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Caress_Of_Darkness Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:38 pm
Step 1: Outline  Storyline:The daughter of a rich company CEO, Catherine, is caught in an arranged marriage with a man she's never met. Clinging to her best friend, Adriena, for support, it becomes obvious that they are far more then friends. Living in the house since childhood, the best friend is the daughter of the head maid in the house, and is crushed by the news that her lover will soon be married off and sent away. She does what any best friend would do though, and arranges the bachelorette party for her friend. That night she puts on her wedding dress, and surprises her friend with an exact match in her size. Together th have their own ceremony, pledging their love to each other. Tomorrow, the challenge comes, what will they do about the wedding?
Catherine: Soft spoken and kind. She knows that her father is only trying to do the best for her and she understands his reasoning for the marriage. This is the first time in her life that she has ever disagreed with his decision though she doesn't feel she has the backbone to really tell him no. Sincerely loves Adriena with all her heart and is slowly realizing that being with her may be worth stepping up to her father.
Adriena: Has always been the more outspoken of the two. Living in the house since childhood she was treated like another daughter, not like maid, although the difference was always made clear where she came from, it was never made an issue. Loud she is opinionated and constantly is the one standing up for Catherine with others their age, she now urges her to do what her heart tells her, even if that means not being with her, though it would tear her apart. Quote: The Picture: Find a picture that inspires a storyline idea from you, one you feel you can expand on and would work as either a short term or a long term roleplay between two people. Should it have an obvious theme, stick with it and exploit that, use the characters clothes and positions to help you layout your story. The picture should always be of high quality and resized to fit the roleplay layout to make things look cleaner. When resizing, be sure to save your images in PNG to save the quality of the picture once changed.
Tip: When resizing an image be sure to cut out the "dead space" first by cropping it. This can be done easily in paint. "Dead Space"-Space in a picture in which nothing essential to the focus is placed. Also be sure to save the original copy of the picture and not to save over it, you may end up needed to resize it later so you will want the original.
The Outline: Outline your storyline as much as possible. Get the idea down, of the back story up until the moment you wish the RP to begin. This means laying down character names, their positions in the rp and the interactions between them and their surroundings. Be sure to add enough background information, in note style, on the characters stories and their personalities so it is something you can come back to later.
Tip: It is always best to do a basic outline like this first, called a V1 (version 1). This way if you need to come back to it later all of your idea is there to refresh yourself, and so when you are filling it in, you will be able to look back at things that may have changed or need to be changed in order to make it work the way your writing it up.
Traps: The worst trap you can fall into is choosing a personality or a story line that does not fit the picture. If the character is innocent looking and you give them a rebellious personality, the rp just doesn't flow or work. If the picture doesn't match the storyline, as in you have two characters hugging and you label them as enemies, the viewer is left with mixed messages.
Another trap is in choosing your picture. Be sure to really check your picture. If you even think n****e is showing (on females) or any genitals then toss the picture. Gaia does not tolerate any form of nudity in the pictures posted.
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:43 pm
Step 2: Fill In Storyline:For years Catherine and Adriena have played, laughed and loved together, living in the same house since the age of four. Catherine, the daughter of the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, spends most her her day with Adriena, the daughter of the head maid in the house. Though Adriena is technically only a maid, Catherine's father has never treated her as one, putting her through school, clothing her and loving her like his own daughter. "You're not a maid until you come to me with a resume and an application", he would tell her with a smile and a fuss of her hair. Being home schooled, Catherine and Adriena managed to be social, but spending so much time together the bond they shared has friends soon blossomed into more, so by the age of eighteen the girls were devoted lovers to one another, never letting anyone else know.
The trouble begins one morning when Catherine's father is actually at breakfast. He was constantly away on business, out of the house and busy. Though he never failed to miss a holiday or a birthday, and was sure to leave notes, presents and call while away, he was not the kind to be home for breakfast. Immediately the girls new something was wrong as they sat down to pancakes. With a smile Catherine's father takes her hand and says, "I have some wonderful news." What he said next wiped the smile from Catherine's and Adriena's faces. He had arranged a marriage for Catherine with the son of a huge company that they were attempting to merge with. He felt it would better help the family and the company if Catherine and him were wed. Now Catherine had never been one to fight back, quiet and almost meek at times, she knew her fathers word was law. Lowering her head she muttered a thank you to her father and started excepting her fate. Adriena on the other hand had always functions as Catherine's backbone and when breakfast was over she exploded into a rage full speech about how Catherine can't let her father do this to her. In the end though, Catherine can only look sadly at Adriena and say, "This is what my father needs of me." And with that, the argument was over.
The night before Catherine's wedding, Adriena decides that she will not left her lover go without a sweet goodbye. Planning her bachelorette party, Adriena gathers together everyone she can and throws Catherine huge party. Helping her friend upstairs later that night, Catherine smiles, "I have a surprise for you too". Upon entering the room they share, Adriena sees Catherine's wedding dress laid out on her bed, then directly across the room, a matching dress laid out on hers. Unsure of the intention Adriena listens when Catherine tells her to change. With both of them in the wedding dresses, Catherine begins their own private ceremony, speaking her vows to her lover and best friend. Speechless for a moment Adriena returns the words and the sentiment. Having spoken their secret vows to one another, the wedding tomorrow, both got into Catherine's bed and slept soundly. What will they do about the marriage? Will love prevail? Or will Catherine fulfill her 'duty' as a daughter?Quote: Character Profiling: In V1 when you outlined the idea of the characters, you need to now, take then information and weed it into the storyline of your RP. Try to avoid announcing their traits, and leave it as almost a side note to an action. This gives the RP'er playing that character a place to start with their personality in the RP, as well as helps shape the storyline itself.
Tip: Imagine you are telling a story to your friend about someone they don't know. Think about just how much information you would put into it about the person, so that your friend would understand the flow of the story, and the reason for some of the events. If dealing with a controlling person, and you say, "...and because Shelly just always has to have her way..." it would make more sense to your friend when Shelly storms off after you changed your plans. Get it?
Adding Detail: With your basic outline, you have down notes of the major events and people within the RP. Now is the time you string it all together like a real story rather then cliff notes. Detail is your friend in this situation, describe things, use history for the situation. Don't just describe whats going on now, but what happened to get them there, or even who else is involved in the story, your characters aren't the only people in the world.
Tip: Again, imagine your telling this story to a friend. Describe the surroundings and appearances you envisioned for this RP. It's YOUR RP, so show the reader what you meant for it, what it looks like, and they will play it out they way you intended it.
Flow of the Story:The Flow of the story means, how every detail and event you stated fits together. This is the step that you should make sure that your storyline has no 'holes' in it. Holes are just inconstancies or jumps in the plot that aren't explained. Some holes can be made on purpose but only if it is directly linked to giving the RP'er more freedom. But as your beginning try not to leave any, as you probably aren't sure when and how to leave 'purposeful holes' yet.
Tip: This can be difficult, and you may want to employ someone to read it over at this point to make this section work. When you read your work, you have the story in your head, so everything makes sense to you. This means you may not catch mistakes in the story line or inconsistencies along the plot or character profile, so getting someone who HASN'T read it yet is a good idea.
Crucial Ending:The ending it the most important part, remember that you don't want to restrict your RP'ers so you should try to end the storyline at a climactic point in the story so that those who use it have somewhere to go with it. Try leaving it so they are questions to be asked and people reading it want to know what happens next. One approach *used in the example* is to actually end with questions. That is all up to style in the end though.
Trap: May looked finished but isn't. There is always something to fix, like grammar or making sure everything looks neat. A rewrite will not only fix problems you may have had with profiling, details or flow, but it will also make the RP look much more professional and make people want to use it.
The worst thing you can do it limit your RP'ers. This can happen by over profiling the characters and giving them specific traits or thoughts, vague ones, or only one or two is fine, to give the reader an idea. But never fully explain a character, so that those who choose to use it, have somewhere to go personally with the RP. This goes for your ending as well, you don't want to focus the outcome toward one central idea. Leaving that door more open will attract more people to your work.
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Caress_Of_Darkness Vice Captain
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Caress_Of_Darkness Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:27 pm
Step 3: Finished it off Storyline:For years Catherine and Adriena have played, laughed and loved each other like they where real sisters, living in the same house since the age of four. Catherine, the daughter of the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, spends most her day with Adriena, the daughter of the head maid in the house. Though Adriena is technically only a maid, Catherine's father has never treated her as one, putting her through school, clothing her and loving her like his own daughter. "You're not a maid until you come to me with a resume and an application", he would tell her with a smile and a fuss of her hair. Being home schooled, Catherine and Adriena managed to be social, but spending so much time together the bond they shared has friends soon started to blossomed into more, but neither of them realized before ...
The trouble begins one morning when Catherine's father is actually at breakfast. He was constantly away on business, out of the house and busy. Though he never failed to miss a holiday or a birthday, and was sure to leave notes, presents and call while away, he was not the kind to be home for breakfast. Immediately the girls new something was wrong as they sat down to pancakes. With a smile Catherine's father takes her hand and says, "I have some wonderful news." They smiled believing they had been mistaken, but what he said next wiped the smile from Catherine's and Adriena's faces. He had arranged a marriage for Catherine with the son of a huge company that they were attempting to merge with. He felt it would better help the family and the company if Catherine and he were wed. Now Catherine had never been one to fight back, quiet and almost meek at times, she knew her fathers word was law. Lowering her head she muttered a thank you to her father and started excepting her fate. Adriena on the other hand realized her own feelings at this time, Adriena had always functions as Catherine's backbone and when breakfast was over she exploded into a rage full speech about how Catherine can't let her father do this to her. She did not tell Catherine about her feelings, but she refused to loose Catherine now that she had realized. But in the end though, Catherine can only look sadly at Adriena and say, "This is what my father needs of me." And with that, the argument was over.
The night before Catherine's wedding, Adriena decides that she will not let Catherine, whom she loves go without trying one last time. Planning her bachelorette party, Adriena gathers together everyone she can and throws Catherine huge party, while in truth it was to Celebrate Catherine's wedding Adriena had other motives. Helping Catherine upstairs later that night, Adriena smiles, "I have a other surprise for you ". Upon entering the room they share, Cathrine sees her wedding dress lay out on her bed, then directly across the room, a matching dress laid out on Adriena's. Unsure of the intention Catherine listens when Adriena tells her to change. With both of them in the wedding dresses. When both where dressed Adriena started to speak her vows to Catherine beginning with her own feelings, how much she loves Catherine and how it pained her heart that tomorrow she might be lost. Catherine watched as her tears started to flow down her chin. She took Adriena into her arms and guided her down to her lap and told her that she to felt the same way and had for a long time, but had been afraid to say anything. That night they had their own private ceremony, speaking their vows to love and cherish each other to the end of their days. But the knowledge that Catherine's true marriage starts tomorrow they go to sleep in each others arms. What will they do about the marriage? Will love prevail? Or will Catherine fulfill her 'duty' as a daughter?
Quote: Grammar: This step is all about making the RP look good. Fixing the spelling mistakes, the grammar edits and word choice that makes everything fit and look nice to the person reading it. It can get distracting when the RP is riddled with typo's.
Tip: If English isn't your first language never be ashamed to ask someone who knows English well, to help you out. In Demonic Productions we have several team members that are great at editing, and grammar so never be afraid to post a thread asking for editing help.
Aesthetics: Make sure that everything LOOKS good. Try editing Colors of your text to match the picture, making sure that your paragraph next to the picture meets its length and is pleasing to the eye to look at. That the picture is on the side that it leads toward, and that your text is centered to justified to an appropriate side.
Tip:For colors to be able to use in HTML this is a great site. Colors. But remember to much color makes things to loud, try to match with a complimentary color to the picture, if the color isn't possible to match with HTML.
Introduction: This is an optional addition to any RP you make. This should only be used though, if there is background information that does not fit directly into the present storyline for the characters you are writing. This could be information on a war that created the situation, the living arrangements prior to the addition of a character or even the upbringing of the character. Anything you feel is important that the RP'ers should be aware of, but was not able to be logically put into the storyline without distracting attention from the main idea.
Trap:Never try to over edit to the point that you get hung up on that step. Just have someone else look over it and make sure they can read it well enough, and if they find any mistakes. After that, if your still worried have someone new look it over. Once that is all done, relax...your DONE!
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