The Ins and Outs of Role Play & Writing in General
Everyone has their own style of writing, but for whatever your style is, there are basic rules and methods that are absolute and always stay the same. They are always necessary to make your writing clear, concise and, most importantly, understood.
First we're going to go over grammar tenses. I'll keep it simple, though, so don't worry about getting bored.
And yes, in case you were wondering, these rules are always important. Especially in role play where there are many different people writing many different characters. In order to be understood and for the story to be enjoyed by everyone, you should always follow at least these rules I'll be describing.
Consider This A General Overview Of The Three Basic Grammar Tenses
Past: This is the way we write observations of what has happened before your post. Something they noticed, something someone else did, things like that. It's also used for flashbacks which can be really fun for the plot.
Example 1: Ate remembered her fall...How her father, Zeus, had taken her by the hair and flung her around in his rage before sending her crashing to the ground. She had been banished, accursed, and Hera remained free.
Example 2: Ate crossed the room and took the book from the table. Turning the pages with gentle fingers, she took great care not to tear any of the crumbling paper. Her red eyes scanned the golden ink, taking in every letter and word, every mark.
The above (Example 2) is how we normally should and do write stories and roleplay posts. It's the easiest to write, understand and flows the best of all the examples I have and will give.
Present: Present tense can be awkward. It is often used in roleplaying, but probably isn't such a great idea as it can be hard to keep flowing and sometimes confusing. Present Tense is usually better used in stories that are being told in person verbally. It builds up the suspense for the listener. Even so, here's an example and you can make up your own mind about it.
Example Ate crosses the room, her eyes darting around nervously. She is watching as the gods before her argue...and finds it to be a pointless venture.
It works, and can be done well, but at the same time it sort of leaves little to the imagination as far as description goes. You're TELLING the reader what is going on rather than letting them imagine it. That's never good to do with the written word as it can grow boring pretty quick. It's usually safer to stay with past tense.
Future: Future tense is very commonly misused and for this reason, really annoys me. People often think it is the way one should write role play posts to avoid god-moding or something but in all actuality it does nothing but confuse the readers and the more times a person has to read your piece in order to understand it, the worse it is.
Because this tense annoys me so, I'll give you two examples. A good and a bad.
Bad Example: Ate would smile as she let Prometheus pull her close to him.
There's not that much reaction time between someone doing something to you and you responding. So don't say that your character WILL do something, just say that they did it. That's just a small example, but you hopefully get the idea. I can't even make my brain work in that mindset to think of a better example.
The following is a good example about how Future Tense should be used.
Good Example: "I'll go to the Underworld and placate Hades." Ate said with a sigh. She would need to prepare herself, mentally and emotionally, because Hates was going to hate the news she had to bring. ...Maybe she would even wear a helmet.
Typically Future Tense is used more with dialogue as a character is planning to do something. That is the most clear and simple way to recognize it. But anything speaking about what is going to happen, or has not happened yet can be considered Future Tense.
Now, as I'm doin' the work in this post, I'm going to make a new grammar rule and tell you it's probably best not to post in future tense in normal posts. It can be confusing. Present tense is the norm and past tense at a STRETCH if you're really careful of your wordage and pay attention to all your verbs and things.
PUNCTUATION
Okay, another thing. We learn in preschool and kindergarten about using periods, exclamation points, commas and question marks. We're in high school and college now, folks. I shouldn't need to touch on this, but I am anyway.
Posts without punctuation are typically barely read and never taken seriously. So I'm not even going to bother writing an example of what they look like. I'm only going to list what they are and how they're used.
"Quotation Marks" Quotation marks ALWAYS go BEFORE and AFTER something your character says. If there are no quotation marks, your character is NOT speaking. I don't care what else you do to your dialogue, you NEED quotation marks.
Periods. Periods are very helpful little marks. They are used much more than one might think. You can use them to end a sentence with finality. Making it seem more important. You can use periods to drag a sentence out by using three at once. ... Like that at the end of a sentence. You. Can. Also. Use. Them. To. Emphasize. An. Important. Point.
And PLEASE always remember to CAPITALIZE the first letter of a sentence.
Question marks? Go at the end of questions. Always. Simple (See how I used those periods? See?)
Exclamation Points! These are fun. You can use them to express excitement! Or! You can use them to interrupt! Or! You can use them to shout or show emotions like anger or worry or fear!
This concludes the first post in the Writing Series. Please post the word RUIN to show me you've read this through.
Everyone has their own style of writing, but for whatever your style is, there are basic rules and methods that are absolute and always stay the same. They are always necessary to make your writing clear, concise and, most importantly, understood.
First we're going to go over grammar tenses. I'll keep it simple, though, so don't worry about getting bored.
And yes, in case you were wondering, these rules are always important. Especially in role play where there are many different people writing many different characters. In order to be understood and for the story to be enjoyed by everyone, you should always follow at least these rules I'll be describing.
Consider This A General Overview Of The Three Basic Grammar Tenses
Past: This is the way we write observations of what has happened before your post. Something they noticed, something someone else did, things like that. It's also used for flashbacks which can be really fun for the plot.
Example 1: Ate remembered her fall...How her father, Zeus, had taken her by the hair and flung her around in his rage before sending her crashing to the ground. She had been banished, accursed, and Hera remained free.
Example 2: Ate crossed the room and took the book from the table. Turning the pages with gentle fingers, she took great care not to tear any of the crumbling paper. Her red eyes scanned the golden ink, taking in every letter and word, every mark.
The above (Example 2) is how we normally should and do write stories and roleplay posts. It's the easiest to write, understand and flows the best of all the examples I have and will give.
Present: Present tense can be awkward. It is often used in roleplaying, but probably isn't such a great idea as it can be hard to keep flowing and sometimes confusing. Present Tense is usually better used in stories that are being told in person verbally. It builds up the suspense for the listener. Even so, here's an example and you can make up your own mind about it.
Example Ate crosses the room, her eyes darting around nervously. She is watching as the gods before her argue...and finds it to be a pointless venture.
It works, and can be done well, but at the same time it sort of leaves little to the imagination as far as description goes. You're TELLING the reader what is going on rather than letting them imagine it. That's never good to do with the written word as it can grow boring pretty quick. It's usually safer to stay with past tense.
Future: Future tense is very commonly misused and for this reason, really annoys me. People often think it is the way one should write role play posts to avoid god-moding or something but in all actuality it does nothing but confuse the readers and the more times a person has to read your piece in order to understand it, the worse it is.
Because this tense annoys me so, I'll give you two examples. A good and a bad.
Bad Example: Ate would smile as she let Prometheus pull her close to him.
There's not that much reaction time between someone doing something to you and you responding. So don't say that your character WILL do something, just say that they did it. That's just a small example, but you hopefully get the idea. I can't even make my brain work in that mindset to think of a better example.
The following is a good example about how Future Tense should be used.
Good Example: "I'll go to the Underworld and placate Hades." Ate said with a sigh. She would need to prepare herself, mentally and emotionally, because Hates was going to hate the news she had to bring. ...Maybe she would even wear a helmet.
Typically Future Tense is used more with dialogue as a character is planning to do something. That is the most clear and simple way to recognize it. But anything speaking about what is going to happen, or has not happened yet can be considered Future Tense.
Now, as I'm doin' the work in this post, I'm going to make a new grammar rule and tell you it's probably best not to post in future tense in normal posts. It can be confusing. Present tense is the norm and past tense at a STRETCH if you're really careful of your wordage and pay attention to all your verbs and things.
PUNCTUATION
Okay, another thing. We learn in preschool and kindergarten about using periods, exclamation points, commas and question marks. We're in high school and college now, folks. I shouldn't need to touch on this, but I am anyway.
Posts without punctuation are typically barely read and never taken seriously. So I'm not even going to bother writing an example of what they look like. I'm only going to list what they are and how they're used.
"Quotation Marks" Quotation marks ALWAYS go BEFORE and AFTER something your character says. If there are no quotation marks, your character is NOT speaking. I don't care what else you do to your dialogue, you NEED quotation marks.
Periods. Periods are very helpful little marks. They are used much more than one might think. You can use them to end a sentence with finality. Making it seem more important. You can use periods to drag a sentence out by using three at once. ... Like that at the end of a sentence. You. Can. Also. Use. Them. To. Emphasize. An. Important. Point.
And PLEASE always remember to CAPITALIZE the first letter of a sentence.
Question marks? Go at the end of questions. Always. Simple (See how I used those periods? See?)
Exclamation Points! These are fun. You can use them to express excitement! Or! You can use them to interrupt! Or! You can use them to shout or show emotions like anger or worry or fear!
This concludes the first post in the Writing Series. Please post the word RUIN to show me you've read this through.
