history. I'm a lurker at heart, but I hope to see (& participate in :3) more discussion about cnovels that are less well-known and fall under gen or baihe, the art of translation, and cnovel trends/genres.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 03:00 am (UTC)Really enjoying all your thoughts on the translation post and I'm glad you're enjoying it too~
If there are other topics you'd like to see being discussed, let me know and I can put it up on the discussion friday posts (or feel free to start one!). The latest was an idea from douqi. And yes, I love to hear about non-danmei novels. My experience has been mostly danmei, some translated SF, branching out to gen webnovels (I finished TKA donghua and I want more).
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 05:24 am (UTC)I hesitate to suggest this because I don't know how much conversation it could even garner, but I am curious about recently popular and untranslated cnovels
totally not a thinly veiled attempt to learn the details of more cnovels—such as I Got Crowned GOAT Writing BL Novels on Livestream (which yjtc mentioned, if I'm guessing its CN title right), and 穿进赛博游戏后干掉BOSS成功上位/After Entering the Cyberpunk Game, I Killed the BOSS and Successfully Took Over (which a relative[!] in China recced to me as a runaway hit). Maybe it could be folded into a more general topic about what kinds of stories/genres get exposure via translation in English-language fandom.Have you also read the TKA novel?
no subject
Date: 2024-09-04 08:45 pm (UTC)And I think there are some who are definitely reading untranslated novels so it might spark some conversation. Otherwise, I think that can be expanded to "talk about novels you think are underrated/more people should read, regardless of whether it's currently available in English" so those who are reading translations can participate too, and those who read in original CN can talk about the untranslated novels. My wish is for this space to be accommodating for all novel readers~
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 12:08 am (UTC)There seems to be an English translation that's ongoing at Chrysanthemum Garden up to Chapter 25, under the title 'Becoming a God in the Zerg World by Livestreaming BL Novels'. And I'm honstly not sure if I should be more surprised at there being an English translation, or that it has basically zero social media attention.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 12:36 am (UTC)I haven't finished P大's Bridge & Tower novel yet - shelved it as it was updating last year and forgot to go back, but it had a /very/ intruiging concept. (I've always enjoyed her worldbuilding alot, though I think our taste in characters must not match very well haha)
The webnovel within a webnovel structure, and how stories affect fan culture, social media landscape, people and the zeitgeist is also a thing the Zerg novel plays with, and I really adore the meta nature it all.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 02:43 am (UTC)a) some variant of Omegaverse
b) Zerg
c) a blend of Sentinel and His Dark Materials
or any of the above with a dash of mecha for flavour. They're all so fun xD I especially enjoy the eldritch horror Zerg types - that may or may not have some influences from Alien - where the bottom is basically Queen Mother of the Zergs 🤣 LOL. One unique one had beings from western fantasy (mermaids, dragons, vampires etc.) as races occupying different regions in space, which was simply galaxy brained. Another kind of sweet one had anthromorphic planets.
Ok, stopping before I turn this reply into a ramble about jj danmei SF hahaahah.
I have NOT in fact read 送神 bc I had no idea it was a sickly protag one. But I'm also a big fan of their 末日快乐 / Happy Doomsday (one of my 19 favs on jj), so OMG yay \o/ \o/ \o/.
SUPER glad to find a fellow sickly mc bro in the wild! *shakes your hand* Let me update my list of novels for this trope for 2023 and 2024. Maybe I can share it in this comm?
...Probably sometime next month as real life work and irl commitments are absolutely consuming me all of Sep LOL
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 05:34 am (UTC)Yay, enjoy 送神!
AND YES, PLEASE! Me, as a fellow sickly protag lover would love your list! Whenever you have a moment to breath, no rush~
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 08:59 am (UTC)To be honest, at this point I could probably do a spotlight for every genre intersected with sickly protagonists. A recent spiral has been novel protagonist breaks 4th wall in a modern dogsblood novel, realizes he's a canon fodder villian in someone else's story and decides to give up and be a salted fish. This sounds oddly specific, but there are so so so many iterations of this in creative ways! Oh! And platforms are mainly jj, but I do have a couple of recs for lofter and changpei as well.
(The list without half of 2023 and all of 2024 stands at 200 novels 🙈)
no subject
Date: 2024-09-09 08:36 pm (UTC)Hyperspecific trope spotlight? Go for it too!
I kinda wanna do one for the whole crematorium trope (I love it! what's there not to when it comes to melodrama and abuse, and then REGRET and then grovelling? Even better when not all is forgiven!)
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 12:01 am (UTC)I like that more! I wouldn't want the discussion to inadvertently exclude through its framing.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 12:18 am (UTC)I also realized 穿进赛博游戏后干掉BOSS成功上位 has an ongoing translation too, up to Ch. 15, so I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions based on the fact I've seen zero mention of it in English-language fandom. But zero mention... /o\
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 12:42 am (UTC)Funny thing is—I like a lot of things about priest's writing, and I do think my taste in characters/themes aligns pretty well with hers, but I haven't actually finished that many priest novels because I tend to get bogged down in the pacing of her stories. (I know, it seems ridiculous for me to say that considering 全职高手 and 早安！三国打工人 are, respectively, more than 5x and 2x as long as priest's longest work Tai Sui... lol) So I guess it's unsurprising that 桥头楼上 ended up as my favorite priest novel, packing so much into a compact punch of a story.
That sounds really cool! I've read very little in Zerg-heavy sci-fi, but I'm always down for meta-tastic takes /... adds to to-read list
no subject
Date: 2024-09-10 06:17 am (UTC)Alright, I'll have the underrated novels topic up for discussion this Friday~!