# format/style for Story Hours



## GlassJaw (Dec 13, 2004)

I'm going to be starting a new campaign (Grim Tales - woo hoo!) after the holidays and I'm planning on writing a Story Hour for it. I've checked out a few but unfortunately I haven't really followed any from the start.

I've seen some that are written in actual "story" form (with quoted dialogue, etc). But in a previous campaign I was in, we would write session logs that just recapped what happened.

So what I'm wondering is 1) what "style" do people prefer? and 2) what is the 
most common style?

Also, is there a FAQ for this board or a list of do's and don't or helpful hints?

(I originally posted this in the main forum)


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## Hairy Minotaur (Dec 13, 2004)

The best piece of advice I ever received was: write for yourself, not for readership.

There are many different story hour styles, write the one that fits you best. If you don't like writting it, it'll show through in your updates. In the end it all comes down to characterizations and setting. If you can tackle these then it won't matter what style you're using. The readers will relate to the characters and/or the setting.   

Good luck! I look forward to reading your story.


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## el-remmen (Dec 13, 2004)

Two words: Paragraph breaks.


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## barsoomcore (Dec 13, 2004)

I like reading game session logs but I like writing stories. Sort of. Well, not really. Um.

That was helpful, wasn't it?


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## GlassJaw (Dec 13, 2004)

> I like writing stories




[Homer Simpson voice]I like stories.[/Homer Simpson voice]



> That was helpful, wasn't it?




Yeah, um, not so much.    

Actually, I think I get the idea.  I won't try to plan too much.  I'll just stick to what I feel fits best (and what I can do in a reasonable amount of time).


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## Herremann the Wise (Dec 13, 2004)

Hi Glassjaw,

I second the advice Hairy Minotaur received: "Write for yourself"!
The readers tastes are so wide and varied on these boards that you're bound to find people who really dig what you do, no matter how conventional or strange. You'll get a much better result and you'll be far more motivated if you write what you enjoy.

Personally, I like to copy and paste stories into word, print them out and read them at home [I enworld at work you see]. As such, I prefer full-on prose rather than stop-start logs of this happened and then this happened and then that happened. Particularly when your campaign is Grim Tales, you can channel so much flavour through descriptive prose that would otherwise be lost in a conventional "dry" log. You can blend the two for the best of both worlds which is what most people try to do.

As for my own Story Hour, I like the idea of a central character "Lucifus Cray" but I also like shifting the perspective here and there. In this way, you can blend different versions of the same event which is enlightening when you want to really explore different characters and perspectives. Giving hints and clues to what's really going on becomes a bit of a game as people try to join up all the threads. Descriptive prose is the best way to do this and thus, that is what I use for my own story hour. You demand a lot more from your readers but the rewards all round are so much larger when you drop that earth shattering revelation, kill that character or do something that is totally unexpected. In the end, it becomes so much fun.

For yourself however and in the end, do what you want, not what you think other people want.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

PS: My story hour is relatively new and so would not require too long to catch up on if you want a fun read. Apologies for pimping it.


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## pogre (Dec 14, 2004)

Paragraph breaks are key for me. I'll take a chance on any SH that uses short paragraphs. I agree with the rest of the advice given here, but just wanted to emphasize nemmerle's!


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## Piratecat (Dec 14, 2004)

Great advice here. I prefer stories to game logs, but write what feels the easiest for you. Important factors for getting an audience:

- good spelling and grammar
- predictable or regular updates
- paragraph breaks
- shorter entries ending on cliffhangers seem to be more fun for me to read than really long entries.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Dec 14, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Great advice here. I prefer stories to game logs, but write what feels the easiest for you. Important factors for getting an audience:
> 
> - good spelling and grammar
> - predictable or regular updates
> ...



 That says it all for me, really.

The paragraph breaks are obviously a thing to echo. 

I just can't get into story hours that are more game logs. I'm not sure as much why, its just that the story feel to them is more interesting for me. In the end, though, you should write it how you feel good writing it.


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## GlassJaw (Dec 14, 2004)

On a somewhat related note, how info do you "gather" during the actual session before you write a story hour entry?  Do you do it off the top of your head?

I noticed a lot of stories use dialogue.  Do you just remember what is said?  Do you write it down during the session or is it just paraphrased?


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## Desdichado (Dec 14, 2004)

In my case, it's all written after the fact, and I'm making up the dialogue.  I think it's true to the characters as played by my players, but it's not their actual words.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Dec 14, 2004)

GlassJaw said:
			
		

> On a somewhat related note, how info do you "gather" during the actual session before you write a story hour entry?  Do you do it off the top of your head?
> 
> I noticed a lot of stories use dialogue.  Do you just remember what is said?  Do you write it down during the session or is it just paraphrased?




With my story hour, we had recorded things with a tape as we went along, and then ended up writing it down. The writing I'm doing is a clearer and more to the point version of that original we had as a group. The dialogue is a mix of the actual things said and things I've made up to speed things along.


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## Herremann the Wise (Dec 14, 2004)

GlassJaw said:
			
		

> On a somewhat related note, how info do you "gather" during the actual session before you write a story hour entry?  Do you do it off the top of your head?
> 
> I noticed a lot of stories use dialogue.  Do you just remember what is said?  Do you write it down during the session or is it just paraphrased?




Paraphrased at best.
I focus more on the characters motives, style and the situation at hand to repeat dialogue. I could not for the life of me remember exactly what was said in a game session. However, sometimes something will be said that is so perfect, it deserves to be written down or explicitly remembered. Watch out for those quotes and write em' down. There's a few I wish I had of.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

PS: Looking forward to your story hour whenever it comes. [Settles down with popcorn and waits for the adds and promos to finish]


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## GlassJaw (Dec 14, 2004)

> PS: Looking forward to your story hour whenever it comes. [Settles down with popcorn and waits for the adds and promos to finish]




Uh oh, pressure.     

Well it definitely won't start until after the holidays but maybe I'll post my campaign site soon to whet everyone's appetite.  I'm hoping it will be the first campaign-length Grim Tales Story Hour.


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## Silver Moon (Dec 14, 2004)

Writing in word and spell checking is a plus.   I usually keep my posts to a single chapter of around two pages in word (plus or minus half a page to have it end at a good break point).   Each chapter works out to around an hour of game time.   I paraphrase rather than using exact wording although I make a point to write down the really good or really funny lines to get them into the Story Hour exactly as stated.   

And don't get discouraged if there is fairly low readership and few reader comments.  Most readers seem to prefer to just read instead of providing feedback to the author and new stories by new authors never seem to get the readership of the well established ones.   As stated before, write for yourself.


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## NTZ (Dec 15, 2004)

Silver Moon said:
			
		

> Writing in word and spell checking is a plus.   I usually keep my posts to a single chapter of around two pages in word (plus or minus half a page to have it end at a good break point).   Each chapter works out to around an hour of game time.




Thanks Silver Moon, you answered a question I was planning on asking - write it in Word.  I always wondered if people type some of the longer entries with Word instead of typing directly into the message board.

I'm looking forward to GJ's story hour for the simple reason that I will be part of it!   

NTZ


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## Silver Moon (Dec 15, 2004)

A few more tips -

Feel free to play around a little with the chronology of what happened in the game if it will improve the flow of the story;

Omit the long rather dull sections that may crop up in the game, a sentence or two can usally cover that and keep things moving;

Begin the initial post with a short description of the characters;

Leave out the stray actions and subplots that go nowhere (most DM's toss those in but often the players decide to skip them - no reason to clutter up the Story Hour with something that doesn't move the story forward). 

Feel free to add DM's notes, probably at the end of the post so as not to interrupt the flow of the story.


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