The Essence of a Post

Welcome to the final tutorial, recruit: The Essence of a Post.

You've studied some in-universe technical specifications and some general information about space combat in the previous tutorials of this Chapter; now it's time to think about how to write about all of that. Now, while most literate people can string together words into more-or-less coherent sentences, not everybody can write stories. This brief mini-tutorial outlines the absolute basics of writing fiction.

Spelling, Grammar, and Syntax

It doesn't matter how exciting and revelatory your plot twist is, or how fascinatingly original your POV character is; readers won't read stories that are hard to follow because of ubiquitous typos and grammatical errors. Nor should they have to; there's no excuse - in the Age of Spell Check - for sloppiness. Before you post to the ComNet, check your spelling and grammar.

Beginning, Middle, and End

It's rightly said that all stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Well, every scene that makes up a larger story also has a beginning, middle, and end, and every post you write for the VE should contain at least one complete scene. Each scene (each post) is essentially the reaction of a person or group of people to some event that occurs before the scene begins.

The Beginning - anchor the reader in the situation by recounting the inciting incident; show the action that has immediately preceded your post (but from your character's Point of View), for example.

The Middle - show your PC's reaction to the inciting incident, whether that reaction is an emotion, a thought, a decision to act, or an action itself.

The End - conclude the action of your post, and - since we're writing collaborative run-ons here - leave a question or unresolved tension for your fellow members to develop as the beginning of their next posts.

• Remember, a post (or scene) has a purpose: the POV character is striving toward some goal, and you as the writer are trying to accomplish something, too. Whether you're trying to move the narrative along, to introduce a new plot point, or to simply expand on your character, a post should not be there just for the sake of it being there; every post must have a reason for being written.

• A word about Word Counts: the minimum length for a story post in the Navy is 500 words, and there is no maximum save the technical limitations of the ComNet itself. Take the hint: we like detail and clarity around here, and we want to see enough words to let you establish a beginning, fully develop a middle, and transition into a satisfying end that still assist those who will post after you. Put an OOC note after each of your story posts that includes the number of words in the associated post - this will help other members reward high activity in a timely manner - as well as a short summary of the action, which we call an After Action Report, or AAR.

Return to Pilot Orientation, if you're in Starfighter School.

Return to Officer Candidate Orientation, if you're in Fleet School.