What do I need to know to write a good cultivation novel with Taoist elements?

[doravg]

So, I have been rewatching Heaven's Officials Blessings, and really wanted to try my hand at something like that. My first Original Novel was an attempt in that direction, but I didn't do it right, I think.

Are there any wikis I could look up, or maybe some books?

 

[Corty]

My trick was to not imitate them but come up with my own version.

I am not from that culture, and 70%+ of references and roots in their history and philosophy are lost on me. I know that most cultivation systems are similar because their root is in the same enlightenment/religion system, but my knowledge is surface level at most.

So I just borrowed those superficial elements while writing a cultivation novel to not butcher the culture and did my own thing. My advice is to do your own thing, throwing a spin on those tropes you are familiar with, or you will have to spend who knows how long studying Taoism and whatnot.

 

[doravg]

My trick was to not imitate them but come up with my own version.

I am not from that culture, and 70%+ of references and roots in their history and philosophy are lost on me. I know that most cultivation systems are similar because their root is in the same enlightenment/religion system, but my knowledge is surface level at most.

So I just borrowed those superficial elements while writing a cultivation novel to not butcher the culture and did my own thing. My advice is to do your own thing, throwing a spin on those tropes you are familiar with, or you will have to spend who knows how long studying Taoism and whatnot.

So, just my knowledge from reading Heaven's Official's Blessings and Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation are enough? What you are saying is, that I just pull the fantasy world card, and throw in a journey of improvement?

 

[melchi]

Most cultivation is finding the best spot to meditate or finding the 100 year old ginger that can push someone to the next level and upgrade their meridians.

The common thing in most cultivator novels is sitting around gets them stronger. Usually the cultivators fight over the best sitting around methods/places. Some of them even just eat pills and level up.

The cradle series is a good example of a typical western cultivation novel. Most people tend to be obsessed with the pecking order and getting the proper respect from their lessers.

 

[doravg]

Most cultivation is finding the best spot to meditate or finding the 100 year old ginger that can push someone to the next level and upgrade their meridians.

The common thing in most cultivator novels is sitting around gets them stronger. Usually the cultivators fight over the best sitting around methods/places. Some of them even just eat pills and level up.

So, let us say I pick a cultivation path that has to do with Intuitive Eating, which can make the cultivator healthy. How big of a crack pile is that? I mean, in Heaven's Official's Blessings the Cultivation Path of the MC is his virginity. Well... was.

 

[TotallyHuman]

You need to know who this young master's grandfather's grandfather is, you need to see Mt Tai and also know that you're courting death

 

[Praybird]

So, let us say I pick a cultivation path that has to do with Intuitive Eating, which can make the cultivator healthy. How big of a crack pile is that? I mean, in Heaven's Official's Blessings the Cultivation Path of the MC is his virginity. Well... was.

Cultivation through foods is totally normal. Unless, the only cultivation method in the entire setting is eating, in which case you'd have to play the cards very carefully.

Honestly, unless you're going into the martial arts side, there's no staple frame for cultivation or settings.

 

[doravg]

Cultivation through foods is totally normal. Unless, the only cultivation method in the entire setting is eating, in which case you'd have to play the cards very carefully.

Honestly, unless you're going into the martial arts side, there's no staple frame for cultivation or settings.

Let us say that the healthier he gets, the stronger his medicinal brewing power becomes. Does that make any sense?

By the way, do I present it as Wuxia, or Xianxia?

 

[melchi]

So, let us say I pick a cultivation path that has to do with Intuitive Eating, which can make the cultivator healthy. How big of a crack pile is that? I mean, in Heaven's Official's Blessings the Cultivation Path of the MC is his virginity. Well... was.

It depends on how much content can be created with that. If the path of cultivation is eating then how varied can the content be? If she is some kind of gourmand then it would likely be visiting the best culinary establishments. So, what would the barriers to overcome be for that? Does she cook herself? Where does she get ingredients? Does she need to find rare ingredients and skilled chefs? Or is the problem affording the best meals to push her to the next level of her cultivation?

 

[doravg]

It depends on how much content can be created with that. If the path of cultivation is eating then how varied can the content be? If she is some kind of gourmand then it would likely be visiting the best culinary establishments. So, what would the barriers to overcome be for that? Does she cook herself? Where does she get ingredients? Does she need to find rare ingredients and skilled chefs? Or is the problem affording the best meals to push her to the next level of her cultivation?

It is now so much as eating, as losing weight and getting beefed. The healthier the body, the stronger the Qi. Is it Qi?

 

[Corty]

What you are saying is, that I just pull the fantasy world card, and throw in a journey of improvement?

Yes.

 

[CapitaoCaverna]

Well, I think the most important thing for a cultivation novel is the Dao.

If you want to get philosophical, the Dao can be pretty complicated, but it roughly means the Truth or the Path.

Think of Naruto's ninja path, it's something you hold dear and follow, something that shaped your life either because you like it or because you value it.

In effect, a cultivator gains enlightenment through the Dao, but that can be just about anything, from eating, crafting pills, fighting, poison, using a sword, growing a farm, or even more exotic or funny things like seeing the world, virginity, the growth of a tree, "the grind", having a harem, making dolls.

My suggestion is, to pick something interesting or funny to you and build your MC's path around that concept. Also, try to have your cultivation levels organized and get more exoteric the higher your MC reaches.

It won't affect your MC too much at lower levels, but you can have things related to it from the beginning and have them shape your MC's path as he grows in power, making for an even better story.

I once read a novel where the MC faced someone with a very weak Dao, he cultivated by observing things and putting himself in other shoes.

The interesting thing is that the enemy developed a technique that did just that to anyone he was fighting, so the MC had to fight seeing things from the Enemy's perspective, not his own, and it messed up with his coordination, delaying his every action just enough to give the enemy an advantage. Worse, whenever he sent the enemy flying, he'd get the disorientation the enemy felt, his field of view would spin and he could even lose sight of himself.

That was a fun, interesting read that truly gave me the feeling of facing someone on a cultivation path.


So, really, my greatest suggestion is that you choose your Mc's Dao and be creative about what it means. Yes, sword cultivation is probably the strongest in a fight, and it's the most straightforward path, but you can get creative even there, with the sword cutting through ethereal things and having interesting effects and, with enough creativity, knitting cultivation can be very entertaining.

Knit dolls that fight for you, sew your enemy eyes shut mid-battle, control their movements, sew enemies together by the arm or back to back... at higher levels, sew concepts together to craft artifacts, stitch portal close to deny your enemies access to some cultivation heaven or block teleportation, the possibilities are endless.

You can also have broader paths, like being righteous, or being an asshole, caring about others or only about those close to you, or even taking everything and becoming a demonic cultivator.

 

[doravg]

Well, I think the most important thing for a cultivation novel is the Dao.

If you want to get philosophical, the Dao can be pretty complicated, but it roughly means the Truth or the Path.

Think of Naruto's ninja path, it's something you hold dear and follow, something that shaped your life either because you like it or because you value it.

In effect, a cultivator gains enlightenment through the Dao, but that can be just about anything, from eating, crafting pills, fighting, poison, using a sword, growing a farm, or even more exotic or funny things like seeing the world, virginity, the growth of a tree, "the grind", having a harem, making dolls.

My suggestion is, to pick something interesting or funny to you and build your MC's path around that concept. Also, try to have your cultivation levels organized and get more exoteric the higher your MC reaches.

It won't affect your MC too much at lower levels, but you can have things related to it from the beginning and have them shape your MC's path as he grows in power, making for an even better story.

I once read a novel where the MC faced someone with a very weak Dao, he cultivated by observing things and putting himself in other shoes.

The interesting thing is that the enemy developed a technique that did just that to anyone he was fighting, so the MC had to fight seeing things from the Enemy's perspective, not his own, and it messed up with his coordination, delaying his every action just enough to give the enemy an advantage. Worse, whenever he sent the enemy flying, he'd get the disorientation the enemy felt, his field of view would spin and he could even lose sight of himself.

That was a fun, interesting read that truly gave me the feeling of facing someone on a cultivation path.


So, really, my greatest suggestion is that you choose your Mc's Dao and be creative about what it means. Yes, sword cultivation is probably the strongest in a fight, and it's the most straightforward path, but you can get creative even there, with the sword cutting through ethereal things and having interesting effects and, with enough creativity, knitting cultivation can be very entertaining.

Knit dolls that fight for you, sew your enemy eyes shut mid-battle, control their movements, sew enemies together by the arm or back to back... at higher levels, sew concepts together to craft artifacts, stitch portal close to deny your enemies access to some cultivation heaven or block teleportation, the possibilities are endless.

You can also have broader paths, like being righteous, or being an asshole, caring about others or only about those close to you, or even taking everything and becoming a demonic cultivator.

Thank you very much for the answer! Now I know what I can do to write a cultivation novel.

 

[Layenlml]

What does having a healthy body even means for you and your character? Just being slim or just having no sickness?

I would like to give it more deep if it's going to be a main part of your novel/character growth and add Mental health and even Soul/spirit too. Many novels show how having a weak/too strong/damaged soul or mind can lead to physical problems for the body.

Could be a way to path her rise in cultivation or a roadblock.

I would also add a weakness/strength to your cultivation system making it normal/slow at the start and then something beneficial later on from having a Healthy body like MC having strong foundation or fast and perfect recovery from what usually could lead to a Hidden injury. Maybe being able to each risky types of food.

 

[Sleds]

By the way, do I present it as Wuxia, or Xianxia?

It will depend what you add and what you don't. Do you go for a full setting in chinese?

Xianxia is chinese fantasy with a setting related to their myth and legends, the cultivation path are often related toward budhism, taoism or shintoism.
Wuxia is chinese fantasy with a "Hero" fighting against evil, the cultivation path differ depending on each stories.
Xuanhuan is using chinese fantasy setting with another, often a western setting, the cultivation path can be a lot of different thing in this genre.



For the cultivation, you can go with what you want, you can create a technique who need your mc to eat for it to be effective, and by this process, the body of your mc can absorb the effect of the food, improving his body (become "healthy"). You can go crazy with the cultivation method, just create an organized system for the cultivation level and rank.

Generally, the cultivation stories who use a lot of taoist element into it involve reaching a dao, the dao can be anything and eventually all dao can merge together.

If you want a good cultivation story that involve dao, you can read "Martial World" to get more information or ideas on what you can do.

 

[Praybird]

Let us say that the healthier he gets, the stronger his medicinal brewing power becomes. Does that make any sense?

By the way, do I present it as Wuxia, or Xianxia?

Totally possible still. If you define healthy as, say, having a purer qi or just more of it, and this character knows a way to imbue the medicine they make with qi, then I can see that happening. In fact, there was a doctor character from another story who was exactly like this - he continued to better his medicinal skills and fed himself with countless self-made dans to eventually reach the highest levels of cultivation.

Wuxia/Xianxia will depend on the story you're going for. Whether the story still sticks with people, or there're divine elements to it, etc.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

So, I have been rewatching Heaven's Officials Blessings, and really wanted to try my hand at something like that. My first Original Novel was an attempt in that direction, but I didn't do it right, I think.

Are there any wikis I could look up, or maybe some books?

What makes you think it's a failure?

A key part of most cultivation is knowledge gained. Knowledge carefully applied. Purification of toxins. Repetition. Reaching the next level. And tradition.

The cultivator is purging himself of corruption. He is to be tempted to weakness by lesser men. Women are frequently obstacles in this setting. They want to glow onto the MC and bask in his reflected glory, use him to fight their battles, or just straight up steal his strength.

Females who don't do this are meek, subservient, know their place, and serve their master. A master who either treats them like a student and rarely has sex with, because that's seen as a weakness, or treats them like a trad wife, in which case she's a plot device to be kidnapped or killed to motivate the MC.

It is basically Buddhism, if you could do everything in one lifetime.

 

[prognastat]

It differs a little depending on what kind of cultivation novel it is, but in general cultivation novels appeal to a similar enjoyment of growth that a lot of litRPG novels appeal to. The feeling of the character growing and becoming more capable. Also often face-slapping(MC gets disrespected then gets one over on the one that disrespected him/her), but I don't think that's necessarily cultivation related just that both are popular in Chinese novels so there is a lot of overlap.

 

[ExpertReader101]

I recommend just reading more Cultivation novels, the Cultivation world can be very complex. It took me a long while to realize I was reading GaoWu and not Xianxia at all. But I suppose it all depends on your intentions with your story.

 

[AYM]

The young cultivator had knocked on seemingly air, and in a single moment the space between time had cracked. Smoke from the lit incense slowed its ascent to a halt as the world is cast in yin and yang.

A good cultivation novel doesn't need to follow actual daoism.

I will only say this one time and never again. If you're referring to non-fantasy daoism, the way cultivation is typically portrayed in novels is completely off the mark. I think most things the characters go against daoist precepts. You aren't supposed to imitate Fang Yuan in real life. No village boy who angrily shakes his fist at the sky and swears for vengeance and declares he will defy the heavens will achieve immortality.

But people still write them in this style anyway because if they tried to follow everything, the novel will be about a man who drinks mysterious mushroom concoctions and sits on his ass for hours. Or an imperial alchemist who doesn't know he has actually been poisoning the emperor with cinnabar or lead.

People also think cultivation novels primarily feature "daoist" elements. That's true, but it also has elements of Buddhism, Confucianism, folk religions, etc. For example, reincarnation is a Buddhist element. You probably won't find any mentions of it in Dao De Jing. Cultivation novels also simply reference other cultivation novels. You could reference Honghuang fantasy (Pangu who murders 3000 Godfiends with an axe and then splits Heaven and Earth).

To this day, I still have no clue where the origin of "spiritual roots" is from.

Let us say that the healthier he gets, the stronger his medicinal brewing power becomes. Does that make any sense?

By the way, do I present it as Wuxia, or Xianxia?

Wuxia is a type of martial arts genre that heavily references historical martial arts, history, and the culture. It also has a moderate obsession of writing the main character as a righteous hero who swears to avenge his family after they were all brutally and unjustly murdered by almost everyone in the martial arts world. Characters aren't given supernatural powers; you can write about jumping onto rooftops but don't write about cleaving mountains in this genre.

Xianxia is a type of genre that references daoism and other elements listed above.

Xuanhuan is a looser classification because these novels can incorporate elements not traditionally Chinese. Excalibur can exist in a lake on Mt. Tai, and nobody will bat an eye. Who cares if the Buddha fights evil demons with a big gun, this was completely accurate in your story. It's common knowledge after Buddha meditated on the Bodhi Tree for 49 days, Mara tried to kill him but the Bodhi Tree transformed into a 16-gauge shotgun loaded with Enlightenment that the Buddha uses to this day. If you really wanted to, you can add Holy Venerable Immortal Jesus who is blessed with the Three Suns Divine Reconstruction Physique which means he can rapidly regenerate and revive after death and tearing off his arm transforms it into bread baked under the sun for three days. Also, he has his evil twin Demonic Dishonorable Immortal Susej who is cursed with the Three Moons Demonic Reconstruction Physique which is identical in every way, except he is also a vampire and tearing off his arm transforms it into garlic bread.

"Wuxia-Xianxia-Xuanhuan" is commonly misunderstood as a scale of "low-high fantasy" or "power scaling," but it shouldn't.

Returning to the topic, I think a better question is asking how powerful do you want someone in the world to possibly be. You'd need to think about the restrictions and effects of medicine and the methods of creating them, and how being healthier means a better pill. You can incorporate knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine or daoist alchemical practices, but focus more on making an enjoyable story and less on if your story is "daoist" enough.

Returning to normal, the world regains color.

It is now so much as eating, as losing weight and getting beefed. The healthier the body, the stronger the Qi. Is it Qi?

This post was made by Physical Rogue Cultivators Gang