I want to try having regular discussions of characters. My hope is that we can share our ideas and consider new ways to write them.

I'll try to figure out how to run these as I go. For now, I want this to be a dialogue about different perspectives, so we should try to keep in mind that these are all subjective to a degree. This isn't about finding the "correct" interpretation, necessarily, only as many interesting ones as we can. I think staying aware of where our ideas on characters come from, whether canon, fanon, or personal headcanon, and presenting them accordingly could help reduce friction. In any case, please try to keep an open mind.

That being said, I think discussion here should also be a bit more detailed. I'm not interested in regurgitating memes about characters that had already gone stale in 2009. Please make a good faith effort to talk about what makes a character interesting to you or a way you think they could be interesting.

Last night, I floated an idea in the Discord about a fun thing that could be done for the season. My main resistance to setting dates and posting a thread is that participation on the site is way down compared to before across the board. The last contest was surprising in how many people actually submitted entries, but it still wasn't on the level of previous ones.

That in mind, I figured we ought to have a thread where we can bat around ideas for things like contests and try to gauge interest/potential engagement before committing. If you have something you'd like to see done on the site, toss it out there.

I'll keep my thing separate of the OP.

In the interests of keeping the recs thread clean and limited to recommendations, let's bring all other discussion of stories here. Want to have a protracted argument about why writer x is a faget who should die in a freak kitchen accident? Fire your shots here. Want to complain about story y not having enough (or too much, if you're a sissy) grimdark tentacle death blood rape? By all means, make your voice heard here. Just keep it germane to THP stories and we're all good.

It is time. A time. A good time. For what? For Imba as Fuck, a 2024 Lewd Shorts Writing Competition!

The terms are simpler by far than last year's, so do not fret. Indeed:
- You've got 5 weeks, till April 7th, to work on your entry.
- The submission window this time will be 3 days, from April 7th through the 9th, to avoid early gun-jumpers's entries going stale while the thread sits mostly inactive.
- 1 theme
- 1 entry per author
- 1 vote
- The voting period will last a week as usual, from April 10th till the 17th.

So with that in mind, your theme this year is:

- IMBALANCE -

In brief, there is to be a gap between the storied participators. You may interpret this however you wish; from an imbalance in age, perhaps with a dash of May-December romance, through an imbalance between their literal powers to a figurative imbalance of power in the relationship. Abuse of authority. Forceful seduction. Shameful submission. Interclass trysting. You are at complete liberty to interpret the theme however you wish, as are the readers to grant you their vote of confidence. Hell, write about Seija turning a man into a perrenial lucky pervert by messing up his sense of balance. It's all fair game in the meta.

In addition, just like last year, a prize doth hang in the balance:
- For 1st place, I, the anonymous obvious organiser, will pen a lewd short starring a character of your choice, fitting within the boundaries of the theme. Negotiation of the details - expected.
- Furthermore, if there are 5 or more entries, I will provide lesser - though hopefully still enjoyable - prizes for 2nd and 3rd place contestants as well. He who knows what this is likely to entail, well, knows.

Finally, to prevent shenanigans around the above, I myself will abstain from participating. The slack is thereby all yours t

The old thread's too old to be bumped, so I thought it might be nice to make a new one.

I think the basis of THP should be loving a) the Touhou Project and b) reading about characters or situations pertaining to it, and part of having a healthy community is a willingness to share what you like. So, honestly, even if you feel like 'everyone in the world' has read something, why not try to push it anyway? Celebrate the things you love! Maybe there's someone out there who somehow hasn't heard. We don't all run in the same exact circles, after all; it'd be pretty boring if we did.

This thread might seem a bit redundant when we have a more general story discussion thread (>>13108), but I feel like this thread should be more about sharing stories and making others aware. Sure, there can be a little bit of crossover in discussing or questioning what makes a story noteworthy, but anything particularly heavy would be better off going in the other thread.

Also, if you want, you can recommend stuff that isn't from THP. It'd be better if it was from here, but it's better to share what you love than not.

To start things off, I'm going to make a recommendation that I've made before and won't stop making: Theater of Youth (https://www.thp.moe/others/res/44424.html).

It might be easy for some to dismiss it off-hand because it's 'a high-school AU', but that's a mistake. There's been a lot of care put into this story by its author, taking pains to not just transplant the cast of the Touhou Project into a notionally different setting, but to convey the circumstances and facets of those characters and express them as they normally are in a new setting. It's not just a what-if exercise but a joyful celebration of, among other things, VNs and anime of the '80s and '90s. It's also a real breeze to read at a thousand words an update

Starting this thread so that we can get some discussion about things in the touhou canon and various interpretations of the things stated in the official works. ZUN is consistent about a number of things but a lot of other things he outright forgets or doesn't care that much about (*laughs*). So I think it's useful to have a space to hash the occasional point of contention out.

BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONGGGGG

We’re well into October so we’re getting closer to Nanowrimo! If you don’t know what that means, let me enlighten you through a quick Q&A formatted as if I were having a discussion with the average THP user.

What is Nanowrimo?
It’s a yearly event where writers are encouraged to just write and try to hammer out the equivalent of a short novel during the month of November. On THP it’s also been a yearly fixture for a while, with writers encouraged to write a certain number of updates or reach a word count by the end fo the month.

Okay, what are the goals?
Usually it’s either 30 updates or 30,000 words before the end of the month. But, honestly, no is is going to insist on a hard number. Do as much or as little as you want and can. The important thing is to just go for it and write a lot even if the output isn’t perfect.

So it goes on through all of November?
Yep. Starts November 01 and ends on November 30. Thirty days.

Can I just dump a single huge post and be done with it?
You can split it in as many or as few posts/updates as you like. You’re old enough to make your own decisions.

Can I have multiple stories count?
Sure. Again, this is more the about the spirit of things than their form.

Geez, dad, enough already. Spare me the lecture and just tell me if I get anything for going through all of this trouble.
The satisfaction of a job well done? The admiration of Touhou fiction enjoyers everywhere? If that’s not good enough, in previous years some other organizers have offered “rewards” to those who meet the criteria. Maybe they’ll do so again. Since I’m not your dad I won’t be punishing you or rewarding you either way.

I’m a smartass and have to ask what happens if I don’t make it to 30k words or 30 updates.
You’

Given that the last thread on this is now officially too old to be bumped, and the site's been seeing a lot of activity so far this month, I think it's worth trying to restart the idea of story reviews.

Same rules as the previous thread. Post here if you want your story critiqued, and brace for potentially harsh criticism. I'd be happy to offer up either of my stories on that altar, or I'd be willing to review (non-AT) stories myself... though perhaps without my nametag attached.

Urban Student in Limbo: https://www.thp.moe/th/res/202201.html (Ongoing)

A kappa is dissatisfied with her life: https://www.thp.moe/youkai/res/31763.html (Short story, completed)

Again, I do want to emphasize that honest criticism is the goal here. Don't just say someone's story is trash, but if you think you can lay out a compelling case for why said story is trash, that's perfectly within bounds.

It’s that time. What time? Time to Village Life: It’s Never Safe at Work, a 2023 Lewd Shorts Writing Competition!

The terms are none too complicated:
- Starting March 24th till March 31st, writers will submit their entries in a thread provided at that date.
- A twist! Writers can choose one of two themes or both at once.
- The readers, in addition to voting, will decide whether or not their chosen entry satisfies both the themes.
- Such entries as do will receive an extra point in the final tally.
- Voting will be held for a week, starting on the 1st of April.

Without any more ado, the themes shall be these:

Theme 1: - Not Safe For Work –
In other words: workplace shenanigans, professional unprofessionalism, getting it on before getting off work! This can of course stand for good, old-fashioned exchange of pleasure for tangibles – but also characters in a superior/subordinate relationship straining the boundaries of said relationship, regular business swerving into ribaldry, bodily bargaining, etc. An exorcism gone wrong very right with one of Gensokyo’s premier youkai exterminators. Sakuya evaluating a candidate for the mistress’s hand in marriage – down to every last inch of him. A callow Wolf Tengu finding himself inveigled in a scandal while investigating a social uproar among the Crows. An acolyte attending their goddess in all her unreasonable, attention-starved whimsies. All fair game.

And, since I hear you clamouring:
>Is the Lotus Pavilion a professional establishment too?!
Yes. So the house rules avow. Tell you what; I’ll even add an extra point to your final score if you touch upon that THP sextaple.

Theme 2: - Village Girls –
Meaning the usual suspects who live, regularly visit or ply their trade (wink, wink)