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Invisible Phantom

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1. Does role playing help your writing skills?
2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?
3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

If I have any more, I'll post them.. But I think that's it for now.
1. Any writing helps your writing skills as long as you're constantly striving to improve yourself.

2. No one would make a living off writing if they don't enjoy it. It' too hard to succeed.

3. This topic is much too broad. The most general advice I can give is to read other published authors of the same genre that you write and learn from them.
1. There is a chance that roleplaying will help your writing skills, but I find it to be very challenging to work on your writing while roleplaying. It's too easy to only concern yourself with the action of your post, rather than the descriptions. Also, one of the obstacles I have personally faced in my writing is character interaction and dialogues, something that is extremely limited when you roleplay with other people. By all means, have fun roleplaying! But don't expect it to be great for improving your writing.

2. I personally write for fun. Even careers like journalism are really taxing and not that rewarding. To try to make a career out of writing fiction is admirable, but risky, to say the least.

3. Write as often and as much as you can. When you write, don't worry about writing the perfect draft on the first try. Just let it flow. You can always go back and fix it later. But most importantly, read! I can't emphasize that enough. And not just in the genre you write. Every author has strengths and weaknesses which can really add to your writing, so it's important to read as many different authors' works as you can. If you read only one genre, your writing would turn into a cookie-cutter (sorry for the cliche) version of what the genre reads like. Don't fall into that trap.

Good luck and have fun with all your writing adventures!

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1. Yes. Hell, texting helps ,s o long as you spell out words.

2. I write for fun; something I want published still.

3. don't be squeamish about hard work, blunt comments, or red ink all over your stuff. Look forward to it. The better a job you do with the hard stuff, the sooner you can get to the fun stuff.

Peaceful Lunatic

1. Roleplaying is nice because it can keep you on your toes by reacting to other players, finding sensible ways to connect your character and theirs, and giving other players hooks to build off of (especially if they seem to be having trouble figuring out what to do). But it does take up writing time.

2. I write as an 'addiction', and because it's fun. I hope I can make money off this someday. Preferably soon.

3. For description? Try your hand at writing descriptive essays. Take one thing, whether it's an object or a landscape, and describe everything about it. And I do mean everything. Involve all five senses as much as possible, not just sight. Try not to go to much into history or plot in those, just what the thing is physically here and now. That should get you some good practice.
Sinister Whispers
1. Does role playing help your writing skills?
2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?
3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

If I have any more, I'll post them.. But I think that's it for now.


1. I generally use roleplaying as a way to see how a character of mine would interact with others they wouldn't normally get a chance to meet within my story, and also as a way to get used to writing in their frame of mind.
2. I write for fun, currently, but I'm hoping to eventually be able to live off of my writing.
3. Write every single day =] It sounds trite, but it's the best way to keep yourself from postponing your writing. As for description, my big thing is to sit down in an area, old or new, and take down every detail I can about it, and then read or send it to a friend of mine and see if they can guess what type of area it was, where it was. etc.
Best of luck!

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1) It depends. A lot of the roleplays I've seen don't really go into a great amount of detail, but some people like them just for the different situations it throws your character into. Personally I'd say no, but others can find them useful.

2) Writing is mostly just my personal therapist, but if I didn't enjoy doing it then I wouldn't. Call me cynical though, but I've always seen professional writing as something for people like J.K. Rowling (who unfortunately I'm not) and Stephenie Meyer (who thankfully I'm not).

3) It can seem tempting when starting out to use lots of purple prose (prose that looks like someone's been serial abusing it with a thesaurus), but don't do it! It's horrendously wordy and words are more likely to be misused this way. Don't go the other way either, boring prose is...well, boring wink

Dapper Dabbler

1. I think that roleplaying can indeed help your writing, but only if you approach it with the same mindset as your writing. I don't see how simple two-liners that involve "lol" and "*sat on her bed sighing and thinking about her dead parents*" and the like will help.

2. I write for fun. It's a hobby of mine. If I can get published someday, well, I certainly won't say no, but it's not a distinct goal of mine at the moment.

3. If you want to write good description, look at what's around you. Look at the simplest little things, and think about not what you know they are, such as the simple toy airplane, but what you can actually see. Avoid purple prose in those descriptions, though.
1. It depends, but mostly yes if used properly. It helps more with the way events are played out. What needs to be told and what is understood. Mainly, RP is used to help with communication between characters and how different traits create different conversation.

2. I am an aspiring author. I hope to have the chance to get my work out there, but I am not in it for any type of profit, even to sustain myself. I will have a full time job.

3. A picture is worth a thousand words. So take a picture and then try to write down the description pretending to describe it to someone who cannot see the object. Write as much as you can and then revisit the picture. How accurately did you describe the object? Did you miss anything? Then review what you wrote with the picture. What did you not need to say? By the time you are done, each time you should be left with 1-4 sentences depending on the object you are describing. Each time use different types of objects, those that are well known vs. those that are not to the general public. You will find that with the first, this will be your 1 sentence vs. the latter which will be more. How much more will depend on the importance of it in a given context. (That is physical description. You can do the same exercise for the other four senses.)

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Sinister Whispers
1. Does role playing help your writing skills?
2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?
3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

If I have any more, I'll post them.. But I think that's it for now.


1. I'd definitely say so. It's great practice for getting into character and having to understand their motivations/how they usually approach problems and such.

2. I don't see why I can't do both, hehe. smile

3. Well, I'm not really sure what sort of things you're looking for, so I'll just throw out whatever comes to me? And if you've got more questions after, you can feel free to hit me up.

a) Once you've got something you want to write (whether it's a story, poem, what-have-you), don't stop writing. Even if you get discouraged and say "this section is bad", just keep writing. You can always go back and edit it later! (And in the meantime, you're getting closer to sections you DO want to write, which usually turn out awesomely and motivate you to do that earlier-editing, in my experience.)

b) As for description, this may sound obvious, but when I'm writing out a scene, I really like to have a strong mental image of the area in my head. (If it helps - draw it out!) Having that image means that, when I need to, I can describe things that my characters are interacting with or that they find interesting/intriguing/important/whatever. Also, it helps make the scene feel a little more realistic and organic, because when I picture the scene and also am feeling really in-character, then I know how they'd react to that scene. Even adding small details helps - recently in my writing I had some characters in a bar and it was a bit crowded. One of them was just gonna flounce right through there and push past people if she had to to get where she wanted, even if they were dangerous goons - the person with her helped mediate and keep her a bit more cautious. Just mentioning something like that really helps set the scene.

... apologies if this was rambly. (I tend to do that when it comes to writing.) Hopefully this helped?
Sinister Whispers
1. Does role playing help your writing skills?
2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?
3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

If I have any more, I'll post them.. But I think that's it for now.


1] No, that s**t's gay.
2] No, that s**t's gay.
3] Don't be gay.

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1. I've RPed once or twice only.
2. I only write for fun. I am in no way interested in becoming a professional writer.
3.Don't over do it with detail, because then you just bore your reader.
1. Yes, roleplaying helps a lot. At least, for me it has. And vice-versa. Being a writer has also helped my roleplaying skills. (I haven't roleplayed on Gaia for years, but my roleplay has always been generally description based.) Anything helps, honestly. As long as you're writing something and putting thought into your syntax and grammar and what not.

2. For now, I write for fun. Honestly, once I retire, I plan to try and write a novel, or possibly a poetry book... But I find it extremely difficult to write for someone, like classes and such.

3. Don't be afraid of constructive criticism. Period. And, as aforementioned, anything helps. I mean anything. I keep two journals. One, I write in everyday. The other, I do prompted writing in when I stumble across a prompt. School essays, though I despise them, help as well. Roleplaying helped me tremendously. And I read a lot. Reading helps develop the style and plot that appeals to readers.

Liberal Shapeshifter

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Sinister Whispers
1. Does role playing help your writing skills?
2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?
3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

If I have any more, I'll post them.. But I think that's it for now.


1) Roleplaying can help give you inspiration for writing but something collaborative like role play is far removed from writing your own piece. Role play is all about reaction and solo writing requires that you plan out what all of the conversations will be like ahead of time because you're the only one who knows what your characters are thinking and only you know what ALL of them are thinking.

2) Writing for a living doesn't pay well or steadily in most cases so, While I plan to attempt to get some things published on the side I also plan to hold a regular job.

3) Learning how much to describe your world takes practice but the biggest thing to remember is that everything you describe must have purpose. Cliché as it is, show don't tell. You may have the urge to describe every dress every character is wearing in minute detail but if the color of Miss Caroline's dress and the number ruffles on the sleeve is aren't important to the story then the reader wont care and might get annoyed. Broad strokes not microscopic views.


Some other tips include :

4) Dialogue is important. Practice and make sure it revels something about the character. We define people by how they interact with one another. Body language is important to, tense shoulders tell us more than any amount of lamenting.

5) Make sure you stay in the same tense throughout. If you start in present tense and then switch to past tense it will be distracting and confusing.

6) Don't be afraid to hurt your characters. You must hurt them! We as authors love our characters and want them to be happy but turmoil is what makes a story interesting, if nothing bad happens than the character has nothing to overcome and nothing to do. Nothing interesting in any case.

7) Give your character flaws and use them. I don't mean flaws like "can't sing" or "Is bad at baseball" but powerful ones that affect the way they act and react: A fear of men, compulsive lying, great fear of water, can't stand people who have blonde hair. These kinds of things matter and make us interested in what's going on as well as providing opportunities for conflict and growth.

I hope some of this helps.

Dapper Gaian

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1. Does role playing help your writing skills?

To me, you are role playing with the skills you already have. Role playing is not teaching you a lot about writing, other than typing up a set amount of sentences. If you want to get better at writing, hit up a book or take a few classes. Know where you need work on and practice to overcome those weaknesses.

2. Do you write for fun, or plan on trying to make a living off of the writing?

Yes, I do write for fun. However, my ultimate goal in life is to become a published writer. That;s what I love and it's what I want to do.

3. Any tips for aspiring writers? Tips for description, is the main thing..?

Practice, practice, practice. You want to be a better writer? Practice. But always remember not to force anything.

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