Writers' Study Chat and Feedback - Ask all your questions here!

[Alwyn]

Hello, Derc!

You asked if there are rules on AARs. The rules which apply are the TWC Terms of Service. There are also the rules of our competitions, if you enter the Monthly After Action Report Competition (MAARC) you'll find the rules in the OP of the submissions thread.

There are also informal, unwritten rules, such as:-
-> If you want others to post friendly responses on your AAR and Creative Writing, post friendly responses on other people's AARs and Creative Writing.
-> AAR updates (and responses by readers) go on your AAR thread, discussions of writing (and questions about writing) go in the Writers' Lounge (either on this thread or by starting a new thread in the Lounge)
-> If you want to advertise your AAR, you can do this by posting on the Advertising Board (here in the Lounge), by adding a link in your signature (when you have 25 posts) and by entering Writers' Study competitions. There's also currently a one-off Write an Advert competition happening. When you have posted the OP of your AAR, so that you have something to link to, you could enter this competition if you'd like to. (If you'd like to know more about adding signatures and similar things, I recommend Shankbot's Unofficial Guide for New Members.

AARs which are mainly images are welcome. The size of your image looks okay to me. Having said that, "dozens" of images - like a very long text post - could make it harder for readers to keep following your AAR. I suggest thinking about the time that it will take for someone to read one of your chapters, and imagining a stranger asking you to give them that amount of time.

There is a gallery function on TWC, although I didn't discover this for a very long time! To find it, select 'My Profile' (in the top right hand corner of the screen) and 'Albums' (from the list on the left of the screen). Create an album, upload images and save them. Then select an image you'd like to add to a chapter and copy and paste the code into your AAR post. Select 'Go Advanced' and the preview post option to check that the image is displaying properly before posting.

You asked about copyright. While I'm not a member of Moderation Staff, so I'm not someone with official authority to interpret the site's rules, the TWC rules say that the "Substantial use of copyrighted material without permission" is not okay and that "Examples of acceptable uses would be brief quotes, fan art, signature/avatar images, brief video clips (e.g., YouTube), screenshots, or reasonably limited decorative images in a mod". Screenshots, included screenshots we edit (for example to add arrows and labels showing the movement of armies) are okay.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Hi Caillagh, just one small request: Could you give everyone a heads-up before the new occasional competition submission window closes? I have my thing all written up and everything and am just waiting on permission to use an image banner for a specific mod, and I'd hate to miss the break over something like that. Thanks

Hi, Kilo11.

Apologies for the delay in replying - and thank you for your suggestion.

We absolutely don't want to make it difficult for you (and other people) to enter - we want to encourage people to enter! As a result of your request, we're extending the minimum submission period from two weeks to a month (I've just changed the submission thread to reflect that), which we hope will help with your difficulty.

It's quite likely that if we decide to extend the submission period beyond the length stated in the OP of any Occasional Competition thread, we'll post to say that's happening either here or on the submission thread. We can't guarantee that will always happen, though, because it depends on staff availability.

[Derc]

Thanks a lot for your answer, Alwyn! I really appreciate it.
Looks like there will be no problems then.

[Alwyn]

You're welcome! I look forward to seeing your AAR.

Meanwhile, everyone is invited to vote for your two favourite entries in the MAARC LXXVII, to enter the MAARC LXXVIII when you have an AAR which qualifies, to enter the MCWC XIX and to check out what's happening in Tale of the Week.

Also, have you seen our new occasional competition - in the first ever occasional competition, you're invited to Write an Advert? Future occasional competitions will involve different writing challenges, so if you'd like to participate in our Write an Advert competition, don't miss your opportunity!

[Cookiegod]

Looking forward for the 25 posts.

[Kilo11]

Hey everyone,

I was just looking for the name of a particular port from antiquity and came across a website that might be of interest for anyone working on AARs set in that time period. I can't vouch for the veracity of any of the places or names they list, but it is at least something for if you're having trouble nailing down the name of some place you know your characters are going through. Anyway, hope it's of use to someone.

Ports of Antiquity (with maps)

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Most excellent writers of the Writers' Study, I am here to draw your attention to the newly-posted Writers' Study Yearly Awards 2018 Nominations Thread!

I know, you weren't expecting this to be posted until next year. We have rearranged our timetable, and from now on, the Yearly Awards will begin in the autumn. This year's awards will therefore only cover the nine months from the start of January 2018 to the end of September 2018 - but next year's awards will once again cover a full twelve months, from the start of October 2018 to the end of September 2019.

The nine months covered by this year's competition includes plenty of fine writing by a whole host of authors, though, so you still have plenty of choice when you're choosing who to nominate!

[Kilo11]

Hey Caillagh,

One question and one comment about the nominations.

Comment first: In the description of Best Newcomer you say

Best Newcomer
As set out above, a “Newcomer” is someone who made their first substantial contribution to the WS between 1 January 2018 and 30 September 2018. This means their first substantial contribution as an author of AARs or CW. Their first substantial contribution must have been in 2017. They would still qualify for nomination if they had written a brief one-post AAR during 2017, and then written several AARs (or a larger AAR) during 2018. They might still qualify for nomination if they started their first piece of CW at the end of 2017 and continued it in 2018, depending on how substantial their work was during each year. If you are in any doubt about whether someone can be nominated for the Best Newcomer Awards, please ask the WS staff.

That portion I highlighted in red should read "must have been in 2018", right? Just wanted to make sure that the clarity of it was maximal

The question is whether we ought to ask people before nominating them, to get their permission, or just nominate away? I'd prefer the latter, and can't imagine anyone taking issue, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks for any info!

[Cookiegod]

But then I'd be out of the race? :'( Kilo why u hate me?

[Kilo11]

Oh, Cookiegod, you know I love you. I just wanted to make sure the rules were clear. And just in case you weren't sure about my love, I was planning on nominating your AAR for the yearly awards, so keep that in mind

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Hey Caillagh,

One question and one comment about the nominations.

Comment first: In the description of Best Newcomer you say

That portion I highlighted in red should read "must have been in 2018", right? Just wanted to make sure that the clarity of it was maximal

Yes, you're right.

That was my mistake, sorry. That should definitely be "2018" - otherwise, as you noticed, the first sentence of that section makes no sense at all...

Thank you for spotting it.

(I've corrected it now, so future readers of the post should find it less confusing. Do let me know if you find any other mistakes - it's always possible with these things!)

The question is whether we ought to ask people before nominating them, to get their permission, or just nominate away? I'd prefer the latter, and can't imagine anyone taking issue, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks for any info!

No, you don't need to ask people before nominating them for the Yearly Awards.

Just to be absolutely clear, the rules of the MAARC and the MCWC aren't changing - for the MAARC and the MCWC, you do need to ask the author's permission before nominating them. The Yearly Awards have a different rule because we're asking for multiple nominations, and several different people often nominate the same author. It would get very time-consuming for everybody (and probably annoying for popular authors) if we had to ask before nominating someone.

If anyone would prefer not to be nominated, they are welcome to post in the nominations thread to say that - or they can PM a member of WS staff, and we'll post in the nominations thread to say that.

But then I'd be out of the race? :'( Kilo why u hate me?

Sorry about that - but I'm afraid the system for the Yearly Awards has always been that you're only eligible for the "Best Newcomer" award once. If you were eligible last year, then you're not a newcomer. (Otherwise, we might have someone winning Best Newcomer in more than one year, which would be a bit weird!)

[Cookiegod]

I was just kidding guys.

[NorseThing]

What the Writers' Study Yearly Awards 2018 - Nominations thread! does not include a category fro the best blog? I know this is a thin list, but we have both the staff blogging as well as the TWC Member Blogs here. Both have creative content and I was following and interested in Hitai de Bodemloze the chess blogs. Sigh.

In any case, this is a great excuse to go back and reread that which you liked the best of this (short) year's contributions. Best of all, you can nominate up to three for each category so I urge you to spend no more than this month to whittle down your couple of dozen potential nominations to three for each category. At least it will be time well spent on the rereads.

[Commissar Caligula_]

<removed>

[General Brewster]

I can't seem to find my thread here with tales


Edit: I may or may not have looked with my eyepatches on. Found it

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

It was probably hiding from you, General. Threads can be sneaky little blighters when they know someone's looking for them.

(Well, that's my explanation for those days when it takes me three surveys of the page to find the thread right at the top of the list...)

[General Brewster]

I don't think I'm lying if I'm telling you it took me a solid hour of browsing all the writing forums before I found it

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

You and I must be related, General!


Over on Skotos of Sinope's AAR, The Last Chariots of the Tarquins, Skotos and I started a discussion about what Skotos titled the "tragic view of life". I promised him I'd reply to him here (so as not to derail the AAR thread). It's taken me far too long to get round to doing that, but here - at last - I am. I'll start by quoting the two original posts. (I hope you don't mind, Skotos - I've deleted the bits that related specifically to the AAR.)

I like the parallels you've drawn between the Etruscans and the Elves and Children of the Forest. And I think you're right to say that at least some of the ancients thought rebelling against fate was a way of trying to take what wasn't yours. Not just in questions of the length of your life, either. If you objected to being a slave, and tried to escape, and failed, well, then you had defied the gods. If you tried to escape and succeeded, that was different, of course; your fate was clearly freedom...

What you said really got me thinking. I suppose that's one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing an AAR, is trying to put yourself into the mindset of someone who lived thousands of years ago in a society that's alien to your own. It's a constant struggle, for me at least, to not allow my modern sensibility to creep through. For instance, as an American I was brought up with notions like “anything is possible” and “do what makes you happy”. Whereas in antiquity (and especially in the Greco-Roman world) my understanding is that the ethos was more “know your limits” and “do your duty”. There's a “tragic view of life” that I think many in my culture have lost, and that is undeniably fascinating. What do you think?

I suspect the reasons for people thinking like this are probably very complicated, and probably vary from person to person. But I can't help thinking (though I am no historical scholar, and I'm just basing this on what people I know are like) that some of this may well be the result of the sort of society you live in, and/or your personal beliefs.

So, for instance, it seems to me to be more likely for people in a strictly hierarchical society to feel that their place in life has been allotted to them, and that there's little or nothing that can change that. There is, of course, pressure from the people at the bottom of the heap for change - they want a better place than they have. But if enough of them try and fail to change the system, I imagine a sort of resigned despair can easily set in. If you're a slave, you might see your choices as being: try to escape (and suffer if you fail); rebel and be killed; submit and (probably) live. It is, perhaps - at least in some measure - a survival mechanism; a way of being able to keep going. For the people near the top of the ladder of status, well, they obviously want to keep the slaves biddable, or else they have no slaves to work for them. So they have plenty of motivation to keep the slaves scared, especially if their society tells them that their place in life is something they have a right to keep. I also suspect that the closer you are to the top of the heap, the more likely you are to think you should be right at the top (I'm thinking of all the Roman emperors who got the job by killing the previous incumbent).

Likewise, if you think there is a god, or gods, micromanaging the universe and ensuring that everyone gets what they deserve, then you'll believe that your situation in life is the one you should have. If you think there is no god (or that any god there is doesn't bother with that level of micromanagement) then perhaps you're more likely to think it's OK to try and change your situation, or the situations of others.

It's obviously much more complicated than just those two things, of course. Those are just the first two things that sprang to mind - and they only relate to whole societies, really, rather than to individuals. Do you think they sound plausible as partial reasons for people's views on this? Does anybody know anything about this from historical or anthropological research?

[Turkafinwë]

An interesting discussion and to answer your question Caillagh, yes I believe those are at least partially reasons for peoples' view on their place in life and life in general. What I'm going to say are of course my own experiences and my personal views on things. The way I see it a person's views are influenced by many factors of which, I believe, these are the most important ones. The type of society you live in, your upbringing (parents and friends), your education and lastly your personality. The last one is a bit of a difficult one as you can discuss massively on how much of you is you when you are born, if you catch my drift. How much of who you are was already present in you when you were born. But that is another discussion entirely so I will leave it at that.

People's views usually conduct mainly to the things that the society they live in follows. In most Western societies there is this sense of indviduality and I can change the future and do whatever I want feeling and many people follow that ideology because it feels natural. The majority of people follow it and therefore many don't question it, thy just follow. Like Caillagh says people that are more religious tend to believe in somesort of a predestined future or maybe they don't believe it completely but still write off certain events as "God's Will".

What your parents and friends their views are also play an important role, I think. It is easy to have the same ideas as your friends or just copying those of your parents. Or maybe the exact opposite if you don't like your parents very much. A bit like children of people who smoke could either become a smoker themselves or develop such a resentment for it that they would never touch a sigaret in their entire life. It can go both ways.

Education does many things into shaping you into the human being you are today. It is such a broad thing and the implications on how much it influences children and adults alike could be astronomical. I don't know much of this as I'm no psychologist or an expert of any sort in this area. It is just what I believe.

Then comes the personality. Who you are is very important for your views and believes. Everything you experience forms you into the human being you are. If you are a rebel in nature you will more likely choose your own path and pay less attention to what your society or parents or friends say what you should think. Some are determined and want to prove the world wrong others are unsure and take an easier route out. As I said earlier you could argue that you can shape your personality with careful manipulation.


These are my thoughts on the matter and I hope to see many more joining into the discussion. I think it is a very interesting subject.

[NorseThing]

An interesting idea of defying the gods. If your fate in life is to be a slave, then to attempt to escape and fail is against the will of the gods. It seems a bit like the ends justify the means sort of thinking. I admit to not being able to put my mind into a much early century thought process so perhaps you are correct. This truly does have potential for our writing. Good ideas.