I won't respond on the original post because I believe OP blew it way out of proportion and unnecessarily talked down to other posters.

Wei Wuxian's guidao is a major topic in mdzs fandom because of the things that get lost in translation. First and foremost, Wei Wuxian's alternative cultivation method is called "Ghost Cultivation" or Guidao. Modao, or Demonic Cultivation is an established trope in xianxia novels that has its own set of expectations that's been established within the genre. If you read mdzs and you haven't read other xianxia novels that cover modao, its easy to lose some context, however small, for what it is and how it is normally framed.

I will refrain from describing the expectations of modao because I am not confident enough in my own familiarity to do it justice. Here is an explanation someone else had. Its further down the post, when ladypfenix gives some context.

Saying that, in the novel The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (魔道祖师) the cultivation path Wei Wuxian creates is made up to be demonic cultivation with all its cultural expectations by people in power who previously didn't mind that it helped them win the war. This does not mean what Wei Wuxian did was right, but the major point being made was that no matter what he did, as long as he openly opposed the system being perpetuated by those in power, he would be slandered and hunted.

That said, let's talk about the ramifications of guidao on Wei Wuxian and the spirits themselves. It is made clear that the amount of resentment Wei Wuxian handles before, during, and after the war is bad for his health and wellbeing. No matter who it is, if someone is enundated with that much resentment, no matter how they get it, it will negatively impact them, and that's part of why he never means to pass guidao on to anyone. It was his last resort based on a theory from a time when he was already on his way to becoming one of the greatest cultivators of their age, even surpassing the heir to the sect he cultivated at to become head disciple.

We can support this by looking at Xue Yang. Xue Yang is a demonic cultivator because, although he based his path off of Wei Wuxian's research, he was actively creating resentful spirits and harming people for nothing other than amusement, and before that, revenge. Xue Yang is not a practitioner of guidao, but of modao because of his motivations and how he creates and uses the resentment.

Wei Wuxian believed that using the existing resentful energy of lingering souls to end suffering faster, both of living people and restless spirits, was better than doing nothing. **I am not stating my own opinion here. Wei Wuxian no longer had a golden core to use in the war because he gave it to the sect heir as his "payment" that he was told he owed them the entire time he was with them. So he turned to a theory he had when he was younger and made his own path that, yes, stirred up existing resentment so he could use it, and harmed living people.

Wei Wuxian slaughtered the Wen camp when he first reappeared by reversing their talismens to attract spirits instead of keep them away. One of Wei Wuxian's theories was that it is possible to allow the spirits to move on and mitigate more harm by allowing the spirits to take their revenge. **I am not stating my own opinion on this topic. So, in Wei Wuxian's mind, he was helping stuck spirits rest by letting them take their revenge on the people who caused them and countless other needless suffering.

The debate on whether Wei Wuxian was right or wrong has become over-laden with a lot of personal feelings amongst fandom, therefor I refuse to suggest one perspective over another. This is the information I can remember from the novel and previous discussions. This post is not about the correctness of the protagonist's actions. If you're interested in more food for thought along this route, here are two tumblr posts that briefly touch on this topic. [1] [2]

Daily remind that Wei Wuxian was canonically a master of the four gentlemanly arts, a genius in other aspects, and a very successful cultivator before the war

translated the postscript of the revised edition of TGCF, it's beautifully written and you can just tell from the tone of the writing that MXTX's been through stuff:

"I write first to entertain myself, then to entertain others. Of course, self-expression and self-affirmation are given priority, but other people's appreciation is important positive feedback as well. Therefore, above all I want to thank my readers who have stayed with me all along unwaveringly and unfailingly. It's not as if I've never thought about walking away from it all: everyone has different opinions and it gets too loud, too much turmoil in the community makes me want to abandon social media. That would have seemed nice too. But looking back, my steps always waver, and I'm reluctant to part with some readers who are true and sincere.

In the past, there were writers I really loved who just disappeared from the internet, and I always felt as if days of my youth disappeared with them. This is a terrible feeling, and makes one think thoughts that are too grand and harsh, like things tragically forgotten by time, or the overwhelming movement of history. Therefore, I want to stay with my readers longer to the best of my ability. Maybe the day of parting will come eventually, but it could come just a little bit later. Maybe I'm not good enough as I am, but I will try to become better in the coming days. Maybe you've never understood what kind of person I am, or even completely misunderstood me, but anyone who comes is a guest, and anyone who stays is a friend; as long as you like my stories, we can sit down and have a chat."

original Chinese:

“写东西先自娱，后娱人。自我表达和自我认可固然为第一，但他人的喜爱也是很重要的正反馈，所以，首先感谢一直以来坚定不移陪伴我的读者们。也不是没想过一走了之：众说纷纭，吵闹；江湖纷扰，弃号！这样好像也不错。但回首却总踟蹰，终归是舍不得一些真心读者。

我曾有很喜欢的作者消失在网络，我总觉得是我的一段青春销声匿迹了，这感觉很难受，让人联想到一些诸如时代眼泪、历史洪流之类过于宏大冷酷的东西。所以，我想竭尽所能地陪伴我的读者更久一些。或许离别的那一天终将到来，但它可以来得晚一些。或许现在的我还不够好，但日后的我会努力变得更好。或许你从来不了解我是什么样的人，甚至是全然误解，但来者是客，留者是友，只要喜欢我的故事，咱们就能坐下聊聊。” ——天官赐福新修版后记

Lan Wangji: Why are there little handprints all over the walls?

Wei Wuxian, whispering: Why are there little handprints all over the walls?

A-Yuan, whispering: Because I have little hands.

Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji: Because he has little hands.

No, but was Shen Qingqiu really showing up on Bai Zhan Peak at ass-o’clock in the morning to manipulate meathead Liu Qingge into putting his own disciples in the med bay every time they bullied his baby sheep Luo Binghe? Like, that’s not a bingqiu-induced fever dream, that actually happened???

— Frank Bidart, from “Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016; ‘The Third Hour of the Night’", published c. 2017.

Writing tips for long fics that helped me that no one asked for.

1.) Don't actually delete content from your WIP unless it is minor editing - instead cut it and put it in a secondary document. If you're omitting paragraphs of content, dialog, a whole scene you might find a better place for it later and having it readily available can really save time. Sometimes your idea was fantastic, but it just wasn't in the right spot.

2.) Stuck with wording the action? Just write the dialog then revisit it later.

3.) Stuck on the whole scene? Skip it and write the next one.

4.) Write on literally any other color than a white background. It just works. (I use black)

5.) If you have a beta, while they are beta-ing have them read your fic out loud. Yes, I know a lot of betas/writers do not have the luxury of face-timing or have the opportunity to do this due to time constraints etc but reading your fic out loud can catch some very awkward phrasing that otherwise might be missed. If you don't have a beta, you read it out loud to yourself. Throw some passion into your dialog, you might find a better way to word it if it sounds stuffy or weird.

6.) The moment you have an idea, write it down. If you don't have paper or a pen, EMAIL it to yourself or put it in a draft etc etc. I have sent myself dozens of ideas while laying down before sleep that I 10/10 forgot the next morning but had emailed them to myself and got to implement them.

7.) Remember - hits/likes/kudos/comments are not reflective of the quality of your fic or your ability to write. Most people just don't comment - even if they say they do, they don't, even if they preach all day about commenting, they don't, even if they are a very popular blog that passionately reminds people to comment - they don't comment (I know this personally). Even if your fic brought tears to their eyes and it haunted them for weeks and they printed it out and sent it to their friends they just don't comment. You just have to accept it. That being said - comment on the fic you're reading now, just do it, if you're 'shy' and that's why you don't comment the more you comment the better you'll get at it. Just do it.

8.) Remove unrealistic daily word count goals from your routine. I've seen people stress 1500 - 2000 words a day and if they don't reach that they feel like a failure and they get discouraged. This is ridiculous. Write when you can, but remove absurd goals. My average is 500 words a day in combination with a 40 hour a week job and I have written over 200k words from 2022-2023.

9.) There are dozens of ways to do an outline from precise analytical deconstruction that goes scene by scene to the minimalist bullet point list - it doesn't matter which one you use just have some sort of direction. A partial outline is better than no outline.

10.) Write for yourself, not for others. Write the fic you know no one is going to read. Write the fic that sounds ridiculous. You will be so happy you put it out in the world and there will be people who will be glad it exists.

saying “can u not” to inanimate objects that are just following the laws of physics but in, like, inconvenient ways

all goofing aside I genuinely don't understand the urge to reimagine Taylor Allison Swift as a secretly queer icon when the pop music scene(TM) is like. literally overflowing with women who actually like women. Gaga and Kesha and Miley and Halsey are right there. Rina Sawayama and Hayley Kiyoko and Rebecca Black and Kehlani and Victoria Monét and Miya Folick if you're willing to get slightly less top 100. Janelle and Demi for them nonbinary takes on liking girls. like what are we doing here. like I'm not even saying you can't enjoy Taylor but why would you hang all your little gay hopes on her.

Reblog if you didn’t write My Immortal

We’re going to find the author by process of elimination.

Now, researchers have put a nail in the coffin of porn addiction. Josh Grubbs, Samuel Perry and Joshua Wilt are some of the leading researchers on America’s struggles with porn, having published numerous studies examining the impact of porn use, belief in porn addiction, and the effect of porn on marriages. And Rory Reid is a UCLA researcher who was a leading proponent gathering information about the concept of hypersexual disorder for the DSM-5. These four researchers, all of whom have history of neutrality, if not outright support of the concepts of porn addiction, have conducted a meta-analysis of research on pornography and concluded that porn use does not predict problems with porn, but that religiosity does

oh shit, it's 3/21/23, 32123, palindrome day

Do you guys remember how kidnap fantasies were popular on wattpad because young girls and queer teens were both made to feel shame at the thought of their own sexualities, so the fantasy of being kidnapped totally against their will was a way for them to engage with a romantic or sexual fantasy without feeling morally in the wrong for doing so? Added bonus that the fantasy involved being whisked away from repressive environments like home or school, right?

Finding out that Bram Stoker was in a sexless marriage and that scholars believe that he very likely was closeted gay puts the entire book into perspective as to WHY it reads EXACTLY like a self insert wattpad Dracula kidnap fic:

“I TOTALLY love my wife and would never do anything that an upstanding Good Straight Working Man wouldn’t do but oh nooo, big strong man with broad back and strong enough arms to carry me back to bed like a princess trapped me and claimed me as his, completely against my will 👉👈 But he protects me against the bad evil sexual women (who I assure you, I am TOTALLY sexually attracted to, as any straight man with a choice would be) but trust me, I do NOT want ANY of this. What’s that? The Count is not capable of feeling love? Would be a shame if I had the special ability to change tha-”

One of the worst feelings is when you feel a hyperfixiation slipping.. Like no.. Youre so sexy pls keep giving me happy chemical

i can never write a soulmates au cause i very quickly stop thinking about romance and start thinking about the sociological implications of a world where soulmates are a confirmed verifiable thing

gets up on my soapbox. someone might have said this before but i need to say it anyways.

THE REASON EVERYONE IN SCUM VILLAIN IS IN LOVE WITH SHEN QINGQIU IS BECAUSE HE. SHOWS. KINDNESS. nobody else in the story really shows kindness until he starts teaching it to them. kindness is never rewarded in the world of PIDW. it’s not just luo binghe who had a bad childhood and grew up fucked up. PIDW is a story about plotting and scheming and bad people doing bad things, and when a genuine kind person who doesn’t have a single ulterior motive shows up, it changes not just binghe’s path, but everyone’s. the only truly kind person in PIDW was YQY, and we know what happened to him.

i mean, if you think about the male power fantasy genre, it’s very alpha wolf loner every man for himself type stuff. shen yuan is probably the first person any of the people around him have ever seen pick up a friendship without the active intention of screwing it over somewhere down the line. in fact, he goes out of his way to make friends with people, and not just because of their power or abilities.

it’s no wonder that he improved the lives of everyone around him, and not just binghe.

Some of my favorite magic side effects:

-Nosebleeds. Never gets old.

-Coughing up blood. The good ol’ “cough into your hand and pull it back to see blood” also never gets old.

-Headaches. You keep fighting as your head pounds, desperately telling you to take a break. At first they fade within minutes when you stop using magic, but overtime, they become chronic.

-Fatigue. After a big battle, you stand triumphant, and then just fall asleep on the spot.

-In a similar vein, overuse causing you to straight up faint rather than just fall asleep. Darkness begins to overtake your vision in the middle of battle, unconsciousness abruptly looming over you.

-Any of the side effects happening to another person. Maybe two close characters are connected, and whatever side effects character A would normally endure are transferred to character B. When A uses a blast of magic B screams loudly because holy shit that hurt.

-Magic gradually deteriorating your mind. Using it too much eventually caused hallucinations and an inability to retain memories, or even larger scale memory loss. 

Feel free to add more, I’m looking for some to steal