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.