a guide to making guides

[doomboy]

lol. but, jokes aside, for those of you who want to make guides, here is a 10 step guide to making guides. i do realize there is another post right above mine for it by a ddo employee, but this is a little different as you'll see once you read it.

1. know what all you need to write.
if you are say, making a guide on running Shroud, make sure you know exactly what all you need to mention, such as the fact that you have to fight all the bosses twice, or that you will die on purpose when moving from part 4 to 5, and should not release.

2. lay it out in front of you.
it is very helpful to making the guide if you put all the information out in front of you, in points. that way, you have all the basic information required, and can check if you have missed out anything important.

3. form the sentences
now, take those points that you made, and start forming sentences with them, each, of course, making sense when put next to the other.

4. a little detailing
now, in those points, you might want to add some specific details. for example, one of the points is about fighting arraetrikos. you might be saying "he uses meteor swarm" now, add the extra details. "he uses meteor swarm, so you should have a decent fire resist handy. also, if you are a caster and he turns specifically to you, you should move away from your position, as there is a likely chance he is about to use that spell on you." see how much it can help?

5. paragraphs!
if someone is reading your guide, they might be put off by a big block of text. break it up into paragraphs, makes it more friendly to the eye, also seems a bit less than it might really be.

6.examples!
mention examples if you can, as they are helpful to the reader, as the reader can possibly visualize the scenario. also, add screenshots if it's something particularly confusing, like a puzzle, or the position of a trap box.

7. editing and formatting.
make sure you carefully hunt your written work for grammatical and factual errors. they might confuse someone who is running the quest for the first time. also, leave out any nonsense, anything which isn't required. if you have written, say "arraetrikos has *this much* HP, on so and so difficulties. i, with my WF Barbarian can tke him down to 50% of his health in so and so time" you can remove the second line, as it does not help the reader in any way.
if your post is about, say builds, then assign different colors for your builds and make a note at the start of which color is which build, so that someone who wants a specific build can skip to that portion.

for example, if you are writing a guide to a quest which has a lever puzzle, "pull lever 5 then 2, then pull the large lever" might be what you have written, but you meant to write "pull lever 2 , then 5, then 3, then pull the big lever". someone who attempts to do the former might trigger a trap which blows their heads off.

8. can others understand it?
well, you've made the guide, but can someone else understand what you have written? run it by them, see if it makes sense, edit it accordingly. Have a proofreader check the grammar as well, you might make mistakes and not notice them.

9. is it complete?
read your guide once, see if you have missed anything out, add it if you have. again, back to the shroud examples, say you write "in part 2 you have to kill all the bosses within seconds of each other. now, in part 3......" notice that you've missed out that you have to break that big crystal too? it could be crucial, specially if someone is running a newbie's raid and does not know why that big purple barrier is still up.
make one or two drafts, improve on each.
Read it once again, this time aloud. Make sure it sounds right.

10. always be open to suggestions and improvements!
if someone comments on your guide, suggesting an easier method to do something, have a look at it, if you and maybe others agree, edit your guide to add it! after all, they might know more than you, so think it over, and see whether or not it could be an improvement! also, remember to always be polite, both in the guide and in feedback about it!


well guys, that's my 10 steps to making a guide! hope it helps you all, and if you have suggestions for improving it, or are unclear on something, please post below and i'll make the necessary changes! thanks!

[phillymiket]

I used to be unsure how to write guides.

Then I found Doomboy.

Now my guides take me half the time to write and are clear and concise and stack neatly in the cupboard for easy storage.

Thanks Doomboy!

This guy clearly deserves some kind of words under his name.



I also would add to your guide formatting.

Some guides are easy to read, some are impossible.

You need to be able to skip what you don't need and quickly get to the part that matters to you.

OP +1 to you though for creating a guide.
.

[doomboy]

I used to be unsure how to write guides.

Then I found Doombuy.

Now my guides take me half the time to write and are clear and concise and stack neatly in the cupboard for easy storage.

Thanks Doomboy!

This guy clearly deserves some kind of words under his name.



I also would add to your guide formatting.

Some guides are easy to read, some are impossible.

You need to be able to skip what you don't need and quickly get to the part that matters to you.

OP +1 to you though for creating a guide.
.

thanks mate just wanted to know what exactly you mean by formatting.

[phillymiket]

thanks mate just wanted to know what exactly you mean by formatting.

Formatting

- Highlighting so things are easy to read.

(Avoid colors that are hard to read)

- Organizing with sections and bullet points.

(Rule of thumb: 7 words or less for a bullet point.)




Making it quick and clear which parts are intro/conclusion what is the meat and potatoes.

Look at Junt's guide to Paladins, for example.

You can quickly see where the info is and skip, for example, a drow TWF build and get right to the part about Human THF, if that's what you are looking for.
.

[doomboy]

Formatting

- Highlighting so things are easy to read.

(Avoid colors that are hard to read)

- Organizing with sections and bullet points.

(Rule of thumb: 7 words or less for a bullet point.)




Making it quick and clear which parts are intro/conclusion what is the meat and potatoes.

Look at Junt's guide to Paladins, for example.

You can quickly see where the info is and skip, for example, a drow TWF build and get right to the part about Human THF, if that's what you are looking for.
.

gotcha, thanks for the advice! added.

[Mathermune]

Lol. but, jokes aside, for those of you who want to make guides for guiding a guide, here is a 3 step guide to making a guide for guides.

1) Find a decent guide to making a guide for making a guide.

2) Check it's sources, you need to be careful that the guide to making your guide for a guide isn't just copying their words from a guide to making guides for guiding guides.

3) If your guide for guiding guides becomes too meta and self referential, call it a manual. This makes finding a guide to writing a manual for writing a guide on how to write a guide far less ambiguous.

Verbal dexterity check. /Roll D20 + charisma bonus

[doomboy]

Lol. but, jokes aside, for those of you who want to make guides for guiding a guide, here is a 3 step guide to making a guide for guides.

1) Find a decent guide to making a guide for making a guide.

2) Check it's sources, you need to be careful that the guide to making your guide for a guide isn't just copying their words from a guide to making guides for guiding guides.

3) If your guide for guiding guides becomes too meta and self referential, call it a manual. This makes finding a guide to writing a manual for writing a guide on how to write a guide far less ambiguous.

Verbal dexterity check. /Roll D20 + charisma bonus

lol

[doomboy]

please guys, rate this and leave suggestions! i want to know how good this is and where all i can improve!

[Bekki]

I am in work on a guide right now and this will be a great help
In terms of blocking, pacing and editing. Thanks for the hard work.

Outstanding job.