Story Ideas & Discussion Thread

[BenArsenal]

Oh, and DO actually base it on an actual game.

Which is something didn't do and got away with. :p

[BenArsenal]

Originally posted by BenArsenal:
Oh, and DO actually base it on an actual game.

Which is I something didn't do and got away with. :p

Silly "I"s

[BenArsenal]

Originally posted by BenArsenal:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by BenArsenal:
Oh, and DO actually base it on an actual game.

Which is something I didn't do and got away with. :p

Silly "I"s </BLOCKQUOTE>


......

(Sorry for triple post :o)

[glamdring]

I wonder if the actual world would actually be any poorer if the actual word "actually" and its variants didn't exist :p

Only teasing by the way - I actually use it way too often myself even though it actually adds nothing at all to the actual meaning of a sentance

[Brian of Nazareth]

I'm pretty sure I managed to top the million mark with the word 'though' at least pre-checking anything I'd written for some reason.

Getting ahead I think is rather key to be honest, helps you maintain a steady flow of updates rather than sporadic rushes of enthusiasm, hardly critical mind.

[BobBev]

The question of how far ahead you play before posting is a good one. In my early stories I would tend to post more or less as I was playing so if I lost interest in a particular save then the story would grind to a halt. Now I have a self-imposed rule not to start anything that I have not played for at least one season. So now rather than having lots of half-finished stories littering up the forum I now have lots of half-finished saves littering up my hard drive!

[HunterKiller]

Hi guys, have to say this thread is a good idea :thup:

I started my first story a couple of months back (An Englishman in Sweden), and lost my way with it for a bit. I'm planning to do one with FM08, is there any advice you can give me having read the other one (if you have :p)?

Cheers

[Terk]

I've just gone and read through "An Englishman in Sweden", HK, and I'd say (this is going to sound hypocritical coming from me) just make sure you get past seven posts :p Seriously though, from what was there it looked very promising, you were nicely building a character for yourself and it was pretty well written.

I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for your new story, whenever it should arrive.

[HunterKiller]

Thanks Terk, I'll bear that in mind

I think the problem was I didn't start the game with the intention of doing a story, and it just felt a bit disjointed coming in after three or four seasons. Add to that a lack of preparation and, well, there you go.

Lesson learned, I think. Roll on 08..

[Amaroq]

HK, "An Englishman in Sweden" looked a lot more mature and well-developed than most "first stories". In particular, you've got: good grammar and punctuation; nice use of spacing, italics, and bold without overdoing them; good word choice; character development; and most importantly, conflict.

It didn't feel disjoint from a reader's perspective, and you're obviously beyond "intro to writing" so the things I'd remind from my earlier post are "Work in a real editor", and "Get ahead"! For you, I've an added observation that you're being too hard on yourself in your comments here. I wish I'd gotten into it to give you an encouraging "nice start" in-thread or something, it looked very promising.

. . .

Let's talk about conflict for a moment, though, as its a generally useful topic for new writers.

Its not just about giving your character "something he wants but doesn't have" - promotion, title, true love, Champions League.

The stories that really come to life for me are ones in which the author can identify and set up a recurring conflict, one which sustains indefinitely.

"The club is on the verge of bankruptcy" can last a good long while.

Board takeover rumours can last months.

Alternately, you can introduce a villain, a recurring character whose actions and goals oppose your main character's. Like two cards leaning into each other, these two can sustain a tenuous balance almost indefinitely.

In HK's final post, his chairman sells the team captain without his permission. Bam, instant conflict: between "profit" and "success on the pitch", and with the power dynamic, the fact that they're each stuck with each other.. that's a conflict he could milk for 20 pages of degenerating relationship .

There's plenty of other things you can do:

Set up a major rival, especially one with more financial muscle than you (Chelsea, United, Arsenal).

Identify a "villain" referee, and call it out every time he comes in with a call against you.

If you've got one developing, play up a player/manager conflict.

If one of your players costs you a game, play up the player/fans conflict.

If you want to tack on a fictitious conflict, more tangentially related to the game:

You could set up internal politics within your board, with a pro-manager and anti-manager faction, or some other dynamic: pro-success/pro-money, etc.

There's plenty of scope for a "villian" female character, hundreds of different directions to take that.

The "Rupert Wormwood" character (journalist as villain) in "Blade" provided immediate conflict, a "You love to hate him" sort of character.

Flipsix3 has adopted perhaps the toughest challenge for Edgar Allen, giving him conflict with himself, an authorial challenge of the highest order, to pull off successfully!