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Post by Duel Academy on Sept 14, 2009 14:33:40 GMT -5
Roleplayers Guide
Before I begin, I'd like to say that this is Mizuki Haruka's and Amy Morrison's work, along with help from Xenneth Hikari from SRGX.
And now to begin.
With this guide, I can reassure you of one thing.
You will never have the excuse "I couldn't think of anything" for a post under five words EVER AGAIN.
With this guide, you'd just be plain lazy to have one under five words.
With this guide, I have seen people post ON AVERAGE what was about 3 pages PER POST in Microsoft Word.
The least you can do is take a few tips.
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Post by Duel Academy on Sept 14, 2009 14:34:05 GMT -5
Step One: Who, What, When, Where and Why A good way to expand your posts is to post different details about the situation. Let me give you an example. Written by Desirae LeMort, VictoriaThough my dear Vicky (who has now retired from RPing, don't bother trying to look her up) has a little bit of a Mary-Sue complex, she covered a lot of points in this post that literates do do. Since I don't want to write up a post myself, I just asked her if I could use it. She agreed. Now, a good thing to remember is the five W's when posting a post: She states the who. Who is this person? She states that her character is Desirae LeMort, and writes in painstaking detail what she looks like... which can be summarized with one picture. She states the what. What is the character doing? Her character is dancing in water. Now, considering who her character is (unfortunately I know who she is since I took over Desirae for her), it fits. Her character is the girl who has been posessed by the Demon of Water, Cagnazzo. Thus, she's attracted to water, and even has two duel spirits, Penguin Soldier and Crystal Seer. She's even a Pisces, which gives a good impression of what her birthday is. Cleverly done. She states the where. Where is the character? The character is obviously by a pool of water, but in the case of this, the where is stated by where the thread is located. It is at San Melina Academy in San Melina, California, close to the shoreline. Which explains the water source. She states the when. When is this taking place? Now, as she says that she can see the stars and the moon, one can assume that the storyline takes place at night. Yes. I told you, Vicky has a Mary-Sue complex. Though oddly enough, she makes all beautiful characters with mental and physical limitations and all ugly characters the next Michael Jackson. Hmmm... She states the.... wait. Does she state the why? No. No she doesn't. However, while writing these posts, you must remember that you have to be in the character's point of view. Would the character know why she was dancing underneath the stars like a graceful swan? No. Probably not. However, let's take the example of... Anora Avalon. She seems like the type of character that knows exactly why she does the things she does... or at least she would know more then Desirae LeMort would.
So, now that we've analyzed that post, we realize that we must post the Who, the What, the When, the Where, the Why, and perhaps sometimes the How. But the how isn't that important really, and is a lot more vague. Granted, the 5 W's are vague as well. Next Post: A Deeper Analysis on these points.
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Post by Duel Academy on Sept 14, 2009 14:35:15 GMT -5
Step Two: A Deeper Analysis In this part, I'll be giving a list of stuff that you can keep in mind while you're posting. Not all of these need to be followed in one post. Now, an old friend of mine at an insanely literate RP site ended up making examples of things you could use within your posts as details of the situation. I'm going to post the ones that she covered, but I'll be telling you which ones to truly keep at the top of your mind. Written by Kitti/The White Rabbit @ Twilight-SkyNow, I'm going to take each section and give a bit more detail.
" What your character sees What your character smells What your character hears What your character feelsWhat your character tastes" The bold is me. Anyway, this can be summarized into the five senses, sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell. - Sight: What does your character see? This is a good way to describe the general landscape, what your character is wearing, and what kind of animals and plants or buildings are around you. If your character doesn't depend on sight (aka, is blind, doesn't have glasses on, just recovered from eye surgery, whatever the case may be), you will have to use the other senses to describe these features... but nothing definite. Instead of "She wore a periwinkle blue shirt.", it would be, "She could feel the cool touch of her thin silk shirt grazing her skin.".
- Hearing: What does your character hear? It could be anything from cars to birds to music... whatever the case might be.
- Smell: What's the smell in the air? Is it salty? Does it smell of gas? Or does it smell fresh?
- Touch: How does the things around you feel? This is a good one for the average blind character, as they move along by touch and see by touch.
- Taste: I know this sounds odd, but you can kind of taste the air if it's bad enough. Like a foul taste in your mouth every time you pass by a gas station or something. Either that or you can taste food. Or... other things. But go there and Anora will have your ass.
"What your character is thinking What your character is feeling emotionally "This we call the mental process of your character. Some people are really good at writing this out, but some are definitely not. This is especially true for characters that aren't supposed to show their emotions, are supposed to be a mask, or something like that. It adds a whole feeling for the two writers that this person is a secret. However, some secretive character writers do write the character's mental processes. Bravo to them. "Where your character is and why they are there Where your character is in the landscape What posture your character is in "This can vary from situation to situation. You could be sitting by the ocean drinking pina coladas while laying on a beach chair looking at the sunset because you're on vacation. You could be stuck in a tree hut, locked up by Abyssal magic, half beaten to death and lying on the cold hard ground because you've been kidnapped. It varies from setting to situation. "Where your character was just before this Where your character is planning on going after this"Again, the circumstances for posting this varies. Sometimes it isn't necessary. Only the hardcore tend to post this part. Sometimes people don't even know this information. Include it if it's important. Don't include it if it's not.
So, there's a few more tips for you. But there is one crucial thing to remember while writing or roleplaying. DO. NOT. RAMBLE!Nothing is worse then reading a five page post about what your character had for breakfast. We do not need to know just how much your character loves to paint his toenails. Keep it long. But above all, keep it relevant. That's one of the worst traps that a roleplayer can fall into. Hell, I'm even trying to refine that technique. I still ramble sometimes. It takes a while to figure out the fine line between "perfection" and too much perfection. Next post - Step Three: Refining Vocabulary
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Post by Duel Academy on Sept 14, 2009 14:36:26 GMT -5
We all need to give love to Amy Morrison, who continued Mizuki Haruka's shoddy work.
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Post by Duel Academy on Sept 14, 2009 14:37:23 GMT -5
More love to Amy Morrison, by all means.
And then Xenneth Hikari blended the subject into ROLEPLAY AND DUELING! ZOMG.
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