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Follow in MoonHunter’s Footsteps: 10 Steps to Better Posts
MoonHunter Sayeth
1) Being a better poster (and gamer) is a slow and steady process.
2) Identify your strengths as a gamer and a writer. Focus on these in your game posts.
3) Don’t forget your weaknesses. Occasionally take on challanges that force you to confront them.
4) Read everything posted on the board. Not only may these other posts be useful for you, but they may serve as inspiration or as a reminder of what to do (or not to do).
5) Work on existing posts. If you expand upon existing posts (or a type of existing post) you are working with the community on the site, rather than just flailing about.
6) Just Post. Every day. Don’t give up. It isn’t easy to do it, but many great ideas are lost because people don’t post them for others to see. Say to yourself, “I am going to post one interesting idea every day,” and stick to it. Once you commit yourself, you will find it easier to do.
7) Never forget the basics. Check your posts for language: Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar.
8) Keep moving forward. Push yourself to do more and do it better.
9) Learn from every opportunity. Hone your English (Language skills), your ability to find inspiration, learn about new games and new settings. You can learn a great deal about gaming surfing TV channels if you let yourself.
10) Keep a little notebook (or some mechanism to record ideas like a forum thread or a email to yourself). Write interesting ideas in the notebook, or snippets of cool description, or anything that might inspire you to do a post.
This is not the 11th step, it is just a good idea.
Find multiple sites to frequent. While one site may be your “home”, visit various sites. This will give you many avenues to practice your craft.
October 30, 2005, 10:38
In his 87th year, the artist Michelangelo (1475-1564) was quoted as saying, "Ancora imparo" - "I am still learning". These humble words came from the man who gave the world the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Pieta, The David, The St Peter's Cathedral in Rome. No matter how good you get, you are always learning way to be better.
October 30, 2005, 10:39
1) Surfing the net. Rather than just hit the "same old sites", I do semi-random google searchs, look at the most recent search subjects at yahoo or google, and follow the links of random pages. Armed with some speed reading techniques, I can pick up a huge amount of information in a short period of time. You never know what might be useful or might inspire you until you do.
2) Follow the Link Farm: Investigate the link section of a site you found something interesting on. You will often find more interesting things. If you investigate links on those sites, your information base will increase. (Check out the google-fu thread).
3) While surfing your normal sites or new sites, if you find something useful, copy it down and make a post out of it. Email it to yourself or just copy it into a thread and begin to edit it.
4) Slush Pile: if you find something really interesting on the web, copy and paste it into an email to yourself. Then hang on to it for a while. Six months from now it may be a "Really cool idea" that you can use.
5) Hit sites on writing, filmcraft, and storytelling. Read books on the same subjects. This will teach you how to improve your own gaming skills and give you something to write about.
And Remember:
6) You have an opinion, write it out. Do not be afraid of what others think. You will be suprised how many people will agree with you or call you a genius. Really suprised. Honest. Just remember to work on the post and keep things up to par before you press that final submit.
November 9, 2005, 15:03
I gave it a 4.5/5 for it being extremly helpful. I gave up a .5 due to me not posting this myself.
January 31, 2007, 10:10
January 31, 2007, 12:32
February 13, 2010, 6:27
After having been away from the site for a fairly long time, i have returned.
This time i decided to take the time to do a little research and read through certain topics that are there to help hone our skills.
I have learned a few interesting things from this article, and am happy to have found such a useful gem.
February 29, 2012, 18:02
Thanks coach! It is all true. The tone on the other hand...well it is the writer's style.
July 26, 2012, 19:54