Koakuma's Writer's Parlour ~ Have some tea and discuss fiction and writing here!

[Unassuming Squid]

Alright, I've become curious. I usually write my stories sequentially without skipping anything to write a later part. But I've heard other people skip around in their stories when they get stuck. What do you all find works better for you? And if you skip around, do you usually find yourself changing later parts when you go back to parts that come before them (if that makes any sense at all)?

As much as I'd like to, I never skip. It's much less confusing for me if I write events as they occur. And I hate going back over my stuff to rework it myself.

[Ryuu]

I only skip if the scene I'm skipping to is coming to my head so often that it distracts me from what I'm trying to focus on.

[Tengukami]

I tend not to skip a scene. If for some reason I'm bored or frustrated with it, I'll leave it alone for a while and go for a long walk, talking it out. Might even work on a separate story. But I always write sequentially.

[Alfred F. Jones]

I only skip if the scene I'm skipping to is coming to my head so often that it distracts me from what I'm trying to focus on.

I do this myself. I store it away in a separate document so it won't get in the way of the part of the story I should be working on, and then I just continue.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

I think I've figured out that one of the reasons I'm dragging my feet on RFO in particular is the fact that it's mostly action sequences. I need to figure out how to condense it without making it seem like I'm skimming ... or make the action-sequences more interesting, both for myself and the reader ...

[Bias Bus]

I don't like skipping scenes alot being I have a horrid memory and odds are I'll forget something. So I try to limit the amount of scenes I skip to a minimum of two or one. If I go over this, I'm only asking for trouble and a fucked up story.

[Tengukami]

I don't like skipping scenes alot being I have a horrid memory and odds are I'll forget something. So I try to limit the amount of scenes I skip to a minimum of two or one. If I go over this, I'm only asking for trouble and a fucked up story.

Same here. The reason why I take breaks and then come back to it, as opposed to skipping ahead, is for the sake of consistency. I know other people can write a story non-sequentially, bouncing forwards and backwards across the pages, but I just can't. I need to stay in the groove to keep the story cohesive.

[Phlegeth]

I think I've figured out that one of the reasons I'm dragging my feet on RFO in particular is the fact that it's mostly action sequences. I need to figure out how to condense it without making it seem like I'm skimming ... or make the action-sequences more interesting, both for myself and the reader ...

I have that problem with action scenes too.  I feel like I'm spending a lot of the battle explaining what the cards do and I'm pretty sure most everyone here reading it knows what the cards do and I can't see that being all that entertaining to read or write for that matter.  Sometimes I throw in something crazy awesome like having Yuugi catch one of Kanako's logs with her horn and throwing it back at her to keep it fresh.

[Esifex]

Sometimes I throw in something crazy awesome like having Yuugi catch one of Kanako's logs with her horn and throwing it back at her to keep it fresh.

You need to find someone to draw this, cuz that would be crazy awesome.

[Jana]

I do write fight scenes myself for the game I'm running, and while I don't have to have everything planned ahead for it (since the players will be making each move for me), I do have to put a lot of thought into how I actually write those actions, and the actions of the opposition, out. Since the players have to know what's happening in order to issue commands, I feel like describing everything in detail is important, but I also try to find a balance or break things up enough that the action doesn't feel like it takes effort to read.

What I find works best is trying to visualize the action yourself. This may not seem like very good advice, but visualization put into motion (i.e. mimicking movements, bending your limbs to match the action, etc.) helps me when I write physical fight scenes. if you're writing a fight scene that takes place with bullets in the air or something, you can physically check your descriptions if you're writing about dodges and things like that.

[Neonie]

I don't use daku in my fiction, I just have them battle as they would in the fighting games.

Or really supper out of control stuff like Marisa's fight with Cirno.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

I found that the secret to writing a good battle scene is to minimize bloody details of what the particular attack does/what it looks like. Something along the line of 'she shouted and out came a torrent of those damned blue and white arrowheads, spreading for miles. I pulled back, nimbly dodging the projectiles, yadda yadda' works fine. It keeps the scene fast paced and exciting for both, the writer and the reader. As I tend to be an action oriented person who has action scenes in both his serious and silly stories in addition to having been in a myriad of forum RP's for years, I've gotten accustomed to writing battle scenes.

In other words, don't try to write things like how they are in the shmups. Visualize yourself in that battlefield, fighting that spellcard duel and let it flow. It should be closer to the fighting games really.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Slight tangent:

I have the tendency to write battle scenes as bloodily as possible. This has nothing to do with my supposed attention to detail and everything to do with my

Spoiler:

bloodlust

fetish. But it does have the interesting side effect of making the fights more realistic.

Though, the scenes in White Rose where Higan and Makai's armies are fighting were not written with my fetish in mind! Rather, it's because there are few things on this planet I hate more than war, and in the same vein as The Red Badge of Courage, I really hate the mentality that war is glorious, so I go out of my way to make it horrific. One of the things I regret most is that because this is Touhou, fairies' wounds don't last, and ultimately the carnage turns out to be bloodless (damn that Hell of Blazing Fires) which is why there's a scene with Alice working in an almost Civil War-era field hospital to make up for it. My conscience just wouldn't let me get away with making war look less horrific than it is.

More on-topic: You want a way to learn to write good fight scenes? Then watch a lot of them. Give your brain more material to draw on, and sit down with some movies that have the kind of combat you're thinking of. Space battles? Watch some Star Wars. Hand-to-hand combat? Watch some old-school kung fu movies. Danmaku is a bit harder, but videos like this one can help with visualizing that. And when all else fails, play the fighting games-- describing those moves alone would make for some really good fights.

[Tengukami]

Danmaku is a bit harder, but videos like this one can help with visualizing that.

Another slight tangent: that video is amazing.

[MysTeariousYukari]

Another slight tangent: that video is amazing.

Very true. Very very true.

Also, I've been trying to cut back on un-needed info in my story, and that video makes me cry a bit, both happy and sad tears. I just went through a fight scene in my story, against Utsuho, and that video blows it out of the water with Utsuho's 1st Non-Card. ;-;

[Unassuming Squid]

I've learned that spellcards can be really, really hard to effectively translate into a 3D environment. A spellcard that can be absolutely terrifying in the games can seem rather easy in real life.

Such is the pain of making fanfiction from a vertical-scrolling shooter.

[MysTeariousYukari]

I've learned that spellcards can be really, really hard to effectively translate into a 3D environment. A spellcard that can be absolutely terrifying in the games can seem rather easy in real life.

Such is the pain of making fanfiction from a vertical-scrolling shooter.

Explosion Sign "Tera Flare" was actually not that hard for me, thanks to that FFX+Touhou video Seymour Fusion, and the Dogfight video.

Also, cliffhangers, I have 0 idea if I'm any good with them. ;-; Lack of comments on my story really helps that as well D:

[Bias Bus]

I tend to be a sucker for giving details to attacks, more or less, the larger (more epic) variety. However, I only do well with physical violence being Danmaku is one of the things I'm not too big on.

[CK Crash]

Wow, what a convenient discussion to walk into. I recently had the idea of writing a story that had supplemental Danmakufu scripts included, to flesh out the fight scenes beyond descriptions of the patterns (which to be honest, are a pet peeve of mine). Would anyone be interested in reading/playing a story like that?

[Alfred F. Jones]

I recently had the idea of writing a story that had supplemental Danmakufu scripts included, to flesh out the fight scenes beyond descriptions of the patterns (which to be honest, are a pet peeve of mine). Would anyone be interested in reading/playing a story like that?

Holy shit. That would be incredibly awesome. Yes, I would love to see something like that.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Holy shit. That would be incredibly awesome. Yes, I would love to see something like that.

Seconded

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

Hmmm.

Okay, but only if you don't need to defeat each individual pattern to get to the next one (i.e. they're freely selectable). Reading a story is an entirely different experience from playing a danmaku game. I know you're not saying the danmaku things are required to enjoy the story, but if you can't, or it's too hard, the reader might feel like they're missing out on something.

I dunno ... it has the flavor of something "too gimmicky" or possibly "if you can't enjoy the danmaku you won't enjoy the prose-story," even if it isn't literally that way. Maybe I'm remembering too clearly how Enter the Matrix had vital plot-information that explained certain things in The Matrix: Revolutions that didn't make sense from just the movie.

[CK Crash]

You would be able to choose between individual patterns or the full boss, and you would be allowed to use continues (personally, I think 3 lives is plenty already). The only things the danmaku would have that the text wouldn't would be the patterns and the music. It's additional imagery, not a second medium for the story, so you don't have to worry about being left out if you're terrible at danmaku.

I didn't think anyone would support the idea, so I'm pleasantly surprised. I haven't written any kind of narrative before, but I'm a decent writer otherwise. I hope to live up to expectations. 

[MysTeariousYukari]

I also thrid or 4th or w/e the idea of the Danmaku stuff for fight scenes. It sounds like a great idea!

[Esifex]

As long as you have an option to make it auto-play the pattern or something, for those of us who are truly horrendous at all manner of danmaku.

[Matsuri]

It's a great idea, really! And for those who dislike playing the patterns, I'm sure there will be some people in HME/RaNGE/AA who'd be happy to record themselves playing and post them on YouTube, as well. :3

[Tengukami]

I can see how this would sound "gimmicky", but honestly, I think this could work so long as two things were in place: 1., an option to skip the danmaku that of course doesn't mean the reader loses part of the story, and 2., that the danmaku at least be run on a platform that anyone can easily use. Danmakufu, for example, would not be a good idea.

Apart from that, I think it would be a nice ornamental element to the story, and could certainly be a lot of fun.

[Suikama]

I think if we just allowed infinite continues and no drawbacks to doing so there shouldn't be much of a problem.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Hi dear people of PSL,
some of you may or may not have seen this topic here.

It would be nice if you all could have a look at the idea discussed there and comment on it here or in the thread, so we can get an opinion from the ones this idea is actually relevant for: You, the writers of PSL ^^

[Iced Fairy]

Hm... I read it and I'm kinda torn.  While I like the idea of a seperate writer title, there's also the mess that comes with titles in general.  Of course the artists seem to handle their title just fine....

I think I'm generally in favor of it.  I trust the people here.  I do agree Librarian's a job not a prize.  You don't even need to qrite to be a Librarian after all.  Just read and organize.