Post by Teo Blaze on Sept 19, 2016 20:06:38 GMT -5
Hello ladies and gentlemen, it’s me! I have noticed that there has been some confusion and misconceptions about how to write matches, and even some hesitation on the part of new members! Well, being the industrious young go-getter that I was before the cough syrup addiction, I decided to do something about this problem.
Unfortunately all the good writers didn’t answer my calls so I was forced to write it.
Well, as someone who once wrote four matches in a row in a feud that received the nomination for feud of the year, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and offer some match-writing tips for newcomers! I hope by doing so this will encourage as many people as possible to throw their typewriters into the ring and by extension help to make WCF a greater all-around product. So without further stalling for time, let’s get into:
So, let’s start with the basics. You have elected to sign up for a match on Slam. The first thing to do is to familiarize yourself with the characters. While for the most part this can be accomplished by checking their biography page, one can also glean valuable insight by either messaging the handlers in question or even by reading their most recent match.
Believe it or not, there is a tremendous amount that can be done to develop somebody else’s character simply by describing their behaviors in the squared circle. Do they offer a handshake to their opponent? Do they spit on the ground in front of them? Do they pump up the crowd and start chants or do they immediately charge forward? There are limitless possibilities and the only real question is how far you want to go with it. Remember, these characters are exactly that. Living breathing entities who don’t exist in a vacuum. It is very easy to make them sound like robots.
Example:
Good: Shining Star eyes his opponent carefully, not trusting Deviance in the slightest. Deviance seems almost amused by Shining Star’s suspicion, and mockingly extends his arms to signal for a lockup. Shining Star seems caught off guard, but cautiously approaches, only for Deviance to grab him by the hair!
Bad: Shining Star and Deviance lock up, but Deviance grabs a handful of hair.
The opening exchange is arguably one of the most important parts of the match, as it can set the pace for the entire thing. It allows you to immediately establish not only the character of the two participants, but also to establish what kind of match it’s going to be. If there is anywhere you need excessive detail, this would be the place to pile it on.
So you’ve got your characters firmly established in your reader’s eyes, and you’ve also set-up how each of them is going to handle the rest of the match, so what next? I find alot of handlers often encounter writer’s block in terms of picking out the moves. Admittedly, the movesets can be helpful in this regard, and alot of handlers even have extensive movelists explaining exactly what they would do in any given circumstance. But at the same time, it is very easy to overlook positions when you’re listing out sample moves. What do you do when your opponent is dazed on the apron?
In this case, the best thing to do as a match writer is to look at their generic style, and above all be creative. The moveset can serve as an excellent guide on how to generally write a character, but you shouldn’t completely rely on it. If you have an opponent who is on the apron and you are “controlling” a brawler, he would likely punch him in the face. If you have a technical wrestler, he might go for an octopus hold through the ropes. If you have a luchador, he would go for a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron. As long as you have a vivid imagination, the match can play out in any number of ways.
In my experience, the best way to handle the order of moves is based on positioning, as well as flow. Unless there is a storyline reason for this not to happen, both characters should get in roughly the same amount of offense.
So if Deviance grabs Shining Star and throws him down by his hair, Shining Star is now on the ground and Deviance is standing. So he stomps on his midsection, causing Shining Star to sit up. Now that allows Deviance to knee him in the back of the head and then grab a headlock. But since Shining Star is not injured, this would be a good chance for him to reverse the headlock and throw Deviance off, leaving both men back on their feet. During this entire exchange, you’re literally imagining each move playing out in your head as you write it, almost like you’re playing with action figures. Not only will the match be more entertaining, but it will make both handlers happy if you offer them a back and forth, hotly contested contest that allows both guys to hit some big spots.
Another key element I find to spice up matches, use the environment to your advantage. Have someone get hung up in the ropes, or knocked to the outside. Throw in a suicide dive or whip someone into the steel steps. Have the two brawl at ringside- the key element you are trying to avoid is repetition. If you have the entire thing be outstanding back and forth moves but you just spend the entire time in the center of the ring, it’s going to come off as far less exciting than even if you just have them knocked into the corner or irish whipped off the ropes.
Also, remember above all that adjectives are your friend, and Onomatopoeias are your lovers. One of the biggest missed opportunities I see is whenever a big spot comes up in a match, that we don’t get to hear the sound effect. If you slam someone through the table, you need to do it with a sickening crash of splintering wood! If you powerbomb someone on concrete, you need to do it with a disgusting smack of flesh against unforgiving stone! You can’t overuse this of course, but when you want to make a particular move bigger, put in a sound effect.
So after several reversals, swings in momentum, and hard-hitting sound effect producing shots, you end up with a nice skeleton. Shining Star and Deviance have brawled around the ring, suicide dived through the announce table, and they end up back in the ring ready for the finish.
Now, one of the things that many people argue about is finishers. Now your mileage may vary, but I have always been one to believe that if you hit a finisher, it ends the match. Unless you’re the undertaker, kicking out of someone’s finisher clean does nothing to help your match quality except cause people to keep reading. I like to tease finishers, to have a character alllllmost hit it, but get reversed at the last second, so when he finally does, it feels awesome for the reader. If you have the opponent kick out, it ruins all that buildup. You can totally have someone kick out of a finisher, but you want to save that moment for something huge. A title match, a feud blowoff, it’s completely up to you.
So you have your framework, based on the impressions you got from the characters you’re writing for, you have fully utilized the environment to expand upon the moveset and let them do things you wouldn’t see every day, and you have an exciting finish that doesn’t cheapen the significance of anyone’s moves...what are we forgetting?
Well the last thing you need to add is your commentary! Now I know what you’re thinking, and that is that you have no idea what a commentator sounds like. Well I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that commentators are super easy to write! You have a play-by-play announcer and a color commentator. The play by play announcer goes over the in-ring action and serves to supplement moves, while the color commentator provides humor or entertainment value as well as giving you the chance to put in some backstory (as the color commentator often cares more about motivations)
I try to treat Zach Davis as the play-by-play and Freddy Whoa as the color commentator, but again feel free to be creative. The worst thing that can happen is you make a joke that doesn’t land, but in the grander scheme of things, even that can add to the flavor of a match.
The key also is to know when to lay out. If you’re going for an exciting sequence of moves culminating in a massive reversal onto a pile of thumbtacks, the announcers should not be talking in the middle of it, but they should absolutely scream in terror as the move hits.
Example:
Shining Star is irish whipped into the corner! Deviance rushes forward, propping him up on the top turnbuckle! He grabs a can of bug spray and empties it right into shining star’s helpless face, drawing the ire of the crowd!
Zach Davis: The referee needs to stop this one!
Freddy Whoa: It’s Shining Star’s fault for calling him an insect!
But no! Shining Star suddenly comes to life, driving a boot across Deviance’s face! Deviance stumblel backwards as Shining Star hoists himself up, signalling to the crowd before connecting with a 450 crossbody! Deviance’s lifeless form slams against the hard mat, issuing forth a titanic thud as he is driven hard into the unforgiving canvas!!
Zach Davis: What a spectacular move!
Freddy Whoa: Deviance is out!
And there you have it. Follow these loose guidelines and I guarantee you’ll have a match that far outshines anything that people would expect. Above all, have fun, be creative, use your imagination, and try to give the handler’s reading something to enjoy. So long as you’re putting in effort, match writing can be one of the most fulfilling experiences an e-fedder can possibly go through.
I should finally put one last asterisk here: Most of what I have put in this guide applies to one-on-one matches, but can also be easily adapted to multi-man matches or even six-man tags. The key element though is to make sure everyone gets a turn. If you have 6 or more opponents, not everyone is going to get to have a sequence of moves, so try to give everyone one big spot and write the match around them, otherwise you’ll end up with a titanic encounter that doesn’t really end up advancing anyone for the amount of words that would have to go into it. So in that case, just bear in mind the length but focus on giving everyone an opportunity to shine.
That’s it, go out and have fun my eager match-writers!
PS: Although this thread is intended for newer members, I gladly welcome any advice that anyone would like to offer, I never intended this to a be-all, end-all so please, discuss and bring up things I've missed, forgotten, or otherwise drunkenly omitted. I hope this inspires both spirited discussion and encourages anyone who wants to participate in match writing or even write their own matches! If this is popular, maybe I'll also do a feud building 101 lol, but anyway...
Unfortunately all the good writers didn’t answer my calls so I was forced to write it.
Well, as someone who once wrote four matches in a row in a feud that received the nomination for feud of the year, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and offer some match-writing tips for newcomers! I hope by doing so this will encourage as many people as possible to throw their typewriters into the ring and by extension help to make WCF a greater all-around product. So without further stalling for time, let’s get into:
Teddy del SolBlaze’s match writing 101! A crash course in storytelling and violence!
So, let’s start with the basics. You have elected to sign up for a match on Slam. The first thing to do is to familiarize yourself with the characters. While for the most part this can be accomplished by checking their biography page, one can also glean valuable insight by either messaging the handlers in question or even by reading their most recent match.
Believe it or not, there is a tremendous amount that can be done to develop somebody else’s character simply by describing their behaviors in the squared circle. Do they offer a handshake to their opponent? Do they spit on the ground in front of them? Do they pump up the crowd and start chants or do they immediately charge forward? There are limitless possibilities and the only real question is how far you want to go with it. Remember, these characters are exactly that. Living breathing entities who don’t exist in a vacuum. It is very easy to make them sound like robots.
Example:
Good: Shining Star eyes his opponent carefully, not trusting Deviance in the slightest. Deviance seems almost amused by Shining Star’s suspicion, and mockingly extends his arms to signal for a lockup. Shining Star seems caught off guard, but cautiously approaches, only for Deviance to grab him by the hair!
Bad: Shining Star and Deviance lock up, but Deviance grabs a handful of hair.
The opening exchange is arguably one of the most important parts of the match, as it can set the pace for the entire thing. It allows you to immediately establish not only the character of the two participants, but also to establish what kind of match it’s going to be. If there is anywhere you need excessive detail, this would be the place to pile it on.
So you’ve got your characters firmly established in your reader’s eyes, and you’ve also set-up how each of them is going to handle the rest of the match, so what next? I find alot of handlers often encounter writer’s block in terms of picking out the moves. Admittedly, the movesets can be helpful in this regard, and alot of handlers even have extensive movelists explaining exactly what they would do in any given circumstance. But at the same time, it is very easy to overlook positions when you’re listing out sample moves. What do you do when your opponent is dazed on the apron?
In this case, the best thing to do as a match writer is to look at their generic style, and above all be creative. The moveset can serve as an excellent guide on how to generally write a character, but you shouldn’t completely rely on it. If you have an opponent who is on the apron and you are “controlling” a brawler, he would likely punch him in the face. If you have a technical wrestler, he might go for an octopus hold through the ropes. If you have a luchador, he would go for a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron. As long as you have a vivid imagination, the match can play out in any number of ways.
In my experience, the best way to handle the order of moves is based on positioning, as well as flow. Unless there is a storyline reason for this not to happen, both characters should get in roughly the same amount of offense.
So if Deviance grabs Shining Star and throws him down by his hair, Shining Star is now on the ground and Deviance is standing. So he stomps on his midsection, causing Shining Star to sit up. Now that allows Deviance to knee him in the back of the head and then grab a headlock. But since Shining Star is not injured, this would be a good chance for him to reverse the headlock and throw Deviance off, leaving both men back on their feet. During this entire exchange, you’re literally imagining each move playing out in your head as you write it, almost like you’re playing with action figures. Not only will the match be more entertaining, but it will make both handlers happy if you offer them a back and forth, hotly contested contest that allows both guys to hit some big spots.
Another key element I find to spice up matches, use the environment to your advantage. Have someone get hung up in the ropes, or knocked to the outside. Throw in a suicide dive or whip someone into the steel steps. Have the two brawl at ringside- the key element you are trying to avoid is repetition. If you have the entire thing be outstanding back and forth moves but you just spend the entire time in the center of the ring, it’s going to come off as far less exciting than even if you just have them knocked into the corner or irish whipped off the ropes.
Also, remember above all that adjectives are your friend, and Onomatopoeias are your lovers. One of the biggest missed opportunities I see is whenever a big spot comes up in a match, that we don’t get to hear the sound effect. If you slam someone through the table, you need to do it with a sickening crash of splintering wood! If you powerbomb someone on concrete, you need to do it with a disgusting smack of flesh against unforgiving stone! You can’t overuse this of course, but when you want to make a particular move bigger, put in a sound effect.
So after several reversals, swings in momentum, and hard-hitting sound effect producing shots, you end up with a nice skeleton. Shining Star and Deviance have brawled around the ring, suicide dived through the announce table, and they end up back in the ring ready for the finish.
Now, one of the things that many people argue about is finishers. Now your mileage may vary, but I have always been one to believe that if you hit a finisher, it ends the match. Unless you’re the undertaker, kicking out of someone’s finisher clean does nothing to help your match quality except cause people to keep reading. I like to tease finishers, to have a character alllllmost hit it, but get reversed at the last second, so when he finally does, it feels awesome for the reader. If you have the opponent kick out, it ruins all that buildup. You can totally have someone kick out of a finisher, but you want to save that moment for something huge. A title match, a feud blowoff, it’s completely up to you.
So you have your framework, based on the impressions you got from the characters you’re writing for, you have fully utilized the environment to expand upon the moveset and let them do things you wouldn’t see every day, and you have an exciting finish that doesn’t cheapen the significance of anyone’s moves...what are we forgetting?
Well the last thing you need to add is your commentary! Now I know what you’re thinking, and that is that you have no idea what a commentator sounds like. Well I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that commentators are super easy to write! You have a play-by-play announcer and a color commentator. The play by play announcer goes over the in-ring action and serves to supplement moves, while the color commentator provides humor or entertainment value as well as giving you the chance to put in some backstory (as the color commentator often cares more about motivations)
I try to treat Zach Davis as the play-by-play and Freddy Whoa as the color commentator, but again feel free to be creative. The worst thing that can happen is you make a joke that doesn’t land, but in the grander scheme of things, even that can add to the flavor of a match.
The key also is to know when to lay out. If you’re going for an exciting sequence of moves culminating in a massive reversal onto a pile of thumbtacks, the announcers should not be talking in the middle of it, but they should absolutely scream in terror as the move hits.
Example:
Shining Star is irish whipped into the corner! Deviance rushes forward, propping him up on the top turnbuckle! He grabs a can of bug spray and empties it right into shining star’s helpless face, drawing the ire of the crowd!
Zach Davis: The referee needs to stop this one!
Freddy Whoa: It’s Shining Star’s fault for calling him an insect!
But no! Shining Star suddenly comes to life, driving a boot across Deviance’s face! Deviance stumblel backwards as Shining Star hoists himself up, signalling to the crowd before connecting with a 450 crossbody! Deviance’s lifeless form slams against the hard mat, issuing forth a titanic thud as he is driven hard into the unforgiving canvas!!
Zach Davis: What a spectacular move!
Freddy Whoa: Deviance is out!
And there you have it. Follow these loose guidelines and I guarantee you’ll have a match that far outshines anything that people would expect. Above all, have fun, be creative, use your imagination, and try to give the handler’s reading something to enjoy. So long as you’re putting in effort, match writing can be one of the most fulfilling experiences an e-fedder can possibly go through.
I should finally put one last asterisk here: Most of what I have put in this guide applies to one-on-one matches, but can also be easily adapted to multi-man matches or even six-man tags. The key element though is to make sure everyone gets a turn. If you have 6 or more opponents, not everyone is going to get to have a sequence of moves, so try to give everyone one big spot and write the match around them, otherwise you’ll end up with a titanic encounter that doesn’t really end up advancing anyone for the amount of words that would have to go into it. So in that case, just bear in mind the length but focus on giving everyone an opportunity to shine.
That’s it, go out and have fun my eager match-writers!
PS: Although this thread is intended for newer members, I gladly welcome any advice that anyone would like to offer, I never intended this to a be-all, end-all so please, discuss and bring up things I've missed, forgotten, or otherwise drunkenly omitted. I hope this inspires both spirited discussion and encourages anyone who wants to participate in match writing or even write their own matches! If this is popular, maybe I'll also do a feud building 101 lol, but anyway...