#I’ve read a lot of excerpts of MDZS

[bigbadredpanda]

Hello, there is something that has been bothering me for a while now, and maybe you can help me.

Do you know if it's possible for cultivators become immortal in mdzs?

In the audio drama when Lan Qiren reads the Lan Sect rules he talks about their purpose as cultivators, which is to reach immortality, Wei Wuxian too mentions it not long after. Also Xiao Xincheng, when telling his story, talks about an immortal that lived on a celestial mountain, referring to Baoshan Sanren. These things made me think that yes, it's possible, and maybe it's just very hard.

But then I read somewhere about mdzs being a low fantasy novel. That's when I get confused. I thought mdzs was xianxia, that was considered high fantasy, where there are immortals, and low fantasy was instead wuxia, where there are not.

Since I'm in no way an expert of this genre I don't know if there are specific rules or the author can mix things up and decide what to keep or leave.

I don't know if in mdzs when they talk about becoming immortals they really mean it, it's really possible, or if instead it's just some kind of myth, and they can only prolong their lifespan.

So the most important thing that I'd really like to know is if it's possible or not, in the mdzs universe, and in case how can you tell?

Hope it's okay to ask, your answers are always interesting and I've learned a lot of things thanks to you. Thank you so much if you can help me!

Hello and thank you for your words of support! The short answer is no, cultivators do not actually become immortals in mdzs.

Wuxia and xianxia literary genres have in common the same character xia (侠) that is commonly translated as ‘chivalry’ and which refers to the archetypal hero who strives to uphold justice and punish evildoers. They differ though in the first character, wu (武) means ‘martial arts’ and xian (仙) ‘immortality’. Wuxia generally depicts characters proficient not only in martial arts but also in a variety of weapons, paralysing acupuncture techniques, they also possess near-superhuman abilities such as leaping in bamboo forests and running across water. Xianxia is inspired by Chinese myths and draws heavily from Taoism from which the pursuit of immortality originates. Fantasy elements abound and deities, spirits, demons may mix with humans. It is indeed tempting to qualify wuxia as low-fantasy and xianxia as high fantasy but in truth there is such versatility across both genres that it would be arduous to draw a clear line of delineation between what constitutes low and high fantasy.

Mdzs is officially labelled as a “low fantasy xianxia”. In the author’s notes for chapter 20, MXTX quips: “In this low fantasy xianxia world, there is no mythological creatures like qilin or taotie. The only mythological creatures that to exist are spiritual dogs, spiritual rabbits, spiritual turtles, spiritual pigs. Practical and domesticated.” So even if there are undeniably fantasy elements in mdzs, their scope is limited.

The part you allude to about the Gusu Lan sect rules are an addition in the audio drama that do not feature in the novel. I went back to listen to the episode (it was a fine excuse to listen to the audio drama again) but did not find any mention of immortality. I shall make an attempt to translate Lan Qiren’s speech which is in Classical Chinese (audio drama s1e05):

夫圣贤之典，教人诚孝。谨言慎行，立身雅正，亦已备矣。修道者，养神炼身。当慎节起卧，卯作亥息。均适食饮，餐不过三。犯戒者，禁闭三日，书雅正一篇。

The texts from wise men of virtue instruct on the benefit of devout filial piety. One must be cautious in word and in deed and must behave righteously. Those who cultivate must elevate their minds and refine their bodies. Their life must be properly regulated with fixed hours to rise and to rest, awaking at 5 in the morning and sleeping at 9 in the evening. All nourishment and drink must be taken in just consumption without exceeding three meals. Those who violate the rules must remain in seclusion for three days and copy the volume of “Rightousness” once.

(Fun fact, this quote is based on an actual Chinese classic from the 6th century, “The Family Instructions of Master Yan” by Yan Zhitui)

The other bit that you indicated happens later on when Wei Wuxian is told that he must copy the “Great Justice” section of “Righteousness” three times as punishment. He complains, “Just copying it once is enough to make me ascend”. He's not saying it literally but in a “I will die” way ^^

Concerning Baoshan Sanren, I’ll put forward again my translation of a relevant excerpt (ch.29):

这位抱山散人是位世外隐道，据说与温卯、蓝安等人是同一时期出道的修士。那一辈的风云人物，如今早已魂消身散，只有抱山散人，传闻至今仍未陨落。若果真如此，该有好几百岁了，足见修为了得。

This Baoshan Sanren was a recluse who had forsaken the outside world. It was said that she was a cultivator that emerged during the same era as Lan An and Wen Mao. This illustrious figures from this generation have long since vanished and turned to dust but according to rumours, Baoshan Sanren was the only one who endured to this day. If this were true, she would be several centuries old and it would be a testament to her extraordinary cultivation base.

We learn several things from this passage. First, it’s not said that is effectively immortal, just that she may have lived for a very long time. Second, this is a rumour. It’s a running theme in the series that one must be careful to distinguish between hearsay and actual fact. Third, if these rumours happened to be true, it would be exceptional. So in conclusion, there is no confirmation that the person closest to immortality is actually immortal.

I think that the perception that cultivators in mdzs can live forever come from expectations of the xianxia genre. Although mdzs and tgcf are both xianxia, one is decidedly more down-to-earth than the other and the two do not operate by the same rules and do not share a common lore. The other important contributor to that biased perception is perhaps the definition of xian 仙 in xianxia which can be misleading. As I’ve said, it does mean ‘immortality’ but there’s a figurative sense to that, not only a straightforward literal one. For instance, what is called in English the ‘cultivational world’ is in Chinese 仙门世家, something like “The Immortal Families” if we want to stick close the original. Xian 仙 is an intrinsic part of cultivation but in the case of mdzs, there’s an emphasis on immortality being a conceptual pursuit (to prolong one’s lifespan) and not an actual end goal.

#answers #mo dao zu shi #mdzs meta #freshmushrooom

[vodkassassin]

Ao3 Author Tag Game

I was tagged by @alpharaposa

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

64 works 😊

2. What is your total AO3 word count?

598,592

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uhhhhh….. there’s a lot. So, I’m just gonna list my top 5 written for fandoms: Scum Villain Self-Saving System, Naruto, MDZS, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1 - Ear to the Wall (Naruto), 11793 kudos

2 - Ear to the Wall - Excerpts (Naruto), 2063 kudos

3 - huddle for warmth (SVSSS), 1468 kudos

4 - and I’m reminded of the simple life (where I work and just be used) (SVSSS), 1446 kudos

5 - Tumblin’ SVSSS, 1411 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes I do, as much as I can! It’s more often for fics with less comments, though, as opposed to fics like ETTW that have uh. Hundreds. Because sometimes I don’t really remember what part of the story they’re talking about 😅 but I try my best! And I’m always willing to chat on discord or tumblr or Twitter (same username)!

6. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Oh lord. Uh. I don’t like angsty endings? I like happy endings. I pack all my angst into the beginning or middle parts of the stories and then I resolve it bc that’s my favorite food.

7. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written?

Ahaaaaa yes I do 😏 hm, my craziest crossover…? I’m not entirely sure, it’s my thoughts that any fandoms can be crossed over reasonably with a little brainstorming. Maybe I should say my most ambitious crossover? That would be… I actually don’t know. Maybe the MDZS/Among Us crossover. Or the Kamisama Kiss/Corpse Party crossover. Nah wait, it’s definitely the SVSSS/BOFURI crossover.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh, plenty! A lot more often back when I was first starting out than now, and getting ‘flames’ was so much more common on FFN than it is for me on Ao3. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy posting to Ao3 more.

I started posting fanfic when I was 11 years old, so you can imagine all the grown ass adults or teenagers who probably didn’t consider they were shoveling their insults at a baby who hadn’t finished their grammar courses in elementary school yet 🤣 or maybe some of them did but didn’t care bc they were garbage human beings? Who knows.

What I gotta say is: just keep writing, homies <3 you WILL progress and figure out the style you’re most comfortable with as long as you persevere and ignore the commentors who think they’re in charge of your fic 🙄 they ain’t! It’s YOU, you’re the Boss. So fire those losers and keep writing 🙌🏻

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Ahahahahahahahah…. No. Maybe one day but it’s highly unlikely. I do read it but I’ve never written for it and uh. Not sure if I wanna start 🤣 I think I’d be too embarrassed.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Hm…….. I don’t think so? I don’t really ever check so I can’t be sure tho.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I’m writing one right now! A SVSSS fic with Chershares, og!SQH/MBJ/Airplane!SQH 😁

12. What's your favorite ship in your most written for fandom?

That would be SVSSS, haha! And I think everybody knows that my top ship for that is Shang Qinghua/Anyone 🤣🙌🏻

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Danny Phantom!! It was a teeny tiny oneshot that was super angsty, which I think should have told me what kind of author I’d be in the future ahahaha 🤣

14. What's your favorite fic you've written?

Hmmmmm…. My favorite? That is subject to change. I think 🧐 at this very moment I would say….. lord I don’t even know haha. Maybe simple life. I’m very fond of that one.

And now I tag 5 fellow authors: @chershare @hiddenbyfaeries @robininthelabyrinth @nillegible @myakkoh

#author tag meme #Ao3 tag game #vodka tags #meet the author

[pumpkinpaix]

Hi! Sorry if you are not the right person to ask but I love your blog and you seem to know a lot about mdzs so: is it canon that the lan sect is vegetarian? I was confused bc I remembered the scene of lsz stuffing chicken in ljy’s mouth, but every fic I read says that lwj is vegetarian. Is it just him that’s vegetarian? Or is their vegetarianism just fanon :O

ahahaha i mean, I don’t know if i’m the right person to ask things either most of the time :’D i can only do my best! but I’m so glad you’re enjoying your time here!! <3

anyways, the confusion probably comes from the fact that one of the lan sect rules states “do not take a life within the premises” (@bigbadredpanda did a translation of the excerpt of gusu lan rules included with the mainland mdzs volume one here! it’s listed among them)

lan wangji says it to wei wuxian when wei wuxian gives him the rabbits and makes a joke about how he’s going to kill and eat them. (chapter 18, if you’re curious) there’s a lot of descriptions of the lans eating only bitter, bland vegetables and similar foods, so that’s probably where that comes from. as far as I know, they’re not explicitly forbidden from eating meat? they just don’t do so within their home/don’t kill within their walls.

that might be an instance of the mxtx not really keeping super close track of her worldbuilding lol, but I’ve always just headcanoned that disciples are allowed to eat meat when they’re not at home. /shrug

#mdzs meta #mdzs #the untamed #the untamed meta #cyan help desk #mine #mymeta #Anonymous #asks and replies

[bao3bei4]

i have basically covered the material in this post several times on my twitter. but this is, in my opinion, the only s*xy t*mes with w*ngxian take you need. 

(cw transphobia, transphobic slurs, antiblack racism, mentions of csa and bestiality in fiction)

edit 6/10/21: hi! i’m realizing people are still reading this! this was written in response to aja romano’s vox article on the fic that was published in late february of this year. i had been frustrated with how their article seemed to miss the point in many ways, because they never talked about the substance of the fic. which, i mean, fair. i wouldn’t want to read a 1million word fic either.

but i already had, so i thought i’d write about some things that i believed needed to be part of the conversation. namely, that its author wasn’t a harmless troll, but a person i genuinely disliked who i believed should be deplatformed.

i think virtual1979 is a bad person. 

i think a lot of people mainly know about sexy times the phenomenon more than they do sexy times the fic itself. i have the dubious honor of being one of the few people who has actually read large portions of the million word fic, and that’s why i wanted to write this meanspirited hit piece. 

the fic is down right now and the author’s notes and comments have both been deleted, which is why i cannot provide screenshots. however, these are all quotes i have saved from when the fic was online, and i’m happy to talk with anyone if you feel any of these quotes are mischaracterizations of the fic. 

i also want to be clear this is not a “callout post” and i’m not trying to “cancel” them or whatever. i am just explaining why i don’t like them, why i don’t feel bad they’re being harassed, and why i do not find them sympathetic at all, and perhaps why you should also adopt these stances. 

let’s start with transphobia. 

sexy times with wangxian is transphobic. this much is apparent from the tags. virtual1979 tagged the following: F*tanari, d*ckgirl, Sh*male. they use this language in the chapters that include a character with both a vagina and a penis. 

they refer to this character (wei wuxian) with the pronouns “he-she.” the following excerpt is a fair representation of how this wei wuxian is referred to in the chapters where wei wuxian has a vagina and a penis. 

[Lan Zhan] would never be turned on by a female, and he would actually be turned off by a drag queen - but this… this Wei Ying, it’s Wei Ying, and he-she looks [...]

i know these words are common in porn categories, but they are also slurs. virtual1979 also uses hermaphrodite to refer to this set of anatomy, which is not strictly a slur, but definitely a stigmatizing choice of language. 

they have repeatedly made clear they are not open to criticism. they have also since removed the comment section. making an intersex character for the express purpose of using transmisogynistic language towards them in your million word porn fic isn’t annoying the way their tags are, it’s actively fucked up. 

fanfiction has a transphobia problem, and if we’re talking about sexy times with wangxian in any capacity, we must be clear: sexy times with wangxian is part of that problem too. 

secondly, virtual1979 is also complicit in ao3’s racism problem.

i think the way they write about chinese characters and settings is annoying and racist, but they are a malaysian chinese person, so i do have some sympathy for them. i am committed to having some patience for people who are annoying if they themselves are working through the prejudice they have faced. 

they’ve commented as much: 

Not gonna lie, this fic has been a steep learning curve for me despite my roots being Chinese as well, but I have absolutely zero knowledge in some of these aspects!

and i’m happy on some level they can get in touch with their roots. who among us has not been cringe and diaspora. any criticisms i have of their portrayal of chinese people will stay private and be made to other people of color.

i’m going to be clear here i don’t think the actual comment they made makes them super evil or anything. but this essay IS clearly in response to That Article, which did mention racism in fandom. so.

i think we have all seen the infamous karen comment they made, in which they compared people who criticized their tagging with “Karens,” equating antiblack state violence to... mean comments on ao3? and “SJWs,” which, eye roll. no ageism but you’re 41 why the hell are you complaining about sjws

anyway. i am deeply frustrated by the co-option of the word karen. a stand-in for a particular type of racist violence white women specifically can and do inflict has become fused with that reddit-type mommy issue “can i speak to the manager” internecine white resentment. 

so their trivialization of antiblack racism is another reason i don’t like them. again i KNOW it’s petty to point this out here, but this to me shows that virtual is afflicted with the same kind of fandom brainrot that aja is, where everything comes back to that same sort of self-centered bullshit. 

sorry for that jab. julian told me that aja thought that cql was about callout culture and all i could think was “wow! just like virtual thinking that--” because i also have spent too much time on twitter this week. 

this is just like. part of this ongoing pattern i’ve noticed with virtual, where they’re aware enough of real problems to acknowledge they exist (police violence, accessibility issues caused by their tagging) but are determined to double down on their minor relative persecution as king, shittily drawing parallels between like... real problems and fandom problems. equating the two or allowing the second to take priority over the former is like... par for the course for this type of person! 

third, this is just another clarification on more parallels between ao3 discourse and sexy times that went completely unremarked on by That Article. 

i would rather DIE than get into discourse. but why did they write this sentence: 

Lan Zhan’s rational mind finally broke with a tsunami of pedophilic lusts [...]

by the way that is the start of a 430 word sentence. and yes this fic does contain hundreds of thousands of words of aged down wei wuxian. make of that what you will. 

also why would you make wei wuxian teach baby chickens how to sexually pleasure him. do you hate these characters. what’s going on. i think mxtx should be able to sue virtual for that one. 

there’s a very obvious connection between mainstream ao3 discourse and sexy times that went completely unremarked on in That Article. sexy times contains multitudes and some of those multitudes are bestiality and explicit childfucking. 

this is not unrelated to fannish culture, they are not unfamiliar with fannish norms, blah blah blah. this is just normal fandom. they’re not subverting shit, they’re just a normal fan who unlike 99% of fanfiction writers on twitter, spends more time writing than posting. this has taken their fannish tendencies to cartoonish heights. 

finally, they don’t care about mdzs or wangxian. they’re literally just horny and spiteful that’s it. this isn’t a question of like... “ohh they were a good faith participant in fandom until they went joker mode” and the REAL villain is society/ao3. like no they wanted to write shitty porn, and when they found out they were annoying people, they decided to double down because they could be the main character of the mdzs ao3 tag every time they found a spare hour to write. 

here are some select receipts on that topic:

they do not care about canon: 

MDZS has quite a complicated and expansive plot and history, and enough content that one can choose to tune out certain parts and still get to the end of the story in one piece. Also, because of its source, some fans may not fully realize the nuances, cultural aspects (ooh, cultural appropriation is another triggering topic) or the full breadth and depth of the source material, such as a person like me, who is half-baked in terms of knowing what the canon universe is all about. So I end up playing with characters and settings technically borrowed from the story, and make them do things that would otherwise run counter to the original source material - and that draws quite some flak from those opinionated people I mentioned just now. It's part of what makes the fandom toxic. It's like they're the self-appointed guardians of the source material and they act like they own the rights to question such questionble fanworks, and dare I say, try to take down those that cross certain lines too.

they are just horny: 

After that giddines of extra drunken Lan Wang Ji scenes at the beginning, I'm blessed with Lan Wang Ji (Wang Yibo's, actually) fuzzy nips! Bless Bless Bless, and Amen! muahs the nips on the screen

anyway they did get nuked over wishing covid on people. 

so yeah. i want to be really clear. this is my thesis: i do not feel bad for them. you should not either. i do not like them. you should not either. that’s ALL!!!! 

#x

[jadedbirch]

I was tagged by @hithelleth whose real name I know, mwhahaha, mwahahaha, hahahah >:) (I love you, babe)

What is your name?

I immediately thought of Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail...  They call me.... TIM!  Anyways, my name is El, and you may call me El.

What are your fandoms?

I know I’m a big multishipping slutbag, but I’m a one-fandom-at-a-time kind of gal.  So currently my fandom is MDZS/CQL, however, a part of my heart will be Black Sails 4Ever, at least until I write more fics for something than I did for that fandom.  (It was a lot of fics!)  And I’m always a sleeper agent for Dumas’ Three Musketeers, in case anyone was wondering.

Where do you post your fanfiction?

AO3.

Going by kudos, what is your most popular one-shot?

Apparently it’s Fear of Falling (Apart) which was a DeanCas Big Bang I co-authored with @3988akasha (hey girl!).  This is pretty hilarious b/c this fic was actually hidden in a private collection for several years because I have opinions about the SPN fandom, but recently we put it back.  

But my solo highest kudo’d endeavor is Breathless - a short fic I wrote for The Song of Achilles.

Going by kudos, what is your most popular multi-chapter?

Okay I don’t wanna talk about SPN anymore but b/c it was a big fandom my top 2 multichapter fics are both from that fandom.  So I’m giving you my 3rd most popular multi-chapter, one which I am personally extremely proud of still:  

Lightbringer - all the therapy writing I had to do when Black Sails aired its finale!

What is your personal favourite story, out of your current content?

I’m not sure that I have one?  Apparently I’ve written 30 stand-alone fics, not counting the kissing prompts for CQL/MDZS since April 2020, so LOL.  I’m just gonna plug my Big Bang because hey, who doesn’t like a Pirate AU?  Okay, so I’m biased.

Treasure

Although I’m also a little bit weak for my X-Files AU The Truth Is Out There.  Wangxian are so dumb and fit into this world so well!

What work were you most nervous to post?

You would’ve thought it would’ve been the incestuous tentacle porn fic, but NO, I had no problems posting that because it’s soooooo removed from real life.

It was actually Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad because as an ace spec queer myself, it felt really uncomfortable and exposing posting a fic about an explicitly ace spec character, but I did it, so there you have it!

Is there a method to how you title your work?

Nope.  Most of the time I don’t have a title until I’m done with the fic.  On rare occasions, I may title it to set the mood before I even write it.  There’s no method to my madness.

Do you outline your works or just wing it?

Half and half.  For longer fics, I might outline it, or at least outline some of it just to remind me what all needs to happen before I reach endgame.  For shorter stuff, I usually just sit down and drink a lot until it’s done.

Are you excited about any of your up-coming works?

I am currently writing a Noir AU inspired by my beautiful Son’s best Black Widow looks!  And yes, I’m excited about it :).  I even posted a tiny excerpt today for WIPWed.  And @tartapplesauce actually gave me my title, which is “Pearls For a Funeral”

What are your AO3 statistics?

This feels very invasive?  LOL.  Also, in case you were wondering what an Ancient Being I am, check out when I joined AO3 hahahah.

Total history (2010-2021):

User Subscriptions: 186

Kudos:  28161

Comment Threads:  4470 (LOL big shout to the Audience of Immortality AU!!!) @tartapplesauce @favouritealias @mariemichonao3 @thelaithlyworm @porthos4ever <3

Bookmarks:  4641

Subscriptions: 714

Word Count: 2,168,833

Hits: 344,044

And for 2020:

User Subscriptions:186

Kudos: 5506

Comment Threads: 726

Bookmarks: 1497

Subscriptions: 340

Word Count: 246,875

Hits: 51503

This was very illuminating, thank you for taking me on this wild journey! ;)  I always whine about how no one is reading my CQL fics, but it’s really all relative to how huge the fandom is.  Clearly SOMEONE is reading my fics (thank you, if you happen to be those readers!)

So now I tag some writer friends:  @donnaimmaculata @3988akasha @vowel-in-thug @eirenical @porthos4ever @old-long-john @bisexualpirateheart I don’t know, I’m sure everyone already did this back in December hahaha.  

#memes #writing #about me

[yueqqi]

Beta Reader Request

I have no idea what I’m doing bc I’ve never asked around for beta readers before considering I usually edit on my own when it comes to fanfic, but I also don’t have other MDZS/general xianxia/danmei writers and readers in my DMs to bother for knowledgeable critiques and writing direction suggestions. Why I’m only finally getting around to this? It’s not for fanfic, but for an original series I’m working on. Details are below.

Series: Water Runs Clear | 水流清

Novel in Question: Romance of Winter and Spring | 冬春演義 (working title)

Genre: xianxia/danmei/sci fi/archeological adventure/mystery

Tags: war, referenced genocide, major character death, angst (but with rewarding fluff), murder

Status: Unfinished, projected word count to be over 100k with what I have of the plot so far

Published?: Hell no, not yet. I’m still researching the best platforms to host the webnovel on.

What I’m looking for: someone with a better Chinese background than my overseas ass who knows an equivalent amount of written Chinese as a literal child would (I do speak though), who can point out confusing parts and give suggestions for character development/plot transitions/potential good character interactions/idioms I can incorporate. Also someone who is okay with me being on the slow side to finish chapters and being in for the long haul. If you are also able to translate into Chinese or know someone who’s interested in translating English-Chinese, that would be a plus, but that’s asking a lot so I can always figure that out later.

Working summary: “The Mortal Realm has seen its crests and troughs of jianghu upheavals, imperialism, the rise and fall of dynasties, and frequent tensions between races ever since the apocalyptic Great Convergence—but, ever so unfortunate, for a plain-looking guy with plain-looking robes and a plain-looking wallet, one Yang Xinxuan spends his days cultivating, frequent flying across the Great Hong Empire, and handling the mundane supernatural inconveniences before humans, mo, and yao could kill each other over rage. However, as busy as he is, his old research into the casted-away god, Chunzhan-jun, continues to haunt him...”

Excerpt:

“Peace in the Mortal Realm was seldom to be found—except, technically, in the case of the rise of the Mei Dynasty. It was so only because, like other nations but one of the first to do it, its rise ended the Hundred Years Of Seven Sects, Seven Kingdoms period, where the laws of wulin ruled over all and constant warring led to instability for the citizens residing where the Great Mei dynasty stood for almost seven hundred years—and worse horrors, when one of the Seven Great Sects, Taiyue Chen, was slaughtered across all bloodlines and its land conquered by the bloodthirsty Eclipse Pavillion sect to the northeast.

When the Mei family came into prominence from the ashes of the Taiyue Chen sect with the unwavering loyalty from the surviving remnants of the Chen family that led it in the past, the sects that refused to ally with them could do nothing else but to bend their knees to the first Mei Emperor and his right hand man in the end.

Political upheavals would continue for centuries, though it would never unseat the Mei dynasty, until finally, the Great Mei crumbled with the rise of the Great Hong dynasty within the last century. Unsurprisingly.

As for the cause behind the dark ages preceding the shaky period of peace? No one else could be to blame except for the gods!”

Just reply or DM me if you’re interested in reading some original xianxia and helping out!

#I have other in progress novels but RWS is what I’m focusing on atm but if you want the deets on the prequels I can ramble lol #writers on tumblr #beta reader #oc #xianxia #danmei #mdzs #svsss #tgcf #mxtx #2ha #don’t @ me about tagging fandoms bc I’m exclusively looking for fans who also like og stuff #lgbt writers #as a forewarning if you decide to come along for the ride you’re also getting all my messy notes and worldbuilding

[megafaunatic]

also no pressure 2 respond to this but i was wondering if u have any advice for being new to publishing fic? i’ve been rly inspired by how vibrant & fun mdzs fandom is but i am a little (lot) terrified of just sending my work out into the void lol (i literally only remade my fandom tumblr/twitter for mdzs….It Got Me). ok sorry i’m rambling now but yeah if u have any advice abt publishing stuff or getting more involved in writer fandom community generally i would be v grateful, thank u so much !

OOHHH!!! well first of all welcome back 🤩💛 RIGHT ON it's so great that you feel inspired!!!! i feel the same way 🥰✨ reading and writing f*nf*ction has done way more for my prose writing than my english degree did so 🤪

TIPS... tips... let's see! i have em

first off, let me preface this by saying: a LOT of fandom popularity is circumstantial. my personal Fandom Trajectory has a lot to do with timing and the people i knew, and/or who knew me! plus, i happened to be one of the first wave of english language writers for BOTH jjba AND mdzs, so i already had fics posted when respective fandoms ballooned. this isn't something you can rly engineer, it's just smth to keep in mind as like. a structural aspect? i think it's probably harder to break big in mdzs fic as a new writer now than it was in 2018 - which def isn't to say it can't be done, just that it says nothing abt the quality of your fic if it DOESN'T explode.

ANYWAY on to practical Tips

first of all: yay mdzs twt!! idk if you've seen this yet, but there's a pretty common thing on mxtx Content Creator Twitter where every wednesday, people post short excerpts of their WIP fic!! just enough to be mysterious and drum up interest 🤨 that's a rly good way to start interacting w writers!! there's a hashtag #mdzsww but i just say "wip wednesday" somewhere in my tweet. i'm way more active on mdzs twitter than i am here tbh so i'm not certain whether wip wednesday had migrated over to tumblr, but tbh worth doing even if it hasn't!

in general just making yourself a friendly & interesting person to interact with is a good way to make friends!! esp when u've just made a new acct, it's kind of like. if you don't say hi first, who will, u know? but also a weirdly efficient way to get ppl to follow you is to just throw funny character thoughts out into the universe. to this day ive gotten more followers from this tweet than from any non-new-fic-tweet ive ever made

when you post your fic, tag accurately and write the summary with confidence!! my tagging strategy is generally to go from "genre" (fluff? angst?) to "premise" (canon divergence? 5+1?) to "themes" (intimacy?) to "specifics" (sharing a bed? family tension?). my summary strategy is to pick 1-3 lines from the fic - often dialogue, but not always - that capture the general tone, and then a SINGLE line describing the general premise ("they go on a road trip"). that's all! no apologizing!!!!

once your fic is posted on ao3, talk about it!! i make promo tweets with 2 screenshots of the ao3 page: 1 that shows the title and description, and 1 that shows the tags and warnings. then a link, and the text of my tweet has the words "new [ship] fic" in it somewhere - for a while i used hashtags, but then i realized... when i'm trying to find something on twitter, i never check hashtags! i just use the search function, which picks up on any text in the tweet.

i don't make promo posts on tumblr anymore bc i have way fewer followers here and i cant be assed LOL but when i did, i basically just replicated all the warnings/tags/description in the text of the post, so people would know what they were clicking on! and then just tag all the necessary fandom/ship tags

OK I THINK THAT IS... ALL FOR NOW... i hope this is helpful!!! imo like 2/3 of fic popularity is "writing what people want to read" (whether your strength is scenario, characterization, beautiful prose, weird horny, etc), and the other Full Third is just. circumstances. luck. word of mouth. sometimes you post something and it gets attention right away! sometimes you post it and then an ao3 collection gets posted ALL AT ONCE and 25 new fics immediately bump yours off the front page. IT'S A WEIRD WORLD OUT THERE!!

#HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL!! #if there's more specific things u have questions about i am always happy 2 answer #i love . TALKING

[xuer]

when I wake up, let's pretend it was just a dream

the title of this fic is actually a translated lyric from a very famous drama (danmei adaptation) ost. I'm sure many people are familiar with it, but it has nothing to do with the plot, and I don’t like comparing danmei to each other, so I won't mention it by name. I just felt that my personal interpretation of the song's melancholic and nostalgic air that yearns for the past/something no longer attainable fits this fic very well, and I was listening to the song on repeat while writing.

the song is unrestrained from the cql ost.

I didn’t want to mention it by name in my end notes because I was a bit afraid someone would see and start drawing comparisons to mdzs. and I hate comparing danmei to each other, but I’ve always wanted to write out my thought process and I figured it would be safe here. cql spoilers ahead

a big part of mdzs (or at least a part of it that resonated really deeply with me) is how utterly and completely different wwx’s life is in the present compared to the past. for one, a lot more people were alive. when I was watching cql and cross-referenced, say, episode 3 (where wwx’s biggest worry was sneaking alcohol into the cloud recesses and disliking jzx) with episode 32 (jyl’s death), episode 33 (wwx’s death/suicide), and episode 38 (xxc’s demise), it’s blatant how much has changed for the worse. I only mentioned a few excerpts from the show, but you get my point. maybe it was something only I felt as a viewer, but there were so many times during my watch that I sighed and went “I wish things could go back to how they used to be.” there’s that sense of yearning for the past. in lovely allergen canon, things get worse before they get better, and during those series of chapters where yzs’s and sy’s relationship degraded for a while, I got that same feeling, at least on the behalf of yzs. although wiwu is written in third person, the first half of the fic is from yzs’s perspective in the same way lovely allergen is. the first half of lovely allergen takes place during yzs’s high school years, which was the happiest time period for him pre-chapter 56.

unrestrained, the song, has a similar nostalgic feel to it, and it’s about a similar theme, so I drew some vague hand-wavey parallels from cql and lovely allergen to come up with the fic title.

I also read the mdzs novel a while ago and have been slowly making my way through the cql drama for the better part of 4 months (when I wrote wiwu I wasn’t done watching it but I am now), so it’s been slow going, but the entire time I was watching the ultra-long flashback section I kept getting the feeling that I was watching a train wreck happening in slow motion. I knew horrible things were going to happen, and I couldn’t look away. I also wanted to emulate that same feeling with my fic.

I’m writing this tumblr post on my phone in bed at 3 in the morning, so I’m not quite sure if any of this made sense.

you can listen to unrestrained here.

#wiwu #lovely allergen