Valucre Newsletter: 8/14/2011

Robert A. Heinlein

I never learned from a man who agreed with me.

Market Shops

IC Marketplaces have been created for members who wish to purchase available IC items for valBullion. Contact the appropriate owners before you make your purchases.

Terran Market - supernal

Genesar Global Penguin Market - The Hummingbird

Isélyrian Blacksmith Shop - Enigmatic Surrender

Isélyrian Alchemist Shop - Enigmatic Surrender

Forum Niscotorum - Glory

Social Groups

Several new social groups have been created that are open to any Valucre member who wishes to join.

Valucre Book Club - Share and discuss your favorite books and authors.

Valucre Chess Club - Created for members who enjoy playing the complex game of Chess.

Valucre Movie Club - Discuss and recommend movies, both those you have seen and those you have yet to see.

Create A World: Canon Board

Has been split into three sections, the price has been lowered, and three levels are now available, as follows:

• 3k for a front-facing board, like Rosinder, with 8 signatures.
• 2k for a level 1 board, like Gaian Academy, with 6 signatures.
• 1k for a level 2 board, like the Dead, with 4 signatures.

Contact Admin for more information.

Valucre's Writing and GFX Contest

Season One - Cycle Two is well under way. Be sure to submit your Flash Story or Digital Art entries by August 15th. Rules and guidelines can be found here.

Themes are:

Flash Story- Betrayal
Digital Art - What Lies Beneath

The Lesson: Swordplay

Featuring:

Faustus- Faustus Clemens; amenities- Michael Commager; Nightmare- Golem; Lastlight- Berceuse

Michael Commager and Faustus Clemens are in the midst of one of their innumerable training sessions when Clemens' body simply vanishes from sight. Nearly instinctively, the child goes out in search of his mentor. His search brings him to the doorstep of Odin Haze, who tells him where to find the man for whom he searches; Hell. With the assistance of a patchwork quilt of confused and lost souls named Golem and a vagabond named Berceuse, Michael travels through a Dante's Inferno-esque underworld to find his mentor.

He even goes as far as trading verses with the Hand of Death Himself before meriting the release of his teacher and secretly fishing a gem called the Devil's Eye from the Devil itself before returning.

Valucre's Staff Spotlight for August falls upon a regular roleplayer whose contributions to Valucre extend not only in regular updates but also writing. Consistent even with a heavy schedule, Desolate's unique style and posts are always high in quality, an interesting read in whatever character he has chosen to play. Whether the story he writes in is that of humor or solemnity, he always gives his best, never floundering in mood and tone, with nearly perfect grammar and punctuation worthy of a truly professional writer. Valuable since Valucre's earliest days, Desolate is an excellent and prime example of effort and the success that follows.

Important People You Should Know

Administrators
• Supernal/Carlos: i_hold_the_sky
• Desolate/Damon
• Trax'ien Cion/James: p0wer_t0_the_hav3_n0ts

Team leaders
• Enigmatic Surrender(Nette) for Public Relations and Marketing
• Soulbrand (Daniel) for Story-tellers.

Outreach: Responsible for member integration and retention. You can find a list of these members here.

Watchers: The Watchers monitor threads and update articles in their respective section to act as a dynamically updated reference for In-Character current events for members new and old alike. You can find a list of these members here.

Board leaders: These are the people you should talk to if you have questions regarding the different continents of Valucre.

• Terrenus (Supernal)
• Genesaris (Hummingbird)
• Muhir (Soulbrand)
• Rosinder (Supernal & Desolate)
• Renovatio (Dre. That's his real name. His forum ID is fuck-all to type.)
• Iselyr (Enigmatic Surrender)
• Paragon (Sorano)

Open Threads

An up-to-date listing of Valucre's Open roleplays where members can find a variety of roleplays suitable to their needs and may join at any time.

Blog and Thread Ratings

Read a blog that caught your interest? Rate it on a scale of 1 (Terrible) to 5 (Excellent) stars by clicking on the 'Rate This Entry' tab, give your score, then click 'Vote Now'.

What about a thread that is somehow particularly memorable to you? You can rate that, too! Just click on the 'Rate This Thread' tab, provide a score, and click 'Vote Now'.

Reputation

Ever wonder what those green bars just above your avatar are? They represent the amount of reputation you have acquired while on Valucre. The more bars you have, the more reputation you have received. (On rare occasions, the bars appear red to denote the massive amounts of negative reputation you've received.) To check the reputation that you've received, simply click the Settings button at the top of any page. You'll be redirected to a page that shows a referral link that you can share with your friends who may want to join Valucre. Below that, is the list of reputation that shows the titles and links to the posts you accrued the reputation, the user who gave you the reputation, as well as any comments they may have left for you to view.

Writing Prompts

Writing prompts can be used to help trigger thoughts, spark creative ideas, and help a writer to focus without feeling overwhelmed with the thought of finding the 'perfect idea'. There are no mistakes to be made, no expectations of 'getting it right' and nothing to lose. After all, it's only a writing prompt.

• A sickly looking man stumbles down a long stretch of road cradling what looks to be a small, metallic box.
• A suit of armor has been carefully set against the trunk of a cherry tree. Its soft, purple hues glisten beneath the moon's light.
• The crystalline waters seem so welcoming after a long day of travel. Beneath its surface, the pallid face of a woman smiles.

Last month's writing prompts provided some awesome tidbits of creativity. Enjoy reading them here:

Valucre's Newsletter! - A Blog Post

Newsletter Writing Prompt Response - Text Art

Writing Tips

Constructive Criticism - Reading your own work long enough makes it seem perfect. You may miss common mistakes or might even skim over sentences that don't flow as smoothly as they could. Gaining knowledge from your peers is an excellent way of improving your own skills and constructive criticism helps to accomplish this.

Constructive criticism is a critique of someone's work with the intentions of helping the writer improve. Positive and negative statements may be incorporated in a friendly manner, but both serve to raise and maintain standards.

You can ask for constructive criticism in a variety of ways. For example, a thread listed in Free Chat with a link to your post and requests for constructive criticism to be given freely. Or, you can send a PM to writers whose works you admire and ask that they read your work and provide you with feedback.

Be mindful that not all feedback is filled with compliments and you may not even like what you hear. Believe it or not, though, the person is only trying to help you. Everyone says they want feedback, but not everyone can handle the feedback they might receive. Some writers view their works as 'their babies' and take great pride in their creations. It doesn't feel good when you show off your baby and someone tells you that your baby is ugly.

If you've been approached by someone for constructive criticism, pat yourself on the back but don't let it swell your head lest you forget that you're capable of making mistakes, as well. Read their work and offer a fresh viewpoint. Correct spelling and grammatical errors if any have been made and provide a reason for why you do or don't like the piece. Do not be offended if the person chooses to not use your suggestions. Give suggestions on the general flow of the piece without changing the overall statement. Remember, it is their piece, not yours.