Guide [Editorials] Gaining Popularity In the AWS

[Person_Random 4,991]

 

 

 

Disclaimer: This is just in theory, it has not been proven as scientific law. Please do not take this as your holy text of writing!

(I hope you can see this, as I put it in Yellow.)

HEY! YOU THERE!

 

Tired of writing articles that only the news team sees? It’s everyone’s struggle, unless, of course, you have been an editorial writer. Then, everyone is dying to read what you have said. And if you can achieve a higher status, you would be a reporter and then usually everyone will like what you write. Unfortunately, that isn’t all of us. All of us began here, where we were dying for someone to read our work and critique us.

Fortunately, it’s not an unattainable height. Even the most “unskilled” of writers can eventually climb to the top. But wouldn’t you like it if the process was sped up? After looking over some of the most viewed posts, I might know how to help you - an average, normal writer like me - gain more audience. I realized that the three most important things (assuming that you have some form of high quality writing already) are:

1.Title
2.Genre
3.Pictures

With this guide, I will hopefully guide you through the process of improving your writing and these aspects.



1. Title

 

The objective of a title is to inform your readers about the topic, but briefly. Nobody wants to see a title that turns out to be as long as the summary of the article, but a boring title can repel readers. You can name your topic anything from A Review of Smoky to Zero Ways I’ve Lost in Deathmatch. Even if the article is not the best, an interesting title will make people read your article. It’s not one of my talents, but if you’ve got time to be creative, then go for it. Meanwhile, I’ll just suffer, as I write more and see article after article going unread.

But before you try to come up with the most interesting titles, make sure you don’t mislead the reader into thinking that you are going to talk about the science of making popsicles when you really wanted to do a guide on Freeze. It would be slightly confusing. Thankfully, there are no examples of this, so that’s good news.



2. Genre

 

 

Just like finding your own unique playing style in Tanki, aspiring writers should find their own unique writing style and genre. Choosing one genre to stick with for your whole AWS career would seem daunting, so select several that you feel comfortable with. And with each genre comes a certain style that most people generally stick to. While it may be for the best to copy what everyone  else is doing, it’s always okay to think outside the box and come up with an unorthodox idea, just as long as you don’t get negative reviews. In that case, you may walk around in shame for a moment.

Guide

 

Hey now that you know that I like to play with Rubik's cubes, will you buy me a MoYu WeiLong GTS 3 M? Just kidding.

 

Objective: To teach readers how to do/use something, whether it be equipment, or surviving in Matchmaking battles.

Try this if: You enjoy giving instructions to people or teach people well. Being able to elaborate where necessary and explain clearly is a must!

Beginner’s Tip: Start simple. Write about the aspects of Tanki you are familiar with. Don’t write about Parkour if you’ve only done 3 PRO Battles in your whole career, and the only trick you know in parkour is slipping off a ramp and landing upside-down. And when giving instructions on equipment, please don’t teach your readers to be good at a turret/hull you’ve never played on because the information you will give is likely to be totally wrong and they might be very, very mad at you.

Always stay on topic. Don’t begin to tell jokes in the middle or tell people stories (unless they are related or you are moving on to another section and that is the perfect transition). I know it may be hard. Sometimes, you read an article and feel like you should also add [insert material here] in. Then you read about thirty more articles and do the same thing. In the end, everything comes out as a useless jumble or a reader’s commentary about everything in Tanki.

If that is what is happening when you are writing a guide, then maybe you should switch your writing style and write something new. Or, do what I do. I write random columns in my notebook whenever I’m bored in class.

Well, that’s all for guides. I’m not a guide writer much so I’m going to have to move on. If you’re asking, “But wait, aren’t you writing a guide?”, I’d have to tell you that I’m writing a guide in a guide, and that isn’t exactly an easy task.

A Great Writer of Guides: @C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R
TO News Contest Entry: The Art of Shaft
Editorial Issue 74: A Professional's Guide to Hammer

Conq, no I am not mad at you for ending MoF

Opinion Articles (which includes Reviews)

 

 

Top 7 Random Opinion Articles

 

So I’ve read a few reviews, and I’m not ready to write one. However, you might be, so I decided to be a helpful person and give you a hint on which one to write. Wait a second, I just wrote one. Amazing. See, you’ve helped me learn how to write a review by being such a great audience. Thanks, I owe you one.

Rating Scale for writing a guide:
Creativity: How creative/original is the idea? (Is it overused?)
Difficulty: How easy/hard is it to write, which means 10 is the easiest.
Relatability: Will people likely relate to it? (i.e. People with M1s will probably not relate to M2 Alterations)
Overall: The overall rating of how likely your new article will be popular*, not an average.
*That is, if you put in the time and effort!

 

 

7. Alterations

It’s a pretty untouched category, probably since only a few alterations are used. Maybe if you write one, you can convince some fellow tankers to use some crystals on an alteration you consider useful. Actually, with the introduction of new alterations, it could be a pretty good business to write alteration guides. It should be easy to get some viewers looking at your articles, except that you might notice that you have a lot less crystals.
Creativity: 7
Difficulty: 7
Relatability: 6
Overall: 6.5
 

6. Product Kits


It used to be in almost every issue of the newspaper. (Ahem @Hexed) At least M3 Kit Reviews are. Which means that you should probably read the recent reviews to make sure you don’t review one that a reporter already did. They are pretty useful, but keep in mind what ranks the readers are. And please write a review on a kit you have.
Creativity: 4.5
Difficulty: 8
Relatability: 6
Overall: 7.5

5. Maps

These are hardly done, so go ahead and try one. I don’t know about the other readers, but I only know the MMS maps because I don’t have a Pro Pass. Okay, just kidding, I can enter Pro Battles without a Pro Pass, but I don’t usually do anything anyways. However, everyone who has played several times on a map would be familiar with it. The visual aids help, right? These are quite hard to pull off well, as you need to try and provide some insight into strategy on the map, instead of just saying, "The buildings look pretty!"
Creativity: 7
Difficulty: 6
Relatability: 7
Overall: 7.5
 

4. Garage Review



Rather personal review. In this situation, you have two choices: review your current garage or review your garage as it grew. Readers get to see what type of tanker you are. One thing: Don’t defend your judgments. There’s at least one person who won’t agree that a certain M1 is worth a 3/10, especially after the update when it was buffed and everyone hates it because it’s now so OP.
Creativity: 8
Difficulty: 6
Relatability: 3
Overall: 7.5
 

3. Hulls/Turrets


This one’s in the archives – the old time news reporters did some of those. Doing a remake of those is totally fine, but don’t copy their entries and post them as yours. Most people should find this pretty normal, so add a creative spin and it will become awesome. However, the equipment balance at different ranks varies, which produces unique reviews at different ranks of the writer. So you can quite easily survive without copying.
Creativity: 6
Difficulty: 7.5
Relatability: 8
Overall: 8.25
 

2. Comparison Article
VS

A comparison article is where you compare Tanki to something else, like another video game. I can’t really provide many examples, but I hope you get the point. This topic is broader, so you will have an easier time coming up with your own individualized idea. I would recommend choosing a game vaguely related - you will find it easier to compare Tanki to World of Tanks than you would to Candy Crush, for example.
Creativity: 8.75
Difficulty: 8.5
Relatability: 6.5
Overall: 8.75

 

1. Guide-Review
A hybrid. Since you could have a lot of space left after a review, you should totally kill two birds with one stone and do a guide as well. The advice will also inform readers and allow them to make a better decision before buying equipment.
Creativity: 7
Difficulty: 7.5
Relatability: 7.75
Overall: 9
 

A Great Writer of Opinion Articles: @GrandExecutioner Well, that’s my opinion.
TO News Contest Winner: 10 Maps In Real Life
Editorial: 10 Reasons Why Tanki Is Becoming a Sport

I'll bet his favorite number is 10.

 

 

Interviews

 

I think it’s easier if I just show you.
@Person_Random:Well, hi. It’s me!
@Person_Random: Hey! It’s me! Not you.
(random chatter continues for fifteen more minutes)
@Person_Random: What were we even doing anyway?
@Person_Random: Oh right, I was supposed to be interviewed!
@Person_Random: Alrighty, let’s get started. So what even is an interview?
@Person_Random: You ask questions and I answer.
@Person_Random: Gee, that’s easy. Well, any tips? We got done through this so fast I didn’t think of anything else.
@Person_Random: Here’s one: plan! Here’s another that I learned in AP Chinese: you interview people, but you can’t just take their answers and put them on the paper (or Web, if you are so picky). You want to write well, so you should definitely make the responses cool, but make sure not to stray from the original meaning.
@Person_Random: Oh, alright. That makes some sense. But I still don’t get some things. Like who should I interview?
@Person_Random: Important people, of course. Not really, you can also interview someone you consider a role model, or just a friend.
@Person_Random: Okay, but then do you have any examples? I’m not sure where to start.
@Person_Random: Sigh, you’re such a typical yourself. I guess so, check out @Magenta’s work and @P.4.R.K.O.U.R’s interview. Those were pretty popular.
@Person_Random: Thanks!
@Person_Random: I’ll see you around! Wait… You’re me.

Stories

 

I once was a poor writer of stories. Then it all changed.

When I started, I often found myself going off topic when writing essays, so I learned about something called a ‘thesis’ when my parents saw the C I got in fourth grade. It never helped.

Instead, my parents sent me out to tutoring over the Summer. While the teacher was fairly strict, she taught everyone about five quadrillion rules on writing, grammar, sentence starts, and the like, but never actually got to story and essay writing, which is what  everyone was there for. So I had the tools and materials, but I didn’t know how to use them to build a house.

And so it went on. In sixth grade, I entered a school-year program in which there were writing contests, but they didn’t teach anyone how to write a story. So we were left clueless, even though they had shown us the plot figure thingy with the rising action, climax, falling action and banned cliff-hangers. Still, I never knew how.

A few years flew by, and I learned how to write for fun, the first part of a chain reaction. At first it was just satire articles with a sentence or two  of real content ballooned up into a totally useless page of writing, then I actually started to get into it. I was still writing junk, but at least it was getting better.

At the perfect time, I read the newspaper. While it may seem like a small change in lifestyle, my eyes wandered and saw the “Contests” section. And who wouldn’t like to win for a change? Being the loser of the class in my, well, class, maybe I could smoke the competition out for once. Taking my chances on the “Continue the Story”, I entered the world’s worst entry and somehow won third.

But that’s not where it stops. Since my dad likes watching action shows, the whole family watched reruns of MacGyver. And that’s when it hit me on the head: I knew how to write stories. Plot lines are in everyday life, so any small problem would make a story.

I thought about the plot.

I wrote.

I won.

Proof?

Writers of stories: Practically Everyone, so I’m not going to insert names here. Well, if you insist, I’ll first tell a bit about people.

If you don’t have your name here, comment below and tell me your writing specialty because I only got to a few names:
@P.4.R.K.O.U.R: the comedy guy, though actually I wonder when he will blow us all out of the water and get us cracking up with some good jokes.
@thethiefofvictory: Writes way faster than I can read them (but I somehow got through all of them) He’s more of an in real life writer. While he has a Tankiverse, it’s still got some work before it’s going to be the caliber of the next guy.
@Hippin_in_Hawaii: The Tankiverse fanfic master as we know it, mostly because we all suck at Tanki writing when compared to his. (Note: Tankiverse is a term only to be used by Hippin so STAY FAR FAR FAR AWAY from it)
@GrandExecutioner: I haven’t read all of The Medic yet, but he seems to be of a very high caliber of writing, if that is even a saying. Well, he’s coming out of retirement soon, so we’ll be reading about his works.
@Magenta: The ultimate jack of all trades.
@TankiNoob2000:He’s fairly new compared to the above, and he’s making great progress. Many of his stories are focused on Tanki.
@pythor20000: Another writer who mainly focuses in on Tanki. Nice weather channel though.
@Lose: Inspired me to write again.
Oh wait, almost all those people are moving up! Guess it’s time to say goodbye to them as they are all promoted. Congratulate them when you can!
And finally…
@Person_Random aka Yours truly: Well, I have to say I write both comedy and tragedy. While I now prefer tragedy, you’ll notice a few bits of light humor sprinkled in my writing. I can’t get rid of my old personality. Because I’m not as good as everyone else, I’m more of the amateur amateur writer, as they all are moving (or moved) up. Sigh...



3. Images

 

Save us from the text walls!

To elaborate more, well, as I’ve already said, people get tired of reading text walls. They are unattractive, and make reading less comfortable. The real thing is: we never read the words in picture books. That’s why there are pictures, so you can actually understand the story without reading it. Now, how we’ve all progressed to reading chapter books is a mystery to me, since I still can’t really read a book. That’s why we have comic books. However, while the pictures are there to keep you from reading text walls (and possibly skipping lines randomly), they are not the main focus. I repeat, the pictures are not the main focus. Images are great, but focus on the article.

 

Another point to add is colour. You can use colour to highlight key points, or (as demonstrated in the reviews) to quantify pros/cons. Be careful not to overuse colours, as it can make your article appear tacky - just think, "If I were to make notes from this, what would I highlight as my key points?" The colour I recommend is light white, #FFFFFF

 

Good use of colour:

 

"Striker is a powerful turret that excels in short range. Holding down the fire key also lets you lock on on to targets, firing a salvo of homing rockets, which is very powerful in open maps maps, like Desert."

 

Bad use of colour:

 

"Striker is a powerful turret that excels in short range. Holding down the fire key also lets you lock on to targets, firing a salvo of homing rockets, which is very powerful in open maps, like Desert."

 

 

3.5: The Evolution of Karma

 

So, well, um, yeah, er, I must stop stuttering. That’s not really what I was going to say. I’m kind of not really good at following this rule, but you should try being polite (even if you  do feel like a searing hot five-thousand degree volcano is about to explode from your cranium. Yes, even in those circumstances, we have to keep calm. I know this might not be hard for you, but for me, it’s not really the easiest thing. Next, try to give feedback and be helpful, and people will like you. Therefore, they will be easier to work with, and you won’t be walking on eggshells when you want to talk to people and they might not hate you as much after you threw like thirty million temper tantrums because things didn’t really quite go your way. If you avoid all those bad examples (cough myself), then you should be on your way to popularity faster than the competition!

4. Just Saying

 

Effort equals excellence. At least, that is what my writing teacher tells me. Which means that you all should treat these stories like you would if you were to enter it into a contest with tough competition. This way, your work turns out great and there are less people hunting you down and telling you that you have too many grammar errors. For more information, please see an upcoming guide on stories. But if you have already skipped to the bottom, you know that it will probably take another five months.

That’s all I have for now. So I shall leave. But not with a little advertising about my articles.

Oh wait, I actually have something else. Here we are…

 

 

For all who are not sure if they want to write. And inspiration to our fellow writers. Oh wait, we have more people now! Then again, I think even more people will be better! But now, I seriously must leave.

- P.R.

Please forgive my terrible formatting.

 

Five months of work finally published! Wow. Please leave your feedback and don't hesitate to give constructive criticism that I desperately need. As long as you are not part of the YWA. Also, time to read...

Other Awesome-ish Works By P.R.

 

Tanki Personalities - One of my most popular works, come check it out.
Cremate - Ashes, and my best work in my opinion
TBWLP 2: Requiem (Ch. Negative 1) - The thrilling conclusion to TBWLP One, which, unfortunately, I have not finished. Requiem, though, is underway and I think you'll truly enjoy it, especially the upcoming backstories. Characters to be featured (in order of appearance): Pyco, Lzer, Jo-Ann (whom I think you would recognize from the Untreated Series), and Jason.

Until Next Time, Fellow Writers!

 

[Flexoo 6,980]

For all of you who do like to write and post inside the AW section, we bring you this guide by @Person_Random. Check out their advice!

Edited January 23, 2021 by Venerable
admin assuming gender :catOMG:

[kaisdf 3,320]

A guide to guides, a review of reviews, and an interview about interviews; fantastic!

 

My one piece of advice: you have essentially written a piece within a piece; it would have been clearer if you had published your section on genre as its own piece (other solutions are available).

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

A guide to guides, a review of reviews, and an interview about interviews; fantastic!

 

My one piece of advice: you have essentially written a piece within a piece; it would have been clearer if you had published your section on genre as its own piece (other solutions are available).

I have to agree, when you're writing guides, or actually any article, your sections must be of similar length. Not necessarily word count, but it has to look good.

 

Looks like I may have found a successor to Guidewriter o_o

Edited March 22, 2019 by C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R

[Person_Random 4,991]

I have to agree, when you're writing guides, or actually any article, your sections must be of similar length. Not necessarily word count, but it has to look good.

 

Looks like I may have found a successor to Guidewriter o_o

Es my boi conq... why you no write...  speaking of which, I did fix that in Guide Maker... I think.

[Viking4s 10,791]

Nice one Person_random, and congo for this achievement :)

[Person_Random 4,991]

Wait a sec...what happened to the comment I posted first?  lol.

[TankiNoob2000 231]

Wow! Awesome

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

Also, quick guide to winning any writing contest

 

How to Win Any Writing Contest in Tanki

Step 1: Plagiarize Flexoo's old articles

Step 2: Profit

[Person_Random 4,991]

Also, quick guide to winning any writing contest

 

How to Win Any Writing Contest in Tanki

Step 1: Plagiarize Flexoo's old articles

Step 2: Profit

I would do that, but then there's Flexoo saying "no plagiarizing or else you get banned from future writing contests".  Lol

[Jeges-Masina 41]

This is what we get to read instead of viewing the minicontest winners. But I like this.

[Person_Random 4,991]

This is what we get to read instead of viewing the minicontest winners. But I like this.

Which mini contest?  100000?  Good luck to all on that!  Lol, I know I probably didn't win.  Maybe you can come post in the AWS.

[iFros 1,891]

Nice guide. Keep it up ^^

[LIMITFULL 1,793]

Wow - that article above is packed with advice from so many other places, this should be the GO TO article for all newbies to Tanki & The Forum!!
:wub: LL.
 

[Person_Random 4,991]

Wow - that article above is packed with advice from so many other places, this should be the GO TO article for all newbies to Tanki & The Forum!!

:wub: LL.

 

I'm writing a more focused Sequel later!

[Adab 2,896]

Well done!  :D

[Lose 881]

I just saw my name in there, I still don't understand how I made someone come back to writing... THERE WAS A MISTAKE RECOUNT THE VOTES WHAT THE HECK SWEDEN

Great guide, and congrats on winning the guide contest!

[Person_Random 4,991]

I just saw my name in there, I still don't understand how I made someone come back to writing... THERE WAS A MISTAKE RECOUNT THE VOTES WHAT THE HECK SWEDEN

 

Great guide, and congrats on winning the guide contest!

You actually did.  It was sometime ago, I think in November, and I was reading my emails.  Since I had subbed to Tanki Notifications, I saw an aticle on the AWS. which happened to be 999 part 2, I believe.  I read it and was inspired to continue writing after I had messed up my whole profile on the forum.  little did I know I would ever come to this.  Thanks for everything.

[Lose 881]

No problem... I don't really know how to react lol.... 

 

SIKE

 

 

You're welcome

 

 

 

 

[P.4.R.K.O.U.R 329]

Wow, just plain wow.

 

Woooooooooowwwwwwww!!!!

 

A wonderful guide to everything about writing. You're gonna bring up some competition in the Newspaper Contests!

 

Time to return from my exile of procrastination.

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

@GrandExecutioner: Well, he’s coming out of retirement soon, so we’ll be reading about his works.

Am I?

[Person_Random 4,991]

Am I?

Might've been a tad outdated - I wrote that part ages ago.

Wow, just plain wow.

 

Woooooooooowwwwwwww!!!!

 

A wonderful guide to everything about writing. You're gonna bring up some competition in the Newspaper Contests!

 

Time to return from my exile of procrastination.

Lovely, if you are to write, I look forward to it!  Your style is great.  I, on the other hand, will start guide writing or reviews, taking a short break from the stories.

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Might've been a tad outdated - I wrote that part ages ago.

 

Hmm...maybe it's time.

[Person_Random 4,991]

Hmm...maybe it's time.

Wow... the Grand is awakening.

[Person_Random 4,991]

This is a test... nothing happened ah gotcha

 

*Testing Images*

 

 

[img[ Command does not work.

 

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Person_Random