Forums » Smalltalk » What's paragraph to you?

Well, as the title implies, tell me what's a paragraph to you!

I am putting this up because I am curious what everyone really thinks a paragraph is because I know it can be different person to person. I also have had an issue lately where I will tell someone I write up to two paragraphs normally and they tell me that they can write the same but then give me maybe a sentence or two for each paragraph I give them. I have even been insulted and cussed out because I drop an rp with someone who was doing that and claimed they wrote two paragraphs for me.

But, besides the point, I am just curious more than anything. I know back in highschool, it was drilled in our heads that a paragraph was 5 to 8 sentences, if it was less than 5, then it wasn't a paragraph. I know that some people judge by how many lines are in a reply, which I do to help give the person the same amount they give me but normally I try not to out do them if I can help it but I can't stand when I give it my all and they barely give me anything to work with. So, tell me what you personally feel is a paragraph!

A short paragraph, to me, is 3 sentences. A normal paragraph is 5 sentences, while a large paragraph is 8 sentences. Though if you were to measure lines of text, I would say 3-8 lines is a very appropriate amount of words. Which is very close, but not exactly the same length between the two.

In the end, you are not obligated to continue writing with anyone if you desire not to. They are just as free to become upset, though that is unfortunate that they would curse you. I am envious that you addressed the problem and the matter resolved itself. There has been a rise in these situations, so I hope you, and other writers, play safely. As always, write as much as you need to write!

Thanks for the input! I just know I have a certain way I like to reply and I find with replies, it should be a give and take kind of thing. I mean, I feel bad if someone gives me a really detailed reply that is well thought out and I can't give just as much in return. I sadly had to block the person because they were so rude to me about it and had no told me whatsoever what was going on with them IRL. They mentioned they were in the process of moving but didn't tell me that till after I said I wished to not continue anymore. If they told me before hand, I would've been a bit more understanding and tried to keep going for a couple of more posts but for me, if you keep giving only a couple sentences and we are about three to five posts each in(meaning I've given three to five replies back to them) and its still going on, then I will drop it and I've put a warning on my profile about this kind of thing but so few people ever really take the time to read over a profile.

Warnings are best served in LFRP posts, to ensure that those that answer them are in agreement with the rules and boundaries. This usually lessens the shock and confusion between writers, as both parties will be aware of what is expected and what is not. If both parties cannot come to agreement, then it is acceptable to discontinue writing that particular story. Writing while at odds with each other will cause more strife.

That actually depends. Roleplay is not exactly the same as cooperative writing, or several authors working on a story. In roleplay, everyone has a different reason for joining, and for acting, so I would say:

A paragraph is a descriptive text ornamenting a handful of actions, at most, all of which could be interrupted or nullified if another player can realistically do so. One action, in combat, or dire situations where reaction is key. The reason being, that, many RP's I've been a part of will take hours to get through two turns, with a few players, and it's not even the time that's an issue, it's this:

Target player posts a MASSIVE paragraph with a dozen actions in it.

The other players between your turn and theirs ACCEPT these actions, each with their own, quite sizeable replies.

Your turn; You want to interrupt their first action, and the time frame allows for this.

Either every player accepts that you just nullified most of their large posts, or, you get flamed and told to shut up and take it. I'm speaking from personal experience, here, and this annoys me because it violates one of the key aspects of freeform RP; Autonomy.

Here's an example of a large action from my RP server:

The faint whirring of death in his ear, as if he'd been struck dead by a bolt of lightning. White. All around him, white, and a loss of his body. His mind drifted in a state of eternal waking. Not quite conscious, but yearning to return. Darkness crept in, on all sides, until he was staring down a dark hall, with a pinpoint of light on the other end.

Gotrek.. came the voice at the far end of the tunnel.

He'd run to it. There was nothing but a void behind him. Footsteps echoing on some hard surface, driven on by the most primal urge in the animal mind; To survive.

Gotrek... it echoed again.

He drew ever closer. And soon discerned, blurred against the stark, white light that beamed through the tunnel into his eyes, the shape of a small being. Arms folded. Head down. Tapping her foot, as if anxious and waiting for something. She turned to meet the footsteps; Radki. Her eyes lit up, and she was nearly in tears at seeing him.

Whatever a prayer a dark elf could whisper, it had been answered.

This was solely for narration, as well. Feeling a story, to me, is way more important than reading it. Many roleplayers tend to think of themselves as writers. Often, their writing can be very dull, to which they'll often just explain that you're too stupid to get it, which is... elitist? I'd have to say. I was once a bit aloof myself, until I realized that, one, not everyone speaks English, and two, people do not owe me written entertainment. I see RP as a sort of performance, in which, some players are more actors, and others the audience. Some wish to provide an experience. Some wish to experience. I tend to fall into the former.

Many players who fall into the latter will often demand their partners to provide large amounts of well-written text, and they are often readers, rather than writers, which makes it difficult sometimes, as their own posts may suffer from what is commonly known as purple prose. As well, it can be hard to get through to them that, maybe, they should change their writing style a bit. And, to go a bit more off topic, if I may, I think it can boil down to one of two things:

"I want people to understand and enjoy what I am writing."

Or...

"I want people to understand me as a great writer."

Sorry for the long, and... probably late response, to this thread. It's a touchy topic for me. I've been in communities and settings where RP simply died, for the reason that it was too much effort to be enjoyed anymore. If you want to write a book, write one. If you want to write RP, and you want people to enjoy interacting with you? You'll need to make sacrifices, and above all, accept imperfections, wherever you're able. Readers are not writers. And not all writers are necessarily readers.

That is my well over two cents on paragraphs.

A paragraph to me is 100 words minimum. Regarding RP replies a 100 word paragraph is a short paragraph.
But I try to base replies not on paragraphs but word count. Because plenty of my posts have 500+ words but maybe only one 100-150 word paragraph and the rest is broken up into more lone breaks because of the type of content it is. Like dialogue, which is usually on it's own like. And new direction, and action. Which usually starts with a line break.

Over all a small paragraph is 100-150 words, a medium paragraph is 150-250 words, a large paragraph is anything more than 250. I don't go by sentences since sometimes 100 words is 8 sentences and sometimes it's 3 sentences.

I'm generally a 400+ word poster, upwards of 1000 words. So I make sure to be specific about what I am looking for, and I only write with people that not only enjoy reading and writing that much, but whom I click with.

All my rps are essentially like writing a book back and fourth, just with some minor differences. I've written a book before where I wrote one main character and someone else wrote the other.

The only difference between my rps and books is that books are more condensed and probably wouldn't last as long. I have several rps that aren't even at the point of being I'm a relationship or all the conflicts solved and they are 50k-100k words already. Books would have wrapped things up because not all readers want to read so much. But in rp, I know the other person does obviously. There isn't a time or content restraint.

My version of a 'at worst' paragraph is 2-3 mid-sized sentences. My 'best' paragraph can be like 7-ish if I had to guess.

I tend not to base replies and things on people's paragraph count though (Because my 'at worst' paragraphs are very usual for me lol), and more on word-count.

Technically, a single sentence can be a legit paragraph, so someone replying with one or two sentences chopped up by hitting the enter key to create a linebreak is actually complying with a request for para-RP. It's a common misconception that a paragraph has to be 3-5 sentences minimum.

I consider a roleplay paragraph a chunk of text that shares one or a bunch of actions and/or dialogue across for me to respond to, usually a couple of sentences per paragraph. This is purely because I struggle with repeated one-liners in roleplaying due to lack of opportunity to interact. From a technical standpoint, every piece of text I would put inside <p> tags in a HTML page is a valid paragraph to me though, and that includes single sentences and even single words.

I try not to make a huge deal out of word count or paragraphs because it makes people fill up their posts with empty roleplaying calories. I don't need x words to have fun RPing, I just need solid content that keeps the characters interacting, moving forward, and adds to the story, goals and plot. In some cases that can be achieved by a sentence or two, in other cases it takes several 5-sentence paragraphs.

I remember learning, in some English class somewhere, that a paragraph must consist of at least 2 sentences. However, I notice that is a very different answer than what many other people have given.


^ See, in my mind, that was a legitimate paragraph. Lol.

But yeah, I can see how there would be confusion. I generally try to match the approximate length of someone else's post, but sometimes I go longer. However,
I have roleplayed with people who only reply with a handful of sentences, but the stories build over time, and those have sometimes turned out to be some of the best roleplays. I agree with what someone else said on here...some people are actors and some are writers. And some are readers, some are writers. I am happy as long as someone else is enjoying my writing, and giving me something to work with.

The rules and leniencies associated with what a paragraph is, can/can not be/isn't alters per scholastic level. Typically 3-4 sentences or more constitutes as an anemic, yet acceptable, paragraph. At the tertiary level, at least in the US, a paragraph can almost be any length so long as the requirements of a sentence are made in congruence with the requirements of a paragraph. Your paragraph could quite feasibly be one or two sentences so long as the theme/subject matter and explaining ether or both is met. There's no strategic point, beyond disarray, to present a conjumbled/convoluted/nonsensical/etc paragraph dissociated with length if it doesn't support the theme of the paragraph and bolster the subject matter of the essay (or whatever it is you're writing).

I see that this sort of quandary would solicit the attentions of grammatical aficionados and/or grammar snobs. Like when people debate about how many taps of the space bar is apropos for the indentation of a new paragraph. Or, like I just did, can we begin a sentence with a conjunction, end with a preposition, can we implement the usage of dangling participles, etc..? Oh! Can we use the bottom period-esque shape of ?/! to continue an ellipsis? Id est, "..?" or "..!"?

Lol.

It varies, quite honestly, like a lot of things to do with writing. The high-school definition of 'paragraph' with a strict number of sentences is a little too simplistic for what often ends up happening, whether you're writing an essay or doing a bit of roleplay. A paragraph can easily be a single sentence, whether it's got a single clause or multiple. Heck, it can be a single word, sometimes.

Mostly, it depends on the purpose of your writing, along with your own personal style.

Are you doing an academic paper, or writing a nonfiction article? You probably want to make sure your paragraph has a decent introduction or topic sentence, and any additional sentences support your paragraph's topic. It's probable that some of your paragraphs are going to be somewhat lengthy, but not all of them. Nobody during the peer review process is going to be counting how many sentences you have, as long as they're all relevant! And if you're finding yourself breaking ground on a new topic sentence, it's probably time to break into a new paragraph.

Are you writing fiction? Pepper those paragraph breaks in like they're going out of style, if that's how you're flowing. Or don't - it's up to you. If you've got a good flow going with describing surroundings or atmosphere, you probably want a longer paragraph. If you're talking more about your character's motivations or emotions, you might want to break it up more. And, of course, if you're doing dialogue (especially involving more than one character), your paragraphs might be getting pretty short and snappy.

"Sure," you say, "But we're talking about roleplay."

Well, that sort of depends on you and your partner's styles, now, doesn't it? The medium that you're writing in might make a difference here, too.

Me personally, I usually like to write long, multi-paragraph posts in e-mails and forum games, and do shorter posts/single paragraph posts in text or chat-client games that functionally limit your paragraph breaks. (And sometimes even a single sentence or two in the latter, depending on what's going on.) Some of those paragraphs in either medium might be a single word. Most of them will probably be a sentence or four. There might even be more, depending on what it is that I'm writing about, if I'm chewing the scenery or not, how things feel like they're flowing, and so on.

Regardless of how much I write, I generally try to make sure there's something there that my partner can work with, even if the character that I'm writing has clammed up or is seemingly bored with the conversation. If the only dialogue is a distracted "Hmmm.", there's going to be some physical cues, body language, or narration that'll help the scene along.

What I don't like is huge, solid chunks of text. If your paragraph is eight or ten long sentences, I'm probably not going to be able to parse it well. I find that keeping paragraphs tight and concise works better for readability and comprehension, and that it doesn't much matter on that front whether you're university-educated or still in middle school.

Showing is better than telling in a lot of cases, though; I think you'll have gotten a decent sense of what 'paragraph RP' means to me based on how this post is structured.