Mutually Planning Role-plays

[RoryN]

(if this is in the wrong section, can someone please move it to the right place?)

This topic is not about just making plans but specifically coming up with plans with your writing partner. How much mutual planning do you feel is necessary before you start writing a post? Do you feel the need to have/make character sheets and how detailed do they need to be? What do you consider to be a "role-play mess"? I talked to someone recently who used this term to refer to not knowing what the other person is planning before they post.

Personally, I reveal very little of my plans or my character history to my writing partners OOC. About 90% of it is revealed IC and it is the way I've become comfortable doing things. I never get too attached to any of the plans I have. Part of the fun of it for me is the spontaneity of writing with someone else. It doesn't really count as "writing with another person" in my opinion if they reveal exactly what they plan to do or where they want to go before hand, because now I know the plan too - which is how things are when writing a story by myself; I know exactly where I want to go and even though all the ideas are coming from me, it's still a plan I'm familiar with before I start writing. For me, I enjoy the experience of discovering, while reading their latest post, the next part of the story as it is in their head and giving them that same amount of surprise.

Does this sometimes mess up my plans or make things I wanted to happen impossible? Absolutely. It happens about 50% of the time with a new post from my partner, where my plans have to be altered. But that's part of the excitement in it for me and in my opinion, what it means to role-play with another person. I adapt and grow and change and make new plans to surprise them with and it keeps things fresh and alive.

I use to role-play the other way, with detailed character sheets and a discussion thread, but more often than not, when we wrote down exactly what we wanted to happen before it happened, the role-play didn't last for very long as interest in the project would wane. I also dislike reading character sheets before I even post. It just feels very scripted and pointless to even write the story at that point. "Alright, I know who you are and all about your sordid past and what you like to eat for breakfast and now we have a beginning, middle and end for our story. ...Do we even need to write this?"

Just my thoughts. How do you guys feel about the mutual planning process in regards to role-plays? Are you the type of person that enjoys the surprise and excitement of writing without knowing what will happen or are you the type that prefers to have your hand held through the entire thing? How does your opinion change in regards to group role-plays? Do you feel they require extra planning, or do the same rules apply?

 

[darkangel76]

Personally, I LOOOOVE making up character sheets for my characters. However, I don't have a pressing need for my partner to necessarily see anything within it or even bits and pieces from it. I leave it up to them whether or not they'll know anything. If they want to, cool. If they don't, it's all good too. The one thing I will tell them is basic appearance and age. But, that hardly gives away anything since you'll pretty much get most of that in the first post anyway.

As for plots? Well, I always like a run down basic idea of the plot. We don't need to go into details, just a gloss over to have a clue of things. I also like to have one initial goal set for the characters. I like this because it allows me to write my character heading in a direction of some kind. Of course, as the RP unfolds, these goals can change entirely. They can have additional goals added in... sky's the limit. BUT, I do like that one initial goal just for the sake of starting. For me, when it comes to plot details, I can RP either knowing a bit or knowing nothing (initial goal excluded). Of course, I don't like the entire things spelled out as that detracts from the fun of RPing. But having bits here and there discussed is fine. And it can always be subject to change too. I'm very fluid and adaptable when I write so long as my likes and dislikes are taken into account just as I want them to be taken into account for my partner as well.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Also, I'm moving this to ConCrit. This is best placed over there. That aside, very interesting topic.

 

[Nihilistic_Impact]

I used to be real big into character sheets, still am to an extent. It's just that I've gotten lazy and shifted from characters to cities.

Though for mutual planning, I'd like to know a little about my partner's character so I have an idea of what to expect; but I don't need to plot out every twist and turn before hand, just a few of them.