Little lost frog (frogbeastegg)
It is mid morning on a fine spring day, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and all those other cliché spring things are happening in abundant quantities. A young woman (girl? I can never tell) of about 21 is walking down a simple road that is little more than a mud track. At first glance she appears nothing particularly special; tall and slender, darkish blonde hair that shines gold as the light hits it, pale white skin, pretty enough if you like medieval but nothing jaw dropping. She is wearing plain but neat medieval clothing consisting of a simple white linen tunic, a pale purple kirtle, and a simple blue cloak that is flung back over her shoulders in this warm sun. All in all she is not a particularly interesting figure, and so probably not the heroine of any half way decent story.
However a second glance reveals more intriguing details, firstly that she is carrying a bundle of scrolls tucked under her left arm. Secondly that she has a medieval style sword belted about her waist in place of the more usual girdle. Thirdly that on the upper right of her kirtle, and again on the long cloak, there is a badge such as those men in service to a lord wear; in this case the badge is a frog. There is something about the badge that suggests the frog is the lady’s own symbol, and that she works for nobody. At this rate she might make a minor character in some third rate Hollywood flick.
While we have been sat here chattering away about this lady she has been walking quickly, or perhaps marching would be a more appropriate term, as this lady possesses a certain…purpose in her step. Ahem, regardless of how she has been moving she has done so quite quickly, and has now reached an aged wooden sign hammered into the unkempt grass at the roadside. She pauses and reads the sign; it says “Welcome to AAR country in the principality of Paradox. Please do not litter, all spammers will be prosecuted.”.
And now she starts walking again, into the place labelled as AAR country.
By now you are possibly wondering what the heck is going on with this article, well I shall try to explain. I have been asked to write a ‘newbie eye view’ of this place, and it seems to me the best way to do that is with a story combined with a few comments like this one. I will endeavour to make this interesting, amusing, and informative, but I am a simple frog so my efforts may fall some considerable distance short. I also feel it fair to warn you I have a knack for writing exceptionally long posts, and this one looks set to carry on the tradition. Therefore please plump up your cushions, get a drink of your choice, and tell your significant others to bug off for a half hour.
Please note that it is not my intent to insult or do down anyone here, but remember that I have barely any idea of who anyone is, what the history of this place is, or any of those other handy bits of information that allow you to avoid calling the moderator a buffoon when he is stood behind you. If you find me insulting you or your achievements please be assured that it is out of ignorance, not malice. I think I have managed to avoid any such problems but you never know that mantrap is there until you stick your foot in it…
Finally another small warning; I am not exactly an average newbie, and unfortunately you have to sit through a bit of froggy background that may sound like boasting to understand why. Brace yourselves; here it comes. I have written before, on other sites so I am not a newbie writer. However my previous fiction is…well I see room for improvement even if it has found some small readership. Note I said ‘fiction’ because I have also written a couple of long and strangely popular guides to Medieval: Total War. So I am not a complete newbie then.
Now here is the really ‘boasty’ and more important bit: I have served as the moderator for a story forum on the same site that hosts my guides and random scribblings. I was the first mod of the forum (called the Mead hall), and spent just short of 6 months moderating the place before being promoted on up to another forum. As you may imagine this gives me insight into how these places work, as well as rather more experience with newbie writers than you may expect from my status here. I shall shut up about that now, before you think my head is about to expand so far it will explode.
Now that is article has more health warnings than a nuclear power plant let us continue with the story.
The woman has kept walking while our attention was elsewhere. She has now arrived in the centre of a medium sized village, with roads leading off in all directions. There are many sign posts dotted about, declaring things like “This way to the Tea Room” and “Crusader Kings AARs”. The woman stands there, in the middle of the road and looks uncertain for a brief instant, before she resumes her calm, icy certainty. Unfortunately for her she regains her composure right as a cart comes around the bend, forcing her to jump out of the way to avoid being run over. Glaring darkly after the cart driver the young woman dusts herself down and continues to look about, this time stood safely off the road. Eventually she gives up, and pulls a letter out of the bundle of scrolls she is carrying. Let’s be nosey and read over her shoulder…
The letter says, “Your new story about Ulster is good, have you posted it over at Paradox? It seems funny posting an AAR for CK over here at the MTW forums, post it in both places, young froggy.” The young woman is a quick reader, and we just barely have time to finish reading before she rolls the letter back up and stuffs it into the bundle of scrolls. Looking about again she spies the signpost pointing to the demesne of the Crusader Kings. Drawing herself up straight she marches off in the direction indicated by the sign, looking as purposeful and icy calm as she was before.
While our not exactly a heroine hikes over to CK AAR land we will take the stagecoach and discuss this point a little more while we wait for her to catch up. The first problem any newbie here, be they writer, reader or lost sheepy thing looking for something else, has to face is the mass of options. One main forum has links to many others, and each forum has several topics that are almost entirely new areas inside them. The main AAR forum goes to the CK forum, which has a tavern. The tavern has links to tearooms, bars, libraries, solariums, and other forums. AAR land is quite simply a labyrinth to the newbie eye. Where to start? Where to go? Where to post? Do I jump in with my story in the proper game forum, or mess about a bit over in the ‘neutral’ AAR forum? Do I need to introduce myself in other people’s stories before posting my own? Basically the question is where do I start?!
Since I had been told to come here to post my Ulster AAR I eventually decided to head for the CK AAR forum and just post the thing, no introductions or reading of all the other topics – I simply found that there was so much to read and catch up on my story would be finished and posted in its entirety on the other forums before I even got around to posting part 1 here if I waited until I had got a feel for this place. Yes I did read the rules topics, or as many as I could find, but many of the other AARs here remain unread. I am slowly catching up, very slowly.
A newbie introduction thread would, I feel, go a long way to reducing this overwhelming mass of options. The thread could contain a brief history, a quick guide to the forums and faces, and provide a place for newbies to introduce themselves and ask any questions they might have. Older faces could then monitor this thread, to meet and greet newbies and field those questions. Make the thread obvious in a central location, and Bob’s your mother’s brother.
Ah, how opportune, our um…frog has arrived in CK land just as I finished my little piece about being lost. Such good timing!
This new section of the village is a bit different to the other part. It has a castle looming in the background, as castles tend to do. There is a quaint little pond with a ducking stool and a few ducks, a stone church, a tavern, and a great big square. It is in this square that most of the people are concentrated. The girl heads over to this square. When she arrives she notices the square is full of large wooden boards, and on each wooden board a collection of parchment bits have been nailed up. The parchments have writing on them; they are stories put up for all to read. If you were watching closely you might suspect the girl is relieved, but if you weren’t you would have assumed her icy calm never wavered. Please try to watch closely next time, there is no point in me telling this tale if you don’t pay attention.
The young woman hesitates and seems unsure somehow. Then she notices one of the other boards is entitled ‘The (Blood) Red Hand of Ulster’ and she looks noticeably crestfallen. If we look at the bundle of scrolls we can soon see why – the story she has written is entitled ‘Blood Red Hand: The Dukes of Ulster’ and that is rather similar to the existing story. She lingers on the verge of moving to look at this other story, and then takes the plunge. Whatever it is she reads there reassures her, for when she leaves the crowd reading the story she heads towards an empty board to post her own work. She drops her bundle next to the board, pulls out the first segment of the story and nails it into place using the hammer and nails considerately provided by the squares caretaker. When she is finished she steps back and admires her work. We notice the parchment is actually slightly crooked, forcing the reader to tilt their head slightly to read, but we won’t tell her since she looks so proud. We also notice the story starts off with an apology for being new and not knowing what to do, so if this “treads on anybody’s toes” the writer is sorry.
We really need to wait a day or two and come back to this young woman’s journey, so let’s address a subject raised here while we put time on ‘above normal’ speed (well we don’t want the world to crash because we put it to maximum speed and the new stability patch isn’t out yet, now, do we?) and wait for time to pass. Our subject will be :fanfare and drum roll: other authors.
For the newbie writer this is perhaps one of the biggest fears, and also a case of ignorance being bliss. Let’s face it on these forums there are at least several ‘superstar’ writers, people who have been writing for a long time and have got a large gathering of dedicated readers who will flock to anything and everything they write. For ease of language, and not out of insult or mischief, I will refer to these dedicated readers as a fan club. Erroneous or not those famous names will be referred to as superstars, since it allows for some constancy of terminology. It also allows me to talk about people I don’t know!
Ignorance is bliss, simply because when superstar X turns up and posts his new AAR you don’t know to be worried. Superstar X is just some other name, unless they have a mod badge. Unlike those who know better you are not sat there banging your head against the nearest solid object and saying “Oh crud! Well, there goes my readership!”.
The problem is in two things; the fan clubs and the experience. Quite simply how can you hope to compete with someone who has a readership that follows him about? You have to start from scratch, but if people are reading Superstar Story 2 they will have less time to read whatever it is you have put together. If people don’t read or don’t comment then you start to think your work is unwanted, and so you fade away. Experience is a ‘better’ problem in a way – new writers are never going to be as good as the old hands, simply because they don’t have the experience. Time, practise and helpful feedback will amend that.
The entire situation can be summed up as being a new author who publishes his first book on the same day as Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld comes out. In the rush to get to the known good, who will spare a glance for your unknown work that is not likely to be of the same quality?
Of course the answer is that many will try, and so the newbie has often worried for very little purpose. However how is the newbie to know that before the first few comments arrive? Just because other people have had comments on their first work doesn’t mean you think you will, after all you are you and that makes everything different. Of course you can’t compete with the superstars or their fan clubs, but you can be a warm up act…
It is now a few days later; for the sake of argument let’s call it two days exactly. The young woman has dumped her belongings somewhere, but still wears her cloak and carries her sword hidden beneath its folds. She is standing outside the tavern in CK AAR land, I suspect she is gathering the courage to go in and introduce herself, but I also suspect she would hit me if I said so. Bracing herself she steps into the gloomy interior. A strange scene follows, involving a drunk man, the lady’s sword, and a knight who feels insulted by the lack of attention she gives him.
The rude girl still hasn’t introduced herself properly, so I shall do it for her and mutter in her general direction later by way of recompense. She is called frogbeastegg, an outlandish name that explains the frog badge and strange habit of calling herself a ‘frog’ from time to time. I suspect we don’t want to inquire after that habit! She is well aware that her name is long to write comfortably, and so she is also called by many other names that have been gifted to her by others – froggy, Lady Frog, Frog Tzu, Frogeavellai, and some more that are less well used. It appears she has a tendency to collect names like others do stamps or Star Wars action figures. I won’t explain where the name frogbeastegg comes from; we just don’t have time to branch off into exploding amphibians right now.
She is writing some more of her story, basking in the warm glow of comments both in this land and the one she came from.
A small aside, comments are important to almost all writers but to newbies most of all. While I am not technically a newbie full stop, I am still a newbie here, and waiting for those first few comments was pretty darn tense! It is always hard to tell how your work has gone down if no one comments, but the average newbie is even more vulnerable to thinking no one likes their work if no one comments, they also tend to have unreasonable expectations on how quickly comments will appear. I have seen many upset newbie writers because no one posted, and that is a shame as they faded away. At the same time I have seen many newbies who expected many comments in the first 24 hours, and were upset to find either none or just a couple. The key with comments to newbies is speed, the faster you get in there and say you have read and enjoyed (or whatever) their work, the better.
She is also secretly listening in to what the other people are saying, making notes of their strange speech on a scrap of spare parchment. It seems everyone here has some kind of strange speech impediment that causes anything with an ‘ar’ sound to be turned into an AAR sound. She finds this quite baffling.
You do have to admit this place has developed a language of its own, writAAR, bAAR, and so on. Um, can we newbies have a phrase book please?
While the young woman is busy writing away a man stands up and announces an interesting discussion over in another part of AAR land. At this her ears prick and she makes ready to leave, thinking this will be the perfect opportunity to see some sights, meet some people, and maybe feel a bit more at home.
Assorted travelling from CK AAR to AAR central, we don’t really want to hear about that, do we boys and girls?
The aforementioned discussion is taking place inside a big stone hall, some kind of town hall or similar – do I really have to tell you everything? Use a bit of imagination, it builds character, and I’m not here to act as a crutch for the imaginationally challenged. Anyway our young frog listens in, and is rather horrified to hear the subject is new writers and the lack of quality in their work. Of course she remains as calm and icy as ever, but inside you can tell she is really thinking “Oh crap! I’m a new writer, am I part of this lack of standards? Oh crap! I’m not doing what they are saying, but who am I to say I am not part of what these people have an issue with? For all I know I could be…oh crap!” Well she is hardly eloquent when shocked, so we will have to forgive her the repeated ‘oh craps’.
Let me interrupt here for a second. Now the issue, point, whatever you want to call it here is not so much the validity of what people were saying, or who was saying it, or how it was said, or even how true it was. The point is the effect it had on a newbie (um, me I think…) and a relatively confident newbie at that. The immediate result of reading this thread is one newbie who is wondering if she is part of the ‘problem’ mentioned, part of the low standards, the bad writers, and the junk that is now infecting the forums. The newbie is always vulnerable to things like this, firstly because they lack confidence, secondly because they know that they are not as good as the superstars. If there is one thing guaranteed to make a newbie scream and run it is things like this. Part of the discussion could even be understood in such a way that it accused newbies of stealing attention and comments from older faces, whether this was intentional or not I will withhold judgement. Until I read that discussion AAR land had seemed a welcoming and friendly community, and now I felt like I should be leaving and apologising for ever being here in the first place.
I have no wish to point fingers at anyone in that discussion, and I freely admit I don’t know the background to the ‘good old days’ people were talking about, but what newbie does? For all I know I could just be adding to the junk heap with this overly long and dull article.
The newbie’s point of view after reading much of the comments on the last gazette issue dating before the 01.05.04 (the date I am writing this article) can be summed up thusly: WHO THE HELL IS LORD DURHAM!? WHAT GOLDEN AGE!? WHAT DARK TIMES!? WHAT IS A PE – SOME KIND OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, AS IN SPORTS!? WHAT BAD AARS, NO MAKE THAT WHAT IS A BAD AAR!? WHAT DREAM/VISION?! SOME AUTHORS ARE GOOD, WHICH ONES!? WHAT IDEALS!?
The young woman seems uncertain, hovering between running and staying, unable to decide. Suddenly she regains that icy calm, but this time with a fire in her eyes. She is the frog, and the frog will not run and hide like a whipped newbie; or some other inspiring cliché thing. She steps forward and speaks up, a politely worded and hopefully fair speech that basically says “If you have a problem then go fix it in a more positive way, for newbies will always be newbies and you can only help them find their path. That path is not always the same as yours, but it is no less valid.”. Half expecting to get coshed on the way out the young woman turns and leaves, only to be stopped by a man outside the door. When he says he has a proposition for her the girl puts her right hand on the hilt of her sword, obviously she has heard a few proposals of a less than savoury nature before. The man hurriedly explains that he wanted her to write an AARticle…
And so it comes full circle, a week in the life of a newbie.
Epilogue: The discussion on the gazette continued to grow along newbie baffling lines, until eventually it was almost impossible to follow. The frog is still writing her story, and is currently wondering if this article was such a good idea after all...
A newbie’s view of AAR land.
It is mid morning on a fine spring day, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and all those other cliché spring things are happening in abundant quantities. A young woman (girl? I can never tell) of about 21 is walking down a simple road that is little more than a mud track. At first glance she appears nothing particularly special; tall and slender, darkish blonde hair that shines gold as the light hits it, pale white skin, pretty enough if you like medieval but nothing jaw dropping. She is wearing plain but neat medieval clothing consisting of a simple white linen tunic, a pale purple kirtle, and a simple blue cloak that is flung back over her shoulders in this warm sun. All in all she is not a particularly interesting figure, and so probably not the heroine of any half way decent story.
However a second glance reveals more intriguing details, firstly that she is carrying a bundle of scrolls tucked under her left arm. Secondly that she has a medieval style sword belted about her waist in place of the more usual girdle. Thirdly that on the upper right of her kirtle, and again on the long cloak, there is a badge such as those men in service to a lord wear; in this case the badge is a frog. There is something about the badge that suggests the frog is the lady’s own symbol, and that she works for nobody. At this rate she might make a minor character in some third rate Hollywood flick.
While we have been sat here chattering away about this lady she has been walking quickly, or perhaps marching would be a more appropriate term, as this lady possesses a certain…purpose in her step. Ahem, regardless of how she has been moving she has done so quite quickly, and has now reached an aged wooden sign hammered into the unkempt grass at the roadside. She pauses and reads the sign; it says “Welcome to AAR country in the principality of Paradox. Please do not litter, all spammers will be prosecuted.”.
And now she starts walking again, into the place labelled as AAR country.
By now you are possibly wondering what the heck is going on with this article, well I shall try to explain. I have been asked to write a ‘newbie eye view’ of this place, and it seems to me the best way to do that is with a story combined with a few comments like this one. I will endeavour to make this interesting, amusing, and informative, but I am a simple frog so my efforts may fall some considerable distance short. I also feel it fair to warn you I have a knack for writing exceptionally long posts, and this one looks set to carry on the tradition. Therefore please plump up your cushions, get a drink of your choice, and tell your significant others to bug off for a half hour.
Please note that it is not my intent to insult or do down anyone here, but remember that I have barely any idea of who anyone is, what the history of this place is, or any of those other handy bits of information that allow you to avoid calling the moderator a buffoon when he is stood behind you. If you find me insulting you or your achievements please be assured that it is out of ignorance, not malice. I think I have managed to avoid any such problems but you never know that mantrap is there until you stick your foot in it…
Finally another small warning; I am not exactly an average newbie, and unfortunately you have to sit through a bit of froggy background that may sound like boasting to understand why. Brace yourselves; here it comes. I have written before, on other sites so I am not a newbie writer. However my previous fiction is…well I see room for improvement even if it has found some small readership. Note I said ‘fiction’ because I have also written a couple of long and strangely popular guides to Medieval: Total War. So I am not a complete newbie then.
Now here is the really ‘boasty’ and more important bit: I have served as the moderator for a story forum on the same site that hosts my guides and random scribblings. I was the first mod of the forum (called the Mead hall), and spent just short of 6 months moderating the place before being promoted on up to another forum. As you may imagine this gives me insight into how these places work, as well as rather more experience with newbie writers than you may expect from my status here. I shall shut up about that now, before you think my head is about to expand so far it will explode.
Now that is article has more health warnings than a nuclear power plant let us continue with the story.
The woman has kept walking while our attention was elsewhere. She has now arrived in the centre of a medium sized village, with roads leading off in all directions. There are many sign posts dotted about, declaring things like “This way to the Tea Room” and “Crusader Kings AARs”. The woman stands there, in the middle of the road and looks uncertain for a brief instant, before she resumes her calm, icy certainty. Unfortunately for her she regains her composure right as a cart comes around the bend, forcing her to jump out of the way to avoid being run over. Glaring darkly after the cart driver the young woman dusts herself down and continues to look about, this time stood safely off the road. Eventually she gives up, and pulls a letter out of the bundle of scrolls she is carrying. Let’s be nosey and read over her shoulder…
The letter says, “Your new story about Ulster is good, have you posted it over at Paradox? It seems funny posting an AAR for CK over here at the MTW forums, post it in both places, young froggy.” The young woman is a quick reader, and we just barely have time to finish reading before she rolls the letter back up and stuffs it into the bundle of scrolls. Looking about again she spies the signpost pointing to the demesne of the Crusader Kings. Drawing herself up straight she marches off in the direction indicated by the sign, looking as purposeful and icy calm as she was before.
While our not exactly a heroine hikes over to CK AAR land we will take the stagecoach and discuss this point a little more while we wait for her to catch up. The first problem any newbie here, be they writer, reader or lost sheepy thing looking for something else, has to face is the mass of options. One main forum has links to many others, and each forum has several topics that are almost entirely new areas inside them. The main AAR forum goes to the CK forum, which has a tavern. The tavern has links to tearooms, bars, libraries, solariums, and other forums. AAR land is quite simply a labyrinth to the newbie eye. Where to start? Where to go? Where to post? Do I jump in with my story in the proper game forum, or mess about a bit over in the ‘neutral’ AAR forum? Do I need to introduce myself in other people’s stories before posting my own? Basically the question is where do I start?!
Since I had been told to come here to post my Ulster AAR I eventually decided to head for the CK AAR forum and just post the thing, no introductions or reading of all the other topics – I simply found that there was so much to read and catch up on my story would be finished and posted in its entirety on the other forums before I even got around to posting part 1 here if I waited until I had got a feel for this place. Yes I did read the rules topics, or as many as I could find, but many of the other AARs here remain unread. I am slowly catching up, very slowly.
A newbie introduction thread would, I feel, go a long way to reducing this overwhelming mass of options. The thread could contain a brief history, a quick guide to the forums and faces, and provide a place for newbies to introduce themselves and ask any questions they might have. Older faces could then monitor this thread, to meet and greet newbies and field those questions. Make the thread obvious in a central location, and Bob’s your mother’s brother.
Ah, how opportune, our um…frog has arrived in CK land just as I finished my little piece about being lost. Such good timing!
This new section of the village is a bit different to the other part. It has a castle looming in the background, as castles tend to do. There is a quaint little pond with a ducking stool and a few ducks, a stone church, a tavern, and a great big square. It is in this square that most of the people are concentrated. The girl heads over to this square. When she arrives she notices the square is full of large wooden boards, and on each wooden board a collection of parchment bits have been nailed up. The parchments have writing on them; they are stories put up for all to read. If you were watching closely you might suspect the girl is relieved, but if you weren’t you would have assumed her icy calm never wavered. Please try to watch closely next time, there is no point in me telling this tale if you don’t pay attention.
The young woman hesitates and seems unsure somehow. Then she notices one of the other boards is entitled ‘The (Blood) Red Hand of Ulster’ and she looks noticeably crestfallen. If we look at the bundle of scrolls we can soon see why – the story she has written is entitled ‘Blood Red Hand: The Dukes of Ulster’ and that is rather similar to the existing story. She lingers on the verge of moving to look at this other story, and then takes the plunge. Whatever it is she reads there reassures her, for when she leaves the crowd reading the story she heads towards an empty board to post her own work. She drops her bundle next to the board, pulls out the first segment of the story and nails it into place using the hammer and nails considerately provided by the squares caretaker. When she is finished she steps back and admires her work. We notice the parchment is actually slightly crooked, forcing the reader to tilt their head slightly to read, but we won’t tell her since she looks so proud. We also notice the story starts off with an apology for being new and not knowing what to do, so if this “treads on anybody’s toes” the writer is sorry.
We really need to wait a day or two and come back to this young woman’s journey, so let’s address a subject raised here while we put time on ‘above normal’ speed (well we don’t want the world to crash because we put it to maximum speed and the new stability patch isn’t out yet, now, do we?) and wait for time to pass. Our subject will be :fanfare and drum roll: other authors.
For the newbie writer this is perhaps one of the biggest fears, and also a case of ignorance being bliss. Let’s face it on these forums there are at least several ‘superstar’ writers, people who have been writing for a long time and have got a large gathering of dedicated readers who will flock to anything and everything they write. For ease of language, and not out of insult or mischief, I will refer to these dedicated readers as a fan club. Erroneous or not those famous names will be referred to as superstars, since it allows for some constancy of terminology. It also allows me to talk about people I don’t know!
Ignorance is bliss, simply because when superstar X turns up and posts his new AAR you don’t know to be worried. Superstar X is just some other name, unless they have a mod badge. Unlike those who know better you are not sat there banging your head against the nearest solid object and saying “Oh crud! Well, there goes my readership!”.
The problem is in two things; the fan clubs and the experience. Quite simply how can you hope to compete with someone who has a readership that follows him about? You have to start from scratch, but if people are reading Superstar Story 2 they will have less time to read whatever it is you have put together. If people don’t read or don’t comment then you start to think your work is unwanted, and so you fade away. Experience is a ‘better’ problem in a way – new writers are never going to be as good as the old hands, simply because they don’t have the experience. Time, practise and helpful feedback will amend that.
The entire situation can be summed up as being a new author who publishes his first book on the same day as Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld comes out. In the rush to get to the known good, who will spare a glance for your unknown work that is not likely to be of the same quality?
Of course the answer is that many will try, and so the newbie has often worried for very little purpose. However how is the newbie to know that before the first few comments arrive? Just because other people have had comments on their first work doesn’t mean you think you will, after all you are you and that makes everything different. Of course you can’t compete with the superstars or their fan clubs, but you can be a warm up act…
It is now a few days later; for the sake of argument let’s call it two days exactly. The young woman has dumped her belongings somewhere, but still wears her cloak and carries her sword hidden beneath its folds. She is standing outside the tavern in CK AAR land, I suspect she is gathering the courage to go in and introduce herself, but I also suspect she would hit me if I said so. Bracing herself she steps into the gloomy interior. A strange scene follows, involving a drunk man, the lady’s sword, and a knight who feels insulted by the lack of attention she gives him.
The rude girl still hasn’t introduced herself properly, so I shall do it for her and mutter in her general direction later by way of recompense. She is called frogbeastegg, an outlandish name that explains the frog badge and strange habit of calling herself a ‘frog’ from time to time. I suspect we don’t want to inquire after that habit! She is well aware that her name is long to write comfortably, and so she is also called by many other names that have been gifted to her by others – froggy, Lady Frog, Frog Tzu, Frogeavellai, and some more that are less well used. It appears she has a tendency to collect names like others do stamps or Star Wars action figures. I won’t explain where the name frogbeastegg comes from; we just don’t have time to branch off into exploding amphibians right now.
She is writing some more of her story, basking in the warm glow of comments both in this land and the one she came from.
A small aside, comments are important to almost all writers but to newbies most of all. While I am not technically a newbie full stop, I am still a newbie here, and waiting for those first few comments was pretty darn tense! It is always hard to tell how your work has gone down if no one comments, but the average newbie is even more vulnerable to thinking no one likes their work if no one comments, they also tend to have unreasonable expectations on how quickly comments will appear. I have seen many upset newbie writers because no one posted, and that is a shame as they faded away. At the same time I have seen many newbies who expected many comments in the first 24 hours, and were upset to find either none or just a couple. The key with comments to newbies is speed, the faster you get in there and say you have read and enjoyed (or whatever) their work, the better.
She is also secretly listening in to what the other people are saying, making notes of their strange speech on a scrap of spare parchment. It seems everyone here has some kind of strange speech impediment that causes anything with an ‘ar’ sound to be turned into an AAR sound. She finds this quite baffling.
You do have to admit this place has developed a language of its own, writAAR, bAAR, and so on. Um, can we newbies have a phrase book please?
While the young woman is busy writing away a man stands up and announces an interesting discussion over in another part of AAR land. At this her ears prick and she makes ready to leave, thinking this will be the perfect opportunity to see some sights, meet some people, and maybe feel a bit more at home.
Assorted travelling from CK AAR to AAR central, we don’t really want to hear about that, do we boys and girls?
The aforementioned discussion is taking place inside a big stone hall, some kind of town hall or similar – do I really have to tell you everything? Use a bit of imagination, it builds character, and I’m not here to act as a crutch for the imaginationally challenged. Anyway our young frog listens in, and is rather horrified to hear the subject is new writers and the lack of quality in their work. Of course she remains as calm and icy as ever, but inside you can tell she is really thinking “Oh crap! I’m a new writer, am I part of this lack of standards? Oh crap! I’m not doing what they are saying, but who am I to say I am not part of what these people have an issue with? For all I know I could be…oh crap!” Well she is hardly eloquent when shocked, so we will have to forgive her the repeated ‘oh craps’.
Let me interrupt here for a second. Now the issue, point, whatever you want to call it here is not so much the validity of what people were saying, or who was saying it, or how it was said, or even how true it was. The point is the effect it had on a newbie (um, me I think…) and a relatively confident newbie at that. The immediate result of reading this thread is one newbie who is wondering if she is part of the ‘problem’ mentioned, part of the low standards, the bad writers, and the junk that is now infecting the forums. The newbie is always vulnerable to things like this, firstly because they lack confidence, secondly because they know that they are not as good as the superstars. If there is one thing guaranteed to make a newbie scream and run it is things like this. Part of the discussion could even be understood in such a way that it accused newbies of stealing attention and comments from older faces, whether this was intentional or not I will withhold judgement. Until I read that discussion AAR land had seemed a welcoming and friendly community, and now I felt like I should be leaving and apologising for ever being here in the first place.
I have no wish to point fingers at anyone in that discussion, and I freely admit I don’t know the background to the ‘good old days’ people were talking about, but what newbie does? For all I know I could just be adding to the junk heap with this overly long and dull article.
The newbie’s point of view after reading much of the comments on the last gazette issue dating before the 01.05.04 (the date I am writing this article) can be summed up thusly: WHO THE HELL IS LORD DURHAM!? WHAT GOLDEN AGE!? WHAT DARK TIMES!? WHAT IS A PE – SOME KIND OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, AS IN SPORTS!? WHAT BAD AARS, NO MAKE THAT WHAT IS A BAD AAR!? WHAT DREAM/VISION?! SOME AUTHORS ARE GOOD, WHICH ONES!? WHAT IDEALS!?
The young woman seems uncertain, hovering between running and staying, unable to decide. Suddenly she regains that icy calm, but this time with a fire in her eyes. She is the frog, and the frog will not run and hide like a whipped newbie; or some other inspiring cliché thing. She steps forward and speaks up, a politely worded and hopefully fair speech that basically says “If you have a problem then go fix it in a more positive way, for newbies will always be newbies and you can only help them find their path. That path is not always the same as yours, but it is no less valid.”. Half expecting to get coshed on the way out the young woman turns and leaves, only to be stopped by a man outside the door. When he says he has a proposition for her the girl puts her right hand on the hilt of her sword, obviously she has heard a few proposals of a less than savoury nature before. The man hurriedly explains that he wanted her to write an AARticle…
And so it comes full circle, a week in the life of a newbie.
Epilogue: The discussion on the gazette continued to grow along newbie baffling lines, until eventually it was almost impossible to follow. The frog is still writing her story, and is currently wondering if this article was such a good idea after all...