I've decided to read every historical danmei (BL) from lowest to highest rating And I've made relevant lists with novels of equivalent ratings in them from lowest to highest ratings. (Eg; 3.5 ratings novel list, 3.7 ratings list, 4 ratings list etc up until 4.4 ratings). Therefore I haven't touched the historical GIANTS of the danmei community yet except for MXTX's stuff and 2HA( Eg; Sha Po Lang, Thousand Autumns, Peerless, Devil Venerable etc. All of these are above 4.5 ratings) Haven't read any of them yet. I'm planning on getting to them after reading low rated ones. However I'd like you to know that while my primary goal of reading is for mental satisfaction the secondary goal I have for reading danmei or anything at all is to get ideas, inspiration and writing/plotting technique lessons from existing examples of novels with good characterization and masterfully written plot. On that account, I know that low ratings don't mean bad storytelling but.. given my objective (to gain writing insights) do you think it's a waste of time for me read all the said stuff from lowest to highest rating? Instead of straightly jumping to masterpieces where all the writing tactics are beautifully executed? Pls lemme know your thoughts.
when you read a well written story, then a not so well written one, the cons of the latter become more jarring to the point that you can't get past a certain part of the story but if you're aiming to improve your skills, I don't really know how but my suggestion is look at the reviews and see what others think makes the story bad and try to avoid that since in the end, whether a story is good or bad depends on your target audience if you mainly just want to read nonstop you can read heavy stories then brainless fluff then back to heavy stories. in these cases even if the brainless fluff isn't the most well written, you won't even bother thinking about it because you spent all your brain on the heavy story
Just a passerby. I don't think it would be a waste reading those novels with low ratings. For one, not all those low-rated novels are really that trashy. There's just some that failed to keep up with the expectations of the readers or inserted a really triggering plot line but that doesn't mean that the way the author narrated the whole story is bad. My advice is that read whatever you fancy- do not rely on reviews alone. You never know, maybe you will be the one who can really deliver the concept much appropriately. Also, it can help you determine how that author styled his storytelling; this would really hone your writing as you could adopt the parts that made you stay in that novel as well as take note of the ones that turned you off from completing it. As you go on, you could compare it with the high rated ones. Not gonna lie, some novels are underrated and still left unknown because of the initial low rating.
Another passerby ^^ Definitely not a waste of time. Being able to go through all those novels from lowest to highest might let you have some slight awareness and a habit of comparing the writings, and over time you'd have your own preferences, and huge inspirations. After all, there are at least thousands of novels under the genre, and many unfound gems with great writing techniques/unique plot lines. Personally, reading for mental satisfaction allows more chance of inspiration and imagination, rather than reading it for the sake of gaining points/technique you can use. And like the passerby above mentioned, read whatever you fancy Good luck on your journey of reading!
Personally, I feel they can have their advantages and disadvantages. For badly written novels( which honestly can be subjective when putting aside the stabs at grammar , structure etc.) looking at reviews and reading the novels can account for what not to do ( but sometimes learning of the writer's process maybe through interviews can offer more insight as a writer).The disadvantage is well- I would feel like I am wasting my time sitting there reading a novel that I just don't like the execution of( I have heard that it can sometimes affect your writing but I am hardly willing to stay that long to know). For well written novels , yes you may be exposed to a new way of writing which in turn helps your writing progress. Sometimes, reading others works leads to imitation( which isn't that bad since Aristotle and his perception of mimesis has pointed out that one often learns to mimic others before creating their own style like a baby learning to talk.) However, reading others can cause comparison to what you have which leads to overthinking your work then scrapping it over and over again and BOOM its not that fun anymore and you give up writing because nothing feels right anymore. Therefore remember to stay grounded. Enjoy reading it and if there's something you like you can try writing down then after finishing the novel , see how you may have wanted to use it with your own twist. ( For example, maybe I am a massive fan of the reincarnation trope in historical novels so I decided that I was going to create a male lead who is fascinated with the different dynasties and read a novel ; that he hates because it doesn't do that dynasty justice , so I let him rant and say something which makes him reincarnate into that story where he becomes the king of the story navigating their world. Sections I may use are the novels trying to turn him into their puppet while he tries to help the commoners , maybe a plot twist like his brother that was to inherit the throne that died came back or discovery that the person he took over is an illegimate child etc.)
I don't think a lower rating alone should stop you from reading a novel. Instead, read the reviews and check if there're topics you're uncomfortable with. The novel I translated went from a 3.9 to a 4.1, which is still pretty good considering the subject matter. Even though it's controversial, I like it a lot and am glad that I read it. It's the only bl novel I know in which the mc initially agrees to marry the ml, only to reject him later because he fears exposure.
I never pay attention to rating when choosing novel to read here. I dont even know what are the ratings for them.
rating are not the most accurate necessarily, depending on your personal taste and mood. if you're doing it for mental satisfaction as well as the learning process I suggest that instead of choosing random novels, choose novels based on the authors. you don't have to know them or anything but choose a bl author and start reading the work you fancy and then you can try reading his other novels. this way you get to compare how one author has tackled diff books with diff/same genres. you can also identify something unique about this author and figure out his writing style. reading the same genre over and over can get monotonous. i suggest you read a brainless novel or something more light hearted after each read.
I won't talk about waste of time...like if you have planned this out means you must have spared time for this. Personally I see the reviews and mostly avoid reading novels with rating lower than 3.5 or 3. Because you will lose your brain cells if you try reading them, and I am telling you a lots. Then you can do nothing but rant about it in reviews....lol. And as you are aiming for mental satisfaction, you can filter out these novels. And I guess most of the historical danmei are good reads. I also once had this knack when I tried reading out all of them as I had run out of the good ones. And it had reached to that point that I even mtled a few who were not even 50 percent translated, (only if mtl was a bit more understandable) But I still avoided the dog blooded ones, or with tragedy and be as they are not cup of my tea... So follow your heart I guess....
Nope, not a waste of time. I sometimes wanna try this too but I just don't have the extra time and effort to do it since I have lots and I mean lots of novels that I have to read as of now. But low ratings and less review doesn't mean the novel is bad. Its just not that known to other readers yet.