Digital stories have successful plot twist

An outstanding trend for realistic online novels is that writers tend to set the stories against the backdrop of particular industries and combine the protagonists' professional development with the changing times and national rejuvenation, according to the study.

Laobing Xinjing (Veteran-Turned-Policeman), by Zhuo Muxian, sets the daily work of anti-drug police against the backdrop of national security. The first work of writer Mei Shiniang's Benteng Niandai－Xiangnan Xiangbei (A Racing Time－To the South and North) focuses on the struggles and growth of a generation of young people since the reform and opening-up in 1978, recording the struggles of the generation of Mei's father on the island province of Hainan. Fei Jia's Beidou Xingchen (The Big Dipper) tells a patriotic story of the researchers of navigational satellites, and Yin Xun's Tayishijian Weiming (In the Name of Time) narrates the story of the professionals that restore murals in the grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province.

Such "professional fiction" has long been a common category in online literature, and has attracted a large reader base. These works, often including rich professional knowledge, are good at leading readers into the world of unfamiliar areas with intriguing stories that have become the best vehicles to record and reflect the society and social mentality from diverse aspects, according to the study.