Do many Gu Long stories just sort of...stop rather than end properly?

[Ken Cheng]

Let's be candid: Gu Long was a drunk, and one of the consequences of his constant inebriations is that many of his wuxia stories were not as well-planned or as well-structured as Jin Yong's. Do you get the impression (as I do) that many (though not all) of Gu Long's wuxia stories don't so much end as they do come to a stop? What I mean by that is that Jin Yong properly prepares for the end of his novels: he knows what's going to happen to each of his characters and how they will reach that ending. Gu Long's endings, however, sometimes convey the sense that the author had no idea how to end the story and couldn't be bothered to figure out how to do it properly (probably because he was drunk out of his mind) and just sort of lamely stopped writing rather devised a proper ending.

In Gu Long's best stories, he doesn't do this, but in many of his stories, he seemingly does.

[tape]

I agree his stories are not that well structured and usually are strongest early/middle than ending, but which stories do you find unsatisfactory ? I've only read his bigger works and they all started losing steam but concluded decently. I'm not really a big fan of wuxia conclusions though, JY or GL.

[Ken Cheng]

I agree his stories are not that well structured and usually are strongest early/middle than ending, but which stories do you find unsatisfactory ? I've only read his bigger works and they all started losing steam but concluded decently. I'm not really a big fan of wuxia conclusions though, JY or GL.

Take several of the LUK SIU FUNG endings: the way HAUNTED VALLEY ended was kind of lame, and the same with Gung 9's story. I've heard that several Gu Long stories featured big buildups to grand finale showdowns between all-powerful martial artists, but in the end, they either both suddenly sat down together to sing "Kumbaya" instead or both died of heart attacks on the way to the duel.

Stuff like that.

[Dirt]

Gu Long's characters, unlike Jin Yong's (all of them are finding how to fit in), always live outside the norms of society. It seems natural that their stories would end with that same spirit.

[athlee]

Take several of the LUK SIU FUNG endings: the way HAUNTED VALLEY ended was kind of lame, and the same with Gung 9's story. I've heard that several Gu Long stories featured big buildups to grand finale showdowns between all-powerful martial artists, but in the end, they either both suddenly sat down together to sing "Kumbaya" instead or both died of heart attacks on the way to the duel.

Stuff like that.

Yes, some of his stories does include big buildups to a grand finale that never happen, but this appears to be more like a writing style as opposed to him not knowing / bothered to end it properly.

[tape]

Take several of the LUK SIU FUNG endings: the way HAUNTED VALLEY ended was kind of lame, and the same with Gung 9's story. I've heard that several Gu Long stories featured big buildups to grand finale showdowns between all-powerful martial artists, but in the end, they either both suddenly sat down together to sing "Kumbaya" instead or both died of heart attacks on the way to the duel.

Stuff like that.

Wouldn't the "easy" way out be to just have the two martial artists fight? Considering his writing style, that wouldn't take more than a bit of time.

Maybe in those stories, he just likes both characters equally and decided he didn't want to have one guy be superior to the other. Kind of like how JY never pits the Greats against each other.

[Snafu3721]

Wouldn't the "easy" way out be to just have the two martial artists fight? Considering his writing style, that wouldn't take more than a bit of time.

Maybe in those stories, he just likes both characters equally and decided he didn't want to have one guy be superior to the other. Kind of like how JY never pits the Greats against each other.

JY actually has on many occasions pitted the Greats against each other.

Pre-LOCH they fought on Mt. Hua
LOCH-- H7G and OYF fought on Peach blossom island
LOCH-- HYS and H7G ganged up on a crazy OYF

ROCH-- Rematch of H7G vs OYF
ROCH-- GWM against the other Greats

The fights are always ties, with either both parties dead or at a stalemate