Forums » RP Discussion » Long vs short IC posts

So, I'm relatively new to the forum RP thing and so my experiences aren't vast, but figured I'd put it out there for any thoughts on the topic

I'm definitely no great writer, but I do like detail and taking things slowly (as opposed to jumping from action to action), and so my posts usually end up up around 4 or 5 paragraphs minimum, even if everyone else in the RP is writing a paragraph...or less. I've noticed that responses to my IC posts are sometimes more generalized than specific, and I later realized that some people just aren't reading my entire post.

Is this normal for some people to basically skim right through a post you've worked hard on, just because they consider it "TL;DR"? Should I make shorter posts to appease the masses?

IDK, just something that's bothered me and maybe others have the same experience?

Sadly it is common for people to do the TL;DR stuff, but there are a huge number of people that love reading long posts and do what they can to try and respond to the posts as well as they can. I personally stick to one para as a min, but I can do 2 or more if I absolutely have to and have enough to work with. Most of my partners I rp with do 2 para as a min, so I have been trying to get back to multi para as a norm.

I do understand people get writers block and stuff, but sometimes people will be honest and say 'I do not post more then x lines' and will keep to what they are comfortable with. Alot of people also have a rule as to a minimum post length to even rp with them ( I do have one myself) but above all, it is all personal preference.

My response is short and sweet; Don't adjust your fun and passion for the hobby because of the response of others. Your style is your own, how you like to write is your own, length is your own.

If someone is making it clear that they are not bothering to read your entire reply and respond in kind... that person doesn't seem like someone worth role-playing with, in my opinion. You should enjoy your preferences for writing. Don't alter it for people who don't seem to have passion for it like you do. Instead you should focus on finding the diamonds in the rough like yourself and write with them. Role-playing is a little like playing chess. Sometimes you find bad players, decent ones to hold their own, but it's best when you find your opponents that can challenge you.

Long posts require long replies. If you're talking about one-on-ones, you should absolutely expect your partner(s) to give your posts the attention they (and you) need.

If you're talking about group RP, especially between strangers ("the masses", as you put it), different people different lengths, and expecting all of them to ramp up their posts just to do justice to yours isn't really realistic. I agree with the dude who said you should find people who deserve you.

Yep, I was referring to Group RPs, as I don't do the 1x1, and although I agree that everyone has their own post length, it is still a bummer

Thank you for the feedback though

To be fair, quantity doesn't always equal quality. If someone gives me five or more paragraphs and only two have information I can actually use for a reply, chances are I'm not going to stretch a two paragraphs response over more. It's one thing to ignore information someone gives you, it's another to acknowledge that information and just have a more condensed response. Different people have different writing styles.

I think this statement is a bit presumptuous. I do predominantly paragraph/multi-paragraph 1x1 roleplay where the posts can range from one to...four or five paragraphs per post?

Post-length depends on a lot of factors: how much detail needs to be delivered in response, how your character would realistically respond to another's actions, how much introspection is going on, how much is going on in the background...and even with all these considered, that is not going to guarantee a lengthy response every time. Sometimes, it's not warranted. If you strive for length every time, there's a chance you'll end up with paragraphs of stuffing and purple prose that doesn't really contribute to moving the story along, and me, personally? I don't want to waste a single word on something that doesn't contribute to plot or character development.

But if it takes 8 paragraphs to move the story along or to get your character to the next point where they can react to another character? That's fine! Just make sure it's relevant, and unless your partner is used to matching stuff of this length, don't expect that from them! I had an ugly fallout with a former partner because she would write literally 2 IRL pages per post, and expected me to match, and that was not going to happen.

I pretty much agree with this line of thought, and realize that this might be the only course of action, lol. I mean, I write detail and if my partner doesn't, then I guess so be it. I either continue with it and be happy, or move on. *shrug*

I like long posts when I am enjoying a good RP story. I honestly can't work with one liners or something where a person gives me two words or something trite such as "*walks around*" or "Jimmy walks around." are something I will not reply to. It makes me think the character is walking in a circle.

Good word building is something I desire, but I am more on the table of "quality" over "quantity". I rather have something to work with and good description of my environment, the characters in the setting, etc than something that describes a strand of hair for four paragraphs.

I can't do long posts because I find it impossible to extrapolate many paragraphs from simple actions - whenever I RP it tends to be very granular, as in, each person would take one action at a time. People don't talk in monologues, don't have incredibly deep thought processes within a few seconds, and don't do masses of things in turn with each other. It's just bloating writing for writing's sake. I don't need to tell you how lithe and sinuous my character's arms are, I just need to tell you that they hugged you and they seem content with the situation.
I prefer writing up to maybe three paragraphs, but most of my action is a few lines. I feel choked by people who expect many paragraphs of response because I literally cannot derive that much writing from a single action without obviously waffling about inconsequential description.

Thinking you're better than someone else because you write more than them, or vice versa, is no way to go. It's not better vs. worse, it's difference in style.

I came across allot of people who act like writing more is better when they tend to have a rather sparse or trite block of words. It reminds me of how some Facebook or anirp people are with "More iz better!! Less is illiterate noob!"

My pet peeve with some long posts is when a person would repeat the same word or words over and over. Once read a person's post on a other site which had them saying "The red scafed" over and over. It would be like someone writing "Buster can not have certain foods with dairy in it" over and over.

Stuff like that sounds rambly and annoying.

Nah, don't shorten your stuff unless you actually have to. It's one thing if you look through your stuff and realise you could trim it down, make it concise, and actually want to do that. That's a personal choice and, like a couple others have already said, a stylistic choice.

But it's another thing entirely if you're just giving good meaty post length and people just aren't giving your effort the respect it's due.

That said, I'm starting to find that sometimes there's too much information packed into a longer IC post. Sometimes, especially in group RPs, I want to write a bunch of actions, reactions, and dialogue to respond to everything else going on. So sometimes I wind up with a lengthy post with a lot of great stuff for other players to respond to, in turn.

Except then, as we read through the whole group's responses, it becomes this odd dance through the timeline. One character responds to something said three characters back, then pushes ahead in the plot. The next guy notices the details from everyone before and spends half their post thinking before they go into action. But said action only goes partway through the length of what was mentioned before. And then the guy after that has to figure out where their character's actions fall in the established timeline. It sometimes reaches a point where folk scale back because it gets to be too much.

Longer posts in some RPs really highlight that back-and-forth happening in the timeline of events. Which isn't inherently good or bad, but some people don't want to deal with it. So they only respond to one or two things other characters did.

Ah, crap. This got a lot longer than I meant it to. Sorry about that.

So, I believe the term for this is 'padding'. When you get a reply and it's 3-5 paragraphs long, which is great, but then at the end of it all, you only end up with, in my experience, at most two sentences to reply to. I'm running into this frequently and it's starting to drive me up the wall. I can immerse myself into purple prose and detail galore, sure. Sometimes it's nice, but let's be honest here, the description of Bilbo's door didn't get us any closer Smaug, and I personally dislike Charles Dickens, (yeah, I said it. A wanna be prof of the English language and I hate Dickens), because it's very obvious the man was paid by the bloody word.

It really comes down to, as AmericanLiaison said, writers playstyles. You gotta sift through and find authors that are like minded and have playstyles that you enjoy, otherwise you'll stand there waiting, or seeming nagging to the other writer, and possibly even be tempted to ghost.

As someone whose been doing this for years now, even with everything I’ve learned at my disposal, my average is about moderately sized paragraphs per response. With roleplay, people are often keen on assuming a longer response is a better one. We get this a lot from ‘novella only’ roleplayers who have turned padding out descriptions into an artform.

I personally follow the skirt rule with my writing (e.g. long enough to cover the details, but short enough to keep it interesting). Though, admittedly, details can add a lot of a portion. The difference between a scene of passionate romance vs an intense fight will obviously be different. There’s only so much you can emphasize up “he blocked the attack and countered with his own” without bullshitting, especially if it’s an experienced veteran fighting. Romance, on the other hand, requires a lot of emotions and subtle movements on display to keep it engaging. So a fight sequence may be as short as one paragraph, while a romantic scene may take up to 6 paragraphs. Though, the only time I find myself writing more than that is if there’s an exposition that needs to be stated.

Which brings me to my next point: Don’t overuse exposition. It’s a very common thing I see with people using exposition in place of details to try and pad out their responses. To me, this is a greater sin than even overuse of descriptions. Not only does it draw and pad out the response, but people will often use key details about their character they could have displayed either in emotions or saved for a more pertinent where the impact of the reveal would be more intense.