Tips on figuring things to say in a post

[Ultimus]

I've been practicing my writing for a little while now. My issue now is figuring out ways to reply to people, how can I make my friends and myself create more interesting posts? Like, for me, I'd rather get to the point. I only want to mention things that pertain to the plot/scene. I try to stay away from topics that don't matter. I make sure to include the five senses if I see them fit, normal things like that, but I also focus on the other characters that are around mine. Conversations can be hard sometimes as well because my friends will respond, but then they start doing to much, like starting a new conversation, or just not giving enough for me to respond too. So I need some advice to increase our writing skills.

 

[wonderandawe]

My first thought when writing a post is "What is the goal of the scene?  How can my post move the characters closer to that goal?"   If the goal of the scene is to "figure out how to rob a bank." then I think of way my character can add to that plan.  Of course I'm a very plot focused Role Player.  I want to find out whodunit!   


I reread the previous posts and look for aspects I can build upon in my own post.  People love when you take something they write and add to it.  For example, if someone mentions passing a flower vendor, your character can go back and buy flowers or something.  

 

[Idea]

Well, the first step, I believe is to hit the minimums. In my eyes, a truly competent person (not so say others are incompetent) can give away what is happening and as much information as possible for the reader to immerse themselves. In RPing this is specially important: You aren´t just writing the characters, you are becoming the characters. Every element of that character´s perspective, in my eyes, should be part of your post. This includes what your character is experiencing, but also their emotions and thoughts throughout the post, their actions and what leads them to those actions, the reaction to the actions of other characters, a description of what is surrounding them, the time that passes, the setting that interacts, and lastly, the dialog. Of course, these aren´t suppose to be in a specific order and in fact learning to meld them together and make them more subtle is part of gaining experience and expertize as a writer.


With that first step, you can establish the minimum for a post, something that sets where, when, how and why your character is doing what they are doing, and simultaneously giving your partner just about as much information as they´ll need to write a proper post themselves. As I mentioned, anyone competent should be able to do this much, and that includes pretty much everyone. The next part is a little more tricky, and it´s considering your character. While you have done this in the previous part, supposedly, this one goes outside of filling a checklist. This is the part for character growth and humanizing, it includes flashbacks, purely character-driven dialog, actions that are only taken for the character´s sake, etc... As good as it may seem to include these things always, remember that it may make posts too contrived to attempt it and that carefully placing those things is what makes them the most effective.


The next step is most common in intro posts and some expositional posts, and it´s the section where you worldbuild. In this part, you start going beyond just describing the general environment and start placing details regarding to the world. Maybe your character happens to see a bird flying upside down. Maybe there are some particularly interesting patterns your character notices on the ruins. While these can have plot importance, they don´t have to and it´s advisable that they usually don´t or it will make your writing too predictable. The most common plot-related world building at this step is called "blocking". It´s when you determine where things are in a scene and if you had already done the first step right, this should just be diving deeper in detail about the blocking, not just starting now. Doing this allows you to foreshadow better and makes your more active scenes more believable, as you can create a sense of distance and actual notion of movement, so long as you don´t break that.


The fourth step is to embellish. Pick up your writing and notice the style. Is it better to just say the character was terrified or to say they saw something, or the thought they did, a shade, OH MY what was that?! Behind, they turned, , feeling breezed through their neck, making their hands reach out to it, there was a cracking sound and "AH!" they screamed! ?


Style writing makes you far more immersive and makes it more exciting to read your posts when done right. It also helps feel space without adding mindless, pointless content, and instead using every word to reinforce the ideas you want to convey. In this step, you also make sure to go to the next level with what you give your partner: the more you give them, the more they can give you after all. So you want to make sure you go out with a bang, that you end your posts with something that either allows the movement of the scene, a question or something so flashy that the characters just have to react. Don´t try to mix these though, it seldom goes well.


Well, that was a much shortened version of what I wanted to say about this topic, but I guess I´ll save the more detailed version for my blog. Hope it helps though!

 

[Cross]

If the other person doesn't contribute to the scene, it's not your fault there's nothing to say! Aside from that, having a goal in mind for where you're going with the plot and character arc will give you a direction. Without a direction, you might just go in closed circles and never get anywhere. Personally, I try to be as specific as possible by asking questions about what I'm trying to convey. 

 

[QuirkyAngel]

My advice for this one is actually to just be yourself while in character. When you read another person's post surely you've formed some sort of opinion regarding it. Write it all down. Does your character like what the other person's character said? Do they hate it? No opinion whatsoever? It's okay to write that your character had no opinion. That's still a response. Replying to a a post is as simple as reading everything your fellow rper writes, then responding to the things that interest you/your character. If there's nothing about the other rper's post that interests you, then I suppose you could read through their character's cs for things to notice...or start describing the scenery, have your character do something silly/smart/story-driving, whatever rocks your boat. Also, I don't find anything wrong with just going straight to the point =P


Creativity comes and goes. You can't always write interesting posts...especially if there's nothing that interests you. There's also the fact that what you find interesting might not be interesting to another person. That's normal. So just write at a level you're comfortable with. Try to improve if you feel you're lacking, but stressing yourself too much over it will only make you hate writing and turn you away from rping.