Teeps’ Friendly Advanced Writing Guide For Cool People.
Apr 28, 2021 16:14:24 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Dylan, and 2 more like this
Post by Technical Perfection on Apr 28, 2021 16:14:24 GMT -5
FIVE.. FOUR… THREE… TWO… ONE...
THERE IS A HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS, THEY CAAAAAAALL THE RIIIIIISING SUN
Hawke: It’s Teeps!
Angel: And he’s brought Teeps’ Friendly Advanced Writing Guide For Cool People Who Want A Couple More Top Tips and Tricks with him!
This guide is about style and flourish. If you want to read about layout and flow, go read my first guide.
Again, this is not gospel. In fact this is even less gospel than TFMWGFCP. Be yourself, do things your own way. We don’t want a bunch of Teeps clones. One of me is more than enough already. This is a heavily YMMV guide.
First point. Go read everyone else’s stuff on here. Particularly Scotty Adams’ guide because it actually makes this document shorter, having covered a few topics I wanted to. Now I don’t need to cover the ground he did. Also getting as many people’s opinions on match writing as possible is the greatest thing you can do. Just like RP feedback makes your RPs better, MW feedback makes you a better MW.
Right, let’s get on to the main points.
Point one. Vary it up.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Starting every paragraph with a wrestler’s name or nickname. When you don’t do that (I make a conscious effort not to if possible) it makes the whole thing read better in my opinion. There are three basic ways to start a sentence in a match. A wrestler’s name, a description of the situation or a verb describing what a wrestler is doing. There are other, many others, and pepper as many as your creative brains can think of.
If you’re going to mention a wrestler’s name a number of times in the same paragraph, don’t use the same descriptor repeatedly. A wrestler is their full name, their first name, their last name, their nickname(s) , new nicknames you make up on the spot, the place they come from, physical desciptions of them, character descriptions of them, stylistic and other cool character specific stuff. Chris Card, therefore, is Chris Card, Chris, Card, Technical Perfection, Big Match Card, The Real Man’s Wrestler, The Canadian, The Man From Toronto’s richest Zip Code, the muscular yet lean wrestler, The wily veteran, the Machiavellian schemer, the habitual cheat, the master of the dark arts and the Machiavellian Mat Master from the Maritimes. In the words of William Shakespeare, “Mix ‘em and cook ‘em in a pot like gumbo.” Him or Ice Cube. I forget which.
Vary up moves. Unless it’s a long match, you never need to reuse a basic move. As opposed to big spots which should be succesfully used once, or used once and reversed twice, or used MANY times (Okada vs Omega anyone?)
Point two, verbosity is pacing.
If you want to get over a pace of a match is slowing, do it with your writing. If you’re using twenty words to describe a move, it’s a match moving slower than if you use rapid fire short sentences. Having a mix of this during a match and you’re showing through your skill with language the ebbs and flows of a wrestling match. And y’all write real pretty like. Submission holds can be written in agonizing detail, especially during the heat segment, to simulate how long a face in peril is being tortured for. Make every expression, every subtle move towards the ropes, every sign of pain really long winded and slow. Have the referee check them. Anything to take the pace of the match down to a crawl. On the other hand, a finishing submission can go very quickly OR very slowly depending on whether the story is tortuous and the resilience of the person taking it. If you’re trying to tell an MMA style match or if the submission hold has been established as that deadly, the tap should be near instant. But the struggle of the face against a nasty, vicious heel’s finishing submission can go on for a while.
OR
YOU
CAN
USE
WHITESPACE!
Point three. Know your moves (and/or do your research)
Following on from point two, if you need to burn space rather than just having some bang bang move exchanges, know how a wrestling move is done. A vertical suplex is hit from a front chancery, but a Fisherman’s Suplex adds an outside cradle. Standing Headscissors could be the start of a piledriver, a powerbomb or before the Underhooks are put in for a butterfly suplex/double underhook facebuster (Pedigree being the kneeling version, Angel’s Wings the sit out)/Tiger Driver. What’s a ¾ facelock? It’s the set up for a Cutter, Stunner or Shiranui. If someone has something funky as a finisher, look at a video. YouTube is your friend. But if you can’t figure something out… don’t put it in. Things that are wrong stand out more than things that are missing.
Point Four. How to write a Rumble.
DON’T.
No, actually, plan like anything, crib huge inner storylines from Rumbles you’ve enjoyed (and spots) and give yourself more than 5 days to do it in. Plan your time. Stick to a writing schedule. And if you make that writing schedule “I’ll do 5K a day, it’ll be reet.” then you are as big an idiot as me.
Point Five. Use the ring.
Watch any normal wrestling match. You won't be waiting long before you see a whip or a corner spot. Add verimisilitude (I love that word, it means truthfulness or authenticity) by throwing a few whip spots. Use dives where appropriate. Brawl outside (I'm a sod for not including enough out of the ring stuff, it's a weakness of mine). If there are stips, use the stips of the match. And always know where your wrestlers are and describe how they get to where they need to be next.
Cool, again, if this has helped you, fantastic. If it hasn’t, ne’er mind lad, I gev it a shot.
But bear this in mind. I’m not here to preach, I’m here to help. I don’t want to change your style, these are just my random thoughts on things. I’m like your Obi-Wan Kenobi...
Crowd: WAN KENOBI!
...and the sensei isn't the hero of the story. You can be. BE THE HERO!
And as ever... ROCK ON
\m/ >_< \m/
THERE IS A HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS, THEY CAAAAAAALL THE RIIIIIISING SUN
Hawke: It’s Teeps!
Angel: And he’s brought Teeps’ Friendly Advanced Writing Guide For Cool People Who Want A Couple More Top Tips and Tricks with him!
This guide is about style and flourish. If you want to read about layout and flow, go read my first guide.
Again, this is not gospel. In fact this is even less gospel than TFMWGFCP. Be yourself, do things your own way. We don’t want a bunch of Teeps clones. One of me is more than enough already. This is a heavily YMMV guide.
First point. Go read everyone else’s stuff on here. Particularly Scotty Adams’ guide because it actually makes this document shorter, having covered a few topics I wanted to. Now I don’t need to cover the ground he did. Also getting as many people’s opinions on match writing as possible is the greatest thing you can do. Just like RP feedback makes your RPs better, MW feedback makes you a better MW.
Right, let’s get on to the main points.
Point one. Vary it up.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Starting every paragraph with a wrestler’s name or nickname. When you don’t do that (I make a conscious effort not to if possible) it makes the whole thing read better in my opinion. There are three basic ways to start a sentence in a match. A wrestler’s name, a description of the situation or a verb describing what a wrestler is doing. There are other, many others, and pepper as many as your creative brains can think of.
If you’re going to mention a wrestler’s name a number of times in the same paragraph, don’t use the same descriptor repeatedly. A wrestler is their full name, their first name, their last name, their nickname(s) , new nicknames you make up on the spot, the place they come from, physical desciptions of them, character descriptions of them, stylistic and other cool character specific stuff. Chris Card, therefore, is Chris Card, Chris, Card, Technical Perfection, Big Match Card, The Real Man’s Wrestler, The Canadian, The Man From Toronto’s richest Zip Code, the muscular yet lean wrestler, The wily veteran, the Machiavellian schemer, the habitual cheat, the master of the dark arts and the Machiavellian Mat Master from the Maritimes. In the words of William Shakespeare, “Mix ‘em and cook ‘em in a pot like gumbo.” Him or Ice Cube. I forget which.
Vary up moves. Unless it’s a long match, you never need to reuse a basic move. As opposed to big spots which should be succesfully used once, or used once and reversed twice, or used MANY times (Okada vs Omega anyone?)
Point two, verbosity is pacing.
If you want to get over a pace of a match is slowing, do it with your writing. If you’re using twenty words to describe a move, it’s a match moving slower than if you use rapid fire short sentences. Having a mix of this during a match and you’re showing through your skill with language the ebbs and flows of a wrestling match. And y’all write real pretty like. Submission holds can be written in agonizing detail, especially during the heat segment, to simulate how long a face in peril is being tortured for. Make every expression, every subtle move towards the ropes, every sign of pain really long winded and slow. Have the referee check them. Anything to take the pace of the match down to a crawl. On the other hand, a finishing submission can go very quickly OR very slowly depending on whether the story is tortuous and the resilience of the person taking it. If you’re trying to tell an MMA style match or if the submission hold has been established as that deadly, the tap should be near instant. But the struggle of the face against a nasty, vicious heel’s finishing submission can go on for a while.
OR
YOU
CAN
USE
WHITESPACE!
Point three. Know your moves (and/or do your research)
Following on from point two, if you need to burn space rather than just having some bang bang move exchanges, know how a wrestling move is done. A vertical suplex is hit from a front chancery, but a Fisherman’s Suplex adds an outside cradle. Standing Headscissors could be the start of a piledriver, a powerbomb or before the Underhooks are put in for a butterfly suplex/double underhook facebuster (Pedigree being the kneeling version, Angel’s Wings the sit out)/Tiger Driver. What’s a ¾ facelock? It’s the set up for a Cutter, Stunner or Shiranui. If someone has something funky as a finisher, look at a video. YouTube is your friend. But if you can’t figure something out… don’t put it in. Things that are wrong stand out more than things that are missing.
Point Four. How to write a Rumble.
DON’T.
No, actually, plan like anything, crib huge inner storylines from Rumbles you’ve enjoyed (and spots) and give yourself more than 5 days to do it in. Plan your time. Stick to a writing schedule. And if you make that writing schedule “I’ll do 5K a day, it’ll be reet.” then you are as big an idiot as me.
Point Five. Use the ring.
Watch any normal wrestling match. You won't be waiting long before you see a whip or a corner spot. Add verimisilitude (I love that word, it means truthfulness or authenticity) by throwing a few whip spots. Use dives where appropriate. Brawl outside (I'm a sod for not including enough out of the ring stuff, it's a weakness of mine). If there are stips, use the stips of the match. And always know where your wrestlers are and describe how they get to where they need to be next.
Cool, again, if this has helped you, fantastic. If it hasn’t, ne’er mind lad, I gev it a shot.
But bear this in mind. I’m not here to preach, I’m here to help. I don’t want to change your style, these are just my random thoughts on things. I’m like your Obi-Wan Kenobi...
Crowd: WAN KENOBI!
...and the sensei isn't the hero of the story. You can be. BE THE HERO!
And as ever... ROCK ON
\m/ >_< \m/