That Massive OP

[Lockdown]

A healthy amount of background info, juicy details to set the stage, and open ended outcome for your partner to choose what to do are the three golden rules in my book for an op. I like to really try harder than my usual posts for my op’s just because it’s good to start strong. But I also try to character limit my op’s too.

It’s also really beneficial for you and your co-writer to be on the same page on where you want the story to start.

 

[Saiya]

A starter is naturally going to be bigger I feel to establish things. That said, I feel a LOT can be better left addressed in some pre-RP OOC chatter. A prefer to do a lot of my world building and planning there. It helps establish things for the RP that makes it unessisary for it to be detailed in a start post saving both sides a lot of hassle and ensuring the setting is better understood by both before the RP itself starts.

That said, even with all the details sorted before hand, its still important to set the scene IMO. For me this means describing my character out and establishing the setting as far as the scene things are established in. It can also include anything extra that might be relative to the scene where things pick up. It's going to naturally make the start a bit larger granted i feel in most cases depending on how detailed you are, this just results in 2 extra paragraphs in most cases, though having a lengthier expected post length it might start adding in 4-6 paragraphs of detail (Two likely dedicated to your character, and the rest to establishing the scene in more detail). Establishing things that lead up to the start would likely up the number a good bit more if there is a lot to include, but if its relevent your probably starting mid some crazy action scene or throwing in some establishing element to your character the both of you very much planned on.

Just set expectations with those you are writing about and what YOU like. I myself will always be fine with bigger opening posts, so long as the details are relevent and set up the scene and tone. It's something I'd personally rather get then a opener that has practically no details to work off of. It's not to say you can't have a massive OP that gives nothing for a partner to jump off from, but usually you can at least work with something. A very skimpy response is just going to leave me likely struggling to work off from it and make it difficulty for me to really get into a good writing swing in response.

 

[Seranda]

Yeah, I think it's good to have a chunk of this stuff discussed in OOC, unless you are making a public thread and want to inform any potential readers of what's going on.

 

[Razgriz]

Openers are a tricky bit. Sometimes it can put people off, other times it can energize them.

As someone who writes massive openers more often than not, it can certainly be a double-edged sword.

I'd say just make it clear about expectations in case there's any trepidation , and try to find that happy medium.

 

[Seranda]

Openers are a tricky bit. Sometimes it can put people off, other times it can energize them.

As someone who writes massive openers more often than not, it can certainly be a double-edged sword.

I'd say just make it clear about expectations in case there's any trepidation , and try to find that happy medium.

Well, yeah. An opener many times builds a bit of the world, and the response imo is not expected to match the length.

Responding with a one liner is an instant red flag.

 

[Zephyra]

My starters tend to be long for sure. Almost always over 1,000 words, sometimes over 2,000. I do find myself being the one to make the starting post most of the time as well - I've known a lot of people that have their reservations about it and I don't really mind either way so I've had a lot of experience grinding out OP's. Similarly, even if I'm the one to respond to the starter I treat it the same way where it still tends to be one of my longest posts. This is because I like to flesh out my characters a lot and normally I'll expand on whatever it was that they were doing before landing into the situation where they meet the other person's character for the first time.

That being said, I'm not gonna cry a river if someone doesn't make a gargantuan starting post. And if they do make one that's even longer than I would normally make, I'll try my best to match but will let them know that I may not be able to. Love reading talented writers' words though so I encourage people to make it as long as they want; I won't be annoyed or intimidated.

However, I won't lie, there's nothing that kills it for me more than when I type up a detailed starting post and get a small paragraph or two in reply. One of the worst times for me was when I wrote an almost 2,000 word starter and they came back with about 250 words in response... I just wasn't very motivated for the story after that, to be honest, haha.

 

[Seranda]

The correlation between length and quality is a fallacy. (obviously) Substance is what matters. Every author is different. Excluding the material and looking at a shallow and arbitrary metric like characters, paragraphs, or words used is odd to me. You're not better for posting more; you're not better for posting less. Roleplay is a collaboration, and every writer is different. Discounting someone because TLDR or not enough words is absurd to me but is commonplace. I suppose its easy to look at the visible length than dissect the content contained within and its a rot that breeds toxicity across all sides.

Some see length as purple prose or vapid. Others see brevity as laziness or a lack of passion. While these can be true, they aren't inherent facts. Anyone who sees it as such without weighing the material itself is someone I avoid writing with, as it's a mining canary for deeper issues.

Opening posts tend to be massive though. In my experience.

 

[Seranda]

Immaterial. RP is not a competition. I don't see why authors feel the need to "stackup" like it is one when it's a collaboration. I write with people who can put out 1-2 paragraphs with zero friction. I tend to push out 7+. I never see them as lesser, and once I assuage or quell their initial apprehension, it goes smoothly, and we rp for years fleshing out complex narratives. Naturally, opening post tend to be longer as you're setting up a scene. Nevertheless, they aren't the longest inherently. I have rps where the intro post is smaller than my 57th response. It all depends on the material. I will find you an example in a second

Don’t casually discount what I’m saying. They just tend to be larger as often they include background and setting history of sorts.

Have fun on the site.