Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[Oddball]

Pearly Whites is more of a gag than anything. How can you take it seriously with stuff like this?

Suddenly, your face raises with a look of determination cemented on it. "I must remember Shizune's words! Attack aggresively, don't hold back. I'm gonna take fucking Australia!" You exclaim to your hollow room. You eye the window. "Sun's still up, I got time." You smirk with all the confidence in the world. You're able to lift your spirits to almost too much of an extent. "I'm taking Misha to the dance. Not even genetically altered Christian Bale has more of a chance with her than I do! I've got skills!"

and

"Oh! Mind if I come with?!" An extremely excited look comes on her face, as if you just invited her to a monster-truck orgy with a soundtrack by Megadeth.

Keep in mind, this is supposed to be Hisao. The fact that it's in first person does hurt it a bit though. Likewise the few attempts to be serious seem out of wack with the otherwise goofy nature of the story, but over all it's at least interesting.

[Jake Zero]

If it's in first person, then it'd be "I" instead of "you." Also, those examples? Those raise an eyebrow more than they make you laugh.

[Oddball]

If it's in first person, then it'd be "I" instead of "you." Also, those examples? Those raise an eyebrow more than they make you laugh.

I meant "not written in the first person hurt it."

What's the "You do this" one? Second person? I so rarely see that.

[SirKaid]

"You do this" is second person, yeah. It's mostly used for quests and other roleplaying shenanigans.

[brythain]

A very merry time of the year to all of us in this fandom!

[brythain]

On the Fifth Anniversary of Katawa Shoujo: it's the reason we're all here in the first place.

In a sense, the only 'book' worth discussing at such a time is all of KS and the fanfics it's spawned.

What do you think have been the most convincing 'spinoffs', or the most painful?
Which ones felt most like KS, or made you feel most like KS made you feel?
What are the things that made you want to write your own?

[kaserkin]

On the Fifth Anniversary of Katawa Shoujo: it's the reason we're all here in the first place.

In a sense, the only 'book' worth discussing at such a time is all of KS and the fanfics it's spawned.

What do you think have been the most convincing 'spinoffs', or the most painful?
Which ones felt most like KS, or made you feel most like KS made you feel?
What are the things that made you want to write your own?

Well, I think it's difficult for KS fan fiction to truly be considered a "convincing spin-off", since I think that when it comes down to it, all Katawa Shoujo fan fiction is equally valid, even if some stories are obviously closer in tone and quality to the original. KS was basically an amateur fan project, after all.

As for why I started writing, well, it's like most of us here, I guess. There was something I wanted to "improve". At the very beginning, I noticed that the girls tended to disappear on routes that weren't about her and her best friend, which is understandable from the writers' perspective, but still a bit disappointing. Another thing is that Hisao has no male friends in Yamaku, not even Kenji, which he sees as a nuisance most of the time, and it is reflected in most fan fictions. Again, this is a bishoujo VN, but it's a shame, since there are some boys in his class he could easily get along with, from Akio who shares his interest in literature literature to Takashi who sits two places away from him. I started writing blurbs about Hisao getting closer to them and dragging them into romantic shenanigans, but nothing came out of it.

The epiphany came after I finished Lilly's route and decided to read Rin's before Shizune's, mostly out of vague nostalgia after playing two routes without her and Emi. Her route cemented both of them as my favorites, and I knew I had to write something about Rin. Since I was also reading Developments at the time, I decided to set the stage after Lilly's neutral end, where Hisao is more vulnerable and maybe easier to approach for people he knows for months despite never really talking to them, like Rin, Emi and perhaps his male classmates. I quickly made the connection between Rin and Takashi, and was immediately engrossed about what their relationship could be like. Then I read a couple of Rika fics, and decided that her and Saki needed to be included somehow. Poor Hisao quickly became an afterthought and was relegated to the background (though no for long, hopefully).

[brythain]

... when it comes down to it, all Katawa Shoujo fan fiction is equally valid, even if some stories are obviously closer in tone and quality to the original.

True, it's all equally -invalid- because not-KS. So I suppose I was looking for accuracy or similarity or resonance, which the second part of your comment addressed.

As for why I started writing, well, it's like most of us here, I guess. There was something I wanted to "improve".

This was very true for me too, and I am fascinated by what you've just described of your creative process. Yes, I'm a 'LNE'-sequel man myself.

In my case, I think it was 'everything else is missing'! Argh! How can it be?!

The one story I REALLY felt needed writing was Kenji's. I mapped his entire life out, and I've even written the last chapter.

[azumeow]

On the Fifth Anniversary of Katawa Shoujo: it's the reason we're all here in the first place.

In a sense, the only 'book' worth discussing at such a time is all of KS and the fanfics it's spawned.

What do you think have been the most convincing 'spinoffs', or the most painful?
Which ones felt most like KS, or made you feel most like KS made you feel?
What are the things that made you want to write your own?

You're one of the authors that made me feel the most. Your stories felt really real. Like real people doing real things, for real reasons. Sometimes they were good reasons. Usually they weren't such great reasons. I'm glad I've been able to join you for this journey you wrote for us all. Even if I've only scratched the surface because you wrote so much, and I have so many things to do and things to read that I have a backlog of four and a half books and even more video games to play that I'm juggling.

Other honorable mentions include Tomorrow's Doom, that poor poor story left in limbo, so many of those well-loved pseudo-routes, even a few other OC fics that tend to hit or miss.

It's been five years. I didn't join this place until a year and a half after reading KS, and oh boy do I regret missing some of that time. But it's not a huge loss. I managed to see so many wonderful works here.

I'm glad to have seen what I've seen, to have experienced what I've experienced here, with all you lovely people.

Even as this community slows to a seeming standstill, I'll remember the good times we've all had together.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, if the question is what story felt most like KS rather than what story I enjoyed most I'd probably have to name Sisterhood - Guest Poster's epic continuation of Hanako's story. (For enjoyment it would still rate in my top ten.)
...though I'd like to specify the first part. The later addition - while still very good - was too much (arguably) forced drama and too many H-scenes for my tastes.

[brythain]

You're one of the authors that made me feel the most. Your stories felt really real. Like real people doing real things, for real reasons. Sometimes they were good reasons. Usually they weren't such great reasons. I'm glad I've been able to join you for this journey you wrote for us all. Even if I've only scratched the surface because you wrote so much, and I have so many things to do and things to read that I have a backlog of four and a half books and even more video games to play that I'm juggling.

Thanks very much! Perhaps why they feel so real is that I tried to base them on real people I have known. I'm glad you think it works!

Well, if the question is what story felt most like KS rather than what story I enjoyed most I'd probably have to name Sisterhood - Guest Poster's epic continuation of Hanako's story. (For enjoyment it would still rate in my top ten.)
...though I'd like to specify the first part. The later addition - while still very good - was too much (arguably) forced drama and too many H-scenes for my tastes.

I can agree with that. I liked the first Sisterhood quite a bit because it was cohesive and coherent in relation to its source material.

Other honorable mentions include Tomorrow's Doom, that poor poor story left in limbo...

When I first came here, I remember reading this one, For Want Of A Nail, and Developments. I'm happy that at least one of them has been completed.

[InSaiyan]

And maybe a little Prejudice because of her crack at Lilly in her route about being a half-breed.

Hmmm. I think of Emi as the anti-Lilly. (In my mind it's also Hanako v Misha and Rin v Shizune.) It's not that they're totally different, but that they would actually find it easy to hate each other.

I never thought about Emi as the anti-Lilly, but, now that you mention it, it makes total sense and I can see it. Although, I could never choose between the two for a favorite, they're both incredibly well done.

[ProfAllister]

What do you think have been the most convincing 'spinoffs', or the most painful?

Hard to really properly categorize "convincing" or "painful". On the one hand, I don't think many fanfic writers have managed to capture the "voice" of the VN, but a good majority haven't even tried, because it's not what's important. I'd probably say "Direction" felt the most like it "got" its characters. It wasn't perfect, but it was damn good.

As for "painful", I doubt you're referring to "[Blatant Self-insert]'s Story" by [Blatant Self-insert]. For crushing you under the heel of unfeeling, uncaring reality, it's still pretty hard to top Doomish's work. I remember reading a few more recent works that were in the running, but even that was ages ago.

Which ones felt most like KS, or made you feel most like KS made you feel?

In all honesty, I don't think I can think of anything to answer this one. The visual novel is both more and less than a text format. On the one hand, a VN incorporates visuals, music, motion, sound effects, all which can enhance the mood. On the other, rather than describe the tears welling up in a character's eyes, or a character frowining, or staring wistfully off in the distance, it it normally a better option for the VN to use <display: charactersprite_sadface.png> (or, for key narrative moments, <display: charactersad_cg.png>). Generally, when works caught my attention, it was because they were quality works, not because they were another hit of KS to feed the addiction.

What are the things that made you want to write your own?

Ostensibly, my motivation for writing was more related to what I didn't see, but that's probably more subject to interpretation than I'd admit. As for authors whose works convinced me that writing a fanficiton was worth doing, Doomish and Scissorlips easily top the list. While many (myself included) consider Scissorlips's PseuPseuSu to be a slow-moving train wreck, his one-shots are (generally) beyond reproach. Similarly, Doomish far too readily delved into the dark corners of our psyche that most would rather have left unexplored, but he also wrote plenty of lighter, more uplifting pieces as well. In both cases, I'd say they were among the most technically proficient authors to have graced these forums.

I'm sure there are plenty more worthy of attention, but either I haven't finished reading them, or the authors haven't finished writing them. There's one or two in particular who I really wish would get off their lazy butts and finish what they started, but I'm sure they have plenty of excuses which may be legitimate, but really aren't satisfactory. I'd like to believe they haven't abandoned it, though.

[pb08]

is Yamaku Book Club still going on ?

[brythain]

is Yamaku Book Club still going on ?

Yes. I've been on a sort of RL-induced hiatus, but it will be back soon! Thanks for asking!