Tag: SingLit
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The Way of Wuxia
The romance of the jianghu crosses borders and cultures. It is freedom from cultural strictures, skill with martial arts, an iron code of honor. In China, its greatest appeal comes from its sharp contrast with Confucian norms, with its emphasis on rigid social hierarchies and complex etiquettes. The West sees parallels with the knights-errant of…
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Writing the Gap Between East and West
Xianxia is a Chinese genre. Cultivation is Western. How do you bridge the gap between East and West?
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Kit Sun Cheah on The Writers Room!
I’ll be appearing on The Writers Room to discuss cyberpunk and related matters with J. Ishiro Finney! You can watch the interview below or on YouTube. To learn more about my current project, SAGA OF THE SWORDBREAKER, click on the link here!
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Writing Gongfu and Cultivation
You can’t have a cultivation story without a cultivation system. Most cultivation fiction use easy systems. Drink a potion, take a pill, practice techniques from a manual, breathe a certain way, then do it enough times and suddenly you become more powerful. But what if your goal isn’t power? The primary purpose of cultivation is…
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Writing A Different Approach to Martial Arts
Most English-speaking readers would be familiar with Western portrayals of martial arts. In movies, television, games and prose, fight scenes are the cornerstone of Western fiction. One commonality I’ve noticed in most Western fight scenes I’ve seen is that they are portrayed as exchanges of force. Every fight scene is presented as a contest of…
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Welcome to the Era of the Five States and Ten Corporations
Chinese history is popularly and conveniently divided into periods defined by the ruling dynasty. In the world of Saga of the Swordbreaker, the land of Xiazhou is a hundred years into the greatest political experiment in the history of the continent. The Summer Revolution has ended the rule of immortal monarchs, bringing forth the era…