Welcome to PSL: Hatate's Writer's Lounge ~ Rules, info and general discussion!

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Hello and welcome to Hatate's Writer's Lounge,
Are you a writer wishing to show your works?
Are you a reader searching for new exciting tales to consume?
Do you wish to discuss fiction and writing in general?
Or are you visiting for the first time?
Whichever it is, you have come to the right place.
Take a seat, have a tea, and read on to learn all about Patchouli's Scarlet Library!

What is this thread?

Hatate's Writer's Lounge serves as the entryway into the world of fanfiction on MotK.
In this thread you will find the rules for this sub-forum, convenient links to help you find your way around, information about the people responsible for PSL, and more.
It also serves as a general discussion thread for all things fiction and writing related.

READ THIS FIRST: Patchouli's Scarlet Library (PSL) Rules and Guidelines!

Regarding NSFW fiction:
It has been decided we would rather not have excessively NSFW fiction posted on this forum. Please post it on your own blog, adultfanfiction, or somewhere like that. It's okay to link it, of course (see the general forum rules, we consider this to be covered by rule #1).

Don't sweat too much over the definition of NSFW; if your writing is the kind of stuff we no longer want here, you are probably well aware of it. Minor transgressions are okay, just no overt pornography.

If your topic disappeared and you didn't keep a local backup of your story, but want it back for archival purposes, PM an admin - we can grant you access to the hidden subforum where it was moved, if necessary. No voyeurs please.

Regarding Word Filters:
Word filters work as a simple input-output function. The filter searches a post for the input string (to use a recent example, "God"), and every time it sees that string it poops out the designated output string (in the case of "God", "Suwako"). It only does this for display purposes, however, meaning the original content of your post is left untouched. This means the process is easily reversible - remove the word filter and your post's display will go back to normal.

If you are a writer and you see a new word filter interfering with your works, do not panic. The change is only on the surface and your story is still intact. What you should do is PM a staff member and politely let them know that your work is being interfered with. They should then remove the word filter and things will go back to normal.

Regarding making suggestions in people's works:
Let's preface this by saying that constructive criticism is perfectly fine. This rule is not supposed to discourage people from posting anything that could be construed as negative in another person's story topic. For example, if you see spelling, grammatical, formatting, etc. errors, go ahead and point them out - in my experience, the writers here are generally receptive to having their works proofread from a technical standpoint. Presumably, if a writer doesn't like it, they'll say so.

That being said, suggesting a path a given story should take (or a new story altogether) is incredibly disrespectful for two reasons:

- It says that you think your story preferences are more important and/or better written than the topic creator's.
- It assumes the topic creator is so bad at what they're doing that they're merely stumbling along as whims come to them with absolutely nothing planned out for the future.

So out of respect for our hard-working writers, if nothing else, we don't want to see "You should do [put own ideas here]!!!" posts, unless the author explicitely asked for suggestions.

If you really desire to see your ideas played out, rather than suggest them to the writer, you should politely ask them if you can write your own spinoff using their setup (and their characters, if they created any). If they grant you permission, then hey, knock yourself out. Just please make sure you ask first, and definitely don't jack their stuff if they don't give you permission.

Regarding Non-Touhou fiction:
While PSL is of course a board for Touhou-fiction first of all, you are allowed to post Non-Touhou and original fiction here as well.
It's not a hard rule, but it's generally appreciated if you put some info about the nature of your story in the topic-title in such cases.
For example you could add [Non-Touhou], [Original] or you could add the name of the series that your fiction is about.


And that's it. If anything about those rules is unclear, do not hesitate to ask about it.

How to find your way around PSL

Since its reconstruction in February 2010, PSL has grown quite a lot and by now stores about 300 different threads containing fiction. So that all of you readers and writers are not overwhelmed by the amount of material, here are some convenient links to make your life easier and help you find the things you are looking for:

The Great MotK Fanworks Listing
The most handy  thread in PSL if you are searching for some fiction to read.
It contains a list of all fiction posted in PSL sorted by genre and giving a small summary for each work.
The list is updated twice a year by volunteers during the big Library Cleanup.

Kosuzu's Book Index
In addition to the main board, PSL has its own sub-board called Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore (KGB), where works are stored a while after they have been completed.
Look in this list if you are specifically looking to read stories that have already been finished.

Aya's Writing Workshop
This thread is for all of you writers to post story-ideas and -outlines you may have, but are still unsure about, and collect opinions on them.

Who is responsible for PSL?

For any questions, suggestions, feedback and everything else regarding PSL, there are two people you can contact:
Sakura-Rurouni
Sakana

Of course you are free to contact any other staff-member as well, but if it's about PSL, chances are it will be redirected to either Ruro or me anyway.

PSL's IRC-channel

Not satisfied with reading and writing? You want to talk to your fellow PSL-comrades in real-time? Then here's something for you:

Since August 23rd 2010, we have an IRC channel as well, where you can relax, get to know your fellow writers, discuss fiction and writing and much more!

The channel is  #scarlet-library on irc.ppirc.net

For those that have no IRC-experience, you can easily connect via TSO's handy webchat feature. Just enter a nickname and hit 'connect'.
See you around~

[Dead Princess Sakana]

And here it is, the successor to Koakuma's Writer's Parlour, PSL's general discussion thread.
As you can see, it has evolved quite a bit and incorporates the rules thread now, thus reducing the large number of stickies we have.

To kick things off, here is the topic the last thread ended on:

Question for the authors of PSL.

I've been doing a bit of reading about writing, if that makes sense. I've been having moments where I get too nervous to write, where I get convinced that my writing isn't good enough, that people will pick holes in everything I produce.

But evidently, I'm not alone in that. In fact, from what I've seen in a lot of articles I've read on the subject, fear may actually be part of the writing process.

I'm willing to believe that the majority of writers - if not all writers - are abnormal. Writing is at some level a personal endeavour - you are passing on a small part of yourself in the story, and that means exposure to everyone who might read your work. That's understandably terrifying.

And it's not reduced to amateur writers either. Take this quote:
"It's just a run of the mill book. And the awful thing is that it is absolutely the best I can do. ...I've always had these travails...I never get used to them."

Sounds like any generic Mike R. Writealot. Except this quote is credited to John Steinbeck, while he was writing The Grapes of Wrath.

Maybe the fear of writing is never something you fully escape. No matter how much you study, no matter how much you write, no matter how popular you are or how well you sell, the same fears will always grip you.

And that's why writing takes a degree of courage. The courage to write in spite of your concerns, your fears, your desire to throw the manuscript away and act like it never happened. Maybe my problem is that I hope at some point the fear will go away, but it never does. So maybe I need to learn to write even though it scares me shitless.

Am I alone in this? Anyone else have experience with the fear that comes with exposing a part of yourself to the world? [No, not those parts. Stop thinking dirty, Sect.]

[Alfred F. Jones]

So glad to see this topic starting up again.

Addendum to my answer from last time: Yes, I get scared when I post a new update, especially when I'm talking about something that is near and dear to my heart. It's like I've just exposed something vulnerable for all to see, so whenever I get really unnerved, I have to take myself off the internet and stuff popcorn down my throat while watching Indiana Jones wrapped in a blanket. Need to do something reassuring to myself that I haven't ruined everything ever with that update.

[Iced Fairy]

I'm apparently a little unique in that I don't actually hit the panic stage until the day after the update.  Admittedly there's a small worry, right after I post, but it's usually under control until I wake up the next morning and see no one's commented.  Or that people have just tossed out flyby comments that don't address a story point.  If there's a bunch of posts in the thread, or people poke me on IRC, my fears never come to fruition.

But once it's set in I find writer's insecurity hard to shake.  I'm still wondering if I screwed up portions of some of my longer fics that got almost no mention.  :X

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

As a side note, regarding feelings during the process, here's Neil Gaiman's pep talk from NaNoWriMo 2007. In particular, this passage:

The last novel I wrote (it was ANANSI BOYS, in case you were wondering) when I got three-quarters of the way through I called my agent. I told her how stupid I felt writing something no-one would ever want to read, how thin the characters were, how pointless the plot. I strongly suggested that I was ready to abandon this book and write something else instead, or perhaps I could abandon the book and take up a new life as a landscape gardener, bank-robber, short-order cook or marine biologist. And instead of sympathising or agreeing with me, or blasting me forward with a wave of enthusiasm -- or even arguing with me -- she simply said, suspiciously cheerfully, "Oh, you're at that part of the book, are you?"

I was shocked. "You mean I've done this before?"

"You don't remember?"

"Not really."

"Oh yes," she said. "You do this every time you write a novel. But so do all my other clients."

I didn't even get to feel unique in my despair.

Me, I just feel exhausted, and then I feel a momentary sense of despair when nobody comments or seems interested within the first five minutes or whatever, but that's just me being over-sensitive.

[Bias Bus]

Why would I be scared. No one will read what I write anyway :V

[Aya Squawkermaru]

This fear is part of the reason why my fic only has one update. That, and insane procrastination. :V

But yeah, I think it's perfectly normal. As previously mentioned, you're putting part of yourself out there whenever you write, you know? It's like acting. If you do method acting, you pretty much fuel everything you do with your own experiences and emotions. At the end of it, a good actor is emotionally exhausted from all that. Writing is very much the same thing. Singing, as well. I believe dancing is, as well, but I haven't danced in awhile so I'm not so sure on that one. Part of the arts is just putting yourself into every creation; I think that's part of the beauty in art. [/rant]

[Esifex]

Why would I be scared. No one will read what I write anyway :V

That's what you think BV

[LogosOfJ]

So I go back and edit it. The previous version isn't a flawed product. It's a special edition.

heh.

I'm pretty sure nobody actually reads Xenophilia and Thanatophobia

I have, and I have been consistently ripping off the two of these thematically. I don't know whether to be ashamed or embarrassed. Thank goodness for a) the non-profit nature of this and b) being even less read than you.

Am I alone in this? Anyone else have experience with the fear that comes with exposing a part of yourself to the world?

This is why I only gave my e-mail address and timezone when signing up. Though I must admit, I do experience fits of intellectual exhibitionism. Chalk it up to insanity. If I ever publish, I'm going to do so under a pseudonym, if that is a proper answer.
Of course. However, we're on a message board, with very few methods of having anything we say or do traced back to us.

[Mr. Sacchi]

I normally just write for myself, I don't care what other people think, and when I write, I write thinking "Nobody will ever read this but me", even though I know it's not true, it helps me not think about other people's ideas, I don't care if my latest fanfiction was utter crap, if I liked it, that's all that matters.

I don't feel "exposed" when writing fanfictions, which is most surprising considering the Main Chraracter is my OC and such OC is literally my avatar in the story, what he says tends to reflect a lot about me, when he is on scene, I don't think what he would do, I think "What would I do if I was in this situation?", his lines come naturally, which is one of the reasons my very few readers in another forum like me so much, they think my OC, while overpowered, is a very creative and likeable character, considering he's calm, collected, sarcastic and almost always has a smile on his face, I find this hard not to like... Until he starting acting like a douche, but that's another point.

@Other News

If anyone's interested in the story I mentioned last thread: I wanted to finish it by saturday, but I'm afraid chances say that won't happen, it's not something major anyway, just something to help me with fighting scenes... And to address a chracter I kinda forgot about after so long in the story BV.

But yeah, if you're interested, don't lose your sleep over it, I'm serious.

Also, anybody got any tips on how to make a swordswoman who fights with her sword sheathed fight? I'm serious.

[Moerin]

Also, anybody got any tips on how to make a swordswoman who fights with her sword sheathed fight? I'm serious.

She beats people with her scabbard, using it like a regular sword or even a club.  She'd probably have to compensate for the additional weight somehow, but other than that, depending on how realistic you want it to be played, it should work out fine just like that.

Does she keep it sheathed because she's under some kind of geas or code of honour that means that whenever she unsheathes her sword, she has to kill someone, but she, uh, doesn't want to kill people, or something like that?  Or did she just have a little accident with superglue~? >.>

[Mr. Sacchi]

She beats people with her scabbard, using it like a regular sword or even a club.  She'd probably have to compensate for the additional weight somehow, but other than that, depending on how realistic you want it to be played, it should work out fine just like that.

Does she keep it sheathed because she's under some kind of geas or code of honour that means that whenever she unsheathes her sword, she has to kill someone, but she, uh, doesn't want to kill people, or something like that?  Or did she just have a little accident with superglue~? >.>

The sword is basically a power enhancer for the user, however, if the power of the sword is naturally greater than the raw power of the user, the sword takes over the mind of the user, the sheath is a seal against that, the swordswoman only unsheathes the sword as a last-resort.

Thanks for the tips though, I should be able to make do like that.

[Iced Fairy]

That's pretty much Hyo Amano's style from the Last Blade. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6spHOv9tO4  Though admittedly Hyo's style is kinda....

Basically you're fighting with a club.  Use it as such.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Depending on the sword, the use could be closer to a kali-stick than a club as well, which is actually kinda what that video Iced linked looks like (specifically that quick three-hit-combo a few seconds in). That would pretty much only work with a straight short-sword though, where the weight is distributed equally. Else you end up with a club as was mentioned already.

[nolrai2]

So, is there any good touhou fanfiction that is not on this site?

[Jett]

That's a good question. You can always try fanfiction.net, but then again you may have already done so.

[Alfred F. Jones]

So, is there any good touhou fanfiction that is not on this site?

The obvious place to go would be FF.net. Unfortunately, An Archive of Our Own doesn't seem to have much in the way of Touhou. (and of those, one third of the fics are written by Ryuu.)

[Alfred F. Jones]

I have heard and seen nothing but good things about AO3. If I were to move all my fics from this site to any other, it'd definitely be to there. (MAYBE FF.net, if it didn't wreak havoc with formatting. But I wouldn't like it very much.)

[Iced Fairy]

I have heard and seen nothing but good things about AO3. If I were to move all my fics from this site to any other, it'd definitely be to there. (MAYBE FF.net, if it didn't wreak havoc with formatting. But I wouldn't like it very much.)

FF.net has the worst uploading design in existence.  I pray for your soul if you try to upload anything longer then a single chapter to that horrible site.

Unfortunately that's where the readers are, so if you want the largest possible base, you go there.

I'll be carting all my stuff over to AO3 though as soon as I get on, just to try to increase traffic.  Anything that can break FF.nets grip on the community would be a blow for fan writers everywhere.

[capt. h]

So, is there any good touhou fanfiction that is not on this site?

Usually Dead is probably the best, but he posts all his stories on his blog rather than here.


TakerFoxx is a pretty good second. But when I started UD, I had to finish. Lost at least a week. I can't say that for Taker.

[Iced Fairy]

Ah right.  As a suggestion : this is the only person I consistently remember on FF.net that doesn't at least have presence here.  Sadly it's also the only Touhou work he's done.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4711652/1/Scarlet_Septette_Bloodstained_Quill

[TAKE IT CACODEMON!!]

Considering a John Dies at the End-style story about Marisa, Pache, and Alice from the viewpoint of Reimu.

Yes, it'll be a crossover, but not like the one I have.

[Alfred F. Jones]

For later use, particularly for anyone who's thinking about writing a new story:

http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/2011/10/nanowrimo-narrative-structure-cheat.html
http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/plot-outline.html

I found these useful for NaNoWriMo, but they're useful year-round.

[Joveus Molai]

...holy crap those are useful. Thanks!

[Alfred F. Jones]

I have five invites for an Archive of Our Own account: post here if you want one!

I'm already on the waiting list, so I'm not sure I could get an invite from you :x

[Iced Fairy]

I'm already on the waiting list, so I'm not sure I could get an invite from you :x

You can.  Both me and Anathe were on the wait list before we got invited by someone else.

[Alfred F. Jones]

You can.  Both me and Anathe were on the wait list before we got invited by someone else.

Oh, excellent. I'll give you my information when I'm home later today, then.

[Eatay]

Erm, new around here, although I have read alot of other works in this forum and in FF.net.

Any tips for a rookie, cause i got a story in mind, but am so afraid of screwing it up and therefore I start procrastinating on writing.

How to start a new story and how to find motivation to keep writing are my basic questions

Btw first post, so very nervous.

[Iced Fairy]

First tip is start small.  It's much easier to get yourself to complete a 4 chapter short story then an "I don't even know how many chapters" mega series as KGB will attest.

Second tip is steal styles from real writers.  Fanfiction is fun, and I'm always glad to know people are reading, but when looking for writing techniques, look at published works you want to emulate.  Unless you'd be willing to pay $10 for the fanfiction you're reading.

How to start a new story : Get some meat together.  Your readers should know the premise behind the story, or at least think they know the premise by the end of the first section you post.  That's far more likely to get you comments, which will help you force yourself to keep writing.

How to find motivation to keep writing?  That's... harder.  Getting an audience helps.  Knowing that the end of the story is near helps.  Being really passionate about a story helps.  But I don't think any of us have figured out a fail safe way to keep a story going.

[Bardiche]

I consider a good way to keep motivated is to set the page format to 5 x 7 inches or thereabouts. It's much more motivating to see all those pages neatly lined up and feeling like I've written quite a bit already than it is to see all my words and posturing amount to one or two pages.