An aspiring AAR writer?

[PirateCaptainDom]

Hello! I am a frequent reader of AAR's, with every major DLC for EU4, and extended timeline! I was very interested in doing an AAR, even maybe something representing a succession game with AAC's written for each king, switching save files for every king's death...Or even an interactive AAR with a small amount of people! So, anyone have any suggestions for time period, country, types of AAR, or if you even wanna just help me out? You can respond on the forum, you can get me on Skype (dasupadupa or fredrichthegreat, I respond to both much faster than the forums. ^.^)
Thanks for reading!

-Dom

 

[Enewald]

Hi, as you may notice the AARland general forum is quite empty most of time, as most people just browse the specific subforums where the AARs actually lie. Furthermore there seems to be a shift from written AARs to people just deciding to upload their videos to some site, which means somewhat declining numbers of AARland activity.

Gathering enough people for a succession game might be hard these days. As for interactive AAR, consult the moderators first and get their permission before you launch one.

However if you don't yet know what you want to do, maybe you should just read a bit more of Eu4 AARland if that is where your interests lie; check their AARs and see what kind of content is popular currently. More important however is what you yourself are interested, no point in writing a historybook AAR if you cannot be bothered to such depths, or no point in trying to manage an interactive AAR (they can be quite demanding to supervise) if you don't have the time nor energy.
My suggestion being, read and find out what kind of content interests you most and what might be the right format for you.

I myself haven't written any AARs, but I have commented on quite many.

 

[volksmarschall]

I guess the age-old truism holds true for you. In the end, interactive or not, it's your AAR. You should do what pleases you. It's never bad to sit and think about it. Never rush an AAR, otherwise they always end in failure.

I bid you luck. I hope your first AAR will be successful and memorable, as all first AARs should be.

I myself haven't written any AARs, but I have commented on quite many.

Ain't that the truth, the great and ominpresent Enewald, bound to drop a comment in almost every AAR at least once!

 

[Jestor]

I'll further add to volkmarschall's advice by saying if you write for what you think the audience wants, it will fail. The best AARs are the ones where the author is invested in it - do that, and the audience will come. Don't feel like you *have* to finish an AAR, either. Nothing wrong with abandoning them (I've had a ton in my day, certainly). It's just really about getting in the habit of writing, honing your craft, etc.

 

[Mr. Capiatlist]

There are rules to being a writer, writers must:
1) Write
2) Loathe everything the write
3) Keep writing anyway

I can assure you this comes from personal experience.

Also, we don't allow new writers to do interactive AARs due to the complexity and the extra moderation they require.

 

[RyuKazuha]

To start writing an AAR, there's little more required then an interesting premise. Meaning a premise wich promises to keep you interested in writing.

And then write. Write and don't look back. If you're done, give it a quick spellcheck and put it out. You'll probably never think something to be quite right, Mr. Capiatist is right in this regard, so fire and forget, you'll feel better about it.

If you're passionate about what you do it'll show and everything else is just practice.

 

[Yenzen]

To start writing an AAR, there's little more required then an interesting premise. Meaning a premise wich promises to keep you interested in writing.

And then write. Write and don't look back. If you're done, give it a quick spellcheck and put it out. You'll probably never think something to be quite right, Mr. Capiatist is right in this regard, so fire and forget, you'll feel better about it.

If you're passionate about what you do it'll show and everything else is just practice.

Yeah, I'm always sitting with the chapter thinking "is there more I could/should add? Is this good enough? Isn't it all kind of stupid?"

As a completely newbie, and this is somewhat based on personal preference so it may not apply: If you have not written tales of fiction before and feel a bit uncertain about it, writing a gameplay/narrative AAR might take the edge off, since you let the game do most of the storytelling and you take the position of the relayer of the events.