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Young Writers Society


Storybooks



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Thu May 30, 2013 6:16 am
Animal says...



Most of the SB around here are dead or not in the same flow as they were.

Are they boring?

I see that people leave SB when they suffer from Writer's Block and some do the opposite.

But to make a SB that you might be active in, we need ideas.

So SBers, I ask you that what should be in the PERFECT SB?
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Thu May 30, 2013 7:23 am
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Omni says...



Perfect is impossible. On anything man-made, because we're flawed. So let's just push that thought out of the way first.

Storybooks are like Fads, in the sense that the ideas are interesting for a little while, but they fade for a little bit, only to come back again sometime later.

So, let's look at the things that could potentially keep a SB for afloat for a long time. This is debated has been debated fiercely for the past week or so, but here's something that most everyone can agree on: More communication. This can only be achieved by the people participating in it.

The people: This is debatable, but in order to make a Storybook you feel would flow better, get people you know that are active and are good to join.

Last but not least, the idea: This should be simple, but easy for you and others to plot and toy with, shaping it into a deeply involved story that will allow every person to be specially involved.

The intro post is something that should be just right. Not too messy, not too hard to find the important stuff, and make it where it is easy to understand.

The idea itself? Make it somewhat mainstream to what people like right now, but make it different in some sort of way and unique. So, get a list on what Storybookers like right now and try to make a plot on it. If you want, I can help.

Or you can have a club, like the Ink Puppeteers did, that makes a story.

Here's the things I'm into right now:

Zombies, magic, futuristic, alternate dimension, and complicated storylines.

What I'm not into: High school drama, casual stuff, vacation, etc.


Hope this helped you out.
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Thu May 30, 2013 12:39 pm
Animal says...



Vampire Academy?
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Thu May 30, 2013 12:41 pm
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Caesar says...



This has been discussed numerous times, and is really a superfluous question.

Ultimately, it falls to how invested the people (and above all the creator) is. That is the core point. Everything else is arguably fluff.




Nice fluff though, Omnibus.
vulgus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur







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Thu May 30, 2013 1:57 pm
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StellaThomas says...



I've only ever been in one SB that's finished in all my time on YWS.

I think the key to having a finished SB is a bit like finishing any story. It's all in the planning. You need to keep people excited and to do that you need to be moving with alacrity from one exciting plot point to another. And all the writers need to be of an equal strength. This doesn't mean that they all have to be amazing, just that if one person feels they're better than the others then they're not going to enjoy it as much. SBing is all about teamwork towards the end of the story, and a team is only as strong as its weakest player.

But is that to say that we should have a hierarchy in SBs where you climb up the levels as you get better? No. Not at all. Because the key to people getting better is by SBing with those better than them. It's an osmotic learning curve, you don't even realise it's happening. But it is. And that is crucial to the development of individual SBers and to the ecosystem as a whole.

I think the best Storybooks are ones with eight or less characters. I don't like these ones where you have like fifteen players and each player has three characters, I lose track too easily and I lose interest in any characters who aren't directly interacting with my own, and I end up having a million-and-one posts to catch up on and only skimming a lot of them. And I find that these generally don't last either. SBs also need a defined plot. Just setting up a beginning and then having no direction which will take the characters all together won't work. It's gotta flow right and your players have to know where they're going. Again, planning=key.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010





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Thu May 30, 2013 2:26 pm
Caesar says...



^^^so much agree.
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Thu May 30, 2013 3:36 pm
Animal says...



I agree with all of you but what is the SB that will interest people. What is the SB which we will join?
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Thu May 30, 2013 4:32 pm
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Audy says...



I don't think it's the idea that matters, I think it's how invested in the story the participants are.

A good idea can only get you so far, even if you manage to pluck out this new, amazing, exciting idea - that alone can only get you as far as initial interest, which I don't really think is lacking/the current problem.

A lot of people in their surveys and in these debates have been highlighting communication as an essential "ingredient" let's say, for long-term storybook survival. I'm going to expand on that idea.

It's not just communication itself -- it's how well, and how integrated communication is utilized. It's having a story where *each* individual feels as if he/her has an important part and is working together as a team towards an exciting goal. This is why we don't like SBs with 15+ people in it and as Stella says, we end up skipping/not interested in the posts that don't matter/aren't contributing, because we just don't feel as though it's going anywhere, or our part matters.

An individual who is invested will feel as if his/her time in typing up these posts is directly contributing to the story and achieving something. It's not just about moving the plot, but characters need to be able to grow as well. Everybody needs to be involved in plotting, not just the main story plot, but their own character's growth and development, and in dishing out ideas, and their characters need to be interacting with the story and with each other.

That's the feeling you want to evoke for each of your participants, and too often, it falls into the hands of one or a few select people/same group of people, and this is why the others, and eventually everyone else, falls out.

All of this, by the way, has been said in much greater depth here.





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Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:10 am
AlmondEyes says...



That the people who run the SBs not abuse their power and not let people join for stupid reasons.
"What is dead my never die, but rises again, larger and stronger..."

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Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.
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