WritAAR of the Week: Idhrendur

[Duke of Wellington]

Congratulations aldriq. I've just been over to look at the AAR and it looks good.

[coz1]

Congratulations!

[Hardraade]

Congratulations, aldriq!

[TheHyphenated1]

Many congratulations, aldriq!

[The Yogi]

Congrats aldriq, well done!

[aldriq]

Thanks everyone again!

Time to pass the award. The new WritAAR of the Week goes to Brandenburg III for his American Independence AAR My Country, My Love.

Congratulations Brandenburg III!

[demokratickid]

A hearty congrats to one of my personal favourites! Many congrats, Brandenburg III !

[comagoosie]

Congratulations, Brandenburg III. Are you the third generation to visit these forums

[Hardraade]

Congratulations, Brandenburg III!

[coz1]

Congratulations!

[Enewald]

gratz!

[robou]

Congratulations!

[canonized]

Many congratulations brandenburg III !

[asd21593]

Congrats, Brandenburg III!

[Snugglie]

Congratulations!

[Lord E]

Congratulations Brandenburg III

[Brandenburg III]

Brandenburg III: On Receiving the Award

When I noticed this and saw the last few pages of winners I started thinking about the “Winning” of the Writer of the Week. As I thought on it I couldn’t help but think that there should be more to it than just saying “thanks” one day and “here is your new WoW” the next. Over the course of the last few days I skimmed the first 50 pages of the WoW thread and uncovered things. Things I’d like to see brought back to the WoW thread, even if its only for one week out of the next fifty-two.

It seems the winner is supposed to say a little about him/herself. Between november’s win in September (go figure) and around page 40 the introductions were strong until they died out around page 50. I didn’t go beyond that mark so there may have been a resuscitation somewhere and I hope there was because 3 years is quite a drought! Therefore I’ll try to bring this back and it isn’t only because I’m my favorite subject.

Brandenburg III: On Thanks

First, thanks are in order... I’d like to thank aldriq for passing the torch, spl’s mod, everyone whose congratulated me/everyone who will congratulate me, the academy who keeps their bribe cost low so everyone has a shot and, of course, my parents for without them I wouldn’t be possible.

Brandenburg III: Writing Life and Other Oddities

Life started out weird after I was delivered by Doctor Jolly. That’s true, Doctor Jolly. My life was over... five years later she killed herself, which is also true. Personally I think she committed suicide for the ironic moment. The temptation must’ve been unbearable.

As far as my coup de théâtre for writing goes, it happened in the sixth grade. Every other year the teachers would alternate a play at the end of the year between Egypt and Robin Hood. My class ended up with the Robin Hood story and from that, I fell into King Arthur quickly followed by Tolkien and other fantasy writers.

Right away at the young age of twelve I was attempting to write full length novels. I always ended up with long stories that I never finished until I was seventeen. It was horrible. A year later I wrote a follow up story of about 80,000 words within thirty days. Around this time I befriended a professor at BGSU and we got along well enough that he volunteered to read what I had written. I don’t know when he fit in the time but we managed to talk about it every other week along with a few other things.

College was where I developed my craft and the idea of writing. When I look back on my pre-college stuff (and what I wrote yesterday) I cringe. I remember another English professor told our class to write a paper. I wasn’t there on the day he gave it to us so I was misinformed about the project from a classmate. Upon a return of the paper the following class he told me what the assignment was supposed to be and gave me a place where he knew someone so I could get that paper published. I don’t remember the place because I didn’t send it but that’s youth.

After college, which I cut short because I was bored and tired of pulling double shifts, I wrote a short Sci-Fi piece that never saw the light of day. I also never wrote fantasy or sci-fi again. But I followed the sci-fi story with a mainstream novel I revised eight times over five years. Eventually, while living in South Korea I threw it and the computer out because I realized I was going to keep revising it forever. Sometimes you have to know when to quit and it took me that long for the realization to hit.

I followed up while in Nashville with another failed story but it was doomed to fail. Song writing took priority. I did well enough until something happened and I had to move back to Ohio where I pounded out another book and am now writing about 1500 words a day, not counting AARs.

Brandenburg III: A Little About the Man

Well, I’m into a lot of things but music is my first love. I play the guitar, a little piano, the mouth harp and Texas Hold’em. I’m a traveler: I’ve lived in South Korea, Ohio and Nashville; I’ve been to Japan, S. Korea (obviously), Canada, Mexico, the Philippines (ah, the Philippines) and 28 American states.

I’m still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Contemplating between a return to college and continuing the life I’ve been living is a big decision. With that said, I like having fun too much so I’m hoping to be back in Nashville by early 2010 -

- You! Where are you going? Sit down! Now -

In High School I played football and I would’ve played baseball too if I liked baseballs hitting me when I crowded the plate. You’d think I’d remember that little fact when I attempted sparring in Korea; I rediscovered I didn’t like being hit.

Right now I’m drinking flat soda because I’m too lazy to walk to the other end of my apartment to make it sudsy again. The thought has crossed my mind to “just blow in it” to create the bubbles but something’s telling me that won’t work.

Brandenburg III: How the Forums Were Found, the AAR Process and Writing

My first Paradox game was Europa Universalis... the first one. I discovered it after an Australian buddy I had in a political PbeM had mentioned it. The talk of Napoleon, conquering lands, taking control of a nation, it sounded better than Civilization. I picked it up when I saw it. It was decent enough but soon Europa Universalis II was on the shelves. HOI (the first one) became friends with EUII and for a while I forgot about them.

I hadn’t discovered the site yet so I was working with unpatched versions for the games. Between the crashes and not knowing how to curtail inflation, I was done. Noticing EU III while searching for other games in later years, I decided it was time to look at the series again. After I picked up the game I tried, and failed to have fun. It wasn’t until I was searching for strategies that I came upon this forum. I silently looked at a few AARs whose names I can no longer remember.

Eventually I decided to register to see what that would do. I chose Brandenburg III because it was the nation I was playing at the time. The III is because I was sure someone else had the “Brandenburg” name, but lacked the III. I didn’t want to go through a series of names only to be told they had already been taken.

What prompted me to write my first AAR was Amric’s Anhalt and Storey’s Three Countries. I don’t think one or the other did it; their combined powers worked together (like Captain Planet) to spur me on to plan /play Bosnia, a piece that would never see the light of day. But the story would be altered slightly for a narrative Algiers AAR a while later. Right now it’s listed as abandoned but I’m thinking about going back to it just after 2010... or 2020, I’m not sure which.

Yaroslavl, Yourself was my attempt to start, and end my first AAR. Its strictly a gameplay piece and the writing ought to be ignored.

Japan Rulez!!! followed when I discovered paint. It was a bad, bad road to go down because now I’m doing the same thing in my Algiers work.

The United States AAR was something I was planning to never do until one day I took in too much caffeine and wrote the first thousand words. The book was a last minute thing.

Future projects: I’m releasing my last EU3 AAR for a while called “The Sons of Erin or My Attempt To Not Die: An MMP AAR” to be released on April 1. And later, maybe in August or September (whenever the Algiers/Ireland AARs are through) I’ll be introducing my second CK AAR which will take place in space.

My AARs are rough drafts with a quick once over for punctuation checks. I put more effort into my private stuff but that’s only because there’s the (minute) prospect of getting something in return. Comments are nice but the carry out down the street stopped accepting them in ‘06. No more free milk and eggs.

I do a lot of my writing late at night when insomnia attacks or when I don’t feel like sleeping. I hate sleeping. If it weren’t for the insomnia (or demokratickid for encouragement in the Algiers narrative or Lord Durham for keeping my Yaroslavl and Japan threads clean) you probably wouldn’t have any Brandenburg III AARs beyond Japan. If that’s a bad thing, you can blame someone else... if it’s a good thing, my pm box and AAR threads are always open. However, once I get back into the city (2010) my activity ought to waver. Living out in the middle of nowhere sure gives you a lot of Internet time.

Brandenburg III: Is It Over Yet?

While writing I came up with three ending sentences. I want to use them all but I couldn’t find a place to put them in this writing, the rival to War & Peace - in length only. Choose which one you like best and we’ll both call it, “The End.”

1. Lastly, in your games, please be kind to Brandenburg. It didn’t do anything to you (yet.)

2. Sorry its so long but what can I say? I’m a writer.

3. If you’ve read this long then you need a psychiatrist. The good news is if you’re free on Thursdays between 1 - 2 pm we can split the cost!

[Duke of Wellington]

Well a good initiative Brandenburg. Seeing the old biographical/egotistical post by the authAAR revived . Rather an interesting read and I'm not surprised to see another aspiring writer on the forums. Many begin or improve their craft here it would seem. Turning out 80K words in a month sounds rather impressive. Turning soda bubbly by blowing in it sounds like a cause doomed to miserable failure.

[demokratickid]

Ah! It's great to have the bio posts back, and thanks for the goodly mention!

[aldriq]

I will never be a writer but I can definitely spot one

It's good to have a glimpse of the person behind the posts. I can only imagine how long you could talk about yourself uninterrupted with the help of a bottle of whisky