Forums » RP Discussion » Post Lengths and Story Cues

It was satire, for the record. I thought the 'monolith' analogy would have been a dead giveaway. Also doing things like prefacing a long-winded paragraph with a phrase like "In short...", or adding sentences that do nothing to enhance an idea, but merely reiterate it, which makes for a repetitive read.

I don't think The Ross was being mean, by the way—brusque, declarative writing can sometimes be misinterpreted as being a bit coarse. I think there's a happy medium, though. Creative writing does not need to be journalistic. A personal flavor is needed, which comes from cultivating your own voice, and of course there's always the danger of being overwrought. I think I'd rather be overwrought than boring, though, so long as I was aware that I needed improvement.

Novalyyn, I love your post. I totally agree with it, and just add a two ideas.

I generally like the idea that the second person to a RP should try to match the average length of their partner, just to be courteous. I prefer longer posts for emotionally charged RPs, and shorter ones for action.

Any post length, however, could be benefit in a pinch from a little formula. When I'm struggling with what to do in a RP, I consider it a bare-bones post: one that at least keeps things moving along.

• The character should do something with their hands (or something similar).
• The character should say something outloud, even if it's an awkward 'um'.
• The narrator should make at least one note of the character's surroundings or though-process.

The formula allows enough chance for you as the poster to put in story cues and respond to your partner's cues. It prevents the RP feeling like a chat room, as it's contained an action and a narrative description. It also puts something ~outloud~ in there.

Celestina - It's kind of you to speak up, but Ross is being blunt more than rude. Impolite, sure, but meh.

Kaji - Nice. Those are actually the things I try to think of, but I'd never really put it together like that.

I agree- I don't like Monolithic characters- basically- the unchangeable. It's not only unrealistic in reality, its unrealistic in fantasy- even god's change their minds and develop compassion, or perhaps the opposite- but a character that doesn't change or show any sort of "emotion" or anything to any given situation... its cold. Unless you're trying to play a cold, uncaring, etc character... I'm going in circles here

I tend to want people to be more proactive in RP. Reactive is a given- like... idk 'Telelia swings a clenched fist, aiming to punch Susie Q in the jaw' and all I get back is 'Susie Q dodges'... I can't do much with that. I don't like RPing with people who all they do is react and don't contribute much- all the "action" or plot driving is only done by one member of the RP. Not only do I think this unfair, but its also agitating because that person who's driving may go right when the other wants to go left- there isn't much communication and that leads to OOC drama-rama cuz So and So gets pissy at This person and That person... it's a horrid mess. And I see this all the time of one person driving the plot, the rest not doing much but say 'Oh hey I see this, I'm going to do that' and not include something new. I'm not sure if I'm getting my point across or not...

and yes- that drama-rama thing I mentioned does happen too. People get so upset and bent out of shape, heck I've even gotten rude comments in Furcadia because my pixels are staring at your pixels when I'm too lazy to rotate them. It's one thing if the person is truly nice to talk to, another when they really want to nit-pick and find EVERYTHING WRONG with you. As many out there that can RP good, there are many who just want to watch people squirm and burn and be rude to them- there are numerous newbs I've talked to who "elitist RPers" have told them off. They will quote specific dreams even, I'm not going to point fingers, but seriously- how do you expect people to get better? I don't learn anything by watching people, I learn hands on. Maybe they can learn by watching how people write, but its still better to do it yourself instead of lurking.
TL:DR I'm tired of trolls- and I got off topic, I'm so scatter brained

PS: Rosby is always a wordsmith- I love it, its nice and refreshing and funny at times