I want to write an AAR, but I'm afraid I'll just repeat myself over and over again after a few chapters (I've already done so but I never posted them because of this...). Any tips to avoid that? How can I spice things up?
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Both, actually. I'm afraid my AAR will just amount to me repeating myself over and over, because events repeat themselves AND because at some point its hard to describe the same kind of things (Like, a battle or a conquest) happening without repeating oneself. So I'm all for people to give me tips and ideas to make it more interesting.
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The fear of that tendency is surely felt by many and it is not unusual to fall into that trap. I know that for the last 100 years of my 40 Years On AAR in EU3 it became tedious for me as the writer because it was really just one long war with the same objectives each time because of game mechanics to achieve my goal. That said, in each game and with every event there is a unique perspective to be put upon it. It all depends on what kind of AAR you want to write. So the event happened in game. Why did it happen? Who did it effect? How will it change what is planned or not planned? etc. As you play the game, get into a mindset of what kind of story this could be and/or why tell it. It will start to write itself.
Also get out and read what others are doing. It is no bad thing to copy masters and this place is full of them. Good luck!
Also get out and read what others are doing. It is no bad thing to copy masters and this place is full of them. Good luck!
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I agree with @coz1.
In addition, there is more than one style of AAR - if you think that one style (like gameplay or history book) is too repetitive, then you can try a different one. For example, if your game is just a bunch of wars, you could try a history book that contains justifications for why those wars are happening, or maybe a narrative about how an individual (a ruler, a noble, a merchant, or maybe even an ordinary citizen) is affected by that.
In addition, there is more than one style of AAR - if you think that one style (like gameplay or history book) is too repetitive, then you can try a different one. For example, if your game is just a bunch of wars, you could try a history book that contains justifications for why those wars are happening, or maybe a narrative about how an individual (a ruler, a noble, a merchant, or maybe even an ordinary citizen) is affected by that.
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Repetition is definitely going to happen, I think it's all about either writing it down and showing it to people in a different way or just knowing well when something is valuable to share and when not. Because not everything needs to be said to the readAAR.
An example: in my first AAR as Byzantium, I definitely OVERshared a lot of details and small little things and battles that I at the moment thought were essential for people to know. But looking back at it, it was really just unnecessary and made chapters also way too long cause I didn't only had to say it, but people NEEDED a screenshot to make sure they understood what I meant. Which of course was stupid looking at it now. Ah the joy of being a first time writAAR...
An example: in my first AAR as Byzantium, I definitely OVERshared a lot of details and small little things and battles that I at the moment thought were essential for people to know. But looking back at it, it was really just unnecessary and made chapters also way too long cause I didn't only had to say it, but people NEEDED a screenshot to make sure they understood what I meant. Which of course was stupid looking at it now. Ah the joy of being a first time writAAR...
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I have to echo this, as I'm a huge offender of overloading myself with data capturing Every. Single. Engagement. in a HoI3 game. Think of it this way: the Battle of the Bulge was composed of a multitude of small skirmishes, engagements, barrages, etc. But we lump them all together as 'the battle' and selectively describe the portions that stand out as significant (Bastogne, Patton sending 3AD north, the checking of the German advance, etc), while accounting for the overall losses incurred during the battle. Think about the questions your readers will have:
- Why was this action important?
- Who are the major leaders, units, etc?
- Where did those units want to go/defend?
- What season was this happening in?
- When did it start/end?
- How did these all impact the overall conduct of the war moving forward?
That last one can be how you make the repetition seem fresh. Did you alter your unit composition? Did you spread your army out because of attrition, or the obliteration of the enemy? Did you work towards a negotiated settlement after a defeat (hard in P'dox games sometimes, because of how things are valued by AI/Players trending towards all-or-nothing wars).
- Why was this action important?
- Who are the major leaders, units, etc?
- Where did those units want to go/defend?
- What season was this happening in?
- When did it start/end?
- How did these all impact the overall conduct of the war moving forward?
That last one can be how you make the repetition seem fresh. Did you alter your unit composition? Did you spread your army out because of attrition, or the obliteration of the enemy? Did you work towards a negotiated settlement after a defeat (hard in P'dox games sometimes, because of how things are valued by AI/Players trending towards all-or-nothing wars).
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Also, mods can make things different from non-modded games and, therefore, interesting.
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All of the above advice is great. Something that I find helps with the tendency to be repetitive is to weave a little narrative that goes beyond what actually happened in the game, a bit more elaboration where there is room for some creativity. You might have fought essentially the same war five times in a row - but maybe the causes and characters were different this time, or the process was different, or there was a little personal story in there. Taking inspiration from real history - where all manner of things that would sound unrealistic in a fictional story have actually happened - can help add in that bit of spice to make each update feel a little different.
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Make a joke of the repetition. Have the characters be aware of it. Make them confront the cyclical nature of history and the darkness of their own souls. Have them go insane with despair and become angry, lashing out in fury at anyone and anything that reminds them of their cursed existence. Create a world of Ash and pain to match the unending dread of the human experience, as the battles never end but repeat, and repeat, and the wars carry on regardless of why or how.
Make a comedy AAR.
Make a comedy AAR.
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@Jordy_McCroquette avoiding repetition can be difficult, and many authors do seem repetitive. But there are clever ways out of those traps. The advice above is good.
There are differences between the styles of AAR which makes the advice different for each.
Historybook authors, if that's your thing, avoid repetition because they're providing the history and background and setting, and since it's always changing it's not repetitive. Historybook goes from event to event, and it's varied because the events are varied. If a portion of a war, or a period of development, gets boring, then SAY that -- "then there occurred a series of events over a period of 5 years when the country developed and grew...."
Gameplay can be repetitive based on some unfortunate habits:
1. Don't tell us EVERYTHING that happened in the game -- most of us play these games, and we know alot of the scripted events and tech advances. Mention it if it's important, but if it's just another culture tech or artillery advance either don't bother telling us or tell us why it's a big deal -- why it makes it more important than other similar events.
2. Don't explain every little detail, like every skirmish, or the 12th time you've switched taxes up for the middle class. I've written gameplay games where I focus on almost all of the battles in a war, but generally when the game is new and people are wanting to see how the gameplay goes. My current AAR I'm skipping most of the battles and only focusing on really important turning points. Or I'll give a generalized trend my battles are falling into.
Narrative has its own traps:
1. Boring dialogue. There is a place for setting a cozy scene, or establishing a personality or relationship, through an occasional personal chat over events of the day. But if every scene is like this -- "coffee or tea?" "how are the kids?" "What about those Georgians?" -- then it grows stale and doesn't contribute to the story. Mix things up - have some dialogue in snippets while two characters run for their lives, have a conversation in the drawing room, then the next one at a sports event or party. Just be creative.
2. Not every scene has to be with the king/president, or in an office with the cabinet or a secretary present. Switch it up! Have a scene with a housewife, another with a soldier, another with the commander, and another with the cabinet. Have scenes from the enemy point of view. In writing they say SHOW, don't tell. Illustrate the fabric of your story instead of having the president tell you how everything happened.
3. Not every scene has to start when a person enters a room and end when someone leaves a room (or hangs up the phone). Start the scene when things get interesting and end it when they stop. That skips all the useless chatter.
In all of my AARs (be they narrative, historybook or gameplay), I've used screenshots and/or illustrative period art to drive the story. My scenes or descriptions are then built on top of the foundation laid by the screenshots. I find it difficult to read through walls of text. Artwork sets the scene, and it provides something to refer back to, to illustrate what's going on in the text. I take screenshots religiously when I'm playing (I discovered yesterday that I'd hit a 10,000 screenshot limit on my current AAR game and I had to remove them for the game to start playing properly and so I could take additional screenshots). I may discard 95% of the screenshots, or use them only to remind MYSELF of what was going on, so I can better tell the story. Some screenshots show "this is what I was thinking at the time -- this is the information that drove my decision", and thereby help ME write the text in a way that explains what was really going on, even if it never gets posted into the AAR.
Hope this helps! I definitely encourage writers to start an AAR and find their voice. It makes playing more interesting, and draws others into the games also.
Rensslaer
There are differences between the styles of AAR which makes the advice different for each.
Historybook authors, if that's your thing, avoid repetition because they're providing the history and background and setting, and since it's always changing it's not repetitive. Historybook goes from event to event, and it's varied because the events are varied. If a portion of a war, or a period of development, gets boring, then SAY that -- "then there occurred a series of events over a period of 5 years when the country developed and grew...."
Gameplay can be repetitive based on some unfortunate habits:
1. Don't tell us EVERYTHING that happened in the game -- most of us play these games, and we know alot of the scripted events and tech advances. Mention it if it's important, but if it's just another culture tech or artillery advance either don't bother telling us or tell us why it's a big deal -- why it makes it more important than other similar events.
2. Don't explain every little detail, like every skirmish, or the 12th time you've switched taxes up for the middle class. I've written gameplay games where I focus on almost all of the battles in a war, but generally when the game is new and people are wanting to see how the gameplay goes. My current AAR I'm skipping most of the battles and only focusing on really important turning points. Or I'll give a generalized trend my battles are falling into.
Narrative has its own traps:
1. Boring dialogue. There is a place for setting a cozy scene, or establishing a personality or relationship, through an occasional personal chat over events of the day. But if every scene is like this -- "coffee or tea?" "how are the kids?" "What about those Georgians?" -- then it grows stale and doesn't contribute to the story. Mix things up - have some dialogue in snippets while two characters run for their lives, have a conversation in the drawing room, then the next one at a sports event or party. Just be creative.
2. Not every scene has to be with the king/president, or in an office with the cabinet or a secretary present. Switch it up! Have a scene with a housewife, another with a soldier, another with the commander, and another with the cabinet. Have scenes from the enemy point of view. In writing they say SHOW, don't tell. Illustrate the fabric of your story instead of having the president tell you how everything happened.
3. Not every scene has to start when a person enters a room and end when someone leaves a room (or hangs up the phone). Start the scene when things get interesting and end it when they stop. That skips all the useless chatter.
In all of my AARs (be they narrative, historybook or gameplay), I've used screenshots and/or illustrative period art to drive the story. My scenes or descriptions are then built on top of the foundation laid by the screenshots. I find it difficult to read through walls of text. Artwork sets the scene, and it provides something to refer back to, to illustrate what's going on in the text. I take screenshots religiously when I'm playing (I discovered yesterday that I'd hit a 10,000 screenshot limit on my current AAR game and I had to remove them for the game to start playing properly and so I could take additional screenshots). I may discard 95% of the screenshots, or use them only to remind MYSELF of what was going on, so I can better tell the story. Some screenshots show "this is what I was thinking at the time -- this is the information that drove my decision", and thereby help ME write the text in a way that explains what was really going on, even if it never gets posted into the AAR.
Hope this helps! I definitely encourage writers to start an AAR and find their voice. It makes playing more interesting, and draws others into the games also.
Rensslaer
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