A Guide to Story Making

Foreward
This guide was made back in 2011, with the gracious help of various individuals who by now have either moved on from the game or ventured in other areas. My thoughts, well wishes, and good blessings go with them always. Thank you. My mind fails me on the names, but I know if you see this, you know who you are. My apologies for the memories that have faded. My heart stays true to you, however, and I hope this is enough forgiveness.

The words presented are stored here for posterity, permanently enshrining them for use by others and - it is hoped - to encourage them to do greater things than anyone could ever think possible with words. Godspeed.

I'm going to start this out with the basics before I go all out into what I want to share about my methods. The basics are respect the Mods and Admins. This goes well for any forum or archive you are on. They are people like you and being one myself on a few sites and groups other than this one I understand the constant strain of dealing with bullcrap day in and day out. Heck, I was a Supervisor at one time and dealt with individuals who complained about the smallest things to the stupidest. It nearly drove me insane. So keep this in mind next time you may have an issue.

I will state that all Mods and Admins here on this forum are of sound mind and judgment, regardless of any past misgivings or opinions I may have. You end the day understanding the situation no matter what it may be and they do to. They strive to keep a friendly atmosphere, as does many others on so many other sites. You should never go out of your way to cause trouble in any slight of disagreement no matter the severity. No matter if your precious story gets ruined or a troll happens along. Follow the guidelines stated and just go about the process for filing complaints accordingly. It will not only make your experience here on Nationstates more enjoyable, but also on any other site you visit and can share your story on also.

That's all I mentioning about that. It's common sense. They're not out to get you and all they want is to make sure you have a fun time. Obey the rules, end of story.

tl:dr version: They're here to help you, not hinder you. Guidelines, yadda yadda yadda, rules, blah blah blah, follow them. Yay!

Now with that out of the way we can begin the juicy stuff!

The first thing I want to ask you to do is forget everything you've learned about role playing. Every guide, every piece of advice and anything else relevant. The only things I want you to remember are how you write your thoughts out and how you express your thoughts in words. Everything else can wait.

Why do I ask you to do this? It's simple. I don't operate by those standards and to properly understand what I'm writing here, you should get out of the mindset that "Only One Way is Right". It isn't, simple as that. I've proven it time and again when proof reading fellow authors on other sites and encouraging them to go about their work. People seem to love it, I simply love reading their stories and when it's applied here it seems to make everything better. The main obstacle of any type of role play on Nationstates are these rules and mindsets. They should ONLY apply when role playing with another person. Beyond that, it's complete rubbish.

That is with the exception of the guides on proper sentence structure and grammar. You'll need those.

So now that we dropped about ninety percent of everything we've been taught or somehow been given advice on here, let's examine what remains. What we see is the core basis for your story. That simple idea that one day popped into your head and said "Let's Do This!". That one thought that keeps going and going crafting these wonderful cities and worlds and characters. Indeed, this is exactly what I want to talk about. You see it?

No?

Look closer. It's right there, in your heart. That one feeling that gave you the ability to craft that thought into what is by now a world. If you're just starting, it's that feeling that's just now being nurtured and you're just now feeling confident enough to express it in some way. That core feeling, that core thought, is exactly what I want you to concentrate on for the duration of this guide. I don't care about anything else, because it doesn't matter right there. It's all about you and that thought.

So now that we both have an understanding here of what I'm exactly trying to write about in this guide, let's go ahead and examine the first step onto the path of creating that wonderful world of yours.

Oh yea, we've all done that before. Had a random passing thought and suddenly thrown it away like a cheap can of soda. Yet somehow it persisted in our daydreams and then BAM, it suddenly becomes a train of thought we just can't get away. Eventually it infects our core being and we garner feelings for it, nurturing the thought into something greater. That thought then becomes an idea that is only limited by our imaginations. One day we get the bright idea to express it.

Either you're at that point now, my friend, or you've done passed it and know exactly what I'm talking about. Some of you may not, which is understandable, but this is how it started for me. I doubt it would be any different for anyone else. I can admit this entire world known as Anagonia actually came into being when I was fourteen years old. I'm twenty five now so that's kinda long ago, huh? Yea, exactly, many great authors of our time have started like this. Now, mind you, I don't proclaim to be one of them nor do I have any desire to be, but who said you weren't?

Eh? Eh?!

So let's examine that thought for a moment. That little world you suddenly created by watching Star Wars, Star Trek or a bazillion other fictional shows. Maybe that world came from looking at nature and real life, something based in fact. However it started, you're at that point now to where it's big and bad and wants to be expressed. Let's center ourselves here and pretend for a second that you've just stumbled on International Incidents or Nation States and want to write about. Let's further pretend that you have horrible spelling and really can't express your thoughts clearly in words. An obvious question comes to mind suddenly.

How can you express yourself on these Forums without attracting negative attention or comments? It's simple, screw the forums and the people on it. Especially Nation States at this point because that's as high class of a role playing forum as they come. Let's instead concentrate on International Incidents, where all the friendly doodly newbs come along to start threads and whatnot. But don't press that button yet to start a thread! I saw you...

Yep, that's right, let's hold everything at this point. You really just are not ready to start that thread yet. You should instead seek out individuals who can help you. I suggest looking for them good ol' Mentors or whatever the heck they're called. They're kinda new to me, but their purpose seems to be beneficial. Maybe send them a telegram by clicking on their nation name and clicking on their flag, then on their nation page writing a short plea for help through a telegram. Alternatively, you could ask someone else in a thread for guidance by doing the same method or perhaps just research from good old fashion Guides to Role Playing. Lastly, I suggest google or your local library. Heck, maybe send me a telegram or something.

If at this point you haven't found a solution to improving your sentence writing and spelling, then...you're probably too dang young to be on the internet. I'm not going any further by linking threads or anything else. If you haven't found a solution by now, try the basics and just research the dang site and get info on what you need to do.

So let's pretend you did find a way to improve your grammar and whatever else. Yay for you! Too bad I didn't link anything. I'm a total douche like that, but I spelled it out clearly.

Now you have this wonderful capability to express yourself properly in words and with others in role playing. Can you start that thread now? NO! You're still not ready. Whatever is going to come out in words at this point is going to be total jibberish and you'll probably make a fool of yourself. Role playing is fine and good and probably the only reason I like this site, but the story telling...aah...that's the key! You need to concentrate on this first before you decide to barge on into the big leagues, small britches. This thought you have is much too important to throw away in a simple volley of spamming and saying "LOL I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO". Heck, you'll probably anger the Mods with that attitude. Shame on you.

What you really need to do is sit back, relax, take a deep breath and think. Just think. That idea you had? No, not that one you pervert. Yeah, that one, the one about your world! Good job, I'm so proud. I have the same problem to. Anyway, that idea is the core thought to everything you'll do from this point on. It's that basic foundation you'll build upon from the moment you start your story to the time you decide to change it to something else. It is critical that you understand the importance of cherishing it, even if it changes. Mine did, many times. So will yours.

So you sat back, relaxed and essentially understood the gist of things. If you haven't, I'm sorry, like I said earlier this guide wasn't for you to begin with. For those still reading, let's continue.

You have the thought on what you want to do and you have the feeling for it. It's become a core thought, something you build upon as a foundation in daydreams and whatever else. Lately, however, it just seems to be missing something. Those random characters that pop in and out and those random changes in scenery just never seem to fit! Whatever shall you do! It's quite simple really. You need a main character. A leader, if you will. A character that will work with you as the creator of this wonderful world from thought and guide your fingers as situations randomly happen to him or her.

Sounds crazy, I know, but it's exactly the same method I use to write my stories. I place a solid well-thought out character in a situation and let it happen, almost like a movie. It's really amusing sometimes. What, did you say I'm crazy? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood. Anyway, this Main Character needs to be something you can be closely attached to. Something that when its name is spoken, you will easily remember and the surroundings you've placed it in come back just as easily as if you were to open a save file on Wordpad. So how do you do it, you ask?

Like before, it's rather simple.

Let's go ahead and just create this random Main Character. I'm not forcing it to be whatever I will suggest here, just play along and follow the basic principles if it fits you. If it doesn't, by all means just take what you will. I'll go ahead and start and...we'll just play with it, eh? So here we go.

I just thought up a male, probably thirty five years in age and maybe five feet and six inches in height. He's Caucasian, well built and my mind seems to desire to place this character in a military role. Alright, we'll roll with that. He's....a Confederate Marine! Ah, genius, a reference to my story. What's his name? Hmmm...well, I think he should be called Samuel Baker. Fits, doesn't it? Alright, well, Mr. Baker here needs a rank. Let's give him Sergeant. What about back story? I guess it feels like he joined the Marines at a young age and probably seen a war or two. No wife, kids or anything to hold him down. Bingo.

There you go. Together, or perhaps myself alone in demonstration, we just created a character. Sergeant Samuel Baker, age thirty five currently in the Confederate Marine Corps. Sounds simple enough. But we need this to be a main character so what we have to do is give him some importance. Obviously Mr. Baker just can't be any simple Marine, can he? Well, not exactly. He can be just that simple, but here's where it get's interesting. The Story makes the character, and the character simply lives in it. So while we can allow Mr. Baker here to run around in our thoughts and do whatever comes about, he just isn't going to evolve properly. We got to nudge things along.

Alright, so, let's imagine we picked Mr. Baker up. He doesn't seem to like that too much, does he? Poor guy...maybe we can throw hi- No, bad mind. So we set him down, gently, in a random scene. Obviously a story would be so boring if we had to do an enormous back story on his routine and activities. That can be reserved once we establish who Samuel Baker is exactly and what makes him Samuel Baker. Who do we want him to be? A hero? A villain? Something else?

Eh...how about we just skip the manly stuff and....oooh, romance.

Yep, that's right! Romance. Mr. Baker already is set to be quite the hard working man. Anything to do with heroism or whatnot would just get in the way of us trying to establish who he is. So we'll spice things up a bit. We'll place Mr. Baker not only with the intent of a romantic story, but a heroic story. That way we can establish who we originally thought he was with what we want him to become. Obviously doing heroic stuff is good for a Marine, amirite?

Alright, so we got the intent down and what we want to do. Let's say he's finally had enough of the lonely life and while off duty he decides to go on a blind date to a random restaurant. Okay, good enough, blind date established. Now we come to a critical crossroads in our development of our main character here. Who is this other?

Same process as before. I'll skip the description. Her name is Cristy Herald, age twenty eight and works as a part time clerk at some random company. She's had a bad history with relationships and, skipping ahead, upon meeting our Samuel Baker here has some reservations on the outcome.

Oh this just won't do! We've already set up our main character for disaster, look at that! Shame on you. But wait, have we really screwed it up? Not really.

We'll go ahead and place a catalyst to the development. A random group of robbers. Now however this plays out, I'll leave it up to you, but we can assume our friendly Sergeant there ended up being the hero of the brief display of how Marines kick butt. Suddenly he saves the life of Cristy there and the two become romantically engaged in a relationship. Several months down the road they both purchase a house and move in and thus we continue their development by engaging them in the world through various adventures. Not only have we transformed our faithful Marine from a loner to a lover, but we added another element to his life. In this way we can describe the world from two perspectives giving an enormous advantage to how we can contribute to the development of our core story.

TA-DA

There you go. The basics of character creation right there and the basic how to.

Ah, I knew you were going to ask that. Maybe because I typed it. I READ MINDS, OOOOOOoooOOOOooooOO!

No, really, it's what everyone is wondering at this point. It's a good question, though I dare say the Main Character was a critical part in that. How you ask? Let's go ahead and say that Samuel Baker is elected President or whatever title you choose for your leader of your nation. Well I'll be a dust bunny, we just crafted a great back story for our leader and suddenly he became our Main Character and Leader! Why is this important? Two reasons. One, we can explain his past history and what his mindset is on making decisions. Two, we can further understand the nation as a whole through those decisions.

Not only is our Mr. Baker in control of affairs, but more critically he interacts with other nations. See what I did there?

Basically to create this thought into a coherent story that you can write, specifically referenced to doing so on Nationstates, you got to have a main character with a firm backstory and something to go on. With that you can have this character, his motivations, his desires become the nation you want. Maybe Mr. Baker is more militaristic and fashions a fascist paradise. Perhaps he's a closet communist. Maybe he simply likes democracy better. The choices are endless, but the first step to that was basically creating him and allowing your understanding of his character come to life by not only explaining the environments he interacted with while detailing his backstory, but also furthering those details in his rise to power. Obviously I didn't detail those and left them for you, the reader, to decide.

This basic principle goes in line with any story. Sure, you can create the world first, but then the character is restricted to that world and suddenly it gets rather tedious to detail everything in accordance with it. It's really better to fashion the main character first and let the world evolve as we explore his characteristics. That way we can not only fashion a nation that has been founded through observations, but we can further those observations into coherent thoughts that eventually become the basis for other characters and other events and other environments. In this way we truly fashion a story.

And it all started by simply having that core thought and crafting a character with those feelings you had and then exploring the world you wanted to create through that characters actions. It's really a more enjoyable ride this way. If you prefer any other method, just simply assimilate any advice I gave before hand if you want or maybe do something entirely different. The choices are endless. The method I simply outlined allows you more freedom and more time to create that nation you want, thus why I encourage its usage. In this way you are not restricted by first creating the nation then the characters. Instead everything becomes open ended only limited by how far you want to stretch your story.

Genius, huh?

Hold On, Let's Take a Breather.

...

Ready? Let's review what's been stated so far.

First I basically outlined what's it is like to have that thought and the eventual desires to go ahead and express them. I further discouraged such a method and implored a more passive position until you could become better acquainted with the rules and obligations. I also insisted that such obligations be limited only to how far you wish to interact with them, with the exception of Mods and Admins of course. I also outlined the understanding of what that first thought was and how it can become something critical to you through feelings and nurturing of it.

Secondly I insisted you seek guidance from your peers. This is critical. Never go into a world alone that you are not forced to. If you're writing a story, get help from a friend or do some research. Maybe even a walk could help. Never go alone on an adventure that can be shared. It's way better to share it with a friend, trust me.

Lastly I outlined a method you can use in crafting your thought into a world simply by creating the Main Characters first. While I insisted you go about this your own way, I encouraged you to look at it in the way I first did. When you create a character the world is created around them. In this way, I believe, it's a lot more fun and has a bigger aspect of freedom to it. When a character helps you create the world, your story suddenly becomes a lot more personal and cherished. This is what I seek to encourage.

Aside from continuing to improve your writing skills to better convey your story? Nothing but the limits of your imagination. From here I dare not interfere. This is your story, your nation and you dictate how it should interact with others. Obviously you should keep in mind that playing fair and being equal in all matters with other players make a role play more fun, but when writing a story you should never act alone and always try to have a friend nearby. Never push away help when it's available. Never go at it alone unless you really want to.

You're not forced to do anything here on Nationstates beyond obeying simple forum guidelines set by Admins and Mods. Beyond that, it's pretty much open to your imagination and whomever else you can grab along for your adventure. Don't be discouraged when you come along people that try to degrade your stories sense of purpose. Ignore them, they simply don't understand nor do they care. Instead seek out others who have better intentions. They could be Mentors or Guides, Admins or Mods, or simply other players. When writing a story they could be anyone from family, friends or perhaps a passing stranger who gives sound advice. When you are open with your story, everyone else becomes open to you.

From this point on I really can't give anymore comical or serious advice. I can only encourage you. No matter what you do, be proud of it. Cherish that story. I did. After all this time, I've never regretted it for one moment. Anagonia has been something of a passion for me, both in stories and in role plays. While sometimes I'm more away from Nationstates than I like to be, real life presents opportunities to expand my understanding when I have time just to write simple short stories about it. Heck, even writing my factbook helped me.

....but factbooks are for another guide. Sorry. :)

Hope you enjoyed the read and I do hope you continue forward. Never give up, never surrender. That's a famous movie quote I'll never forget. Good luck and many fun days of role playing and/or story writing!