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 Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:40 pm
I've rp'd for quite some time now, on msn servers and webgroups. I used to rp back when msn chat rooms were free and you were allowed to actually keep the room open while no one was in it during the night so people could sleep and come back in the morning. That was a long time ago, but the skills that I developed there stick with me to this day.
I thought I might write this to teach people how to write effectively, impressively, and to post quickly.
I'm not much of a teacher, however, so you'll undoubtadly notice that I rp better than I teach haha. neutral
*ADJECTIVES:: One thing that I notice is that alot of the younger crowd seem to think adjectives are the bane of all existance. They're not~! Use as many as you can! Start a sentence with an adjective. Start one with three! This gives the reader and idea of the details of the scenario that you're trying to write. It paints a much better mental picture.
Would you rather read:
"Punker Bill nervously walked behind a drunk. He took his wallet and breathed a sigh of relief that he'd gotten away with it. "
Or would you be more interested in:
"Thud! Thud! Thud!" There was a rhythem to the drunkards steps as he made his way acrossed the scuffed dirty platform that was the Passerby's wooden floor. Bill kept his eyes on those boots. "Thud! Thud! Thud!" He tilted his head slightly with every awkward, misbalanced step. It was the feel of the victim that he needed, and much like his music, life has a rhythm for everything. If he could catch the drunkard's rhythm, especially in his inebriated state himself, he could decide how to move and when.
There!(Use those adjectives!) Crimson lips parted slowly into a preditor's twisted grin as the pickpocket Bill at last saw his oppertunity. Slender shoulders sprung forward and a slim yet muscular body followed. Bill feigned a trip and caught himself against a fellow punker. Brilliant blue eyes, sly and sharp, never lost sight of the poor fellow sloshing his way to the restroom. He moved with the sweaty, drunken crowd, blending in. Becoming invisible. This would be his first step in making way to his quarry...
*As you saw, my character didn't even make his way over to the man he wanted to steal from in the detailed one, yet not only is it more exciting, but since we shed light on his confidence and expertise on judging those he wants to steal from, we can be sure that he'll succeed. We knew the character was tense in both stories, both were rife with concentration. ..And yet which one conveyed it better?
*BUILD YOUR POST. Keep writing! Write write write! If you write yourself into a corner, delete a few sentences and keep going! Lengthy writing can be tedious, but at the end of the post, you'll be glad you did it. If you keep writing, it shortens that time while simultaniously building your story and giving you yourself an idea of where you want to go with your post. It's easier to see on a computer screen whether you want to make your character go left and run up a ladder to escape from an agent and narrowly escape a bomb that another player planted; then keep it all in your head and forget the bomb because you wrote none of it down. Now your character did not acknowledge the bomb and as a result, he's dead.
*READ. Read the posts before you in their entirety. This can be a rooky mistake, but I've seen seasoned rpers turned red from missing important details as a result of gun-decking a post. Read the whole thing. You want people to read your creation in it's entirety, correct? You're doing yourself and the other players a favor by reading theirs.
*BE YOUR CHARACTER. If at all possible, try to actually get inside your character. Yes of course they aren't you, and are supposed to be someone else, but it makes the process much smoother, more natural and alot less corny if you actually try to get inside your rp character.
*PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!
*EDIT. We all make mistakes. I have quite the bad habit of proof reading AFTER I've hit the submit button. There's nothig wrong with making mistakes! There's always the feeling of urgancy to get your post out there as fast as possible. It's curtious and lessens the wait for others to post.
Spelling errors are the easiest to fix and it's pretty much out of the question to release a poorly written post and leave it that way. It doesn't change the story, it just makes your post easier to read and it satisfies the grammar nazis, right? Nothing wrong with that.
But what if you want to change a sentence or two? This can be a tricky matter to deal with, to be sure. It's prudent of course to let other's know when you've changed your post if it puts a slightly different spin on the way the rp is heading, but what if you want to change the whole thing?
Obviously you're not going to be able to change your post if the story has taken it's turn and people have posted after you, but if you can get away with rewriting your post, have at it! Go OOC, let them know that you're rewriting your post and that it'l only take a minute! If it's a better rp, whose going to hold it against you? Don't be afraid to edit.
I'm certain that I've left quite a bit of information out, so I'll most likely keep adding to this post. However, if anyone has any questions, feel free to chime in and throw your two cents around.
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:08 pm
Putting a link to this thread in the 'How to post' sticky up top where people can easily access it.
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:47 pm
Great tips dude. You must be a good DM.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:58 pm
Haha no I don't play D&D. It's those MSN servers, man! They taught me alot because if you did a half-a** post they'd flame the living hell out of you haha! So you had to sort of learn how to rp as best you could, after awhile you just sort of get better. You know what they say: "Practice makes perfect."
..Well that and the fact that I was an English major in College. ninja
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:26 pm
English major degree helps.....
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