Story Ideas & Discussion Thread

[BobBev]

A multi-player Superleague story could be really interesting if someone was prepared to do the necessary editing and host the game.

[Peacemaker7]

Originally posted by BobBev:

A multi-player Superleague story could be really interesting if someone was prepared to do the necessary editing and host the game.

It could be.

Another idea in a similiar vein could be where we create our own clubs?

Just a thought. I'd still quite like to at least get a bit more of the current multi-player game done

[glamdring]

I took hours creating my own club to enter in the Scottish league in FM 07, but just couldn't get excited about the game because the lack of realsim just kept niggling at me! If it had been England it would have been alright since there is a promotion system that theoretically my club could have come up through.

I might try again in FM 08 though since Latitude and Longitude for cities has been re-added to the official game editor which was another reason why I lost interest last time (I like to add lots of small local places in the offchance that I will get some youth team players coming through who were born there)

[woody2goody]

Hi guys I'm thinking about starting an FM story soon. I am a good writer, and have some (brief)experience of Madden NFL story writing.

I'm currently playing on the beta patch and I wonder whether it'd be worth waiting for the new patch to come out or continuing with the one I have.

Also would it be ok if I didn't start writing from the beginning of my game, or would that just remove all realism and potential interest?

If I could get some replies/tips that would be great.

Also could I have some advice for someone who's possibly not patient enough to detail every game I play etc.

[BobBev]

Woody - I don't have FM08 so I can't make any comment on how playable or otherwise it currently is so it needs to be your call as to the longevity of your current game. As far as your starting point is concerned then it makes no difference where your story begins. In some ways it can be more interesting to "jump in" several seasons down the line as you have some in-game history to draw on. There is absolutely no need to detail every game. You can cover an entire season in a few paragraphs if that is your preferred style. You can give an overview of the bread and butter stuff and focus on a few key matches that make or break your season. You can even focus on character development and non-game events with the matches providing a background to frame things around. Really there are no rights and wrongs. Have a good look around here to get a feel for how other people tackle it. At the end of the day you have to find your own style and write in a way that you enjoy - no matter what that is quality writing will always attract a readership. Good luck.

[glamdring]

All patches should be save game compatible so unless you really hate the current FM08 (as I do!) you can always just start and then patch the game as and when it is available. I dived straight in with a story from the start of my latest FM08 game, but I've been rather discouraged by how damn difficult FM08 is, albeit that I am managing the worst team in the Blue Square North which doesn't help!

As for starting your story from the start of your game, as BobBev says it is entirely up to you, people use both styles. I have written a few from the very start and some starting later - I have to admit that on most occasions when I have done the latter I have lost interest in the story because I just couldn't remember enough of my game history, but it isn't necessary to include the history anyway. My current story begins some 10 years down the line from when the game started and has so far covered only the history of those 10 years and in a fairly broad brush style.

[Amaroq]

Woody, welcome to the forum.

I think a story which didn't start with "Shockingly, I got the job!" would be a refreshing change.

As for "Not detailing every game you play," there's infinite varieties of detail-level. I aim for about a paragraph-per-goal... while Faramir goes for a paragraph-per-match; we both have big audiences. I could certainly imagine a workable style which "glossed over" weeks at a time, then "slowed down" for key matches or off-the-pitch moments.

One thing I've really liked is Terk's style, which I think you can get a feel for from the first three posts of the page linked to - he touches on every result descriptively, but some get lumped into the same paragraph, and others get called out in several-paragraph detail.. but every month ends in a month summary with all the results and goalscorers, so its very easy to "keep the plot" when you return to the thread for his most recent update.

[attjen]

Good idea, this thread.

And some excellent stuff from 'wonderkid' Amaroq.

[Amaroq]

LMAO - I think that's the only time of my life I'll qualify for "wonderkid" status.. I'm about halfway between "kid" and BobBev, IRL..

[Terk]

Just copying across some stuff from the Community Thread which probably lives in here:

by aaberdeenn: "If adopting a play now, then write later approach, would you play windowed mode and take notes in notepad or something?"

[Terk]

by Wegason: "Notepad, wordpad, word, whatever works for you and you are comfortable with."

[Terk]

by Amaroq: "That's exactly what I do, yes.

My habit tends to work something like this:

Open up "Write.exe" (wordpad) to the latest installment of my story-file; fire up FM and load to the latest save-game.

During the week, take notes on events and emotions - it might look something like:

Hayden Foxe satisfied with role

Nicky Thomson strained calf, out for 6 months

Mathieu Berson loan ends.

Very nervous about rematch with WBA

Or something like that. If I feel up to writing, I might write the installment for it .. but if not, I'll get to the match.

Match-day, I'd note the opposition's danger-man and recent results... then as the match goes, I'll note my tactical adjustments and any key items that caused it:

14 Weatherson shoots wide

19 Foxe tackle in box - penalty? No!

20-25 intense pressure by opposition

26 Morgan yc - the goal sure to come any moment

28 switch to 5-4-1 for more defense.

When I feel inspired to "write", I'll come back to that, and change it into prose that the rest of you might want to read - and I'll use the "Match Report" feature and the ability to watch replays to bulk out the detail .. and a knowledge of how the match is going to wind up to know what things to cut out. For example, if the yellow card doesn't turn out to matter, it might not "make the cut".

What I've found, with that, is that if I play too far ahead, I lose the motivation to write about it .. but if I don't let myself play without writing, I lose the motivation to play.

So its a balancing act, definitely.

..

If you wind up with an epic tale, file organization becomes very important. I've wound up with one file per month, and a naming convention YY-MM-Team, so for example 06-05-York.txt; that way "sort by alphabetical" gives me "in date order".

One neat thing about having gotten way ahead is that I can come back and layer-in foreshadowing - for example, if you re-read the story knowing where it goes, you'll spot references to Book II characters making cameo appearances back in the Book I portions of the tale."

[Terk]

by BobBev: "Personally I use Word as my writing tool of choice. I apply my formatting there and have a neat macro that converts that to markup tags. It can deal with bold and italics and anything in Courier New font is put inside CODE tags. If anyone else would like to use it then here it is. If you want to use it then replace the curly brackets with square ones.

Sub FMS_Markup()

Selection.Find.ClearFormatting

Selection.Find.Font.Bold = True

Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting

Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Bold = False

With Selection.Find

.Text = ""

.Replacement.Text = "{b}^&{/b}"

.Forward = True

.Wrap = wdFindContinue

.Format = True

.MatchCase = False

.MatchWholeWord = False

.MatchWildcards = False

.MatchSoundsLike = False

.MatchAllWordForms = False

End With

Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

Selection.Find.ClearFormatting

Selection.Find.Font.Italic = True

Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting

Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Italic = False

With Selection.Find

.Text = ""

.Replacement.Text = "{i}^&{/i}"

.Forward = True

.Wrap = wdFindContinue

.Format = True

.MatchCase = False

.MatchWholeWord = False

.MatchWildcards = False

.MatchSoundsLike = False

.MatchAllWordForms = False

End With

Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

Selection.Find.ClearFormatting

Selection.Find.Font.Name = "Courier New"

With Selection.Find

.Text = ""

.Replacement.Text = "{code}^&{/code}"

.Forward = True

.Wrap = wdFindContinue

.Format = True

.MatchCase = False

.MatchWholeWord = False

.MatchWildcards = False

.MatchSoundsLike = False

.MatchAllWordForms = False

End With

Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

End Sub

[Terk]

by Glamdring: "Amaroq's disciplined approach is the most sensible probably, but it depends how much detail you want to include, especially about things actually reported in the game.

I generally ignore individual news items about players, of the like that Amaroq mentioned, but it depends on my type of story. My recent ones have been more "broad brush" so someone being unhappy at some point of the season is of no interest to me.

I use the FM game as a skeleton for my story, but since it is fiction I will sometimes make things up about players or anything else that doesn't occur in-game and miss out many things that do appear in game. The only aspect I stick to, obviously, in my stories are the hard facts of results, where we finish in the league, players we signed (although again often I don't bother mentioning all the players we sign). It goes without saying that if I were to start inventing results and players people would have no interest in reading those stories at all.

So basically, I generally just right off the top of my head when writing a long time after the event (e.g. my current main story covering the past 10 seasons of play), adding in some made up things for interest, but keeping key facts correct from the game."

[Terk]

by Peacemaker7:

Amaroq's disciplined approach is the most sensible probably

Yeah for him.

Its pointless asking what style should I use, everyone is different you have to find that our for yourself there is NO right answer here.

[george94]

I've really got to work this out. I need a quick easy way of getting the tables up. All my efforts of coding etc turn out awfully as you can see in the community thread. Can someone help me?

[HD]

Easiest way is to go to the table in the game, then select options, Print Screen, save as text file, then open that and C&P it into your story between code tags.

[Pickles]

I could give you some tips, but then you be guaranteed to fail

I want to come back FMS (if anyone remembers me here that is) soon and may do once I can get a fecking game going that gets past the end of August

[HD]

Originally posted by Pickles:

I could give you some tips, but then you be guaranteed to fail

I want to come back FMS (if anyone remembers me here that is) soon and may do once I can get a fecking game going that gets past the end of August

If people remember you, they're not likely to want you back.

Anyway, nice to see people leave FMS, become hardened crims, then return. We could have predicted it back then...

[Pickles]

Bastard!

[-Xenon-]

I really want to get back to writing some stories, but I'm at a loss for ideas.

I think its partly because I'm not really enjoying playing FM08.

Any ideas?

[attjen]

Go back to playing 01/02. That's what I did after ignoring FM07 on my computer for months.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the interesting tips and ideas on how to write a compelling FM story. I've been playing FM since it was CM but have never written a story about my career before. After neglecting FM07 for months due to work, my new year resolution is to get back to management (FM08) and writing about my life as a manager. Wish me luck!

[Queen of the Stevenage]

I like to have a mix of styles. My current one is quite factual, right up until it's current post (i'm not revealing anything yet )

As everyone has pointed out, it's how the writer communicates the feeling of playing

[city321]

is it ok to start a storie of your fm carear or does it have to b made up stuff

[Peacemaker7]

Originally posted by city321:

is it ok to start a storie of your fm carear or does it have to b made up stuff

It's not ok to post 'made up stuff', it has to be based on a game of FM/SI-CM

[irishregan]

is it ok to start a storie of your fm carear or does it have to b made up stuff

care over spelling and no text speak is a bit of a must too

[woolfc]

This in itself is a mini story.

Since the Pools man called Wayne knocked on my door in 2001 (hes to blame for my dismal social life) and gave me his sons copy of CM 00-01 (i was 12 at the time). Ive been hooked until this very day. When it came down to choosing between the CM and the new found FM, I knew FM was the way to go.

For some reason I have only this month finally got broadband in my house. With a brand new laptop, my love of FM rushed back quicker than Newcastle fans optimism when King Kev was appointed manager. So I find it strange why my love of FM and self-confessed love of creative writing have never crossed paths until now.

I've read the majority of Faramirs story with Leyton Orient, and it inspired me to write my own story. With ambitions of me lasting a game to that length of time. The longest game I think I have played is 9 seasons, as the will to carry on retires along with the majority of real players on the game.

In need of ideas and advice I thoroughly read throught this whole thread and started planning my story. However due to an online clan I started, this all got postponed in favour of my new found excitement.

But tonight when I get home from work, I shall start my story and game. I think I have found the right team to match my aspirations.

I have decided not to rush into it, as the phrase quality over quantity is a phrase well worth taking note of.

All I ask is that you judge me not by the date joined to the forum (I had no desire to do anything PC based bar play FM) but to look out for my story over the coming days.

Lets hope this is the start of something truly spectacular!!

[Amaroq]

I dare say this is one forum where you've got an absolute guarantee that "writing quality" trumps "everything else". I mean, heck, they liked me despite my *****ly demeanor and American IP address. Write! Let's see whatcha got!

To the "quality over quantity" concept, though - something to keep in mind!

[Amaroq]

Wow, prikcly gets censored? Interesting.

[Alurny]

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/97319217/m/7952026783

Hope this is an ok start! On holiday as we speak, waiting for the club.

Do I need to write my game set up?

[glamdring]

It's entirely up to you really whether you put your game setup or not. Some people are not interested in reading stories based on majorly edited databases or where you have given yourself all the best players in the editor or that kind of thing (some people are though). I tend to just add my game setup either for interest or so people can use the information to judge whether they want to read the game or not. Generally it is just cosmetic, but in the case of my Torshavn story I had done various editing in the database to add a new club so it seemed sensible to state all that.

[Starr_Man5]

I'm interested in starting another Story.

My first went well, and was recieved well.

I'd like to know - can I start a new game with an edited database - and write the story from there?

Thank you.

Rikki.

[Starr_Man5]

Originally posted by glamdring:

It's entirely up to you really whether you put your game setup or not. Some people are not interested in reading stories based on majorly edited databases or where you have given yourself all the best players in the editor or that kind of thing (some people are though). I tend to just add my game setup either for interest or so people can use the information to judge whether they want to read the game or not. Generally it is just cosmetic, but in the case of my Torshavn story I had done various editing in the database to add a new club so it seemed sensible to state all that.

Just seen this.

Ignore my last post and await my story.

[viperk1]

By the way...

I doubt many people would be interested in having 'chance by chance' matches in their story (detailing many of the moves in the game), but if anybody does, there is this option, that I've done for 'Blades of Glory?'.

After the match, go to the report, which details all of the commentary in the match, and create a print screen of it.

Then you use the report to help write a truly detailed match report.

For me, my notes consisted of the starting XI, team talks and any formation changes. As the substitutions are listed in the report, noting them down doesn't help me whatsoever. ^_^

Hope that helps anyone.

[Peacemaker7]

You can do whatever the hell you want with your DB, as Amaroq says above the over-riding factor is the story. However, be aware that reading about a team that wins every game at a canter quickly becomes boring. A story needs adversity tbh.

[tenthreeleader]

Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

You can do whatever the hell you want with your DB, as Amaroq says above the over-riding factor is the story. However, be aware that reading about a team that wins every game at a canter quickly becomes boring. A story needs adversity tbh.

Just one reason why character development can be a powerful tool. It appears that most of the writers on this board are alao halfway decent at playing FM as well, so there has to be a balance.

This is why good note-taking is essential. In addition, sometimes logical progression is needed to move a story along.

For example, my Padova team was having a simply awful time scoring from the penalty spot despite a much higher than normal haul of chances. This led to a story arc which will actually have ramifications all the way through my story. The resulting conflict allowed me to develop several characters, including journalists, which create adversity throughout. Don't be afraid to imagine.

[Peacemaker7]

One of the things thats kind of frustrating me at the moment regards Strands of Time is that game isn't going fast enough to keep up with the ideas I want to do. I know what I want to bring and what direction to take, but sometimes you have to wait for the game to take you there!

Still, least it means the story is not ending anytime soon.

[glamdring]

I almost wrote a short story connected to my Fiorentina game over the weekend after having an idea for a vaguely interesting angle, but in the end I decided against it because it might have looked like a tedious brag thread because the short section of game that inspired my ideas was one in which Fiorentina were winning lots. I've abandoned one or two stories before when my team started winning too often because it got boring to write about - including my original story here which just petered out when I couldn't be bothered to write about winning 11 straight SPL titles, still less expect anyone to want to read it

[copperhorse21]

I know that the Interim Awards Nominations are currently in progress. I want to correctly nominate 2008 qualified stories.

However, I don't know which currently posted stories meet the qualification standards for each of the listed categories for 2008.

For example, Amaroq's Sharpening a Rusty Blade seems to be a monstrously lengthy piece of writing based on the posts vs. views comparison. Faramir has some lengthy ones too.

I only want to read those stories which qualify for an 08 nomination as there are so many stories available to read and many of them involve multiple page posts.

The rules state that a story must be completed for it to receive an award. Since I don't want to mistakenly read a conclusion before it's time, is there a way to determine easily which stories are completed?

Thanks for humoring an award nominating nOOb.

[turn it upto 11]

hi I am currently writing a story, it is about a fictional club. It is not technically a FM story as it is not narrating a game in the same way that other members do, it is just taking influence from a few games I have played, stories I have read then just general ideas that pop into my head while at work ect.

anyway I got bits and bobs all over the place ATM, ideas and everything floating around, one of the things I wanted to stick in was a board room struggle, the only thing is I don't really get is how boards worked, always something that has confused me, who has the power? The final decisions? When there is just the one owner, why are there more board members. I just want to get it as accurate as possible.

BTW I dont claim to be a fantastic writer and as probaly 80 percent of the people only write for fun and for myself, i will probaly post it on here if thats allowed with it not technically being a FM story. Its just going to be say a chapter for each week in the season.

Any help is appreciated.

[mark wilson27]

Try looking at others work and get ideas from there, for example Faramirs work is always good to look at

http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/97319217/m/4812061523

I always get ideas on writing by looking at other peoples styles then putting it into my own way if you get what I mean

BTW. To save yourself any bother from the mods make sure you read the rules of this forum in the link below

http://community.sigames.com/1/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=210190...1976736&r=8901976736

[turn it upto 11]

OK no problem i'll take a look. i do usually follow the rules it just slipped my mind, im usually in the general discussion and put everything in the right place.i appreciated the polite remainder from the guy before.

[Wegason]

Originally posted by turn it upto 11:

anyway I got bits and bobs all over the place ATM, ideas and everything floating around, one of the things I wanted to stick in was a board room struggle, the only thing is I don't really get is how boards worked, always something that has confused me, who has the power? The final decisions? When there is just the one owner, why are there more board members. I just want to get it as accurate as possible.

Seeing as I deal with the boards of different companies on a regular basis I will try to shed some light on this, for the UK anyway.

Depending on the company (a fairly major disclaimer I must admit but here goes anyway) the board is made up of directors who are involved in running the business, monitoring performance, setting goals, and making sure the company performs in a successful manner (which in most industries other than sport, is making a profit).

The directors of most companies tend to also be shareholders in the company, especially for smaller 'limited' companies (as opposed to PLC's like Tesco's, RBS, and Coca Cola). As such, they have a major investment in the company and a major reason for wanting the company to do well.

Now your main concern is with power, well shareholders vote for who they want to represent them on the board, be it themselves (if they have a large shareholding) or allies. Now depending on the articles of association, shareholders may have the right to call an Extraordinary General Meeting by which they can try to replace the board by winning a plurality amongst shareholders. Now if you own more than 50% of the shares, you're going to win. Likewise if you and your allies hold >50%, you're going to win. Therefore if certain individuals have large shareholdings, then they hold a lot of power.

In the case of a single individual owning all the shares, then the directors are there merely to run the business and may make key decisions but know that these can be overridden by the owner who can resort to the above to ensure his (or her) will is carried out.

[canvey!!]

I know it has been advised to leave a certain amount of story written beforehand before starting to post your story. How much is recommended? 1 season? 2 seasons?...

Also, I've noticed in stories, particularly Amaroq's, that some players in squad selections at the start of the match are emboldened, whereas others aren't. Why are some emboldened, or do you just choose the ones which you feel will make an impact?

[copperhorse21]

I played one month of game time and then began writing my story, An American Pilgrimage. I've posted 21 times and still haven't caught up with my in-game point in time. However, BobBev covers a lot more ground than I do a whole lot faster, so he'd probably need to play further ahead.

The suggestion to play ahead is to help you with your storylines if you choose to put them into your story. If you only play a match ahead, it might be hard to include some events that occur off the pitch which would have an effect on what happens on the pitch. For example, why are you going to bring a new player in or why are you giving a player his walking papers.

Hope my single perspective helps. Others should weigh in too and then you can pick and choose which suggestions work best for you.

[Peacemaker7]

Tbh you need to find your own way of doing things that suits you best. Most of my stories I write 'off the cuff' posting straight onto the forum and it hasn't exactly done me any harm

Having said that, Strands of Time is about the second story I have written into a document before posting and that seems to be working ok for that kind of story.

There are advantages to writing the story as you go along - you have things fresh in your mind. But that isn't always possible, and actually sometimes you don't want things fresh anyway.

As for the coding, well I can't speak for Amaroq, but sometimes people will put important names and stuff in bold, italics or whatever. It's not a rule, and basically depends what you want to show.

[tenthreeleader]

Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

Tbh you need to find your own way of doing things that suits you best. Most of my stories I write 'off the cuff' posting straight onto the forum and it hasn't exactly done me any harm

Interesting, PM ... you and I have similar styles, then.

"Calcio" is written as Rob Ridgway's stream of consciousness along a series of pre-determined story arcs. Some of these arcs are planned, while others are happy (or unhappy) coincidence, as later entries will show.

I did not intend for Calcio to be a full-length story when I started to write it. However, stumbling across this forum changed my mind. I have been writing furiously since I began to post.

Canvey, my whole goal is to get far enough ahead so I can do two things: first, post without feeling the pressure to write daily (even though I love to, sometimes I run out of ideas) and also, it gives me time to play far enough ahead to develop story arcs for later writing.

If there is interest from those who have faithfully read Calcio to this point, I will also be writing Ridgway's 2008-09 season while posting the rest of the 2007-08 season. I'm still not done playing it yet, so potential arcs are still in the development stage.

Boldface for me is a stylistic thing. For example, I could build more drama on my matchdays by not posting the score at the top of my entry, but my style is to do this so I have to come up with other ways to keep a match day interesting to the reader.

Writing a diary style is different than what some on the board are trying to do - it's a thought process and it is both written and formatted that way. Do what's comfortable for you and above all have fun. That's why we are all here.

[BobBev]

I write pretty much as I play but I don't post as I write. Generally I will have at least a season unposted, maybe more. Also I never start a new story until I have played (and written) at least one full season. But I also have a rather low boredom threshold and regulars here will tell you that I start a heeluva lot more stories than I finish. I find it difficult to see a story through to a conclusion as I inevitably get an idea for another one, leaving a trail of half-finished efforts in my wake.

[Terk]

Generally throughout my time on FMS I've played, written and posted pretty much at the same speed. And like BobBev, I can get bored with a game quite easily and so the story dies quickly (I've pretty clearly got a higher percentage of abandoned stories than anyone still active on the forum). With my last two stories, however, I've been writing well ahead of my posting, but that was a decision driven from my desire to post something more in-depth than I previously had. Luckily they're by far the two best stories I've written on the forum, though with the first I've now caught up to where I'd written ahead and as such the story has been taking a nap for the past month or so.

As PM said though, for all for the advice we can give, what's important is to find the way you work best with your writing, whether that be having thirty pages in a word document before you post anything or working it out as you type it into the reply box on the forum.