Fancy Me, Professor!

While Shi Lian and Zhang Ren were discreetly flirting with each other over the counter, Shu Xian completely ignored them as she looked at the thesis that Zhong Li told him was interesting since it tackled about web fiction.

With her reading the outline proposal of the thesis, she now thought what could she propose when it's time for her to make her thesis.

For now, she just read this in hopes that she may have an early idea that she may use in the near future.

***

Nowadays, when it comes to literature, it branches from reading them with the use of books, or with the use of the internet. Since the status quo shows that most people are now involved with the use of the technology and internet, users now tend to read online.

Because of this, people now read stories online and these stories are called Web Fiction.

According to Wikipedia (2021), Web Fiction is written works of literature available primarily or solely on the internet. A common type of web fiction is the web serial. The term comes from old serial stories that were once published regularly in newspapers and magazines.

Furthermore, unlike most modern books, a work of web fiction is often not published as a whole. Instead, it is released on the Internet in installments or chapters as they are finished, although published compilations and anthologies are not unknown.

The web serial form dominates in the category of fan fiction, as writing a serial takes less specialized software and often less time than an e-book (Wikipedia, 2021).

As said by Wikipedia (2021), web fiction has become hugely popular in China, with revenues topping US$2.5 billion. According to AXP (2018), there is a growing base of web fiction offered for free and followed by a loyal readership.

In countries like China, web fiction has taken off, becoming a major industry with top writers making millions of dollars and their stories adapted into TV and movies.

One example of a web novel website that publishes a lot of translated Chinese stories and even original stories is called NovelFull.

As said by AXP (2018), NovelFull (allnovelfull.com) is a fast-growing publisher of online fiction. They are owned by Yuewen (Qidian), a Chinese web fiction company, which is a subsidiary of tech behemoth Tencent.

According to the aforementioned author of the article, the site features both translated works and English originals.

Unlike the other sites featured here, NovelFull does charge a fee to unlock chapters for some of their more popular works through a convoluted "spirit stone" (now using the term coins) currency system. On the plus side, the UI and design are a step above the norm.

With that, since most researchers do literary analysis on books found in the library or in shops, doing literary criticism on web fiction can be something interesting as it may show different tropes and concepts not found in usual fiction books.

Literary criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, and/or evaluation of works of literature and it is essentially an opinion, supported by evidence, relating to theme, style, setting or historical or political context (Dickinson, 2020).

Furthermore, it usually includes discussion of the work's content and integrates your ideas with other insights gained from research.

According to Dickinson (2020), literary criticism may have a positive or a negative bias and may be a study of an individual piece of literature or an author's body of work.

As stated by Dickinson (2020), although criticism may include some of the following elements in order to support an idea, literary criticism is NOT a plot summary, a biography of the author, or simply finding fault with the literature.

According to the author of the article (Dickinson, 2020), researching, reading, and writing works of literary criticism will help you to make better sense of the work, form judgments about literature, study ideas from different points of view, and determine on an individual level whether a literary work is worth reading.

Examples of some types of literary criticism are, biographical, comparative, ethical, expressive, feminist, historical, mimetic, pragmatic, psychological, social, textual and theoretical.

Given the following approaches in literary criticism, the researcher may choose any of the following approaches they see fit in order to do an analysis of a literary work created by the author.

***

Shu Xian was completely lost in thought as she admired the researcher's thesis. With Shi Lian and Zhang Ren noticing how engrossed she was, Shi Lian clapped her hands thrice, immediately getting Shu Xian's attention.

"What is it?" she asked, blinking her eyes a few times as she put the thesis down. "Is there something wrong?" she added, Shi Lian playfully rolling her eyes at her as she answered her question.

"No… it's just that you're so focused with what you're reading, you're ignoring me and Zhang Ren!"

Shu Xian arched a brow at them, grinning at the same time.

"The audacity of you saying that, when in fact, it's both of you ignoring me because of your incessant flirting."

The two let out a chuckle. With Shu Xian suddenly remembering what Ruo Xi had told her—Shu Xian moving out soon, she then told her best friends, Zhang Ren and Shi Lian already familiar about her living in the Chief Librarian's house.

"I'll be moving out in a week. Thought I'd tell you guys now the gist of it since Miss Wang Fang and I have already talked about it a moment ago."

With that said, the couple looked at each other. With a big smile on their face, Zhang Ren immediately said a suggestion that sparked the excitement within Shi Lian.

"Why not we organize a small welcoming party in your house? Like… housewarming? Since you moved out and you're now staying in a new place."

"Yeah!" Shi Lian immediately agreed, further adding her suggestion. "Also, you don't have to worry since it's not going to be loud. It will be just us, anyway—with important people in your life!"

Shu Xian actually liked the idea.. The three of them started to plan what they could do for the upcoming housewarming party that only involved them since they wouldn't want to get other people's attention around the university.