How to Dynasty?

K-Nection · June 21, 2015

Yeah I mean I like RW diaries to be in the realm of the RW. For instance if I see the Midnight Express and the Rock 'N' Roll Express feuding in the 1980's WWF that is going to turn me off from reading a diary. Yes I know I said I folks should not fall into that trap but I fall into it.

I just cannot see Dennis Condrey or Bobby Eaton in the WWF even in a fictional world because I will always say to myself that Vince would never have hired them. Stan Lane I could see because he did end up there eventually as an announcer.

Just wanted to add I understand that I just contradicted myself from what I just wrote. I mean that more when I read diaries that are based in the past, I like them to be more grounded in reality. However, any modern day RW diary I am willing to give them leeway because they are writing in more uncertain times because nobody can see the future.

Honestly 4 years ago I think I said that they would never hire Kevin Steen....and now he has 2 MOTY candidates for them! But I will definitely go on record to say they will never hire the Briscoe Brothers. I want them to prove me wrong on that one but I feel that will not come to pass.

Dragonmack · June 21, 2015

Can I throw a question out there to some writers. How do you write? How do you plan ahead? Some opinions on this would be awesome.

For me it starts with a basic idea of what kind of story I want to tell with the dynasty. For instance my David Mack series started with having the wrestler as your user character ( long before that was an actual option to choose any wrestler as your user character) and tell the story of his rise.

Then a lot depends on what size company you are booking. Regional and small companies you will generally set some general plans or storylines, but since you only run a show a month usually and your top stars can depart at any time, I tend to be fairly basic and flexible. I go with a couple standard feuds over a title, and maybe a stable to provide the general storylines for a four to six month periods and work from that framework.

When doing cult and higher level federations, you are typically dealing with at least one weekly show and a monthly ppv and your stars are more likely to stay available for longer terms, so you can ( and probably should) be more detailed and focused in the storylines and how they lay out. You don't need to plan down to the last promo 6 months ahead, but you should have the basic feuds or storylines for that period planned, and then detail planning covering from one ppv to the next what events you want to happen to further the storylines. then you can get a basic idea of what type of matches and promos you want and refine it each show.

June 21, 2015

WOW a ton of answers, thanks guys . I got a stupid question though since there are about 6 different amazing Dynasty creators in here , do you guys all create your own headings and the other small stuff , or do you just use pics that you can find? I also agree with COC , K- Nection etc about not going TOO crazy but doing something people won't expect. Also multiple of you guys said to make your presentation pop out , so should I color words like crazy to make people go wow or would that over do it.

BHK1978 · June 21, 2015

WOW a ton of answers, thanks guys . I got a stupid question though since there are about 6 different amazing Dynasty creators in here , do you guys all create your own headings and the other small stuff , or do you just use pics that you can find? I also agree with COC , K- Nection etc about not going TOO crazy but doing something people won't expect. Also multiple of you guys said to make your presentation pop out , so should I color words like crazy to make people go wow or would that over do it.

Well I do not have advance graphics in my diary so I cannot really comment on that aspect of it. I do bold, colorize and make bigger the name of my show. For instance I might do something like this:

WWE Presents: Backlash 2015

Location: Dallas, Texas

Attendance: 12,342

Nothing ultra fancy but something to make it stand out to the readers.

Then if I have a world title match I would do something similar but I would lower the size on the lettering.

June 21, 2015

Understood , not overdone or restricted.

BHK1978 · June 21, 2015

Understood , not overdone or restricted.

Well you could do it you see fit. I mean if I was better at graphics I would make my own graphics, so if that is something that you excel at then perhaps you should go that way. It is really a trial and error type of thing, just use what you think is pleasing to your eye and I am sure others would agree.

The Lloyd · June 21, 2015

Well you could do it you see fit. I mean if I was better at graphics I would make my own graphics, so if that is something that you excel at then perhaps you should go that way. It is really a trial and error type of thing, just use what you think is pleasing to your eye and I am sure others would agree.

For graphics trial and error is indeed the key, but I'd say that approach works with the entire diary writing process. No one has an answer on how to do it, you just do it how you want to and enjoy it. The best advice I ever got was to not write for other people, just write for yourself and enjoy it, and given time, the readers/followers/commenters will come.

I'd say simple is always better to begin with. So many people start diaries and then burn out because their idea was so huge and impossible to stay on top of. And then I'd say staying ahead of your writing is also a good way to combat burn-out. For my WWE Diary I wrote about 4 months ahead of what I was posting. I haven't written for it for months now, but I still have about 2 months of shows to post so if I feel like picking it up again down the line, I can and the readers won't lose track of it. For my Cverse diary I'm about 3 weeks ahead right now. It just takes away the pressure of seeing your diary slip to page 4 where nobody's going to see it, and you're half-way through writing a show so you rush it to get it out there and it sucks! When I began my cverse diary, I had the first few shows done, and that's also attractive to readers as they know you'll at least have a few weeks to post before you quit

(I'm rambling here, I apologise)

Finally, The_Coc mentioned templates. My templates are essentially a word document for each weekly show I have (so for the NOTBPW vs CGC diary I have two different templates) and then I just add in the content. (the matches, the graphics, the angles etc). It speeds up the writing process for me and also cuts out mistakes because most of the formatting is done for me already.

Like I said earlier. If you want to start a diary, go for it. But do it for you. Don't do it because you think you're going to have 100 readers who all comment all the time. People are generally too busy for that. I had 10 predictors on my latest NOTBPW vs CGC event, and that's quite a lot!

June 21, 2015

Thanks man , that helped a lot. One little question though , after you insert the graphics and content and what not how do you get it over to the forum?

TeflonBilly · June 21, 2015

I would say one of the biggest things to remember is to write a story you would want to read. Don't worry about chasing readers, or being too close or too removed from reality. It may be corny, but write true to yourself first of all. People will be able to sense your sincerity, for lack of a better word, and that will make them better able to swallow anything else you want to feed them. If you believe that in the world you're establishing that Chavo Guerrero can beat Brock Lesnar for the title, then get him to a place where that's believable and then make it happen. On the flip side, John Cena beating Barry Horowitz will ring false if the writer can't buy into it. Whatever your starting point is, everything in the future hasn't happened yet. Don't feel constrained by it.

June 21, 2015

Is there not a way to like a post? (:

June 21, 2015

I think I might fire up the dynasty soon already a month in , in-game.

The Lloyd · June 21, 2015

TeflonBilly... Spot on Billy

Thanks man , that helped a lot. One little question though , after you insert the graphics and content and what not how do you get it over to the forum?

As for this. I do all the 'formatting' in the word document too... So if I want something centered I'll type it all into the doc. Here's an example of what the match code looks like in my word doc...

[PICTURES OF WORKERS]

[vs.]

Match comments

Rating:

Winner:

</div>

Then if I put a space after every [ or < you'll see what it looks like:

< div style="background-color:#ffffff;border-style:solid;border-width:2px";">[ INDENT][ INDENT][ CENTER]

[ PICTURES OF WORKERS]

[ B] [vs.] [ /B]

Match comments

[ B] Rating: [ /B]

[ B] Winner: [ /B]

[ /CENTER][ /INDENT][ /INDENT]

< /div>

So a completed match would look like this:

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/bazzalloyd86/NOTBPW%20vs%20CGC%20Diary/Events/NOTBPW_Tag_zpszqomwler.jpg

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/bazzalloyd86/NOTBPW%20vs%20CGC%20Diary/PreviewsAndGraphics/SpecialistsCanAmHouseShooters_zpsa60ka93k.jpg

Great action here in this fast-paced and out of control 4-way tag team match! It was the match the fans had been waiting for for months, and it certainly delivered. To begin with, The Specialists were in control, with Owen Love in their corner of the ring and in danger of being pinned on numerous occasions. However, The American Shooters were desperate to get tagged in, and they eventually were as Love crawled and clawed his way to their corner following a DDT to Nate Johnson. Johnson tagged Ricky DeColt in, and he was joined by Sean Deeley as the two former allied threw down. Things broke down moments later as all 6 healthy competitors got into the ring and brawled, with Love and Johnson still down. The chaos that followed led to a number of suicide dives and moves on the outside of the ring, but in the end, The Natural was left standing in the ring with Bobby Thomas. With the referee distracted Thomas attempted a chair shot, but The Natural ducked and turned round to hit his ‘Nature Calls’ super kick and pin the member of the Specialists.

Rating:

B-

Winners:

and STILL NOTBPW Tag Team Champions… The CanAm Blondes w/ Jenny Playmate

</div>

June 21, 2015

Got ya , I started my Dynasty! (;

June 22, 2015

Hey Dynasty makers , I am trying a new format , but every time I want to put my angles and matches in a quote but I get the lengthen your message error. How can I put my matches and stuff in quotes without getting an error?

Blodyxe · June 22, 2015

Hey Dynasty makers , I am trying a new format , but every time I want to put my angles and matches in a quote but I get the lengthen your message error. How can I put my matches and stuff in quotes without getting an error?

Just leave something outside the quote marks. Why put everything in there?

Bigpapa42 · June 22, 2015

I would say one of the biggest things to remember is to write a story you would want to read. Don't worry about chasing readers, or being too close or too removed from reality. It may be corny, but write true to yourself first of all. People will be able to sense your sincerity, for lack of a better word, and that will make them better able to swallow anything else you want to feed them. If you believe that in the world you're establishing that Chavo Guerrero can beat Brock Lesnar for the title, then get him to a place where that's believable and then make it happen. On the flip side, John Cena beating Barry Horowitz will ring false if the writer can't buy into it. Whatever your starting point is, everything in the future hasn't happened yet. Don't feel constrained by it.

This is probably the truest advice that can be given for an aspiring diary writer.

Doing a diary tends to be a lot of work. It needs to be a labor of love and you need to find enjoyment in the process. Its not the kind of thing you want to be doing for validation of others. Because even if you have a decent reader-base, you don't always get a ton of feedback. And if you are doing it for the kudos, spending hours writing and formatting a show and getting one person saying "nice show" afterward and be enormously frustrating.

June 22, 2015

Hmm , I just tried ( I pressed the quote button ) and put this message outside of it.

Blodyxe · June 22, 2015

Hmm , I just tried ( I pressed the quote button ) and put this message outside of it.

mark the text you want to quote, then press the button. Until everything is quoted, system will block the message

June 22, 2015

I'm not trying to quote someone's sentence I just want to quote what I put inside the quotes.

June 22, 2015

hi

hii

June 22, 2015

Ok I guess you have to put something outside the quotes?

BHK1978 · June 23, 2015

This is probably the truest advice that can be given for an aspiring diary writer.

Doing a diary tends to be a lot of work. It needs to be a labor of love and you need to find enjoyment in the process. Its not the kind of thing you want to be doing for validation of others. Because even if you have a decent reader-base, you don't always get a ton of feedback. And if you are doing it for the kudos, spending hours writing and formatting a show and getting one person saying "nice show" afterward and be enormously frustrating.

I never got the whole "write for yourself" way of thinking. I mean obviously the people who post on here want people to read what they write or they would not post. I post because I want people to read and maybe have a laugh at some of the stuff I write or for my multiple typos and my bad match write-ups.

I do not care about the awards on here because they mean nothing to me. I even do not care if I get feedback, because I feel feedback is a two way street. In order to get it, you have to give it to others and that is something I stopped doing long ago. Basically my feedback is my picks and the occasional comment I may make.

The thing I do care if I have a decent view count. If I am not getting a decent view count then I feel that it is a waste of my time.

BHK1978 · June 23, 2015

Ok I guess you have to put something outside the quotes?

Sorry for the back-to-back posts but I just saw this. Yes you have to have something on the outside of your quotes in order to post in quotes. I sometimes forget and then it will not let me preview my post and I get annoyed at myself for forgetting.

June 23, 2015

Thanks.

James Casey · June 23, 2015

I'm a little late to add to this, but I have a few pointers that may or may not be of use to those looking to start diaries.

Take your time - I see so many diaries that writers rush into (I've done this myself) and before too long they lose interest, or they realise they don't know the company as well as they thought, so they can't meet an owner goal or whatever. That can kill the writer's interest stone cold.

Know your company - Unless you have experience of righting a sinking ship in game, then starting a diary where you run as TNA (or DaVE in 2007) is suicide. Any mod set up correctly should kill TNA quickly, given its awful finances and lack of star attractions to bring in attention. Trying to offset that while writing good shows is difficult at best (although if you do backstage stuff in your diary, it can make for great segments!)

Know your enemies - Unless you're playing as one of the big name companies, you're likely to get raided. In my MAW diary I lost workers to the SWF on a regular basis; At one point I had 4 main eventers snapped up inside of a week. You will struggle to write long-term storylines when one or more of the key figures could get poached at any time. If you're playing as Ring of Honor, early 2000s ECW, CZCW or whoever, chances are you're going to get raided, so be ready to build new stars.

Plan ahead... - Don't just throw random shows together. Every show, ideally every segment, should build your storylines or at least have a focus of getting one or more workers over. In my private games I play more randomly, but when I'm doing a diary game, I have my sights set on the next PPV, the next few months, the next year, all with the intention of hitting certain points where a storyline will pay off.

...but be flexible - In my MAW game the two biggest names I had were Kirk Jameson and Aaron Andrews. My intention when starting the game was to have Frankie Perez and Jay Chord as my stars, but Frankie got stolen after a few months, and Jay was too unreliable to build around. Andrews and Jameson didn't have chemistry in-ring or anything, but my readers got behind them and I was able to keep them long enough to build an 18 month feud around them.

Similarly, my SWF game was set up to run a new generation storyline, which I did, but I intended to push the Bumfholes as the focus of the diary. It never quite happened, and the Keith twins got that role instead.

Be realistic about your time - My writing time mostly survived the birth of one child, but not the second. When our youngest child was born I seemed to have no time to write - everything was compressed to make time for them, and writing was the thing that suffered the most. Whatever's important to you, you have to balance time writing against that, same as any new pursuit you might take up.

You'll make mistakes - I had a fantastic storyline for WCW's rebirth in my head during a Smackdown diary I was writing in the brand split era. The problem was, I didn't allow for the need to book good shows, and without keeping up a steady stream of B+ shows, Smackdown fell to Cult and I got sacked. Oh well...

And one that worked for me, but may not suit everyone:

Know your graphics - Use photobucket to manage your photos, but turn off the 'Rename files on upload' setting, or whatever it's called. You may need to dig through the settings to find it. Work out what photos you want to use, copy them to a separate folder, rename them as simply as possible, and then upload them to a single dedicated folder on your PB account.

That way you can have an easy template in something like Word for linking to your photos. In my SWF diary, I kept all my workers' photos as simple as possible - Faith.jpg, McFly.jpg and so on. If I had family together, then I used first names - Zimmy.jpg and Randy.jpg, for example.

That made adding photos to my diary so, so, so much easier than hunting through PB's pages to find the right photo, selecting the link to it, pasting it into my diary, then trying to find the next link.

I found this approach, while a bit time-heavy to set up, so much easier to use in the long run because I could use use my preset links to add in all the photos I needed, a lot quicker than hunting through my photobucket folder. I did that in the past, and barely used photos because of the difficulty in doing so.

If I remember, I'll try and throw up a screenshot of how my Word documents are set up for quick and easy formatting of shows and pictures. I found using Word 2003 easiest because the formatting is pretty well compatible with the formatting on the forum. Later MS Office programs, or OpenOffice which I tried as an alternative, seem not to use the same formatting and gave me problems on the forum when I tried to use them.

Saying that, I just cut and pasted this post into whatever version of Word I have at work (2010?) and it seemed to work fine. I'm just far more used to 2003 than the later versions, I guess.

Sign In

How to Dynasty?

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest TomTEWFAN

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Archived