Story Hour Newbie Question

[jayaint]

Obviously a newbie... look at that pitiful post count. *sheesh*

Anyways, I was wondering if any mods/veteran SH writers had any quick words of advice for starting a new SH. One of my players and I have been working with a couple characters each, and I have an intro write up almost ready to go.

My questions are:

How long should the first post be?

Should the first post give the "So-and-So, X fighter/X paldin, basic description" doo-hickey at the start, or should you just introduce the characters in the writing?

Should there be any world background in the first post?

I looked through several SH's and found that most have evolved so far that the "first post" is hard to find. Which, actually, is very daunting to newbies, and first time SH'ers.

Please just a few words of encouragement and a couple of answers.. and i'll be well upon my way!!!

Thanks.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I didn't do the introduction dohicky you mentioned - mostly because everybody in my party is so secretive that they would object to having everything about their character presented for everybody to see.

Instead, I opted for a Campaign Background for my first post, to get the readers into the feel of the setting and what led up to the characters meeting each other and starting off in the first place.

I'm writing it all in present tense, which was harder than it sounded. I continually am slipping into past tense and having to go back and correct the last few paragraphs. Reads fine once it's done, but is kind of a pain.

On updating your story hour: This is more trouble than it at first seems. I am very far behind in mine and hope to get caught up soon. It's an easy thing to put off, since it takes so much time to get it right. The important thing is to just write the sucker, whether or not you remember every specific thing that happened, and stick it up there. If you wait for perfection, player approval, etc, you might never get it done.

That said, I love reading a good story hour! Hope to see you in the SH forum soon. It's truly an odd experience putting your game up there for everybody to see.

 

[Piratecat]

One of the best thigns about EN World is that the whole "newbie" phenomena really doesn't apply. The amount of fun you have playing D&D isn't affected by how many posts you have here.

I really prefer character details to emerge during play, mostly because I find stats boring. Worry about making the story exciting, and the character personalities should emerge. In you like, post stats in the Rogue's Gallery and link it to the first post of the thread.

Other than maybe a quick summary to interest browsing readers, I also like campaign background to emerge as part of the story. Placing it in the first post isn't usually the best place for it, in my opinion.

I write my story hour in present tense; if I was going to do it over, I'd probably make it the more traditional past tense. For post length, try to stay away from really long posts. It's weird, but people are more likely to read two short-medium posts than one really long one. I got a lot more readers when I shortened the average post somewhat. As an example, I find the length on Capellan's Q-Ship updates just about the same length that I strive for.

Writing these is fun, but a lot of work! I must spend as much time writing as I do gaming. It's worth it, though. Just make sure you're having fun, because there's no reason to write the darn thing if you aren't. Merak's advice about updating is superb.

Can't wait to see it!

 

[el-remmen]

I would have to second (third?) suggesting you allow background info both in terms of the setting and characters come out in the story itself. If yo uwant to do a very brief overview of the setting (no more than one paragraph) I think that's okay too, but honestly I would only do it if there is something particularly unique about the setting.

If you see the beginning of my own story hour where I am re-posting it on Nutkinland (<--- warning: not Grandma friendly) you'll see all I included was the ad I used when looking for players as an introduction.

I would say just jump right into it and that will catch people's interest more than any dry recitation of stats and backstory.

Good luck!

 

[Zad]

How long should the first post be?

Should the first post give the "So-and-So, X fighter/X paldin, basic description" doo-hickey at the start, or should you just introduce the characters in the writing?

I think it's ok for the first post to be introductory. I mean simple basics are nice to cover - is this D&D? d20 modern? Post apocolypse? Whatever you can cover in a few sentences - the story will give a better feel for the world, but it's nice for readers to get their bearings first.

As for character intros, yes and no. I go with what the others said - stats are not really that great, but a sentence or two on each character will help readers get them straight in their heads until they get to know them better. You might say a paladin is a paladin, but not levels or stats.

Should there be any world background in the first post?

A few sentences, sure. But don't fill a post with it.

I have an intro post in our story hour (link in sig) that gives some background but keeps it simple.

As for encouragement, you should definitely do it! I think the others will agree with me that writing a good story hour is an evolution. We have some gifted authors around here and even they got better with practice and time. Don't be discouraged if your first post seems rough - it improves with practice.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I don't have a SH, but I do read a lot of them, so I guess my advice kind of counts.

I think the primary thing you have to keep in mind is to write your SH because you want to, and not because you think other people want to read it. It sounds harsh, and maybe it is a bit, but it's the line between being happy with your SH and being frustrated with it.

Related to that is the realization that not everyone is going to read your story. Don't compare your SH readership to that of any of the big ones - that way just lies frustration. If you keep writing and you keep things interesting, then people will gradually come. But it won't be overnight, or possibly even over a year.

Realize that you won't ever be perfect. All of the major SH writers will say, and have said, that they've gotten much better at writing them than when they started. Don't try and make everything perfect, because you can't. Don't try and get every little detail, because it will take you forever to write and then no ne will be reading because you're not updating. Try most of all to capture the spirit of your game, and you'll go a long way towards getting people involved in the SH.

Finally, and most importantly, use proper grammar and spelling!!!! Read through your post once you've written it. Spellcheck it. Make sure it makes sense. Nothing, and I mean nothing, destroys a SH more than poor spelling and grammar. One or two little mistakes isn't going to ruin you, of course. If your SH is riddled with incomplete sentences, misspelled words, and strange punctuation, you will not have anyone reading it. One thing I've heard people do is to write out (and save) the post in a text editor like Word first, then cut and paste to ENWorld. This keeps a copy in case ENWorld barfs, and the text editors usually let you read your writing better.

 

[jayaint]

Thanks so much guys... the info and words of advice are GREAT!!!

Ummm.... where to start...

I am using Word. It seemed to make the most sense.

I am refusing to look at the bah-jillion reads of PCat's SH as well as the others who have topped four or five digits. I agree, that path leads only to frustration.

And, I hope that I can be a good enough writer to engage at least a few fine EN'ers... that would be enough for me. I think my characters are great, and while their adventures are moving slow right now, they will soon pick up.

The best advice I saw was to write it for ME... not for the readers. I shall. And I make a solemn vow to keep up with it as best i can. *crosses heart, swears to die, etc, etc,*

Vow of Story Hour Udating

Prereq: Endless amounts of free time. 6 ranks Craft (writer). Internet Connection Feat.

Benefit: By taking this vow, you agree to update your SH with some regularity. This affords you the oppurtunity to gain Lurkers, which are similar to Followers, except you don't know they are there and they don't really do anything for you. After a time (up to the DM), a small percentage of Lurkers could conceivably become Readers. Check Epic Level Handbook for more info on those.



Thanks ya'll... should be posting it someday soon.

 

[haiiro]

I must spend as much time writing as I do gaming.

I've found this to be true as well -- it takes me at least as long to write my SH update as it does to play the session it comes from. I thought this might mean I was spending too much time on it, so I'm glad to see it's not just me.

IMO, letting things introduce themselves over time -- be it characters, setting background, or what have you -- is the way to go. I'd also say don't be afraid to tweak or change things -- just writing down what happened won't make for very good reading (not that that's what you were planning on, of course).

I did duck a lot of the "how much intro should I have?" issues by putting all of that stuff on the website for my campaign. Keeping that up to date is a lot of work as well, but if you swing that way it's also a lot of fun to do.

 

[spyscribe]

Coming late to the party, but thought I'd add my bit.

I think one key thing to remember about world intro exposition is that your readers need to know much less right off the bat than your players do.

For example, our game takes place in a homebrew setting with a couple of distinctive quirks. One of them is that arcane magic is relatively new and not everyone likes it very much. All the players need to know this starting out because our characters are going to meet spellcasters (or our characters are spellcasters) and we have to know how they feel about the subject.

But the story hour had been going for a good six months at least before the DM wrote a sidebar about "Arcane Magic in the Halmae." There had been clues earlier that might have been picked up by attentive readers: Why is the party sorcerer so darn paranoid? Why is it so hard to get help countering a plot against the mage's academy? But the nitty gritty is only interesting to know once it becomes relevant to the plot.

Think about the intro to Star Wars. It can't be more than 300 words long. Nothing about the Jedi Knights, the Force, zip. These are huge, vital parts of the mythology, but not necessary for the audience to know right away.

The prologue on Fellowship is longer, but it's also not straight text.

Which is a long way of saying I'm not a fan of long expository posts as a way to begin a story hour.

How long should the first post be?

As noted in the first post of my storyhour, I am compulsive, so before I started writing I copied and pasted into Word a couple story hour posts from threads I read and ran word counts on them.

Posts getting up to 1,100 words just feel long to me.

I usually aim for 800-1000, although I do go longer if I'm coming to a good place to stop.

Much shorter than that starts to feel more like a scene or vignette than a real update. Which is sometimes exactly what you want. *shrug*

Like the pirate code, word counts are more like guidelines.