Short Story Techniques?

Has anyone done a thorough write up or guide on the short story process in-game? Advice for reaching specific levels of quality and suchlike?

Yes, Spacemarine9 has.

Advice? Wait until they get social actions working again. Right now, the only real reason to create a short story is to join the Author profession or for curiosity value.

I was planning to look at the Author Profession for a bit. Trickster was interesting, but unremarkable apart from the pet

So if I’m trying to be sure I get an exceptional story, should I try to raise my potential high and roll on exceptional? Or should I roll at 100 and hope I fail the check for Master story?

If the Exceptional Short Story challenge still works on the basic Broad difficulty scale, you’ll need 133 Potential for a 100% straightforward chance.

These might be a bit off since my calculator rounds up and FL’s calculator rounds down:
80 - chancy (60%)
93 - modest (70%)
106 - very modest (80%)
120 - low-risk (90%)
133 - straightforward (100%)

If you’re not in a rush to ascend the literary career ladder, it might be faster to gamble with Masterful Short Story’s 100 Potential challenge…unless you “fail” repeatedly and get delayed by weeks. :p It wouldn’t be bad to build up a library of Masterful pieces, though.

I’ve “failed” once already. Had to bust out the typewriter and start over. I’m not actually clear on whether or not these stories can actually be profitable, given the cost of the higher advancements, so I’m not clear on if making the cheapest master grade stories possible is “worth” the actions.

Yes, Spacemarine9 has.

Advice? Wait until they get social actions working again. Right now, the only real reason to create a short story is to join the Author profession or for curiosity value.[/quote]

I agree with Tesuji. The &quotpet&quot you receive for becoming an Author is very nice (+8 Persuasive, +8 Watchful) and the financial benefits are very good as well.

I’m really going to miss the Imp, persuasive and Shadowy are my lowest stats and the hardest to get good pets for. Still, +8 to my primary stat is just too tempting to pass up. I’ve got the story now ((Took two tries, one got me a masterful story, the other I gambled on exceptional with 111 potential and succeeded)) Just have to use my typewriter to get my relationship up so I can use the card I’ve been hoarding since yesterday

EDIT: And now I’m an author.
edited by Finvara on 5/8/2013

For shadowy: Consider using a Devious raven advisor instead. With the pet stat buff it now is +7 (!)
I’ll be using my owl instead of my appreciation now, as my owl gives +5 in all stats + bizarre/dreaded +2

I still have low enough stats that I change my equipment a lot. I’ll have to level up my dark raven advisor (I have a light one and a dark one, for completionist’s sake), but I like that suggestion and I’ll use it.