Ask a Writer! This Week - an unmatched sock!

[Joveus Molai]

  Good afternoon, everyone.

  Hello~! And welcome to...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

*Applause*

...where we interview our talented PSL writers about the craft and the experience of writing. Each week, we bring in a new writer and get to know him or her through a series of questions.

And by "we", we don't mean just me and Akyuu-chan! That's right, YOU, the audience, also get to ask our writers questions, too! Is there anything you've wanted clarified? Something you've been curious about in a story? Or maybe you just want to get to know the writer a bit better? Ask away; that's what this show's for!

  Plus, at the end of each week, we pick a new writer to interview from the audience! First come, first serve! But don't raise your hands just yet, we'll be picking our next guest at the end of each week.

As we accrue more interviews, please consult the archive below if you'd like to rewatch any of our previous episodes.

Once again, thank you for watching...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

-

Previous Episodes
Week 1: Iced Fairy
Week 2: hungrybookworm
Week 3: Roukanken
Week 4: UnendingEmpire
Week 5: Acharityth
Week 6: Ammy
Week 7: Sakura Rurouni
Week 8: Wolfsbane706
Week 9: The Dratini Farmer
Week 10: an unmatched sock

[Joveus Molai]

Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 1 of...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

*Applause*

For this week, our guest is one of the most prolific writers in PSL. He's the author of some of the larger writing projects such as the New World  trilogy, organized the last Library Cleanup project (for which Ms. Patchouli is very grateful), and is currently working on Marisa's Summer Camp.

Everyone, please welcome this week's guest: Iced Fairy!

*Thunderous applause, whistles, occasional wolf-whistle*


Q: To start things off: what got you into writing fiction?

I've always been mildly interested in storytelling, but really the Touhou fandom is where I really moved into writing.  Basically I loved the characters, and some of the characterizations I saw, but the fiction was always retreading the same ground or wandering off into AUs.  My first fics were stories that I thought were obvious but no one seemed to write.  Things kinda spiraled out from there.

Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?

Hm...  I've read a whole lot of books, and I think reading and investigating fiction is one of the best things you can do to improve writing so anything I list will be something of a small subset.  Just off the top of my head Sandman, MAGE, and Lone Wolf and Cub have all directly influenced my writings.

Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?

Hm...  Favorite is hard.  I'd lean towards Momiji actually though Marisa's a close second.  Most difficult to write that I commonly use is probably Hatate.  I always feel I need to improve her characterization more.  Most difficult that I want to write in the near future is probably Kokoro.

Q: Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?

I've got a real soft spot for What Winter Left Behind.  My favorites kinda change around, but that one is always constantly among them.

Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?

I've done some crossover stuff.  I think my Mabinogi NaNO entry's the only story that's been 100% non Touhou, though I've considered some independent works.  Writing is mainly a hobby for me, so the structure (and audience) of fanfiction saves me a lot of time honestly.

Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?

Rewarding?  People praising and discussing your works, though even for me that's a rare draught.  Challenging?  Pushing through the parts of a story you need to write to get to the stuff you want to write. 

Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?

Character personas.  I really really really want my characters to be distinct and stand out, and I'm always worried they become a little too bland and sameish.  Especially when I'm juggling a lot of characters. 

Q: When writing Touhou fiction, how do you usually approach official canon material? Do you build on top of it; do you go around it; or do you try and stay within it as much as possible? Something else?

Ahahahaha....  Yeah. Well, that's kinda an essay on it's own.  When I started out I desperately tried to build within canon.  I felt free to alter the far future, but I did my best to avoid any contradictions.  I studied the stuff almost religiously, and I'm still mad at how bad some of the actual game translations for the endings/routes were.

Then 10D and SoPM happened and damn near killed my interest in Touhou.  I'd always prided myself on muddling through contradictions and stuff before, but that was unworkable.  Especially since it ripped up the games I loved the most.  As a bonus it made Futo unwritable to me, which normally wouldn't matter because Futo's a dull character for me, but that kills any writing I could do on the 10 D crew.  I think I'm still recovering from that mess.

Now that I'm slowly working back into writing I've pretty much abandoned worrying about strict canon.  I've done the work before, and if my works aren't 100% perfect, well, neither are ZUNs.  I'm trying to focus on the stories more, though I still want to work within the world of Touhou.

Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?

I'm pretty genre agnostic when it comes to reading, though I have a limit on the amount of drama I'll accept in any timespan.  My favorite genre to write is slice of life, and I imagine it shows.

Q: Was there anything in particular that sparked the idea for the New World trilogy?

Three things.

1 - I wanted to write about Maribel and Renko
2 - There'd been a flood of "Maribel obviously turns into Yukari" posts at the time.  I thought that the reverse is far far more likely and interesting.
3 - I'd just read the CDs and seen two very interesting lines.  One where Maribel (at the end of the "last" CD at the time) talked about going to the moon using its reflection, the same way Yukari does.  The other where Renko realizes Maribel is slipping away in dreams, and has to fight her own jealousy and fear of losing her friend.

I took those two themes and ran with them and things just kinda happened.

Q: Given that you've written an extended Mega Man reference story...how much Mega Man do you play? Which game was your favorite, and why?

Not as much as you might imagine.  I'm actually a mediocre gamer, but my old roommate had all the games so I've seen them (and beat most of them) at least once.  As for favorite game... probably the Misadventures of Tron Bonne.  >.<  But the Zero series fascinated me from a story side.

Q: Your Koakuma is well known for being both unique and delightfully fun to read. Where did you get the idea for your interpretation of Koakuma? Was there any reason you chose your particular version of Koakuma?

Koakuma... Hrm...  Well Koakuma's interesting.

So at the beginning I had one goal with her.  She was a succubus who Patchouli had accidentally summoned because that was funny to me.  When I parsed out the details for for that in Makai Shopping Trip I ended up with a playful flirt who still was competent at her job and respected Patchouli as a person.  Just devilish to be fun without being annoying~

Q: You've used the witch trio (Alice, Marisa, Patchy) a few times in several stories. Are there any other such groupings of characters you'd like to write at some point?

Definitely want to write more of the Tengu romance pairs (Momiji, Sanae, Hatate, Satori).  And one day I'll manage to pull stuff together and manage to write the Tsukumogami crew.  Medicine, Kogasa, Kokoro, Benben, Yatsuhashi and Raiko all in a room discussing human oppression (or lack thereof) is a fic that needs to exist.

Q: Lastly, is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?

Start small.  There's a great deal of disdain among amateurs on the internet towards small fics.  This in my opinion is why they're still amateurs.  Short stories have many many benefits, not the least of which is you can expand them later if you need to.  Write and finish some smaller works to get the feel of actually completing stuff.  It won't stop your bigger works from spiraling out of control, but it'll help you try to reign them in.

-

And that's it for this our questions! Now we open it up to the audience! Please ask our guest anything related to writing you've always wanted to ask, but never had the chance!

Please try to keep your questions focused on Iced Fairy's capacity as a writer. We'd ask you to refrain from posing any...social questions for now.

At the end of 1 week, we'll be picking our next Ask a Writer guest, so stay on your toes, folks!

[Joveus Molai]

(To get things rolling, I'll ask a question myself)

Q: How would you describe your overall writing style?

[FinnKaenbyou]

What's the biggest misstep you've made while writing, and how would you say you've learned from it?

If you could only read the work of one author for the rest of your life, who would it be and why?

[Iced Fairy]

Q: How would you describe your overall writing style?

My writing style is a mess, but probably most influenced by cheap fantasy novels.  Apparently I'm also verbose, as I stump my proofreaders on with certain words now and then.

What's the biggest misstep you've made while writing, and how would you say you've learned from it?

My biggest mistakes are always misreading the scope of a project and how much time I'll be able to give to it.  As to what I've learned... don't take projects of random scope when you don't have much time, but I can't say the lesson stuck.  :ohdear:

If you could only read the work of one author for the rest of your life, who would it be and why?

Gail Simone.  I've chewed through the works of a lot of great writers, but she's the one I really wish I could find more of.  (Also she should kill the DC editing staff and rule the company with an iron fist.  This would make her work even better.)

[hungrybookworm]

Unless I've gone crazy and started imagining things, you've done some work/are working on the Touhou VN 'Eastern Starlight Romance'. How does writing for a visual novel compare to writing prose fiction, and what unique challenges have come up as a result?

[Iced Fairy]

Unless I've gone crazy and started imagining things, you've done some work/are working on the Touhou VN 'Eastern Starlight Romance'. How does writing for a visual novel compare to writing prose fiction, and what unique challenges have come up as a result?

You know that part about underestimating the scope of the project?  Yeah.  VNs are just plain harder to write for.  The script style doesn't lend itself to quick writing, plotting the scenery and SFX and pose changes requires a solid planning and frequent rewriting, and most importantly, it's a team effort.  So ALL of your workers have to be on the ball all the time.

If you want to do a VN, find a dedicated artist first and keep it short.  Let you suffer my fate.

[Wolfsbane706]

What would you consider good and bad approaches to a self-editing project?

[Alfred F. Jones]

How did Satori x Hatate end up as one of your favourite ships?

[Iced Fairy]

What would you consider good and bad approaches to a self-editing project?

Bad is pretty much not doing it.  I suppose if you find yourself dithering about changing entire segments that'd be bad too.  For most projects I just check my working and spelling.  I still fail but less...

How did Satori x Hatate end up as one of your favourite ships?

Pure pure accident.  That whole story was just a snowballing set of thoughts, starting with "Satori's a good writer and Hatate's an aspiring writer who doesn't hate satori as a race".  But when I reached the end, I just felt like the two of them would at the very least give it a chance.

And perhaps that's what I like about it so much.  It's a relationship that's got a million difficulties in its way.  There's the age difference, the species difference, the mind reading problem.  The fact that Satori is both terrified and desperate for companionship at the same time, and Hatate is partially doing this out of misplaced pride.  But their personalities are such that Hatate is one of the few few people in the world who can stand Satori, and because of that Satori can read and support Hatate like no one else can.

It's also unique and my own creation so I'm terribly biased towards it.  Everyone else should follow my example and make it a primary ship.

[Alfred F. Jones]

In retrospect, what is your favourite story you've written for Touhou so far? Why is it your favourite?

What story of yours would you most want newcomers to the Touhou fandom to read?

[Iced Fairy]

In retrospect, what is your favourite story you've written for Touhou so far? Why is it your favourite?

What Winter Left behind is probably my favorite.  As to why?  Probably a combination of nostalgia, and enjoyment of the simplicity of the work. 

What story of yours would you most want newcomers to the Touhou fandom to read?

Hrm....  Might be nostalgia talking, but possibly Makai Shopping Trip.  I really like my internal extended Touhou universe, but I think that fic does a good job of presenting both story and conflict without tripping over itself without skewing someone into villainy as a driving force.  I love a lot of my other works, but I admit I tend to stick to character interactions.

[capt. h]

You have finished a couple large stories. Looking back, do you consider the time you spent on those stories well spent? Would you have written those big stories if you knew how much time and effort they would take? Would you do it again?

[Iced Fairy]

You have finished a couple large stories. Looking back, do you consider the time you spent on those stories well spent? Would you have written those big stories if you knew how much time and effort they would take? Would you do it again?

My longer stories... I feel like they were generally worth the time, though I still wish they had a little more recognition.  I do however regret the stories I haven't managed to finish.  You never have that guilt with shorts.

[Kimidori]

What happened in 10D and SoPM nearly killed Touhou for you?

[Iced Fairy]

What happened in 10D and SoPM nearly killed Touhou for you?

10D cast was lackluster to me.  Futo and Seiga were terrible people who I find utterly unsympathetic and thus generally of little use to my writing.  But not using Futo means Miko and Tojiko are out, and not using Seiga means no Yoshiaka.  That left me with two usable characters, and I wasn't jumping for joy over either.

Worse SoPM was announced around the same time, and there was a big "to be continued" in Mamizou's writeup.  There was a fear that anything anyone wrote would likely be scrapped in six months (a fear that was completely legitimate).  The whole Touhou community was in wait and see mode.  And what a terrible wait and see mode it was.  Every.  Single.  Day.  Someone would joyously blitz in and gush about how Gensoukyo was super serious now and oh how lovely the religious wars would be.  This was not good for my opinion on any the characters involved.

Then we actually got SoPM and... yeah.  SWR (and IN) got effectively cut out of cannon, SA was butchered, and Nitori got rewritten so ZUN could take cheap shots at atheism in HM.  It was a clusterfuck.

In the end I was forced to realize that I gave a whole lot more of a damn about a very strict continuity then ZUN did and try to learn to chill the fuck out.  I'm not 100% of the way there, but I've managed to revive a little bit of my interest for Touhou.  Still revisiting the nitty gritty makes me grind my teeth (which is why I'm giving a summary instead of going through everything I hated).  Probably one of the reasons I'm playing around with the magicians right now.

[Joveus Molai]

  That's all we have for this week, everyone!

  Let's give a very big thank you to Iced Fairy for being here today.

*Thunderous applause, cheers*

We wish Iced Fairy the very best on the rest of his endeavors, whether it's in the art of the pen or anything else.

Good luck, Iced!

---

Now, before we call the curtains on this week's episode, we still have one more thing to do.

That's right! We have to pick our next guest from the audience!

Indeed. So, if you'd like to be the next guest on....

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

...please post your request here on this thread.

"Thread"? Like the thing you sew with?

Shh, stick with the script.

Err, right! If you'd like to be the next guest on our show, let us know! Remember, first come first served! So the next person to post their request will be the next person interviewed!

And after we've selected our next guest, we will adjourn to give our writing team some time to prepare.

So step right up! And be our next guest on...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

*Applause*

---

Joveus' note: In all seriousness, thanks again to Iced Fairy for participating! We got to learn a lot from you!

Also, just in case the instructions were not clear:

If you'd like to be the next person interviewed, please make a post saying so. The first person to do so will be the next person to be interviewed. Obviously, if you've already been interviewed once, you will not be eligible to be interviewed again.

[hungrybookworm]

Me! Me!

[Joveus Molai]

Me! Me!

Oh my, we have our next guest already.

Alright, we've got our next guest! We'll see you in a little while!

Join us next time, for...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

----

Joveus' note: Alright folks, I'm gonna need a day or two to hunt down hungrybookworm's works and give them a read/reread. Be back soon! Scratch that, I'm a faster reader than I thought.

[Joveus Molai]

Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 2 of...

**~ASK A WRITER!~**

*Applause*

Our guest this week has written a number of fanfics, many of them in franchises outside of Touhou but also several Touhou shorts as well. She was a runner-up in the last Weekly Writing Competition, and is currently working on a larger Touhou project.

Let's give a big hand to this week's guest: hungrybookworm!

*Applause, cheers, occasional wolf-whistle*

Q: To start things off: what got you into writing fiction?

When I was little I really enjoyed making up stories and getting my friends to read them. Back then I wasn?t allowed on the computer much, so I would write on plain A4 paper with a biro. My friends seemed to genuinely like my stories, so that made me wonder if I should try being an author.

One thing my family used to do on long car journeys was take turns telling a stupid story featuring characters from our favourite books and TV shows (my strongest memory is of a Thunderbirds/Famous Five crossover set in Longleat Safari Park...) I didn?t realise that kind of stuff was called ?fanfiction? until I was 14, and soon after I joined a Harry Potter fanfiction archive and started writing my own stuff.

How I got into Touhou is a bit convoluted, but I started writing fanfiction for it because I wanted to do an epic, serious Touhou story. Somewhere down the line I got into ReiMari and... yeah.

Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?

Music. When planning, I listen to dance music podcasts and imagine scenes in my head. I usually listen to Touhou music arrangements when planning Touhou stuff, though. I also read books and manga: books for writing techniques, and manga for storytelling techniques (though occasionally I?ll find a book with great plot structure). I keep a reading diary so I can note down what I learn too, though I guess that?s a sign I take things pretty seriously. I don?t expect other people to do this kind of stuff, haha.

Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?

I?m still quite new to writing in the Touhou fandom, so there are a good number of characters I haven?t had the chance to test drive yet. But out of the ones I have, I?m gonna say the most difficult is definitely Koishi. How do you write someone who doesn?t think? She only had about three lines in the fic I put her in, but those three lines took me forever to do. My favourite to write is Marisa, but I suspect that?s because she?s my favourite Touhou character. I think most people enjoy writing Marisa though. She?s great fun, and the way she acts is a lot more ?western?, so she?s easier for us non-Japanese people.

Q: Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?

I?m still amazed I managed to write something as good as Lunar Orbit. I don?t mean to blow my own trumpet here, but my god did that come out great. It came through a combined desire to write ?my own? version of Silent Sinner in Blue (fix fics are great fun, btw. People should do them more often in this fandom) and inspiration from a scene where Marisa is shown waiting for Reimu to come back to the shrine. I ended up having way too much fun with the details of how they lived in the rocket, and it grew to about 4,000 words. I think I got the romantic tension just perfect though. I?m super happy with it.

Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?

I started out writing Harry Potter fanfiction (the best of which I?ve uploaded to AO3). After I got into anime/manga I wrote a lot of CLAMP stuff, then Hunter x Hunter and Haruhi Suzumiya (including a complete multi-chapter fic). I haven?t finished uploading my backlog to AO3, so I recommend checking my old livejournal fanfic community if anyone?s interested in reading that stuff. I also write original fiction, but I don?t upload that to the internet. I try to write as often as I can, which would ideally be every day, but it?s usually more like once every three days.

Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?

The most rewarding part is how amazingly fun it is. Don?t get me wrong, it can be very frustrating sometimes, and when I?m not writing well it?s easy to get discouraged, but everything from planning it out to watching the scene unfold on the page is just such an experience. The editing afterwards is the hard (and less interesting) part, but it?s satisfying in its own way. The most challenging part is making it actually good. Like, I can type away until the cows come home, but if what comes out is total junk that requires a full rewrite to be even remotely decent, then I feel pretty rubbish. I only upload stuff that I think is good. My standards for myself are pretty high, and I have a huge pile of Touhou stuff in my drafts folder that doesn?t meet them.

Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?

My writing style. My ideal is slim, clear and beautiful. Like a haiku. I still have a long way to go before mine gets anywhere near that level. I?ve noticed recently that I sometimes repeat sentences across stories. It?s a bad habit. I also get hung up on explaining everything sometimes, probably because of all those jerks on 4chan who yell PLOTHOLES at everything they can?t understand. Bad fandoms can scar you for life.

Q: When writing Touhou fiction, how do you usually approach official canon material? Do you build on top of it; do you go around it; or do you try and stay within it as much as possible? Something else?

Touhou?s canon is a unique challenge. It?s purposefully vague, so you have a lot of freedom, but characterisation can be a pain because you might only have ten lines of trash talking and a short entry in the omake.txt to go by, if you?re lucky. I try to mix canon and fanon with my characterisations; if you stick to just canon, some characters aren?t as interesting, and none of them will want to shake up the status-quo. (Canon Sanae is sweet but that youkai extermination side to her has more potential). But if you overdo the fanon then they start being out-of-character, which might be fine for a comedy story, but for a plotty story you?re in big trouble. For other canon stuff, the touhou wiki is a lifesaver, especially because I can check the Japanese text at the same time, to make extra sure I?m understanding things correctly.

Overall, though, I try not to get too hung up on canon. I aim to make the reader believe this could plausibly happen in canon (especially with partial rewrite stories like Lunar Orbit) but I don?t sweat it if what I write gets jossed in the next game or manga chapter or whatever. That?s a risk with all ongoing fandoms, and I find it part of the fun. (In CLAMP fandom there was a very real chance your adorable fluff fic would take on a whole new meaning the following week, when a new chapter revealed the characters you paired up were actually parent and child, or one of them just ate the other, or the whole thing was set in a parallel dimension. We all just took it in our stride, and added things like 'written pre-chapter XX' if we thought people might get confused.)

Q: What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?

As my username implies, I adore books. I spend all my alone time either reading, writing or working on my Japanese (plus a quick gaming session when I feel like a break). I get through about one book a week, sometimes several if I really get into it. I also read manga, though not as much as I used to. The thing I?m really really into at the moment is Japanese Touhou doujin novels. There?s a far wider selection of fic available in Japanese, so it?s easier for me to find stuff that?s really, really good, or tailored to suit my tastes (ReiMari *is* more popular in Japan after all). They take forever to read though!

Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?

What genres I love differs depending on whether it?s fanfiction or original stuff. For fanfic, I love reading and writing a good, serious romance story, packed full of feels and emotional conflict. I don?t mind sex scenes as long as the emphasis is on people?s emotions and not what got shoved where. I also really like suspense stories. I tend to avoid fics that are packed full of OCs or heavily AU. If I start wondering why it?s a fanfic and not an original piece, that usually means it?s time to hit the back button. Harsh, perhaps, but that?s just my personal taste.

For original fiction I lean more towards plot driven stuff. I want badass action scenes, cool fights and ideally an epic, slightly complicated plot that manages to surprise me. Romance is nice, but optional. The truly, truly amazing stuff will give me a huge kick of catharsis, and present the whole thing with a melancholic sense of beauty. (The recent Evangelion movies nail this, imo.) My tolerance for power levels and chuu-ni silliness is a lot lower than it used to be though.

Q: Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?

There?s a large touhou fanfic I?ve been thinking about since early 2013, it's the serious fic I mentioned earlier. It?s currently in the planning stages (I?m writing and rearranging the chapter synopses in notepad atm), so you won?t be seeing it for a while, but I want to get started on the first draft before the end of 2014. I also want to try a darker take on the second gen windows games (with a literal religious war maybe?), and of course lots and lots of ReiMari.

Q:Reimu x Marisa appears to be one of your favorite Touhou pairings. Is there anything in particular about this pairing that has inspired you to write about it? Are there any other pairings you enjoy writing about?

Fun fact: Originally I couldn?t understand why people shipped Reimu and Marisa. They barely interact in the games, and I thought people just put them together because they were the main characters. Then I read the print works, and I fell totally in love with it. (I joke sometimes that ZUN made me ship ReiMari). I?ve always been into pairings that feature close friends slowly falling in love, and I like pairings with some canon basis, so ReiMari ticked both of those boxes. I never expected to love it this much though.

With other pairings, I actually like Marisa/Alice a lot too, though not as much as ReiMari. Recently I?ve been pretty intrigued by Reimu/Sanae and Marisa/Sanae (of all things!) I should mention that I will ship pretty much everything given an excuse. I also like Maribel/Renko, Alice/Sakuya, Keine/Mokou and, my favourite crack pairing, Yukari/Mima.

Q: Your Archive Of Our Own page lists a lot of works for things outside Touhou. Do you find writing for Touhou different from writing for, say, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, other CLAMP works, or Hunter X Hunter?[/quote]

Very, very different! I mean, the Touhou fandom is mostly made up of guys, to start with, and it?s a fandom where drawing and making music will get you far more attention than writing fic ever will (my Hunter x Hunter stuff gets three times the hits my Touhou stuff does). There?s also the unique issues that come with the canon material, but I already went on about that. Ultimately the kind of fic I write isn?t all that different, though I suppose I?m more aware that I write my stories with women in mind rather than men.

Q: Given your experience with CLAMP fanfiction, have you had any thoughts on a crossover story with CLAMP material and Touhou?[/quote]

Hahah, oh yes, I have. I?m not up to date on CLAMP stuff anymore (though I plan to archive binge them in Japanese someday) but I?m sure everyone?s imagined Yukari and Yuuko from xxxHolic chatting over tea. Crossovers are fun, but hard to do right. I once tried a Haruhi Suzumiya/Doctor Who crossover. That was a learning experience.

Q: Lastly, is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?

It?s okay to write for yourself and never show it to anyone, and it?s okay to be completely self indulgent. Rule number one of writing is to enjoy it, otherwise it won?t happen!

If you?re serious about getting better at prose though, you need to read books and practice writing as often as you can. There?s no short cut, no easy cheat method. If you don?t have time for whole novels, then try short story collections. Not reading prose when you?re writing prose is madness. Imagine a music composer that never listens to music. Also one pitfall I see a lot of anime fans fall into is writing like an awkward Japanese translation. If your story is full of ?it can?t be helped?s or ?Is that so?s (unless it?s about Rumia I guess) then it?s time to cut back a bit. Lastly, don?t beat yourself up too much. Everyone has to start somewhere. It?s important to be aware of your weaknesses, but if you start your fic by boasting about how bad a writer you are, and that you really just can?t understand why people insist on reading your stuff, then everyone?s going to take your advice and not read it. (I can never tell whether people are trying to be modest, macho or what when they say that. Feel free to enlighten me.)

-

And that's it for our questions! Now it's your turn!

Again, please try to keep your questions focused on hungrybookworm's capacity as a writer.

At the end of 1 week, we'll be picking our next Ask a Writer guest, so stay tuned!

[Joveus Molai]

Question:

Could you describe to us your writing process for a story, from the very start to the very end?

[hungrybookworm]

Could you describe to us your writing process for a story, from the very start to the very end?

Sure I?ll give it a shot. I?m the planning type. I can sit down, start writing and just wing it if it?s short, but anything longer than 500 words needs to be planned out, or I get stuck. So for one shots I do a quick outline, and for long stuff I do a synopsis broken down chapter-by-chapter. I always make sure I know how it ends, otherwise I?ll just keep going and going.

Here, have some pictures. Here?s my outline for Lunar Orbit.


Those of you who have read it will notice that there are a few things in there that differ from the fic. It?s pretty normal for stuff to change as you write, because you usually can?t tell how the scene will flow until you?re actually writing it. (And sometimes bad ideas don't make themselves obvious until you're trying to make the characters do them). I really wanted to include the part about Yorihime eating Marisa?s danmaku, but it got cut because I wasn?t entirely sure if spell card rules were enforced in Gensokyo. (I ended up including a line that implied they were anyway, but after ISC and FS17 I?m extremely confident they aren?t. Ah well.)

This is a (censored) screenshot of the chaptered Touhou fic I?m planning out.


What? Anyway, I?m actually a little worried they?re too detailed right now. Originally I wrote these on paper too, but I got fed up of writing everything out by hand over and over. Each arrow is a new ?scene? or plot point.

Once I?m done with the first draft, I leave it alone for at least a day. If I reread it and it?s not crap, I start editing. Sometimes I?ll start editing before I?m done with the first draft though, usually because I don't like the direction it's going in. Editing usually involves deleting lots of unnecessary adverbs, horrible abuse of the text highlighting feature and rewriting several paragraphs. After that, I read it out loud. This is very embarrassing, but it helps me catch errors or awkward lines I wouldn?t notice otherwise. Then I leave it alone again until the next day, where I read it over one more time, then upload it.

Phew, I feel exhausted just thinking about it...

[Tengukami]

William S. Burroughs once said, "If you've just finished writing something and think it's brilliant, tear it up immediately and throw it into someone else's garbage can." I'm always curious to hear what other writers make of this statement, and what their take on it is.

[hungrybookworm]

William S. Burroughs once said, "If you've just finished writing something and think it's brilliant, tear it up immediately and throw it into someone else's garbage can." I'm always curious to hear what other writers make of this statement, and what their take on it is.

My immediate reaction is "that's totally mad", but when you're the writer of Naked Lunch you probably aren't going to play by the rules, haha.

What works for one writer might not work for another. It's important to have fun experimenting. Just don't use drugs or anything, kids, or you'll end up like all those crazy romanticist poets writing about lakes.

[Joveus Molai]

Q: Do you have any plans to publish a novel and sell it? Why or why not?

[hungrybookworm]

Q: Do you have any plans to publish a novel and sell it? Why or why not?

Right now I'm satisfied just posting fanfiction, but I would like to try writing a novel and getting it published someday. I'm under no illusions about how hard that is to achieve, though.

[capt. h]

I find that when I try to write big ideas, I often get bored of the idea long before I finish. Sometimes I get bored of it before I even start! How do you combat this problem in your own works?

What books do you recommend reading while attempting to write?

[hungrybookworm]

I find that when I try to write big ideas, I often get bored of the idea long before I finish. Sometimes I get bored of it before I even start! How do you combat this problem in your own works?

What books do you recommend reading while attempting to write?

If I get bored of the idea, that usually means it wasn't any good in the first place, so I usually either change it to make it more interesting, or just drop it and move on to something else. I'm generally more likely to do the former if it's a long story, and the latter if it's short. I'm guessing your problem is staying interested in your ideas long enough to write them down, regardless if whether they're actually boring or not. The best way to combat that is a mixture of training yourself to enjoy the actual process of writing (take pleasure in the art of storytelling, not just thinking up cool ideas!) and good old fashioned willpower. Writing something long is kinda like running a marathon or climbing a mountain: it's hard work, and there's loads of moments where you just want to give up, but you have to stick with it until the end. It's well worth it.

As for recommended books, do you mean books about writing or books that are so awesome they inspire people to write?

[Iced Fairy]

Do you have an editor you can grab for final shakedowns or is all your work self edited?

[hungrybookworm]

Do you have an editor you can grab for final shakedowns or is all your work self edited?

I use my boyfriend as a test reader, but only for fandoms we both share. Luckily this includes Touhou. It's less about my spelling and grammar (though he does point out any mistakes he finds) and more to check that the story isn't confusing or weird in a bad way. He's also good to bounce ideas off, as his Touhou knowledge is about the same as mine.

Everything else I check myself.