Writing a Story
Writing a Story
Stories are an important part of the DayzUnderground community. While roleplay primarily takes place in-game, writing can be used to explore characters, document events, share information, and contribute to the wider narrative of both Chernarus and Livonia.
Like roleplay itself, stories are often strongest when they emerge naturally from gameplay. Rather than creating an entire narrative beforehand, consider how your character responds to the people they meet, the places they visit, and the experiences they have along the way.
This guide covers the basics of writing stories for the DayzUnderground community.
Why Write Stories?
Character Development
Stories provide an opportunity to explore parts of a character that may not be immediately visible during roleplay in-game. A journal entry, letter, or internal monologue is a great tool for revealing a character's motivations, fears, beliefs, and personal struggles.
Writing can also help answer questions about your character:
- What motivates them?
- What do they fear?
- What are they willing to sacrifice?
- How have they changed?
- What are they hiding from others?
Community Storytelling
DayZ Underground is built around Organic Roleplay. Every interaction, conflict, friendship, betrayal, and alliance is capable of contributing to the larger community narrative. Stories allow players to share their perspective on events and the wider community, providing additional context that may not have been visible during roleplay.
Preserving Events
Not every memorable event is required to become a story, but writing can help to preserve important moments in a character's journey.
A story might document:
- The loss of a friend
- The founding of a group
- A major conflict
- A difficult decision
- A significant personal change
Years later, after these characters have faded away, these stories they leave behind often become part of the server's living history.
New to Writing?
Many players who write stories on DayzUnderground do not consider themselves writers, and that's completely okay!
The purpose of a story is not to demonstrate technical writing ability. It is to communicate an experience, explore characters, or share perspectives with your fellow community members. The sole objective of a story is both for personal enjoyment, and that of others.
If you are uncertain on where to begin, start small! A single moment or interaction can often be enough to build from.
Taking Notes
Taking notes during / after your play sessions is a great way to keep track of what your character knows, and serves as a way to look back on the events that one may write a story about. It also helps keep dialogue and order of actions accurate. Recording your gameplay is also a way to help review interactions and moments.
Why Stories Matter
Roleplay happens in the moment-to-moment gameplay.
Players often have conversations, or experience conflicts, alliances, and betrayals, but they often cannot directly see what a character is thinking, remembering, fearing, or struggling with internally.
Stories allow players to explore:
- Thoughts that are never spoken aloud
- Memories from their past / before the outbreak
- Motivations behind important decisions
- Personal struggles and fears
- Events that occurred far away from other players
Basic Story Structure
It can be a bit daunting when you’re new to writing, so here’s a few suggestions on how to start writing! Most stories follow a simple structure:
Beginning
Introduce the situation and setting.
Some starting questions are: where is the character? What is happening? Has something recently occurred?
Middle
This is where action, contemplation, dialogue, or elaboration takes place.
Often these can center around decision, conflict, discovery, or challenges that a character is facing during the story.
End
The character reacts to what has happened, or shares some closing thoughts.
Endings do not necessarily need to resolve everything. They can often end on an uncertain or ambiguous note. This portion is the most subjective, go with what feels right for you!
Starting With a Moment
As mentioned earlier, you do not require any large event or plot to begin writing a story. Often, single moments are enough to serve as an introductory prompt, such as:
- A survivor standing over a freshly dug grave
- A doctor reviewing notes about a patient
- A journalist investigating a rumor
- Someone stumbling upon an abandoned camp
- A character reading an old letter
- A survivor reflecting on a recent betrayal or ally
Often, these small moments are what form the foundation for larger stories! Anything can be made significant. In fact, some of the strongest stories are those that focus on small, personal moments.
Writing Is a Skill
Like roleplay, writing will often improve with practice. Don’t worry about creating the perfect story, as there’s a wide range of writing skills across the community. Focus on your character, their experiences, and the things they care about. The main goal should never be about creating something perfect, but something that you enjoy writing.
There are several community members who are willing to help proofread stories for grammar and flow. These people can be found in the DUG Content Creator Hub, which can be found in the chernarus-share-content channel in the DayzUnderground Discord server.
Where to Post Stories
The DayZ Underground Subreddit
The primary platform for stories is the DayzUnderground subreddit, which is available to whitelisted members.
Stories are organized using two flairs.
OOC Story
OOC (Out of Character) stories are not considered usable information in-game.
Examples can often include:
- Character journals
- Personal narratives
- Character studies
- Internal monologues
- Flashbacks
- Creative writing pieces
These stories are intended to provide insight into characters without becoming in-character knowledge. They should never be used as information in-game, unless the author of the story gives permission.
IC Story
IC (In Character) stories are considered information that exists within the game world.
Examples can often include:
- Newspaper articles
- Flyers
- Public notices
- Event announcements
- Missing person reports
- Radio broadcasts
- Public statements
IC stories may be acted upon if a character has a believable way of encountering that information. However, IC does not necessarily mean universally known. These posts are often intended for those who are actively playing the server at the moment.
Discord
Players who do not have access to the subreddit may still share stories in the #chernarus-share-content and #livonia-share-content channels on the DayzUnderground Discord.
Avoiding Metagaming
Metagaming is using information your character could not reasonably know.
Examples include:
- Acting on information from OOC stories
- Using knowledge from Discord or Reddit in-game
- Reading another character's private journal and using it in-character
A useful question is:
How would my character know this?
If there is no reasonable answer, it should not be used in roleplay.
Using Your Profession
If a character has a roleplay profession, this can be a great starting prompt for writing stories! For example:
- A doctor could write diagnoses and symptoms about their patients.
- A journalist could write articles.
- A scientist could write reports on their research.
- A police officer could write about incident reports.
- A teacher could write educational material.
- An artist could write poetry or fiction.
Perspective
Stories often use first person or third person perspectives. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and choosing which one to go with is always the author’s choice.
First Person
I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the fire again.
First person is great for emotional and personal storytelling. It often allows for a look at a character’s internal monologue, or how they process their experiences.
Third Person
Zara sat alone beside the fire, unable to ignore the memories creeping in.
Third person is great for descriptive narratives, or those involving multiple characters. They especially excel in writing about combat or action scenes.
Showing Versus Telling
Telling:
He was brave.
Showing:
He stepped forward without hesitation.
Verbs and details are often helpful for communicating characters more effectively than simply listing their traits.
Formatting
Bold Text
Bold text is a great way to imply emphasis.
Do not come here.
Italics
Italics are often used for thoughts, memories, and internal experiences.
I shouldn’t have trusted them.
Permadeath
Always confirm with the player before writing about a character’s permanent death. Never assume any “canonical” outcomes without communication. The moment of a character’s death is always the player’s choice, no matter what.
Closing Thoughts
Stories exist to explore characters, preserve experiences, and contribute to the living world of DayzUnderground. There is no single correct way to write. Write what feels meaningful, build from your gameplay, and let your character’s experiences guide the story. We hope this guide was helpful, and look forward to seeing what you create!