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Making Good Better...

Yoshie

Yoshie

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Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Location
...In your Closet
Well I have been role-playing for about 8 years now, and I think I am pretty good. But in my eyes, good isn’t good enough. I have an established character and her name is Winry Seduction. I have another that goes by the name of Highlord General Mercutio. However I am writing this because I want to know how I can make my posts longer. I see and browse through posts that are literally walls of text. I mean at least 600 words easy! I can easily put out a paragraph, or two but I wanted to know how to type five to seven easily.

Now here’s the problem with typing so much, some posters type a lot and only say a little, I do not want to be one of those people who go on and on and describe in detail how beautiful a fucking tree is. No, recall if you can a story, maybe it was fantasy or supernatural or something that you were interested in that was a page turner. Something that you were so absorbed in that you could not put it down no matter how bad you were sleepy or how hungry you were. Think about how you read that book everywhere you went whether it be the bus stop, school, lunch break or even at the office.

Now you are lying in bed and wondering what will happen next, you can’t sleep until you know what is on that next chapter and you will not rest until you read it. I want to be that writer, I want to be that descriptive, and I want to captivate my audience so much so that they would not put my book down until they are finished with it. I want my posts to be that immersing. I want people to be engrossed in our role-play and I want to encourage the same thing with others. How do I go about doing that? Now the next statement is that I know some people hate walls of texts and especially those ones that say a lot and don’t mean anything except that damn tree!

So… bottom line is help me with my descriptions and to not begin all my posts with “She, her, Winry.” I need something more than that.

Thank you
 
First of all, I wouldn't approach writing posts from the perspective of achieving a specific word count or even a look in regards to 'walls of text'. I'd approach it in that you've gotten across what you want and in a fashion that makes you, as a writer, happy. In some instances, this might mean a post is a paragraph, sometimes a couple. And at other times, it might mean you drop several paragraphs or even what might be equivalent to a page or two or three of a standard word document. It should be scene dependent, situation dependent. Nothing more. Also, whether your post is a single paragraph or several pages, what matters is that you've written it well and moved the plot along in some way as well as developed your character(s). You also want to make sure you've given your RP partner something to work from. I've seen people drop tons of text and given their RP partner nothing with which to work from, so there is that to think about as well when writing for RPs (something different than when writing a story).

But anyway, I wouldn't worry about word count. It's about content and forethought, developing plot and characters and the relationships (not necessarily sexual either) that they are in. That is what makes a good post... not the number of words, though sometimes a post might require several.
 
Another question, what happens when your RP partner does not give you something to work at? What if you are typing two para's easy but your partner can barley manage four lines? How do you ask him/her to give you more without being mean?
 
Again, it can very well depend on those 4 lines. Sometimes a post only requires 4 lines while other times, 4 lines is just drivel. It really depends on the scene and situation at hand. Typically when moving from place to place, you require shorter posts or if heavy conversation is occurring, you require shorter posts as well. Again, this isn't a rule. But it tends to happen. I find you don't want to get lost in the world of the 'too verbose' because 1) you'll burn yourself out as a writer and 2) you'll probably either bore or overwhelm your RP partner.

That aside, if you find your RP partner isn't giving you enough (regardless of word count) with which to work from, I'd be forthright with them. Tell them that you see potential and really want to work with them, that you love he story idea you are working on with them and really want to develop it, but you are having trouble moving on from post to post because you feel like you are having problems in determining where to go after you read their posts. Ask them if they have ideas of their own based off their own posts. Ask them to list off perhaps a few ideas so that you can then bounce your own back off of them. Maybe then you can ask them to tweak things a little once you come to an agreement on where things should go and let them know you need things to be a bit more open for you to be able to do things and that you want that with them because you really enjoy the ideas they have to offer the story you're developing together.
 
If the plot isn't progressing, you might want to take a step back and see why that might be. Are you getting too caught up in details that aren't necessary or in some tangent of a 'something or other' that doesn't really add anything but just might seem cool at the time. These are the sorts of things that can bog something down from my own experience and oh so seriously cause pace to slow down. Of course, details are a wonderful thing and I'm a fan of them. But there's a fine line of becoming verbose and saying nothing and giving what's needed to make the scene rich while still moving things forward. When it takes a page or more to describe the intricacies of something ridiculously minor that no one save maybe the writer's happiness that it's there..... that is a time you might want to go 'hrmmm, this probably should go'. I know I try to do that in my own writing and try to think about that when writing with others even more so because I so do NOT want my partner to get bored to tears with mundane intricacies that they could hardly care about.

Anyway, if you find these happening, get rid of them. And if you see your partner doing it, you might want to bring it up with them in a polite manner. Again, you're a team when you RP and if you approach things in a nice way, people should be more than willing to listen and do what's needed to help make the story the best it can be and the experience the best it can be for those who are involved.

Hope that helps.
 
Also, I should add.... if you get a lot of back and forth that is just circles of nowhere, someone has to break that. If you are the one to notice it, speak up to your partner if you feel the need or make a post that definitively causes things to move out of that cycle. It might mean doing something where it takes your character 'out' a bit, but that's what RPing is. Sometimes you do the unexpected and that means we as writers have to adapt. :)
 
I think quality is better than quantity. Personally I'd rather two paragraphs of legitamite material that actually adds to the story/ scene/ character developments/ whatever than eight paragraphs of fluff that I really don't give a shit about. Oh cool, it's a pretty pine tree, but how does that actually effect the story?

As for not using "She, Her, Winry" I try to find a second way to say the same time. Here is an example.

"Winry cried out in pain as the blade came down upon her shoulder, blahblahblah"
vs.
"A cry of pain exploded from her as a wicked blade clipped her shoulder, blahblahblah."

Did that help?
 
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