(4) Common and uncommon
This refers to the "surname" of the characters in the work.
In Jin Yong's works, the surnames of the characters are mostly common, especially those of the protagonists, such as: Zhang, Yang, Guo, Li, Hu, Xiao, Chen, etc. The surnames of the characters in Gu Long's works are often uncommon or even uncommon, such as Chu, Lu, Jing, Tie, Hua, Ji, Shui, Ming, Dao... Compared to Jin Yong, Gu Long prefers to use compound surnames. It is true that there are also compound surnames in the names of people in Jin Yong's works, such as "Shooting White Deer in the Flying Snow, and the Laughing Book Hero Leaning on the Blue Yuan". Although there are only 15 works (including "Yue Nu Sword"), there are nearly 1,500 names. The compound surnames involved include "Situ, Duanmu, Yuchi, Shangguan, Ouyang, Murong, Linghu, Dongfang, Dugu, Wanyan, Yelv". Considering the historical factors in Jin Yong's works, "Wanyan, Yelu, Murong", etc. are excluded. The real compound names that Jin Yong intentionally chose are also very famous: Ouyang Feng, Dongfang Bubai, Linghu Chong and Dugu Qiubai. This is not the case with Gu Long. In his works, there are many compound surnames and they appear quite frequently. In addition to the ones mentioned above, there are also "Sima, Sikong, Huangfu, Ximen, Nangong, Xuanyuan, Gongsun, Baili", etc., especially among the four martial arts masters. I have a special liking for the first three of "Dongfang, Ximen, Nangong, Beiye" and "Shangguan". Hey, this is a common problem among many martial arts writers. If Jin Yong was planting willows unintentionally, then Gu Long was planting flowers deliberately.
In short, Jin Yong pays attention to content and Gu Long pays attention to form, which is also in line with his inherent mentality of "taking the eccentric approach and pursuing novelty and novelty".