anonymous4401 said:
Yeah, there's a lot that was before my time... A lot of times I wish that I could get in a time machine and join AARland in 2001 so that I could have been witness to these...
This is a sentiment I share. In 2001, when AARland opened its doors, I was yet to celebrate my third birthday - which I do still vaguely remember, largely as being a blur of screaming toddlers running around our living room, set on a backdrop of a heady mix of garish, post-millennium coloured wallpaper and furniture. Meanwhile, people were writing prot-AARs about games of EU1 they had played. I wasn't to hear of EU1, or AARs, for that matter, for another ten years.
As the opening quote says, there are plenty of times when I would readily make a ten year leap back to AARland's inception. I would have loved to have witnessed fabled tales such as Lord Durham et al's
The Free Company - first started back in 2001, fifty days after my third birthday - as well as
Who Killed Charles Cromwell? by Ariel &c., which I have been meaning to read for a while. Both of these were written about EU1. Both were written before I had even started school (in the case of the latter, I was yet to turn three.) Yet here I am, twelve years later, reading them.
Why? Well, I guess I've always had a sense of history - especially in literary terms. I read Emily Brontë's
Wuthering Heights nearly three years ago, and got through
Jane Eyre soon after. There are, of course, other reasons, but I'll get to those later.
Perhaps more importantly: how? These works haven't seen the light of day for around a decade. Surely one doesn't just stumble upon them whilst wending one's way through the forums? Well, yes and no. Those of you who have read the title of this article will know what I'm getting to already. It is, in fact, very easy to stumble across older pieces like these - just go to
the fAARq.
"I beg your pardon, sir," you say, "I don't this this is quite the place for any fAARqing. Aren't you only fourteen? You shouldn't be saying things like that!"
Admittedly, it is a somewhat risqué name, something that has been brought up many a time before - though perfectly suited, I feel, to the nature of these forums. Not that I'm implying that the boards are akin to a brothel or 'adult store.' No - instead that there are plenty of witty and entertaining characters here, who produce witty and entertaining material for us to read. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it - Jesus in purgatory and all, but it would seem that this clever and entertaining title does sum our board up rather nicely.
In any case, I digress. Venturing into the fAARq, one can find a multitude of things. We have the actual FAQs - which themselves are invaluable resources for the new writer. And, to be fair, the older writer as well, presenting not just general questions and answers, but things specific to the craft of AAR writing. This isn't an FAQs page that will tell you in an all too patronising manner that you need to restart the machine to get it working - no, this isn't that (if at all) superficial. Instead, what we have is a sort of gallery that highlights the best of AARland, almost frozen in time for all to see.
By way of example, of we look at some of these 'FAQs' we see things like 'What is AARland?' Of course, that question could be considered philosophical, yet the answers provided by coz1 do go a long way to conveying the feel and spirit of our community - something for which I would like to commend him. Of course, there are questions and answers that serve to inform in a more directly helpful manner - whether it is appropriate to post certain things, for example, or where the rules are located, but this is a thread that goes above and beyond.
To properly summarise what I feel using the fAARq and its related threads, I'll offer an analogy. On the first of May, I went to the
David Bowie Is... exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I have been a Bowie fan for about six years, so I'm pretty well versed (if you'll pardon the pun) in his material and surrounding folklore. When I went to this exhibition, therefore, and saw all of these objects and items that I had previously seen only in pictures or TV footage, I was overawed.
I think that is almost the same as revisiting vintage AARland - though perhaps not the point of being overawed. We have all heard of these seminal works and initiatives - as well as their authors and creators, people whom we often also regard as 'icons' within our community. To actually go and read all of this work, and see these initiatives - reading discussions in the SolAARium, for example (inserting AAR into words wherever possible has always been the fashion, it would seem) - is almost akin to going to the exhibition and seeing all of the items there in front of you. Indeed, having heard of these pieces - and having understood them to be so revered, if you like - one does get a certain feeling from reading things of a certain vintage.
Though, of course, one can get the same feeling from reading a more contemporary well-crafted AAR. As with all things, no more is age synonymous with superiority than youth with inferiority - that is to say, not at all. But these pieces, the names of which have survived in AARland folklore, have so survived for a reason. There are always going to be hidden gems -
c'est la vie - yet things tend to survive in the memory because of either the quality, or because they are seminal works in a genre, with seminal often also hinting at quality. People don't tend to copy things that are distinctly sub-par. To use another Bowie analogy, people don't remember
David Bowie, but they do remember
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Imagine if the first narrative AAR (Lord Durham's
The Seven Years War, incidentally,) had been a complete failure: would I be writing my own narratives?
Perhaps. Perhaps I would be some upstart trailblazer who eschews tradition and actually writes a story, though likely not. I had seen during my tentative first few visits to AARland that one could indeed post narratives. I was working on
In the Footsteps... anyway, though I doubt I would have had the courage to post it had I not seen it to be accepted.
This brings me nicely onto my next point. The fAARq and its linked threads are wonderful sources of knowledge. While reading any AAR can impart vital pieces of knowledge unto another writer - seeing techniques applied can often be better than reading about them - here we find a repository containing many a thread discussing the finer points of writing in an abstract context. We have topics ranging from whether screenshots and pictures are appropriate in a narrative, to debates as to the optimal amount of time to spend writing a single update. Each article or thread contains so many opinions and ideas that it is often impossible to come away feeling anything but inspired.
I enjoy reading and exploring these threads as I enjoy the process of being a writer. Though I feel I'm turning somewhat philosophical here, the state of being a writer is not something one can do passively. Of course, one cannot be a writer passively in that you don't write, but instead in that you aren't thinking as a writer away from actually working. I am always looking for ways in which to improve my work and to hone my craft, as, I feel, any self-respecting writer should. It is nigh-on impossible not to improve your writing ability having read even some of the threads linked. If you read older AARs that have survived in the memory for so long, you are similarly bound to stumble upon a new technique or word, or another way in which you can improve your own work.
We also have links to initiatives like the SolAARium - a wonderful place filled with writing-related discussion and debate that really is a joy to visit. Everyone will have an idea of some of the 'icons' of this forum - here is the place in which one can see them debating topics. If you were to read a good AAR, you would come away with plenty - as I have mentioned. Now imagine the authors of loads of really well crafted works discussing the finer points of our craft. Need I really say much to convince you further? If you come away from this article and do anything, go to the fAARq and find an article that interests you. If you're anything like me, you will spend the next twenty minutes reading more of the thread. Then try writing and see what happens.
Similarly styled is the newly-resurrected
"Guess-the-Author" - a place full of unflinchingly honest critique. Reading the pieces, then read what people say. If anything, the initiative is an invaluable resource in that it can provide a unique insight into readers' reactions to elements of writing. If you see something in a piece and look to implement it in your own work, have a look at some of the critique. The chances are you'll be able to use the comments to greater utilise new things in your work.
And the story continues (no pun intended) across the thread. If you look at the other linked projects and initiates, inspiration is inevitable.
The AARland Gazette;
The AARland Advocate - precursors to this very publication; the
Anthology of Treasures - featuring many a classic piece of work. Each offers a unique means of inspiration. Go out and read them.
Or, to put it in a more risqué manner - fAARq off!