Given the YQC stark decline in activity after its boom, and given my own limitations in exposure, time, energy and interest (in some genres)....I thought I might just write something up to get across some tips, strategies and assurances to those who may be struggling with authoring a quest.
1. If you come up with a quest idea, give it a few days to stew in your head, at least, before making a first post. Especially if it has mechanics in it.
2. Make sure to make a descriptive title, including genre and if its an Original work or Fandom
3. Make a hook in the header space, that shows up under the title of your quest. This will be better at catching the eye, and telling people what they want to know than a personal ooc 'authors note' will.
4. When making decision points at the end of your new update...
Quests vary a lot in how they are made and what format they follow. But there are a few things to always keep in mind. Make sure that they build up the story. Make sure the stopping point feels significant. make sure your players feel like their choice makes a difference. and never, ever, make an option that you do not feel ready to write
-4.5 This may mean not involving or allowing write in options, or, if you want to have write in options, leave yourself enough wiggle room to veto anything overly ridiculous or nonsensical. Ive also been told that some QMs would only take a write in seriously if it was the most popular option in a discussion amongst the voters.
5. Consistency is your best friend. whether it be update speed, game format, or grammar...
-5.5 This is where I make some discussion. And it may be a lot, but theres a lot to discuss.
With update speeds, ive seen people update at inopportune times, and at inopportune speeds. For insteance, Its harder to notice a new quest that only posts once every two weeks. Its also harder to notice a new quest if its pushed off the page without being viewed, because it was posted while the majority of sv is probably asleep. These are not things that cant be overcome, but just so you know, they *are* factors.
Likewise, there is a such thing as too fast. Particularly in updating speed, there is definitely a strategy. the best pace, it seems to me, is no more than once a day, and at least once every other day...for a new quest. When people find a new quest, they want to feel excited about it, and a faster pace of engagement helps with that. But dont feel like that is something that is sustainable for a lot of people. While once a day is good for engagement, and for keeping your quest on the first page...players and readers are happy and understanding enough to let you slow it down, or even take breaks.
Heck, I accidently took a 3 year break once. But dont do that if you can help it. Dont be me
I talk about this stuff because i want to help QMs succeed, but im not great at being consistant myself. Im so very lucky to have the readers who are willing to deal with my antics.
And back to speeds, how can things be too fast if you want to keep engagement up? well then the people who want to participate *have* to keep their eyes on your quest if they want to have any say. And there's no time for discussion, its just vote first or jump on the bandwagon. In that kind of environment, many readers may become burnt out and move on.
6. Numbers do not mean anything.
That is to say, it can be very disheartening to run a quest if what you care about are the numbers. This is exasperated by how new quests and readership works.
Here's the pattern: New quest goes up! it has an interesting titles and interesting premise. Bunch of people who like it, and others who like to support new quests flood in to discuss, ask questions, and vote. Author is ecstatic, maybe even surprised how popular it is. Author may even do excellant writing, and good update pacing... as votes and updates come in, some voters decide that the quest is no longer going in the direction they wanted from the start. Maybe..the village leader is a goblin instead of a troll or whatever. About 3 weeks in, author notices there is a dwindling in the number of voters and gets worried.
Yup, thats common. At that point you have a ways things will shake out.
A) The author might see the decline, and get distraught, and depressed. "Well, if people are losing interest...why bother?"
B) The author might see the decline, get distraught, and then add things to their posts like "where did everyone go?" or "if I dont get x votes this time im just going to dump it"
C) The author might realize they still have reliable voters and occassionally a new one popping in and just go about their business
So the first two mindsets will not help you, you will only drag yourself down, and in the case of B, you will push away the very voters that you want to keep...because if they feel like their votership isnt enough for you, or they feel like youre trying to obligate them into voting, thats extra negativity there that makes it harder to just...have fun.
And if that negativity outweighs the fun, they will leave.
-6.5
A little note from me to say that sometimes quests do just....seem to die. And even if its a labor of love, and you don't put much stock in the numbers....having things slow down to a crawl with just two voters is extremely disheartening. But its up to you whether you stop at that point because its too much, or if you keep going and hope to grab the attention of new readers just by consistency alone, which is possible.
7. IT IS OK TO FAIL
QM-ing is a skill like any other. And even if you're an experienced GM/DM/ST, you should realize that questing is still its own medium, and this is still a population of people with their own preferences and culture. It may take a few times to find where you fit in, or to get the attention of the right people.
Maybe the majority of yu yu hakusho fans are off on summer vacation or maybe the system you came up with is too confusing.
In any case, if you dont find enjoyment in your current project anymore, feel free to shelf it. or make a reboot. or take whatever lessons you learned from it, and start some other totally different project.
Or just come back in 3 years
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8. Reputations
I was just going to end it on 7, but there is something else to mention here.
It's worth mentioning that while there are a
lot of authors and QMs , reputations can and
are made on SV. You can be sure that through your time making multiple quests and/or participating in ooc events and discussion, there is a general image of you being made.
I can not ignore that reputation may also be a factor in some readerships. But even if you are known to make a new quest every week, or you're known for guilting your player base, or you're known for having a temper or unfair votes...its something that , I believe, can be worked at.
Happy Questing
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