Advice/Help Looking to break past the 2 paragraph ceiling

[Echo Conscious]

Hello everyone! I've been rping for quite a long time and in the past however long I've been stuck between the 2 and 3 paragraph mark of consistency, mostly 2. I'm not someone who is just looking to add more for the hell of it but I kind of cap off on what I should write about 300 words into my post. For me this would be a statement of seeing myself grow and being able to target parts of the environment and character that I haven't yet considered. Any and all things can always help.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So as someone who can easily hit the three page mark when writing particular long posts I say some things to do to help increase the word length

1. Describe your environment.
2. Let your character's mind wander ( if it's in character only )
3. Describe how a physical activity is effecting them
4. Describe how they're feeling emotionally

Basically in short look at things you could expand on that your character would naturally notice. If they aren't the kind of person to be particularly observant to their outer surroundings but the type to go on internal tangents than let them do that.

 

[Echo Conscious]

So as someone who can easily hit the three page mark when writing particular long posts I say some things to do to help increase the word length

1. Describe your environment.
2. Let your character's mind wander ( if it's in character only )
3. Describe how a physical activity is effecting them
4. Describe how they're feeling emotionally

Basically in short look at things you could expand on that your character would naturally notice. If they aren't the kind of person to be particularly observant to their outer surroundings but the type to go on internal tangents than let them do that.

Noted thank you, my concern is always how much can I said before I start accidentally godding because that's never something I look to do. I'm sure I can find things I can expand on. Thank you.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Noted thank you, my concern is always how much can I said before I start accidentally godding because that's never something I look to do. I'm sure I can find things I can expand on. Thank you.

Well when it comes to godmodding is actually pretty hard to do if you understand what it actually is.

- It is controlling another character without permission
- It is using information your character could not reasonably have access to.

Ex. If you describe in detail how you and Character X have gone on a long walk through the woods without Player X's permission that's bad. Because you are moving someone's character without their permission.


If say Character X is thinking about going to a pizza place for dinner after work and your character is thinking about how much they love that pizza place and can't wait to go that's bad. Because Character X didn't DO anything they only thought it.

 

[augmentedspartan]

The simplest and most effective way is to have more stuff happen in your post. Describing the environment or writing an inner monologue about the character's current actions is fine and dandy, but if they are there just to fill post length then it becomes not only boring but annoying. If the place or current activity isn't important or interesting in any way, you don't need to write about them any more than necessary. Sure, your post might be only a couple sentences long, but I'd wager most people would rather read that than slog through three or more paragraphs of mundane and dry exposition about irrelevant things. We really don't need to know every detail about your character eating a sandwich.

The important thing to remember is that you're not gonna be consistent with post lengths. Sometimes you'll get several paragraphs in one go because you actually need to explain every detail (your character going solo for a while, a fight scene, conversation with an NPC, etc...), but other times you're gonna be stuck in a back and forth conversation with another character, in which case a few lines is more than enough. Trust me, reading the through process that your character goes through for every reply gets dull fast.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I agree to a point. Certainly if you're having a conversation you don't need to be trying to hit a page of words.

But again it depends on your character itself. I myself am someone with very short attention span so I can be having a conversation with someone IRL and be thinking about five or so different things in my head.

If I were to make a character with equally short attention span than one way to show that would be to likewise have them go on long tangents in the middle of discussions.

Like certainly keeping things brief to an extent makes them easier to read but you also have to be realistic to your character as well.

If your character is a verbose or absent-minded person than pairing down too much is going to make them seem out of character.

If however your character is naturally straightforward and logical than your going to have to pair down your posts to reflect that.

I do agree that adding words for the sake of padding your post length gets old real fast.

Always have a REASON for the extra words.

Which is why I used the advice - write what your character would NOTICE.

If they're someone who is picky about fashion than have them mention the outfits of everyone in detail
If they're someone who is straightforward than they'd ignore extraneous detail and get to the point
If they're absent minded they might comment and notice at least five things outside of the main action.

 

[Avinix]

Honestly, I just use a bunch of big fancy words and give every object at least one descriptive word. That’s how you write a lot. I’m my opinion, at least.

 

[Umbrie]

the length of a post has absolutely nothing to do with the quality. when you use the thesaurus to fill out your post with the intent to look clever, it can make you appear to be a common fool for not every synonym detailed in the thesaurus has the same context, while Cyan and Cerulean are both extremely light shades of blue, both of them are different enough to not be considered identical, just as a Quel'Dorei is Completely Different from a Sin'Dorei or Kal'Dorei. despite all 3 being Azerothian Elves.

in fact, knowing the exact context of a Synonym or knowing the exact difference between 2 elven ethnicities or 2 shades of light blue makes you smarter than pulling them from the thesaurus wholecloth. thesaurus gives similar words, not identical ones. at the same time, efficiency is important, one shouldn't spend 9 paragraphs explaining something that could be clearly said in 3 smple lines or sentences.

 

[augmentedspartan]

I agree to a point. Certainly if you're having a conversation you don't need to be trying to hit a page of words.

But again it depends on your character itself. I myself am someone with very short attention span so I can be having a conversation with someone IRL and be thinking about five or so different things in my head.

If I were to make a character with equally short attention span than one way to show that would be to likewise have them go on long tangents in the middle of discussions.

Like certainly keeping things brief to an extent makes them easier to read but you also have to be realistic to your character as well.

If your character is a verbose or absent-minded person than pairing down too much is going to make them seem out of character.

If however your character is naturally straightforward and logical than your going to have to pair down your posts to reflect that.

I do agree that adding words for the sake of padding your post length gets old real fast.

Always have a REASON for the extra words.

Which is why I used the advice - write what your character would NOTICE.

If they're someone who is picky about fashion than have them mention the outfits of everyone in detail
If they're someone who is straightforward than they'd ignore extraneous detail and get to the point
If they're absent minded they might comment and notice at least five things outside of the main action.

Yes, this make sense for the character to think, but that doesn't mean you need to write it all down. Grab any decent book and look at any conversation, you'll see that for the most part there is very little that isn't directly relevant to the dialogue. A character might notice one thing or there might be a description of a change in tone or posture, but aside from that most of the focus is on the words and how they are delivered. If you do add all the things you mentioned, you will end up with a slog of a post to read. You don't need to delve deep into the psychology of your character every time they speak.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yes, this make sense for the character to think, but that doesn't mean you need to write it all down. Grab any decent book and look at any conversation, you'll see that for the most part there is very little that isn't directly relevant to the dialogue. A character might notice one thing or there might be a description of a change in tone or posture, but aside from that most of the focus is on the words and how they are delivered. If you do add all the things you mentioned, you will end up with a slog of a post to read. You don't need to delve deep into the psychology of your character every time they speak.

I think we have different ideas of what is a slog to read. I do agree with some of what you said as I said. I just think that the point your missing is that this isn't about writing a reply for someone else.

It's about a personal writing goal. The OP wants to increase the length of their posts FOR THEMSELVES. It isn't about - oh I need to write more because then people won't think I'm a bad writer. Or I want to seem smarter. Or whatever. It's way for them to challenge themselves.

In that case saying - some responses are going to be short if there isn't a lot going on. While good advice for a roleplay isn't really good advice for the question they're asking.

 

[augmentedspartan]

Fair enough. I get what you're saying, but to me roleplaying is a group activity, so making one's posts fun for the rest to read is also important to me. But I can see your point about writing for oneself first, it is still a hobby after all.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Fair enough. I get what you're saying, but to me roleplaying is a group activity, so making one's posts fun for the rest to read is also important to me. But I can see your point about writing for oneself first, it is still a hobby after all.

Well obviously I just think that you can improve your writing separately to a roleplay response. I mean obviously in roleplays you are dealing with a lot of external factors that are going to change depending on your partner or what your writing.

But like there is a difference between writing something specifically in response to someone else and their personal preferences and making something for your own personal improvement.

In a roleplay your focus is more on fitting to your partners preferences. So if say for instance your roleplaying with someone who prefers short responses than you replies should be shorter. If your roleplaying with someone who likes detailed replies than you make your replies longer.

But that doesn't mean that you have to only focus on how someone else is going to feel reading your reply when it comes to creating them.

For instance I write between 1 to 3 pages per each of my responses. This is not something any of my partners have a problem with. They often compliment me on adding on details. Buuut it drives me crazy. I go through at least two edits in an attempt to shorten my posts each time I make one. But again the length is never a problem for my partner. So shortening them is more of a personal project rather than something I do because it effects my partners.