Forums · Some tips on making a good warstory...
Hello, and welcome to the "Warstory Section" Forum! The point of this forum, obviously, is to write, share, and comment on warstories written by both yourself and others! This topic is designed to help you to create a great warstory that is fun to read and interesting.
How do I get a battle log?
If you are using Shoddy Battle (which most of the warstory writers on this forum are), complete your warstory-worthy battle, and simply click the "Chat" tab, and select "Save Log". Open up your saved log with Wordpad, Word, or another word processing program, delete the dividing lines after each turn, and your battle log is complete! Editing out "Person has entered the room" and side-conversations in your battle is nice, but it is not required. Now, it's time to turn that boring log into an exciting warstory!
The Format of a Warstory
All warstories should begin with a catchy title. This is obvious, of course. You're trying to attract the most readers as possible with your warstory, aren't you? Making your warstory stand out even more is nice, too. Instead of calling your warstory "my warstory: me vs. opponent", why not call it, "BL Warstory: Ursaring Strikes Again!"
It's nice to begin a warstory with an Introduction, although this is not required. Giving your reader an insight into your thoughts before the battle can be as important as giving your thoughts during the battle. In your Introduction, you can explain your history against your opponent (refer to tip 6).
Make sure to include both your and your opponent's teams before the actual battle log. This helps the reader to understand what kind of battle he/she will be reading about. After this list of teams, begin your warstory! Separate the battle log and the commentary by bolding or italicizing the battle log, and placing a double space between the log and the commentary for easy reading.
After any Pokemon faints, it's best to summarize the score of the battle in bold, showing who's winning. At the end of your warstory, it's always helpful to include a "Props and Slops" or "Pros and Cons" section. This is to give your reader even more insight into the battle.
The 7 Tips on Making a Good Warstory
1. Be sure to include commentary! A warstory is not truly a story if it is a simple battle log. A battle log isn't fun to read, and most importantly, the reader gains no insight into the battle. Make sure to add a comment or two after important turns, giving your insight into the battle.
2. Don't just say what's on the log! Example of bad commentary: "He used Earthquake, and I switched to Gliscor." We can tell that simply by reading your log. Example of good commentary: "Anticipating an Earthquake, I switched to Gliscor. Now, I can set up Stealth Rock on the switch." The better your commentary is, the better your warstory will be. Having said that, don't write a few sentences of commentary after every turn. We didn't enter your topic to read an essay!
3. Make sure you and your opponent had a good level of prediction in your battle. In other words, make sure you and your opponent are good battlers! It sounds imposing, yes, but if you feel that you predicted well, chances are that you did. A battle where someone switches a Heatran into an obvious Earthquake is not interesting. But, if you predict the Earthquake and switch in your Gliscor to gain a free turn, you've gained an advantage. Prediction wins battles, and in this case, prediction makes for good warstories!
4. Try to add some humor. Yes, I know it's difficult, but you know as well as I that we are more likely to enjoy stories that make us laugh. Now, of course, don't go overboard here. Saying something like "he sent out his lol-worthy sea serpent and I sent out my Lapras which he was soon going to get SWEPT BY while screaming, "THIS IS SPARTA!"" is NOT funny.
5. Feel free to omit unnecessary portions of battles. If the "Pokemon has restored health using Leftovers" message is repetitive or non-essential in the battle, you can choose to not include it. Also, if you are in a stall war with Blissey vs. Milotic, etc., then you can easily summarize this by saying, "For the next 5 turns, we went back and forth with my Blissey Seismic Tossing and Softboiling and his Milotic Surfing and Recovering." If you feel that something makes your warstory less interesting, then remove it!
6. It's nice if you have some sort of backstory against your opponent. If you have a heated rivalry with him/her, this can draw more attention toward your story. If this opponent boasts about a winning record, then the reader can automatically assume that the battle will be interesting. If Joe Schmoe faces Mary Dairy and writes a warstory about it, chances are that it will not be interesting.
7. MAKE SURE YOU ARE WRITING A WARSTORY ABOUT AN INTERESTING BATTLE! This is the most important part of this topic, and the point that separates the good warstories from the great. The best commentary and the wittiest humor can be held back by a dull battle. If your Skarmbliss outstalls the opponent's Skarmbliss in 200 turns, it's not an interesting battle. If your Tauntrados manages to set up and sweeps the opponent 4-0, it's not an interesting battle. But, if your Dugtrio manages to pull off two consecutive Sucker Punches when all hope is lost, that is an interesting battle. If your Hypnosis misses when you are relying on it to win, that is an interesting battle. If you don't like your battle, then it's not interesting! Use your own discretion when deciding if a battle is interesting or not.
How do I get a battle log?
If you are using Shoddy Battle (which most of the warstory writers on this forum are), complete your warstory-worthy battle, and simply click the "Chat" tab, and select "Save Log". Open up your saved log with Wordpad, Word, or another word processing program, delete the dividing lines after each turn, and your battle log is complete! Editing out "Person has entered the room" and side-conversations in your battle is nice, but it is not required. Now, it's time to turn that boring log into an exciting warstory!
The Format of a Warstory
All warstories should begin with a catchy title. This is obvious, of course. You're trying to attract the most readers as possible with your warstory, aren't you? Making your warstory stand out even more is nice, too. Instead of calling your warstory "my warstory: me vs. opponent", why not call it, "BL Warstory: Ursaring Strikes Again!"
It's nice to begin a warstory with an Introduction, although this is not required. Giving your reader an insight into your thoughts before the battle can be as important as giving your thoughts during the battle. In your Introduction, you can explain your history against your opponent (refer to tip 6).
Make sure to include both your and your opponent's teams before the actual battle log. This helps the reader to understand what kind of battle he/she will be reading about. After this list of teams, begin your warstory! Separate the battle log and the commentary by bolding or italicizing the battle log, and placing a double space between the log and the commentary for easy reading.
After any Pokemon faints, it's best to summarize the score of the battle in bold, showing who's winning. At the end of your warstory, it's always helpful to include a "Props and Slops" or "Pros and Cons" section. This is to give your reader even more insight into the battle.
The 7 Tips on Making a Good Warstory
1. Be sure to include commentary! A warstory is not truly a story if it is a simple battle log. A battle log isn't fun to read, and most importantly, the reader gains no insight into the battle. Make sure to add a comment or two after important turns, giving your insight into the battle.
2. Don't just say what's on the log! Example of bad commentary: "He used Earthquake, and I switched to Gliscor." We can tell that simply by reading your log. Example of good commentary: "Anticipating an Earthquake, I switched to Gliscor. Now, I can set up Stealth Rock on the switch." The better your commentary is, the better your warstory will be. Having said that, don't write a few sentences of commentary after every turn. We didn't enter your topic to read an essay!
3. Make sure you and your opponent had a good level of prediction in your battle. In other words, make sure you and your opponent are good battlers! It sounds imposing, yes, but if you feel that you predicted well, chances are that you did. A battle where someone switches a Heatran into an obvious Earthquake is not interesting. But, if you predict the Earthquake and switch in your Gliscor to gain a free turn, you've gained an advantage. Prediction wins battles, and in this case, prediction makes for good warstories!
4. Try to add some humor. Yes, I know it's difficult, but you know as well as I that we are more likely to enjoy stories that make us laugh. Now, of course, don't go overboard here. Saying something like "he sent out his lol-worthy sea serpent and I sent out my Lapras which he was soon going to get SWEPT BY while screaming, "THIS IS SPARTA!"" is NOT funny.
5. Feel free to omit unnecessary portions of battles. If the "Pokemon has restored health using Leftovers" message is repetitive or non-essential in the battle, you can choose to not include it. Also, if you are in a stall war with Blissey vs. Milotic, etc., then you can easily summarize this by saying, "For the next 5 turns, we went back and forth with my Blissey Seismic Tossing and Softboiling and his Milotic Surfing and Recovering." If you feel that something makes your warstory less interesting, then remove it!
6. It's nice if you have some sort of backstory against your opponent. If you have a heated rivalry with him/her, this can draw more attention toward your story. If this opponent boasts about a winning record, then the reader can automatically assume that the battle will be interesting. If Joe Schmoe faces Mary Dairy and writes a warstory about it, chances are that it will not be interesting.
7. MAKE SURE YOU ARE WRITING A WARSTORY ABOUT AN INTERESTING BATTLE! This is the most important part of this topic, and the point that separates the good warstories from the great. The best commentary and the wittiest humor can be held back by a dull battle. If your Skarmbliss outstalls the opponent's Skarmbliss in 200 turns, it's not an interesting battle. If your Tauntrados manages to set up and sweeps the opponent 4-0, it's not an interesting battle. But, if your Dugtrio manages to pull off two consecutive Sucker Punches when all hope is lost, that is an interesting battle. If your Hypnosis misses when you are relying on it to win, that is an interesting battle. If you don't like your battle, then it's not interesting! Use your own discretion when deciding if a battle is interesting or not.