Being Talked At (Via RP)

[Cryptic Anomaly]

A bit of a vent here but also just curious to hear other people's opinions. Role Play is give and take, it is a conversation between you and your RP buddy that forms a story.

When I write a post I try and make sure that I leave some elements for my partner to respond to, something they can bounce off to maintain the interaction between my character and theirs.

Recently on another site my RP partner went off on a tangent writing a mega 15 paragraph response that was all about his character totally without mine involved and seemed to be like reading a masturbation session.

Seriously I felt like I was just being talked at and subsequently dropped the RP as I could not think of anything to respond with.

Anyone else had experience with this kind of thing?

 

[Rudolph Quin]

Some like to think of it as collaborative story writing. In novels you don't always have things happening only when it involves character interactions. Some styles are not for everyone and not every match is meant to be. I've done the flowery style in the past and had rave reviews. But then it was usually leaving enough action/dialogue for my partner to react to as well.

 

[Traveler]

I've had it done a few times, and it's certainly annoying. It's especially so when the other person's character goes off and does a lot of things over an extended period of role play time, leaving mine no ability to respond or influence what is happening in the story. It felt like my character had been caught on a fishing line and was being pulled along as an ornament.

I'll usually talk to the writer in PMs to let them know that this is happening and that I'd like them to give me a chance to react. If it happens again I'll contact them to tell them that the RP is not working for me and that I'm going to stop.

In agreement with Quin, though, it's about finding the writers who you can write well with stylistically. Don't give up; there are a lot of good writers on this site.

 

[Eiryls]

Surprisingly, I've had problems with the exact opposite. Sometimes I'd start an RP with someone, give them (at least in my opinion) quite a few options in their response, and yet they reply with nothing more than a repeat of what I've already given them (I've done quite a few roleplays on other websites, in case you were confused regarding my join date).

In any case, I'd suggest what I tend to do when these things happen: push through the scenes. What I mean is that when you feel as if there is nothing to write about, wrap up the scene and go on to the next one. Whether you're stuck because they've said everything, or you're stuck because they've given you nothing to work with, I find it convenient to end the scene and just make something to work with.