Advice/Help General RP advice?

[TheDragonKing]

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if you could help me out. I only roleplay here and there, so my experience isn't as great as other role players on this forum. It would great if you could give me any kind of advice on roleplaying that could help me. I tend to not be so great at thinking of a plot more than anything. Aside from this, the lines I deliver aren't always the best and tend to fall under the required standard.

Many Thanks!

 

[peritwinkle]

Hi there! Here are a few quick straight-to-the-point tips from my own experience:

1. Consume inspiration material. Pinterest is a great source of inspo for characters and locations, which for me almost often flourish into new plot ideas. Dedicate some time to brainstorming (alone or with a partner!) by firstly writing down what inspired you from the images/sources you found, then slowly building the puzzle into a starting plot.

Example: A picture of two pirates leaning over a map. What do they seem to be doing? Probably searching for a treasure. Or, maybe, for a safe place to hide from an army of angry 17th century soldiers sent by the King to retrieve the treasures they stole and smuggled. Ding ding! Plot idea.​

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2. Use Google Translate. Even if you are a native speaker. I can tell you 5 different words for red off the top of my head just because I use Google Translate whenever I want to replace a bland word with something fancy. Now, you don't have to overdo it, but sometimes certain words can completely overhaul a scene.

Example: He jumped over the wooden bridge and yelled, "Run!" VS He pranced and leaped over the ledge, shouting hysterically, "Run!"​

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3. Imagine, observe, THEN write. Picture the scene you want to write in your mind. Picture it as a movie, with actors and their performances. A character doesn't just look nervous. They shake their leg under the table and rub their beard between two fingers. They frown, turn pale, and stutter as they try to come up with a reply. Essentially, SHOW, DON'T TELL.

Example: Ryan didn't understand. Elisa made him nervous. VS Ryan canted his head at Elisa, the muscles of his neck tensing nervously.​

In the same context, try to describe some key elements on your "stage" to set the mood. Write of how children were running down a busy street while stumbling occasionally against elders out for a stroll. Write about the chilly wind and the bright orange sky - which tells the reader it's a late afternoon slipping into evening. Again, don't overdo it, or you risk boring the reader with unnecessary detail. But not everything has to be narrowed down to its essentials - you need some flourishing!

4. READ! Read books, short stories and roleplays. Read and learn different ways to write a fight scene, to make a dialogue seem more dynamic. Read and power your muse through it.

5. Give your characters some SPICE. Don't keep dialogue linear - let them interrupt eachother. Let them swear. Let them be natural. Show they are human through little gestures like shaking their head or crunching up their noses when they don't agree to something. Picture them like you were looking at them right next to you. Give them flaws, and SHOWCASE them in your writing. Give them traits, and let your partner discover them!

 

[Mr-Dr. Q]

A:
I would say to not have your characters be "Mentally Stagnant".

What I mean is that your characters should have movement in their head, thinking, making assumptions, and re-assessing those assumptions.
And above all else that they slowly change. as in the way they act. (this is easier/more important in longer RP)

And most important of all, don't rely on using their physical aspects as a shorthand for their more important (personality) aspects. It can make a character predictable and, can seem lazy if you character doesn't feel different.

B:
Allow your characters to think and act more emotionally, especially when interacting with other characters to add to the drama, but not stupid.
Emotions are more like motivations, they want (x) and (y). A character's judgement being clouded up should be more complicated (then how it first seems on tv).
You know how characters can have conflicting feelings? Think of the above situation similarly. ^

Lets say the *smart* thing to do would be to, say, abandon a bus of orphans so you can survive with what little food you have, but the *right* thing to do is to save the orphans.
Now, and I REALLY should say that you shouldn't be afraid of "Anti-Karma". Saving a SCHOOL BUS of HUNGRY ORPHANS in an APOCALYPSE by YOURSELF when you can barely find enough food to fend of STARVATION will absolutely F*CK YOU UP! Find a storehouse full of food? gone within a week, and what settlement would take in a bunch of useless kids, let alone adequately support them.

Getting burned for doing the right thing is like touching a stove, you may keep doing it in the name of richiousness, but overtime, you'll stop.

The orphans will be abandoned, and you'll never again be so foolishly kind. But your kindness keeps burning you, and soon, you realize the best way to survive is to slash through crowds of people for bread, leading you down a dark path.

You'll later be fighting the forces of good, and even though they FAR-FAR outnumber you, it still seems like an even fight, because fundamentally, you're more powerful.

=-=
By combining both techniques A and B you could get some pretty damn good character archs, and more importantly,
sweet-sweet-drama.

 

[Melpomene]

Alright, here are the basics of being a great roleplay partner that people will want to play with.

1. Sit back, relax, and breathe. Don't stress yourself out over this. This is a hobby, not a job. First and foremost, you should be having fun. I have let multiple partners make me lose my interest in writing altogether because they made me stress out about the roleplay so much. Do not let that happen. It will ruin inspiration more than anything. Sit back, relax, and breathe. Your muse will appreciate that. Don't worry, you can't lose her. She is a very beautiful part of you.

2. Know thyself. Understand what you like. Why you like it. What excites you. Look for things like that. Uncovering a plot is uncovering a piece of a story. It is only a piece. And it only takes a bit of a smidgen of a nudge to get a started. Look at pictures if it helps you (though that tends to not help me). Listen to songs, watch movies, read books (this can also help improve your writing), all of these things can give you an idea for a plot. When you have the thought: "What about if..." you grab on to it, cling to it, hold it tight and think about it. It is the skeleton to something far bigger. Begin thinking of the logistics, how that "What if..." could happen, what problems could arise from it and what characters could go into it. And my friend you now have yourself a plot that you can use for a roleplay, it works for me every time.

As a sub-genre to this: know what type of roleplay you like best. If you don't like novella, don't force yourself to go novella. If you don't like one-liners, don't force yourself to go one-liners. Do whatever is most fun for you. Because that is what is important, you are having fun.

As another addition! Look through roleplay threads or RTs! Any idea that makes you go: 'Yeah, that but what if...' who knows! You might get an award winning idea from an RP ^^


3. Line delivery can be hard. You have to get to know your character. How they talk, their mannerisms. Do they swear like a sailor? Or are they as quiet as a mouse? Hell, I find it fun to use characters that can't even speak at all as well! (Makes communication interesting and sometimes even more fun for me and my partner). This, briefly pretending your character cannot talk is a good experiment. Communication comes in more ways than just speech. It comes in posture. Do they slouch? Do they try to make themselves look smaller? Or do they look like they don't care? Do they always stand tall, chin held high? That speaks of what the character is feeling and who they are quite loudly. Remember your body language as much as you remember your actual words. Remember that sometimes it is even better to not have your character speak at all. Know when there should be speech, and when there shouldn't. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

4. Humans are deep, complicated, complex beings. Most of us cannot be described through only a trope, and neither should your characters. My recommendation for newer writers or writers who are having trouble building interesting characters: Start with a trope. Go to TVTropes and find one that sounds interesting, make that your skeleton. Then build on it. Give them something that makes them unique. What are their likes? Dislikes? Prejudices? Views on love? Views on crime and punishment? Views on family? Views on their own appearance? How do they view the current state of events in the their world? All of these things can add to the character, giving them depth. Don't stop at mere traits and flaws. That is not what makes up a person. A person is made up of a combination of beliefs, wants, goals, loves, hatred, prejudice, anger, happiness, beauty and ugliness. And let that show. And then you will have a wonderful character ready for a wonderful arc.

5. Here is a fun thing to do to help description: read comic books and manga. While reading books and watching movies can help with a large scope, to fine tune the details, open up a manga (preferably, as the art design, I find, tends to lean itself better to this) or a comic, and describe the panels. They are often set up in such a way to convey the scene in a still image, or movement, or pain or anything through visual means. Write down a description of what you see as vividly as it is displayed on the page. Mangas tend to have very detailed backgrounds, as well as action scenes. You know exactly where you are when reading a manga, and once you get used to that, do that for your RP or personal writings. Get a picture in your head, and then act like your partner just asked you to describe that picture to you in the fullest of detail. There you go .

I wish you very happy roleplaying, my friend!

Cheers!

 

[Dov]

At this point, many people disagree with my preferences so take this with a grain of salt. That being said, rp has been my number one hobby for about 13 years. I've been trying to find new people to play with and this is what I've observed that's prevented me from starting up with anybody:
1. Keep it organic. Don't force things to happen for the sake of things being interesting. As soon as characters start behaving in a way they wouldn't, things fall apart almost immediately. Interesting will happen so long as you have an over-arcing conflict and at least somewhat developed characters.
2. Less can be more. I've been berated for short posts, but dialogue is a back and forth and inherently short unless one's character is organically long-winded. I can't stand it when people answer your dialogue, ask a question, react to something, do something else, ask a second question, all before they let you get a word in edgewise. That's not how people talk. One doesn't need to re-establish the setting in every post, one's character doesn't need to have 8 nuanced reactions to one reply. Say what you mean, say what's important, don't obfuscate dialogue with paragraphs of filler for the sake of putting words on the page, it slows things down to an intolerable crawl. A good writing partner will understand what you're saying without your needing to beat the concept to death with descriptions.
3. Spelling and grammar matter. In this day and age, one has no right to fail at this unless you're a child learning how to spell and use grammar correctly. It's never a bad idea to reread what you've just written before posting it to ensure that it's coherent and correct.
4. If it feels weird to participate in, it is, and you should stop. Don't let anybody drag you into writing that which makes you uncomfortable, there's no need for it and it will not benefit you.
5. Once you make a character, don't consider it the end product. Allow it to grow; find its character traits over the course of different rps with different people. It's not likely that you'll make a character with much real depth or many facets fresh out of the box. That being said, learn to be comfortable with new characters not working as well as ones you've been using for awhile. They'll either come into their own or be phased out, either way it's a growing process.
6. Avoid starting characters off with attachments besides family. It's not conducive to group writing when one's character is more interested in chatting with their friend who is also yours than with characters who do not belong to you.