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Since the last thread (>>18276) has reached bump limit, let's continue the customary character discussions in a new thread. Just like before, every week, everyone will vote for a new Touhou character to discuss. If you have anything at all to say, or just enjoy thinking and talking about Touhou, by all means, share your thoughts. If you want to comment on a character that has been discussed previously, you can use >>17770 The Irregular Character Discussions Thread.
You can comment with your interpretation of the character's personality and outlook, your opinion on what they stand for, story ideas you have for them — anything goes. This is a writing-focused board, but no specific angle or approach is mandatory. You don't have to write a lot either — a small message is just as good, just make sure it's something fellow participants can latch onto or expand upon. As well as just sharing your thoughts, please don't forget to engage with other posters. It's fun to read what others have to say, and starting a conversation helps you shape and enrich your own view.
Apart from the obvious, here are some things you might want to consider:
The boss fight, if there is one — there can be a lot of personality to things like spellcard names and bullet patterns.
The music theme — to help you set the mood, at least!
The character design — visuals are the first thing you see and what you remember them by, after all.
The mythological/cultural inspiration — it can fill in a lot of blanks in an interesting way.
Changes over time — whether in the source material or the fandom.
That's just to get you thinking.
But either way, don't be afraid to speak up. Happy discussing!
Ah, the Touhou's daemon prince of Khorne, how have I failed you by getting myself together to post only now
>>19008
I always thought it obvious that Chang'e somehow manipulated her husband into killing Junko's son and that's why she is "naturally talented as a bad wife" in classic harem intrigue fashion, and also why she's the real criminal in Junko's eyes while her husband was just a hapless executor (and also she already killed him). But your theory is an interesting and novel idea as well! Indeed, why is Reisen surprised about "wife of her husband" — is it because polygamy became less common at Moon in Reisen's times or because it never had been usual? I wouldn't take it as a primary version, but one may get some use out of it in a story.
>>19010
>Shooting down one of the suns - who happens to be Junko's child
Never stated anywhere, those are most certainly two different things.
By the way, as I looked through available information, I realized that name Houyi/后羿 is actually mentioned nowhere in Touhou. Granted, "Chang'e's husband who shot down the suns" is heavy enough hint that people immediately assumed that the name is canon as well, but, still. (I wonder now if that can be connected to that idea that lunarians don't care about names...)
>It is said that Junko resides in Senkai.
Never would have thought tbh, but there's that trivia from SCoOW indeed. There are many Senkais, individual for each hermit, as I understand? Did Junko create her own or who she shares her residence with, then?
Speaking of random trivia, there's also that Eirin quote from her dialogue with Reimu about how youkai, who are completely impure (in original it's 穢れに満ちた妖怪 — full of kegare-impurity, unrelated to Junko's purification) can't see and therefore defeat Junko. It, er, raises questions, incl
Sorry for not posting earlier, was busy. Very good discussion this week though - lots of information. I can't comment on it though because I'm not as well versed in Junko's lore as others, sadly.
>>19008
>even when you take a normally laudable or heroic trait if you extend it too far, if it takes up too much of a person, they end up seeming disturbing.
I can vaguely envision what you mean... like, someone who's 'purely' charitable would seem to be gullible? or maybe someone who's 'purely' logical would go about life in a way that's totally different to the average person. Some of her actions would be seen as wise, but other might be irreverent or even cruel.
>>19010
>Junko is Chang'e
But that's just a theory... A GAME THEORY
Anyhoo, this is quite an interesting character origin story, although her magicking herself into a divine spirit is also interesting, even more so IMO if she had to learn the purification magic beforehand. As you said it'd be interesting to see what kind of person she was before Chang'e's husband murdered her son, her transformation into a divine spirit and the potential contrast and tragedy between the two. It isn't like she'd be anything like the person she was before, right?
>>19011
> I dont think Junko would ponder what actually happens After she assasinates Chang'e
either turn to dust like a revenant or try to kill the next cloesest person to Change's husband, I'd imagine. It depends on how much of a stretch it is for Junko to be going after Chang'e - was she just Chang'e's husband's wife, or was she an accomplice in the murder of Junko's son by Chang'e's husband?
>>19038
>I can vaguely envision what you mean... like, someone who's 'purely' charitable would seem to be gullible? or maybe someone who's 'purely' logical would go about life in a way that's totally different to the average person. Some of her actions would be seen as wise, but other might be irreverent or even cruel.
Yep, I find it hard to articulate but maybe that's the lightheartedness. Junko's single minded pursuit of vengeance can be heroic, if anything strength of personality is what people look for in a hero and the Lunarians and Chang'e have done a lot of evil for the sake of consolidating their power. At the same time, Junko's actions ended up inadvertently involving other people and she's willing to kill all the Lunarians just to kill Chang'e.
>Anyhoo, this is quite an interesting character origin story, although her magicking herself into a divine spirit is also interesting
Well she is also a type of hermit as well, being a Senrei. I presume she used some form of hermit art to ascend. If Junko was one of the mortal descendants among the Lunarians or alternatively she could be a god who became a hermit, becoming a Senrei using hermit arts.
>>19033
Well her profile opens by saying.
>The underground city was separated from Hell, but a number of uncontrollable spirits remained in the former facilities of Hell, so there was a need to control them.
>The Palace of the Earth Spirits is built above what was the Hell of Blazing Fires, and this is where she took up residence. Since she can read others' minds, all sorts of youkai and spirits fear her, so eventually people stopped visiting the Palace of the Earth Spirits.
>Satori left Orin in charge of the vengeful spirits and Utsuho in charge of the Hell of Blazing Fires. They were both loyal to Satori, so they shouldn't have done any harm. She believed there was no way they'd start some sort of incident.
It doesn't directly say she was appointed, just that she ended up in the position after the palace was built and then she appointed various jobs to her subordinates. So yeah she has a job of sort, to manage the Vengeful Spirits of former Hell and deal with the old facilties, and then she delegated various subordinates and in CDS we see her acting as the leader of the underground, being able to enact things like it's lockdown. Yuugi's profile mentions that the Oni/all youkai underground also manage the Vengful Spirits in the underground, they do this under the promise the surface youkai won't entrude on their territory. In SA Yuugi does mention how the current Oni residence district was formerly a market town that moves it so it looks like they were just squatters at first.
Thinking about it more, if the Oni directly deal with the vengful spirit and the duty of managing them is delegated to Orin, that kind of makes Orin the direct superior of Yuugi. in SFW when Yuugi mistakes Yuuma for one of Satori's pets she does think about putting in a good word to get her transferred to a better position.
So yeah it does seem like she has some authority, I imagine she mostly just does clerical work herself since she's delegated all her duties to her pets. It's probably
>>19033
I mean, I was thinking along the lines of the Ministry maybe quietly being involved in the initial investment into the whole venture. Again, I don't think Kanako would spurn someone else's money/materiel buttressing her efforts.
>Not sure about the tourism angle as the underground inhabitants for the most part want to be isolated or are otherwise disliked even by other youkai. Could see real resentment form up (just like IRL) with an increasing number of tourists.
Tangentially(?), this makes me think of kappa who work on the reactor living in camptown(s?) outside of the Old Capital. I don't think it's too farfetched given how kappa are, plus the Underground youkai likely don't want that much to do with them.
I do wonder how much the Underground in general resents the reactor project. It did seem like business as usual during the events of SA, but who knows. All those hot springs geysering up on the surface sprang up from somewhere, after all. Maybe there's a few oni in the Capital a little extra grumbly about leaky pipes.
>>19035
Orin was under the assumption the Oni and Satori wouldn't like it, and that they would kill Okuu for her conquer the surface plan.
But her profile points out that her assumption was incorrect. I imagine that there's some resentment but if the reactor had benefited them they probably don't complain much, either way I think their biggest problem is still with Okuu. Especially now that she bombed protesters, but since she isn't trying to bathe the surface in hellfire anymore they probably don't complain much as long as she minds her own buissness.
The previous thread (>>16503) is necro-locked, so I guess it's time to make a new one. Same deal as last time: Talk about writing, but keep idea solicitations and unsolicited pronouncements of writing orthodoxy to a minimum.
That out of the way, I wanted to talk about something that might be valuable to some. There's a certain orthodoxy around the shape of narratives resembling an arc, needing to be divided in certain ways, etc. that gets bandied about on the internet and elsewhere a lot. It may help some to adopt that thinking, but I've felt over the years that it hindered just as much. Some narratives really just can't be force-fit into that sort of shape, or trying to do so may constrain things to uncomfortable degrees.
Along these lines, I encountered a book by chance called Meander, Spiral, Explode by Jane Alison (https://search.worldcat.org/title/1049791446). It's less writing advice and more a light examination of pieces of literature and how their narratives take on shapes that depart from the supposedly prototypical arc, mimicking patterns found in nature. To some, it may not be wholly convincing, and certain examples do feel slightly contrived, but I think it's still valuable for consideration. For those who struggle with the idea of the narrative arc, this may well be a godsend.
I was drawn into the ideas presented in Meander, Spiral, Explode enough to try and apply them in some of my own writing. If you can get hold of a copy, I recommend giving it a read.
>>19018
>they may have written themselves into a corner or lost sight of what it was that they originally felt like doing and the story [...] became too difficult to set right
Guilty as charged on both counts, and with degrees of planning, too.
>you need to have an ending in mind and work backwards from there
I can see the logic in it, but I think it's difficult to actually pull off. You'd probably have to either stubbornly stick to your decision regardless of story evolution (not a great choice, imo), or be ready to constantly reëvaluate as things shift (pain in the ass). I don't know, though. Never seen a good model of such a plan.
>It doesn't have to be a specific or set-in-stone event either, mind—could just as easily be something like characters taking stock of things or making decisions under the circumstances that have arisen.
I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Your examples seem like somewhat specific events to my understanding. What's the distinction being made? How can those things be less specific or unspecific?
>clear-cut structure
Incidentally, I'm curious how you understand this. When I hear about structure in relation to storytelling, that brings to mind something like a stacking up of discrete "blocks" of story, wherein some relatively independent events occur that still nevertheless contribute at least thematically to a greater "point" or "objective" of a story. That's only one way to conceive of things, of course, and I wonder how others see it. I haven't seen many good examples of story "structure" beyond the usual arc-shaped ones.
>Stories evolve and change even when they're not CYOAs.
I'm also curious on this point. What do you mean, exactly? I suppose it's possible for serialised things that aren't necessarily CYOAs could change, but I can't see the same for something that's just a sing
>>19024
>I'm not quite sure what you mean here.
I was differentiating between something like "Bilbo accidentally comes across the ring and pockets it" which is a distinct event that is easily understood in the context of plot with something more circumstantial and reactive that adds to the story and narrative but isn't an a to b to c event in the plot hence, "could just as easily be something like characters taking stock of things or making decisions under the circumstances that have arisen."
>clear-cut structure
I meant this in the most naked of senses: thing a leads to b leads to c ... leads to the ending. Mapping that out in advance in full isn't necessarily helpful, I think, as it can be something of a straitjacket. I can't offer much in terms of theory or analysis when it comes to the various ways stories are structured—I simply haven't taken the time to break down the many things I've read into what I think are their constituent parts and my experience with books that do is that they're opinionated and prescriptive, to the point of ignoring things that don't conform to their paradigm.
>What do you mean, exactly?
As far as I know no one is capable of foreseeing every aspect of a story and keeping that conception in an immutable fashion in their mind. I've never seen an author ever talk along those lines; working out scenes, character dynamics, specifics of language etc are subject to change as a work is produced and then perhaps edited many times. Stories of any length are not done in a single sitting and, even so, ideas and thoughts naturally arise in response to what is done and how we see those things. This is true even without input from others; votes, reader comments, editors, spouses, imaginary personas, and whomever else can and do affect thoughts and feelings about a work even if indirectly. Time passes—sometimes weeks and months—between entries, revisions, or drafts and so things naturally change and evolve.
>>19026
I guess I'm still not quite understanding the distinction being made. My understanding of what constitutes an "event" is simply something happening in the context of the story/plot. Isn't everything kind of circumstantial on some level? I mean, if Bilbo wasn't in the right place, he'd never find that ring. Of course, the story also wouldn't really progress, but all the same. I don't know. I find it hard to conceive of how a particular set of "things happening" can be outside the general movement of, uh, things.
...then again, I'm still not sure I can disentangle notions of plot versus story.
As to structure in the sense of a particular ordering of things, I suppose it can be limiting if adhered to rigidly. That said, I've experimented with trying to "shape" a narrative in a specific way with... well, difficulty but also minor success. That's been largely very short stuff, though. I don't know how it would even begin to apply to something at scale.
And there is a certain "mainstream" of writing on, uh, writing that clings to the idea of a story being in an "arc" shape, even though the source of that is more analytical conception than anything. I see the appeal of having certain decisions be pared down by default, but I've had little success trying to work that way.
A few people in the discussion thread and/or the discord have mentioned either having hoping to say more about characters once their week was over, or due to circumstances were not able to participate in the discussion of the week. So I decided to create a thread for people to be able to continue those discussions without taking up the main thread!
Here’s Teruyo’s link to the characters discussed so far (as well as for the character that is currently being talked about, but discussion for that character should be reserved for the main thread!): https://www.thp.moe/discussion
A thought about Remilia comes to mind that might support her having her ability to manipulate fate that she claims to have.
Namely how despite how a few characters involved in incidents being new to gensokyo or just running into the characters from gensokyo going to the other realms that are connected to gensomyo but not in contact. (See former hell, animal hell, the moon heck Sumireiko counts too!) That the fights still manage to be fought under spellcard rules. Which makes Remilia's part with the formation of the spellcard system interesting. Perhaps she isn't just spouting off some false boastto make herself look more powerful, but has been using her power to manipulate fate to ensure that incidents of gensokyo are resolved using the spellcard system? Even when the incident causers didn't know about it before or other similar things?
>>18917
At this point you're just using Remilia as a convenient handwave. You can swap her to any sufficiently powerful and vague person or ability - Yukari/Okina/Keine/Dragon God/lunarians/myriad gods/secret outside world government are somehow ontologically upholding spellcard system with their vague but totally very powerful abilities - and nothing will change in your logic.
>That the fights still manage to be fought under spellcard rules.
We don't have any in-universe evidence that that's the case, do we? I personally think it's simply a game-mechanical convention and in-universe at least in the LoLK and WBaWC incidents danmaku rules weren't used. Anyway, even if somebody will present evidence to the contrary - your theory immediately runs into the classic brick wall of such theories - "why is [she] doing only this with that vague basically omnipotent ability of hers and not that?"
Execpt that Remilia is one of the few involved with the formation of the spellcard system. Leaving it between her, Reimu or Yukari. But there may be a little point that it could be a handwave.
LoLK won't really count since we do know for sure the moon was introduced to the spellcard system during the events of SSiB years before so we know that they did have spellcards.
Furthermore we know it isn't just game convention as not only do they have the whole spellcircle spellcard start up and the same naming convention for both LoLK and WBaWC, but many of those same spellcards showed up for Reimu's spellcard competition in Grimoire of Usami. (Though i think that was before WBaWC... But many of those spellcards also showed for UDoALG which were going on the spellcard system.)
Waaaah…!
Hello everyone. Welcome to the second Spooky Month Writing Contest. I’m your Mascot, Hata no Kokoro… I’m so happy to meet you all.
Welcome everyone. I’m the host for this contest, Gooboi. Last year’s Spooky Month contest was quite a lot of fun, with a nice variety of entries. I always hoped I might be able to make it a yearly thing; so here we are again, giving it another round.
I’m taking over from Kogasa this year. Halloween… it’s really fun, isn’t it? It’s a time of fear, and joy, and so many others… every emotion I can think of, and more! I joined because I wanted all the feelings you could put into your stories.
Indeed, there’s few times better than halloween to run the full gamut of emotions and experiences. From the horror of the unknown to the simple joys of getting and eating candy… Halloween has it all.
THEME
This year, I spoke to a few members of the audience to get their opinions. And they chose from a small list of options I provided. Kokoro, would you do the honours?
This years theme is… Harvest Fest. So it’s festivals this time? Mamizou took me to one of those last year, in the Human Village - wait.
Is something wrong, Kokoro?
…Wasn’t last year’s theme about masks?
It was, but we’re gonna mix it up every year.
…Then why was Kogasa the host that year? Why not me?
I just couldn’t imagine starting a spooky month contest without her as the host, you know? …Don’t look at me like that.
A-anyway, this contest has two main themes, both themed around fall. One is the idea of Harvesting - both in the literal sense of gathering crops, but the fruits of one
>>18886
For character's past I think that since the fandom has mostly made up its mind on certain characters' past, that most just find it easy to go along with the current of what's understood. Especially if the character's backstory isn't a main focus.
Although it's not like alternate ideas don't exist for that sort of thing. Renko = three fairies of light, Junko = Change, everything going on in Suwako and Kanko's past, Okina (who's hard to decode), Seija's questionable relationship to Sagume (I think I see this one played around with most of all), I guess there's also Nue.
>>18886
>Ah, to have actual Japanese uni library access…
Yeah, that'd be nice! Sadly, my time as an exchange student is over, so the only library I still have access to is on the other side of the pond...
Ah yeah, I forgot to mention, but I keep up with both of your stories here, they're super fun! Funny that they both star cynics who wear a lot of red...
Nice music! I'm always looking for more music for reading and writing. Also glad for your comments - hopefully next time I can kick the habit of meandering and CARVE DIRECTLY THROUGH THE GRANITE TOPSTONE RIGHT INTO THE OCEAN!!!!
>>18441
>>18439
You've made a good effort in your reply. Perhaps you could expand your attempt for an extra-credit and longer form assignment on the scentscape of Gensokyo. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to highlight how specific stories would be improved by the inclusion of such considerations in their text.
>>18400
What typifies autumn besides falling leaves? I feel like that's a harder one to capture in any ready shorthand. Summer's hot, yeah. Spring's green, yeah. Winter's cold, yeah. What even is autumn, though?
Maybe it's just because I've lived in a place that doesn't have very "fall" kind of weather or scenery, but I don't have too much emotional connection with it beyond the calendar months of the year.
A few ways. One is that the transition between summer and winter can itself be a good indicator; someone dressing for a warm day that turns out a colder and more miserable is a good one.
Setting it during certain events is also a good way to do it, like a festival or the like.
But a subtle way to do it is through food. Pretty much any place with strong seasons will have seasonal meals, where the availability of goods ebbs and flows with the year. Showing people having certain sorts of foods - like September pumpkins - can do well to set the time subtly.
Let's continue the customary character discussions thread. Just like before, every week, everyone will have a new Touhou character to discuss. If you have anything at all to say, or just enjoy thinking and talking about Touhou, by all means, share your thoughts.
You can comment with your interpretation of the character's personality and outlook, your opinion on what they stand for, story ideas you have for them — anything goes. This is a writing-focused board, but no specific angle or approach is mandatory. You don't have to write a lot either — a small message is just as good, just make sure it's something fellow participants can latch onto or expand upon. As well as just sharing your thoughts, please don't forget to engage with other posters. It's fun to read what others have to say, and starting a conversation helps you shape and enrich your own view.
Apart from the obvious, here are some things you might want to consider:
The boss fight, if there is one — there can be a lot of personality to things like spellcard names and bullet patterns.
The music theme — to help you set the mood, at least!
The character design — visuals are the first thing you see and what you remember them by, after all.
The mythological/cultural inspiration — it can fill in a lot of blanks in an interesting way.
Changes over time — whether in the source material or the fandom.
That's just to get you thinking.
But either way, don't be afraid to speak up. Happy discussing!
>>18650
>I wanted to comment on your argument, maybe even dive in... now that I've read it — we're thinking in such different paradigms it's nearly pointless. Simply look at this:
>two? three?
Three I think. Me, my usual conversation partner, and some other guy.
The quota you were responding too isn't from me, but I don't think you, me, or my usual partner have all that different a perspective. Incidents are largely theater, Gensokyo is a dark setting, everybody is a hypocrite. Although I do believe outsiders do die unlike what you and others say, so they die alongside the people who break the rules/law.
Neither do I really think Reimu is a good or evil person, the situation is more complicated than that and boiling down to good and evil is boring and isn't something I'd want to write in a story. Which is why I don't argue for Reimu being a good person, I don't think she is and the idea of Reimu being a good person without any moral complexity, questionable decision, or moral grayness doesn't interest me. At the same time, Reimu have no internal conflict us equally unappealing to me.
But to answer your question, is such a peace worth it?
I don't know and I'm not sure Reimu is entirely confident in her answer either and I think that's interesting. It's something interesting to explore in a story. So to jump off of that really metal idea of Reimu becoming the little living shrine of the Hakurei god. I think that would be a good place to explore that idea.
For instance, maybe as Reimu undergoes physical and mental changes, she comes to believe it isn't worth it. So in order to repent for her crimes and ensure Gensokyo is destroyed she kills herself at the perfect moment, right in the middle of her transformation. When the Hakurei god is mortal enough to be killed and Reimu is godly enough to make sure she can drag it down to hell with her. Of course her friends and self interested Youkai try to keep her from committing suicide but Reimu succedes anyways and ends up
>>17987
Speaking as a collaborator on that one, it would have been hard for Kinu to finish since the writer, uh, didn't plan much and lost interest in figuring it out after a while. Rural Concord ended up being something like a spiritual continuation, even if it wasn't strictly the same.
Here's another story I haven't seen anyone bring up:
>>/border/31609
The premise is pretty interesting as far as "walk around and survey Gensokyo" stories go, and it's short and sweet. No need to artificially heighten stakes for the sake of a forced plot or neatly tie up everything with a comprehensive conclusion, just a quick, cozy stroll with some fun character interactions. There's not too many stories that (tangentially) touch on the gyrations of the afterlife, so there's that too. Reading it shouldn't take that long for most considering it's pretty short, so there's not much reason to not. More CYOAs ought to be as small-scale and focused. Maybe more would finish like this one.
It looks like the old thread (>>16402) has passed away into obscurity, never again to be bumped. Oh, well! In lieu of repeating the premise of the previous thread, I'll index the previous posts but otherwise rely on the title to be self-explanatory enough:
>>16403 The Tengu a broad-ranging academic overview of tengu-related myths over the centuries
>>16408 Kojiki, the oldest surviving written work from Japan, which details its ancient mythology and the history of its earliest emperors
But I'm going to start this thread off with a different kind of background influence on Touhou, which many of you will already know about but which some of you might not! The illustrated oeuvre of Takemoto Izumi was an early, maybe even formative, influence on ZUN's aesthetic sensibilities, and their influence can be seen very strongly in the earlier games, extending as far as an entire character—pic related—being imported wholesale into the third game of the series. While the overt borrowings may have tapered off over the years, you can still witness the cute, bubbly, but also earnest and at times seriously reflective sensibility in the tone and approach of Touhou today. So, even though the majority of us may be readers and writers and thus might incline more towards textual aspects of the setting or the lore or the characters' personalities and backgrounds, I think it's worth taking a second look at the "silly outfits" of our favourite girls with a finer and more appreciative eye for what non-textual sentiments might have compelled ZUN to design them that way, beyond the two extremes of "obscure mythological reference" and "unqualified whimsy".
>>18374
If you come across any Japanese goblins, give them a sniff for good measure, too. Report back on that.
On a slightly tangential matter, I wonder what humie scent is like to non-humans. Do they find it offensive? Intoxicating? Attractive? At the very least, distinctive? Can they tell us apart by smell, or is it relatively constant? Is there a fairly consistent value ascribed, or is there wide variance?
I think I've seen matter of the sort pop up once or twice in THP stories, but it seems like something not often paid much heed.
Any good recent academic papers out there on miko? I read a few some years ago that I unfortunately never saved. Not having academic database access anymore sucks...
I don't think I have anything to add to the tengu scent discussion (other than maybe that I suspect Hatate's habits overcome whatever scent tengu naturally have or prefer to apply, and she smells like anyone else who shuts themselves in their room 364 days/year. Personally that makes me want to dunk her into the nearest bathtub, but somebody in this thread probably finds it attractive), I'm just dropping by to drop off some tales of necromancy from the journal article I used as a resource for my exhibition entry last month.
Specifically: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2015.1007120
I have access through my university, but I suspect most other people are going to be out of luck, so if anyone wants I can at least summarise the myths mentioned within (it's mainly focused on one in particular, but it details several others for cultural and historical context). Or just copy them out, if that doesn't violate the site's rules on piracy? Just the summaries of old stories, I mean, not the whole article.
>>18395
I can try and take a look if I have time, though with classes starting up again soon, I don't expect I'll have much.
It’s time for another site event, this time around with a change of format. Something compact but no less fun to read and write!
Participating
Anyone can participate as a writer and/or a reader, and all skill levels and types of interests are encouraged. Prospective writers are to submit a piece by the end of the submission date and everyone, both writers and readers alike, are encouraged to comment about the stories and discuss them. Feedback and critique is always appreciated! As with most site events, the idea is to have the community participate and make things lively.
The tradition is to have people submit entries anonymously, so as to not taint perceptions and color feedback, but this is just a suggestion. The main goal of these events remains to encourage the community to create and for everyone involved to have fun.
Duration
Writers will have a month to prepare their entries and a thread will be created for submissions. The deadline for submissions will be 2025-07-24. Any late entries might not get commented upon by your fellow THP users, so make sure to do your best to have everything ready by the deadline!
Format
This time around, instead of going by themes, I thought it would be interesting interesting to experiment with format. This exhibition is centered around the concept of flash fiction. There’s a few different takes on what that means exactly but for our purpose it means that the entries for this event ought to seek to tell a story within a 1000 word limit. It’s a change of pace from the usual and I think that not only is it useful for writers to attempt different sorts of stories as an exercise but that constraints can make for all sorts of creative solutions.
Below you'll find a few examples of stories that can be considered flash fiction. These authors are all ones whose works I have enjoyed and are not necessarily known for the format. There's a range of styles and approaches on display in the pieces:
Last bit, and then I'll talk a bit about my story!
22. just ignore this one
- It reads like an interesting creepypasta but okay!
23. Cyberpunk: Lunatic Red (Reinsen in Cyberpunk 2077)
- I'm not familiar with this franchise either. I wonder why Reisen took so many pills too, I thought she'd probably be more careful with those
24. (Unnamed Alice Short)
- I like the interview format, since you can imply so much about the interviewer and the interviewee.
- I like the interpretation that Alice is from Makai and that she was sort of made there, that when she went over to Gensokyo she was essentially already set as a person. I also like how Alice here is a bit fogged up with her memories, which suggests something magical
- The ellipsis use here is a little too much for me, but I like how it's used to show the significant pauses in the story, like the pause before 'big things'
- The characterization of Alice as having a bit of a mimetic desire is interesting. Her explicit denial of loneliness at the start is really nice as it shows she's probably very worried about being lonely. I get the impression that Alice is still very much seeking, and that's a nice melancholic feeling to evoke
- Overall an enjoyable melancholic short about Alice
25. Would you like to know more?
- I think this is the Starship Troopers style? I see the irony in it. I've never played Helldivers either, so I can't speak to that game, nor have I read any Warhammer 40K books
- I like the bits about recommended usage, since it evokes scarcity
- I'm not sure about the bits of speech interspersed since that makes me a little confused about the format. Is this some sort of propaganda broadcast being interrupted by a drill instructor? Also, I'm not sure why some terms are italicized and some aren't
- I like the recursive promotion of Reisen into infiltrator
- Overall, I'm not sure about this one.
26. One Shell Too Many
Sen here! Before anything else, 'tom' in the context of my entry is related to 'tomboy', so a 'tom outfit' is an outfit emphasizing more masculine, angular stylings. In my headcanon, it's the equivalent here of a woman with her hair cut short and wearing a turtleneck with pants, sort of the Audrey Hepburn look. Rabbit fashions!
I hope that clears up the mystery and I apologize for confusing everyone.
I vaguely promised a self-review somewhere up-thread. There's not terribly much to say since I've gassed on about thematic matter in responses to others, but I suppose I can make a quick remark about the writing process.
Unlived was a fairly deliberately written piece in a way that I feel other works of mine haven't been. I started from a fairly basic core conceit — someone looking up at the summer sky and feeling wistful — and tried to derive a narrative from that. The choice of Youmu as a central character came from a slightly murky place, but it was a sort of process of elimination of characters I felt could feel wistful about anything; I was also deliberately avoiding Mountain characters this time, as I hew rather close to them in writing. I perceive something of a purity and simplicity of feeling in someone like Youmu, and the starting place was that simplicity in drawing on the longing felt gazing up at the nighttime sky in summer. The rest was a question of what she would long for and how that would manifest, not to mention how to practically tie that up in a thousand words. I feel the construction of it was like an essay in some ways, and I wasn't very sure of it as a story as I was writing. As I've said elsewhere, I felt I may have been beating the audience over the head with thematic ties like the strings, cords, and so on, not to mention the endless severings and cuttings. There were certain bits where I fell victim to trying to be too economical with words in service to the word count, and I ended up being a little awkward in terms of wording. In some ways, I also feel I might have been a bit too simplistic in my approach to portraying things, but I also believe it was suited to the format. Anything more involved would have called for a longer story, so there was little I could really do in that regard.
Ultimately, I'm not sure of my prowess at flash fiction, nor do I feel an especial affinity for the medium, but I did have fun with it on some level. Being able to keep a certain strong focus on a single idea made writing, something rarely simple for me on a certain basic level, straightfo
