Advice/Help Roleplay Structure/Vocab

[indicasworld]

Help! So, I’ve got a major problem. Though I’ve been roleplaying for the last six years, I still feel as if I’m below my own expectations. The structures of my roleplays feel out of place to me, as does my vocabulary. Sometimes I use words I don’t need, or sometimes I can’t find the right word to use.

Additionally, sometimes I believe I ramble on about unimportant things in a scene.

What I’m saying is, I’d like my roleplay to come off as more professional and experienced, through my word-play. I don’t want to be seen as some 10 y/o rambling off about unimportant things.

I’m graciously accepting any tips, advice, or help on how to up my roleplay game! Thank you in advance!

(I can provide a sample of my writing and a recent reply to a roleplay for analysis if need be!!)

 

[Chordling]

Take the time to read and edit your response before replying. Focus on removing the unnecessary sections and the parts that ramble.

> Sometimes I use words I don’t need, or sometimes I can’t find the right word to use.

Thesaurus.com - The world's favorite online thesaurus!

Thesaurus.com is the world’s largest and most trusted online thesaurus for 25+ years. Join millions of people and grow your mastery of the English language.

www.thesaurus.com

 

[indicasworld]

Hello there!
Reading is one of the most helpful things in order to develop better writing skills. It not only inspires you to create a more rounded and personal writing style, you subconsciously get acquainted with syntax and other grammatical details that might be missing. It also serves greatly as a source of ideas and, in the end, if you enjoy what you're reading, it is a pleasant exercise.

Writing is, obviously, extremely necessary when it comes to training as well. Try writing daily, just a couple of paragraphs, you don't need to write anything elaborated. But when doing so try to come up with a structure of what is going to happen in that short story. An easy way to plot stories is to follow a three-step process: 1st, the initial state, 2nd the conflict and 3rd the resolution. You can use this structure and make it as complex as you wish, adding subplots that contribute to the main story. But when practising, and taking into consideration that they are short stories, maybe keeping it simple would be the best. Who knows, some of those ideas might also transform into roleplay plots or personal projects in the future ^^

Reading and writing as much as you can is definitely the best way to exercise writing skills. It's just like working out.

When you're writing a scene thinking about why such scene is being written, and how it helps developing further the plot and/or the characters is necessary. Is it an introduction to a new location? Then maybe taking a bit of time to describe the general place, the people that frequent it, the environment, etc. is important. However, sometimes, overdoing such characterisation can feel a bit dull (except if you are a Realistic period author XD). This is where character emotions and actions come into play: describing a character's mood and thoughts, if pertinent, as they enter such new environment makes it less dull and more dynamic.
If we are talking about the introduction of a new character, maybe going for first impressions can help: do they look friendly, are they nervous, do they have any quirks that are noticeable? What about their accent, any speech impediments?

I guess that they key in order to keep things relevant is asking yourself "Is this necessary in any way to the plot or character development?", if the answer is "no", then maybe trying to come up with a new idea for you next response might be necessary. And taking your time revising and adjusting your answer is also important, as it allows you to see the whole picture and have a broader look at what the whole scene sequence your writing looks like.

Also, as mentioned in the previous answer, Thesaurus is great in order to come up with new vocabulary ^^ You also acquire new words by reading, and, each time you do so, when you find a word that you don't know, searching for its meaning and writing kind of a glossary of words had helped me through building my vocabulary, not only in English (that's not my first language, as you probably noticed) but also in other languages, such as French and Spanish.

I hope this was useful in some way! At the moment I am also trying to improve my writing skills. It's a long road, but with time and persistence you'll see that things get better in no time ^^

I’m definitely going to take your suggestion and get back into reading and writing everyday! This was beyond helpful, and I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to help me!

 

[indicasworld]

Take the time to read and edit your response before replying. Focus on removing the unnecessary sections and the parts that ramble.

> Sometimes I use words I don’t need, or sometimes I can’t find the right word to use.

Thesaurus.com - The world's favorite online thesaurus!

Thesaurus.com is the world’s largest and most trusted online thesaurus for 25+ years. Join millions of people and grow your mastery of the English language.

www.thesaurus.com

Thank you, I truly appreciate you taking the time out to help me. I haven’t actually thought about using the thesaurus to search up words that coincide with what I’m trying to describe before, and I’m definitely going to start using it as a source for developing stronger vocab now!

 

[indicasworld]

I am doing so at the moment as well hahaha, unfortunately, I had to stop my readings for a few months now (I guess it goes on a year now, so yes, that a long time, considering it is a hobby I love), due to university and school work. The fact that exhaustion doesn't help either can really put me off sometimes, but recently I picked up with that habit once again and I have noticed at least a small improvement on my writing. Reading in English has been helping me a lot, especially because it isn't my native language.
I wish you all the best, and if you ever need help with anything, I'll be more than pleased to help you out ^^

I hear you! As the virus got worse and school began to transition to online, life got hectic and eventually I had no time to read or pick up my pencil and start writing things down.

Your help is greatly appreciated! I’ll be sure to look to you in the future for all roleplaying queries!

 

[Crayons]

If you want to provide a writing sample I could take a look for you.

Regarding the thesaurus: Before you use it, know how to use it properly. Thesaurus misuse is a serious problem with RPers. What I mean by this is, don't go through a thesaurus assuming each word you see is an exact synonym of the one you have looked up, most of the time it isn't. You need to also look up the synonym you find in a dictionary, and understand how it is used in English.

I'd also back up Kahir in saying its better to read a lot and improve your vocabulary naturally than go straight to the thesaurus every time. One of the best exercises I ever did in an English class at school was to take an ad from a magazine or newspaper (we had those things back then, lol) and then re-write the ad copy by exchanging each major word with one found in a thesaurus. Then you read back what you have and see how much it differs in sense from the original, which is usually a lot. I think everyone should do this and kudos to the teacher who made us do it.

Personally I feel thesauruses should be used mainly as a last resort, in the sense of "this word isn't quite right, what is a word that has the exact sense I am looking for" where you already know the words, you just need to pick one that might work better.

 

[indicasworld]

If you want to provide a writing sample I could take a look for you.

Regarding the thesaurus: Before you use it, know how to use it properly. Thesaurus misuse is a serious problem with RPers. What I mean by this is, don't go through a thesaurus assuming each word you see is an exact synonym of the one you have looked up, most of the time it isn't. You need to also look up the synonym you find in a dictionary, and understand how it is used in English.

I'd also back up Kahir in saying its better to read a lot and improve your vocabulary naturally than go straight to the thesaurus every time. One of the best exercises I ever did in an English class at school was to take an ad from a magazine or newspaper (we had those things back then, lol) and then re-write the ad copy by exchanging each major word with one found in a thesaurus. Then you read back what you have and see how much it differs in sense from the original, which is usually a lot. I think everyone should do this and kudos to the teacher who made us do it.

Personally I feel thesauruses should be used mainly as a last resort, in the sense of "this word isn't quite right, what is a word that has the exact sense I am looking for" where you already know the words, you just need to pick one that might work better.

I see what you’re saying! Even with using the thesaurus I shouldn’t just throw words together simply because they’re listed as a synonym, it might make even less sense than what I was trying to project before I changed words out.

Also, please PM me! I’d be happy to give you a sample. Thank you so much for your time!

 

[Crayons]

I see what you’re saying! Even with using the thesaurus I shouldn’t just throw words together simply because they’re listed as a synonym, it might make even less sense than what I was trying to project before I changed words out.

Also, please PM me! I’d be happy to give you a sample. Thank you so much for your time!

It is done!

 

[Belle_Sorciere]

I know I’m a little late to this party, but your thread actually inspired me to write a journal entry on the subject.

Other - My Little Corner in RPN - Journal, Chatter, and Plotting

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my journal-ish thread! Once again, I have tidied things up around here! (1/29/22) It’s still a work in progress, but so am I as a person. =D Check out the thread-marks, as I’m adding new content in a way that will be easier for you to find and preview before scrolling...

www.rpnation.com

I’m not sure how helpful you will find what I wrote — I’m new to writing advice — but I tried.