Fan Fiction Thread for Lost You Forever

 ZYHLJ:

Haha, yes, those are the examples I was thinking of! But strictly speaking, these historical figures are later than the Yellow Emperor and the Black Emperor, so the ones Xiao Yao thought about can only be some earlier kings that we don’t know about:-) 

Glad we were on the same wavelength! 

Very true. If the world was divided into three main powers - Xuan Yuan, Shen Nong and Gao Xin, with Xuan Yuan a young kingdom that started with the Yellow Emperor, then the only possibilities of anything as such occurring would be in Shen Nong and Gao Xin. Were there kingdoms earlier than these two powers? 

 ZYHLJ:

Yes, I'm suspecting that too. I seem to have failed to write down Xiang Liu's true form in a decent way. I am also reflecting on this issue today...

I am very sorry - I don't mean to criticise your work. Was just sharing my opinion - please don't take this to heart. 

 ZYHLJ:

Actually I have a new idea now, that is, because my mother tongue is Mandarin, I can actually do a more important thing for LYF, which is to translate a good Chinese fan fiction into English. Now I need your very honest opinion: do you think I can translate a good novel with my English skills? It’s not about translating the general meaning, but words that make people want to read it. Please be very honest as I need to make good use of my time :-) 

I have no doubt that you can do an excellent translation, which is something I personally admire because it is not an easy feat to do a good translation - it often ends up clunky, overly wordy or fail to present the nuances behind the words. That was one of the reasons I love your New Year vignette, and why I asked previously whether I could read the original Chinese text, since it was so beautifully written. 

 ZYHLJ:

What do you think of "不负相思意"? Everyone seems to be recommending this one, but I haven’t read it yet. Kokuto also posted an introduction to this fan fiction in her post. I took a quick look just now and it looks good. I'll take a closer look tomorrow. What makes me crazy is that the author didn't specify the word count, and posted such a long fiction on one page. My drop-down bar is going to be broken... Does anyone know how many words this fanfic approximately has? 

不负相思意, 相思结 and 相思日月长 were my recommendations.

The very first YaoLiu fanfic I read was 不负相思意, and it helped soothe the pain from the novel - the main story is roughly 98K words, while the 番外 is 15K words. 

You can consider 相思结 as well - it is beautifully written with roughly 43K words, tracing Xiao Yao's journey to find Xiang Liu.

相思日月长 is slightly shorter than 不负相思意 at 94K words, with Xiao Yao resurrecting Xiang Liu.

My personal favourites of the 3 are the first two I mentioned.

Whichever ones you ultimately choose to translate would be awesome.

 ZYHLJ:

Same here. I have actors I like but have never gone to meet them in person. If possible in the future, we may get together at Tan's concert!>_<

That would be a wonderful get-together if we ever meet there! Fingers crossed!

 ZYHLJ:

I can actually do a more important thing for LYF, which is to translate a good Chinese fan fiction into English. Now I need your very honest opinion: do you think I can translate a good novel with my English skills? It’s not about translating the general meaning, but words that make people want to read it. Please be very honest as I need to make good use of my time :-)

Oooh! If you are looking to translate fan fiction, I have one in mind that I would really like a good translation of. I've been meaning to recommend it in this thread. It's a bit long though - 51 chapters with a few extra vignettes following the main story. 

I think you'll do a commendable job and it will be a good way to improve your language skills and vocabulary. Thanks to joining various Vietnamese groups discussing XL, my Vietnamese spelling and vocab and expression have really improved.

@AH

That's okay, I don't think there's anything unusual about not wanting to reveal personal information online, everyone has their own considerations :-) 

I did not post the Chinese version of the fanfics I wrote. Chinese readers have so many online novels and fanfics that they can read for free that they are nowadays really indifferent to the authors. For most people, even if they read the full fiction or even save the fiction, they will not leave a single sentence, or they will only leave one sentence or a few words. There are very few people who can seriously write long comments. Therefore, non-profit writing on Chinese websites (at least for me) is really tedious and boring, and there will definitely not be serious comments on every chapter like in here. In fact, if liddi hadn't encouraged me before, I wouldn't have started writing this fanfic. 

I think my dad is probably a person who doesn’t care very much about where he lives. He went to Beijing because there were a good job opportunity there. But he loves Shanghai very much, and I also love Shanghai very much :-). Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province, and Hubei is the heart of the ancient Chu State. Because of the story of Xiang Yu and Yu Ji, I have always had an inexplicable fondness for Hubei. Later, after I came to Wuhan, I found that this city really suited me. Also, I can’t stand the winter in Beijing, it’s dry, cold, without any green, really depressing for me.

 ZYHLJ:

I did not post the Chinese version of the fanfics I wrote. Chinese readers have so many online novels and fanfics that they can read for free that they are nowadays really indifferent to the authors. For most people, even if they read the full fiction or even save the fiction, they will not leave a single sentence, or they will only leave one sentence or a few words. There are very few people who can seriously write long comments.

That's interesting. I'm used to seeing mostly very short comments on fics and the LYF fics on AO3 with the highest number of comments are in Mandarin, so it never occurred to me that there might be less engagement from a Mandarin reading audience. 

 ZYHLJ:

Therefore, non-profit writing on Chinese websites (at least for me) is really tedious and boring, and there will definitely not be serious comments on every chapter like in here. In fact, if liddi hadn't encouraged me before, I wouldn't have started writing this fanfic. 

liddi's awesome and unique. Truly an ideal reader for every fic writer. 

 ZYHLJ:

I think my dad is probably a person who doesn’t care very much about where he lives. He went to Beijing because there were a good job opportunity there. But he loves Shanghai very much, and I also love Shanghai very much :-)

That makes sense. ^^

 ZYHLJ:

Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province, and Hubei is the heart of the ancient Chu State. Because of the story of Xiang Yu and Yu Ji, I have always had an inexplicable fondness for Hubei.

Oh? I'm not familiar with their story. 

 ZYHLJ:

Later, after I came to Wuhan, I found that this city really suited me.

Nice!

 ZYHLJ:

Also, I can’t stand the winter in Beijing, it’s dry, cold, without any green, really depressing for me.

Totally get that. 

 ZYHLJ:

The Yellow Emperor is considered to be the first king to be regarded as the common master of the world, that is, the first "emperor". But there were many kings before him, and these kings probably later swore allegiance to him, so the Yellow Emperor is regarded as the founder of China. Of course, those kings might just be the leaders of some tribes with a certain degree of civilization at that time, but the word "country（国）" is clearly used in 《山海经》, so at least in the eyes of people at that time, they were kings. 

That makes sense. And who is to say 国王 has to necessarily be an actual kingdom, instead of a tribe. 

 ZYHLJ:

I wrote the New Year’s fanfic directly on the Google Translate page, so there is no Chinese version now. But I will start to translate it back for you next week, just wait a moment =3=. Super happy you like it!

Oh, thank you very much but I don't mean to cause you even more work. Please feel free to ignore if it is too inconvenient. I originally asked because I thought you kept the a copy of the Chinese version. Now I feel sorry that I even asked!

 ZYHLJ:

Today I took a closer look at "不负相思意" and also searched for LYF fanfics on Jinjiang. Which one do you think is better, this one or 不负相思意:

https://2fopen.jjwxc.net/book2/8259656

The setting of this fanfic is: a modern reader who likes Xiang Liu accidentally traveled to the world of Dahuang and became A Nian in Qingshui Town, she changed Xiang Liu's fate and finally took Xiang Liu as her own, with a happy ending. I took a quick glance at it and found it to be well written. I plan to read it even if I don’t translate it. The heroine's scene is funny, and Xiang Liu's image is consistent with the original work. Although there are sixty-five chapters, the progress of the story is not slow at all, and it is very popular in Jinjiang. How do you feel about it? 

I am fine with whatever you choose. See if everyone else has any preference! This is a novel premise, since the heroine time travelled, and the pairing is unconventional - between A Nian and Xiang Liu. I would love to see  how the author got around the retaliation of the lovers bug, but I also see that when she first time travelled into A Nian's body, it was even before A Nian was kidnapped, so the lovers bug had not been planted in either Cang Xuan or Xiang Liu yet. 

 ZYHLJ:

Chinese readers have so many online novels and fanfics that they can read for free that they are nowadays really indifferent to the authors. For most people, even if they read the full fiction or even save the fiction, they will not leave a single sentence, or they will only leave one sentence or a few words.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Perhaps it is, as you say, the glut of works that is available, but I am sure the authors would have loved to hear from their readers, especially if their works are loved and appreciated. Plus it is a great chance for fans to interact with the authors and hear their points of view. I wonder what the reception was like for Tong Hua when she first wrote BBJX? I know that it was an online serialised publication, so surely there must have been positive feedback, for the novel to finally be published in its entirety in its physical form.

 ZYHLJ:

In fact, if liddi hadn't encouraged me before, I wouldn't have started writing this fanfic. 

 AH :

liddi's awesome and unique. Truly an ideal reader for every fic writer. 

Both of you are too kind. Thank you to both of you and @plor20 for writing such marvellous fics for us to enjoy! You are the ones doing the hard work. We just get to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

 ZYHLJ:

Don’t you know 项羽 and 虞姬? They are real historical figures, a pair of lovers. The woman died for her love and the man died for their country. They are very famous in China. Have you watched "Farewell My Concubine"? The protagonists act out their stories in the Peking Opera. 

霸王别姬 is an extremely famous scene depicting the leave-taking of Xiang Yu, king of Chu kingdom, from his wife Consort Yu as he prepared to go to war with Liu Bang's Han forces. She then killed herself so that he would not be distracted in battle by his love for her. Besieged by the Han forces, he was trapped in an ambush and finally committed suicide - there is a very famous, difficult 琵琶 pipa piece 十面埋伏 Ambush from All Sides which depicts this scene.

 ZYHLJ:

@AH



I searched for LYF fanfics in Mandarin on ao3. There was a fanfic with 78 kudos and no comments, a fanfic with eight chapters and 52 kudos had two comments. There were also very few comments for other fanfics...Have you not read comments on this site for a long time? Chinese readers ten years ago were indeed not like this...

I guess I was misled by the fact that the two LYF fics with the most comments were in Mandarin. But they are both also the longest fics in the category (over 125,000 words each), so they might not be representative of the majority. 

 ZYHLJ:

Don’t you know 项羽 and 虞姬? They are real historical figures, a pair of lovers. The woman died for her love and the man died for their country. They are very famous in China. Have you watched "Farewell My Concubine"? The protagonists act out their stories in the Peking Opera. 

No I'm afraid I'm not familiar with their story and I've never gotten up the courage to watch Farewell My Concubine. 

I went to a Peking Opera production in Beijing and an opera performance in Guilin when I was a kid, but I have zero memory of what they were about. I probably didn't really know what was going on in those stories even when I was watching them. ^^"

@liddi

No, I must give you the Chinese version of that fiction. Now this has become MY wish :-)

In fact, because the heroine became Ah Nian after time travel, the Ah Nian in the fiction is no longer Ah Nian :-). And, from what I’ve read, the author seems to have solved the lover bug problem cleverly. In fact, I calculated it, if I translate two thousand Chinese characters every week, it will take me two full years to complete this fiction. So if I'm translating a long story, I better pick it carefully and make sure people want to read it. In fact, it is not easy to create or translate long stories because the process is too long and people's interest will fade. If you are not completely sure, short stories or novellas are the best choices. Especially in the absence of feedback from readers, I really have immense respect for the Chinese authors who still insist on writing long novels of hundreds of thousands of words now. I am very sure that Tong Hua, Nanpai Sanshu, Guo Jingming, and 匪我思存 did not encounter such a problem when they wrote on-line. In their era, the readers' feedback together would probably be longer than the fiction itself. T_T

 ZYHLJ:

Regarding traditional Chinese dramas, their pace may indeed be too slow for modern audiences, making it difficult for you to pay attention to the plot. But not all plays are like this.

I imagine the operas I went to in China were probably comprehensible to the adults in the audience who spoke the language, especially if they also had some familiarity with the story, even if they were slow. But as a kid who didn't speak the language and didn't know what the story was supposed to be about, there was no hope from the start. 

I saw Turandot in Italian when I was a student and was completely lost there too, despite having a rough idea of what the plot was supposed to cover. 

When it comes to stories in other languages, I'd much rather watch a drama with subtitles so I can actually follow what's happening. ^^