The Role-Player's Guide To Avoiding Writing Pitfalls

GojiBean

Your resident irradiated Kaiju King
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Grrrrrrrretings!

GojiBean here with my next tutorial about avoiding potential writing pitfalls. I started my writer's journey at age 20 which is a bit later than probably most of those who may be reading. And as one who's fallen into most of the pitfalls outlined in this tutorial during my earlier writing years, this is hopefully a good warning and lesson on how to maintain a certain level of personal discipline as a writer in controlling the way you think about your story concepts, characters, and any drafts of stories you may have already written or begun writing.

So, let us begin...

Part 1: The Early Stages

Rushing

When you first come up with an idea, it can be tempting to immediately jump into the writing process and just try and write to see what comes out... I advise against this.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with this course of action (lord knows that's what I did), it has the potential to compromise any potential for stability in your story concept.

For example...

Let's say you get an idea about a futuristic RP set on an alien world. The basic idea is a colonization effort, and you're set to have your colonists enjoy their lives for the first 20 years or so before their mining efforts release a plague of predatory creatures who massacre 90% of the colony while the remaining 10% flee to a safer region where there plague seems to not follow.

... Now what?

Do you just start writing a story for one particular colonist who lost everything in the initial attacks and who now has a vendetta against the creatures and wants to wipe them out.

You could. Nothing wrong with that. It's a classic (if overused) trope, to have a vengeful protagonist.

But where do you start? What does the current situation for the colony, and your protagonist, look like? Do you write that by the seat of your pants and see what happens? I mean, you can do that? But should you do that? If you're an experienced writer and you find (or think) that you personally write better when you don't pre-plan, or at least when you don't over plan things ahead of time, then I would say it's safe to at least do your first draft in this fashion.

However, regardless of whether or not it's part of your preferred style, I would highly encourage giving at least some thought to the following basic elements before you type a single letter on your Prologue or on Chapter 1. And all of these elements are applicable regardless of genre. But for consistency, we'll stick with futuristic.

1) When are you?

What year is it? You're in the future. But how far in the future? And what's your original reference point for your timeline? Is it the real world calendar where we're (currently, as of this posting) in the year 2021? Was there a period after that which dawned a new technological age and restarted the calendar at 0 with a new nomenclature after the year such as PG ("Post-Gregorian," since the Christian Gregorian calendar is currently the internationally accepted nomenclature)? And when did that PG calendar begin? 2025? 2080? 4308?

Though it may seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things if your entire story takes place over the course of a few days in the character's perspective, having a definitive timeline and historical reference point helps bring life and immersion to your world. Without some form of historical reference to ground themselves in, you're relying on the audience's ability to ignore a key element of their everyday lives. And that's easier said than done. Especially if you've yet to develop the skills necessary as a writer to successfully deflect and avoid having to reference such an important and deeply engrained part of our everyday lives.

Everyone wants to know when they are in a story. If you're not able to tell them in dialogue or via some kind of narrative glance such as "as he glanced at the calendar, he spat at the circle over today's date marking the 10th anniversary of the 3448 attack by the plague on the original colony," then trying to show them the time by giving them a good descriptive look at the technology of the time would be another appropriate step. Any fan of Halo will know what I'm talking about.

2) Where are you?

This question has two basic meanings: One, location. Where are you in the world? This one establishes the setting. Two, where is your character currently at mentally, emotionally, and physically? This is far more personal and intimate a detail, and is a very, very important question to answer in order to begin to understand who your character is.

For example, try to answer these questions:

- How much movement in the world is governed by technology rather than boots on the ground?
- How often does the character have to rely on the architecture (parkour) and/or technology (jet packs, boots with boosters in them, etc) when moving through a crowded city while chasing a bad guy or fleeing one of the predatory creatures?
- How vertical is their movement throughout their cityscape versus the world beyond?
- Is their city built on the side of a mountain and off the ground to avoid the creatures, for instance, which forces them into an elevator or ladder-heavy city layout in order to stay as closely hugged to the mountain as possible?
- Is the city built out from the mountain on a massive platform with a pillar?
- Are the creatures attacking and slowly destroying that pillar and threatening your character's way of life because they know prey is up at the top?

All of this factors into the "where" you are part of the story and how it directly affects your character's current mindset and lifestyle.

For example, if you answer the last two questions on that list with a "yes," how panicked are the regular citizens? How frantic are the politicians (if there are any)? Is there an agreement that something must be done? Or are politicians (again, if there are any) saying the pillar will hold and not to worry which causes discontent and malice to begin forming in the populace as an insurrection looms? (Dammit... Now I want to use this idea in an RP, lol)

The more questions you ask about "where," location-wise, in the world you are and "where" your character is from a mental, emotional, and physical standpoint, the more grounded the experience becomes. No pun intended.

3) Technology

I touched on this at the end of the first point. But I wanted to save a more in-depth analysis of this for its own section.

Technology is governed by several things including, but not limited to, the following:

- Available materials in the world (i.e. iron, copper, stone, wood, sulfur, salt, saltpeter (potassium-nitrate), charcoal/coal, etc)
- Refining devices and processes
- Scientific and Educational advancement (how smart your populace is and how well educated they are in the process of refining and utilizing these materials?)
- Available labor (how much of the populace is actually educated enough and skilled with gathering, refining, and processing the materials into something more?)
- Leadership (someone has to know how to make the best of all the above points in order to ensure that genuine progress is made and avoid stagnation)

There's obviously more to technology than just those points. But they're what I consider the bare bone basics that every story needs to at least touch upon if we're to understand how technology got to where it is today, and why it is that the technology is able to continue advancing.

Another point to keep in mind with technology is who has access to what?

Does the general populace have access to the same technologies as the military or government? In most cases, obviously not. But what if there is no higher societal structure and it's more of a communal "leadership" structure where everyone has access to the same tech, but people with stronger personalities and greater leadership qualities are "in charge?" Is it still even then? Have they begun to shift away from "everyone can access the same tech" and are trying to restrict the tech to just the military/militia personnel to conserve and consolidate resources?

If there are any discrepancies as to who has access to what technology in your story, make them clear. The clearer they are, the more your story's society takes on a genuine life of its own alongside what we'll talk about in the next point.

4) Culture

This is arguable the single greatest factor in generating true sense of immersion within your world for your readers and/or RP participants.

Culture includes everything that goes into what we would consider "human intellectual achievement," and beyond that to other elements of the lifestyle led by your character.

Language, including lingual ticks and draws/accents (such as the good ol' American "ya'll" or the classic New York accent "fuhget abowt iht" (translated as "forget about it")), commonly spoken phrases or sayings (many are unique by location), clothing materials (and how they vary based on societal position), clothing designs (also varies by location, materials available, and other personal cultural elements), religion(s), social structure, available food sources, available crops/herbs, landscape layout, distance between villages, towns and cities, technology, and much, much more.

Everything about the immediate world surrounding the character will shape their culture, and the culture of the region they come from.

For example, if they live in a mountainous region then part of the culture is most likely going to revolve around the thinner atmosphere and how it affects the growth of crops and livestock for food. Perhaps they must reserve space in the lower regions of the mountains for terraforming crop fields where a more oxygen rich part of the atmosphere allows for greater quantity and quality crop growth and raising their cattle and beasts of burden. And this regular trek from lower elevations to higher elevations becomes an ordinary part of life which helps to enrich their people with stronger bodies and greater levels of stamina from adapting to the thinner oxygen layers of the atmosphere in the mountains compared to those who solely dwell in the world below.

That's but one example. There are so many different ways you could use just the world around the character to shape their culture that it's not even funny. Even the type of grass that grows in their immediate vicinity can and will shape at least one major aspect of the way they live depending on how and whether or not they choose to harvest that grass for material purposes.

Everything about your character speaks of their culture. Their personal, religious, societal, and political beliefs and views. The way they talk. The way they walk. The way they move. Their preferred method of transportation. Their favorite or preferred foods. Their clothing style and favorite materials. Their choice of weaponry/tools for their profession or self defense. Etc.

Your character is a living embodiment of numerous aspects of their culture. The more detailed your character's design, views, personality, clothing, etc are, the more culture they are introducing to the world of your story.

A lot of this goes under the radar for most readers and Role-Players. But it's important nonetheless to at least give your character something to help them really stand out from the crowd. If your character looks, sounds, acts, dresses, and otherwise feels like everyone else, then your character is not bringing anything truly unique to the table. And, depending on your personal views on the topic, they may as well not even exist.

5) Conflict

I save the most important for last.

If your character has no conflict to overcome in pursuit of their goals, then your character has no story to offer.

Stories are, quite literally, built on conflict and overcoming obstacles.

No conflict or obstacles to overcome, no story.

Period.

It's not even an open subject for debate, as this is a universally understood truth that all writers understand and accept as being necessary regardless of genre, direction, or personal goals of the writers themselves for the beginning, middle, and end of the story and/or the characters involved. And this is why you'll hear every successful author, screenwriter, short story writer, mangaka, and every other type of writer imaginable say the same thing...

The conflict IS the story.

Not the characters. Not the lore. Not the action. Not the suspense. Not the terrors or thrills. Not the romance. Not the cool tech on display.

The conflict... Be it internal conflict, external conflict, or both.

Proof to the Point:

* The Lord of the Rings: The threat of Sauron's return and the destruction he'll bring. Conflict.

* Avatar The Last Airbender: The threat of Firelord Ozai and his war against the other nations, as well as Aang's personal internal strife on how to best deal with him peacefully and not compromise his personal beliefs of kindness and righteousness over wickedness or lethal force. Conflict.

* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's hatred for the turtles, as well as other enemies who are constantly causing trouble. Conflict.

* 40 Year Old Virgin: Andy's insecurities about women and relationships and his struggle to find a meaningful one and not screw it up (which he very nearly does) so he can finally enjoy what it means to not only be in love and have it reciprocated, but also to, well, ya know. Wink wink. Conflict.

* Moana: The journey across the sea against the wishes of her father and tribe, her attempts to convince Maui to help her, and the final battle against Te Fiti (twisted into Te Ka) to return her Heart and set her free to rid the world of the threat of the blight. Conflict.

Some examples listed above are sillier and less appropriate than others. But it's proof to the point.

You cannot have a story without conflict.

So that should, arguably, be the very first thing you think about for your character before you type a single word in their character sheet. "What is their conflict?" "What do they need to overcome personally, and externally, in order to achieve their goals?"

If you don't give your character some kind of conflict from the get-go, you're shooting yourself in the foot early. And it's going to rear its ugly head later when you don't know what direction to take your character. Either the action will slow down, or it will ramp up, and outside of that physical confrontation you won't have anything for your character to do. You won't have anything for them to say. You won't have anything for them to want or need outside of just "staying in the group."

And that, my friends, is an early death sentence for your character's expected life span in the RP.

Part 2: Getting Started

So! You've created your character. You've considered all the above points in Part 1 and you've come up with a solid base. You know your setting. You know your culture. You know your character's personality, goals, etc... Now what?

How do you start?

This is the stage which can most easily excite writers and Role-Players as it's the promise of a journey the likes of which you probably haven't been able to enjoy before. That's why the first few posts in an RP always start so strong and are continually added so quickly in group RP's.

... Until someone slows down or stops entirely.

Why did they slow down or stop? There's many possibilities. Many of them have to do with life, work, school, etc. And there's no helping that.

But there's one thing that absolutely can be helped. And that is...

1) Have a Direction, and Personal Stakes

Having a character made and an idea for who they are and what kind of conflict you want them to experience along the way is one thing. But actually having a direction for them to follow is another beast all its own.

So what do I mean by "have a direction?"

Well, consider the following questions:

- How does your character encounter the group?
- How and why do they choose to involve themselves?
- Is the choice even theirs to make, or is it a circumstance that forces cooperation?
- Once involved, how do they assess the others around them and how do they choose to interpret the words and actions they see and hear from all of them?
- What opinions about the others are born from this analysis?
- How quickly are the opinions solidified by further such behaviors or actions?
- How strong is the character's desire to stay in the group?
- How strong is the character's desire to just take their chances and leave?

... That last one is the most important question of the bunch. If your character wants to leave and go their own way, then chances are that's what they would do if this were a real situation and if you had no control over their actions.

This is a major red flag which you should avoid at all costs.

But why did it come about in the first place?

If you face this last question and find that your character wants to take their chances and just go their own way, then it likely means two things have happened: One, you forgot to consider how important the central journey of the RP is to your character. And two, you forgot to consider how the other characters would be important to your character's personal growth.

What does this amount to?

A lack of direction.

You didn't give them a personal stake in the central journey or the rest of the cast of characters they'd be spending time with. Without a personal stake in what's happening and who they're surrounded by, how can you realistically expect them to want to force themselves to go along with what's happening?

This point needs to be made as clearly as I possibly can make it: Tailoring a character to an RP world and/or lore is NOT the same as tailoring them to the RP's story.

Remember, stories are built on conflict. If there's no conflict, there's no story. And your character can only truly have a personal stake in the journey ahead and the other cast of characters if there's a conflict that's directly related to both at play.

For example: Let's say you created a knight in a high fantasy adventure RP. The main story is that there is a horde of dark beasts destroying a specific continent in the world that your character does not live on. And it's stated by the GM that if this continent falls, it wouldn't really affect the rest of the world that much. So, they encourage everyone to be from this continent (you rebel). But out of self-righteousness they decided to get involved (this is a red flag we'll get to in a minute) despite not being from the continent. The rest of the cast are mages, another knight, and a healer. But your character is quite reserved and doesn't really care to interact with them because they're more a lone wolf type (another red flag we'll touch on in a minute).

Anyone see the major glaring flaws in this example?

One, the character doesn't live on the continent in which the RP is set to take place. So, there's already a mental and emotional disconnect that'd bridged only by a sense of self-righteousness. And no matter how you splice it this is a very weak excuse to force oneself to another area of the world just to "play a part" in combating the threat. Why would they realistically make that decision? Is there truly nothing in their home continent worth fighting for or protecting? Do they not have any family or friends to enjoy life with in their home continent? Why in the world would they just uproot themselves to protect another continent who's fate is unrelated to their own and whose downfall would not directly affect their way of living, nor the lives of anyone close to them? Self-righteousness or no, you cannot deny that there's literally no reason for them to go. They would stay where their friends and family are because that's where the most important things in their world are.

Two, there's no personal attachment to the rest of the group thanks to that oh-so-lovable lone wolf attitude. And while there's nothing inherently wrong with a lone wolf attitude, you have to ask yourself why would a knight, of all people, be a lone wolf? That defeats every purpose of becoming a knight. You become a knight to be part of the greater collective of protectors for your nation, city, town, or village. You don't join just to become a lone ranger in a knight's uniform. Knights are part of a group. Always have been. Always will be. Unless your knight is disgraced or outcast for negative story arc reasons, there's no purpose to having an otherwise self-righteous character, who's sense of righteousness implies a sense of nobility and morality I might add, to be a lone wolf and distance him/herself from the rest of the cast.

This example, while a bit simplistic and deliberately twisted for the purposes of serving as an example, is actually pretty close to a trend I've noticed in many RP characters over the years across various RP websites. And while I'm not averse to loner characters by themselves, I am deathly allergic to characters who are loners simply for the sake of being a loner and don't provide any real depth, meaning, or relevance to the story outside of the fact that their player made them for the RP so they just happen to be there.

Very few characters could be less appealing or desirable to interact with than this kind of character. At least in my humble opinion.

But I digress.

Back to the point at hand, this knight lacks a direction. He/she lacks any connection to the central conflict and the other cast of characters. For all intents and purposes, they may as well not exist.

If I made a character like this for an RP of this nature, I'd be wasting everyone's time.

Instead, make a knight who was born on the continent that's being affected by this conflict. Make their home town close to at least one of the other characters so that there's at least some familiarity and personal connection, even if it's weak. If you want to go further, ask the other player if they can have history so there's a stronger personal reason to stick together regardless of the nature of their connection with the rest of the cast (though, you should both do your part to ensure there's SOMETHING connecting them to the rest of the cast as well even if it's only their common desire to end the danger to their homeland).

This will give your character a sense of direction and a personal stake in the journey ahead. Why? Because not only is this their homeland that's being threatened, but everyone in their company are "their people." In effect, there is an almost instant subliminal familial connection to others who share a common place of birth and a common goal to protect it. The bonds that form will happen faster, and more naturally than if you had to force someone not from the continent in question into a foreign situation in which they're an outsider in every sense of the word. And due to their personal connection to everyone in the cast and the journey at hand, they will never be lacking a sense of direction or reasons to continue with this quest to save their homeland.

Finale: The Journey

Okay.

You've reached the final part of this tutorial... PHEW!

Sorry for the obnoxious length of this thing.

Anywho, now we come to the conclusion of the tutorial. The handling of the journey itself.

How you handle the journey ahead of your character depends on a variety of factors unique to you as a person, and your personal writing preferences. But at the end of the day there's one thing you should strive to avoid at all costs... The urge to make things "bigger" and "more epic."

And I know, I know. Who doesn't love bigger and more epic stories, right?

Well...

Hear me out.

Let's say the crux of your story is the question "what does it mean to be human?" And your central character is a person who's been horribly abused, neglected, isolated, indoctrinated, and who was almost sacrificed at a young age to become the vessel of a demonic spirit. The sacrifice attempt was thwarted, but the lingering effects of the ritual include the character hearing the spirit's voice and being haunted by horrible and twisted nightmares almost each and every night. As the story progresses you plan to introduce them to a host of other characters including a potential love interest who's a kind-hearted individual who's basically the main character's polar opposite with a strong enough personality to maybe mend the internal and external damage they've endured over their lifetime so far.

Perfectly viable story concept, right? Absolutely! This is a great start!

So, what needs to change?

... Arguably, nothing. This concept is just fine. It could work. But let's say, for instance, you get the urge to make the central protagonist more epic by having them be greatly enhanced physically by the effects of the demonic spirit to the point that they're basically Captain America on steroids. And in an attempt to recapture that power, the people who abused, neglected, isolated, and indoctrinated them found a way to make a serum that could almost duplicate the effects and basically makes everyone in their group a regular Captain America who's only a bit weaker than the main character. In order to ensure that the love interest isn't insta-gibbed, you have to find a way to give them the Captain America serum thing too. And if it's an RP, you have to give it to everyone else or they're evil chow at basically any time of your choosing.

... Starting to see the problem here?

By escalating the attributes of one character, it led to an escalation of the conflict at a physical level... But that's all.

There's no escalation of the overall tension since the main character is still stronger than the others and the love interest is just as strong now. There's no escalation of personal stake in the central journey of the main character to find their humanity again because that can/should happen regardless of how strong they are. And there's no escalation of the external stakes because this group was never stated to be genuinely evil or world-dominating. They're just douche bags.

If you escalate the physical element, you're sacrificing the central crux of your story about what it means to be human because, by making them "super human," you've already taken away their humanity. They're freaks now. And if this is now their permanent "normal," they'll never be human again. They'll always live in a different world than any normal person because of their strength and other attributes that were enhanced along with it.

If the crux of your story is what it means to be human, keep things grounded and human.

Like I said earlier there was nothing wrong with the original story concept. And as the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

If you think your story is in need of beefing up or any kind of escalation or enhancement from the original idea, always stop yourself and ask "does the crux of my story actually need to be beefed up or enhanced?"

I can guarantee that if you give it a thorough examination, you'll find the answer is "no."

If you think the story is lacking, look first at its foundational elements listed in Part 1 of this tutorial. Chances are you missed something. If you feel that it's the characters who are missing something, refer to Part 2 and double check that all the major characters have a stake not only in the central journey, but in each other.

... Now...

One more thing about the journey that should probably be avoided before we end this tutorial... Rushing your story's climax.

Most writers have a sense for how to avoid this pitfall. But I've seen it happen in a few RP's over the years that the GM was a little too eager to get to "the good stuff" and they rushed everyone into the climactic action almost as soon as we arrived at the location of said action.

This is a no-no.

Part of the joy and fun of a climax in an RP is the build up. The final stages before the last doors open and the conflict begins and finds a resolution. And once the action starts, it shouldn't end in a handful of posts. It needs to be well paced so that everyone gets to show off the growth of their characters and their respective strengths which they've gained and/or honed throughout their journey.

The more time you give the climax to build and then execute, the better.

Never rush the climax.

Ever.

Again, most of us know this already which is why this is a much shorter bit than previous bits. But all the same, I wanted to touch on it for the less experienced GM's who might be eager to see the "conclusion" of the RP rather than enjoy it and let it last.

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Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this obnoxiously long "tutorial" on some of the more common pitfalls of writing which happen at various stages of the writing cycle.

While these were written with RP's in mind, they apply to writing stories you intend to novelize and publish as well.

So, happy writing!

~ GojiBean
 

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