That Massive OP

Seranda

Seranda

Fighting Evil by Moonlight 🌕
Joined
Jan 20, 2013
Location
Aterno City
This isn’t always the case, but usually, in my experiences, the opening post to a new story is one of the most daunting. You are starting this story building the world with every sentence. Some OPs are really large. Giving some sort of background, or history, then that person’s character is introduced.

Lately, I have seen smaller opening posts, and honestly, a part of me scoffs at them, and the other really appreciates it. Let us build the world from here. The history doesn’t need to come before our characters leave their mark.

More daunting still is responding to these massive posts. Where the responder really feels like their post won’t stack up. I don’t think they should worry, so long as the story progresses in a way you and your partner enjoy.

I will say that preparing a beautiful slab of text to start a new story, and then the partner ghosting you, feels deflating.

So maybe a smaller, easier to respond to post is a better selection than a heavy, meaty, bulky block of beautiful storytelling.
 
Copout answer but when I write an OP it's always as long as it needs to be.

Am I writing a story where tensions are high between kingdoms and a political marriage is a last attempt to unify both nations before looming threat of war becomes real? This will probably require some buildup and setting the scene alongside the stakes.

Am I doing a story where the characters are intended to pair off or fuck a bit more readily? Well, chances are the story is going to be a lot simpler and I'm not going to write anywhere near as much.

Regardless, if I do write a longer OP? I don't anticipate getting a reply nearly as long. I'm the one who set the scene, I'm the person who set the stage. I would anticipate my partner being able to roll with what I've written and while they are free to do set up and world building or all that jazz and more I don't expect anyone to match the length or energy of an opening post - not even myself usually.

I like both long and short introduction posts. Both have a purpose and a place in the RP world. I usually don't try to agonize a shorter post into a longer one and if I feel a longer one needs to be shorter, I look to trim some of the fat uot.
 
If someone sends me a 2-3k starter, I'll thank them and tell them that I won't even try to match. If I type anything north of 1k words, I am telling my partner that I do not expect them to match. Long starters have their perks, but they need not tie anyone's hands.

A lot of that's going here is strictly in the mind of one person, not between the people. This is a hobby we do for fun. I don't want to hang myself (or have my partners hang themselves) to expectations that might or might not exist.

That's my two kitty cents.
 
I'm guilty of always - nearly always, at least - writing that very-long opening post. I like setting the scene, setting the stage, creating the environment, introducing my character. The world should have as much agency as the character(s) in it, so I give the world what it needs. What sort of day is it - cold, hot, mild? What season, what month? What's the traffic like? How's my character dressed, what's he doing, is he talking to anyone, does he have family? Who else is around my character, and what are they doing?

Giving life to the world is important to me in order to make the story work. Building that foundation, as it were.

I in no way expect my partner to match my opening post, however. So long as I have material to work with, I'm happy.
 
Rather than opening posts length the only thing I care about is if I can bounce off of it well, or if my partner is able to do that if I write it.

I have gotten 1k+ word opening post that skipped over the planned story to get to the characters having sex which was one of the most infuriating thing to read through, and have gotten two paragraph post that was joy to read and that I could follow up extremely well and served the roleplay that we were going to write. As long as it sets things up well, be it filled with world-building and lore, or just a character being set in a right place at a right time for MC to stumble on them then the length isn't something I pay attention at all.

I don't care if my partner matches up to what I write, nor I usually try to necessarily match up with their writing, as long as I am not given a one-liner and their post progresses things forawrd I am a-ok!
 
Baka said:
Rather than opening posts length the only thing I care about is if I can bounce off of it well, or if my partner is able to do that if I write it.
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This is basically my line of thought as well. If I'm doing the OP I want to let my partner bounce off the OP in a meaningful way while if I'm replying to the OP, it being written as to leave an opening for me is paramount.
 
i never mean to write long intros, but 9.9 times out of 10, i do. i think my longest was over 3,000 words. i feel awful for writing so much, but luckily i've had some really awesome partners who enjoy reading, and have never complained.

i make it super clear that i don't put a word count on what i expect to receive back, though. as long as there's quality, and the story is moved forward in some way, i'm happy to take almost anything as a word count in response to openers or just regular responses.
 
In my experience, with the longer posts, I have had the follow-up message of, "Yeah, um... that's intimidating" or something along those lines, but it dies relatively quickly after that if there is even a reply. I used to get a bit upset about it when I would spend what little free time I had to write out a decent start to what could have been, but now, not so much. I present my work and even the abandoned starters I've kept and turned into short stories and inform the person before plotting even begins that my starting posts are enormous depending on the subject matter. I will never expect a matching post in return, as long as whatever they write can move along the story. The following posts are decent sized and I generally match what I am given, so it's kind of a crapshoot.

Some like the longer posts, some run from them. I run to them like it's a Black Friday Sale. :/ (I despise that day as I often had to work it, but the analogy tracks)
 
Ech0 said:
In my experience, with the longer posts, I have had the follow-up message of, "Yeah, um... that's intimidating" or something along those lines, but it dies relatively quickly after that if there is even a reply. I used to get a bit upset about it when I would spend what little free time I had to write out a decent start to what could have been, but now, not so much. I present my work and even the abandoned starters I've kept and turned into short stories and inform the person before plotting even begins that my starting posts are enormous depending on the subject matter. I will never expect a matching post in return, as long as whatever they write can move along the story. The following posts are decent sized and I generally match what I am given, so it's kind of a crapshoot.

Some like the longer posts, some run from them. I run to them like it's a Black Friday Sale. :/ (I despise that day as I often had to work it, but the analogy tracks)
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I have also kept openers that were basically neglected in a vault. I make changes and reuse if the situation arises. We work hard to try to build a world, for someone to just say nah. Which is fine, but that work should be stored and reused. Especially if you put time and effort into it.

I’ve received some that are very, very basic. And I won’t judge anyone’s ability, and there is a way to make it work, but.

Sits on a couch and smiles with confidence. “You are very beautiful.”

Is not a starter on any writing plane of existence I recognize.
 
Seranda said:
Sits on a couch and smiles with confidence. “You are very beautiful.”

Is not a starter on any writing plane of existence I recognize.
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this is the main reason i specifically state in my RT's that i don't accept one liners. i know a lot of people can use something like that and somehow come up with a proactive response, but i'm not one of those people, haha

flushing out a nice intro that's around 1,000 words, only to receive two sentences back is a huge slap to the face. not my cup of coffee.
 
i heavily agree with a lot of these responses. the most important part is communicating with your writing partner. if they write an OP that's 1,000+ words and you feel overwhelmed -- let them know that. communicate that your response will not be AS long as theirs but you're still incredibly interested and enjoy their writing. i think the OP is always the leap of faith to see if you'll meld well with your partner. it's very daunting and vulnerable at times, but if you're communicating, then it should be smooth sailing.

quality >> quantity always.
 
I personally love writing longer starters. There's just something about setting the scene I adore, being able to seed the beginning with potential plot hooks to use for later. As others in this thread have mentioned though, I've gotten followups saying either they're shocked by the length of the post, or asking me if it's alright if their post won't be as long.

To which I always tell them they don't need to match and write what they feel is best. It's not a competition, it's a collaboration and I'm just a very verbose writer.
 
I don't even look at post length, whether I'm writing it or replying to it. I don't have a clue how many words mine or my partners' posts are, and I don't really care to find out. I find the idea of having an arbitrary word count a bit silly, and a bit stuck in the past; I used to do that on sites like Gaia where "advanced literate" or "novella" were terms that were commonplace, but boy, am I glad most seem to have that kind of thing behind. No offense to those who do them, still; they just really aren't for me.

A long post isn't inherently good, and a good post isn't required to be long. That's my view on it, at least.
 
I've never seen OPs being on just one of the writers. I treat my first post, whether it's the first post of the RP or not, like it's an opener always... Because of this there has been instances where even though I posted second, my post ended up being longer and having more world building and such than my partner's. I will say that I do have a bit of an expectation for OPs to be on the long side, and I can admit to feeling a bit disappointed when I get shorter ones, but... I don't mind shorter posts in general, the quality is what matters. As @cyx. said I need more than 1 or 2 lines (in any post) but a couple of paragraphs will usually do as long as there is quality there, and something for me to work with.
 
I don't know which post you mean, but in the abstract – most of the OPs are full of exposition. Exposition is rarely actionable in full. It can be treated as a menu, for the responder to pick and chose. I don't think there is an expectation from the author to have the post-match.

However, I'm quite surprised that you have to read all the exposition, because usually this is something that should be discussed in OOC. I've never read "Smutty RP for Dummies", but I would assume that's how it should work.

The ideal length for a response is anywhere between 2 paragraphs and 5,000 words. Generally, the best writing is concise writing, but as RPer, we do not have the luxury of editing and cutting our text until only the important things are left. So it is prudent to pack extra material. My rule is – always go as short as possible, as long as I'm sure that everything I want to convey is conveyed. Which is rarely less than 400 words.
 
I have reached out to partners to tell them that the opener was excellent, but it’s not likely that I will be able to match the quantity.

Most are pretty cool about it.

The ones who aren’t cool with it soon find my name striked through in our conversations.

Sadly, I do feel that I am cheating a partner if I don’t get them 500 words.

Even apologize sometimes.
 
There's a certain point for me where it becomes less about an interactive experience and more someone waxing their writing talents, which is A-OK if everyone is on board, but for me roleplaying occupies a different brain since I can write novels myself. I'm in it mostly for the character interactions and not always chewing the scenery and setting a grandiose stage. There does need to be some build up to set an idea, but I feel like a lot of that stuff can also be covered in OOC discussion of things you'd like to see, explore, etcera.
 
Some of that may have to do with the location of the stories themselves. Something on a thread open to the public maybe should have some background going into it, to mold the reader’s perspective and align it with the story.

A partnership through private messages or offsite like discord, could maybe just jump into the current day in terms of events, as it’s likely you and your partner have discussed the history already.
 
Opening posts are extremely important in many RPs, unless maybe they are very grounded in reality or there was a lot of discussion behind the scenes. It sets up the foundation for everything. It also can be referred back to. I also feel like it helps me as a writer iron things out and make them "official" as well as set the mood. Not always, but a lot of the time my starters are my longest posts. I don't expect anyone to match. Just like when I'm replying to a starter, I might not match. However, I think it is important that both writers, no matter who goes first, use their starting posts to help ground things. This is especially true in high fantasy RPs.

The idea of matching in RP is pretty overrated in general. Everyone should write until they are content. As long as everyone agrees to a general length, we shouldn't be sweating it. What is bad if when someone doesn't provide anything to go off of. You can match, but if I don't have anything to actually reply to, it's kinda lame!
 
I would like to posit that such overly verbose original posts primarily and predominantly become matters of negative nature for which I, personally, do not happen to care much for only when, and in the case that, they are needlessly prolonging themselves for the sheer sake of seeming more intellectually detailed than they actually, in actuality, and otherwise, would be. It becomes an exercise in mental acuity and psychological exertion to parse through them alone, and I dare say that it sets a rather unpleasant (to not say, distasteful or better yet; gross) precedent for what is to come in the future from the end of your would-be dactylographic plume. There are far more simple, concise, to-the-point, and—even—direct methods through which you may communicate the, no doubt, myriad of topics pertaining to the world and its architecture without rambling on and on about the going ons and ongoings thereof for the sheer sake of padding what is already to be a relatively sizeable post with text, letters, words, sentences, paragraphs and, sometimes even, obscure usages of structure.

TL;DR: This was to make a point. Make your OP as long as you wish, but if you're going to needlessly pad it and I'm going to have an aneurysm reading through it, My next DM to you is my official retirement from the RP.
 
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