Hi! I'm interested in writing a story with crossworld and time travel(ish) themes. I'm Chinese, but I wasn't raised in China. I wasn't in touch with my culture for most of my childhood, and I only got into Asian entertainment (dramas / anime / Kpop / etc ) very recently. Growing up, I didn't see much of myself in books and movies.  A few years ago, I thought I'd take the Reverse Sucked In fanfiction trope (your favourite character gets sucked out of their book / movie and lands in our world) and see if I could write an original story with it. And hey. I might as well write about Chinese characters since I myself am Chinese, because why not? 

The premise of my story: A bookworm accidentally pulls her favourite character from his book—she manages to put him back, but they end up traveling back and forth between their worlds. Drama, romance and hilarity ensue.

My main issue is that the book this character got pulled from is a fictional version of ancient China. This isn't technically a time travel story, I guess, but I just found out that  stories like these are (were?) actually quite popular on the Chinese drama scene. That's where you guys come in. My questions: what do most Chinese cros world / time travel dramas have in common? Which tropes do you guys like / dislike? Are there other stories similar to mine?

TL;DR: I'm an aspiring author trying to write a story set in China. The story has time travel themes; are there any Chinese crossword / time travel drama tropes that I should know about?

 _its_cj:
Chinese time travel drama tropes that I should know about?

Hi, time travel I've watched: King is not easy.

The Eternal Love

I haven't watched: Scarlet Heart.

Sorry, I can't to analyse them, my English is not enough. ;)

+1 The Eternal Love and the currently airing Moonshine and Valentine

Time travel tropes I like are reincarnation. The ML and FL  meet up and eventually fall in love because of that weird supernatural pull they have towards one another. So it doesn't matter what time period they are in, they are destined to be together.

Chinese time dramas that I have seen always have a stoic male and a strong female. Its one of the reasons why recently I have been getting into more Chinese dramas, females aren't portrayed as weak. Also some comedic relief from the best friend, close family member, or maid/ butler.

Good luck with your writing! (should definitely post it on mdl)

Thank you, this was very helpful!

 ShotaSidePart:

+1 The Eternal Love and the currently airing Moonshine and Valentine

Time travel tropes I like are reincarnation. The ML and FL  meet up and eventually fall in love because of that weird supernatural pull they have towards one another. So it doesn't matter what time period they are in, they are destined to be together.

Chinese time dramas that I have seen always have a stoic male and a strong female. Its one of the reasons why recently I have been getting into more Chinese dramas, females aren't portrayed as weak. Also some comedic relief from the best friend, close family member, or maid/ butler.

Good luck with your writing! (should definitely post it on mdl)

I watched the journey, Eternal love and I'm currently watching Scarlet Heart and Moonshine and Valentine.

I think the common point in these dramas is effectively the deep bonds that exists between the main characters through the time and  the tragic aspect that has this love. In each of these dramas, the love for the another has a fatal side and  is going to upset their destiny.

Hope we can read you soon ;)

The ones I've seen fitting your description are :
- Love Through a Millennium (Queen In Hyun's Man chinese remake so there are similarities to your story)
- The Myth
- Cinderella Chef
- Oh! My Emperor

Also, you may have already watched it but the Kdrama W has some common points with your story as well.

I think time-travel dramas are interesting for 2 reasons :
- Each action in the past has a consequence in the present. (This means the plot has to be very very meticulous or a few people won't appreciate you work despite the time you spent on it.)
- The characters reaction is very interesting when they have to adapt to their new environnement.
World-crossing dramas are actually very similar to time-travel ones in this second aspect.

What I dislike is when the travelers try to distance themselves from their loved one because they think they have to go back. 

Also, I hate sad endings ;) I watch drama to relax first and foremost.
I also don't like rushed endings, even happy ones. 

Rooftop Prince is a good one. Hilarious really.  I loved it.

It's a kdrama but worth it. The looks on their faces when they end up in modern times.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

 Fati:

I watched the journey, Eternal love and I'm currently watching Scarlet Heart and Moonshine and Valentine.

I think the common point in these dramas is effectively the deep bonds that exists between the main characters through the time and  the tragic aspect that has this love. In each of these dramas, the love for the another has a fatal side and  is going to upset their destiny.

Hope we can read you soon ;)

Thanks for your input :) Very, very helpful. 

 nastou19:

The ones I've seen fitting your description are :
- Love Through a Millennium (Queen In Hyun's Man chinese remake so there are similarities to your story)
- The Myth
- Cinderella Chef
- Oh! My Emperor

Also, you may have already watched it but the Kdrama W has some common points with your story as well.

I think time-travel dramas are interesting for 2 reasons :
- Each action in the past has a consequence in the present. (This means the plot has to be very very meticulous or a few people won't appreciate you work despite the time you spent on it.)
- The characters reaction is very interesting when they have to adapt to their new environnement.
World-crossing dramas are actually very similar to time-travel ones in this second aspect.

What I dislike is when the travelers try to distance themselves from their loved one because they think they have to go back. 

Also, I hate sad endings ;) I watch drama to relax first and foremost.
I also don't like rushed endings, even happy ones. 

i really love ancient dramas! even though now you can only see the time-travel ones in web drama :") haha.

the points mentioned above are really on point! especially about the love between the lead that transcends through era and time. to add some, i think in every drama the female lead always have this ability from the modern time that they can use when they travel back and it makes them look like they're really genius or have super power because of the lack of knowledge in the ancient era. i also realise that the reason why most of the male lead get interested to them is because their character is not the typical personality that you see on women at that time.

untouchable lover (the novel version) is a story that i recommend you to read, i really love the ending! i also kinda like the premise of the entangled life of qingluo (novel) where the character becomes a 6 years old kid even though she's actually already 22 after she travel to the past! personally i like it when they add a fantasy/wuxia touch during the ancient time to this kind of story haha

please update us on your story! i'll be looking forward to it!