Subplots in wuxia that grind the momentum of the main story to a halt.

[Ken Cheng]

Wuxia authors sometimes go out on tangents from which they almost don't come back to the main story. These often have the effect of grinding the momentum of the story to a halt. Some infamous ones:

LOCH: The whole Ying Goo/South Emperor/Chow Bak Tung affair really ground the momentum of what had been a very exciting series of events in the lives of young Gwok Jing and Wong Yung to a halt. The story recovered soon enough, but it was an odd (and somewhat dull) detour.

ROCH: Passionless Valley. 'Nuff said.

HSDS: The whole thing with the Persians, while actually sort of interesting, also sort of stalled the momentum of the main story.

Any others?

[Banh Mi]

The whole Lin Ping Zhi affair at the start of SPW, integral to the story, but made it the worse start of a story.

When LHX leads the large band to Shaolin, it was a real self indulgent affair.

LHX being stuck in the mountains before Tian Boguang came along. LHX during his melancholy over Yue Lingshan, even though I can relate to that and it gives the depth to his character. LHX being stuck in prison.

DY and his love affair tends to get boring for me in DGSD. XF with the Khitans were pretty boring. Anything to do with his evil step sister as well.

I only look forward to XF being more manly than anyone can bear and going on testosterone rage. Everything else is getting in the way of the story.

[PJ]

These side stories usually have a world of its own, which can be pretty cool. Plus, they are often a jewel shop for ELOCs.

DGSD: The Myriad Immortal Conference with 72 Caves 36 Islands and SWORD GOD Zhuo Bufan.

[PJ]

That said, Jin Yong always ties the "world within a world" back to the broader world. Passionless Valley had the Qiu Qianren connection; HSDS Persians had the Ming Cult connection; DGSD conference had Xiaoyao Pai connection. It's never quite a totally secluded world.

[bliss]

The whole YG/XLN thing really made ROCH grind to a halt.

[tape]

Yeah....ROCH is extremely boring compared to HSDS/LOCH. Think he definitely needed a mysterious character like DGQB and the Iron Sword to keep people's interest.

[CC]

Not really a subplot for SOD but whenever the 6 Fairies appear and take up a chunk of the chapter with their 'totally-unentertaining' banter, I get pissed off.

[tape]

SOD probably had the most interesting subplot though with the 4 Masters of Plum Manor.

[pannonian]

The numerous instances where Zhang Wuji is captivated by the fragrance of the various girls in HSDS. The descriptions are all pretty similar, and it happens pretty regularly.