General:
[x] Bait
Of all the entries, I feel this one captured the theme of "red hot summer day" best while being best-written, even if it was more of a descriptive piece than an actual story. Shoutout to Shizuha's Summer for being a close second, only losing because it felt more like an autumn piece than a summer piece. I'll save slightly more in-depth analysis of every entry after the results are in.

NSFW:
[x] Fish in Hot (?) Water
Contrary to what the other guys above me said, I don't think this was written by you-know-who, not nearly purple or punny enough, but it is pretty competently written. Candle of Love was also good in that regard, but sadly yuri BDSM is just not my cup of tea. I do have an idea of who wrote that, though, and I appreciate him sticking to his guns, so don't let my preferences dissuade you from future works.

For SFW entries, I’ve got to give it to:

[X] Bait

The lead-in had me second-guess the identities of the characters no less than twice, which by itself would’ve been intriguing enough to warrant a vote; plus, as another gentleman above has enunciated it, the story does capture the impression of a distant memory in text rather very well. The apparent cut-off at the end, I especially enjoyed. I imagine it is both much how our memories tend to end: suddenly, on a sharp, emotional imprint – and, that it is perhaps a metaphor for the protagonist “falling in” and being “pulled” into the odd little youkai fold for the first time. Hook, line and sinker. Well played indeed.

I’m going to single out Letter as well. There are too few pieces out there diving into the mechanics of the less, er, magical, mystical kinds of magic exhibited by Gensokyo’s inhabitants, and such deep-dives have always been fascinating to me. Ultimately, however, the matter of the PoV character’s chosen fan-background and sentiment theretoward ended up being enough of a (mind, entirely personal) turn-off that it didn’t edge the above entry off the podium. Just not a fan. Sorry!

For the NSFW category, as I am one of the two authors having their fetishes harshly scrutinised, I’ll withhold my vote. We really could have used at least one more entry to balance things out. Phooey.

Starting with the less desirable part first...

NSFW

Fish in Hot (?) Water — I don't share the obsession with mammaries or intercourse therewith, so that's already a strike on the content. Skimming everything to see if there's anything of less prurient interest, I see some of the dialogue is at least breezy, though some of it leans prurient anyway. Unfortunately, there's little non-lewd matter to latch onto, so my interest wears very thin. I have a feeling I know who you are, and this is a perennial problem for me with your lewds.

Candle of Love — I have little interest in fem-fem; I have negative interest in BDSM; and I blanch at even the slightest hint of non-con. So, yeah, sorry, this strikes out for me by sheer dint of hitting so many sour notes by default. I also have a feeling I know who you are.

[x] vote of no confidence

I, like another anon, wish there had been at least one more entry in the category. Though I have strong doubts any such figurative entry would have appealed. Either way, neither extant entry does anything for me. You do you... preferably somewhere away from me.

And now for the slightly less easy but overall simpler part...

General

Youkai Summer Party! — Look, I can see you put a lot of effort into this. I just think it's kind of misguided. I don't want to read a transcript of a Youtube video essay or whatever you're going for. That's not what I read fanfiction for. I know who you are.

Letter — When PC-98 comes into the picture, I leave. It's just something I tend to have a strong distaste for. And I hate to say this, but there's a fairly detectable ESL flavour from your prose that I can't ignore. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's like dried coconut for me: the texture is just too distracting and off-putting even when the taste is fine. I have no idea who you are.

When Autumn Arrives — Same pr

>>16560
>More relevantly, I want Hatate gf story why can't I have it wahhhh
Because you haven't written it yet.

>>16566
Joke's on you, I tried it and am a shit writer who fails at everything.

>>16554
Okay, sort of ate my words. The last update is decently long and things have happened, with the general promise of things being made clearer. Good job, YAF.

How do you get ideas? I have none.

>>16563
Burglary and highwaymanry.

>>16563
Relentlessly steal from everything you read and try to combine them. Have large reference pools.

>>16538
Slight clarification: Starting Friday 22 July 2022, 12:00 Central US Time, if no one has voiced any opposing opinions by that time, I will adopt a tripcode for organisational purposes and put forward for consideration any further proposals as to procedural details as they come to mind. Please voice any objections to these procedings before that time.

Alright, as no one has objected, I hereby accept responsibility for the 2022 Annual Contest and its conduct. This will be my tripcode as organiser.

My first act is to set the starting date for submissions as Friday, 26 August 2022, the ending date for submissions/starting date for voting as Friday, 16 September 2022, and the ending date for voting as Friday, 23 September 2022. Any submissions after the final cutoff date will not be accepted.

My second act is to put forth a proposal regarding categories:

As we aren't likely to have as many entries as years previous, and there is the inclusion of a theme, I see no reason to split the submissions between 'Veteran' and 'Newbie'. I propose that we have two categories of 'General' and 'NSFW', inclusive of newcomers and otherwise. Should there be any objections to this proposal, please register them within the next week. If none are heard by then, I will consider this proposal accepted. Alternative proposals are welcome.

To be clear about contest procedure:
* Do not begin writing before the starting date. Pre-written entries defeat the purpose of a contest as a show of skill under constraints of time and theme.
* All submissions must be anonymous. You may, if you wish, reveal which piece you wrote after the voting is finished and the result is announced; identifying your submission beforehand will result in disqualification in the vote.
* A general thread will be posted in /gensokyo/ for the contest itself. This is where all discussions and votes will take place. There is no set timeframe for posting this thread. Should none be posted less than two weeks prior to the starting date of the contest, efforts should be made to remind me in this thread and on Matrix/Discord. Should none be posted less than a week

As no objections have been put forth in the timeframe set, I will consider the proposal accepted.

Accordingly, the categories for the contest will now follow this scheme:
* There will be two categories for entry submission — General and NSFW.
* The General category will be open to all entries from newcomers and veterans alike as a catch-all category for non-pornographic entries.
* The NSFW category will be open to all entries from newcomers and veterans alike as a catch-all category for pornographic entries.

Also, some errata to the previous announcement:
* '[...] there will be that number of threads posted in /shorts/[,]' should read, '[...] there will be that number of threads posted in /shorts/ and /at/.'
* 'Similarly, submissions made after the contest end date will not be accepted[,]' should read, 'Similarly, submissions made after the submissions window will not be accepted.'

Any further errata will be announced as necessary.

As of this time, I have no other proposals to make regarding contest procedure. Should you wish to propose anything, please present it here to this thread for discussion. Otherwise, look forward to Friday, 26 August 2022, the start date of the submissions window.

>>16479
Procurement Specialist?
>>/border/30152

>>16480
oh shit thats it thanks anon, gonna read it again

Hey, i'm fairly new to touhou (and so, the board) and i just wanted to drop in a rec for the story that got me interested: [i]Scarlet Devil Project: Antinomy of a Devilish Vampire[/]
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/scarlet-devil-project-antinomy-of-a-devilish-vampire-touhou-whf.92110/

They pollinate plants, build neat structures, and make honey. What's not to like?

b

>>16491
Nice. I give it a 🅱️/🅱️.

Starting to write a small short but I got a problem.

See the short will be about some dumb smoe falling in love at first sight with a youkai. Problem is, a youkai's a youkai but THIS youkai will definitely eat or kill a human if given the opportunity.

But the protag's too lovestruck to see the danger in it and so their view of the interaction would be something like.

"I decided to try and visit her again in the middle of the night during a full moon. It's light shining through the woods just gives an romantic atmosphere and I'm certain my love will be happy to see me."

And

"She didn't say anything when we met for the first time but her sudden gaze into my eyes showed such an intense hunger that I just knew she was into me too."

And.


"Finally I saw her again, the girl of my dreams. She was covered in some tomato sauce and a person under her was pretending to be dead, knowing we wanted some privacy (What a great guy!). Seeing this opportunity, I approached her with firm steps.

She didn't say a word as watched me approach, her gaze once again made my heart skip a beat and I was sweating profusely too. Aah, the love-filled air made it hard to breathe, it was like someone was choking me.

Oh wait, she is choking me. I guess that's her kink, the shy ones are always the craziest."

You can guess the tone of the story by now.

That said here's the problem: I'm not too sure which youkai to make it about.

I know Rumia or Medicine would be a good 'This person will definitely kill humans' contender but...they're a bit too child-like in appearance and I'm not comfy with that.

Then my second thought became Mystia, she's a pretty birdy that sings too so it'd make sense buuuuut I'd feel she would simply rip off the person or something like that for a long-term benefit rather than an easy meal so that's not gonna work either.

So I'm not sure about which youkai it would be about and that's a big deal since that prevents me from finishing the story.

So I'm going to

trying too hard to be clever without saying anything of interest, 2/10, bin recommended

>>16484

Ancient/Feral Nue might be a good fit if you're looking for that type of dynamic. You might want to refine you're plot premise a bit though. it seems pretty basic and lacking of any distinct, artistic flair.

What is blue?

gee I wonder

I am a blind fish then, sorry for posting at the wrong spot.

>>16446
Alright I looked at that forest story. The main criticism I can give is that the story is very meandering. When I was reading it, I got the feeling that things just sort of happen to Rumia instead of there being a central driving plot guiding Rumia. There used to be a central driving plot at the beginning, where a mysterious disembodied voice gave Rumia a mission to kill all the Anons and promised to guide Rumia on her adventure, but the voice just sort of vanished without explanation after Rumia killed the weird Alice goo monster and fell unconcious.

That's the other main criticism I have with this story. Characters and plot points have a nasty tendency to just sort of disappear from the story without warning. Take Wriggle for example. Wriggle ended up being killed by the Alice goo monster entirely offscreen, with no way for us to influence Wriggles fate. According to the Alice goo monster, it was entirely our fault that Wriggle died, even though the last thing we voted for prior to Wriggle's death was "lets try really hard to beat Wriggle to Marisa's house." Having the result of "lets race Wriggle" be "Wriggle is dead and its all your fault" seems like a rather extreme and unfairly unforeseeable consequence of our actions.

And Wriggle was one of the lucky ones, she actually got an explanation for her disappearance. Some characters don't even get that much. Like the Black Knight Anon that attacked us in Rinnosuke's shop. Rumia gets into a big fight with the knight, covers the area in darkness, and then the knight just sort of disappears. What happened to him, where did he go, what is he doing now? Who knows. He basically just fell out of the story with no explanation. A similar thing happened with the fairies Rumia met in the forest. Rumia attracts a horde of hundreds of fairies and runs to Reimu's shrine to escape them. Rumia spends maybe 10 minutes in the shrine and leaves with Shion through a window, and suddenly the fairies are gone, despite there being hundreds of fairies outside surrounding the shr

>>16448

I've read your criticism and firstly want to thank you for giving them. I'm sure it took some time to write all that and all of those are really good points that you're making.

Now I'm going to explain stuff as much as I can without making any sort of excuses for myself.

>Wriggle death.

That was going to happen anyway, you are absolutely not responsible for that outcome. It's simply something the thing said to make you feel even worse at what it thought was going to be your last moments for that extra juicy tears. The thing was blatantly a sadist and deserved to die. (And would be a nice thing to suddenly remember if you ever you yourself making someone suffer for the same reasons only to end up disgusted by how similar to it you're acting since I don't have the guts to make Rumia into a total monster regardless of how much she hypes herself up to be one).

Wriggle's revival is meant to be a main motivator to keep moving even if you decided to simply not listen to some voice in your head that told you to eat some yummy outsiders. There were multiple ways to achieve it and you're already found one of them so I have to praise you for that.

Heck, once that's achieved.

>Black Knight

Short words: He ran away, seeing how he was already wounded and saw you just cover yourself in darkness and sit on the ground it'd assume you had some counter attack in mind and decided to simply not risk it and run away. You could have pursued him by tracking him or choosing to lose your patience during the darkness waiting game. As for what's it doing now?

It's and its crew got found by Marisa and total party killed once they tried to ambush her. Had you been with her then you could have prevented her kleptomania from getting the better on her and not put on some obviously sus tiara. The rest is history.

>Fairies

For that one I simply wimped out, sure the Hakurei went ahead to go and e

You know what, I'll throw my story into the ring here. In particular, I'd like to know if there's anything in particular that works/doesn't work about my writing style, or any high/lowlights of note in the updates. A lot of what I've been doing has been making things up as I'm going along, so any feedback would be useful.

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