Forums » RP Discussion » RP Pacing

One thing that I run into once in awhile that I don't tend to recognize in the planning stages of an RP with a new writing partner is a large difference in how fast we each like the story to progress. I'm not talking about post rate. But the actual flow of time through the game.

When a partner suddenly narrates ahead to the next day/scene before I felt like it was even close to being finished, it can feel... disappointing, even a little frustrating. On the flip side, I'm sure some people I've played against are like 'geez! can't we move on already!' And there's been other RPs where I'm the one thinking that things really need to move along!

It's not something I can easily quantify. Not like 'all scenes must be at least 7 posts before we time-skip'. That would just be silly. And usually I can tell pretty quickly once the IC starts if we're (roughly) on the same page. But I'm not sure how to communicate about it ahead of time. Or if it's worth communicating about ahead of time.

During the game a quick ... 'mind if I jump ahead?' OOC note can help keep partners/group on the same page, but if you don't start out at least playing in the same ballpark, that ain't gonna save the day.

So I was just curious if this is a topic others have a conversation about when kind of feeling out a new partner? Are there terms for this? Am I making any sense?

It's not something I discuss upfront with a new partner. How do you even discuss it out of context? As you said, it's not quantifiable, so it's not like you can easily state your preferences.

But it is one of the primary things I discuss during a game. Eventually scenes just run their course. There comes a point where all the characters have done what they want to do, and everybody is running out of ideas. If it reaches the point where a scene is getting kind of boring for me I just say "Mind if I timeskip to tomorrow." And I find if I'm bored, usually the other RPer is too and there's no issues moving things along.

I've only had one really bad experience with this. Our characters were in a seige-like situation where they were trapped in place and waiting for reinforcements. So there wasn't really much they could do except wait. I was 100% perfectly happy to RP the characters waiting, using the time to just talk casually and develop bonds. I had no idea my partner was bored, and I was actually a little hurt when my partner started making snarky remarks in their posts instead of just telling me OOCly they wanted to move things along.

Oooooh! This is a good topic. And it's something that's so hard to nail down because, as you said, it's not something easy to quantify because one scene might warrant a time skip a lot sooner than another scene.

My default for this is to say yes, it's absolutely worth communicating about. Usually when I'm feeling out new partners and we get a plot going, before we start RPing, I try to tell them ahead of time that I'm okay with skipping ahead as along as we're both on the same page and we get to a point where the scene would close or end. By default if I'm feeling like I'm itching to progress, I always ask - Mind if we skip to (insert time here)? ...And try to hash it out that way.

Previously, I've had RP partners time skip on me in a post....which left me feeling a little flustered. What I ended up doing was writing part of my post to close out the interaction and scene with my character to a point where I was satisfied (not adding additional actions or dialogue that would warrant a response) and then use the rest of my post to catch up to current. And if there was something my character WOULD say that warrants a reaction or answer before they time skipped, I just work it into the current post with my character going, "Remember when you said blah blah the other day....?"

This is overall tricky because it can make or break RPs!

So... hypothetically speaking... (or not so hypothetically ), I've got this scenario. At this point I've already made the mistake of NOT setting any expectations on time-skipping.

Post 1: Player 1 - sets the scene.
Post 2: Player 2 (me) - places my trio of characters within the scene. Start to try to get IC interaction going by having one of my characters ask a question.
Post 3: Player 1 - "no" Narrates to the next day.

---

I haven't made a Post 4 yet. But yet I think I can already tell we're not playing in the same ballpark. I may try to salvage it, I may not. That is beside the point really.

It simply left me wondering what I might have communicated differently BEFORE we ever started playing.

I think I like your approach, Pixie. Maybe I'll see about adopting a similar strategy.

Okay, that just....kinda sounds like they don't want you to be leading the way somehow?? Not to mention that's...way too soon for a time skip in my opinion.

I agree with the fact asking OOCly if it's okay to move on is best. My buddy Krispy and I do that quite frequently. She'll hit me up on Discord, mention which rp of ours she's posting to, and if we have multiple things going on she'll ask if we finished with x, y, z of that particular rp. If yes then she does a little end for that spot, or just doesn't give a post to it. If no then I tell her why so we can go from there. Most of the time if I say no, it's just because I know a muse of mine wants to be able to do something specific in the rp, before we officially call that scene/couple finished for that part.

This way we both make certain that it's okay to go ahead with something or not.

One thing that I am a hard yes on is communication out of character communication. I don't just mean in general plot or scheme, but on the "Hey wuts up fam check out this vine" (or whatever kids are saying these days).
It feels like a bit of a weak or rote answer to your conundrum, but OOC is the way to go.
That said, if they're skipping om you without talking about it, confront them. "Hey I wasn't done with that" can go a long way. Their response should be a good indication of if they are worth continuing with as a partner.

Honestly, I find that sometimes it also comes to the time and experience of a writer as well. I would almost say it's a skill knowing when to speed up in certain periods of the writing or when to slow down. I think like others have said that communicating with your partner/s is super important as the expectation or knowledge of one person can be different from your perception. I know if I were to jump back maybe 3-4 years my timing would be significantly worse then what it would be nowadays. That could just be a personal thing as well, but I do think it plays a factor with all of us as writers/RPers. Just my two cents. ^^

I don't have the focus to read through existing responses at the moment, but yeah, this has been an issue for me, too, and in a way I've been on both sides. It's pretty uncommon for me to feel like the other person, specifically, is dragging things out too long, but my effort to avoid rushing anyone sometimes has be sort of bored of my own writing. I'm trying to get better about communicating about this, whether it's a "if you're done with this scene, feel free to skip to x from here" or "hey is it cool if I move forward to x?" or managing to admit "I have no idea why we're still playing this part."

When someone moves forward when I'm still into the current scene, I get a bit of a range. If it's just that I'm enjoying the scene and feel like it could go further, I might feel bummed, but usually don't have too much issue with it. Sometimes it happens when I was leading up to something though, and that can hurt. It might be that I can still work toward the thing I had in mind, but sometimes it's really hard to get the right sort of setup. I know it should be simple enough to politely ask if we can go back, but tends to feel wrong to do that.

Frankly, time skips can function like passive godmodding/puppeting. It's establishing that nothing else worth mention happened in that span of time. You can still fill things in with your next response if you'd like, but you're still severely limited in what you can do. Can't be anything that would involve anyone else's characters, anyway.

Hmm this is an interesting one .

When it comes to people abruptly ending a scene and skipping to the next day... I absolutely never end a scene where the other person can't continue it if they wanted to. I write my character intending to leave, but do not write past them starting to leave, turning around, starting to walk away, ect. So that the other person can write their character stopping them from leaving if they desire the scene to continue further. This does however require that both, or all, partners hold a somewhat equal measure in the 'leading' of the RP. If my character wants to leave, I can't make them stay simply because OOC I know that my partner wants something to happen. There needs to be an IC reason for my character to stay, which is why I always give my partners the chance to write their character keeping mine from leaving rather than immediately ending the scene.

I only time jump after a scene has officially ended and my partners and I usually have an agreement that only up to 3-5 days can be time-jumped without speaking to each other previously. Any more than that needs a check in but usually, especially when the character already have plans to meet each other in a couple days, skipping without communication is fine with me if the scene is over and it's only a few days.

Ie, scene occurs, my character intends to leave (my post), other character reacts but doesn't stop them (their post), I time jump two days and summarize what happened with my character those two days that passed (my post), the other characters two days are also summarized as they are brought to the new present day (their post) and another scene ensues.

If it's a heavy amount of time, like a week or more, we have an agreement to ask 'hey, is it okay if I time jump a week since 'xyz' reason'.

Since in most of my rps, the characters often set dates within the rp themselves for when they are going to see each other again, it does make it easier when the characters literally said 'See you Friday' and it's Tuesday, so we know they likely won't see each other until then and can skip to then.

When I get new partners, I explain this system to them clearly but typically more concise than this. So that they know how it will work writing with me.

If it comes to being 'bored' and wanting a scene to end, it still applies. Having a character intend to leave, giving your partner the option to stop them if they desire but it isn't so aggressive, and if someone is truly bored and unhappy with their character being given reasons to stay, then the only option in that moment is to be honest OOC and say 'hey, so we've continue this scene for a while. I've attempted to remove my character from the scene and I am growing a bit weary of this specific scene we are in, could we end the scene and move onto another? '

This is a super fabulous topic. Nice one!

Great topic! One of the big things that many times goes unsaid is the time-passage/pacing of an RP. Usually when I feel things start to drag with the RP I will suggest OOC that we maybe bump it ahead and have anything that either of us want to cover be written as a retrospective summary. Sometimes a new day, week, fortnight, or month is needed to reinvigorate the story flow that may have become a bit grinding.

It has to be agreed upon beforehand though. One party can't just decide to do it. I have had this issue with an RP partner who tended to write out a scene then move time and start a new scene in teh same post, leaving no chance to interact or respond to the scene. Needless to say the RP ended not long after. As far as your situation in your opening post Juls, I can't understand why they would have paused the RP where they did if they were just going to steamroll into the next day.

Loved reading everyone's responses!

ello

this is definitely a real problem for me, to the extent that I've started trying to make up systems to help move things along. For me personally the problem tends to be that I take so long to go over minute details that I sometimes can never get past some very simple scenes that probably should've been over aeons ago. but in reality, most of the time its just as simple as asking the other person if they're ok with a timeskip. Sometimes I feel like people should just communicate more when rp-ing, things just go alot smoother if you're always willing and ready to just ask, y'know? and I'll say that similarly its useful when people ask me if they can timeskip or continue on, as usually its in the best interest of the rp.

Speaking personally, I dont think I ever really progress a scene except when its the only logical progression of events. Which tends to mean that I will often rp literally everything a character does in a day, which can certainly be pretty tedious. So maybe theres some times you should just be ready to move on without asking, I dunno. But from personal experience I never really do that unless its obviously the only option (usually meaning both characters are asleep).

ngl, i laughed out loud. definitely sets a tone for irreverent, punchline type scenes, feels like a 'writing for a reading audience' move instead of a 'writing for the responding partner'

i've done similar, but NOT before knowing from the other writer that the scene is ending. just a fun, quick rimshot to end the 'chapter' on, single-word character response and cut to black lol