A guide for would be Fan-Fiction Authors

[Erax]

First, Erax, if my story inspired you to write yours, then my whole effort is truly worth it! Thanks for saying that...it made my day.

Sachmo, you are most welcome. I had never read good fan fiction before ROTRS, just some rather bland SW and ST stories. Because of your story, I went on to read excellent stuff by Atrocities and others, which I would have missed otherwise.

Now on to how I write. I always keep the game ahead of the story; sometimes it's a single turn ahead and sometimes as much as six. Unlike Sachmo and Rags, I use old-fashioned pen and paper for my notes. I try to put as much info as I can on characters, organizations, etc. on the thread itself so I have access to it whenever I am Online, but I am reaching the point where I too will need a separate 'fact sheet'.

The story adds many limitations to the game. One example : I can't simply raise units in a captured world, I have to import them from my loyal colonies. The game allows me to do it but there would be no reasonable way to explain it in the story.

I write from my notes directly into the 'post a reply' screen. I reread my entries two or three times, then hit 'add reply'. I always read the entry one Last time after it's been posted (and I often catch mistakes there, as you can see by the number of edits I do).

The hardest part for me is giving every character a unique 'voice'. I'm keeping the number of main characters down to a minimum because I am not fully satisfied with this aspect of the story yet.

There's something else I've been meaning to say for a while... writing turn reports is an easy way to start. The game tells you the what, when and where, so you only have to worry about who, how and why. Freestanding fiction - like Once Upon the Stars - is much more difficult.