Man, why did i start the AAR in the first place?

I thought the same thing chap, and what you need to do is not belittle yourself. Make some new chapters present common events in new ways, and create a unique twist. Asspects like the ones I wrote though there are many more I can't even begin to list are what makes an AAR good.

FYI; I thought your AAR was nice.

It takes time to gain readers at first. There is loads of advice in the gazette and elsewhere about comments, readers and views. The basic point is write, write and write, try to keep at it no matter what, and read other works and comment on theirs. Many times they will repay the favor and probably get hooked on your story in the process. Don't give up, and listen to Xizo - do not belittle yourself. It's tough for people to read every story on these forums, what with five games. But if you keep at it, you will gain a readership.

I recommend you look in the SolAARium - handily indexed by stnylan - and in the Gazette. I penned a little article about winning an Oscar that contains a lot of handy tips for gaining an audience.

Here are a few:

1) Proofread for grammar, syntax and typos. Reread before you post - that will help you polish and smooth the work. No matter how well you write, this always helps.
2) Decide now how much you are willing to do to gain audience interest. Comedy is always popular. A serious attempt to write believable fiction about believable characters will draw a different (perhaps smaller but more intense) audience.
3) Read the work of other authors and post comments in their work. Believe me, this works every time. If you read and post in their work, guilt and curiosity will drive them to try yours. If they like it, you'll pick up permanent new readers.

This will work even better if you read and post in AARs outside the Victoria forum. And - who knows - you may find that some other author's techniques will work for you too. I certainly have learned a lot this way.

Seriously, giving attention and commentary is the OVERWHELMINGLY best way to get some in return.

For my first AAR, I had about 3 readers until my last 3 updates when nobody commented.

My first AAR was never read.

Go by number of views instead of replies, people might not be responding but they are looking at it.

Hi, Weychun:

I'm not sure how to answer you, because I'm not sure where you're coming from. I guess I'll answer directly and hope you don't take it the wrong way.

Your...AAR is healthy, bud.

You have a reasonable number of respondents. You had a reasonable number before you made this post. They're following your story. They seem pretty involved and interested in what's going on.

There are some people - newer writers - who'd love the kind of response you're getting. Your grammar and spelling is passable, your use of graphics is - if anything - a little high...certainly not too low. Your AAR has no major glaring weaknesses.

Most AARs will pick up a following of....help me out, guys: Four, maybe five people who really care what happens and will follow you post by post? And sometimes they'll take an update off because they were busy reading other stuff, or busy dealing with real life issues. Keep writing anyway, remind them you're not dead. They'll come back consistently if they care about you.

Some people do better. They may be a long-term member who's had more time to build up friendships and readers. Or their AAR may touch their readers in one way or the other. So be it. Learn what they're doing, and if you can make it work for you - great. If you can't... oh well. Trying to impose someone else's writing style on yourself is almost always a mistake.

From your writing you seem a little nervous. There's no reason to be. 95% or so of the people here are really friendly and very supportive. And if they don't like your stuff, they'll probably not reply. That's okay! Different people have different tastes. There's a quote I always keep in mind when writing: If you try to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one. Said another way: Write what you like to see and what works for you. Your friends and those who like what you have to say will go with it. It's the five or six people who'll follow your AAR through hell and out the other side you care about, not the thirty or so who glance through it, and decide they like another style. It isn't a crack against you, it isn't a crack against them - different tastes, that's all it means.

That said, the one piece of advice I'd really come out of this is: Read other AARs! RESPOND to other AARs. Let everyone know you exist, and they'll come over to find out what you have to offer. Also, it's a great way to make friends and have fun...and that hope of making friends is a valid one to keep writing, regardless of the response.

CatKnight summed up most of what I had to say, So I will just add a few words that I take to heart.

Keep showing up. The longer you work on your aar and keep it consitantly updated the more people will go "you know this is allways on page one It must be interesting let me take a look"

Reading and replying in other AAR's is a great way to spread your message, never underestimate the power of comeraderie (sp ).

My 1st AAr seemed to be nothing but my own posts for a long while. If I can do it anybody can. Keep in there, Vicky is perhaps the "most active" AAR board and you'll pick up numbers as the days go by.

I consider a 10:1 Views to posts to be a rather successful AAr. Once you compare your updates to views you'll soon see that many people are indeed reading it.

Ditto on all of the above.

Another key, write on the forum to increase you skill at the art and for you own enjoyment. Feedback is great but shouldn't be what you hunger for.

Hi Weychun,

sometimes it's not only the comments that count cause sometimes people will read the aar but not necessary comment. Me for example is one who usually lurks and read as much as i can in my spare time but I don't usually comment.

Looking at your viewership, that's slightly over 10 views per post so I guess there are people following.

BTW, it's been a while since I read a Vicky AAR but since I always got a soft spot for China hence my 2 China AARs, I will probably read yours later and I will try to get a comment in.

In the meantime, as the the Chinese say, "REN" or endure, don't give up and I am sure things will improve.

Well, my first AAR had like what... one comment per update.

Now I am up in three...

Speaking of his it *was* about Sweden after all. It's like why German and American aar's seem to also do well.

Not knocking on Josh because his aar is perhaps Oscaar worthy when it is completed.

Zucker, sometime show me links to your "non-funny" aar's I want to take a look at them before I give you my suggestion to up your views.

For grammar write in word since it has an auotmatic spell check. And im proud to say yours is the first reccomended Vicky aar in the central baar.

Dont worry mate, we are reading.

But I dont want to respond to an AAR I haven't had time to read all of. Im currently in a bit of a pickle with two of my own AAR's, college, lots of AAR's I am reading, Eutopia, and working on a Gazette article.

That being said, I do remember your AAR, one because it was on China, two because it was loaded with historical info (including if I remember correctly, a revolt you scripted?) And, as has been stated, you have a fair number of replies. If you look at some AAR's (example, my Serbia AAR) the number of responses for the first dozen or so updates were the same people and not too many. What you need is to realize that people read, but they can't read it all. So, you have to give us time to catch up if we didn't start with you.

My AARs are quite different from the norm. My first HoI AAR was as Germany in the form of a novel (story). Unfortuantely, after about 100k words I thought I should be making this into a novel and publishing it. That is why I stopped. But I got a lot of interest from people who began to like the main character Otto a German who was part of the German army but did not like what was going on.

My 2nd AAR which is still going, is the original cartoonie AAR. This attracted alot of interest as it is quite novel (maybe unique). Needs alot of webspace however, or you need to keep it short.

To me, if you are not at the beginning of the realease of the game, then writng about a country is not going to attract posters, unless your strategy is revealing of some aspect of the game that is not obvious or hasnt been commented on before. Even that is no guarentee.

The best thing you can do, and most likely the hardest is attempt to conjure up some format complete new. I remeber Zanza make animated screenies that were awesome for AARs!

Dont give up, experiment and write your AARs one update at a time. If you hit on a winning forumla then continue. Otherwise, stop, evaluate amd try something different.

I must here state that posts still are (for me, at least) a blessing from heaven telling me that what I write is interesting. You don't know how much one post can motivate a writer. Thus, as a message to all readers, ESPECIALLY the unregistered ones , POST!!!! The more is posted, the more updates will come and the more speed they will come up in! There is nothing more inspiring than a post from a reader (devoted or not!) [Except maybe a post from an Administrator/Moderator, which would really be something to die for!!! ].

So in plain clear English; THE THING TO DO IS POST! IF YOU READ SOMETHING POST! It will raise the amount of posts you have posted, and keep your AARs up and running!

That is all I have to say on that matter. Back to the main line of conversation!

Th :rofl: