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Terk

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I did too. It wasn't my choice and I thought it was rubbish.

I just sumbitted my 'test' article for a local website. If it goes well I could potentially have my first, paying, writing job.

There's always hope. :)

Good luck dude!

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I ended up studying computers and IT. Worst decision I ever made.

Update : Woooo finished my first story.

Studying ICT will open windows in the future, I guarantee you.

Well done on finishing, considering the detail you put in you write very, very quickly. I lost track after a while, but I'll be sure to catch up one day. What I read was excellent. :thup:

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I'm looking for two users to work with me on a story for FM. I was about to draw a parallel to LOTR, before I realised that the story is basically a modern-day LOTR (minus the fantasy, the rings, and the tower, though the plot is quite similar). Basically, I'd write Fellowship and Two Towers, and Return of the King would be a joint effort.

Requirements:

  • Copy of FM07 installed on a computer with a good internet connection
  • Good knowledge of FM07
  • A willingness to work as part of a team
  • Preferably an instant messenger, although it would work without one.
  • A proven track record of commitment and also writing talent
  • Finally, time. It would really help if you're based in GMT or GMT+1. Sorry to the Americans/Australians/Singaporeans who that rules out :(

No knowledge of LOTR is required at all, that's just a metaphor. The original story isn't based at all on LOTR, and won't follow the story or challenge.

I know viperk1 has expressed an interest in playing online before, and that Terk, BobBev and PaulHartman have said that they would like to take part in some sort of collaborative effort previously, although this may not be quite what any of them had in mind. If any body at all is interested, please PM me, stating:

  1. Why you want to take part
  2. What times you are likely to be avalible in the month of August (we will only need a few hours of playing time)
  3. Whether you forfill the criteria listed above.

I will instantly rule out anybody who does not fill the criteria on time zone and possessing a copy of FM07. The others may be waivered if need be.

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I'm writing three stories atm, all using 09 and it's incredibly time consuming. I'm playing 5-6 matches ahead and managing the teams properly, then going back and watching highlights to write the match reports, I suppose that's pretty time consuming by itself, but it takes forever to play a season in 09. I'd love to have used 08 for at least one of the stories, but my brother law has stolen it.

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I'm writing three stories atm, all using 09 and it's incredibly time consuming. I'm playing 5-6 matches ahead and managing the teams properly, then going back and watching highlights to write the match reports, I suppose that's pretty time consuming by itself, but it takes forever to play a season in 09. I'd love to have used 08 for at least one of the stories, but my brother law has stolen it.

Offer him 09 instead :p

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SCIAG, sounds like a good idea you have going there. Unfortunately, I may be ruled out due to time commitments. I have just started a new job, and could be called in at any time, so I may never get the chance to be online at the same time. Good luck though :)

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Looking forward to another LOTR story, Panpardus is good and i'm a LOTR nerd. I couldn't take part though, can't find FM07 and wouldn't play network games.

How do you guys work multiple stories? I notice a few people update all their stories at the same time, do you think that makes life easier? I'm doing three stories atm, and i'm thinking i'd be better off only updating them once a week, all at the same time, rather than bits and pieces.

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It really isn't a LOTR story btw, that was just a very convenient metaphor I managed to draw.

I've had four applications, all of whom would be brilliant, but when I thought of it there were two people I knew I really wanted to work with, both of whom have applied.

Multiple stories: I like to update all at once, for various reasons that hasn't been happening though.

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How do you guys work multiple stories? I notice a few people update all their stories at the same time, do you think that makes life easier? I'm doing three stories atm, and i'm thinking i'd be better off only updating them once a week, all at the same time, rather than bits and pieces.

Rat Pack is written about 200 pages ahead, so I write when my muse is awake (usually for a couple of days at a time), and the backlog of writing means it is generally updated every day whether I've written new material or not.

Lions is different. I have pre-story written there as well but not the individual matches. So I update that less frequently, as time permits.

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I'm currently parcelling out my updates not as frequently as they could be. Simply as all at once, I think people lose interest if you're not established (not complaining!) where as if you pop up unexpectedly, you stay in people's minds.

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I have a idea for a story but its going to need to be run ahead to proove the idea will work. Where things go i have no idea, neer edited a club in this way before.

I presume you can only move clubs between division before starting a game rather than once its started?

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It might be worth asking for some in depth advice in the editors forum. I've tried this a few times and it has corrupted my game every time, something to do with where games are played, where regens are from etc etc etc, it's not as easy as it should be. Haven't tried in 08 or 09 though.

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I don't know if this is the right place to suggest it.

I honestly think that we should sticky COMPLETED stories for a minimum of 24/48 hours up to 1 week.

It seems on these forums most stories are never ending (I have seen many abandoned stories), run for months to years or are created in abundance (ie same author with multiple stories that push down the completed ones).

There have been a few stories completed lately (short stories as well as my 4 page story) that have sunk to the bottom of the page and struggled to get any views whatsoever because they are no longer updated.

I think stickying completed stories for a week (and no more), along with a [Completed] tag, would give some people deserved credit for their hard work (regardless of their writing skill). It will promote people to actually complete stories and not just continue indefinately before running out of steam.

It is actually quite tough to write a story that actually is continued all the way through, which has solid depth and meaning to it. (and not just carried by FM seasons).

Thats just an opinion and a suggestion I have decided to put forward.

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Don't like that idea at all. I understand your predicament having just finished one, but I don't believe that stickying them will significiantly bump their readership. Plus I'm generally not a fan of stickies, I think we have too many in the forum already, and I wouldn't want to add to that.

I am working on a way to archive all completed stories. Obviously it would be far too much work to archive everything without the export tool that Raptor used to have back when the forums were on open topic but I'm sure there's a way we can preserve all completed stories when finally the new accompaniment site is up and running.

We do have a high turnover in terms of the number of stories being updated and that inevitably means things are quickly pushed down the page when they're not being actively posted in, but I'd rather have it that way than how it was back in 2004(ish) when we barely had two stories updated each day and the forum was in serious danger of dying on its arse.

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Simon - what would you think about a sticky that had links to completed stories? That would avoid having lots of stickies but it would be a known place for folks to go to in search of completed tales. Just a thought.

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I think though that having even a thread where completed stories are stickied may influence voting come award time. Not sure I really see the benefit of such a thread, people who have read a story have read it, people who are still reading - because obviously people stumble across things from time to time - will still read. So that just leaves new readers who may or may not come along, no idea if that happens but I guess it probably does.

As regards stickies, is it not possible to simply unsticky some of the ones that are and use the forum header? Although what we have atm is just about bearable - its usually when SI start a million global stickies that things get annoying.

Edit: of course the real solution to this problem, is having a complete archived database of all stories ever written which is easily accessed.

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I don't mind the idea of stickies, myself. But then I tend to complete my work. :)

I thought the prerequisite for certain awards was that the story be completed in any event. Therefore, we're doing a service to voters by making the award-eligible stories easier to access. Just a thought.

Still, though, I would prefer an archive site like Terk and PM are discussing. If it doesn't happen, though, making it easier to find award-eligible stories is a good thing in my book.

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I don't think stories have to be finished to win an award, only for HoF entry? Otherwise there would be very few award worthy stories :D

One thing having a completed stories thread might do is make it easier for Simon when it comes to compiling eligible stories but I dunno.

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You are probably right, PM. In fact, the more I think about it the more I suspect so.

Anyway, from my point of view it's just nice to finish what you start. Calcio happened to be finished when it won award last year.

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Simon - what would you think about a sticky that had links to completed stories? That would avoid having lots of stickies but it would be a known place for folks to go to in search of completed tales. Just a thought.

This sounds like a good idea. It would keep clutter at the top of the board to a minimum (I agree with Terk, too many stickies is just annoying) yet be a fairly obvious sign-post.

The archive idea is a good one too, and there was talk of that before, but that sounds like it would be a lot of work for the moderators to get up and running and maintain. Not saying that should be a barrier to setting it up, but someone has to stick up for the mods on occasion! :p

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I think though that having even a thread where completed stories are stickied may influence voting come award time. Not sure I really see the benefit of such a thread, people who have read a story have read it, people who are still reading - because obviously people stumble across things from time to time - will still read. So that just leaves new readers who may or may not come along, no idea if that happens but I guess it probably does.

As regards stickies, is it not possible to simply unsticky some of the ones that are and use the forum header? Although what we have atm is just about bearable - its usually when SI start a million global stickies that things get annoying.

Edit: of course the real solution to this problem, is having a complete archived database of all stories ever written which is easily accessed.

Unfortunately we can't edit the forumheader ourselves anymore, we have to get one of the SI Super Mods to do it and it's a ****ing nightmare getting anything done by them. And you have a very good point about it having influence on awards time, the more I think about it the more I struggle to see the benefits of such a thread. I honestly don't think anything like that will significantly boost readership, a story may get more congratulatory posts at its end but I suspect a lot of those would be from people who hadn't read it.

Of course the best solution to this would be a fully working archive, that just may be a bit beyond us without an export tool.

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Of course the ideal solution to having an archive would have been something that the individual writer is responsible for including his (or her) own stories into that archive. Years ago HD and I joined some writing place where people could write and store stuff in their own folder and we did look at doing something like that ourselves but neither of us had the skills. Other than that, I guess we're stuck which is really a crying shame.

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If there is a worry that a completed story sticky would lead to influence at the awards then could the sticky only be updated after an awards ceremony when all the completed stories that were eligible for that awards ceremony are now no longer eligible, thus Lavezzi's story would be added to the list of completed stories after the next awards ceremony in October/November while all completed but now ineligible stories can be added to the sticky straight away.

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Thinking of doing a Cardiff City story now my exams have finished (well tomorrow they do.) Any tips?

Decide on a style. If you're going to simply do match reports, transfer, etc., then really your story will write itself if you have persistence. However, if you want a more in depth story, then, well, read the first fifty posts or so of this thread. ;)

Basics: Grammar, spelling, get ahead, don't give up.

Other than that, what Amaroq and others eloquently say in those 50 posts.

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Thinking of doing a Cardiff City story now my exams have finished (well tomorrow they do.) Any tips?

Basically, read other stories, pinch ways to present things from them (if you can't think of a better way yourself!). If you want to do an in depth story, try doing a short story first, to practise.

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I'm pretty sure I can get something together in terms of an archive for completed and award winning stories.

Thats probably the best idea tbh. There probably aren't that many completed stories, by which I mean stories that actually have an ending and weren't just abandoned. I think it is[ good for people to be able to read or re-read particulary award winning stories, although the idea of having all finished stories stickied here the more I think is quite bad and would negate the idea of a Hall of Fame if you think about it. Just because a story is 'finished' shouldn't really give it any special status imo.

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Cheers for the advice guys. Had a look through the first 50 posts and some good stuff. Thinking of scrapping the Cardiff idea though and doing Man City, where the money might help me a bit. Not the best of players on fm so don't really want to get sacked after 5 months in charge of Cardiff. Only thing is i'd imagine there's a load of Man City stories due to them having money etc. Does that matter?

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