Joshua

<s>I'll fix it when I get on a computer... Too tough with iPod touch.</s> Thank you Chao Master! Gone through it and fixed it to the best of my ability. I may have to re-write it; <s>seems like if I posted it once, the forums show it twice</s>. This forum will take a little work to get around by. The guide needs a little updating anyways because of the forum change. Went through it again. Still messy, but much better than before.

Wow, it's amazing how easy it is to make money and you could probably use the shells as junk items for trading (if it's not selling) Nice Mini Guide! It was short, simple, and concise. If you wanted to, you could add pictures of what your inventory should look like each time, and locations on the map, that would really help some newer players too.

Wow, it's amazing how easy it is to make money and you could probably use the shells as junk items for trading (if it's not selling) Nice Mini Guide! It was short, simple, and concise.

Really great way to multitask I wonder if you can do this with other skills

You don't want any details of your video in the post? What if the video stops working one day, youtube isn't perfect you know ? I know you could at least screeny the inventory and show which order you click before you start your next fire- but it's your choice if you don't want. Other than that, it's a pretty good way to show and lead, so that others can try it out themselves. This'll be going to guides on the 25th unless bnnc chooses to make exception and move before hand

Great question! I can't believe I forgot to throw that in promoting your guide section... now it's covered in Questions and Answers- Thanks . BUMP! Post away any of your other questions or contributions to the guide such as constructive criticism or a little praise haha.

lol I wouldn't call it concise, since it's the longest guide I've ever written, just detailed I guess. thank you for your compliments. also, after I wrote this guide, tormented demons seemed to be really mad at me. Got piled many times and even died to a 3 big hits in a row KO. (wasn't paying attention and pressed the wrong shortcut key by mistake) Don't admit it to others! Hide the pain. Lol, your short and concise compared to my short and concise must be two different things lol. My writings and my signature just don't fit- I'm such a hypocrite almost every time I post because I type so long! Anyhow, very excellent guide, and very impressed with it. I read every last word of it With this, how in the world am I suppose to make a slaying guide section for a guide competition I was gonna throw this month (though there is a grand xp competition that I have to wait for now lol)? I guess one of the guides will have to be something like 'how to make cookies' instead of slaying now Worthy of advertising in my signature, everybody has to see this guide

Oh my God! This guide is excellent- even better organized than my guide for a guide! *Hurts a little inside for the given compliment to you* You have all your pictures backed up with the necessary information + the picture is awesome. Your wording is short and concise, and even if somebody got confused with the reading... you have excellent visual aids. I'm F2P and even I can understand what's up- too bad I'm too cheap to pay 5.95 a month . Anyhow, FREAKIN' GREAT JOB! - Joshua

Lol, awesome .

<a name="thanks">This spot is reserved to give <i>Thanks</i> to:</a> # <a href='http://masors.jooldesigns.net/index.php?showuser=2168' target='_blank'>Aprz</a>, my brother, helped me with some of the HTML so that readers wont have to scroll through the entire guide to look up one section and get back to the top! Thank you! [12-11-08] # <a href='http://masors.jooldesigns.net/index.php?showuser=1557' target='_blank'>Song712</a> has contributed to the guide by adding detail regarding how to change the font colour. Thanks Song! [02-22-09] -- This spot is also reserved for <span style='color:blue'>Questions</span> and <span style='color:green'>Answers</span>! <span style='color:blue'>Q: How long does a guide take to make?</span> <span style='color:green'>A: It really varies on a lot of things, including what kind of writer you are, a writer of momentum or an increment writer... which you can take a look at the <a href="#time">Time</a> section which discusses that matter. A writer of momentum could probably do a full blown out guide in several hours, while a writer of increments would take weeks. It also really varies on what you are writing about, and how much information and effort are you willing to put into your guide- there are so much information and details that you can add to any guide, it could honestly take your forever to finish a guide. This guide here, for example, took me about 8-10 hours before I posted it up. Constant updating is to happen (continuously), I am sure of it, but I got the bulk of it done within those hours.</span> Good question <a href='http://masors.jooldesigns.net/index.php?showuser=2927' target='_blank'>John</a>! <span style='color:blue'>Q: If you post up a guide on the MaSoRS boards, are you then able to post it in other locations as well? (Eg. Other forums etc.)?</span> <span style='color:green'>A: Excellent question! The answer to that is YES, you can post your guide on other forums before or after posting it on the MaSoRS forums. For that matter, we encourage it because it is helpful to other people, and it could help promote the clan too when people see that you have some relation to the MaSoRS. The guides you post, belong to you, not the MaSoRS- so do as you wish when posting your guides. Regarding guides posted by other people, you'll have to ask the original guide writer for their permission and credit them for their guide if they give you permission to post on other forums. <i>At the same time</i>, you can also post guides from other forums onto here! Once again, they have to be guides written by you or permitted by the original writer to post here.</span> Thanks <a href='http://masors.jooldesigns.net/index.php?showuser=4920' target='_blank'>TommyBurke</a>! Post away your questions and answers, and I will try to mush the answer in the guide or post it here <!--emo&--><img src='http://masors.jooldesigns.net/html/emoticons/happy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='happy.gif' /><!--endemo-->. Thank you! <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> >> This will always be open for <i>Constructive Criticism</i>, and for <i>Commenting</i> as well... Thank you in advance! <s>NOTE: As this guide was completed 12-09-08, it will be moved and stickied in Guides 12-16-08. A link shortcut will be left in Guide Submissions just in case (as the guides are made there.)</s> Done.

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="organization">Organization!</a></b></u></span> <br> <br> Organization will be a huge plus to your guide! Imagine reading the introduction at the end of the guide, it would already be confusing. Try your absolute best to make your guide in chronological order, from the time it begins, to the time it is complete. <br> <br> Make sure that you don’t put a later part of the guide at the beginning. You don’t want readers to go back and forth. “Brush your teeth with Crest toothpaste on a generic toothbrush, and then go to the Walmart to find yourself a generic toothbrush to brush your teeth with (which you already did.)” It’s just not right. People will be confused… That or they will have to work extra hard to get the work done by hopping around all over your guide- which most people don’t like to do. If people will be hopping back and forth to use your guide, they will most likely refer to other guides instead and you wont be praised for all your hard work. <br> <br> Another example of bad organization would be like this guide about making pizzas, you wouldn’t want to start making pizzas like this: <br> <br> <p> <br> <br> So if you'd like to get a little creative and use colours outside the basics, try that out. <br> <br> A lot of times, messing around with these tools can get tricky since the computer doesn’t always know what you want. So you may have to edit your post a couple times until it looks just right. <br> <br> To avoid editing your post ten billion times before getting it just right, I recommend using your Preview Post feature as well <i>if provided</i>. <br> <br> <center><img src='http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4757/previewyourpostrm9.png'></center> <br> <br> It’ll save you some time, and other members who just may be at the thread reading your guide while you are messing around with the way it looks, will get to see it exactly how you want it to be seen… instead of seeing you change it over and over again. <br> <br> It’s never bad to have at the bottom “edited by <your name here> at <time>” because your guide will probably be constantly updated until you give up or leave (In fact, it will inform the readers whether or not if you have recently updated your guide.) But it still stinks when you have to go through it a few times to edit it when it could have been done right the first time. <br> <br> As for any of the other tools MaSoRS does not provide in BB coding... if you know your basic html coding, use it if you desire so. HTML coding works on this version of the forums, so type it in as a part of your post. Sometimes, you may require to toggle the "HTML On - Raw Linebreak Mode" or "HTML On - Auto Linebreak Mode" by going back to editing your post. The difference between the two is that the "Raw Linebreak Mode" will not break or paragraph the lines for you, you would have to use the HTML coding to do that for you WHILE "Auto Linebreak Mode" will have the computer intuitively guess where you wanted your breaks at by paragraphs. This feature is on the left side of the "Save Changes" button. <br> <br> <br> <br> With HTML, you can do some amazing things beyond BB coding such as centering text and images, setting up tables, or making your words move from left to right such as I did at the beginning of this guide. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <br> <br> <p><span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="concluding">Concluding Your Guide</a></b></u></span> <br> <br> You’ve got your introduction, table of contents, organization, and visual aids all set up… what more could a guide need? For one, you’ll need to end your guide somewhere. With a conclusion, you could write a short couple of sentence with something like “Hey, it was no problem writing this guide for you! (Or I guess Thanks for reading it if it was that bad) Following all the steps to making a guide will make an easy guide for you to write, and a great guide for members to read. I hope that you take into my advice of greatness and write a guide of yourself. Leave your mark in the MaSoRS guides today! Oh and thanks to Joshua for helping me with this guide, he is one awesome person. Oh, and then thanks for Joshua for finding on the visual aids, forum tools, and well, just about everything that has to do with this guide!” <br> <br> Always remember to thank the helpful members, you don’t want to steal their work and not recognize them for it. That’ll discourage people from helping you, and it will always make you look bad- that’s not a mark that you want to leave on the MaSoRS boards. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <br> <br> <p><span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="zomg">Zomg, It Never Ends</a></b></u></span> <br> <br> Though I have concluded this guide, there is always room for updating! I may have left out something that might have confused readers, or there may be some questions. The best thing you can do is leave some space or another post or two for Questions and Answers, and room to add more parts of the guide if the guide starts getting too big with so many additions to it. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <br> <br> <p><span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="promote">Promote Your Guide@@@@</a></b></u></span> <br> <br> Is nobody checking out your guide or giving you some of the praise you deserve? Try promoting your guide by putting a link to it in your signature, refer to it whenever members have a question about the topic you wrote about. Ask friends to bump it up or to compliment your guide so that it doesn’t fall in the back with all the older guides. Raise your post count! <br> <br> <center><img src='http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3159/postcountks9.gif'></center> <br> <br> [The image above was found in a post of Celticno1, thank you Celticno1.] <br> <br> If members ask a question on the thread, answer it! Make a post to let members know if you updated your guide. Say next year I wanted to change this to the “# A Guide on How to Make a Guide to Guides! #”, let everybody know… and be super enthusiastic about it! If you make it sound like a <i>whatever thing</i>, other people will treat it like <i>whatever</i> too. <br> <br> With that, you should always take a glance back at what your readers may post, sometimes it will be helpful advice and or questions that they expect answers to. Readers will post up constructive criticism not to hurt you, but to help the guide- they want you to do good too! Don’t be shy, post away your guides in the <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?/forum/52-guide-submissions/'>Guide Submissions</a> after you are done setting it up on word, or maybe you have already been using Firefox to help you take care of those nasty spelling and grammar errors! Post away your guide, enjoy the praise, and leave your mark today! <br> <br> SIMPLY CLICK >>> <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=52'><img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/He1een/masors/startnew.png' border='0' alt='user posted image' /></a> GUIDE <<<< TO APPLY FOR AWESOMENESS TODAY. <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><i>No special discounts or coupons come when you apply.</i></span> <br> <br> [Thanks to He1een for sending me that START NEW image with the URL all nicely set up for me] <br> <br> Once again, <br> <br> SIMPLY CLICK >>> <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=52'><img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/He1een/masors/startnew.png' border='0' alt='user posted image' /></a> GUIDE <<<< TO APPLY FOR AWESOMENESS TODAY. You know you want to. <br> <br> Or would you rather <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=52'>CLICK HERE!</a>? Lol <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span>

<span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="start">Where to Start Your Guide</a></b></u></span> Anyhow, where are you typing your introduction right now? I’ll tell you where this one got typed (this is just a recommendation, not a necessity)… On Microsoft Word. Yes, I didn’t even start this guide as a thread yet, naked and open to the public to see its revealed contents. Yeaup, with Microsoft Word, I can type away, where this tool will tell me all of my spelling and grammar errors. Though spelling and grammar isn’t required to make a great guide, it will make the guide much easier for the reader to comprehend, so they don’t have to work hard to get the benefits of your guide. Another tool that has spelling and grammar awareness is Firefox, and Safari as well! This has the same spelling and grammar check that Microsoft Word has, but it’s on the internet and ready to go if you are to type this up in a thread to begin with. So if you do type this up in a thread, be sure to use Firefox or Safari internet browsers if you want to catch all your spelling and grammar mistakes right away! <center><img src='http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/5007/spellingandgrammarrt7.png'></center> My recommendation, though, would be to use Microsoft Word over the other two internet browsers. The reason I use Word, is because I can save what I typed, and take as long as I need to before posting what has been done so far. I personally like to save the guide for myself for a while before showing other posters my work of art, to prevent anybody to read an incomplete guide, or to try to prevent any competition with me at the same time I make this guide (people tend to follow trends), or even to assemble the information on my own instead of having posters telling me everything before posted. If somebody tells you something about your guide ie: “Don’t forget to tell readers that you should type this in Microsoft Word first for spelling and grammar checks!” Then you have to give the poster credit for that information if you add it to your guide later on. Without the information that poster posted, your guide will not be as complete, so it’s best you post up all the information you can even if you get it from that readers post. Whether you should type it on Word first, or start a thread using Firefox or Safari... that is up to you… If you type it in Word, you obviously want to keep a bulk of the information to yourself to prevent giving out credit to your readers, or if you prefer teaming you can use Firefox or Safari to start a thread and get all the help you need. When using Microsoft Word, I wait a few days just before I post up the guide, and refer back to my own guide a couple times to update it, make changes, and edit all of my mistakes. I can look through this as much as I want the first day I write this guide, and the day that I finish it, but I will never catch these mistakes until the next day. Sometimes, I’ll ask somebody like my mom, dad, or brothers to take a look and proofread it. That way, I know for sure that a lot of the mistakes I made will be covered up right away and fixed. Another good reason to use Word is so that you can back up your guide on your computer if anything was to happen on the forums- for example a leader or mod goes crazy and erases half the posts including your guide. Though MaSoRS isn’t known for this, you never know, and I have seen this happen in other clan forums and community sites… So stay on top of it and be prepared for any crazy incidents. It’s definitely okay to have mistakes, but most people try to avoid them- I recommend leaving out as much mistakes as possible. You’d be amazed at how many people really don’t care about their mistakes… but some of the simplest forms of writing mistakes can make a guide no longer understandable or misunderstood in certain aspects. Also, whether you are posting this guide after you made it on Microsoft Word, or you start posting right away in the Guide Submissions, be sure to reserve a couple posts for yourself. Why? <center><img src='http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2677/limitationsyv7.png'></center> We have limitations on the forums. Though these forums don’t have any limits on how many symbols and whatever to type in, there are limitations on the amount of smilies and pictures we can add in each post. So be sure to have a couple spare posts so that you can include everything in your thread! It’s better to have too much than too little- at least with too much, a moderator can delete the post later (upon request) or you can use it for more tips, tricks, or to even separate sections of your guide. With too little, you’re stuck with what you got, not even a mod can add extra posts in between. Another thing is... that your guide will probably have to be constantly updated, and the with possibility of more words added, pictures, and smilies… Be sure you leave room for potential updating so that your guide can be awesome forever! <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="table">Table of Contents</a></b></u></span> Upon completing your introduction, you should be able to start your Table of Contents. With a Table of Contents, you post up generalized sections of your guide, to show in a more simple form of what the guide will contain. The simplest way to make a Table of Contents, is in bullet point form, where you add a circle or a symbol in front of your generalized sections. You can do something like: Contents • Idea • Introduction • Contents • The thing after contents • The thing after that thing • and after that • The spot where my guide end You can also refer to the Table of Contents I used for this guide as an example too. There is a special tool on the MaSoRS boards that can help you <i>list</i> your contents. The BB code for it would be: [LIST] [*]First content [*]Second conent [*]The next content after that [*]Whatever else [/LIST] Honestly though, using the list code is a lot more difficult to mess around with than simply just paragraphing the contents yourself and putting a little symbol in front of each one of them. It's always good to have a table of contents, so you know what you are going to write about. It gives you an objective to fullfil. Some writers may even use their table of contents as an "Outline" to set up the format to their guide. By format, I mean how they will layout their guide, in which order, and what they need to cover in their guide. KNOW YOUR OBJECTIVE! <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="guide">The Guide!</a></b></u></span>** Okay, so now that we have completed the Table of Contents, let us move on to the “the thing after contents.” This is where you add your details about your guide. In most cases, this is the hardest part of the guide... Seriously... So now, at this point, this would be the correct spot to post up “First, mine copper to 15, then you can mine iron.” Of course, you might want to add a little detail before that. By adding detail, I mean provide information that the reader may not know. It could be like this: “To start off your mining, you should buy an Iron Pickaxe for a couple GP in the Dwarven Mines, and mine Copper at the Al Kharid mines all the way up to level 15. While mining Copper, I recommend you bank your ores at the nearest bank so you can smith it later for smithing levels, or to sell it for more mining equipment.” This part is considered the hardest because <b>you have got to assume that your reader doesn’t know anything about what you are talking about</b> (even on abbreviations you use!) If you assume that they already know it all, why would they be reading your guide? Yeah, some of it is quite obvious, but to some, it isn’t. Just be sure to add in all that little detail just in case they are stuck and don’t know what to do to get that Iron Pickaxe or where they should mine all their iron at. It sure can make your guide very long, but at least the guide will serve its purpose and help those who need those little details. If you don’t add those details, you may have just wasted your time making a guide because it is no longer very helpful. You are making a guide for the people who need and want to read it, not for those who already know all about it. The people who already know all about mining copper to level 15 will look at the higher level strategies they will need, which you will probably put in a later part of the guide. So to start off, tell them what they need to do, then ask yourself questions about your command or statement, and write more details with that. Here is an example of a thinking process you should go through when you post information: I want readers to learn about brushing their teeth. Can I just put down “First, you brush your teeth.”? That would not be enough information for somebody who doesn’t know how to brush his or her teeth! What tools would they require or would you recommend to brush their teeth? (I'll underline the answers to my own questions to show exactly how it progressively adds to the guide) So I add the answer to the question for the guide: “First, you get a <u>toothbrush</u> and brush your teeth with <u>toothpaste</u>.” But then what kind of toothbrush should they use? “First, you get a <u>generic</u> toothbrush and brush your teeth with <u>Crest</u> toothpaste.” But where would they get all that from? “First, you <u>go to the nearest Walmart</u> to find yourself a generic toothbush- You can ask a sales associate or a Cashier to help you find your product. Then, to get Crest toothpaste, you can <u>go to the Safeway on Cedar Blvd</u> to get the best deals and of good quality as well! After that, you open your toothbrush box and put toothpaste on your toothbrush <u>at home</u>, place a little water on it from the sink with clean water in it, and then you brush your teeth from as little as 30 seconds to 2 minutes.” See? You can add so much information that people may not know. Hopefully, all of us know how to brush our teeth now ... Just remember, you are trying to answer these questions mainly: WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? And WHY? You try to answer these ahead of time so that your readers wont have to ask you for the answers later on. Those questions should cover everything your readers will need- so ask yourself that when you post the information. A lot of readers, can often be scared of asking questions too if they think they will look dumb. Just like in the mining example above, it’s pretty obvious to me, as an expert miner, where I can get an iron pickaxe… but to a new miner, they may be completely lost and clueless. The hardest part about not answering the questions right away in the guide is that about 10 people may have the same question, but only one will be willing to post it. That means 9 other people didn’t understand it, and they had to use another guide instead of yours. Nine of the 10 people did not find your guide useful. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="mini">Mini Guides</a></b></u></span> If you want to post in <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?/forum/59-mini-guides/'>Mini Guides</a>, everything posted above with all that detail is against all the rules of the Mini Guides! If somebody needs something quick and easy, like a recommendation- then it is okay to leave out the little details. In Mini Guides, readers look for short and concise descriptions, very much like my signature suggests with posting: Keep it long enough to cover the target, but short enough to keep things interesting. Of course, you wouldn't want to refer to anything that may change such as my signature. So here is a picture provided here so that if I do change my signature, you will know exactly what I am talking about: <center><img src='http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/4907/skirtsigog1.jpg'></center> Then of course, the image link may eventually go dead, so you should try to explain a little bit of what is happening in it such as said earlier- “Keep it long enough to cover the target, but short enough to keep things interesting.” That is, if this image was absolutely necessary to prove my point . So make sure that your readers will have alternative ways of receiving your point. I <i>stress</i> this because I see Mini Guides that are completely compiled as a video or image. It isn’t as bad at first… but sometimes images and videos don’t work on certain browsers or people's poor, slow, and old computers. Next, the image or video may eventually go dead! Please post up a brief description of your picture or instructions with your video at the very least (if your guide relies on the use of the images or video.) That way, when it does go dead, people will still have an idea of what you were trying to show. It'll also make the mod very happy that they wont have to ARCHIVE your guide (so that only mods can see it) or move it to the <a href='http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?/forum/111-old-guides/'>OLD GUIDES</a>! And again, short and concise- and keep everything in order. Mini Guides don’t require much to provide information, and are usually looked at by people who may already have experience in that field, just need a quick look at some of your recommendations so they can do better or try out your techniques. Most of the time, mini guides would be a compilation of recommendations instead of being informational based, just most of the time though. Oh yes, and since it is a <i>Mini</i> Guide, you most likely wont be needing a Table of Contents, members should have no problem looking for the information they need- But you can make one anyways if you desired to. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span>

<center><b><u><font size=6><a name="top"># A Guide to Guides! #</a></font></u></b></center> <marquee> StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy. StArT yOuR gUiDe ToDaY. sTaRt YoUr GuIdE tOdAy.</marquee> How can you leave your mark on the MaSoRS boards and be praised forever?! It’s easy, all you have to do is make <b>ONE</b> guide; However, nobody ever wants to leave a mark where they may appear stupid or silly just because they had trouble making a guide. How can you start off your guide? What should I put in my guide? In this guide, I will recommend all of my best strategies and tools to constructing an awesome guide. <img src='http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9166/guides.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image' /> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u>Contents</u></span> # <a href="#idea">An Idea</a> # <a href="#title">Guide Titles</a> # <a href="#time">Time</a>** # <a href="#introducing">Introducing Your Guide</a> # <a href="#start">Where to Start Your Guide</a> # <a href="#table">Table of Contents</a> # <a href="#guide">The Guide!</a>** # <a href="#mini">Mini Guides</a> # <a href="#organization">Organization!</a> # <a href="#visual">Visual Aids</a> # <a href="#tools">Use Your Available Tools</a> # <a href="#concluding">Concluding Your Guide</a> # <a href="#zomg">Zomg, It Never Ends</a> # <a href="#promote">Promote Your Guide@@@@</a> <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><a href="#thanks">Click here</a> to see who helped, and to review posted up <span style='color:blue'>Questions</span> and <span style='color:green'>Answers</span>.</span> <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>** featured content, author's recommended section that should be read. Also, the links can be clicked on to hop to the exact section. To go back to the top of this guide, you can click on the [<a href="#top">top</a>] symbols on the right side.</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="idea">An Idea</a></b></u></span> To start off your guide, you need an idea. Say for example, you are a super awesome crafter in RuneScape… You could make a crafting guide! With your specialized skill in crafting, you would be able to compile a list of tips and tricks that you have experienced in crafting, and provide detailed information, which will help your readers be able to craft just like you. Anyhow, you have your idea, you want to make this great guide, but all you have is the first step done. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="title">Guide Titles</a></b></u></span> Completing the first step by achieving your idea, you plan out a title that you may want to use. A title is important because you’ll want to attract members to read your guide instead of those other guides that you did not write. However, while having an attractive title will be helpful, make sure that members will know what kind of guide they are in for. For example, say this new guide was posted up and the title was “CLICK HERE.” Nobody who hasn’t clicked there yet would know if this was a useful guide for him or her. Of cousre, a title such as “CLICK HERE” would be very tempting, but if somebody was genuinely looking for a guide that might help them make a guide of their own, they would probably look for the “Guide to Guides!” rather than “CLICK HERE.” You can put “CLICK HERE” in your topic description if you want to tempt members. Of course, as well, it is completely acceptable to add symbols around the title to grab attention ie: “# A Guide to Guides! #” Just avoid using too many symbols cause it would be distracting and annoying, then your audience would just think you are screwing around instead of making helpful guide. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href="#top">top</a>]</span> <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><u><b><a name="introducing">Introducing Your Guide</a></b></u></span> Now that you have both your idea, and your title, you are ready to start on your introduction to your guide. You need an introduction because you want to introduce your guide to the readers. A guide that starts like this: Not only is this question interesting because it may have many answers to it' date=' but it offers readers benefits because everybody in MaSoRS wants to leave their mark and be praised for lyphe. Once again, these openings will make the reader interested and want to continue on. Then, give an offer to the reader of what they can receive from reading your guides, just so they know they are going to get some goodies from reading your guide (or if they are in for a very long ride <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'><b><u><a name="time">Time</a></u></b></span>** Okay, so you want to work on your guide... But you already know way ahead of time that your guide is going to require time. With time, should you write your guide all within a day or two, or in a couple weeks? The best way to determine this answer, is to know yourself. A guide writer who is to write all their best writing in a day or two, is most likely a person who can build momentum in their guide. By momentum, I mean you start off your guide as any other guide, which can be difficult, but after you've got that part done, you have already figured out how you want to write the next section! Also, a <i>writer of momentum</i> can get super stoked just from finishing the beginning of the guide, and then the next section, and the section after that. Personally, I'm a writer who builds momentum. However, if you are a writer who finishes the beginning of their guide, extremely bored, stuck, and can't move on to the next section of the guide, you are probably an <i>increment writer</i>. The best thing for you to do with your guide, my recommendation, is instead of spending the whole day or hours writing your guide, you should work on your guide in increments, finishing parts of your guide slowly each day- sometimes all it should take is 10-20 minutes a day for a couple weeks if you can. Increment writers should not put the entire day into their guide because they build no momentum in the guide and can be discouraged from posting it up to the public. By working on it slowly though, the writer is more likely to notice all the good work they did in their guide near the time they are finished- and is more likely to share it to the rest of the clan. This also makes it easier because it will feel like you barely put anytime into the guide (only 10-20 minutes), and after a week or two, a lot of work will be done. If a writer of momentum was to work on the guide 10-20 minutes a day and stop, they may not write their best work with the full potential, and most likely will be discouraged from posting their guide if they were to try to act like an increment writer. So be sure, before you actually start on the guide, to recognize what kind of writer are you: a <i>writer of momentum</i>, or a <i>writer of increments</i>? That way, you will know how you should use your guide writing time. <span style="position: absolute; right: 0; width: 10%;">[<a href=#top">top</a&gt]</span>

I feel this guide still serves it's purpose and is useful. If you think you can make a better guide, go for it .

Pinned to update stickies - Thanks Richard.