I am starting this thread as a discussion on how to write storyline based dynasties. There are many things that go in to a good dynasty, as well as a good story, and everyone has their own style, so I along with Trekfan and Beast10, two well-respected storyline dynasty writers on OS, and anyone else who has different ideas on how to write stories, will post different ideas on what goes into making a good storyline dynasty.
For those of you who are new to ht OS forums or just have not read a storyline dynasty, the basic premise is that a Dynasty is a Franchise or Career mode played out and the results are posted on these forums. Typically a regular dynasty will simply post game results and sports news, similar to an ESPN.com reporting style. There is the difference between a storyline dynasty and a regular dynasty. A storyline dynasty typically has a main character (or characters) and is centered around him/her/them. It tells the story (which is why its called a storyline dynasty) of that characters career, typically involving his life on and off the field. While it will still tell people what happened in the sport, and have plenty of sports website-style reports, that is more of a complement to the story, to build the world around it, and the story is the main focus.
To me there are three key elements to a good story, OS dynasty or otherwise.
Characters
One of the most important characteristics of a good story is to have well thought out and well developed characters. This goes for your main protagonist to the antagonist to even the most insignificant supporting character. There are a few things that go in to a good character, but they vary based on their role. The main character should be relatable, realistic, and flawed. The first to are common sense, I mean you want people to feel for your character, and he needs to be someone that people could believe existed to at least some extent. Flawed however, is another thing entirely. "Why would you want your main character to be flawed?" You might ask. Well the answer is, because flawless characters are boring, unchanging characters. A character needs to have flaws and weaknesses to make him who he is. It makes for a more interesting story, as he tries to compensate for these flaws, and he it makes the character more rounded. He can't be perfect, or he'll never run into any problems, and if he never runs into any problems there's really no story there, just a guy doing a bunch of things perfectly.
If you feel like you need practice making up characters, I put some images below. Take one of the high school football/basketball players on there and give him a backstory, a personality, make him into someone and not just a picture.
Storyline
The second thing that is crucial to a good story is, well, the story itself. This may seem obvious but what actually happens in the story is important. Now I'm not saying you have to plan out everything that will ever happen from the beginning, in fact I do just the opposite because if you plan it all out from the beginning you restrict how creative you can get as you go. But it is a good idea to have a general idea of the story. The central plotline of the story. For example, in my story "Defying the Odds", it is about a high school football player who pushes past injury, physical limitations, and the pressures high school entails, along with some crazy bad luck, and his father leaving his mom before he was old enough to remember him, and achieve his ultimate dream of playing running back in the NFL. Now obviously that is specific enough to give me a basis, but its general enough to allow me to get creative as I go.
Setting/Surroundings
The third key aspect of a good story is what is going on in your story and where your story is. Since these are sports based stories, it is important to keep people updated on what is going on in that sport (for example,as story about a college football coach would have to tell you what is going in in college football for context). Also, in stories, as in real estate, its all about location, location, location. if you want a passionate fan base where the team matters dearly to the town or city, than pick a team with a big following or a geographic area that is known to follow that sport closely. If you have a high school football player, and you want the town to be passionate, put him in a small Texas town or somewhere else known for high school football so it makes sense when your players is idolized at his best and when he slips up he is ridiculed by his peers. This goes beyond the on the court impact of his life based on where he lives. If you want him to be in a lower class home, then put him in a lower class area. A Manhattan-based basketball player with no money doesn't live in the Lower East Side, he lives in Harlem. Where he is and what goes on around him that isn't directly a part of the story has a big impact. It is a fictional world that he lives in, and for people to understand the story, they need to know what's going on in that world.
That is my take on the most important parts of a Story for a Storyline Dynasty. Feel free to ask questions or to contribute with your own ideas. Maybe stories aren't your forte, but there's more to the storyline dynasty than just a story, it is still a sports dynasty and if you think you have tips on how to do the sports news parts, the non-storyline parts of the dynasty, then feel free to add that.
Trek and Beast10 will add there ideas when it becomes available and will also be there to answer questions.
For those of you who are new to ht OS forums or just have not read a storyline dynasty, the basic premise is that a Dynasty is a Franchise or Career mode played out and the results are posted on these forums. Typically a regular dynasty will simply post game results and sports news, similar to an ESPN.com reporting style. There is the difference between a storyline dynasty and a regular dynasty. A storyline dynasty typically has a main character (or characters) and is centered around him/her/them. It tells the story (which is why its called a storyline dynasty) of that characters career, typically involving his life on and off the field. While it will still tell people what happened in the sport, and have plenty of sports website-style reports, that is more of a complement to the story, to build the world around it, and the story is the main focus.
To me there are three key elements to a good story, OS dynasty or otherwise.
Characters
One of the most important characteristics of a good story is to have well thought out and well developed characters. This goes for your main protagonist to the antagonist to even the most insignificant supporting character. There are a few things that go in to a good character, but they vary based on their role. The main character should be relatable, realistic, and flawed. The first to are common sense, I mean you want people to feel for your character, and he needs to be someone that people could believe existed to at least some extent. Flawed however, is another thing entirely. "Why would you want your main character to be flawed?" You might ask. Well the answer is, because flawless characters are boring, unchanging characters. A character needs to have flaws and weaknesses to make him who he is. It makes for a more interesting story, as he tries to compensate for these flaws, and he it makes the character more rounded. He can't be perfect, or he'll never run into any problems, and if he never runs into any problems there's really no story there, just a guy doing a bunch of things perfectly.
If you feel like you need practice making up characters, I put some images below. Take one of the high school football/basketball players on there and give him a backstory, a personality, make him into someone and not just a picture.
Storyline
The second thing that is crucial to a good story is, well, the story itself. This may seem obvious but what actually happens in the story is important. Now I'm not saying you have to plan out everything that will ever happen from the beginning, in fact I do just the opposite because if you plan it all out from the beginning you restrict how creative you can get as you go. But it is a good idea to have a general idea of the story. The central plotline of the story. For example, in my story "Defying the Odds", it is about a high school football player who pushes past injury, physical limitations, and the pressures high school entails, along with some crazy bad luck, and his father leaving his mom before he was old enough to remember him, and achieve his ultimate dream of playing running back in the NFL. Now obviously that is specific enough to give me a basis, but its general enough to allow me to get creative as I go.
Setting/Surroundings
The third key aspect of a good story is what is going on in your story and where your story is. Since these are sports based stories, it is important to keep people updated on what is going on in that sport (for example,as story about a college football coach would have to tell you what is going in in college football for context). Also, in stories, as in real estate, its all about location, location, location. if you want a passionate fan base where the team matters dearly to the town or city, than pick a team with a big following or a geographic area that is known to follow that sport closely. If you have a high school football player, and you want the town to be passionate, put him in a small Texas town or somewhere else known for high school football so it makes sense when your players is idolized at his best and when he slips up he is ridiculed by his peers. This goes beyond the on the court impact of his life based on where he lives. If you want him to be in a lower class home, then put him in a lower class area. A Manhattan-based basketball player with no money doesn't live in the Lower East Side, he lives in Harlem. Where he is and what goes on around him that isn't directly a part of the story has a big impact. It is a fictional world that he lives in, and for people to understand the story, they need to know what's going on in that world.
That is my take on the most important parts of a Story for a Storyline Dynasty. Feel free to ask questions or to contribute with your own ideas. Maybe stories aren't your forte, but there's more to the storyline dynasty than just a story, it is still a sports dynasty and if you think you have tips on how to do the sports news parts, the non-storyline parts of the dynasty, then feel free to add that.
Trek and Beast10 will add there ideas when it becomes available and will also be there to answer questions.
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