Writers' Salon!

[isana]

All right, guys, let's get this started.

This is a post for members to post their burning questions to each other. They can be simple, like "when is Character X's birthday," or not so simple "how would you define the relationship between Character X and Character Y?" If there's a story you want that author to talk about, throw in the title (and some points you'd like covered!) and if said author's willing, they can write their answer in a separate post, since I have no idea what the comment word limits are.

Here's how it'll work: an author who's up for answering questions/writing commentaries about stories will leave their name in a comment. Readers who want to ask questions or request stories reply to that comment, and hopefully we'll have some good conversations going!

If you guys request stories, it may be best if you limit them to rainbowfic for the time being, unless the story you've got archived outside the comm is in a public entry.

EDIT: If it's not already obvious, you can ask authors more than one question in however many comments you like. The point is to have a discussion, and it wouldn't be very lively if it stopped at one question per author! Just give the author a chance to finish answering your previous questions, of course.

Comments

[isana]

Anything you want to talk about? Leave 'em right here!

[bookblather]

Of the Nine Sages, and discounting the obvious one, who's your favorite to write? In general?

[isana]

I haven't written about her much on RF, but I love writing Lady Gu because she just does not give a shit.

Minxia is a close second, though--also does not give a shit, but is much more good natured about it.

[bookblather]

Lady Gu has absolutely no fucks to give, this is true. I do adore her for it. She is the pattern card for a cranky old lady and you will LIKE IT.

[isana]

Bonus: so far out of the Sages Yuyan encounters, Lady Gu's lessons/philosophies are the ones that stick the most.

[bookblather]

Makes sense to me! Lady Gu is just that awesome.

[isana]

She is responsible for Yuyan honing her Determinator outlook; one of these days I need to write Yuyan teaching Ansheng in a similar fashion.

'cause it does work. Kinda.

[bookblather]

ooh, yes. Totally picturing Ansheng expecting an easy ride and then BAM.

[shipwreck_light]

I'm not up on my Chinese mythology, so is there a particular story that you drew from from /The Tenth Sage/? [Though perhaps it's a novel or perhaps it isn't Chinese.]

[isana]

Oooh, you hit the answer jackpot on this one. XD

There is an RPG called "Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan" (仙劍奇俠傳)(Legend of Sword and Fairy) that's a hit in China and Taiwan; it's wuxia (kung fu) blended with a healthy dose of fantasy. It is, in fact, such a big hit that not one, but two of the games got their own live-action drama series, and it is the first one that was responsible for Tenth Sage/Iron Plum Blossom. The drama was my gateway drug of sorts into wuxia in general, which is a terrific genre (kung-fu! special effects! costume porn! girls who kick ass!).

I think, though, that the story I've been writing was more of a response to Xian Jian in that while the female protagonists were in the majority, it was the guy that was the hero. So I thought, "hey, what if it was a girl being Joe Hero instead, and she had friendships with girls? what would that be like?"

And wouldn't you know, I had some original characters lying around from RPs or fanfiction or whatnot, and after some tinkering, that's where they wound up.

[shipwreck_light]

WINNAR IS ME. HOT DAMN.

Oh my goshhhhhhh. I am so glad I asked this! We're both going genre-poking happyfuntiems. And we have been all along!

Also, you totally make me want to go watch some wuxia because I am into all of those things. Of course, all of those things + girl is the hero damnwell /is/ magnitudes better. I know. I read it with relish.

[isana]

I think, unfortunately, that wuxia doesn't have a lot of "girl as main character" storylines. However, the heroines/love interests usually come in extremely skilled in martial arts, and still command as much respect as the guys.

If you're into recs, look into Jin Yong's Condor Trilogy: they've got some terrific plotlines and characters. There's clips up on YouTube, I think, and a fantastic set of heroines. Seeing Ariel Lin as Huang Rong in Legend of the Condor Heroes made me want her as Yuyan's PB, even if she's nothing like Huang Rong to begin with. (You should be able to find some English subs well enough!)

[shipwreck_light]

I'm so going to tempt myself with that as incentive to get some serious stuff done O_O.

Yes.

Thank you.

[isana]

Xian Jian (Chinese Paladin) is a good glimpse into gateway drug fantasy wuxia, if you can ignore the dragged out love triangle and crap CG.

For versions of the Condor Trilogy, there's a gajillion. I watched the most recent versions of Legend of Condor Heroes (2008, with Ariel Lin), Return of Condor Heroes (2006), and Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (2009).

What makes them more fun to watch? The three main leads of Xian Jian are in them: Hu Ge (Joe Hero) is also Joe Hero in LoCH, Liu Yifei (MacGuffin Girl/Staff Chick) is the love interest/teacher in RoCH, and An Yixuan (Action Girl/Tsundere) is the princess/love interest in HSDS.

And please, do watch them, because I'd love to hear what you think!

[kay_brooke]

I want to know stuff about the Serpent Folk! Doesn't matter what, whatever you want to say about them that only you know.

[isana]

...good lord, you're asking for an infodump here. Don't say I didn't warn you!

The Serpent Folk are born as humans: they don't get their tails until late puberty (around 15 for girls and 16-17 for guys), although just before their other powers manifest, such as control over plants, earth and metal. They consider their snake forms vastly superior to their human forms, since their strength/speed/senses are just about doubled.

Culturally, though, they're peaceful; they spent a long time coexisting well enough with humans before the Nassanians decided they wanted more territory. That, combined with some Serpent Folk who thought themselves superior to humans (and acted accordingly with attacks on villages), built up prejudices among humans. They're just seen as bad news, although it's the opposite--if you're discovered to be Serpent Folk, you'll be run out of town, and that's if you're lucky. The Nassanian conquests a few decades ago reduced their numbers greatly, which is why they hadn't banded together until now, and obviously, their attitudes toward humans differ greatly. (such as the hostile Serpent Isle to the ones willing to work with the restoration)

They still keep to the old polytheistic religions and cultures. Clothing is only worn for practical/protection purposes; otherwise, even in human form, they don't see the need for it (in the rebel forces, it's basically "as little as they can get away with").

A superstition I need to work in there, somehow, is that a scale from one of the Serpent Folk brings the bearer luck. I'm trying to figure this out, since I'd totally love for Yuyan to have one embedded in the hilt of her sword or Iseult to wear one as a token. This is a Serpent Folk tradition, unlike the human ones that say "eating Serpent Folk body parts will increase your strength," etc.

[kay_brooke]

Forgive my ignorance...are Serpent Folk based on something from myths, or a species you made up?

[isana]

They're based a little on the Nüwa descendants from the Chinese Paladin/Legend of Sword and Fairy RPG. Nüwa, in Chinese mythology, was a creation goddess (she made humans and repaired the sky when it was broken). Sometimes she's depicted as human, at least based on the book of myths I got as a kid, but her more popular form, it looks like, has her as half-woman, half-snake.

In the RPG canon, Nüwa descendants are born human, and always female. Their powers manifest early on, but they don't get their tails until they've become pregnant. Society doesn't shun them (quite the opposite, actually), like the Serpent Folk, although there was one episode where one of them was mistaken for a snake demon. They're kind of MacGuffin Girls in that whoever gets hold of them gets control of a lot of power. They can shift between human and snake form rather easily as well, though from what it looks like in the games, they prefer human form.

In IPB, Serpent Folk can be any gender, and they get tails around puberty (which is why Saith could be raised as a human up until his late teens). They're stronger than humans, but I don't think, necessarily, that they would be considered godlike beings (although in the first incarnation of this story, where Saith was a girl, Setsuko and Yuyan were going to get on their knees immediately).

Another fact I forgot to mention when answering your previous question: the lifespan of the Serpent Folk exceeds that of humans greatly. I think so far they can live up to 500 years, and once they hit their mid/late twenties, their aging slows down a lot.

[malapropism]

So how would the story be different if Mengli was the twin with oracle powers? Would Yuyan be different without her precognition?

tw: references to rape and torture

[isana]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

First of all, it would have been Mengli getting summoned to the palace and the princess accompanying him. I don't think he and Setsuko would have fallen in love, since she's not his type and vice versa, so no worries about breaking marriage vows. I think, though, that the story would be more difficult in that it would have had to be much more subtle in that whole "subverting quest tropes" thing, whereas with Yuyan it's already different by virtue of her being a girl doing what guys would normally do (while still being less of a tomboy.)

He might have dealt with Wen's past more...well, I don't want to say cheerfully. You can't deal with that thing cheerfully. But I think he'd be more of a doer and go, "well, I have to work harder to make Ma happy, so that's what I'll do," and just go about it. It's kind of hard to describe, but I don't think he would be as troubled by it as Yuyan would be, at least not on a personal level. I think the reason Yuyan's really troubled is because she and Wen are both girls/women, and she could probably sense Wen seeing herself in her, whereas not for Mengli.

I imagine when it comes to things he'd also be more of a stereotypical shonen hero--traveling the country, going to Dalriada, etc. I don't see him forming the same relationships with everyone the same way--he and Ansheng might have some sort of Red Oni Blue Oni thing going on as battle brothers, but I think Iseult would have more of a Cool Big Sis role to play. Saith would be more distant, but there'd always be an unspoken understanding between them, so maybe good friends instead of the "adoptive sibling" relationship that Yuyan has.

Yuyan minus her precognition: so far, in the AUs, she's pretty much herself, but that's only because those AUs don't hinge on her powers as much as canon. I think there would have been more Stepford Smiling with her, though; seeing what Wen went through was horrendous and totally a Bad Idea in terms of parenting, but at least with the precog she understands that Wen's pushing her out of love. The whole pushing to be stronger thing is Wen's way of trying to protect Yuyan, in a sense, but without the precog I think she'd have no idea of what happened to Wen (especially since in canon Yuyan never tells Mengli and Yuyin: that's Wen's job, once they're older).

So it would wear on her. She'd still be the responsible twin, the good one, and aim to please her mother, but I think that whole never knowing combined with the pressure might make her grow darker and darker, and without any valves (Ming, Grandma), she'd either have a breakdown or possibly a Heel Face Turn.