Maidens of the Kaleidoscope
~Hakurei Shrine~ => Patchouli's Scarlet Library => Topic started by: Joveus Molai on May 29, 2014, 06:45:15 AM
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Good afternoon, everyone.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Hello~! And welcome to...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) ...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.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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!
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) As we accrue more interviews, please consult the archive below if you'd like to rewatch any of our previous episodes.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Once again, thank you for watching...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
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Previous Episodes
Week 1: Iced Fairy (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1099780.html#msg1099780)
Week 2: hungrybookworm (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1101749.html#msg1101749)
Week 3: Roukanken (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1105232.html#msg1105232)
Week 4: UnendingEmpire (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1107529.html#msg1107529)
Week 5: Acharityth (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1109944.html#msg1109944)
Week 6: Ammy (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1113041.html#msg1113041)
Week 7: Sakura Rurouni (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1115185.html#msg1115185)
Week 8: Wolfsbane706 (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1118549.html#msg1118549)
Week 9: The Dratini Farmer (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1120510.html#msg1120510)
Week 10: an unmatched sock (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1124821.html#msg1124821)
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 1 of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) 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 (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6097.0.html) World (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7910.html) trilogy (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8801.0.html), organized the last Library Cleanup project (for which Ms. Patchouli is very grateful), and is currently working on Marisa's Summer Camp (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16862.0.html).
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) 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.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) At the end of 1 week, we'll be picking our next Ask a Writer guest, so stay on your toes, folks!
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(To get things rolling, I'll ask a question myself)
Q: How would you describe your overall writing style?
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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?
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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.)
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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?
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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.
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What would you consider good and bad approaches to a self-editing project?
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How did Satori x Hatate end up as one of your favourite ships?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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What happened in 10D and SoPM nearly killed Touhou for you?
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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.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) That's all we have for this week, everyone!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's give a very big thank you to Iced Fairy for being here today.
*Thunderous applause, cheers*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) 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.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck, Iced!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Now, before we call the curtains on this week's episode, we still have one more thing to do.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) That's right! We have to pick our next guest from the audience!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed. So, if you'd like to be the next guest on....
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) ...please post your request here on this thread.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) "Thread"? Like the thing you sew with?
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Shh, stick with the script.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) And after we've selected our next guest, we will adjourn to give our writing team some time to prepare.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So step right up! And be our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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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. :P
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Me! Me!
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Me! Me!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Oh my, we have our next guest already.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Alright, we've got our next guest! We'll see you in a little while!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Join us next time, for...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
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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.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 2 of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Our guest this week has written a number of fanfics, many of them in franchises outside of Touhou but also several (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1254244) Touhou (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1368169) shorts (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1646594) as well. She was a runner-up in the last Weekly Writing Competition (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12780.msg1058214.html#msg1058214), and is currently working on a larger Touhou project.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) 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 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1254244), 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 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1368169). 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 (http://worlds-aroundus.livejournal.com/1208.html) 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.)
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for our questions! Now it's your turn!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Again, please try to keep your questions focused on hungrybookworm's capacity as a writer.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) At the end of 1 week, we'll be picking our next Ask a Writer guest, so stay tuned!
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Question:
Could you describe to us your writing process for a story, from the very start to the very end?
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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.
(http://i.imgur.com/u8mkl6M.jpg)
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.
(http://i.imgur.com/6Elm4j5.jpg)
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...
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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.
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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.
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Q: Do you have any plans to publish a novel and sell it? Why or why not?
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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.
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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?
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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?
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Do you have an editor you can grab for final shakedowns or is all your work self edited?
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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.
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As for recommended books, do you mean books about writing or books that are so awesome they inspire people to write?
Q: How about both? What are some books you'd recommend for tips on writing, and what are some books you think are so awesome they inspire people to write?
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What are you reading/have read recently? (fanfic, tradpub, or indie)
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Q: How about both? What are some books you'd recommend for tips on writing, and what are some books you think are so awesome they inspire people to write?
Hmm, for tips on writing, I think it's best to read a wide variety of how-to books. They tend to contradict each other (which is normal, writing is an art not a science!) so you can cherry pick what does and doesn't work for you. Personally I like Stephen King's On Writing and Russell T Davies' The Writer's Tale. For books that are so awesome they inspire people to write... I guess that depends on your taste, but Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy never fails to get me motivated (and cry tears of frustration because I will never write anything that amazing).
What are you reading/have read recently? (fanfic, tradpub, or indie)
I just finished reading Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart (in English). Before that was John Buchan's The 39 Steps. The best thing I've read recently was Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which is a literary British time loop story. In Japanese I've been making my way through the big pile of doujin novels I got from Reitaisai. I'm currently on 或いは愛さえも暑い夜の夢のような現のような (not gonna try translating that title sorry...) by my favourite circle 四面楚歌 (Surrounded by Enemies). It's a super short Yukari/Reimu story set during the Forbidden Scollery chapter where Reimu has a fever. Reading Japanese prose takes forever because there's no furigana, so I have to look everything up by radicals.
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Reading your answer, I think you might like the Monogatari series. Have you read/watch Bakemonogatari? if you did, what do you think of its writing?
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Reading your answer, I think you might like the Monogatari series. Have you read/watch Bakemonogatari? if you did, what do you think of its writing?
I've watched the first season of Bakemonogatari, and I read the short xxxHOLiC tie in story NISIOISIN wrote. I won't comment on the anime's writing because a) it was an adaption and b) I can't remember enough about it to have a concrete opinion, but when I read the short story it gave me a literal headache. I enjoyed watching the anime, but mostly because of the visuals and cinematics. I don't really feel an urge to watch the second season. When my Japanese is better I might try reading his stuff in Japanese just to see if my brain can handle it, but I'm not in any hurry.
Sorry if this answer disappoints you, lol
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that wraps up this week's show on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's have a round of applause for hungrybookworm for being with us this week.
*Thunderous applause, cheers*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck with writing and everything else, hungrybookworm!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) And now it is that time of the week.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Yep! Time to pick our next guest from the audience!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed. So, if you'd like to be the next guest on....
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) ...please post your request here on this thread.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Akyuu-chan, you still haven't explained what this "thread" you're talking about is.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Kosuzu-chan, if you keep going off-script the writing team will get very angry...
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Anyways, 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!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's find out who our next guest is on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thanks very much to hungrybookworm for participating!
IMPORTANT NOTE: I will be on a trip from June 14 to June 25, where I may or may not have computer/internet access. If I do have internet access, I will make a post here indicating such as soon as I am able. If I don't make such a post by, say, June 15 or so, then you should assume I don't have internet access.
What this means is, if I don't have internet access then I will not be able to PM the interview questions to the next guest. In such a case, the next guest is free to either answer the general questions themselves (those questions that don't directly ask about specific works or writing habits of the guest), or wait until I get internet access.
But enough administrativa, step up and be interviewed!
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This is as close as I'll ever get to being on TV, so I'll take it! :V
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@Rou - What is it about dolphins that inspires you?
Have some restraint and wait until the next one to before trying to wheedle a spot.
[Moriya]And don't edit out mod comments.[/Moriya]
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I just wanna say thanks to Joveus Molai for organising this, and thanks to everyone who asked me a question. It was a lot of fun!
Now to think up a question for Rou...
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What inspired you to write DRK?
Do you often talk to Sango in your head, even when not writing things that are about her?
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What are some other sea-lifes that you enjoy?
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Is Koishi a menace to life everywhere?
How is the work on that novel coming along?
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Joveus' note: Well, I seem to have internet access at this particular hotel. Huzzah!
However, I'm not sure if my next hotel will be the same. Since our new guest is Rou, I'll just post the general questions here and let Rou answer them at his leisure:
What got you into writing fiction?
What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
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?
What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Normally I'd pm these to the guest and let him or her take their time in answering them, but this trip has had some...complications.
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HEY GUYS LET'S ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS
Brief introduction before I start. I'm Roukanken, and I've been around on MotK for several years now. I've written a lot of smaller stories in that time but the one I'm probably best known for is Dolphin Rider Koishi (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6913.0.html), a long-running magical girl/action hybrid that finally spiraled to a close about nine months ago. In terms of more recent work I recently put out a small comedy visual novel called In Miko We Trust (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16927.0.html), where I took a silly mental image of Miko being the president of the USA and I ran with it.
Anyway, enough introduction. To the questions!
What got you into writing fiction?
A potent combination of English class and a friend introducing me to FF.net. I started with awful crack fiction and worked my way up from there. In terms of making it something I seriously pursued, that came a few years later when people started telling me I had some talent with the art. Knowing you've put so much work into something makes it a lot more rewarding when people compliment you for it.
What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
Sadly I don't read as much as I used to (I'm way too picky with my literature), so a lot of my inspiration comes from video games and television. DRK, for example, has extremely large and obvious inspirations from the Persona series, with some pinches of Sailor Moon for a little zest.
For a broader answer, inspiration is something you should try to find in everything. Rather than getting your ideas explicitly from books or even from traditional media, you should look for ideas from pretty much everything you do. Keep an open mind and don't be afraid an idea is stupid before you've thought it out. As I'll explain with DRK later, sometimes it's even a good idea to get inspiration from yourself!
Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
My favourite character to write is probably Patchouli. Whenever she's involved, it gives me a reason to come up with scathing, painful wit, and that's always great fun for me to write. She's got a fun personality too, ranging from bored disinterest to slightly-neurotic obsession depending on the day of the week.
Hardest character to write, hands down, is Koishi. It says a lot that I made the DRK version of Koishi nothing like the original very deliberately. My early attempts in stories like Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars pretty much reduced her to a one-dimensional LOL I'M SO RANDOM character. I'm really unhappy with that portrayal but after stuff like SoPM and Hopeless Masquerade I've got no real idea how I'm supposed to write her. :V
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
DRK. Hands down. They say when you're writing you're putting a little bit of yourself in the story, and in DRK's case that's definitely true. This probably sounds quite corny, but writing Koishi maturing and getting over her problems made it a lot easier for me to grow as well. It even shows in the writing itself - I'm not a fan of the early arcs looking back on them, too much angst and too little action, but again the story 'grows up' as it progresses. Based on the amount of time that went into it, the response it's received, and my general enjoyment of the concept itself, it's definitely my favourite piece I've ever written.
Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
I got my start, back when I was 13, writing fanfiction for Tales of Symphonia. It has not survived the test of time. (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2858019/1/Tales-of-Coffee) (Spoilers for ToS, I suppose?) I dabbled in other fandoms like Phoenix Wright briefly, but it wasn't until I got into Touhou that I really found some momentum.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
Writing for me is a system of having an image in your head, and trying to turn that image into words for other people to understand. The most rewarding feeling I can get is that sensation I've done the image justice, that I've written something that'll make a reader think of the same thing I am.
The hardest part is getting through a slump. Writing in general is a journey of ups and downs - sometimes you're raring to get something written, but other times you'd rather set fire to the keyboard than face a blank page. You need to know yourself pretty well to keep a coherent schedule...which is why DRK took three years to finish. :V
If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
I feel like my descriptions are awfully vague. Looking at published work I see people come up with beautiful metaphors and mental images that I can't really replicate. A lot of this might be down to redrafting, but in general I wish I was a bit quicker on the button when it comes to imagery.
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?
It depends on the nature of the story. If it's a short or a comedy piece I might be willing to waive one or two materials in order to make things work. (This is why so many of my characters can get their hands on wetsuits and dive gear in a universe where they probably don't even exist. :V)
If it's more serious and long-running, I'll try my best to stick with canonical interpretations above all else. Unfortunately because of this there are a lot of characters I'm unlikely to touch. For example I've really taken a shine to Miko recently, but the rest of her crew have been made more and more reprehensible since SoPM. Futo's appearance in IMWT basically depended on me turning her entirely into a caricature rather than something realistic, since the 'real' Futo is a character I don't care for and don't really want to write.
What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
And here's where I spit in the face of everything I just said!
When it comes to reading I pursue in my own time, I have a bile fascination for the terrible. Some of you may know I've done Let's Plays of horrible, horrible VNs (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16180.0.html) in my spare time. When I make an LP like that I'm aiming for two things: firstly to embrace the awfulness of the original piece, and secondly to make something entertaining out of what would otherwise be a trainwreck. It's a fine line and one I've put a lot of practice into treading with care.
What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
It doesn't show in my writing, but I'm a big fan of murder mysteries. I've tried a few times to write my own, but it really doesn't gel with my normal writing style, unfortunately. Maybe some day. :(
Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
I'm actually working on a novel right now! It's a project I've been dabbling in since before 2014 - no real relation to Touhou, although Jozu (an OC I use quite often) does make an appearance in it. I'm about two thirds of the way through a first draft, but progress has been kind of rocked by the fact I've moved out of the house and got myself a job. In fact, as I write this, I'm getting ready for my first day at work!
Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Don't be afraid to suck. No-one is born the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. The only way to get good at writing is to write. You will make mistakes; that's inevitable. But the only way to get those problems out of your writing is to make them first. A great quote I heard about this came from the comic book writer Brian Vaughan: 'Every writer has 10,000 pages of shit in them, and the only way your writing is going to be any good at all is to work hard and hit 10,001.'
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What is it about dolphins that inspires you?
Initially it was entirely accidental. I will admit I am a fan of aquatic scenes in general and have been since I was a kid, but dolphins weren't that big a thing for me. Then I happened to have a mental image of Satori swimming with dolphins, and figured it would make a good short. In true Rou fashion it spiraled horribly out of control and then Sango happened, but by then I'd actually become quite attached to her as a character.
Dolphins are fun, and consequently fun to think about when life gets stressful. Other 'factoids' about dolphins will be willingly ignored and considered slander in my presence. >:<
What inspired you to write DRK?
I know I've said this several times already, but DRK was a happy accident. In the story I mentioned earlier (Pure Lotus of the Sunken Stars) I had Koishi as the one-dimensional maniac. However, there was a running joke where she was convinced she was a magical girl, riding Sango to victory against some evil crab king monster. The image stuck in my head and I decided I wanted to run with it, but add a touch of my personal style as well. The rest, as they say, is history.
Do you often talk to Sango in your head, even when not writing things that are about her?
Not as much as I used to. Maybe it's because DRK is over, but Sango is less of a presence in my head and more of a character. Alternatively it's because she'd have to vie for attention with every other character I've got rolling around in there. :V
What are some other sea-lifes that you enjoy?
I've been meaning to try and write a proper jellyfish youkai for a while. Maybe an eel, as well. (Yes, Iku's an oarfish, but that doesn't quite count.) More than anything though I feel like people are losing interest/patience in that sort of stuff, because I'm far more into it than anyone else. So I guess it'll have to wait for now.
Is Koishi a menace to life everywhere?
How is the work on that novel coming along?
Only you
Like I said I'm in a bit of a slump with all the real life things going on. Moving out, starting work, dealing with my loving and supportive family (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16988.0.html), and so on. I'm hoping once I get into a regular routine with work I'll be able to start writing properly again.
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Alright, let's open the forum. Fire away, ladies and gentlemen other ladies!
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What kind of research do you do before/during the writing of a story, or do you just dive right in?
What's the most amount of research you've ever done for a story?
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Has a dream (while sleeping) ever inspired you to make a short fic? If so, what was it?
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How did you decide to make IMWT's Futo so hilariously maniacal?
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Story outlines. Yes/no? If yes, how much do you plan? Are your outlines more like thumbnail sketches, skeletons, or elaborately woven Persian rugs?
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Do you listen to music whilst you write to get the mood right? If so, then what kind?
What is your most satisfying reader reaction to Completed!DRK?
Do you have any particular interests in others' Touhou fanworks?
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What kind of research do you do before/during the writing of a story, or do you just dive right in?
What's the most amount of research you've ever done for a story?
The simple answer is that I'll research something if I'm not fully confident I can produce a believable equivalent. The best example of research for me would probably be the Komachi arc in DRK, where I made a point of looking up the specific law system for a variety of reasons - both to ensure the trial scene was believable while still readable, and that Komachi's position as a prosecutor made sense.
The most research I did was for that Sango novel that went nowhere, Delphini Sanctimonia. Along with reading a bunch of Latin and Greek stuff for flavour I made a point of getting the Izu Islands down pat for when I wrote them. Then I lost momentum because there was a lot wrong with that story that research wouldn't fix. :<
Has a dream (while sleeping) ever inspired you to make a short fic? If so, what was it?
Sadly no :< My dreams tend to be either the dull sort that's so ordinary you barely realise it's a dream, or just plain unpleasant. I'm jealous because I know people who can go lucid and have awesome dreams. I tried a flotation tank once to see if I could get a similar experience, but that went poorly. (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16319.0.html)
How did you decide to make IMWT's Futo so hilariously maniacal?
Futo was not a character treated kindly by SoPM. One of the main character traits that's mentioned for her is she's something of a pyromaniac - Miko says she would claim to be scared by the sight of Buddhist statues and retaliate by burning them down. When I came up with the concept of Miko as president, it seemed natural for Futo to be a slightly psychotic Secretary of Defense, but I had to really make her into a caricature of her actual self. Futo as an actual character is literally a murderer and I just didn't like her, so I had to turn her into something entertaining that I could enjoy writing while still staying within some semblance of a 'canon' interpretation. Hence, crazy warmonger.
Story outlines. Yes/no? If yes, how much do you plan? Are your outlines more like thumbnail sketches, skeletons, or elaborately woven Persian rugs?
My story outlines are like game design documents. You plan out everything from step one and decide it's all awesome, then as you go through you suddenly realise half of what you planned was utter garbage and start making things up on the spot. Then you redraft and try to pretend the first outline never happened. Maybe don't try that at home. >.>
Do you listen to music whilst you write to get the mood right? If so, then what kind?
Depends on the story. I generally try to find something suiting the atmosphere, typically from an RPG or something similar. For example I'm pretty sure I was listening to Meaning of Birth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHM-7qMiDs) during one of the final fights in DRK, because it just felt right for the Koishi vs Satori
showdown.
What is your most satisfying reader reaction to Completed!DRK?
Probably Esi's contribution. He'd been one of the forefront supporters since day one, so his opinion meant a lot to me. When he gave it his seal of approval I just felt really content with how everything had gone.
Do you have any particular interests in others' Touhou fanworks?
Less than I should~ I've not been as active in the fandom in general of late, ever since DRK really finished. Mainly I read and proof a lot of Iced's stuff, and I really like some of the sappier shorts he puts out (like the one where Hatate and Satori go on a date outside the border).
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Why am I the best writeman?
What kinds of ideas have you wanted to write, but could never really find a way to make them get into proper words? Like, you mentioned that story about the Izu Isles?
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Why am I the best writeman?
One day, as a small child, you were pulled over by a police officer for stealing a toy car. He read you your writes, and you took them to heart for every aspect of your daily life.
What, that's not what you meant?
What kinds of ideas have you wanted to write, but could never really find a way to make them get into proper words? Like, you mentioned that story about the Izu Isles?
I have had a few ideas for stories I really wanted to try because the concept seemed great, but I could never turn into something workable. The biggest is a fiction idea that has stuck in my head for a while - basically it's a world where medical science and other technology falls under copyright, and if the creator dies without naming a successor the work is summarily pulled out of use. Cures are found for major diseases, then pulled off the shelf when the copyright's expired. There's a booming black market for what are known as the Dead and Buried medicines - or D&B for short. The plot would involve the protagonist, a young doctor, discovering a valuable cure for a potential epidemic, only for his mentor to steal it away in the name of gratuitous profit. This convinces the hero he needs to change the system for the better...or something like that.
Yeah I really liked the setting idea but I couldn't make a proper plot or characters from it. :(
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Probably Esi's contribution. He'd been one of the forefront supporters since day one, so his opinion meant a lot to me. When he gave it his seal of approval I just felt really content with how everything had gone.
Esi's Seal of Approval (http://i.imgur.com/6aOflZl.jpg).
I really need to get back to MotK more than I have been, don't I? I miss you guys.
That said! What was the toughest story, genre-wise, for you to whip together? Including Weekly Writing Challenges. You've said murder mysteries appeal to you but you have trouble and haven't put many of them together; what is your favorite story that you've done up, despite feeling like it wouldn't be able to stand on its own?
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I would also like to know what you make of the William S Burroughs quote (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1101879.html#msg1101879) from earlier, "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."
Burroughs always had a point. What do you think his was with this?
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What is your favorite art of Sango?
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Posting from phone...
Alright folks, it's been about one week. After Rou answers this last round of questions, we'll be picking our next guest, who will be whoever first posts their request after Rou makes his last post.
A big thank you to Rou for being this week's guest!
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S'long as there's no recent activity requirement for volunteering, I reckon I can ride on Rou's coat-tails.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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I really need to get back to MotK more than I have been, don't I? I miss you guys.
I miss you too, Esibro. <3
That said! What was the toughest story, genre-wise, for you to whip together? Including Weekly Writing Challenges. You've said murder mysteries appeal to you but you have trouble and haven't put many of them together; what is your favorite story that you've done up, despite feeling like it wouldn't be able to stand on its own?
Probably an old story I put together a while back called Succession (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8599.msg567530.html#msg567530). When I write proper canon I have to work hard to do the character justice, and I was trying to write a serious single piece for Youmu as a character. Looking back on it it's melodramatic and doesn't stand, but it was a satisfying read and write for me at the time.
I would also like to know what you make of the William S Burroughs quote (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16924.msg1101879.html#msg1101879) from earlier, "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."
Burroughs always had a point. What do you think his was with this?
I think it's saying 'if you think your work is fantastic, you're not looking hard enough'. Basically no work is ever perfect, and a writer is always the worst critic of their own work. This is why some people get stuck in an endless cycle of redrafting - they keep finding little tweaks and changes to make, but the final product never fits the bill. Anyone who looks at their work without finding niggling issues with every redraft is either a genius or isn't looking properly. Ultimately there comes a time when you have to accept a draft as 'good enough'.
What is your favorite art of Sango?
This might seem like a bit of a copout, but it's probably the first fanart Sango ever got. When I write characters I'm actually really bad at getting a visual image of them in my head and I usually need a picture to really get them in my head. The picture that really brought her to life was by an artist called Nwbi who hung around at the time of the first Sango story, Third Eye in Pure Waters. Sadly I've lost the original image over time, but I do have another lovely sheet by the same artist (http://i.imgur.com/h2xS4VE.jpg) that basically became the go-to reference for Sango.
(Sadly Nwbi hasn't really been around for a couple of years now. ><)
Anyway, that'll just about wrap it up for me. Thanks for letting me take the floor, Joveus! Hope my answers were enough to satisfy the audience. :3
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I don't mind taking a few questions. I don't write nearly as much now as I used to, but...ah well ^_^; I volunteer for the next week of Ask a Writer :)
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I miss you too, Esibro. <3
2nd
I think it's saying 'if you think your work is fantastic, you're not looking hard enough'. Basically no work is ever perfect, and a writer is always the worst critic of their own work. This is why some people get stuck in an endless cycle of redrafting - they keep finding little tweaks and changes to make, but the final product never fits the bill. Anyone who looks at their work without finding niggling issues with every redraft is either a genius or isn't looking properly. Ultimately there comes a time when you have to accept a draft as 'good enough'.
Exactly right. Thank you. Man was a total genius, I recommend any writer check him out.
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Alright! Thanks again Rou for joining us! Looks like the next guest is UnendingEmpire. As I'm still in the middle of my trip, what applies to Rou applies to Unending.
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I'm ready when you are :) might bring another one-shot from FF to here if only to bump my one-shots thread alongside this ^_^;
EDIT: Scratch that, that'd be a necro post. Guess I'm starting a new thread, lol
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For clarification: Unending was chosen as the next guest since my post specified that the next post after Roukanken's last one would be picked. However, as I wasn't as clear on the matter as I should have been, I would be happy to pick Esi as the next guest in compensation if everyone is OK with it.
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What got you into writing fiction?
I'll be honest, I have no idea. I know I've always enjoyed creating things, starting with music at a young age then moving on to stories. Never anything written though, at least not at the time. I guess the best way to answer this would be to say that I've always been creating fiction, but writing it was mainly just a form of maturing for me. That, and it's way easier to keep track of a story once you write it down ^_^;
What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
It depends. You can't write a horror fic if your source of inspiration is freakin' Lucky Star, after all. Since I tend to do a lot of comedy with slight yuri undertones, I guess my biggest inspirations would be the comedy anime I watch. Namely, Zetsubou-Sensei and WataMote are two big ones for me, though I'll often toss in this or that slice of inspiration from another thing. Obviously, if I write a crossover, the big source of inspiration would be the thing I'm crossing over with, lol.
Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
I have a few favorites for different reasons, though I've taken an odd liking to Raiko lately. For mile-a-minute no-holds-barred comedy, I'd say my top two are Suika and Shinmyoumaru. One's a loli drunkard who could probably beat Atlas at arm wrestling, and the other is a naive princess who, at least when I write her, has a very "VERY ENTHUSIASTIC! ALL THE TIME!" thing going on. Beyond that, Mokou is nice to write once in a while, and I've gotten plenty of praise for my Sanae too. The most difficult one to write might be, at least from the ones I have written and that I can think of, Yukari. How do I properly portray somebody whose very purpose for being is something I can't get a grip on? Yukari's all sorts of mysterious, so I try to write her as little as possible since it gives me a hard time. ^_^;
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
I had a Touhou fic called "A KaguMoko School Story" about an alternate-universe city called Tohohana. It's an AU I've visited a few times since then, but the KaguMoko story was well-written and flowed kinda nicely. Add a couple of OCs for good measure, toss in this or that big plot twist, adapt Mokou & Kaguya from canon to our world as best as possible, and the whole thing just sort of comes together. I also had another one called "The Ultimate Showdown: Kaguya Vs. Mokou" which was a full-blown comedy fic. That's probably a close second if not a full tie because of the weird scenarios I got to use, running gags in the story (at Reisen's expense), and a smooth flow from the two being enemies to friends to something more. So pretty much every KaguMoko story I actually finished. ^_^;
Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
Surprisingly, just two, at least that I can think of. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, for which I recall having two fics (both starring Sayaka, the best magical girl) and a Touhou crossover, and Yu-Gi-Oh, though that fic was more like "write one chapter and forget it exists" ha-ha. I've planned to do ones for Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon tons of times, but somehow I never seem to get them started. I even make maps of my own Pokemon regions and figure out the decks of each Yu-Gi-Oh duelist, but getting all the ideas together and turning them into a story only seems to happen with things about magical girls, be they from here or Gensokyo.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
The most rewarding aspect of writing is hands-down seeing what others think. The "this was good" reviews, the "this part needs work" ones, even the "I'm sorry, but this just sucked" reviews are all ones I enjoy reading. It's a nice feeling, even when I'm being told I did a bad job, because I at least know people are reading it, so I didn't just write for absolutely nothing to happen. The most challenging part for me, as my answer to the last question may imply, is getting a fic started, especially in the last year or so. When I do get one started, I have trouble keeping ongoing fics that last more than three chapters, so I stick to one-shots these days. Even then it's a bit tough, since most of my mental plot bunnies have been reduced to smut or blatant fetishism that I wouldn't feel comfortable posting even if it was really a nice story. I hope to work on fixing this soon. ^_^;
If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
I'm always told my pace is a bit fast. But I'm okay with that. The one aspect I'd like to improve is how deep I can make each character. My deepest character is easily Sanae, but a lot of them are quite a bit shallower when I write them. Reimu, for one, is pretty much just the grouchy "give me donations" type. Suika, despite the praise I gave her earlier, is little more than a drunken ball of "I'm gonna go do this because I wanna do this." Alice isn't much beyond the typical tsundere, and the worst offender is, of all people, Patchouli. As of when I'm answering this question, my Patchouli has literally no personality at all. I'd like to get better with portraying each girl differently if nothing else.
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?
It depends on the fic. A lot of times, I'll just go "You can take your canon and shove it, here's what I wanna do" to a certain extent, most notably in how my Mokou and my Kaguya have visited the Netherworld at least twice each. But some things in canon I really prefer to keep canon. For one, though it barely counts as canon, I like to have a small pond behind the Hakurei Shrine where Genjii lives if I should ever need him. Another canon I kind of like is how Kagerou apparently has a thick coat of fur. I haven't done anything with it yet, but...I might down the line. Then there's some stuff where you sort of have to do what you want, like with Ruukoto. Where's Ruukoto? Did Reimu deactivate her? I guess in summary, I just take the canon bits I like, then look at the ones I might need. ^_^;
What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
Anime subs. I also like reading Touhou doujins (rarely NSFW) with my downtime if I legitimately have nothing to do and get to thinking "Huh, maybe I should read this or that doujin again." I might actually read some Miko Miko Suika after I answer these. Short of that, two big ones for me are strategies for Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, the two things I most competitively follow. I don't really do as much reading as I should...
What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
I'm all for the comedy genre. I've been told a lot of times I have a nice comedic spark about me, so I want to try and use that to my advantage to cover my flaws when writing and hope a little deep down that nobody notices the flaws since they're too busy laughing. So for writing, my favorite is the comedy genre, usually with slight yuri undertones. I also enjoy writing slice-of-life fics a fair bit too. For reading, as long as I like the premise, I'll read up just about anything. If I had to put out a guess though, my two favorites would be comedy and fantasy. Which would explain a few things to me.
Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Regrettably, no. I don't really have the concentration (or stability right now) to write a longer-lasting, grander-scale fanfic or anything of the sort. But rest assured, if I do end up having a big project underway, it'll probably take weeks for me to shut up about it. ^_~
Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Don't give up! The biggest problem with a lot of fanfic writers - myself verrrrrry included - is that they'll start a story, then just...stop. Might be after one chapter, or might be after twenty, or maybe they'll stop mid-draft and go "Okay, yeah, I'm done." This is the worst way for a fic to die; slowly and quietly. If something doesn't feel right, or the flow of your story feels off, just taking a second look. Ask yourself, "Does this part have to be here?" If it does, maybe you just have to re-write it a bit. If not, maybe rewind a little further back and see where you can pick up without hurting the story. A story is, in a sense, a part of the person who writes it, so you'll have to take good care of it just as you would your arms or ribs. That also means seeing what damages how well it flows.
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For clarification: Unending was chosen as the next guest since my post specified that the next post after Roukanken's last one would be picked. However, as I wasn't as clear on the matter as I should have been, I would be happy to pick Esi as the next guest in compensation if everyone is OK with it.
I can wait another week, no problem. Or two, if someone slips in and beats me to the punch! :O
@UE: What sort of published literature do you like to read? Do you have a favorite author?
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@UE: What sort of published literature do you like to read? Do you have a favorite author?
I haven't read any published literature in quite a while besides what I mentioned earlier, if that counts. I'm typically a fan of novels of varied types, since as somebody who loves to create worlds, it's nice to see what worlds others create. As far as authors, I guess I have a couple. Two authors I always like reading from are Stephen King and...oh bugger, I forgot his name. Guess I'll just end this answer with Stephen King then, and a strong recommendation for Christopher Moore. :)
Seriously though, Lamb has got to be one of the funniest things I've ever read.
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Is there a method to how you describe characters and objects? For me, I usually find myself using scents to describe location (e.g. pungent aroma of spices, slight wafts of incense, the musky scent of mildew, etc.)
What do you do to counteract "white room syndrome"? You know, when you're trying to describe a location, but it kinda falls flat because of the lack in detail.
How much effort and planning do you place in your writing?
What's your preferred POV?
How much experience do you have in writing?
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Is there a method to how you describe characters and objects? For me, I usually find myself using scents to describe location (e.g. pungent aroma of spices, slight wafts of incense, the musky scent of mildew, etc.)
I use whatever I feel is important from the perspective of the characters in question or how the characters themselves may see it, albeit in my own words. I'm also a fan of using numerous adjectives that really mean the same thing (e.g. dimunitive, tiny, and little all for Shinmyoumaru) if I'm referring to something multiple times. If I think the smell might be important to the story somehow, I'll go ahead and add that too.
What do you do to counteract "white room syndrome"? You know, when you're trying to describe a location, but it kinda falls flat because of the lack in detail.
Whenever that happens, I'll either take a second look around how the room looks in my head and add little details (one example is how my Sanae's bedroom has lots of little anime figurines and such from our world) or I'll make sure to focus extra-hard on how the characters are described while in the "white room" in question.
How much effort and planning do you place in your writing?
Not as much as I rightfully should ^_^; at least not for effort. I like to think the planning part is one of my strongest points, but then when it comes time to actually write it all down...not so great anymore. There always comes a point where the planning just outright stops and I begin to wing it (the examples are all over my FF page) word by word, but I'd give myself a 4/5 on planning and a 1.5/5 on effort.
What's your preferred POV?
That seems to depend on a couple of things, including if I'm getting "POV" right here. Shows how great a writer I am, lol. If that's "point of view" like I think it is, then I'll usually do things from a third person view around the main character, now and then going to see what someone somewhere else is doing if it's important. But an exception seems to have appeared lately, and her name is Raiko Horikawa. For one reason or another, writing Raiko from a first-person view just feels so...raito right. Because of this, she's rapidly becoming one of my favorites to write for, as I stated earlier.
How much experience do you have in writing?
According to my FF page, almost three years. But I'd say that play-by-post roleplays (not to be confused with the parsing ones we have here, even though they're way more fun for some reason) also count as writing in their own respect, so if I add up my RP experience with all my fanfic experience...something like seven years total, I believe?
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Joveus' note: Whew, I'm finally back home from my trip!
Q: I see you're also running a Quest featuring Murasa (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16893.0.html). In your opinion, what are some of the biggest differences between writing for a Quest and writing more conventional fiction?
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Q: I see you're also running a Quest featuring Murasa (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16893.0.html). In your opinion, what are some of the biggest differences between writing for a Quest and writing more conventional fiction?
As far as I can tell, there's one vital difference, but boy it's a big one. In a conventional fanfic, at least for the most part, it's all you. Your plot, your cast, your ideas only until you reach the point where you start "hearing" the characters in question in your head. In a Quest...not so much. Sure, the parser is still in charge for the most part, but even though that'd be me in this case, I'm in almost no way in charge of where the plot goes. It's still my duty to keep things moving, of course, but without other players, a parsing RP would just be stuck and would die a slow and quiet death. A couple examples are below.
1: When the players decided to draw Byakuren's face over Miko's on the 10,000-yen bill they started with. I wouldn't have thought of it, since it's sort of my headcanon that Miko's been crudely pasting her face on all the 10,000s to make the depiction more accurate.
2: The items everyone agreed to buy at Kourindou. If it were me, the megaphone and boomerang wouldn't be there, but there are some aspects where the parser's in charge, and some where the players are.
The fact that parsing RPs have proven more fun to me in some ways than the play-by-posts I'm used to could also be seen as a difference since some would argue that "a Touhou RP where you can't have OCs sort of counts as fanfiction" but I'm on and off with that one. ^_^;
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for this week's...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's have a round of applause for our guest, UnendingEmpire.
*Thunderous applause, cheers*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) We wish Unending the best in future endeavors.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck, Unending!
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And now it's that time of the week!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed. It is time to choose our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) The administrative team apologizes for last week's confusion. The poster of next message after this one requesting to be the next guest will be chosen as next week's guest.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Maybe they should pay the staff better--
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Kosuzu-chan! Not now!
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So, if you'd like to be the next guest on our show, let us know! Remember, first come first served!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) And after we've selected our next guest, we will adjourn to give our writing team some time to prepare.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So step right up! And be our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thanks for being with us, UnendingEmpire!
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 after this message will be the next person to be interviewed.
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paging esi
paging
paging esi
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While I would be interested in a turn, I was under the impression that this week's turn was already promised out. If it has been, I do not wish to step in front of that arrangement.
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While I would be interested in a turn, I was under the impression that this week's turn was already promised out. If it has been, I do not wish to step in front of that arrangement.
I'm under the impression that Esi declined the offer:
I can wait another week, no problem. Or two, if someone slips in and beats me to the punch! :O
If, however, this is a misinterpretation on my part, then Esi will be chosen next.
If not, then it looks like it'll be you, Achariyth!
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Actually - I'm about to start my new massage job - I'm putting myself together now to go in for orientation! I'm going to have to decline. Maybe when things are a little less hectic and I'm not thinking so much about range of motion and origin/insertion points and muscle tonality and actually thinking about literature I'll be better suited for this. Go ahead, Achariyth!
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Alright then, it looks like our next guest is Achariyth!
Achariyth, please expect a PM within the next couple of days containing a list of interview questions. :D
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Hello hello, and welcome to Week 5 of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) For this week, our guest is a veteran Touhou writer, having written for such websites as the Space Battles forum (http://forums.spacebattles.com/forums/creative-writing.18/). He is the author of works such as Mise en Place (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12289.msg805097.html), Songs of the Illusory Veil (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,13213.msg871624.html), and most recently, All's Fair in Love and Thievery (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,16948.msg1101020.html).
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's have a round of applause for this week's guest: Achariyth.
*Thunderous applause, whistles, cheers*
Q: What got you into writing fiction?
I?ve always wanted to. In high school, I was planning a number of science fiction stories to the point that every single one got bogged down in development hell. But it wasn?t until college, when I started getting into anime, when I decided to actually write stories as opposed to plan them. It seemed that back in ?97, if you were an anime fan, you wrote fanfic. Please do me a favor though, and politely pretend that I didn?t write anything prior to my Improfanfic days.
Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
It?s hard for me to write fantasy without revealing my heavy admiration for Stephen Lawhead?s Pendragon cycle, to the point of actively rewriting ideas stolen from it out of stories. But I read a lot and spend a lot of time flipping through Wikipedia, so I?m constantly coming up against fun facts and filing them away for later. There?s a real ?look at this cool thing I found!? aspect to what I write.
As for setting, food and religion are constantly in the background. My Gensokyo resembles Appalachia in some respects, mainly because the only herblore books I?ve found are from that area.
As far as writing process, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, John C. Wright. Reading Gene Wolfe is an education in vocabulary, John C. Wright, ideas, philosophy, and humanity. Gaiman, King, and Card, more the nuts and bolts approach to storytelling.
Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult to write?
Mokou seems to weasel herself into a lot of works that she really shouldn?t be in, as does Alice. But Alice doesn?t have the sheer flexibility Mokou has as a character. Writing Kaguya in love was difficult, especially since I wanted a reason for Kaguya to be in love that wasn?t solely authorial fiat.
I have a tough time keeping characters in a specific role. Once the spotlight shines on them, they seem to want to start chewing the scenery.
Q: Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
I?ve been partial to In the Light of the Eternal Moon, but that was a flop. I?m sure Patrick Rothfuss would like his ideas back as well. Mise en Place should have been titled Unlimited Food Porn, but that title was taken. It tends to serve as my business card. If I?m going to break into a new audience, I lead with Mise. I liked the ideas in All?s Fair in Love and Thievery, but I?m more hesitant about the execution. But it?s my second (short) novel, even if the characters and the story ran away from me.
Otherwise, it?s difficult rereading what I?ve done. It?s like listening to a recording of me playing bass. I hear the fret buzz and my mistakes instead of appreciating the performance.
Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
Ranma ?, Tenchi Muyo, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Negima, and, if you know where to look for it, El Hazard. I?ve also written for Improfanfic, a now defunct collaborative fanfiction and anime-style fiction site.
Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
Getting started. I am what?s known as a pantser, as opposed to the more common outliner. I write by feel. So I find myself rewriting my openings over and over until I get the one that opens up the floodgates for me. And as I mature as a writer, I do a lot more rewriting to get to that point.
As for the rewarding part, I love the flow of writing. Having characters surprise me with little grace notes that come out of nowhere is fun, even if they have a tendency to say, ?I wouldn?t do that, are you crazy? I?d do this instead.? Those character surprises are immensely satisfying.
Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
I am conscious of a lack of variety in my sentence structure. I also need to produce. You can?t build a career on six months for a short novel of 40k words.
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?
Canon is a source of inspiration, but I subscribe to the unreliable narrator school of thought with anything written from Aya or Akyuu?s point of view. Canon is a guideline, but I find myself pulling from other sources to fill out the areas it doesn?t address.
Chances are, for any given chapter, I?ve likely spent a day or two researching some minute aspect of the background and setting, such as currency or local crops, instead of writing.
Q: What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
I?m the type of person who reads cereal boxes if it?s all that?s available. That said, my Kindle will likely bankrupt me.
Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
I?ve been reading science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, histories, and even some westerns and men?s adventure stories. Indie space opera as well, but that?s more of a mixed bag. Some days, I?ll find something as mind-blowing as John C. Wright?s Awake in the Night Lands. Most days, what I find is on the level of your better quality fanfiction.
I'm still feeling out the various genres in which I want to write. I lean towards science fiction and fantasy in general.
Q: Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
I don?t have anything new planned as I?m concentrating on finishing stories starting with Secret History Files, Mise en Place, and Godshatter. There's also a Danmakuverse story inspired by Fu Manchu that has to get finished as well. I?ve started so many new things over the past few years that I need to wrap up stuff before I start anything new. So Kasen's screaming at me to finish something so I can start on a three chapter story about her training little Reimu. (Yeah, right. Three chapters? Anything I've start with three chapters in mind spirals on me.)
Q: What, precisely, is the Danmakuverse, how is it different from canon Touhou, and what is it like writing stories for it compared to writing stories for canon Touhou?
The Danmakuverse is a shared setting written with Captain Vulcan, Mephiles666, and Wolfsbane706. We all write our different corners and try to tie the stories together. It?s a different take on the round-robin many authors do, even though we do have a classic version in the setting. As for differences in canon, well, it?s more of an alternate universe in a slightly more urbanized Gensokyo. Writing for it is like writing canon fanfiction, there are rules and history I have to be aware of. What did Meph write about tengu? Is my take on Akyuu going to contradict Vulcan?s story that takes place later? And so on.
A major phase of my writing was done in collaborative works, so I?m used to thinking in such ways.
Q: Mise en Place was your 'debut' work on PSL, so to speak, and was very well received. Do you have cooking experience yourself? If not, where did you do the research to get familiar with cooking terms and a chef's routine?
At the time, my kitchen experience was limited to watching Good Eats and working a microwave. Anthony Bourdain?s Kitchen Confidential captivated my imagination, and I ended up leaning heavily on that book, David Chang?s Momofuku, and Colman Andrews? Ferran to try to make the kitchen feel real. Now, well, I have been taking cooking lessons and I hope to actually make some of the dishes on Mystia?s menu soon.
Q: Given your fanfiction.net page, you seem to have written a number of stories for other franchises as well. In your experience, is writing for Touhou/Danmakuverse particularly different than writing for other franchises?
There?s a freedom to Touhou that?s not in other settings. You write Love Hina, and it has to be about romance. Naruto and Bleach, action. Sailor Moon, well, you can side-step romance, but that leaves the monster of the week magical girl setting. Gensokyo with its all female cast, peculiar setting, and a flexible approach to canon means that I can do much more, from religion and mythology tales, to history tales, to slice of life, action, and much more. I don?t have to write romance, but matters of the heart do tend to creep in.
Q: What were the sources of inspiration for some of your stories, such as Mise en Place, All's Fair in Love and Thievery, and Songs of the Illusory Veil: Southern Cross?
For Mise, the inspirations were Kitchen Confidential and Ocean?s 11 filtered through the molecular gastronomy of Ferran Adria. The chef as rock star and con artist.
Love and Thievery had been floating around my mind for a long time. Lupin III was my introduction to anime, and I?ve always wanted to do a heist caper. When the latest Lupin III series, The Woman Named Fujiko Mine, came out, I had a working title: The Woman Named Yakumo Ran. Ran was always going after Kaguya?s treasures for Mokou; Kaguya?s the only Touhou girl that has treasure worthy of a heist movie. But it wasn?t until I read a version of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter where Kaguyahime was going to leave the character that became Mokou?s father at the altar that Kaguya?s plot came about. The heist had to have meaning. Kaguya leaving the poor sap at the altar would have made the heist pointless.
Southern Cross was written on location. At the time, I was a soldier on temporary duty in a nice island chain in the middle of the Pacific. The idea came to me as I rode back from a dive in a white boat like the one in the story. So I stole a lot of details from the island where I was staying, muddied up my biography a bit, stole the boat bunny idea from John Ringo, and started writing, fearful that someone was going to cry, ?Mary Sue!? No one has, so far.
As for others, I?m a very sticky fingered writer. I tend to steal ideals from what I?m reading at the time. Fortunately, I?m walking away from the outright theft seen in Eternal Moon. Or maybe I?m just better at filing off the serial numbers?
Q: Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Start small. Find out what you can do. Some people can crank out the Wheel of Time, some people are better suited to short stories. Don?t swing for the fences right away.
Find a beta/prereader/editor. The feedback and the extra set of eyes will help you write better and will catch the annoying typos and mistakes that creep into any story.
Follow Heinlein?s Rules. Modified for fanfiction, they are: You Must Write. Finish What You Start. Refrain from Rewriting, Except to Prereaders? Orders. Post What You Write. Start Working on Something Else.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for our questions!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Now we'd like to open it up to the audience. Please ask our guest anything related to writing you've always wanted to ask.
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Ah, here's one I've always wanted to ask...
Q: How would you go about writing a good romance, especially if you don't have experience with the matter yourself?
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Q: How would you go about writing a good romance, especially if you don't have experience with the matter yourself?
I'm still figuring that out, especially since I am not a romance writer normally. Pat of the reason I love writing Touhou stories is that I can write stories about girls without have to deal with all the posturing and preening that both sexes do whenever you get them together. And then I go write a story where romance is a central part. Figures. I'll leave it to the reader if Love and Thievery is good enough to lend any credibility to my words. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't come up with a form of general advice. I can only say what I did for that story. Please forgive the rambling.
Worldbuilding the relationship between Yori and Kaguya depended on credibility. Fanfiction is full of canon characters falling in love with original characters Just Because. I wanted to avoid that. However, I had to deal with the fact that Kaguya had been courted by an emperor. There's no way a village boy from Gensokyo could compete with that prestige. However, all of her suitors in the fairy tale fawned over Kaguya, giving her nothing but flattery and everything she wanted. So Yori had to be able to tell Kaguya no. That novelty kept her interested beyond the original attraction. And then I added competition from other girls to raise his status in her eyes. In a sense, Kaguya's pride drove her interest. From Yori's side, I had to keep him from worshiping Kaguya without making him Mr. Perfect Mary Sue. So much of how he acts toward Kaguya is based on advice he's getting from his father. But since he's really the MacGuffin of the story, I kept most of that interaction off-screen. To work out the reasoning for why the relationship should work, I ended up reading up on evolutionary psychology. I don't necessary recommend that; characters aren't blind robots following a program no more than any flesh and blood man or woman is. But Kaguya needed firm reasons to stay in the relationship that, on the surface, she had every reason to leave.
Now, if there's a sequel, and I have mulled over it, it would likely feature Mokou, and it could not play out in the same way. Kaguya's pride and boredom with men were the main obstacles to her relationship. Mokou's would deal with the immortal girl's fear of loss. Given her rougher nature, Mokou would be perfect for a comedy of manners. So instead of evolutionary psych, I'd be reading Georgette Heyer's romances. The different characters' personalities demand the different approaches.
Distilling everything down to my assumptions, the romance has to make sense in how men and women act towards each other, it has to make sense for the characters involved, it has to make sense for the story, it has to develop past the infatuation stage, it has to deal with setbacks, and it must end in marriage or have the ability to. These characteristics are what I need to enjoy a good romance, but that's just my opinion. I could be sleeping on the couch tonight.
(Seriously, I spent a few hours thinking this one through and came up with more exceptions to any advice I came up with than advice. Good question, tough question, and it's one I wouldn't mind if it were opened up to general comment.)
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Do you find you have an easier time writing when you just sit back and let it come to you, or do you meticulously plan everything out in advance before you finish the first draft?
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Do you find you have an easier time writing when you just sit back and let it come to you, or do you meticulously plan everything out in advance before you finish the first draft?
I often have a sense of where I need to go in a scene or what highlights I need in a story, but when it comes to connecting those dots, I let it come to me. Part of the delight of writing comes from the surprises that come up when putting pen to paper. (It's also why I have been known to complain about characters taking over scenes.) But i need a rough map, even if it's just in my head, as I go. However, if I develop that plan too far, I lose interest in the scene. It's a balancing act that dooms me to a lot of rewriting.
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So what are the bits you struggle with the most, and how do you deal with it?
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So what are the bits you struggle with the most, and how do you deal with it?
For starters, I absolutely must use pen and paper. I'm a poor typist and easily distracted, so working on a keyboard slows me down to a glacier's crawl. Additionally, transferring a draft from pen and ink to a word processor gives me a chance to rewrite and refine.
Deadlines are a must. I might (read: do) blow them (a lot), but I need that pressure to produce, otherwise I don't finish anything.
I find that I can get caught up in picking just the right word for a sentence or the right description to the point where it knocks me out of my writing flow. When that happens, I'll write a short note on what I want to convey and come back to it later. If, for some reason, that block is a showstopper, I'll back up a few paragraphs in the scene and try again. Sometimes, writer's block isn't caused by your mind running out of ideas; it's your mind telling you that what you've written isn't working.
Some things I struggle with, such as humor, I avoid. Others, like group conversations, get rewritten or restructured to minimize that part of a scene, such as by giving part of the group something to do in the background so I can streamline the conversation to fewer voices. For those times when I get in over my head, such as plotting a heist or a romance, I'll browse through the Writing Excuses podcast and listen to a podcast on the topic. Listening to other writers discuss how they deal with similar situations helps. And even if I don't get an Eureka moment, I now know other ways not to approach the scene.
Currently, I'm struggling with trying to write tight scene endings and varying my sentences beyond the three or four forms I normally use. If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to share.
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Q: Do you have any plans on becoming a novelist, or at least publishing a novel/similarly lengthy work?
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Q: Do you have any plans on becoming a novelist, or at least publishing a novel/similarly lengthy work?
Yes. Not immediately, though. I'm still working on my skills. There's an idea in writing that it takes about a million words for a writer to mature in their craft enough to be publishable. I'm about a third of the way through that and still learning from my mistakes. I'm mulling over an urban fantasy dealing with nephalim and angels, a Knights Hospitalier in space idea, and an old fashioned Golden Age mega fleets of spaceships shooting at each other while planets blow up type of space opera. But the muse is fickle, so my first original novel might be something entirely different.
At the same time, I'm waiting for the massive shock that the publishing industry has received to settle out. Indie publishing, through Amazon, Smashwords, and other sites, and electronic distribution are upending the traditional publishing model. So until the shocks settle and we find out whether or not traditional publishing is still around in its current form in the next few years or if Random Penguin, MacMillian, and the other Big 5 publishers succeed in either legislating indie publishing away or shifting the idea of ebooks from a good the consumer owns to something more like a software license, most writers are cautioning newbies like be to wait a couple of years.
Meanwhile, there's some interesting experiments happening. One such is Kindle Worlds, or yet another attempt to monetize fanfiction. Or for the less cynical, crowd-sourcing media tie-in franchises. I do wonder what would happen if ZUN opened up Touhou for licensed non-canon works. How many of us would try to get our stories legitimately published, with professional editing and covers provided by a publisher? How many of us would succeed in a situation where fanfiction now had a gatekeeper? Interesting times...
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As my time in the spotlight starts to come to a close, I'd like to turn the tables a bit. Due to the cares of life, I haven't been able to keep up with the Touhou fanfic community like I'd want, and the recommendation lists don't seem to be keeping up with the new names I've seen. So, what should I be reading? Who's doing cool stuff? Who's telling a good story? What's fun to read?
(Please have the good grace not to self-recommend. I'll still answer any writing questions as well.)
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As my time in the spotlight starts to come to a close, I'd like to turn the tables a bit. Due to the cares of life, I haven't been able to keep up with the Touhou fanfic community like I'd want, and the recommendation lists don't seem to be keeping up with the new names I've seen. So, what should I be reading? Who's doing cool stuff? Who's telling a good story? What's fun to read?
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) While there are many skilled authors and wonderful stories in Patchouli's Scarlet Library, the writing team personally would like to recommend some of hungrybookworm's material:
Gratitude (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1254244)
Lunar Orbit (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1368169)
Drizzle (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1646594)
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Kosuzu, in particular, found hungrybookworm's work to be easy to read and quite entertaining.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Alas, I do believe it's been one week...
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So that's it for this week's episode of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) A big round of applause, please, for Achariyth!
*Thunderous applause, cheers*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck with everything, Achariyth!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) And now it is time to choose our next guest for...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) If you'd like to be the next guest on our show, let us know! Remember, first come first served!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) And after we've selected our next guest, we will adjourn to give our writing team some time to prepare.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So who will be our next lucky guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thanks very much, Achariyth!
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I'd like to nominate the second most important writeperson after myself on this forum: Ruro.
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Well, I hadn't originally planned on accepting nominations...if everyone thinks nominations are fair, and--more importantly--if Ruro agrees to be nominated, then I suppose Ruro will be the next guest.
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If there are no objections to the nomination system, I will be PMing Ruro shortly.
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I think nominations from others is probably better than a first-come-first-served system where folks nominate themselves. Just like the Nobel Prize.
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I think nominations from others is probably better than a first-come-first-served system where folks nominate themselves. Just like the Nobel Prize.
Well, the issue I had with a nominations-only system is that I was worried some people might not get nominated at all, ever. The intention of this thread was to give exposure to anyone who wanted it, not just people who were popular.
Regardless, PM to Ruro will be sent out shortly.
Edit: I've received a reply from Ruro: she is unfortunately busy for this week and is unable to participate. I'll be accepting any other nominations, self or otherwise.
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I figure that you could just pick one some weeks, if you feel someone important is overlooked.
Also: Ammy.
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Yeah I'd love to do this sometime but I just don't have much time to sit down at a computer an' give thoughtful answers to questions right now, apologies.
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Alright! Our next guest will be Tengukami! I will be sending him the list of questions in the next couple of days, so sit tight!
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What got you into writing fiction?
When I was in the 8th grade, I had to go to the hospital shortly after Christmas break. My English teacher sent me a box of books, most of which were school-related, but for whatever reason he just decided to add the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. Reading Poe blew my mind. I wanted to write stories like his, and so I did - a series of cheap, transparent, and embarrassing Poe-ish rip-offs. It wasn't until the following year, when I started high school and was introduced to modern literary fiction, that I decided this is what I want to do.
What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
Ex-girlfriends, work places, something I heard someone say on the bus, conversations with friends ... anything really can give a person inspiration. The whole inspiration for Haruki Murakami's epic The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was, the author said, imagining a guy in his kitchen cooking spaghetti when the phone rings. 600 pages later one of his masterpieces was born.
However, I think one of the biggest mistakes a writer can make when they get that flash of inspiration is to immediately begin writing (related to your question about the Burroughs quote, later on). The best thing you can do when a blinding light of brilliance hits you is to let it settle inside you. Consider the core story idea, and the possible permutations it could take. Most of them will lead to dead-ends, some will lead to promising stories. That's when you start writing.
I like to think of inspiration as the seed of an idea that grows within you, changing into something more viable and healthy, before it is ready to be born.
Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult to write?
My "favorite" depends really on what kind of story I want to write. But I have to admit that writing Cirno into any story is the most fun, anyway - and she isn't even really among my favorite 2hus. She's just so dynamic as a story character: she's reckless, oblivious to her own faults, and has a huge spectrum of emotions, but can also display a more charmingly naive and tender side.
The most difficult to write about, or has been anyway, is Reimu. She's the straight-man. It's hard to do things with someone who plays pretty much the same role all the time. Very challenging.
Aya is also difficult to write about, but only because of how similar we are. This makes it hard to give yourself the necessary distance between yourself and your character to do them justice.
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
Are three-way ties allowed? Because I cannot decide a favorite without a way of talking about favorite for what. But these three immediately come to mind as the best mix of my satisfaction with the work, and the reader reception.
Down On The Corner (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php?topic=4876.0) was my first Touhou fanfic and still probably one of the weirdest stories I've written, Touhou or otherwise. Trance did a dramatic reading of it, Suikama even made it into a VN (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php?topic=5728.0). The whole thing was inspired by an image of Cirno discovering the corner of a table that I saw on Danbo. I posted it in IRC, and we all had a good laugh, with Purvis speculating that Cirno likely thinks she was the first person to discover this form of self-gratification. I thought he was probably right, and so the rest of the story just had to be written.
Permission (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,5190.0.html) was my first Touhou-specific erotica. This came up after a heated discussion on these forums about the difference between "porn" and "erotica". Rather than continue arguing examples, I decided to provide one. I was a bit nervous about sharing a sexually-themed story on PSL, but I was very pleased with the final result, as well as the reception it got.
The Sound Of The City (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,7187.0.html) was the first multi-chapter story I wrote in its entirety before posting one chapter at a time with a few days in between. This was an experiment to see how a story would progress without reader input between chapters, and that was pretty revealing in itself. SotC was a story idea I had for a long time, and I spent a lot of time trying to make the story alive inside me before even writing it. It took a lot of work, and although the reception was mixed, I thought the overall result was great.
Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
I have not had fiction, Touhou or otherwise, published anywhere else. Some poems in a couple literary magazines, but that's it. I do, though, continue to shop my short fiction to publications around Europe.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
I'd say the most rewarding part about writing is also the most challenging: making the story come alive inside your reader: moving them, making them laugh, root for a particular character, and so on. Making that happen takes a lot of skill, because you need to build and balance two separate systems at once: the physiology of the world and its characters, and the internal world of the characters themselves. I think most writers get the physiology early on - how to describe settings, facial expressions, body language, the weather. Bringing these elements to life is critical to good descriptive narrative.
The internal world is the more challenging one to construct. This is because the paradox of a good story is, in my opinion anyway, what the characters choose not to say or do is always the real story. Describing for the reader the thoughts and feelings of the characters is generally not recommended. If all motivations and courses of action are predictable, the reader will not engage with the character. The reader has to wonder about what your characters say and do; to speculate on their hows and whys. You want them to ask themselves questions about the deeper layers of knowability of your character. To do this well you need to send out whispers in the dark in the general direction of the truth, but leave the reader to follow.
So this world and these characters you create in a reader need to be vivid and recognizable, but there also must remain depths that not only can be explored, but almost compel the reader to do so.
If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
Pacing. This is why my first love is the short story, because while also delicate and complex to manage, they still give me the freedom to breath life into the smaller details of the story. The longer the story progresses, the more difficult it can be to be able to step back, and look at the pattern of the pacing as a whole. This is why novel-length works, I have learned, are monstrous challenges.
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?
One of the good things about fanfiction in general is that your readers already know loads about your characters' official backstories. Stories resonate with readers better when characters are believable to the reader, so there's an argument to be made there that sticking close to canon is a good idea. I try to give my characters thoughts, feelings, words and actions that could fit within the boundaries of plausibility within a Touhou context. Not always, of course, but enough at least to make some room for suspension of disbelief.
What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
I like reading short stories most of all. And longform investigative journalistic pieces. Or essays from people whose opinions I respect (Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, Zizek et al.) But mostly books of literary fiction.
What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
I'm not really a fan of genre fiction. I like literary fiction. There's more freedom there, to create any world you want and do things with language that are impossible in any other medium. By the same token, this is also what I like writing most of all.
Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
No big projects, no. The last Touhou fanfic I wrote, Sprung (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,15610.0.html), was in September. I think I might get into doing SoL comedy one-shots, as that seems to be my strong point and is also a lot of fun. But some day I'd like to finish this story I wrote about Eirin and Kaguya on the run from the Lunarians, having never actually found Gensokyo and so living like fugitives for centuries. I think that could be fun.
What would you say is the main purpose of journalism? Relatedly, what would you say is the most important thing for a journalist?
First we have to bear in mind that journalism and the journalist operate in very different ways. Journalism in its purest form is the collection, organization and distribution of data to the general public. A journalist does this job most effectively by having not just a passion for the job itself, but also the stories they cover. For journalism and journalists to be effective, we need to address two problems. (See next question.)
If you could change anything about the state of journalism as it is today, what is it and why?
First is the tendency for journalists to mimic, rather than utlilize, social media. Social media can be a fantastic tool for getting in contact with people over wide distances, having instantly on-the-record interviews, picking up scoops dropped by some obscure blogger who turns out might be on to something. Unfortunately, many media outlets instead opt to mimic viral media sites like Upworthy in order to get those precious clicks, and fast. Being able to do research faster is being sacrificed for doing no research at all, and that needs to stop.
Second is the tendency for the general public to misunderstand what "bias" means. A reporter is not biased solely for showing a great deal of interest in a particular politician, region, or social issue. They are biased if they deliberately or unconsciously use misinformation (misquoting, citing poor or no sources, and so on) in order to forward an agenda. All great journalists, from Edward R Murrow to Janine di Giovanni, have been openly and strongly opinionated on the stories they cover. This doesn't make them any less right about what they report - facts have the final say. In fact, without passion for a story, a journalist doesn't commit to the quest for vital information. This does the public a disservice. A reporter is not a camera and microphone with legs, and never should be. We ought to be grateful there are still reporters who actually do care about what they're covering. They're the ones most likely to break whole new levels of information.
Some of your stories discuss very powerful themes that can strike at the reader?s heart, from what it is to be a journalist to the role of sex and sexual relations in one?s life. What are some other themes you?d like to write about?
Wow, everything really. I think I'd like to try my hand at everything, and see what comes of it.
What are your own thoughts on the quote you had given Roukanken?: "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."
Pretty much what I told him: great stories are usually the result of repeated re-workings and re-writings before they reach their final form. That's why authors have editors. The chance that something you just finished banging out is a work of brilliance is close to zero, and if that is not immediately apparent to you when you read the story over a second time, then you've probably got some blind spots here and there. Don't necessarily burn it, but definitely hand it off to another set of eyes for their take.
The majority of your works published either here or on your blog are one-shots and short stories. Have you given any thought towards producing a longer work?
I have, and did write three awful novel-length pieces between 1998 and 2004. I'd love to get back into writing a novel, but for me this is something done most effectively by being able to free up everything else in my life, i.e., not working. So we'll see.
Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Never stop reading, never stop writing, and never stop reading your writing. Developing your own voice, a strong story-telling skill and a critical eye are all part of a continuous process.
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Let's get things rolling!
Q: How do you know when you've written something well/written something that 'works', especially when you don't have reader feedback to work off of?
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Q: How do you know when you've written something well/written something that 'works', especially when you don't have reader feedback to work off of?
You don't! Without having at least one other pair of trained eyes read it over first, even less so. I don't recommend writing in a vacuum. You really need outside input to get around your own natural blindspots. Without it, you're pretty much adrift and insulated until you do get reader feedback. I think the time has come for other eyes to look at your story when you're done reading it over yourself to the point where you can't see what else to change.
Basically, all great works of fiction have been group efforts. Don't be shy about letting others read drafts - the payoff is tremendous.
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-Why am I the best writeman?
-What do you struggle with the most when writing a thing?
The internal world is the more challenging one to construct. This is because the paradox of a good story is, in my opinion anyway, what the characters choose not to say or do is always the real story.
Says the guy who criticized Prog Rock as "No you have to listen to the notes they aren't playing!" WHICH IS IT YOU FUCKING ROMNEY!
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-Why am I the best writeman?
The "to-do lists" was an elegant, imaginative and hilarious mode of storytelling.
-What do you struggle with the most when writing a thing?
Apart from the aforementioned pacing, probably everything except dialogue. Writing how people talk is something I'm fairly confident I'm good at. The other stuff is always a struggle, some more so than others.
Says the guy who criticized Prog Rock as "No you have to listen to the notes they aren't playing!" WHICH IS IT YOU FUCKING ROMNEY!
I have a binder full of King Crimson albums!
Actually, that music criticism was jokey, and a Simpsons reference. If anything, prog rock DEMANDS that you listen to the notes they are playing. Because you see, you cannot appreciate the subtle nuances of Yes and Tool without paying very close attention to changing time signatures, the use of pentatonic scales, and a whole lot of other mathmathmath. This isn't a dig on prog rock; this is what prog rock fans actually believe.
When it comes to storywriting, though, yeah - leaving room for unpredictability and unanswered questions about your characters gives them humanity and depth, and encourages readers caring about the characters. Real people do leave you with unanswered questions - you will never fully predict them or know them. Giving your characters these same qualities gives them more viability.
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Okay let's say I never read your stuff ever. How would you recommend proceeding through your works?
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Ok, I think it's been about 1 week. Purvis' question will be the last one for Ammy.
The past two weeks has also been kinda slow, which is making me think about putting this thread on hold for a few weeks to generate interest again. Thoughts on this?
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Dead threads tend to do the opposite of generate interest.
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Okay let's say I never read your stuff ever. How would you recommend proceeding through your works?
Simply put: go to my blog, start with the earliest entry, and work your way back. Although if you just wanted a quick overview to get the general feel of what and how I write, I guess the four previously linked stories will do just fine.
It's been fun answering your questions, Joveus and Purvis. Thanks!
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) That is it for this week's...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) A big round of applause for our guest, Ammy!
*Hearty applause, cheers, bottlenose dolphin wistles*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck, Ammy!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed, we wish Ammy the very best of luck in all future endeavors.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And now it's time to pick our next guest!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) On...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Again, if you'd like to be the next guest on our show, let us know! Remember, first come first served! We are also accepting nominations on behalf of other writers!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) However, any nominated writers must fully agree to be part of our show before they are interviewed.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So with that out of the way: step right up! And be our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thanks for being with us, Ammy!
To reiterate the instructions:
If you'd like to be the next person interviewed, please make a post saying so.
Furthermore, I will now be accepting nominations made by other posters on behalf of other writers. Such nominees must, of course, fully agree to being interviewed!
The next post or nomination will be chosen.
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Nominating Rurot again, since she's back from vacation (I think?)
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Seconding Ruro
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I may come to regret this, but I'm volunteering for an interview.
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Ruro has accepted the nomination, so she will be our next guest! I will be sending her the list of questions soon.
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And now, for an interview with the
vampire Ruro.
What got you into writing fiction?
What I think of as my introduction to fiction was when I was learning English. Spanish is my first language, so as part of my ESL education, both my teacher and my mother (who is herself also a teacher) encouraged me to read a lot of books in English. In particular I liked the Madeline children's book series, written by Ludwig Bemelmans, and my teacher was more than okay with it when I turned out to like it so much, that I asked him for permission to sit in front of the class and read aloud to all my classmates. I distinctly remember those reading sessions as the moment that I realised that I like telling stories that interest my audience.
Writing them myself, though, would have to wait until I could actually write in English!
What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
I draw inspiration from.... oh man, that's pretty hard. I never have drawn inspiration from Touhou exclusively. Hmm... I like literature from across cultures a lot. Mythology too. History, of course, which tends to come up a lot. That last one is probably the single biggest inspiration to anything I write.
Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
My favourite Touhou character to write is almost certainly Utsuho. She's so wonderfully straightforward and simple, and just wants to help her underground family out. She's also super powerful and, in SA, very megalomaniacal and destructive. She's perfection.
The most difficult to write is probably Satori. I have such a hard time writing loners, because it's been a very long time since I was last emotionally alone the way she is in canon.
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
White Rose is one of my favourites if only because I've gotten so much writing done for it (even if I have to pick it up again sometime and dust it off). I really got into it when I was writing the end of part one.
For non-Touhou stuff, my favourite is probably Apple and Cinnamon (PMMM), because it's got a recurring plot hook that actually works in context, one of my favourite ships, and it won me two small Kyouko and Mami figurines in the contest I wrote it for. I also think it's good for being so short, since it clocks in under 10k words; by far my shortest complete work that I really enjoy.
Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
Hmm... Puella Magi Madoka Magica (also Kazumi Magica), Sailor Moon, and Precure. I'd like to branch out more, but I'm not the sort of person who thrives writing many projects at once; I have to focus on one or two.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
I really love reading back over my stuff and seeing how the story flows together, it's so cool. Seeing other people's reactions to my stories is also right up there, I just love seeing people affected by it!
The most challenging aspect of writing, on the other hand, is forcing myself to ignore things like historical inaccuracy for the sake of continuing to push forward, and knowing when to stop researching and start writing.
If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
I wish I could learn to write with less words and still be as effective. It's not even that my writing is purple prose-y, I think, I try to be concise, but they're just really involved, detailed stories.
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?
I used to try to stay within canon as much as possible, but then Symposium of Post-Mysticism happened. No, seriously, I long ago read most of the canon works that existed at the time on the wiki, but more and more often I ended up reading a lot of material and just ended up ignoring a lot of it in my writing. And yes, then SoPM was published, and now I just tend to forget it ever happened. Now I'm at a place where I care very little for recent canon stuff, since my ideas are based in earlier roots.
What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
Books, naturally, but especially history ones! I have lately been very interested in the Silk Road (or rather, silk roads, the many trade routes that connected the old world of antiquity), the Byzantine Empire, and old-school Hawaiian mythology. I used to read the newspaper a lot, but I don't make as big a habit of it anymore, though I do try to stay caught up on global happenings. And yes, I love reading other people's fanfiction.
What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
My answers for both parts of this question are near-identical so assume they go for both: historical fiction, epic-scale grand aventures, magical girl stuff. I enjoy reading comedy and I wish I could say I enjoy writing it, but I'm not any good at lighthearted stuff for the most part; I fully admit to preferring the dark side in the stories I read and write. Conversely, I don't enjoy reading romance, which is part of why my own writing is largely devoid of it.
Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Well, come NaNoWriMo I'm going to pick up Weave the Stars again and get another 50k words poured into it (which will hopefully finish it off!). I've also been working on a top secret Precure fiction thing, but I don't know how many people here would be interested in that.
PC-98 characters seem to feature prominently in your stories. What draws you to the PC-98 crew? Do you have a particular preference towards either PC-98 or Windows games over the others? Do you find the PC-98 characters harder or easier to write than Windows characters?
You know, I've had this question in mind for years and I have never been able to find an answer to it that satisfies me in full. That said, I think it was partially because few other people really cared about PC-98 characters when I started out in the fandom. If I had started to write Remilia going against the grain of her fanon self, it would be hard for my own mind to accept, much less fans I'd like to read my story. With Yumemi, there's not really so much resistance; the PC-98 characters have even less canon material to go off on than most of the Windows characters, and it's easier to get into it and just keep writing without having to worry about getting tripped up.
If I recall correctly, you have a degree in Psychology. Given the emphasis on characterization in modern fiction writing, do you ever find yourself drawing on your Psychology knowledge when you write? If so, to what extent?
You recall incorrectly! My degree is in International Relations. That said, I have studied psychology quite a bit! Not only was it one of my preferred elective subjects, I actually attended a few lectures here and there held by the Jung Society of Colorado, as research for White Rose.
I definitely have found myself drawing on my psych knowledge when writing, particularly when it comes to unhealthy relationships. I have this thing where all my personal relationships are actually pretty damn healthy and good, and yet I love seeing really unhealthy, messed-up relationships in fiction, because I think that's realistic too. Plus it makes for some delicious conflict.
I also have thrown a smattering of neuroatypical characters into my stories, as both heroes and villains, because I think it makes narratives more interesting if they reflect reality in small, detailed ways like that. So to use examples, the minor character Komeiji Miyani from White Rose has depersonalization disorder (you try resisting the urge to give satori characters mental issues like that!) and the main character of Weave the Stars has agoraphobia and associated anxiety issues. I have OCD myself (the sort that obsesses over patterns and repetition), and I always wanted to see characters like that myself.
Your NaNoWriMo novel Weave the Stars is a particularly unique take on a Touhou fic. What inspired it? Do you do seamstress-work yourself?
This is such a great question, it's going to take me a bit to unpack it.
What inspired it? A few main threads.
The first is minor: remember that fan theory that the multiple lives in Touhou games are actually representative of the changes of clothing the characters have on them, based on Sakuya's line in PCB against Alice that she has four changes of clothes (and, as the player sees, four lives)? Then also the recurring question of "who the hell makes all these characters' clothes, but especially the fairies'?" that comes up in Touhou fandom? I'm not the first person to get the idea of a Touhouverse tailor of clothes by a long shot, but I do think I'm the only one that took it in such a wildly different direction.
The second thing that inspired it goes a lot deeper.
I don't do seamstress work myself, but one of the people who has had a big impact on my life did. That was my great-grandmother, Rita Morales. My stories of her largely come from my own mother, who knew her and listened to her own stories when she was young. During the time of the Mexican Revolution, her family was fleeing south to escape the chaos of the north, and after settling down where they did, Rita found a man she wanted to marry. Now, my great-grandmother (just call her Abuela, that's what I do) Rita's family was pretty upper class and well to do; the man she wanted to marry was an ordinary farmer. Her father told her that if she married him, he would disown her. Naturally, she married him, and he did indeed disown her. The man turned out to be a useless drunk and Rita quickly had to learn how to support herself. The lady, however, had a lot of steel in her spine, so she learned how to sew.
This was in a country and time period in which women sewing was considered unfeminine, which is why the present day connotation of sewing being something extremely feminine makes me laugh so hard. You have to understand, women sewing dresses for money to support themselves was considered too aggressive: they needed to rely on men to bring money into households. But Abuelita didn't care; she went to a sewing school and got her certification, and quickly became one of the best seamstresses in town. By the time my mother was my age, her great-grandmother was the best seamstress in the city, after 50+ years of experience. Her dresses were amazing, and while she never became rich enough to earn back all the inheritance she lost out, she did quite well, and while I never met her, my mother tells me stories of how rad she was, and just how good she was with a needle and thread.
The third thing that inspired it was my learning about more Mexican history at the time, and history of all Latin America. I was interested in Asian immigration to the continent, in particular, and, well, Peru has the Incas, the other great pre-Hispanic civilization aside from Mexico's Aztecs and Mayans. At some point while reading about the Kasato Maru and Incan quipu, some threads crossed in my head and, well, I ended up with Mari Soledad Saihoushi.
There are also other threads that were drawn on for inspiration for the story, but those are
(http://i.imgur.com/Wdb13mf.jpg)
Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
I think it would be to just write. Don't worry about how trash your first story is, how you're not living up to your own ideas of how you want to execute your ideas, we all sucked too at first but then we just kept pushing. Even now, no one is as good as they think they are to pull off any given idea successfully, but you have to just grit your teeth and keep going, because if you wait until you're good enough to take on your story idea as well as you'd like, you'll NEVER be good enough. Learn from your mistakes, seek out resources and advice and support, and don't stop until you reach the end. And then take pride in how far you've come and how much better you've gotten.
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Dang, your great-grandmother sounds rad 8)
What do you consider your most brilliant writing idea to be?
Are there any authors or written works (fanfic or otherwise) in particular that you draw inspiration from currently?
What do you do to break writers' block?
What other series do you think you'd like to try writing fiction for that you haven't looked into yet?
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Can you write while listening to music? If so, what do you listen to?
Is there a story idea you've been wanting to write but have been too chicken to try?
Do you think artists are the most qualified to say what the "meaning" of their own work is, and if so, why?
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Why am I the best writeguy?
Let's say I never read a thing you wrote, how would you recommend approaching your stuffs?
What is the hardest thing for you to write?
Answer the question I am thinking of right now.
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What do you think of some of the other opinions presented, thus far? Do you share them, disagree with them, or a bit of both?
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What kind of music do you listen to when you're writing.brainstorming, if that's a thing you do?
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How much do you feel the rest of the Touhou fanfiction community influences your work? How much do you feel like you influence them?
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Dang, your great-grandmother sounds rad 8)
She started a long and proud tradition of the women on my mom's side of the family giving up a lot of what they grew up with and chasing their dreams and succeeding beautifully, yes.
What do you consider your most brilliant writing idea to be?
Probably Weave the Stars right now! I've heard a lot of people tell me that they had never considered that kind of angle to a Touhou story, and that makes me really happy to hear. Wanting to be original is not a particularly driving force in me (all stories are just mashups of other previous stories, aren't they?) but I do take pride in people considering my delivery of it to be very unconventional.
Are there any authors or written works (fanfic or otherwise) in particular that you draw inspiration from currently?
I actually had not read Frank Herbert's Dune before I started White Rose; the stuff on ecology and biology and psych is definitely not from his work. That said, after reading the series, I've decided that his style of epic writing, on literally global scales, is one of my favourites. I like a lot of YA writers as well, with Kirsten Miller at the top of the bunch. Her Kiki Strike book series was so good. Also Wendelin VanDraanen, who actually writes for children and not YA or adult stories, but I've never seen a kid detective series as good as her Sammy Keyes series. Since her stuff also counts as YA, Fuyumi Ono is also another top writer I take inspiration from.
Among fanfic writers, I really enjoy Satashi's old Nanoha work; her Sixth Division series was what got me interested in the idea of retellings of anime seasons. SailorPtah is also an amazing writer and has written some of the best stories in magical girl fandom, but especially PMMM, as well as one of the only Sailor Moon fics that had original characters I could actually get invested in.
In more serious nonfiction stuff, I adore Naomi Klein's stuff, since I do have a strong interest in political economy topics. She's also just a really good writer. The satirist Tina Dupuy is also a hilarious joy to read. As I consider myself to be very religious, I also drop by Richard Beck's Experimental Theology blog from time to time, he's got a way of thinking about faith from a psychologist's perspective that I think is extremely valuable.
What do you do to break writers' block?
I go draw! In fact, they usually trade off; when I have artist's block, I can write just fine, and vice versa. That usually shakes the block.
What other series do you think you'd like to try writing fiction for that you haven't looked into yet?
I've pitched the idea of a Taishou Yakyuu Musume and Sakura Taisen crossover. For that matter, I've been in the Sakura Taisen fandom for over a decade and I've never had any good fic ideas for it! Someone recently suggested the idea of a Mermaid Melody rewrite with things like diversity among the mermaid kingdoms, creativity, and a functional plot, but I'm not invested enough in MerMelo yet. Also, I've never written proper Sailor Moon fic, and I think I'd like to try that sometime.
Can you write while listening to music? If so, what do you listen to?
Yep, I can! I've mentioned it before, but not recently, so: when I write, I have to listen to something dissonant from the mood I am writing. Most writers listen to sad music to recreate a mood of sorrow and have that reflected in what they write, but I have to have upbeat music when writing tragic scenes, and tragic music when writing happy scenes. I've never understood why the mechanics of this, exactly, but I know how to work with it.
The only exception is fight scenes, where it doesn't matter what music I am listening to.
Is there a story idea you've been wanting to write but have been too chicken to try?
In a sense, White Rose, because it's just so intimidatingly large, but now in the same vein, I have an idea for a magical girl mega crossover that would require years of commitment from me that I'm not sure I could manage, but I want to try even if I get overwhelmed. I'm just scared by how big any given section of it would be. >.<
Do you think artists are the most qualified to say what the "meaning" of their own work is, and if so, why?
Man, that's a tough question! You've got writers who are deliberately vague, and then you have authors like Ray Bradbury who go back and forth on the meaning of their stories. The latter example is particularly interesting because a class of UCLA students once told him to his face (http://www.laweekly.com/2007-05-31/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/) that Fahrenheit 451 wasn't about how television killed creativity, but that it was about government censorship instead. I gotta say, I admire the nerve to take death of the author to that extent. At the same time, I also feel like authors might, in fact, know more about what they were getting at with their stories than readers. And then I feel like readers' emotional reactions to things matter.
In the end I think I prefer the notion that the author should have the loudest voice when it comes to interpreting their work, but it's just that it's not the only voice, y'dig? Once you've released your work into the world, it's no longer just your story.
Why am I the best writeguy?
You're highly unconventional in your storytelling and I like that!
Let's say I never read a thing you wrote, how would you recommend approaching your stuffs?
Man, that's a hard question. I guess there's a certain benefit to starting with my oldest work to see my style develop, but to be honest, I'm kind of ashamed of the oldest stuff; I've grown as a writer and as a person since then, and I'm not always proud of the stuff I wrote before. It's not in any specific chronological order, though, so I would suggest telling me the kind of genres you're interested in and I could point you in a direction from there!
What is the hardest thing for you to write?
Man, I was trying to decide what's harder for me to write, romance or comedy, and I think the answer is "both". Romance is hard for me because I am so frustrated with how other people write romance; people fall in and out of love easily, saccharine love at first sight, worn-out situations that drip of treacle, all that nonsense. Romantic love has also never had any real appeal to me, and I prefer narratives that don't have it. Ironically, Apple and Cinnamon is a yuri romance written specifically to win a KyouMami shipping contest, and from my frustrations was born their fraught relationship in that story, which multiple people have praised me for in terms of writing realistically how hard it would be to fall back in love with someone who betrayed your trust once.
Comedy, on the other hand, is really hard because I don't think I'm any good at being deliberately funny. I've written up a 4koma series for Precure called Pretty Cure in Small Doses with over 120 comic ideas written in meticulous detail, I am not even joking. But they're 4koma ideas, meant to be drawn, because I just cannot be funny in prose for the life of me.
Answer the question I am thinking of right now.
Yes, I will totally have a katana versus rebar match with you someday.
What do you think of some of the other opinions presented, thus far? Do you share them, disagree with them, or a bit of both?
Opinions on what?
What kind of music do you listen to when you're writing.brainstorming, if that's a thing you do?
When I write, my music is dissonant, but when I brainstorm it's a bit different. My ideas tend to flow no matter what music I listen to, so I put my music on shuffle and just think with the flow, mostly!
How much do you feel the rest of the Touhou fanfiction community influences your work? How much do you feel like you influence them?
I feel like I gave up any chance to influence them when I stopped writing Touhou continually, since I had pressing real life stuff that took time away from writing.
As for how much the comm influences my work, I would like to say that I don't care what others think, but I know that a certain Touhou fic pretty much sapped my will to keep writing White Rose years ago. It's not a fic written by any author here on MotK, don't worry, but the discussion I saw surrounding it and the community it came from was really soul-poisoning and I just kinda ground to a halt. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with Weave the Stars, and that story I would like to influence more people once the work is completed, because I'm genuinely proud of where I want it to go and how much better it is planned out than White Rose's impossible-to-manage long sprawling epic.
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Yep, I can! I've mentioned it before, but not recently, so: when I write, I have to listen to something dissonant from the mood I am writing. Most writers listen to sad music to recreate a mood of sorrow and have that reflected in what they write, but I have to have upbeat music when writing tragic scenes, and tragic music when writing happy scenes. I've never understood why the mechanics of this, exactly, but I know how to work with it.
The only exception is fight scenes, where it doesn't matter what music I am listening to.
Interesting approach! I was curious about this because I've noticed that writing written while listening to music that fits the mood of what is being written about tends to come across as really forced and rushed (my own included). So I usually write in total silence. This Opposite Day approach might be a good idea.
Man, that's a tough question! You've got writers who are deliberately vague, and then you have authors like Ray Bradbury who go back and forth on the meaning of their stories. The latter example is particularly interesting because a class of UCLA students once told him to his face (http://www.laweekly.com/2007-05-31/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/) that Fahrenheit 451 wasn't about how television killed creativity, but that it was about government censorship instead. I gotta say, I admire the nerve to take death of the author to that extent. At the same time, I also feel like authors might, in fact, know more about what they were getting at with their stories than readers. And then I feel like readers' emotional reactions to things matter.
Thank you. It's a question I'm trying to answer myself, and have made some observations where this is concerned, many of them based on basic human psychology. Maybe you already see what I'm driving at. But I like your fluid, egalitarian approach to this question.
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Opinions on what?
I meant about some of the answers given by the other authors who've been interviewed.
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Q: Are there any books in particular you'd recommend for learning how to write, or for learning how to improve your writing?
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I meant about some of the answers given by the other authors who've been interviewed.
Well, only I am right in everything I do Well, I guess they all do what works for them, you know? As do I.
Q: Are there any books in particular you'd recommend for learning how to write, or for learning how to improve your writing?
I remember when I asked Usually Dead this question years ago, he talked up a storm about how great Stephen King's memoir On Writing is for getting rid of the adverbs in your stories. And for improving the rest of your writing, presumably, but what I heard the most about was getting rid of adverbs. I never did actually pick it up, but it sounded interesting enough. Unfortunately I have no answer for myself, because I've never really read any books on writing like that. I just read a lot of stories is all.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) That is it for this week's...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) A round of applause for our guest, Sakura Rurouini.
*Applause, cheers, whistles*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck, Ruro!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Unfortunately, next week's episode will be delayed on account of the writing team being on vacation.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) More like going on strike do to budget cuts...
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Kosuzu-chan, you'll get us in trouble!
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Oh come on, it's not like anyone can hear us.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) The writing team hopes to return sometime before August 10. The thread will provide any updates on the writing team's status.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Meanwhile, we'll be picking our next guest for...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Remember: the first nomination--self or otherwise--will be our next guest!
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Joveus' note: Thanks for being our guest, Ruro!
Announcement: I will be moving on August 3rd to an apartment that, as far as I know, does not have internet access until I get it installed. I don't know how long installation will take, but I'm hoping it'll happen before August 10th or so. Until then, I will be running under the assumption that I will not be able to update this thread or conduct any interviews.
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I'd like to.volunteer for an interview.
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Apologies for the delay everyone. Now that I'm fully situated and have internet up and running, we will be resuming Ask a Writer shortly. Our next guest is Wolfsbane706, to whom I'll be sending interview questions shortly.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Hello hello, and welcome back to...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) For this week, our guest is the Quest Master of Nue Quest: One Screw-up After Another (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,17001.msg1105002.html#msg1105002), is a frequent participant of forum Roleplaying threads, and has written several short stories for the Scarlet Library.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Everyone, please welcome this week's guest: Wolfsbane706!
*Thunderous applause, whistles*
Q: What got you into writing fiction?
I first got into writing fiction in middle school. Basically, all I wanted at that time was to just take a bunch of ideas and put them out on paper. Looking back, it's probably a good thing my early stuff will never see the light of day again.
Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
I tend to draw inspiration from pretty much anything I encounter, be it other people, movies, or music.
Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
Although I've only written her once, I'd have to say Eirin is my favorite to write. She's kind of a mix between "overprotective sister" and "overbearing but understanding mother". Most difficult would be anyone with emotion-based powers and problems. Seija and Kokoro, mostly.
Q: Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
There's this original sci-fi project I'm working on. It's been in the works for years, and it's possibly on its final revision. That one's my favorite.
Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
Soul Eater, Kingdom Hearts, Madoka, and, if counting crossovers, Dresden Files and MtG.
Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
The most rewarding aspect of writing is, in my opinion, the recognition. It shouldn't be the only reason for writing, but being recognized is always a pleasant experience.
Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
My consistency. Specifically, the amount of time it takes me to update. 2,000 words in the space of a few months is not a good schedule, agreed?
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?
I try and stick to canon, but if it gets in the way of decent storytelling, I'll bend it to suit my needs.
Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
Oddly enough, I like reading forum discussions. It gives me a chance to figure out how people act without having to actually interact with them. For literature, I stick to sci-fi and fantasy, mostly, as long as it's not too fancy.
Q:Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Big? Nope.
Q: I see you're also running a quest. What are some of the differences, in your opinion, between writing for quests and writing more "conventional" fiction?[/quote]
When running a quest, you have to expect the unexpected. What's been planned may not come to pass. As well, you have to cater to your readers, even if they don't seem to have a grasp on what's been written.
Q: You also participate in RPing threads. What are some of the differences, in your opinion, between writing cooperative fiction versus writing fiction by yourself?
The differences here are similar to the differences in writing a quest. As said, what's been planned may not come to pass. In fact, with RPs, I strongly advise not planning past your current post because there's always the chance something will happen to break those plans in two (or four for the occasional catastrophe or calamity).
Q: Lastly, is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Advice? Stick to your own style. Also, don't be afraid to defend some of the choices made in writing. It shouldn't happen often, but there may come a time when someone starts blasting your work for no good reason. Lastly, if you're scrounging for opinions, share your work with multiple, unconnected groups. Different people have different opinions, and what one person says, another may not agree with.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for our questions! Just like last time: at the end of 1 week, we'll be picking our next Ask a Writer guest, so stay on your toes, everyone!
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What are you currently reading?
Will the Kirisame Files ever return?
As the creator and cowriter of Servitude, what do you find challenging about writing in a round-robin and why?
Given the resurgence of space opera in indie publishing, have you considering indie or are you seeking a more traditional route for your labor of love?
For those unfamiliar with your work, where do you suggest they start?
Which authors have influenced your style and storytelling?
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What are you currently reading?
Styxx, The Forever Watch, Metro 2033, and anything interesting I find on THP.
Will the Kirisame Files ever return?
Maybe, maybe not. Time will tell.
As the creator and co-writer of Servitude, what do you find challenging about writing in a round-robin and why?
I think the hardest part of writing the round-robin is submitting the chapter I've written to another writer. Either that, or reading someone else's style as part of the same story. It can lead to confusion if the styles are similar. Something like that.
Given the resurgence of space opera in indie publishing, have you considering indie or are you seeking a more traditional route for your labor of love?
If I ever get past the first page, I'll let you know.
For those unfamiliar with your work, where do you suggest they start?
I recommend starting with the "On the Ice" stories. They're part of a continuity, but each one is designed to be read as a stand-alone piece as well as part of the bigger picture. Plus, each one is a separate pairing, so you can get a feel for how I characterize certain characters.
Which authors have influenced your style and storytelling?
Glen Cook, Mike Resnick, and Jim Butcher.
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What work of yours do you most want other people to read?
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What work of yours do you most want other people to read?
I'd have to say Streets of Gensokyo City. It's my first attempt at dealing with a big city's underworld, even if both just so happen to be total works of fiction. The races are nice too, when they get written.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) That's all for this week's episode of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Let's have a big hand for Wolfsbane706!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed, thank you for being with us this week.
*Applause, cheers, whistles*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck, Wolfsbane!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Now it's time to choose our next guest.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) The same rules apply as last time: the first person to volunteer, or the first person to be nominated, will be chosen as the next guest.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) So step right up! Be our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thank you for being with us, Wolfsbane!
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I'll volunteer.
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Cool! Give me some time to re-read some of your stuff, and I will email you the list of questions shortly afterwards.
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Week 9 of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) For this week, our guest is the author of the long-running military-fiction story, The Oncoming Storm (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,14560.0.html), which chronicles a devastating conflict between the outside world and Touhou.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Let's have a big hand for this week's guest: The Dratini Farmer!
*Thunderous applause, whistles*
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Q:What got you into writing fiction?
I started out drawing a lot in high school to pass the time. But I hit a wall for a while and decided to see about using words instead. Since then, I?ve been writing more and more while my drawing skills had suffered. Whenever I had trouble falling asleep, I would come up with some of the most random of situations and began to wonder how they turn out if I worked on them even more. Once I did, it just went on from there into what I?m doing right now.
Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
There a lot of works that I?ve drawn inspiration from. The three top ones are Ace Combat: Assault Horizons, Napoleon: Total War, and War Thunder. I actually simulate the battles (aerial, infantry, and armor) using these games and write down what would happen in a certain situation. ARMA 2 is a very good tool to simulate modern doctrine as well. I?ve always been fascinated by how disciplined line infantry had to be to stay in formation with musketballs flying everywhere and smoke blocking everything, so I imagined the Lunarians as having that high level of discipline. I love putting in references from a lot of other series. So far, I?ve put in references from Girls und Panzer, Jormungand, A Certain Magical Index/Scientific Railgun, Full Metal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Assassin?s Creed, and Taken. With all the movies and animes that I now have time to watch, there will be a lot more references.
Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
I love writing Eirin the most. She has an aura of mystery and intelligence about her that grabs my attention. She reminds me a lot of the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel, in that she is highly regarded in her field and has a strong set of values and beliefs. From her backstory about her killing the Lunarian emissaries to protect Kagura, I imagine her as someone that does what has to be done, no matter the price. Since she?s such an important figure in Lunarian society, I imagine her as being selfless and honest. It also made sense to me to have her serve in the LDC as a way for her to make sure that the Lunarian civilization would be protected. I also imagine her having a very close relationship with Toyohime and Yorihime, to the level of being a mother figure to them. A close second would be Maribel. She reminds me so much of a close friend of mine: soft spoken and intelligent. She was also the one to keep me in line during high school and I owe a lot to her. The one character that I have problems writing would be Yukari. She?s one of my favorite characters, but I find it hard to be able to show her elegance, scheming and trolling at the same time. I would say that she could beat Lelouch vi Britannia if she felt like it. She?s just so complex that I?m worried that I?m not doing her justice and that she might come up behind me and beat me with her parasol.
Q: Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
The Oncoming Storm is really the only story that I?ve put online so it wins by default. I once started writing a Pokemon story that involved both the manga and the anime, but it was too much and it?s still sitting in a dark corner of my hard drive. The only thing that I can remember is that Team Rocket takes over the Kanto and Johto regions. I?m starting to think about bring it back out again sometime soon, if I can find it.
Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
I written a Pokemon story, but its gathering dust right now. I might bring it out of retirement if I feel that I can handle all the twists and turns. But that?s for after the end of the second part of the overall story line. What is most likely to happen is for me to scrap it and start from scratch.
Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
I like the recognition. During high school and some of college, I was always that guy in the crowd that was just there. Even though that meant that I never got singled out for anything bad, it meant that I didn?t get recognized for achievements. For a while, I was alright with that, it came in handy during basic training. But now, it makes me happy to see that others like what I?m doing. For this, I don?t need a big medal or a fancy sheet of paper, a compliment is enough. The most challenging aspect would be how to deal with writer?s block. It?s always worse when I?m speed through the chapter and crash into it. I could be writing my masterpiece and have no idea how to end it.
Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
I would like to improve my paragraph length. It might sound weird, but I think that my paragraphs are too short. Whenever I write, the paragraphs just form themselves. If I try to make them longer, they seem to get excessive and counterproductive. I might see it like that because of the font and arrangement of the books I read, but they do seem to have longer paragraphs with more material.
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?
I try to fully follow the official canon material. I spend as much time researching the characters as I do researching the military and science part. I rejected a few ideas because, even though they would have been great, they conflicted with canon material. I would?ve like to have Remiu devastate an entire division by herself, but according to SoPM, she really hates violence. I can?t really justify her straight up bombing a few thousand people out of existence by herself. But Yuuka would be another story?
Q: What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
I love reading visual novels. It?s great to have a form of interaction with a story without having the risk of ragequitting or trying to choke a computer. Light novels are one of my favorites, I loved reading the A Certain Magical Index series. Some of my other favorites are Infinite Statos and the Touhou light novel Dream and Reality by Iyokan. It was that novel that made Maribel and Renko two of my favorite characters and I cannot recommend it enough. I had manly tears flowing when I finished it.
Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
I?m always willing to read history books. World War II is one of my favorite time periods to study since so much of modern doctrine came from it and the different points of view. I?ve been meaning to read Erwin Rommel?s Infantry Attacks for a while. Tom Clancy and Oliver North are two military authors that I have read and can somewhat remember. I do like reading slice of life and comedic manga if they have good stories, escpically if it?s the Haruhi Suzuimiya series. I was reading The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzuimya on Battalion duty one time when a colonel walks in and has me hand it over. The next week, he gives it back and tells me to bring an extra copy of the next one whenever I came back for the next shift. I like writing military stories since I have a good base to work on with my education and service. It also gives me a chance to dream about what could happen if I went into the combat arms instead of the signal regiment.
Q: Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Well, The Oncoming Storm is just the first part of a trilogy that I?ve planned. I?m not even halfway done with it so far. The second part will be called Iron Rain, to continue the weather theme and since iron rain is another nickname for artillery. I haven?t come up with a good enough title for the third part yet. I have a rough outline that lays out the main events until the end but not much detail. Hopefully I won?t get jumped for saying this, but for most of the published chapters, I really didn?t have a good outline. I wrote as I went and kept everything in my head. But it became too much recently, so I sat down and wrote down the main parts. I will say that every character (PC-98 and Windows) will have a part, even Rin Satsuki will be in it and she will play a VERY important part. And if a character has to exit, they?ll do so in a badass fashion. And I?m starting to work on illustrating parts of the story. I posted a thread in the art section with my first sketch. I?m interested in seeing what others think about it so far.
Q: The Oncoming Storm seems to be your primary work featured on PSL (and quite the meaty work it is!). What inspired it?[/quote]
I had always wondered what would happen if the Great Hakueri Barrier broke down or weaken. My belief is that some nations have the disposition to turn to armed conflict if they sense the smallest advantage. Even though I hope that I?m wrong, another World War may be in the future based on the general state of the world. War does seem to be the inevitable approach to a lot of issues. If the Great Hakueri Barrier was weaken enough, the outside world would be able to see what happens inside of Gensokyo. Since humans have a natural fear of the unknown, they may see magic as a threat and respond. This response would probably not be a pleasant one and could lead to escalation into war. When there?s war, it tends to spread since other states want a way to solve their disputes. I?m actually planning on showing a divided world and World War III later on in the story.
Q: The Oncoming Storm includes a lot of detailed references to warfare, from strategy to tactics to military hardware. Do you have a background in either military service and/or military history? If so, how often do you find yourself drawing on that background when you're writing?
I?m currently a 25S (Satellite Communications System Operator/Maintainer) for the US Army. In a few days, I?ll be heading back to college to the ROTC program that I had to leave for Basic and AIT. I?ve was taught a lot in basic and that?s where I started the story in earnest. Since all US soldiers are trained as infantry in basic, I was able to add a good bit of realism to the stories. I also watched Girls und Panzer, which gave me a lot of knowledge about armored tactics and history. One of the people that I graduated basic with went to become a tanker at Ft. Benning and he said that a great majority of it was accurate (he was disappointed that it gave him the false hope that he would have the chance to have a female crew). Word there is that the higher ups are talking about making it required viewing for the butterbars training there. I always carried a small pocket notebook as part of my uniform during then and was writing what doctrine would tell us to do and what the Drill Sergeants and other NCOs actually did. That one early chapter where Reisen II has to clear a house during the night attack is exactly how one of my training exercises during my last FTX in basic went, right down to me running into a tree because of a crappy night vision monocle. I should have ate some fired eel first.
Q: Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Have an outline. I might have gone without one for a while, but eventually I realized I needed it bad. It doesn?t have to be fancy, just something where you can organize your ideas. Once I started organizing my ideas and events, it became a lot easier to see what worked and what didn?t. And it lets me add more things to make the story more dynamic.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for 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!
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I love writing Eirin the most. She has an aura of mystery and intelligence about her that grabs my attention. She reminds me a lot of the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel, in that she is highly regarded in her field and has a strong set of values and beliefs. From her backstory about her killing the Lunarian emissaries to protect Kagura, I imagine her as someone that does what has to be done, no matter the price. Since she?s such an important figure in Lunarian society, I imagine her as being selfless and honest. It also made sense to me to have her serve in the LDC as a way for her to make sure that the Lunarian civilization would be protected. I also imagine her having a very close relationship with Toyohime and Yorihime, to the level of being a mother figure to them.
I'm also a big fan of the Lunarian/Eientei sphere of Touhou. I think you capture Eirin's personality well. Talking about the main plot point of the weakening of the Hakurei Barrier brings up a question for me. Suppose Eirin killed the emissaries, fled with Kaguya, but never found the barrier. How would they manage, do you think, as fugitives in the outside world?
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I'm also a big fan of the Lunarian/Eientei sphere of Touhou. I think you capture Eirin's personality well. Talking about the main plot point of the weakening of the Hakurei Barrier brings up a question for me. Suppose Eirin killed the emissaries, fled with Kaguya, but never found the barrier. How would they manage, do you think, as fugitives in the outside world?
I can imagine both of them taking up the life of nomads and subtly influencing Japanese history and possibly world history. With all the knowledge and power that Eirin has, she could easily match anyone that dared to stand against her or tried to hurt the princess. She has her vast knowledge of medicine and the technological expertise of the advanced Lunarian weapons. If she wanted to, Eirin could build a nation that could stand up to any power, both on the Earth and the moon. But what I can really see is both of them building a home on a mountain range like the Alps and living the rest of their days in peace, For some reason, I can imagine Eirin being happy with having a garden and writing books while looking out onto a river at the base of the mountain in the spring instead of having to deal with political struggles and the occasional military action.
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Ah, another 25S. Could you have the girls rampage through Ft. Gordon, just for fun? Lord knows the place could use a little renewal.
All joking aside, there seems to be a growing subgenre of girls-with-guns stories in Touhou, especially at FFnet. Have you read any that struck your fancy? If so, what did they do right, and what do they do wrong, especially in portraying the military?
How do you approach action/combat scenes?
What are you currently reading?
What authors have influenced your storytelling and style?
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Ah, another 25S. Could you have the girls rampage through Ft. Gordon, just for fun? Lord knows the place could use a little renewal.
All joking aside, there seems to be a growing subgenre of girls-with-guns stories in Touhou, especially at FFnet. Have you read any that struck your fancy? If so, what did they do right, and what do they do wrong, especially in portraying the military?
How do you approach action/combat scenes?
What are you currently reading?
What authors have influenced your storytelling and style?
Now that I think about it, a renovation would do that place some good. When I was there, I wondered what I did wrong in a past life to be stuck there. It felt like never ending purgatory.
I haven't really read any of that subgenre on FF.net. But now that you mention it, I'll be looking into them. I know a few anime like that, such as Strike Witches, Angel Beats!, and I think Girls und Panzer counts. For me Strike Witches gets a lot right, but ignores other things. It was refreshing to see them actually practice good weapons handling instead of just pointing a recently fired rifle at each other like it was a hair dryer without getting any reprimand for it.
It depends on where it takes place. For the air, I would play a few Ace Combat: Assault Horizon to get a few of what I should go for. Even though it can be a little unrealistic, it still gives me a general idea of how it can go down and I can adapt that to whatever the situation I have to write. For large scale infantry combat, I use Napoleon: Total War to simulate the Lunarians whenever they're in line infantry formation and ARMA 2 for the modern infantry response. It's a bit rough getting the two into sync but it works. For armored battles, War Thunder and Girls und Panzer are my go to references. I add a little bit of the field manuals so it adds realism. Most of what I use is what I learned in basic because sitting in front of a computer in AIT for hours going through a technical manual wouldn't be very exciting. My head hit the desk so many times, I think I got a concussion every day.
I'm currently rereading A Certain Magical Index because I've convinced that Sphynx the cat will be a main character soon. He should have his own series. I just got done going through the Infinite Statos series again just a few days ago. I'm also waiting for the next volume of Girls und Panzer manga to be released. I used to be a librarian before I enlisted, so I read a lot more back then.
I like to say that Tom Clancy, Oliver North, Max Brooks, JK Rowling, Jeff Shaara, Kazuma Kamazchi, and Mario Puzo have had a big influence on my storytelling and style. For the action and realism, Jeff Shaara had the biggest influnence. For the immersion into a magical world, JK Rowling and Kauma Kamazchi were the big ones.
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) That's all we have for this week's episode of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Everyone, a big round of applause for The Dratini Farmer! Thanks for being with us this week!
*Applause, cheers, whistles*
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) We wish Dratini Farmer the very best of luck in all endeavors.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And now it's that time of the week!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Indeed. If you'd like to be the next guest on our show, please don't hesitate to volunteer.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Or nominate someone you'd like to see! So step right up! Be our next guest on...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thank you for being with us, Dratini Farmer!
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I volunteer as question-answerer!
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I volunteer as question-answerer!
Alright! Sock, I will be sending you a PM with the questions soon, so sit tight!
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Ladies and Gentlemen! We're back with another exciting episode of...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Though the writing team's been getting a little slow lately.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) *Sigh* Kosuzu-chan, you and I are going to have a long talk about going off-script during commercial break.
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Ah ha ha...Uh, this week's guest is the author of Absolution of the Reqiuem (https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,14439.0.html), a story that mixes Touhou with the author's very own danmaku fangame, Reqiuem of Fallen Angel.
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Let's have a warm welcome for this week's guest: An Unmatched Sock!
*Thunderous applause, whistles*
Q: What got you into writing fiction?
One source of my aspirations for fictional writing would stem from school, actually. As time went on, it felt as though my drive for trying to write stories was being stifled by research papers and reports, and actual story writing slowly died down. Even if it's not my own story, I would prefer writing a plot over research. Analysis can be informative, but a story can offer that and entertainment. If the audience is entertained, I feel rewarded for having done so. I like entertaining people, and a story, be it happy, sad, hopeful, or despairing, is a good way to bring entertainment. I find it also rather calming, and a way to even organize thoughts of a story that you just can't place all of the events in a proper, connected sequence previously.
I do admit that I am an amateur at this, though.
Q: What sources outside of Touhou do you draw inspiration from?
Darn near anything and everything. Mostly it's from other games that I draw inspiration from (reference Jozero). However, I usually try to find a scenario, then look up what I need to fill that role (reference Izumi). This method is what I use most, besides just a flight of fancy that manages to fit the situation. On more than one occasion, I've asked for outside input for ideas. One friend of mine on Steam gave me the concept ideas for Kuhai as well as Shinju and Hikari. Inspiration certainly isn't a solo effort.
Q: Which Touhou character is your favorite to write? The most difficult write?
]Although I've had plenty of practice at Reimu, I feel as though she's rather one-dimensional when I write her. I would like to fix that. However, regarding canonical Touhou characters, thus far my favorite that I have written would be Koishi, followed by Marisa. Both have spontaneous qualities, while Marisa is rather reserved. If Marisa spoke English, I can imagine her with a bit of an accent found in cities, for some reason. Despite living in the forest, she seems like a city girl to me. Marisa can switch from acting tough and sly at the drop of a hat, yet seems to be passionate about what she does. Not to mention she knows practically everyone in Gensokyo, so she's pretty friendly with everyone, which somehow makes it a bit easier to write with. With Koishi, psychology has always been a topic of interest for me. Interest causes imagination, and I went from there. Plus, I don't really have to think too hard about what she will say, since she just goes with the flow.
The most difficult that I have written would have to be either Yuyuko or Yukari. Both of them are adept at hiding the true meaning of what they say, especially Yukari. For some reason, I can't quite wrap my head around multiple ulterior motives in speech. Yuyuko is slightly easier, since she's a rather free spirited individual (pardon the pun). Yukari, however, I feel requires a delicate touch to get her personality just right, and I don't think I can properly convey her well. I do think that Yukari, depending on who she's with, can be blunt and to the point as well, which if anything causes more confusion regarding whether she's still being vague or not.
If we're talking which characters would be theoretically difficult to write, any of the religious factions outside Reimu and the Moriya Shrine would be difficult, since I am not aware of how they work. A devout Byakuren would be difficult for me, since I know next to nothing about Buddhism. I could learn, sure, but doing it right and remembering how to do it right would be difficult. Although, Miko would be even more difficult, since I find it hard to read her personality, which differs her from Byakuren greatly. Byakuren is a great youkai sympathizer, and tries to treat people with respect. Miko...I have no idea. Canonically, she keeps to herself, yet also is very flashy, especially in Hopeless Masquerade. Not to mention I haven't the slightest idea about Taoism. More research will have to be done to get her and most of the rest of the Ten Desires cast accurate in the upcoming stories.
Out of all the stories you've written (Touhou-related or not), which one is your favorite?
Well, I haven't really written too much. I had plans to write a trilogy (not Touhou-related) a few years ago, and managed to write a rough draft of the first quarter of the first book. However, I have since stopped. I would rather get more practice writing first. However, I still think of and appreciate the plot from time to time. Aside from Absolution, the only other story I have any memory of writing was back in second grade, it was a childish Bionicle fanfic that nowadays wouldn't even take up more than four pages typed, if that at all. So, I guess Absolution would be my favorite that I have acctually written.
Q: Outside of Touhou fiction, what other works have you written fiction for?
As I had previously stated, long, long ago I wrote a simple Bionicle fanfic. I loved Bionicles, and still have quite a few upon multiple shelves in my room. I felt as though that was a universe that could be expanded upon however the beholder wished, much like Touhou's lore. If it counts, I am also a GM in a game of Pathfinder with a few friends, running a story I modified from Majora's Mask (which is proceeding smoothly). It has a core basis, but I tend to come up with specifics while preparing for the next meet-up.
Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of writing? The most challenging?
I love how characters evolve over the course of a work. Sometimes you plan for them to work a certain way, then you start writing, and you go down an unexpected road and find yourself in an El Dorado of ideas for just how this character achieves this position. Other times it's a small motel in the middle of the desert. It's almost fun to get to this point of "How well can this character develop?" If there is one thing I love, in my own writing or the stories of others, it's character development (hence why I love Super Paper Mario, even if it's not highly regarded overall). I think I could still use some work with it, but I hope to be able to easily create development in the future.
However, I have a pretty bad tendency of only coming up with outlines of what will happen in my head, committing them to memory (which doesn't always work, unfortunately), forgetting some pieces, and then only fleshing out the small details as I write. If it's not obvious, I had no editor for Absolution. I think I improved over time, but an editor would have helped then.
Another challenging aspect I find is creating experiences that I have no prior experience in. My life is generally pretty boring, and there are plenty of scenarios that I can only create from how I think it will happen rather than drawing from my own (nonexistent) past experiences.
I suppose that keeping some sort of timetable instead of "I'll write eventually" would also help. [laughs]
Q: If there is one aspect of your writing you would want to improve, what is it?
Conveying my ideas. My writing process first involves imagining the scenario like a movie, how the characters look, react, feel. How the scenery looks, if it's light or dark. Each movement, like it were animated and playing on a screen in front of me. However, translating it to simple words is the difficult part. Specific etiquette must be followed (not too many descriptions, don't use too simple of language, but don't be varied to the point of constantly checking a thesaurus every three words, et al), and finding that balance while still describing what's happening could still be improved upon. I don't just have this problem with writing. Controlled telepathy would be the easiest workaround, since then I could just send the concepts and "movie" of the story directly to the audience rather than have to translate it to text.
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?
I guess the best way to answer this would be I approach it with a grain of salt. Sometimes I find someone else's headcanon that I find to be very believable or just a good idea in general, and borrow it for my own use. Otherwise, I take canon and add a dollop of my own interpretation. As an example, my interpretation of Cirno. She's more stubborn than just plain stupid, and is deluded into thinking she's incredibly powerful when she really isn't that strong in comparison to some of Gensokyo's fighters, especially the power-hitters. Yet, her stubbornness and luck helps her pull through, while repressing some of the cowardice most other fairies possess in the face of danger, yet it also leads to her having a bit of a swelled head. However, she has enough common sense to not put herself willingly in danger. Being scared of thunder was a little tic that some kids have, and I thought it would fit with her. She's not afraid to stand up to those certainly more powerful than her, but she will duck and cover when a thunderstorm rolls around, even if such a tendency was never made canonically apparent.Otherwise, I will say that I do not pay too much attention to canon material outside of the games (unless a character I want to use is only in a printed work or otherwise).
Two characters that I often debate ignoring their existences would be the Watatsuki sisters. I'm not entirely sure why, either. Maybe it's because of their limited (to my knowledge) appearances, ridiculously powerful abilities with no blind spots or weak points, or just the mannerisms of Lunarians in general. There's something about them I don't like, and as such I probably will not write them extensively.
Q: What are some of your favorite things to read, including but not limited to books?
I enjoy the works of the other lovely authors of PSL, but other than that (and the recent string of Touhou doujin manga I read), I don't find myself with too much reading time, unfortunately, and there are quite a few books I need to read, as well as movies I need to watch. As of right now, these will unfortunately not be getting resolved anytime soon. If the story truly takes me on a journey, then I will most likely like it.
Q: What particular genres do you enjoy reading? What particular genres do you enjoy writing?
Top two genres would be sci-fi and fantasy. Sci-fi because of technology of the likes that can only be imagined that can do practically anything, and fantasy due to its simple premise that can quickly become complicated with lore. However, both have an aspect that I enjoy a lot as well: fantastical creatures. Be they aliens or indigenous to the world, or from an alternate world set in the land of magic and wonder, the unreal fascinates me. I enjoy writing Fantasy more (Touhou fits under Fantasy, right? I think it does, anyway.), but I will not hesitate to include elements of both if I can.
Q: Do you have any big projects we can look forward to on the horizon?
Well, there is the continuation after what happened in Absolution. It does, after all, take place before Ten Desires, and I am having my characters join the investigations on the Divine Spirit Incident, the Religious War and the Menreiki, and the Tsukumogami Incident, and then some. I have a "What If" scenario planned for the question of "What if Reimu didn't win in her decisive battle against Constance?", but that is very unorganized at the moment. There is another short coming up soon that might be a few chapters. As for larger, original tales, I have none lined up at the moment. All I need is a bit of inspiration and fact-checking to make sure it hasn't already been done.
Q: Your primary work hosted on the PSL seems to be Absolution of the Requiem. What inspired it? Where did you get some of the non-Touhou ideas and concepts from?
Primary? Heck, that's the only work I have on PSL thus far! [laughs]
The inspiration for Absolution of the Requiem is my danmakufu fangame in the works, Requiem of Fallen Angel. I have most of what I need, and there is no reason for me to have not begun programming it besides laziness. I've been sitting on the ideas for RoFA for over two years now, not long after I discovered Touhou. Fun fact, it was actually looking up help for danmakufu that led me to MotK in the first place! Over time, I decided that, in case something happened where RoFA would not be finished, I should have some public record of it, and Absolution was created. I could have kept the game's title as the story's title in retrospect, but I chose not to.
The first idea I had for RoFA was the final boss, Jozero. Through events and odd thought processes long past and forgotten, I decided to draw inspiration from Kirby 64's final boss, Zero Squared. I guess that this is one of the first times I realized just how much of a sucker I am for final boss themes. That and how Kirby seems to be quite a bit like Touhou, with lore that isn't clearly explained and open for interpretation. Since this particular character was very enigmatic and has been relatively forgotten, I figured it could fit well in Gensokyo (Not to mention some part of my mind wanted a less happy character in an entire world of (relatively) happy magical girls). So, after a bit of conversion, backstory creation (which can be rejected for headcanon, if so desired. I'm cool with that. I'm not very good at writing tragedy of the sort Jozero needs to be believable.), and figuring out just how she could fit in Gensokyo, I chose her to be the final boss. From that, I created the incident, and looked for what I would need after that (Clouds needed a weather spirit, darkness led to using Constance, etc). I looked to others for inspiration when I could find no other source.
Q: Your interpretation of Koishi in Absolution is particularly interesting--it's not always you see Koishi acting like an energetic little kid. How did you come to this interpretation?
Koishi is a person who is said "does not think consciously", I believe. The closest thing I could think of to someone who talks with no conscious censorship, has a mind completely full of whimsy, and is carefree would be that of a kid. Not to mention kids are a large topic in psychology overall, and Koishi's entire theme is the subconscious. But, overall I see Koishi as a definition of a younger sister. Yet, her personality is one that belies her intellect. Just because she is oblivious doesn't mean she isn't smart. A child prodigy, if you will, whether or not she shows it. Koishi is a young, carefree girl who operates on flights of fancy. Her energy comes from not recognizing fatigue instead of fun, even pain is blocked out to an extent if she believes she is having a good time. Not to mention it would be too easy and uninteresting if Koishi was just "LOL RANDOM", and had no real thought pattern, even subconsciously. At least that's how I perceive her.
Also, her midair skipping and delayed response to using attacks (not to mention the random sneezing attack) in Hopeless Masquerade helped reinforce my thoughts on her.
Q: Is there a word of advice you'd like to give to aspiring fiction writers?
Rewriting is not always necessary. It's nice to go back and fix little mistakes or maybe redo a botched paragraph, but entire large sections shouldn't just be rewritten. Satisfaction is difficult to achieve, and sometimes, even if it is actually good, you may feel like you're just "making do" with what you have. There may not be much more room for improvement than you think, if you ever want to actually have anyone read anything of yours.
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) We'd now like to open the floor for any questions from the audience. If there is anything you'd like to ask, please do not hesitate.
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Let's try something a little different from me...
1. What are you currently working on?
2. How does your work differ from similar Touhou fanfics?
3. Why do you write what you do?
4. How does your writing process work?
5. What are you currently reading?
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What are you currently working on?
My next upcoming work is a short, maybe three to five chapters long (if I'm lucky). I don't want to make it a huge production. It stars one of the shrine maidens, I haven't decided on Reimu or Sanae yet, but it involves some time travel into the past and solving an incident forgotten by many. It also serves as a little "Well, what if, in the past..." headcanon I personally find interesting. I don't like giving too many details away, but I will say this incident isn't from Touhou specifically, but it may have been part of its inspiration.
How does your work differ from similar Touhou fanfics?
I feel like I'm trying to add more action into my fanfics, unlike others I have read. However, since most of the stories I've read aren't exactly action-packed the way I try to do it, it's difficult to know if I'm doing it right or exactly how I can fix it and make it better. I also, due to how I am normally, try to interject common sense, despite it being Gensokyo, although this is mostly with those not native to Gensokyo. Other than that my work differs by needing improvement and experience, and experience is something I can get more of.
Why do you write what you do?
I like creative writing, and Touhou gives me a lot of inspiration. Things can be done in Gensokyo that would be impossible in the real world or in other settings. Other than that, my answer would be basically the same as the first question Joveus the cast of Ask A Writer asked; I like entertaining people, and stories are one of the greatest of media to provide entertainment.
How does your writing process work?
In a few easy steps. Inspiration strikes, or something I do (a certain area or dialogue in a game/book, real-life event, et al) makes me think of a situation to write about, the ideas develop, sometimes I write a general outline, and then I just sit down and write with the little I have planned. I have had times where I hit an impassable writer's block, or I run out of time when I'm on a roll and can't pick back up where I left off effectively. After I finish writing I put it down and wait a day or two, then reread it (and continue writing, if I wasn't finished) and fix up parts that need improvement. After a week or longer of this, I will eventually call it done and not work on it anymore. Unfortunately, sometimes some minor errors persist, despite rereading multiple times, although those usually exist in the end of the passage than in the beginning.
What are you currently reading?
Textbooks. Now that the semester has started, the time I had for writing, reading, and general fun will be cut down immensely, and might not be resumed for months. It's tragic, the life of an engineering college student. I think I can pull through, though, and I won't disappear completely. Side projects go to the back burner for now, but they will be resumed eventually.
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(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) And that's it for this week's...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Thank you very much for being here with us, unmatched sock.
*Applause, cheers, whistles*
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Good luck with school and writing, unmatched sock!
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(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) Now it's time to choose another guest. If there are any volunteers...
(http://i.imgur.com/6b9kiBO.png) Or any nominations!
(http://i.imgur.com/mIfzXVy.png) ...then please don't hesitate. Everyone, please wait warmly for next week's...
**~ASK A WRITER!~**
*Applause*
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Joveus' note: Thank you for being with us, unmatched sock!
Announcement: I'm afraid I have to put this little project on the backburner starting next week. School is ramping up, and I'm starting to run out of free time, much less time to manage this thread.
Therefore, once we choose next week's guest and go through his/her week's worth of questions, I will be putting this thread on hiatus until further notice.
However...if people are interested in continuing this thread, I would also be open to handing off interview duties to anyone interested. If multiple people volunteer for this duty, I will use my discretion in choosing the next interviewer.
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Hey, can I get in on this?
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Hey, can I get in on this?
Hey, read the last post - which was made 2 months ago, btw.
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Hey, read the last post - which was made 2 months ago, btw.
Darn. Guess I'll get rid of all the spider webs up in here, then.