Lesson 5 - Message board

[Robin de Bodemloze]

Lesson 5: AAR Management

Message Board Topic

There are a number of competitions on TWC that can help polishing skills and/or showcasing your talent. These include the MAARC (the traditional monthly AAR competition), TotW (for short stories), PotW (for pictures), and the Scriptorium competition and Vergil's Challenge (for longer fiction). What are your views on these competitions? If you have not entered any, why?

[The Kybrothilian]

They are distant things for me. I remember a favorite AARtist of mine taking a part in one or more MAARC competition and getting to the top 3. I haven't been checking any of them, let alone having thought of competing in one. Next obstacle after getting to know them would probably be lack of confidence.

[Derpy Hooves]

Since both you and Radzeer are WS Staff, you guys know that I am a TOTW regular. I love TOTW. Why? TOTW encourages me to write. I have had many stories that I have started, yet never finished. So whenever I look back on these, I used to think to myself "Will I ever get any story done? Am I destined to never make it as a writer?" TOTW has given me confidence in my abilities, even if I never won. Because of TOTW, I have 20-30 200-500 word stories. I have expanded on my Gaiishan universe a lot. Without TOTW, my world of Gaiisha might have faded away. I am eternally grateful for TOTW

As for the other competitions, I have only entered into the Scriptorium competition once. I plan on entering more competitions, with the objective of being encouraged to write more.
What I mean to say is that these competitions are handy in encouraging users to write more. TOTW is a great first step because you do not write a whole lot. After that you move onto the bigger ones.

[Dance the older]

I remember back when I joined TWC in 2008, perhaps it was just my lack of attention when navigating the subforums, but I am unsure if The Writer's Study even existed. Now I am an avid follower (though in the shadows) of many of the writings that have been made by knowledgeable and skilled writers in these forums.

I enjoyed English in school, however I never really took a keen interest in perfecting my grammar and writing skills. Now though, I am actually in the midst of writing a novel (if you wish to call it that), which I have completed the first chapter. The book is based during the Fall of the Roman Empire, in the late 4th Century. (I won't divulge too much else), and I have been working on the next couple chapters accordingly. Once I get enough of it started, I do believe I will post in the Creative writing section.

As for TOTW week, and other competitions, I'm not big for competition really, perhaps it's the possibility, and likeliness of defeat in writing competitions against far superior writers such as yourselves. I'm sure I will enter the fray when the time comes. As for right now, with my book in the writing (I have had exerpts from the 1st chapter reviewed by a handful of people with pretty great feedback), but actually having friends review it is a different animal compared to having skilled writers such as on here review it. It's a scary thought, but perhaps many writers, especially in their novice stages, and I'm sure even experienced writers always have that feeling of the possibility of failure and inability to enthuse the readers of their stories.

I like the TOTW, I believe it appeals to me most of all the competitions right now. The others I'm not to familiar with yet, but perhaps they will peak my further interest at a later date.

It's definitely a major fear for myself. I do intend however to enter some competitions when the time is right. My Game Review (as seen in my signature below), was done before many many others, back when it was no more than a simple forum to post reviews of such. Now, years later, there is a library showcasing what appears to be hundreds (perhaps not) of game reviews done by others and I believe nowadays the forum leaders, and community is more accepting of creative writing which has lulled me back into writing again.

Current works:
- I plan to do an AAR. My difficulty is choosing a base game for it. Once this course is completed, I do believe I will be ready to actually begin one.

- I am writing a non-fiction/fictional (I have done IMMENSE research into the time period and location in which my book will be set). The novel will feature key figures in very minimal, supportive appearance roles in the novel. Most of the characters will be fictional, including the protagonist, but I am trying my best to keep it as historically accurate (the events unfolding in the fall of the empire), but at the same time trying to intrigue and gather a fanbase who will actually enjoy reading it.

- Product/Game Reviews.
-- Samsung Galaxy S3 (seen in signature)
-- Pharaoh (seen in signature)
-- Untitled Game Review (in the works)

Two of my completed works so far. Pharaoh having been done 4 years ago, and the Samsung Galaxy review done a couple weeks ago. I am also working on an untitled game review, which I have found has not been done yet surprisingly.

Overall, I intend to compete when I feel comfortable enough with my writing level.

[Confederate Jeb]

Well, I compete in the TotW competitions regularly, have competed in the UESW a few times (actually one one of those, it's a miracle ), and tried my hand at the latest Scriptorium competition. The competitions are great for trying out new styles in short little bursts of writing (the latest one actually got me to try poetry. I hate poetry. ) and are quite fun. The key is to not take the winning and losing very seriously. Improve comes from practice, and sometimes writer's block won't be cured overnight. And it's not always a bad thing to take a week off and catch your breath.