Treatise on Style

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Treatise on Style

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Articles in this treatise are designed to provide information regarding the stylized aspects of the English language. Some of this treatise directly deals with writing in Tazlure, but some of it is also for general use. A writer's style and effective use of the English language sets him or her aside. These articles present ideas on how to improve a writer's style, broaden the writer's ability to set a scene, and create unique and interesting language. After all, writing is an artform, not a technicality.
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Using the Five Senses

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Using the Five Senses
article written by Maeve

Simply put: you are a stage setter - storyteller. It is your job to paint a world for your player to live in and then present things for him/her to interact with. The more vividly you paint your world, the more fun it will be for readers and ultimately for you.

Use All the Senses
When describing your scene try to imagine not only what objects and exits are in the near vicinity. What sounds can be heard? What smell is in the air? How do certain objects feel? Rough, smooth, jagged? Is there something eerie that makes their sixth sense scream at them? You are trying to totally involve the player in what he is reading.

Keep It Simple Stupid
Most important thing is to paint a picture your reader can see himself in. Describe any things in his environment that might be important or that he might use without going overboard on your descriptions. Sometimes that might simply be that he's wandered into a room stacked with many crates and boxes.

Don't go overboard on strange details that are mere windowdressing, unless you want a player to investigate it. Details call attention to an object, so only put them in if you WANT them to investigate an object or if it is vital to put in flavor.

Consider yourself warned. Players will seldom respond with long verbose posts even if you put in an hour of your time to write five paragraphs. Spend you energy wisely and keep your posts simple and to the point, while still involving all the senses. Three paragraphs is a good number to aim for an opening post, and it might dwindle to less during the actual running of the thread.

Be aware that metaphors, while interesting in a novel, do not always work in Play by Post gaming, unless they are tied to the theme of the plotline. Think carefully on what metaphors you are using. If they do not have an immediate function that relates to your plotline, leave them out.

Be Consistent
Try to ensure that everything in place is the same as the player encountered the last time. Check if there is already a description on the location in place, established speech etc.

Keep Your Facts Straight
If the dragon stood to the left, make sure she is not to the right in the next post.

The Tazlure Atmosphere
When you write a post thing of the million little details that tell the player that they are not walking in any little old fantasy setting, but that this is Tazlure. Use the lingo of months and time, try to incorporate verbs or slang. Perhaps there is something specific about the culture or religion of the area that you can add to the background. A paladin of Dominicus or an adhiel of Pan's Isle make quite a contrast. Think of imports from other areas, specific smells of certain spices, tapestries or wine.
You can find all these details in the World Guide.
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Tazlurian Particulars

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Tazlurian Particulars
article written by Maeve

Talk the Talk
Add flavor to your post by adding the right Tazlurian words. Under the World Guide in the Tazlure Science section there are descriptions of coins, days, months, time, star constellations etc. You will also find the Tazlurian Lexicon located there. It contains more than just a guide to Elvish. For instance, do you know what Go on Manyana's Feet means?

In the Pantheon database in the World Guide you may find alternative titles for deities. The Hooved One, or The Mischievous One is something easily mentioned by a character when they indicate Pan.

Know Thy History and Culture!
In the World Guide under the general sections for the nations there is a considerable amount of history listed. Even isles and towns may have additional history. All this is common knowledge, so can easily be integrated into a casual remark.

Likewise objects have a habit of being imported from somewhere. Casually mentioning its origins (like wine from Nediel, a town in Kislovan) will make players curious and again paints a very Tazlurian picture.

Make the World Guide work for you!

Things Tazlure is Not
To start with Tazlure maybe fantasy but it is not fairy tale. Without every part of the world necessarily being gritty and dark, we are seeking a certain depth and realism. Events have their own Tazlurian logic, and it is applied ruthlessly with the dogma IC actions have IC consequences.

We are also not a whole lot of other settings. We are not happy with direct quotes or obvious rip offs of D&D, Vampire, Jordan or even Tolkien. Tazlure strives for originality, despite the fact we are clearly inspired by some fantasy book (see the Players Guide).

Finally, though we often seek history to guide us, Tazlure is not a historic game. Roughly speaking the Empire of Seven Isles follows the technology level of the 12th/13th century in Europe, while the Western Kingdom is more in the Renaissance and Terra Incognita somewhere in between both. However traditional attitudes towards women may vary greatly. While noble families may think a woman the weaker sex, on a common level they are integrated in all aspects of society: as farmers, bards, guards etc. This comes close, but not quite to some of the pre-christian attitudes of the European people. There is also the magical aspects coupled with the different races which adds something that has no historical precedent, and thus creates a marked difference. Airships and other forms of aerial travel are good example.
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Creating Good Flow

Flow refers to how effortless the reading experience is. This can refer to the words themselves and how they read on a page, but can also refer to the plotline. A piece with good flow allows the reader to move through the pages without having to stop at an awkward phrase or plot inconsistency.

On the first read of your first draft, note any spots where you had to stop and reread a sentence. Also note anytime you set the reading down and moved onto something else (for whatever reason). Also pay attention to your plot: note any time you had to go back and reference something because you were unsure about how a plot point related. Finally, note anytime you skimmed or even flipped the page to see how much of the section was left. These are all places were flow is interrupted.

Usually flow is interrupted because of passive sentences, awkward phrases, extra material that do not contribute to the story, or run-on sentences. Examine the places you marked for those things. If the sentence, paragraph, or word does not actively contribute to your story, plot, character, or setting then delete it. You will find that by killing all irrelevant content the flow smoothes out greatly.

Another thing that interrupts the flow of a piece is repetition. If you find that you use the same word, phrase, or symbolism repeatedly this will not only create a boring read, but will also create "reading hiccups".

For example:

"John went to the grocery store. John went to the bakery. John bought bread at the bakery. John went home."

Those accurate and simple sentences are very hard for a reader to get through because of its repetition.

Rephrasing things and choosing different words leads to this:

John arrived at the bakery in the grocery store. He bought bread and then headed home.

You've conveyed the same idea but made the flow smoother.

Simply fixing the flow of your piece will greatly improve its readability and ultimately the reader's experience.
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