Congratulations you have graduated from Starfleet Academy! Now what?
Posted on Fri Dec 18th, 2020 @ 3:28am by Captain Aurther Winters
Hey Everybody!
Whether you are new to the ship, new to simming or an experience simmer, I want to say welcome aboard, glad to have you and I hope we can all have some fun together.
I have seen that a few of you have been logging in, but still have not written anything, and I would like to help if I can but offering some tips and tricks, and just general thoughts that may help you out.
Personal Logs:
This are just a standard log that usually is written in the first person. One usually uses these to help flush out their characters but writing about themselves, their experiences, or maybe their past. They can start off by giving the Stardate if you want, or just jump right into it.
(EXAMPLE)
"Captain Winters personal log, Stardate 60957.9. While having the retrofit to the Chuck Norris underway at Starbase 10, I have decided to check in with my brother on Starbase K-7. It's been a few years since we have seen each other physically, but we keep in a touch at least once a week. He's told me about these new Warp Cores they are working on, and I heard they might be installing one on the Norris soon."
With this log, you can now determine that Winters has a brother who works in engineering on a different Starbase, and even though they are apart, they keep in touch. It also lets readers know that the ship is in drydock for refits and repairs as well as perhaps a new warp core. These kind of elements could be hints to a future mission, or clues and elements that you could write and use in your own posts.
These are good ways to help try and get out points or information that you think other people would like to know, or just you own musings.
Although there are no rules to how short or long these are, it's best practice to have them be at least a paragraph long.
MISSION POSTS:
Where the fun happens. The best way to look at it, is that you a writing a chapter to a novel or part of a script to a TV show. With this Sim, as well as others, the Captain (I.E. Me) will plan out a mission which will start with a Genesis post. This post will serve as the launching point the mission, with the perimeters and goals that want to be achieved. In the case of "Not Where I Belong", the overall mission goal, is the capture the pirate known as Axelrod. Now, does this mean that the Captain has set out a exact way the mission will be played out? Short answer is no. There maybe an overall mission goal, but the fun is getting there. You are free to take the mission however you see fit, as long as your keep it within the perimeters or reason. What that means, if say we the crew is chasing down another ship, Q won't suddenly appear and solve our problems. Or one's own character won't decided to steal a shuttlecraft and run off for no reason. I would assume that if you have joined a Star Trek sim, you are fan of the shows, books, games or comics, so one would assume you know what I'm talking about.
Don't be afraid to take some risks if you want. The worse case scenario if there is any sort of problem, it can be edited later, or someone might be able to write a solution that has come up.
Which leads to looking for set ups and leads. An example of this, is the Captain or someone might tell your character to look into something, or preform and action. You can take that and run with it, branching off with either a quick side venture, or maybe something could be used later. Never underestimate what you bring. The more ideas out there, the more material there is to work with, and of course, have fun while doing it.
Some just quick things to touch on as well:
Time is meaningless: In each post there is a spot that asks what the is the timeline. Most of the time as you write consecutive posts, it just stays at "Current". However, if you wanted to add something to a situation or time, don't be afraid to write something that happened in the past. Things don't have to move rigidly linear. This would also work in between missions, if you wanted to give more back story to your character. Something may have happened in their childhood, Academy days, assignments before where they are, that may have shaped who they are or why they act a certain way. A nice flushed out character is easier to write for, then one that is full of secrets and mystery.
You don't always have to write a post with your character in it:
This is something a lot of people don't think about. You could always write something that may be important, or not, to the story but has nothing to do with the "main" characters. Here is an example from this sim.
https://chucknorris.idfleet.com/index.php/sim/viewpost/128
For some context, this mission had two Ferengi Freighters that showed up with the entire crew dead. This was both a post that went back in time to explain how that happened, as well as did not contain any of the "main" characters. This post added elements that other people were able to incorporate later.
Post by yourself, or with others:
If you feel like you can write something by yourself, go for it. If you want to add other people in, because you want their input because their characters are in it, then do that you can do that too. Never be afraid to ask for help.
I myself have let it be known that you can add me in to a post you're writing so I can offer assistance. I can help read it over, suggest ideas, or just say "hey, looks great". This goes with most of the command staff and our doctor as well.
FORMAT:
So this is one of the newer hurdles for people new to simming, and that is what is the best format. Luckily there are a few articles on the IDF website that can help, but these are the few I use, which I think works well.
OFF or O.O.C. : This might come at the beginning, or the end of your writing. Usually contains something the author wants to say to the rest of the players out of character. This might be a note, an idea, or just general chat. Someone might also use it in the middle of their post to clarify or convey a message if they want.
ON: This denotes when the post actually starts
(Location) or {Location} : Set's the scene and helps the reader know where it is taking place. (U.S.S. Chuck Norris - Bridge) or {Earth - Starfleet Academy}
Quotes, obviously are when people are talking, but used in the right context, could also be someone thinking in their head:
"Yes sir, I will get right on it!"
"Funny" Winters thought to himself, "They never sounded that excited when I gave an order."
The is a personal preference of mine, and that is when people are communicating with someone over a comm line, using the =/\= symbol, as to denote the communicator on ones uniform.
=/\= This is Captain Winters, I read you Commander G'ginloss =/\=
Again, personal preference on that one.
There may be a time you want to lift part of someone else's post to help put yours in context. With that, we use the good old,
"Yes sir, I will get right on it!"
"Funny" Winters thought to himself, "They never sounded that excited when I gave an order."
Finally, grammar and spelling. I know this is a challenge to some more than others as they tend to write on their phones and not on a computer. However do you best to make sure you your spelling, especially when you are trying to reverence things that are specific to Trek. If you misspell something, it maybe harder to understand point you are making. Same with grammar, but again, these are all learning curves as we have not all written in this form before.
Lastly, from my experience, I like to put down who wrote the post, as for myself:
Captain Aurther Winters
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Chuck Norris
And then as an example to put them all together...
OFF: If you have read this far, thanks, it's going to make me feel like it was worth my time writing this all out.
ON: (U.S.S. Chuck Norris - Bridge)
Captain Winters, the commander of the U.S.S. Chuck Norris spun dramatically in his chair to face the helm. "Lt. G'odoss..." he called out, "Set course bearing 023, mark 223, full impulse."
"Aye sir, course laid in."
"Kick it." Aurther commanded as he leaned back in his chair. "I hope that catchphrase catches on." he though to himself.
=/\= Commander G'ginloss to Captain Winters =/\= The voice rang out.
"Winters here, go ahead Commander."
=/\= Oh nothing too much going on, just a routine communication check. =/\=
"Copy that Commander, reading you loud and clear." Winters closed the comm line. "Well that was a little exciting."
OFF: There we go eh?
Captain Aurther Winters
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Chuck Norris
I hope this can give you a quick insight to how to get started around here. If you have any other questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me via Discord or directly through here via our PM's.
Thanks!
Justin/Winters
Category: General News
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