Tips and Tricks of the Trade: How to Write a Good Warcraft Lore Story (Updated 9/3 5:57 PM)

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Post by Morec0

For all of you are looking to write a Warcraft Lore Story without getting facerolled by the masses, this should be your first stop. However, as you read this take note that these are just my styles of writing, and that you are free to write as you wish. These are just suggestions.

First, an overview of the things to come:

Writing.
Storyline/Plot Writing.
Naming.
References.

Writing:

Make sure that your writing fits into the Warcraft timeline and world.
Make sure that what your writing dosn't add or subtract any lore without a good reason. This can lead to people complaining and staring at their computer screens with an absurd look on their face while they read it.
Make sure that you avoid using WoW terminology, such as "lol, nubs, or roxorzs!", unless, however, you are using them for comedy's sake.
Try to avoid simple grammar mistakes, however I won't critisize you if the occasional teh, of, or any other simple error slips into your post. It happens to us all.
Research is key. Playing WoW gives you a good start on some things, but other details need to be looked into more in-depth. I recomend Wowwiki as your first stop when looking for lore.

Storyline/Plot Writing:

When it comes to writing up a plot line, I find that working with something you are familure with and can enjoy working with is best. For me this is the Scourge and Horde, however I also branch out into the Alliance point of view regularly in Light and Death.

Mission goals are one of the easier bits types of easiest types of story to write in my opinion, however if you want to try and be creative you can try a war-style story. I also stumbled upon this, not sure how you would classify it but it caught my intrest.

Villians are almost always important. From a powerful lord of undeath to just a simple trouble maker out to make your character's life harder, conflict always catches people's eye and makes them crave more. But, depending on the kind of story you are writing, they may or may not be necessary. Its up to you to whether to include them or not.

Romantic interest is another thing you can add. While not necessary to every plot it can add more depth to the characters and, though them, your story. Not to mention if your trying to keep it going they are capable of letting you draw things out.

Comedy is another thing you can toy with. To this day I have not met a single person that dosn't like a good laugh, however you should use them sparingly and be subtle about it when you do. I'll go into further detail in the Refferences section.

Post by Morec0

Naming:

Naming is actually more simple then you might think. When naming characters, though, you should try to avoid names of well known people in your topic of which you are writing,such as Grom, Thrall, Varian, Jaina or even Mankrik

A simple trick to use it take a word from on something in an area next to you (i.e. I'm looking at the title of this post, by adding the letters 'l,' 'o,' and 'g' and removing the letters 'd' and 'e' from the word 'Trade' I have created Tralog, which sounds somewhat orcish to me). If the name you have created, though, sounds to ridiculous to even you, you might want to consider scraping it and trying over.

As for last names WoW makes it simple. Take two characteristics of the character you are working with, such as class or race, and combine them together (i.e. using the first name Tralog and race-class combonation of orc shaman I can come up with the name Strongtotem, strong reffering to orcs' physical strength and totem reffering to the class of shaman). Again, if it sound too ridiculous start over.

Humans make naming easy, as you may know several human names already. However, I think that avoid too-simple human names like 'Bob,' 'Tim,' or 'Will' is best unless you are reffering to the character's nickname. Even so, I think you shouldn't introduce the character by their nickname. However, if you still want to use the said nickname, a scenario like this one might work: "Greetings, my name is Freddrick Blackhammer, most people just call me 'Fred,' thought." Modify that in any way you want, if you decide to use it.

Another trick is using words from another language. I personally use latin, but you are free to use whatever you wish. If you are interested in usuing Latin, though, follow this link to the english-to-latin translation site I use.

References:

References to other works - WoW-related or not - in not necessary, so use it as you see fit.

There are some references that can only be used in certain situations - for instance, in Light and Death the character Jason Thomas jumped into the mouth of a Kraken, sound familar?

Quotes are also a good use of references, mostly because they can be used in a wider assortment of situations.

Remember, though, that when you use references you're going out on a limb in thinking that your audience knows where the reference comes from. Although there has been at least one person that has recognized my references in Light and Death, the same may not hold true for whatever reference you use in your writing.

Be careful to avoid offending people.

More(c) coming soon.

Post by Morec0

Other Helpful Sites:

Naming:

Fantasy Name Generator - This is the most useful tool I've ever used for naming characters.
Languages - This page has a link to almost every known language in the WarCraft universe. Using a language as a base is a very good tool for naming characters.
Free Translator - If you like to give a meaning in our world to your character's name, this site has translators for 16 languages, including Spanish, Latin, Swedish, Swahili, Japanese, Italian, and quite a few more.
Behind the Name - This site has literally thousands, possibly millions of names from myriad different languages, mythologies, and fiction.

Characterization:

Character Archetypes List - This is a large list of many fictional character archetypes, complete with examples of each, and more in-depth descriptions of others.
Online Alignment Test - This is a test that you can take, while thinking about what your character would answer in the questions, to find out what his/her alignment would be. This can help get you more into the mindset of the character.
Character Building Workshop - This is a page dedicated to characters in fiction. It has tests that you can take regarding your character, archetype descriptions, and many other things. It is more designed for writing in a non-fantasy element, but it can really help if you find you're having trouble coming up with a good character.
Mythological Character Archetypes - This site has a description for each of the archetypes for mythological characters. This can be very helpful if you want to stylize your work after an epic(Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Illiad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, etc.)