-changed to Trebuchet, size 14 Brilliant, loved this.

-Changed font color -Corrected Spelling mistakes. -none of your links work for me. try reposting. -did a bit of reformatting.

-Changed the orange font. (Sorry, ik it's unique, but it's also not easy to read...) -respaced

For a moment there bydolord, I thought you wrote that....then I actually read the first two lines. :rolleyes: :lol: Funny stuff. ^_^

I swear I didn't do it!1!!11 -looks around shiftily. B)

Greetings and g'day. With the pleasantly successful launch of the Amateurs Writing Section well underway, it's evident that there a number of forumers who enjoy writing for the community and wish to improve their skills. This is an admirable goal, so with these people in mind, I have decided to begin a monthly series dedicated solely to the art of writing. In the future, I hope to cover everything from 'how to use humor,' and 'what makes a good guide' to debating the merits of Past tense vs. Present, all presented with a liberal sprinkling of advice, grammatical tips, and a more-or-less witty commentary. ^_^ However, for this first installment I want to begin with the very basics... thus, Formatting 101 it is. Formatting: Why Bother? Encompassing everything from the structure of the writing itself to in article images and the color of your subheaders, formatting is the nitty-gritty attention to detail that takes a piece from to It's an absolutely necessary part of writing, because no matter how life-changing your words are if they aren't formatted properly, no one will enjoy reading your work. Think I'm wrong? Just try writing a paragraph or two in a super flowery and annoying font and you'll soon see what I mean. Same goes for use of annoying colors, awkward font sizes, and the inability to s p a c e correctly. The Ten Commandments of Formatting Structuring for Dummies The Basic Guide No matter what genre you write in, every piece contains a beginning, a middle, and ending. That said, beginning writers often flail around helplessly when it comes to structuring their work. It's definitely a learning curve, and a steep one at that, so I'll be breaking down a basic 'Guide' article for your structuring pleasure. Section I: The Title/Header Pic Section II: Article Hook As maps go, Monte Carlo is truly an oddball. Large, dynamic, and a sniper's dream, half the challenge is ensuring that your teammates don't "accidentally" flip you over the edge. Battles tend to be long and gory as capturing even a single flag is difficult, to say nothing of ten or more. Squadrons of shafters produce inevitable gridlock, and there is a protracted standoff lurking just around every metaphorical corner in the map. Despite -or perhaps, because of- the above, Monte Carlo is an insanely fun, intrinsically challenging, and uniquely interesting map that is well worth a second glance. So, let's get going, and check it out! Section III: Introduction Overview The two sides of Monte Carlo are mirror images of each other. The map can easily be divided into four separate quadrants: The Upper Base, the Lower Base, the Underpass, and the Overpass. All team spawn points are found in the Upper and Lower Bases.......... Section IV: Article Body Defending For better or worse, there are only three points of access to the flag. Enemies must come up through the Lower Base, jump across the bridge gap, or run a fearsome gauntlet of spots to respawn and snipers in the Upper Base to reach the flag....... Attacking Attacking in Monte Carlo consists mainly of trying to avoid the shaft lasers while edging shiftily towards the enemy flag. The end. ... ... ...Or perhaps not.While sometimes it certainly feels like going after the enemy flag is a pointless exercise in futility, there are things you can do to make a capture more likely.......... Sniping As a Tanker, do you find your playing style characterized by a single-minded determination to avoid the flag? Is spawn-killing your "raison d'être," and does the sheer power of a Shaft on DD send chills racing up your spine? If you answered yes to any of the above, Monte Carlo might just be a perfect fit for you.......... Dealing with Sabotage Due to the unique nature of the map, it is fairly common to see one tanker flipping others off the edge. Sometimes this is a complete accident, but at other times, it is purposefully done.......... Section V: Conclusion Conclusion Play hard, play tactically, play well. Take the enemy snipers in stride, expect to lose the flag numerous times before a capture, and focus on winning as a team. Monte Carlo is very much a "group effort" map, one where all the various branches of the team (snipers, defenders, and attackers) need to cooperate seamlessly to capture flags for the win. It can be great fun, with close, exciting matches, and is definitely a worthwhile map to play. All About Pictures Resources Dressing your article up with images lends your writing an otherwise unachievable vitality. Creating or finding quality pictures is one of the best ways to make your writing look professional. It's not an easy task, but thankfully there are a number of resources available to the TO community at large that aid in the picture-gathering process. Map Views The top-down look at each and every map is a must for any map reviews/guides. You can copy 'n paste the pertinent map view into [Insert Image Editor of Choice] and mark it up as much as you want. Handy? You betchya. Gold Box drop locations Much in the same way as map views, having the gold box drop locations mapped out for you is an invaluable resource. Modeless Spectator Can't get your hands on a Spec Account? Developed and popularized by a certain @Yisroel.Rabin, this method is an excellent substitute for those of us who just need a picture or two. It has limits, certainly, but is a phenomenal way to get in-game images. TO Wiki A host of interesting pictures can be found all over Wiki, but the game mechanics section is a particularly useful hub from which you can access pictures of hulls, turrets, etc. TankiViewer Must be downloaded, but worth it. TankiViewer allows you to get an image of every combo at every modification. Excellent for turret/hull reviews and the like. Screenshots Taking a proper screenshot is more difficult than it sounds. When I first entered the Reporting world, I remember I could never get my screenshots to look as good as those of my colleagues. This was, in a word, frustrating, so one day I sat down and fiddled with settings until I discovered optimum graphics quality. I've never had a problem since. B) My favored graphic settings. Now. I've said it once, but I'll say it again; Always. Crop. Your. Images. Get rid of any excess...stuff that has no business being in your picture. Because no one, no one cares about your experience bar. Or the 'destroyed' list. Or about your browsers, chat, and supplies. And for heavens sake, please get rid of that childish scrawl out on your crystals. We all know you're broke, you ain't foolin' nobody. (; Uploading Images To upload pictures, I personally like http://postimage.org/, though I seem to be the only one who appreciates it's reliability. I have it on fairly questionable authority *cough* Goldrock *cough* that http://www.imgur.com/ is decent, but I can't attest to that myself, having never tried it. Editing Self-editing your own work is one of the single most important skills to possess as a writer. It certainly isn't easy to go back and objectively hack apart your own writing, but you just have to suck it up and get over it. No one's writing is perfect, and the only way to improve is to recognize the flaws and work to improve. Everyone has their own unique style of editing...your own distinct method of going about it can be likened to a 'writer's fingerprint'. Because of this, there is no one 'proper formula' for editing, however, in the hopes that it might prove useful, I will at least attempt to provide advice. No matter how sick of the article or crunched you are on time, read the piece straight through without stopping to physically edit at least once. Put yourself the shoes of the reader and even though you may have just spent the last three hours writing, try to look at the writing as if for the first time. Think about the overall flow. How fast does the piece read? Are there any jerky transitions or irregularities in the pacing? This overall read is essential for seeing the big-picture view. After the overview, concentrate on the details. Go through paragraph by paragraph, reading out loud if you must, and look for punctuation errors, possible clarity issues, word repetition, and uniform spacing. At the end of the day, it is the nitty-gritty details that mark the difference between amateur and professional writing. Give yourself enough time to edit. It usually takes me a good two hours to go back and do comprehensive edits. Effective time management is key here, so pre-plan and account for editing time. Get a second opinion. No matter how objective you try to be, getting another perspective on your writing is always a good idea. Sometimes the hard truth is that you need to trash an article and restart from scratch - and it can be nearly impossible to see this on your own. Lo and behold, you've finally reached the end. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below. Any suggestions for next month's subject will be taken into consideration, and I'd appreciate any feedback you have. That's all, folks! Credits to @The_Little_Cousin for the signature. Thanks!

Welcome, readers, to another article dedicated to ,you guessed it, spam, the Amateur Writing Section! As usual, we'll be looking at the best articles from you guys, along with some new announcements for the AWC and the general chatter. Read on, and enjoy. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Top 5 Articles of the Month I'm sure you guys have this down by this point, but as per usual we'll start with the very best articles from the Amateur Writer's Section. The articles submitted from June 29th to July 29th were great, with a number of truly amazing ones in the mix. Big thanks to @tweezers, who helped with all the discussing and debating this month. Appreciate it. (: 1) Heads Will Roll By: Night-Sisters: Eerie...sinister...thought-provoking. These are good words to describe 'Heads Will Roll'. It's easily my favorite piece of the bunch, so well done, this was excellent. Tweezers: Awesome read. The use of suspense, creepiness and the general atmosphere created made for bone-chilling wonder the gruesome ending wrapped it all up nicely. The English used and the impeccable grammar complimented it as well. 2) Map Breakdown: Aleksandrovsk By: @tony990_Superstar Night-Sisters: Brilliant. This was brilliant. A thorough look at Aleksandrovsk, it's well-written and contains excellent advice for players of any rank. Well done. Tweezers: This is one of the most in depth guides that it has been my pleasure to read. The article covers pretty much every aspect of battling in Aleksandrovsk,with some well thought out tactics that could be invaluable to anyone who wants to excel there. For the next article, I would suggest adding some pictures within the article to visually demonstrate the tactics and dangers of the map. 3) Tanki Online: Top Ten Most Unique Maps By: Night-Sisters: Descriptive, engaging, and (at times) humorous, this is a quality article that really stood out in AWS. Beautifully illustrated, which is what I've come to expect from PDox's articles. Nicely done! Tweezers: Definitely one of the best map reviews I’ve read in the AWS. The explanation of the choices was spot on, and the pictures were brilliant and added in nicely. The language used completed the whole package, and all in all it shows that a lot of effort was put into making it. 4) Who Are the Tanki gods? By: @Cke1st Night-Sisters: An interesting twist on a very old subject, the creativity expressed really made this piece work. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and am interested to see what else this writer can produce. Tweezers: One word to describe this: Brilliant. Humor, inventive power, and some cold hard truths all rolled into one article which was written in flawless English. Easily one of the best articles I’ve read in the AWS, ever. 5) Five Types of Annoying Noobs By: @BLASTER872 Night-Sisters: It was easy to identify with this article, as I'm sure we've all run into these 'Tanki Types' before. Lightly penned, this is an excellent read. Tweezers: Loved this article. Covered most of the types of noobs in Tanki (you left me out mult), and a pretty good explanation of how annoying they can be. Humor was great, helped by the good English used. My one criticism would be the pictures, as they were a bit on the small side. All in all though, a thumbs up from me! Honorable Mentions: Update Overview || The Paint Separation Update by @BLASTER872 The only honorable mention this time around, this was an interesting and concise overview of the paint update. Amateur Writing Club News The Amateur Writers Group has been around for a total of three months now. @Fen-Harel and @tweezers have become/are becoming the key helpers on the project as Goldrock and myself phase out of all things Amateur Writing to deal with irl stuff (for me, college!) and administratory work. Anywho, after a one-month project hiatus, the AWC members picked up again with the Project: Best Tanki Memories. The results were surprisingly varied and interesting, and can be found here. Also, there is now a new method of entry into the Amateur Writers group. If you would like to become a resident of Spamville, join the group and follow the instructions in the topic mentioned above. We'll be checking weekly, so don't fret if your message isn't responded to instantly. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ And that's all for this issue. We'll be doing the same next month, featuring the next wave of awesome topics that you guys will doubtless produce.

Wow, that's actually a brilliant idea. I've played other MMO's where you can do that... perhaps you should take that one to ideas and suggestions (if it hasn't been done already)

-added title -changed font to Trebuchet, size 14 -resized and respaced My one other suggestion would be to open your screen fully when you take your pictures. (lags all day, ik, but for a quick picture, it's doable.) I really liked this piece. Nailed it!

-Switched font to Trebuchet, size fourteen. -Placed introduction in a spoiler. -Centered/enlarged title. -Respaced Dang. What an ending. Creeeeepy as all get-out but great.

-added a title. -various punctuation corrections. -made numbers larger -I would look into using the gold box drop locations to help number the drops. This is a really useful piece, very informative and practical. Thumbs up. =)

Annnd it devolves into what I assume is Pokemon talk. GG.

Just make a note of the sources and let me know which ones I won't be able to access. Thanks. Oo, that's an intriguing point. You're right, 'taking over' doesn't necessarily mean the annihilation of the human race, so I'd say both scenarios are applicable.

At some undisclosed date after the contest closes.

Google isn't a talented anything-speaker. <_< :lol:

Yeah, sure. I can't speak Dutch but there's always idiotic Google translate. :ph34r:

Hopefully a good one :?

uh, nope. It's by this dude >>> @H.4.M.S.T.E.R I'm 99.999% sure that he's not Lham. http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=319018&page=2&p=5492091&do=findComment&comment=5492091

LOL, I did like that one. ^_^

Wow, I had no idea that we used to have a debating society. Cool. XD

~Added Title ~Changed Font to Trebuchet ~Made various spelling corrections Quite liked this, hopefully there's more coming =)

~added title ~made slight grammar edits. nice work.

Nicely done. =)

And we're back! Welcome to the second AW debriefing, where we'll again be featuring the best pieces, latest news, and most exciting goings-on from the past month in Amateur Writer world. The writers in our community have been busy, and produced a solid number of good pieces... and some exceptional ones, to boot. But that's more than enough of the introductory blahs. You guys have been 'round the block once already and know what's up, so let's do this! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Top 5 Articles of the Month Again, we'll start with the very best articles from the Amateur Writers Section. The number and quality of articles submitted from May 29th to June 29th was great, but as usual, there were a few that really stood out. So, we've discussed, read, and discussed some more, and finally decided on our favorites for the month. (Note that fellow helper Phoenix-Warbird has just left for a month away, so she wasn't able to share her thoughts here this time round!) 1) All Kind: Interviews with the Pros By: @Mr.Latvian Night-Sisters: Well written, engaging questions, on-point formatting...this is everything an interview should be. Hats off for sure. ^_^ GoldRock: At first glance, this one featured a wide range of discussion topics to do with the highly successful team All Kind, and it didn't disappoint. A really impressive interview, packed full of interesting content and with some great questions asked. In fact, impressive enough to be featured in an official Newspaper article! 2) Just a Crosshair By: @Masquerade Night-Sisters: I was hooked from the very first paragraph, and the rest of this story did not disappoint. "Unfortunately, not every problem fits into an 84-inch box." ...it's an amazing quote that absolutely sends shivers down my spine. Discovering high-caliber pieces and unearthing previously-unknown writers is, for me, what makes running AWS absolutely awesome. GoldRock: A really clever and eloquently written story, with a fascinating plot beginning to unravel. I personally can't wait to read the next installment in the series, considering the high quality writing here. Well worth a read. 3) Science Behind Freeze By: Night-Sisters: In a word, this article is unique. I know that's an overused word, but dissecting the sciencey stuff behind this weapon is a hugely interesting idea. I look forward to seeing BTR cover even more of the weapons. *cough* Railgun *cough* GoldRock: The second in a scientific analysis of the various Tanki weapons, the 'Science Behind Freeze' article provides an interesting and original perspective on the theory behind it all. I personally thought this article flowed quite well and that the content was quite engaging. 4) Kit Review: Boar By: @Jwimmer Night-Sisters: I'll admit that it was the ending 'report card' that really did it for me with this one. The entire piece is to-the-point and useful, and grading each aspect of the kit finished it up with a bang. If I ever find the time to No Life and rank my alt up to a respectable level, I will certainly consider purchasing this kit. GoldRock: A thorough and well-structured approach, which covers the various aspects of this kit comprehensively. Very good writing and analysis which makes for a solid kit review. This should be useful to anyone contemplating buying the kit in the mid-ranks. 5) Pdox's and D4T's Opinion Column: Tanki Online By: and @Darren4Turbo Night-Sisters: The design-work in this one is what really stands out. It's a good summary of the basic elements of Tanki Online. GoldRock: Personally, I liked this article a lot. I thought it provided an effective summary of all the main aspects of the game and its surrounding community aspects, and would be great to link to anyone new to Tanki. Some good-looking designs and organised sections cap off this fairly professional piece. Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Letters of Tro El by @KillerGnat Quirky, interesting, and just plain fun, the title says it all. Definitely a personal favorite. =) The Spy by Good setup, interesting characters, and a neat plot. Count me in! Interview on Love by @Justsomeonelol Forgive me (NS speaking here) if I'm slightly biased, but I thought that this was a tremendously interesting and 'edgy' concept. :P I'll admit I had my doubts about participating at first, but overall it was a fun interview and a good read. Amateur Writing Club News It's our second month of existence, and things have settled down into a nice and predictable routine: spam, spam, and more spam we've experienced some (expected) minor bumps in the road, and one or two members have been deemed unfit to participate, but in general, AWC is flourishing and growing at a rapid rate. Sadly, there was no project this month (blame the Night Sisters) due to time constraints and the pressing duties of life on the Reporter end of it. Fear not, that will be remedied next month. On a happier note, yet another of the AWC members, @tweezers, was promoted to Candidate Reporter this month. Congrats! Feel like you want to get involved? Check out the the Section Guidelines, write a suitable article, post it in the Amateur Writing section and you'll soon receive an invitation to join the Club. We keep excellent tabs on who's posting, and all casual and amateur community writers are welcome! You can read more about the Amateur Writing Club here. New Distinguished Members @KillerGnat Congratulations on your high-quality contributions to the Amateur Writing section, and we hope to see you continue along the same lines. Regardless, there are many hard-working writers in the section who could soon join the ranks of the Distinguished Members. Keep writing! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ And that's all folks! Hopefully you enjoyed seeing what the communities up-and-coming writers are working on. Tune in next month for more of the same, 'til then this is master-boss-admin-king Goldnug and Night-Sisters signing off.

-made basic grammar and punctuation fixes. Nicely done.