Story Line Advice

Time for Jack Legacy to drop some knowledge on everyone!

No, sorry. Not that condescending, and certainly not that going to stand here in front of all the fine members of the Moonlit Warriors Federation and pretend that I know everything. I would never admit that. Publicly. Sometimes. Anyway....

What I wanted to do was to get several pieces of advice on record for people to look at, consider, and possibly use as they get their angles going. For those not in the know, your angle is your feud. It will only go well if two people work together.

1. KNOW WHERE YOUR GOING: Never get into an angle without knowing where you want it to take you. Do you want to be more sympathetic after its over? Do you want to be a bigger, badder, bad guy? Do you want to establish motivation for the way your character will act in the future? Do you want to end up in a feud with a different character?

It is impossible to know what your going to do unless you understand where you want to end up. If you know that, you can role-play your stories more effectively.

2. BE UNAFRAID TO LOOK BAD: Sometime during your story-line, you will have to give the advantage to your opponent and look bad. It could be him getting the verbal best of you. It could be getting a physical beat-down backstage or in the ring. Whichever way it will go, let the person your feuding with get the upper hand in your battle.

It will add variety. It will build sympathy for your character. It will make your eventual victory look more impressive because it will build your enemy up. It may make your eventual defeat not look so bad, because your opponent looked like such a monster, thanks to your efforts.

3. ADD VARIETY AND BE ORIGINAL: Don't go out and do the same thing role-play after role-play. This is the toughest thing to get around. I have this problem in spades sometimes. The best thing to do is do similar things, but with minor variations. Sometimes add an interviewer. Sometimes add another wrestler. As in point 2, sometimes lose the exchange.

Being original can be even more difficult than adding variety. The easiest thing to do would be to see a segment on RAW or SMACKDOWN, and copy that. DON'T! Don't be John Cena. Don't be The Rock. Now that does not mean don't pay homage. But be who you are. Pay homage to that segment you saw 5 or 6 years ago that tickled you and you thought was awesome. But make it you and make it yours.

4. KNOW YOUR CHARACTER: Know who your character is and what your character does. Think before you react: "How would my character react?" Get into your character and BE your character. Role-playing is half about fulfilling your wrestling ideals. Do that. Know your characters temperament, catch-phrases and sayings so you can respond ideally to what goes on in-ring or backstage.

5. MOST IMPORTANT: TRY! TRY! TRY! : I broke the rule of listing most important first. But seriously, you should try to post SOMETHING each week. It could be long or short. It could be the greatest piece of literary fan fiction ever, or something produced for a SyFy original movie. It doesn't matter. Don't be embarrassed if your writing is not as good as someone else. Just be happy to contribute, and know that your contributions will be greatly appreciated by EVERYONE!

Anyone else willing to add advice is free to do it here. if your stuck, post your problem in the board under Story-Line Central and someone will be happy to help you out. We are a community of equals. There is no shame in having a problem, and nothing exists in wrestling that can't be solved. (Except for how Randy Orton keeps being given live microphones. Still can't figure that out.)