Advice/Help Longer replies?

[-Random_Person-]

Lately, I've notice my replies are getting quite short, and I know I'm better than that! So can you guys give me some tips on how you all make longer replies? Please and thank you!

 

[Caroline1539]

Mostly I think my longer replies are due to the characters I work with considering their situations- for example, I'll have their internal emotions being written out as well as their dialouge. Or, I'll have them consider their surroundings- what it looks like, how they see it, how it makes them feel. It depends on what kind of roleplay you're doing after all- I don't participate in a lot of combat roleplays for example, so I'm not sure how to structure those.

 

[-Random_Person-]

Mostly I think my longer replies are due to the characters I work with considering their situations- for example, I'll have their internal emotions being written out as well as their dialouge. Or, I'll have them consider their surroundings- what it looks like, how they see it, how it makes them feel. It depends on what kind of roleplay you're doing after all- I don't participate in a lot of combat roleplays for example, so I'm not sure how to structure those.

Ah, thanks for the help!

 

[Perpetual Zen]

If I'm trying to make a goal I try to map it out the best I can. Sometimes, it makes things easier. I'm a simple human being

So, lets say your goal is five hundred words. Seems like a lot right! Well, just jot down like fifty words in general you want to use in the post. That's already a start. Then you make a goal of 100 word chunks five times. I know, weird math but sometimes this helps. You want one hundred words for a beginning. Take a look at that list you made, does it help inspire you at all? At least it's a few words to get you started. You don't need to concentrate on scenery but really just the presence of it. What do you notice when your sitting in a room. Jot another few words down.

Eventually, when you work on a piece of writing in chunks before you know it you'll have over five hundred words of really good writing. Sometimes, taking your time brings the best results. I really hope this helps you out!

 

[Idea]

I know I'm better than that

First, I want to point out quality is unrelated to length. Longer replies are not better than shorter ones, nor vice versa. I realize this is probably not what you meant to imply, but whenever this discussion comes up I think it’s important to point this out.

The quality of a reply will depend on length in a different way however. Different writing styles have different goals, and what a quality post is will depend on those posts. What certain writing styles find important to set up future events, convey the character’s mindset and generally develop an atmosphere will be seen as pointless filler that breaks the flow of the pace in others.

Different writing styles stem from different mindsets and values, I believe. If there's more things you find important, or the things you find important take longer to describe, or if you value them above some other aspects of writing, your writing style will naturally accumulate length. It also leads to noticing when those elements are absent in the writing. Trying to force length onto someone who does not think this way will generally lead to bad results as a person tries to take an approach that works for one writing style into an entirely different one. Stuffing in too much dialogue and actions to fill space or internal monologue without understanding how to give it purpose for instance. On the other hand, changing one's mindset is easier said than done - and that's without the question of whether one should.

If you want to expand your length, here's some tips, but keep in mind that it's important to focus on the relevant aspects of what you're writing.


Go Past Your Comfort Zone- Writing (indeed anything that takes effort) is a bit like exercising. The more used you get to not doing it, the less you have the will to. While there's definitely a limit to this, pushing oneself just slightly outside of one's comfort zone is key to growing into the kind of habits you need to do something effortful in any consistent manner. You need to be used to making the effort to lower the discouragement one can feel if one has to.

There's More There Than You Think- I think people tend to underestimate how much one can do in even a simple scene. This will not always be the case and it's dependent on the set up and previous partner responses, but assuming a partner has given you any decent set up it's likely possible to write a sizeable amount. Of course, don't stuff it just to stuff it, but look for what's relevant. You can expand on the current scene: Have you written your character's body language? Have you established how the environment, character or other such things relate to what's presently happening? You can also do things that help outside the immediate moment. How about throwing in a little something that hints at a future possibility? Establishing some element of NPCs or surrounding setting that your partners can use in future posts?

Set Up Your Scenes and Characters Right- If one wants to and prefers lengthier writing, then it makes no sense to create characters or scenes that call for too much back and forth or lack the ability to be expanded further. It's pretty difficult to get a scene of nothing but small talk in a nondescript location between two characters with nothing going on to become anything like a sizeable post, which is one of the reasons why for someone like me at least it's a bad idea to ever let myself be caught up in one. In general, try to avoid having any scene be just about one thing, multiple things should be done in a scene even if there is only one central event.

Increase Your Resources By Understanding- One thing that really helps: Know your characters, the setting, lore, etc... inside and out. The more you know about the situation, the characters and the setting, the more things you'll have the option to call upon when you need to add something to a scene.

Be Expressive- You don't to write descriptions in a dry, factual way. Don't just write from a completely outside perspective, but brings to life by writing the way your character is seeing things inside their head. Naturally this works better in limited viewpoint writing, but even outside of that you can still frame things in a way that's appropriate to the character/setting/story or even give the narrator their own personality of sorts.

Take Your Time To Think About It- Rare, extremely rare, is the person who consistently delivers quick, long, high-quality posts. For most of us, we can pick about two of these. You can make high-quality, lengthy posts consistently, but you'll probably be slower than otherwise. And that's fine. Take the time to work out exactly how to make the post work. Long-length writing values structure. On the other hand, if you want high-quality but faster posts, then pursuing length as well is probably not the best idea.


Hope this helps. Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[-Random_Person-]

First, I want to point out quality is unrelated to length. Longer replies are not better than shorter ones, nor vice versa. I realize this is probably not what you meant to imply, but whenever this discussion comes up I think it’s important to point this out.

The quality of a reply will depend on length in a different way however. Different writing styles have different goals, and what a quality post is will depend on those posts. What certain writing styles find important to set up future events, convey the character’s mindset and generally develop an atmosphere will be seen as pointless filler that breaks the flow of the pace in others.

Different writing styles stem from different mindsets and values, I believe. If there's more things you find important, or the things you find important take longer to describe, or if you value them above some other aspects of writing, your writing style will naturally accumulate length. It also leads to noticing when those elements are absent in the writing. Trying to force length onto someone who does not think this way will generally lead to bad results as a person tries to take an approach that works for one writing style into an entirely different one. Stuffing in too much dialogue and actions to fill space or internal monologue without understanding how to give it purpose for instance. On the other hand, changing one's mindset is easier said than done - and that's without the question of whether one should.

If you want to expand your length, here's some tips, but keep in mind that it's important to focus on the relevant aspects of what you're writing.


Go Past Your Comfort Zone- Writing (indeed anything that takes effort) is a bit like exercising. The more used you get to not doing it, the less you have the will to. While there's definitely a limit to this, pushing oneself just slightly outside of one's comfort zone is key to growing into the kind of habits you need to do something effortful in any consistent manner. You need to be used to making the effort to lower the discouragement one can feel if one has to.

There's More There Than You Think- I think people tend to underestimate how much one can do in even a simple scene. This will not always be the case and it's dependent on the set up and previous partner responses, but assuming a partner has given you any decent set up it's likely possible to write a sizeable amount. Of course, don't stuff it just to stuff it, but look for what's relevant. You can expand on the current scene: Have you written your character's body language? Have you established how the environment, character or other such things relate to what's presently happening? You can also do things that help outside the immediate moment. How about throwing in a little something that hints at a future possibility? Establishing some element of NPCs or surrounding setting that your partners can use in future posts?

Set Up Your Scenes and Characters Right- If one wants to and prefers lengthier writing, then it makes no sense to create characters or scenes that call for too much back and forth or lack the ability to be expanded further. It's pretty difficult to get a scene of nothing but small talk in a nondescript location between two characters with nothing going on to become anything like a sizeable post, which is one of the reasons why for someone like me at least it's a bad idea to ever let myself be caught up in one. In general, try to avoid having any scene be just about one thing, multiple things should be done in a scene even if there is only one central event.

Increase Your Resources By Understanding- One thing that really helps: Know your characters, the setting, lore, etc... inside and out. The more you know about the situation, the characters and the setting, the more things you'll have the option to call upon when you need to add something to a scene.

Be Expressive- You don't to write descriptions in a dry, factual way. Don't just write from a completely outside perspective, but brings to life by writing the way your character is seeing things inside their head. Naturally this works better in limited viewpoint writing, but even outside of that you can still frame things in a way that's appropriate to the character/setting/story or even give the narrator their own personality of sorts.

Take Your Time To Think About It- Rare, extremely rare, is the person who consistently delivers quick, long, high-quality posts. For most of us, we can pick about two of these. You can make high-quality, lengthy posts consistently, but you'll probably be slower than otherwise. And that's fine. Take the time to work out exactly how to make the post work. Long-length writing values structure. On the other hand, if you want high-quality but faster posts, then pursuing length as well is probably not the best idea.


Hope this helps. Best of luck and happy RPing!

Wow, Thank you so much for all the advice, I‘ll definitely try my best keep in mind what you told me. It will definitely help, and happy RPing to you as well!

 

[Chained Echoes]

Lately, I've notice my replies are getting quite short, and I know I'm better than that! So can you guys give me some tips on how you all make longer replies? Please and thank you!

This is just how I write, maybe it will help. But I do like to get into the head of my characters. I'll write about their thoughts, how they respond to situations, or how they feel, what they see. I also like to describe things too as in locations.
Good luck to you.

 

[-Random_Person-]

This is just how I write, maybe it will help. But I do like to get into the head of my characters. I'll write about their thoughts, how they respond to situations, or how they feel, what they see. I also like to describe things too as in locations.
Good luck to you.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[BuggaBoo]

Hi!!

So i do write a lot. It's not great but i think it covers the bases. My goal is to always aim for 300-700 words.

Within 300 words the next person should find something of interest in your post from which they can build on. Basically at the core I do a 3 paragraph format of about 300 words as a min post. Like cuz that was what I was taught to properly RP with a partner when I first started out RPing and its served me well. The 3 Rs!!

○ | Para 1 = React! to prior post - but like dont just repeat with replay or like a play by play of past events. How does what has transpired so far affect your charrie in; phys, ment, emo ways?
○ | Para 2 = Respond! with charrie actions/convo - so allll that just happened in your prior para. Soooo like what does your charrie do or say about it?
○ | Para 3 = Release! more info to build on - Here you can 'telegraph' what your charrie might do or feel now. Perhaps even drop some exposition revealing how you used to feel or do feel about: person, place,thing now you've reacted. It's important here to make sure, your partners have something they may bounce off of. Like they may not use it right away but its always nice if they recall it later. And you can earn some Brownie points by proving you read all your partners posts cuz like you showed a reaction to it, whether enacted or just in exposition of thoughts.

And the reason I say 700 Words is cuz of posts that get all Rosey-Prosey and just vomit up too many uneccessary words. It's a good exercise to keep posts manageable but meaty for others to take in and not feel overrun. (Cuz yeah... guilty.)

But like a good para is 90-100 words so start off with a sentence answer to each R and go from there. And hopin you'll build 300 no prob with practice!!

 

[-Random_Person-]

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll make sure to try and use that technique next time!

 

[Noella]

I used to make longer posts before I took a long break from RP and working to get back into it. I think post length depends on the level of creativity in the moment? I could type a 500+ work post and then a minimal 200 word post. Just depends on level of creativity. Bouncing off of new members also helps.

 

[cheeseburger90210]

Lately, I've notice my replies are getting quite short, and I know I'm better than that! So can you guys give me some tips on how you all make longer replies? Please and thank you!

Sometimes addressing the basics can make a story-line way way to long too.
name, gender, age, and change your clothing a lot. Actually describe things in detail. Dont just say

'she took at drink'

add flavor and size.

'Jammy was dressed in her white and black wool dress, and red high heel shoes. She slowly brought her condensationed glass up to her bright red lips to happily drink her cold Mountain Dew filled with fresh cold ice.'

Be a little like a creative children author as well as make up crap. I do all the time.
'condensationed' & Disco Lemonade, & Double Cherry Pie & Triple Strawberry Cake & Snozberry Water & Watermelon Blue Sugar
for example.

If you want your story to have a standard of needed line; what a character is thinking, making sure your eating, brushing your teach, or even playing Nintendo Switch can extend a post for about 5 lines if done right. But dont make that the grand total of your post......
right?

Also having a secondary character that isn't real or is a non-character can play along better too. Like having a character that is there that doesn't answer. Like in Gaia and girl was having a problem with having short posts; so to extend the post; she had a pet rock that she would explain the first half of her post to and then she would vent to the pet rock. Just some suggestions.

 

[GreatSaiyaman31]

Lately, I've notice my replies are getting quite short, and I know I'm better than that! So can you guys give me some tips on how you all make longer replies? Please and thank you!

I reread what I have initially written. Then I do my best to add more details about what the character is thinking, what are they feeling, details about the scenery around them. It helps paint a picture for any potential readers. Once you've done all that, if you're still stuck, I'll message whoever I'm rp'ing with and try to run ideas back and forth. Does it spoil some of the surprise of what's coming if they didn't know already? Yeah but it'll help to make them feel more involved if they're actually investing in the story.

 

[cheeseburger90210]

I reread what I have initially written. Then I do my best to add more details about what the character is thinking, what are they feeling, details about the scenery around them. It helps paint a picture for any potential readers. Once you've done all that, if you're still stuck, I'll message whoever I'm rp'ing with and try to run ideas back and forth. Does it spoil some of the surprise of what's coming if they didn't know already? Yeah but it'll help to make them feel more involved if they're actually investing in the story.

Thats really all you "should do.'

 

[GojiBean]

Lately, I've notice my replies are getting quite short, and I know I'm better than that! So can you guys give me some tips on how you all make longer replies? Please and thank you!

Hoyo!

First, I'd like to second what Idea said in their reply and shut down this idea that you seem to have that writing shorter replies somehow means you're "worse" than what you might consider your normal standards.

This is not a skill issue, so please don't say "I'm better than that."

The myth that "longer replies" equals skill is just that, a myth. And it's 100% false.

I've met role players who can say/show more in one well-written sentence than most other writers you'll meet on any roleplay site, including this one, can say with 10+ paragraphs.

Is being able to write larger content volumes a "nice to have" option? Yes. Is it fun? It can be, for sure. But is it an indication of skill?

Pardon my French, but fuck no.


If you want to write longer replies there are a few things I can think of which you can try incorporating into your writing style to help. But please note that none of these are guaranteed to add anything. They're just suggestions.

1) Paint a mental picture of the scene before you write anything

Consider the following:

• Where are you (and the other characters)?
• Can you see clear to the horizon or is your view limited (like if you're in a dense forest)?
• What time of day is it?
• What's the weather and atmosphere like?
• What kind of ground are you standing on (this will influence the sound of your footsteps, or if you might be able to avoid making too much sound if stealth is important)?
• As best you can manage, what's the position of each character in the scene relative to each other (i.e. who's nearest to who, which characters are on higher/lower elevations, which of them are visible to your character based on objects in the scene like trees, buildings, market stands, statues, etc)?
• Is magic involved, or was it involved in the scene which is taking place ("is" versus "was" can change the way the environment looks based on what magic was used such as Fire being ready for use versus having been used to scorch part of the landscape to kill some enemies)
• Are you in town, out in the wilds, in a cave, in some kind of structure/vehicle, etc?
• If in town, where? And what's around you right now?
• If in the wilds, where? And what's around you right now versus what's in the distance (also, can you see your destination or is it still somewhere beyond the horizon)?

The more questions like these you can come up with to help paint a visual picture of the scene, the more information you'll have to describe in your response to help visualize everything your character sees as well as what they may be thinking about in relation to all these points.

2) Consider the emotion of the moment, and use it to fuel and reinforce your character's dialogue

How is your character feeling?

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But remember that emotions are incredibly complex things. And just because you can identify a single "dominant" emotion doesn't mean other emotions aren't also at play.

Consider the following:

• What's your character's dominant emotion?
• Why?
• What other emotions are reinforcing this dominant emotion?

We'll use anger as an example.

Imagine your characters are all wandering through an ancient ruin which hasn't been explored in centuries. One character accidentally bumps into a statue whose arm moves, and suddenly poison darts are flying about and almost hit everyone in the group. Your character, being in charge of the group, is understandably upset by this. But why?

In general, it was the fact that everyone almost got hit by poison darts.

But what else is happening emotionally here?

You don't get angry about things that don't matter to you. So, basic as it might seem, your character's anger could be testament to how much they care about everyone. They're not angry just to be angry. They're angry because someone's carelessness just threatened the entire group's safety and well being.

What did this also accomplish?

It made your character fearful.

You can't care about something if you're not afraid to lose it. So, on top of being angry and proving they care about everyone your character was scared about the idea of anyone in the group suffering the poison or, worse yet, potentially dying from it. This is especially true if there's no healer or medicine in the group inventory. One poke from a poison dart is basically a roll of the dice to see if the character(s) affected live or die.

No emotion is an isolated event.

This is something you can use to reinforce the internal (and external) dialogue your character has, as well as reinforce their actions that follow whatever just happened. For example, using that same scenario, what would your character say given that we know they care about everyone and are afraid to lose them? But right now they're expressing anger above all else?

Personally, I'd go with something like this:

"What did I tell you before we came in here?! I said, quote, 'This ruin hasn't been explored in centuries. God only knows what kind of traps are littered inside. Everyone keep your wits about you, and don't wander out of sight of each other!' Those were my exact words to everyone!! Did you not listen?!"

In this dialogue all three emotions are clearly demonstrated. The first sentence, as well as the last two, reinforce anger. The quoted section of what my character said demonstrates both fear and caring. "Who knows what kinds of traps are littered inside" (Fear), and "don't wander out of sight of each other" (Caring).

By examining the emotions of your character based on whatever's happened, and considering how they're affected both in general and more specifically you can craft much more detailed, informative, and meaningful dialogue for your character to say to everyone.

3) Recap what came before

These days I personally prefer to simply react to the most important points rather than write narrative recap. But writing a narrative recap of what happened prior to my post is something I used to do quite a lot several years ago.

By briefly recapping what happened prior to your post and from your own character's point of view you can add quite a bit of content to the volume of your post depending on how much is going on in the RP.

For pacing purposes, it's generally good practice to focus on the details which are most pertinent to your character in the moment. For example, if a battle had been taking place and one of the other characters got hurt near to your own then obviously this is going to take priority over whatever else is happening further away. Putting a bit more emphasis on the events which led to the injury and how your character is contemplating how to help deal with it and assist this other character should be the bulk of your recap. Everything else can be shorter sentences to represent the quick flashing of thoughts in your character's mind as they fight to figure out what they should be most concerned with before landing on the injury of their teammate.

Can you recap everything instead of focusing on only the most relevant things to your character? Yes. Should you? That's a personal preference question.

4) Use metaphoric language to enhance your narrative segments

Most of us know what metaphors are, but if there's anyone reading who might be a big vague on the meaning it's a figure of speech which apply qualities to something which normally aren't literally applicable.

For example: "That chef is a magician in the kitchen."

A chef isn't actually or literally a magician. But when they're skilled enough and their food is just so delicious you can barely stand going a day without it, their food might feel magical. Thus, you call them a magician.

Though it might sound like this is more of a style thing, it can lend itself quite well to extending your narrative descriptions.

Let's create a narrative description with both "regular" and "metaphoric" description and see what we can squeeze out of the latter.

"Regular"

The group walked warily down the dirt paths beneath the dense tree canopy. Bandits were said to roam these woods. And they were all carrying their own pouches of Gold, as well as some of them having valuable jewelry and family heirlooms they couldn't afford to lose. All they wanted was to restart their lives fresh. But it seemed the Gods had it out for them with how often they seemed to find themselves in trouble while traveling.

"Metaphoric"

Every step was a marathon, and every burning breath stuck to the insides of their lungs. The suffocating embrace of the dense forest canopy belied the vastness of the woodlands around them. And every step down this road felt more and more like they were being escorted into the belly of a verdant cave ready to swallow the final remnants of sunlight at any moment. If that wasn't bad enough, bandits called these woods "home." With a cart full of Gold and priceless family heirlooms the group felt like a beacon of riches ready and waiting to be pillaged. Oh, how the Gods had shamelessly forsaken them.

It doesn't look like that big of a difference within the quote blocks, does it? But when you are writing several paragraphs and have a minimum sentence count this adds up pretty quickly.

Metaphoric language by its very nature is both provocative and colorful, and it opens you up to extending what would otherwise be much shorter descriptive segments. Take the first sentence, for example. "The group walked warily down the dirt paths beneath the dense tree canopy." This sentence is fine on its own, really. But if you want to really milk that concept of a dense tree canopy and the emotion it brings your character, or the group at large, then leaning into metaphors can really help open the door for further narrative exploration.

"Every step was a marathon, and every burning breath stuck to the insides of their lungs."

This is almost exhausting just to read, isn't it? Thinking about the concept of a "marathon" and how much running and swimming and biking and other activities are often involved can make you feel tired. Then you add that feeling of your lungs burning when you're deeply out of breath, as well as describing how it almost feels like they're fighting against you because they're trying to hold onto all the oxygen you take in with each inhale.


That's about all from me!

Hopefully this was helpful!

Cheers!

~ GojiBean

 

[-Random_Person-]

Thank you, Goji! I’ll keep trying my best to find out what lengths work out for me, and how to get my comfort zone.

also, I love

Pardon my French, but fuck no.