Kit Sun Cheah

Tag: PulpRev

  • Why Pursue the Way of the Fist?

    Everybody knows why cultivators in fiction cultivate: to become more powerful, so they can defeat more powerful cultivators. That’s lame. There’s only so much of such cultivation you can read before you get sick of the repetition. You already know how every conflict will end. The only question is how the characters get there—and the…

  • The Hard Limit of Cultivation Fiction

    Cultivation fantasy, progression fantasy, and similar stories come with a built-in hard limit. The plot is predicated on the main character becoming increasingly stronger. Many stories explicitly call it out as a selling point. Once the MC hits the hard limit imposed by the setting the story must end, or become stagnant. And because the…

  • Invincible Under Heaven Week 2 Update and Sneak Preview!

    We are 2 weeks into the crowdfunding campaign for SAGA OF THE SWORDBREAKER: INVINCIBLE UNDER HEAVEN. At 39% funded, there is still a ways to go before we hit the campaign goals—which also means there is still time for you to pick up campaign-exclusive perks. Among these perks is Jiao Tu’s Endeavour Volumes 1 and…

  • Building the World of Saga of the Swordbreaker

    I can’t stand cultivation, progression, wuxia and xianxia fiction written by Americans. The blurbs describe fantastic adventures in exotic lands. But the setting is America, plus some elements of foreign culture and geography glued on top. The characters are Americans with funny names. The dialogue is American, occasionally peppered by foreign phrases. I don’t see…

  • The Difference Between Gongfu and Cultivation

    Your average wuxia\xianxia\cultivation\progression fantasy author makes a simple distinction between gongfu and cultivation: gongfu is for fighting, cultivation is for gaining power. To become more powerful, characters meditate and consume exotic substances. To express that power, they employ fancy-sounding martial techniques. There is a disconnect between cultivation methods and fighting methods. How a character gains…

  • What You Do, You Become

    Saga of the Swordbreaker is a story of martial cultivation. Naturally, martial arts is the heart of the series. But what is a martial art? From the layman’s perspective, it is simply a collection of techniques, principles and body mechanics. It shows you how to generate power and transmit it into your opponent, ideally without…