Hello fellow RPR members, this is your resident personification of the winter season's fury, Winter.
So. I've hit a personal snag, more like a HUGE snag, of an issue for my creativity and writing.
I can't come up with anything.
Nada. Zero. Zilch.
Okay, slight lie. I can only go so far, and then I'm left with the question: Why bother?
The pandemic has caused a huge change for us all. And it makes it that much more difficult at times for people to find the time to rp. Though even before the pandemic, I've had a hard time finding long lasting partners. Mostly it's been people ghosting me during the planning and such, the rest of the time of course during the rp its self.
I get it: Either a person's rl is too busy to send a brief ooc heads up, or some people are too shy/afraid to inform someone that they aren't interested anymore.
But it's because of all this, I find myself loosing the drive I once had to create muses or to even re-vamp a muse. Believe me I try hard, and I even have one muse I've been revamping lately that I'd LOVE to finish revamping, and put her up onto RPR.
Yet I lack the desire to do so because not only of the above stated, but for two other issues.
1) Finding the right people to rp with.
What I mean by that is: Finding people who have the right muse to fit into the era/genre and such. Also those who would be interested in the plot lines I suggest for rp.
2) Putting trust into a person to take on specific roles.
I personally don't mind rping NPC's for an rp, especially if they are important in their own way to make a story progress no matter how small or big their impact is. But sometimes it's tiring, and even down right boring at times, to portray specific NPC's when you want someone else to be behind the NPC.
Example: One muse I'm revamping at this time, I've come up with three NPC's. Two of which I'd love to give someone(s) the chance to take up the role of the NPC I have, and give their own creative spin on that character so to rp with my muse. One of them even would have a specific tie in to my muse (not giving spoilers), thus why I want someone to take the reigns. Because trying to rp your main muse plus an NPC who are supposed to have specific ties to the main muse isn't always fun when you need someone else to be in charge.
Yet like when trying to find someone to rp with in general, I feel like I'd have to conduct a serious interview of people who would be interested in taking on the role's in question.
Q: Well Winter, why don't you ask a close friend of yours to take up the role(s) you require?
A: Because for one reason or another, I cannot ask my friends to do so. Nothing bad just either they are too busy, or have a lot on their plate, or other personal reasons which I'm not going to go into as it isn't my place to do so.
I would LOVE to give a person (persons) a chance to show me what they can do with a muse that I give almost full free reign over. But I've also had past experience, and bad ones I might add, where those who wanted to have their own muse (not even someone actually related or tied into my own muse) related to mine in some way go just wrong.
Example: I used to rp a God who was the son of the sun Goddess and moon God. He ran a club for people to go to, be it human or none human. I had one person wanting their muse to be Alexian's (my muse) little brother. I went ahead and said sure.
Here's where I realized I goofed, and not just by letting my muse have a brother.
The writer of the "little brother" claimed certain things happened to his muse before getting to mine. Such as security rough handled him, and was highly strict on protocol with him before leading the muse to Alexian.
Firstly: That wouldn't have happened. Granted I didn't mention this to the person, but I hadn't thought I'd have to have those kinds of specifics with the other writer.
If someone knows Alexian, and he trusts them a lot, then security would just call up to the office and inform Alexian that so and so is there to see him. Alexian would give the go ahead to send the person up, and then all security would do is give directions to where Alexian is or just tell the person to have a nice day.
Basically the whole long winded version of above boils down to: How can I move past my fears/concerns about what has happened before, so I can try to get at least a muse complete and see if anyone would take interest in rping with said muse let alone take on a role I would like to be handled?
Phew...Okay. I think I got down all I needed/wanted to. Thanks to those of you who at least take the time to read this.
-Winter
So. I've hit a personal snag, more like a HUGE snag, of an issue for my creativity and writing.
I can't come up with anything.
Nada. Zero. Zilch.
Okay, slight lie. I can only go so far, and then I'm left with the question: Why bother?
The pandemic has caused a huge change for us all. And it makes it that much more difficult at times for people to find the time to rp. Though even before the pandemic, I've had a hard time finding long lasting partners. Mostly it's been people ghosting me during the planning and such, the rest of the time of course during the rp its self.
I get it: Either a person's rl is too busy to send a brief ooc heads up, or some people are too shy/afraid to inform someone that they aren't interested anymore.
But it's because of all this, I find myself loosing the drive I once had to create muses or to even re-vamp a muse. Believe me I try hard, and I even have one muse I've been revamping lately that I'd LOVE to finish revamping, and put her up onto RPR.
Yet I lack the desire to do so because not only of the above stated, but for two other issues.
1) Finding the right people to rp with.
What I mean by that is: Finding people who have the right muse to fit into the era/genre and such. Also those who would be interested in the plot lines I suggest for rp.
2) Putting trust into a person to take on specific roles.
I personally don't mind rping NPC's for an rp, especially if they are important in their own way to make a story progress no matter how small or big their impact is. But sometimes it's tiring, and even down right boring at times, to portray specific NPC's when you want someone else to be behind the NPC.
Example: One muse I'm revamping at this time, I've come up with three NPC's. Two of which I'd love to give someone(s) the chance to take up the role of the NPC I have, and give their own creative spin on that character so to rp with my muse. One of them even would have a specific tie in to my muse (not giving spoilers), thus why I want someone to take the reigns. Because trying to rp your main muse plus an NPC who are supposed to have specific ties to the main muse isn't always fun when you need someone else to be in charge.
Yet like when trying to find someone to rp with in general, I feel like I'd have to conduct a serious interview of people who would be interested in taking on the role's in question.
Q: Well Winter, why don't you ask a close friend of yours to take up the role(s) you require?
A: Because for one reason or another, I cannot ask my friends to do so. Nothing bad just either they are too busy, or have a lot on their plate, or other personal reasons which I'm not going to go into as it isn't my place to do so.
I would LOVE to give a person (persons) a chance to show me what they can do with a muse that I give almost full free reign over. But I've also had past experience, and bad ones I might add, where those who wanted to have their own muse (not even someone actually related or tied into my own muse) related to mine in some way go just wrong.
Example: I used to rp a God who was the son of the sun Goddess and moon God. He ran a club for people to go to, be it human or none human. I had one person wanting their muse to be Alexian's (my muse) little brother. I went ahead and said sure.
Here's where I realized I goofed, and not just by letting my muse have a brother.
The writer of the "little brother" claimed certain things happened to his muse before getting to mine. Such as security rough handled him, and was highly strict on protocol with him before leading the muse to Alexian.
Firstly: That wouldn't have happened. Granted I didn't mention this to the person, but I hadn't thought I'd have to have those kinds of specifics with the other writer.
If someone knows Alexian, and he trusts them a lot, then security would just call up to the office and inform Alexian that so and so is there to see him. Alexian would give the go ahead to send the person up, and then all security would do is give directions to where Alexian is or just tell the person to have a nice day.
Basically the whole long winded version of above boils down to: How can I move past my fears/concerns about what has happened before, so I can try to get at least a muse complete and see if anyone would take interest in rping with said muse let alone take on a role I would like to be handled?
Phew...Okay. I think I got down all I needed/wanted to. Thanks to those of you who at least take the time to read this.
-Winter
First, let me just say, even if it's been a while since I did a group RP, I've experienced enough roleplay and watched/listened to enough roleplay to know - your characters that you give control of to other people do not always turn out the way that you want them to. If it's a free universe where you can both bring your own storylines into play, E.G., Character Development RP, someone else bringing their own backstory into the 'main story' seems... Not unreasonable, to me, since the main story (as far as I can tell from what you've described) is simply based upon the characters and their situation and development.
World building RP, however, or story-based play, may be a little different. For instance, if you day something like, "Hey! I have a universe/fantasy story I'd like to play out, and I would love for our characters to explore it together! Also, would you be interested in using one of my characters? Here's what they're like, so maybe you can try writing from their POV for a bit?" Perhaps they'd even like to try seeing you play a character of theirs.
On the other hand, not everyone wants to play someone else's world or characters or story, and especially not all three, with some people! So I really think communication may be the issue here. I think it might work better if you were to say, really specifically, something about what you're looking for BEFORE you start to get into the RP. Or during, even, and see if they're still for it, but it's probably good to ask beforehand. So if you want to use your characters, their characters, and your story; all your characters, their world, their story; or just your characters, their world, and a story you make up along the way.... That sort of thing is up to you! But it's also up to them!
I'm sure it's a little trying when people keep disappointing you in your RPs, but you may need a fresh view on it!
That's all my opinion, I guess, so I hope you'll consider it if you're reading this far.
And as for why to bother... Well, maybe when you find a perfect person to RP with or a great character you love, you'll remember. But perhaps you can try asking yourself what you live most about RP, what you really want to get out of RP, and what's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for you in an RP. What kind of sacrifices can you make and what can you negotiate so that you're both/all having fun.
I used to prefer being in total control of roleplays, but it annoyed me when people were 'unruly' (lol) and did something unexpected, so I had to loosen the reigns a little, so to speak, and try to keep up!
But what's most fun for me is discovering other people's stories and finding out more of my own. And getting to show off.
If you can find out what's fun for you, you can try to find a partner that matches that, I suppose.
I'm not trying to come off as pretentious or condescending, and I know that was quite the rant. Best of luck! 🍋 🌱🍀 🍃🍀 🍑🍀 ☕ 🍵 🍬
World building RP, however, or story-based play, may be a little different. For instance, if you day something like, "Hey! I have a universe/fantasy story I'd like to play out, and I would love for our characters to explore it together! Also, would you be interested in using one of my characters? Here's what they're like, so maybe you can try writing from their POV for a bit?" Perhaps they'd even like to try seeing you play a character of theirs.
On the other hand, not everyone wants to play someone else's world or characters or story, and especially not all three, with some people! So I really think communication may be the issue here. I think it might work better if you were to say, really specifically, something about what you're looking for BEFORE you start to get into the RP. Or during, even, and see if they're still for it, but it's probably good to ask beforehand. So if you want to use your characters, their characters, and your story; all your characters, their world, their story; or just your characters, their world, and a story you make up along the way.... That sort of thing is up to you! But it's also up to them!
I'm sure it's a little trying when people keep disappointing you in your RPs, but you may need a fresh view on it!
That's all my opinion, I guess, so I hope you'll consider it if you're reading this far.
And as for why to bother... Well, maybe when you find a perfect person to RP with or a great character you love, you'll remember. But perhaps you can try asking yourself what you live most about RP, what you really want to get out of RP, and what's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for you in an RP. What kind of sacrifices can you make and what can you negotiate so that you're both/all having fun.
I used to prefer being in total control of roleplays, but it annoyed me when people were 'unruly' (lol) and did something unexpected, so I had to loosen the reigns a little, so to speak, and try to keep up!
But what's most fun for me is discovering other people's stories and finding out more of my own. And getting to show off.
If you can find out what's fun for you, you can try to find a partner that matches that, I suppose.I'm not trying to come off as pretentious or condescending, and I know that was quite the rant. Best of luck!
🍋 🌱🍀 🍃🍀 🍑🍀 ☕ 🍵 🍬
@Shinyrainbowlithogra: First I'd like to thank you for being one who responded to this. I do appreciate it.
You are right. I do need to think things over carefully, and make things as clear as possible. I don't mind if someone wants to rp just as their own muse with mine. That's perfectly fine. Just sometimes I get these ideas, which requires another partner to take up the role. I guess I'm trying to convince myself it's okay to give people a chance, and not just end up forgetting it for rp and just keep it in my head so to speak.
That is also true, I may find that the way someone portrays a muse I'd like for them to isn't up to standard to me. So again I'd need to say something. Thus the whole thing for now would be for me to convince myself it's okay to try and search for potentially the right people even if it takes time. It took me time to find those who've lasted with me a while.
As to the possible questions to ask myself, for the why bother part, I will think on those more. I have a horrible habit of letting my past experiences, plus hearing not good luck for my friends when they've tried to find rp, has made me leery of testing the waters again. But if I hadn't tested them to begin with, I wouldn't have the friends I do now.
Don't worry about the long post, you are perfectly fine. ^-^
You are right. I do need to think things over carefully, and make things as clear as possible. I don't mind if someone wants to rp just as their own muse with mine. That's perfectly fine. Just sometimes I get these ideas, which requires another partner to take up the role. I guess I'm trying to convince myself it's okay to give people a chance, and not just end up forgetting it for rp and just keep it in my head so to speak.
That is also true, I may find that the way someone portrays a muse I'd like for them to isn't up to standard to me. So again I'd need to say something. Thus the whole thing for now would be for me to convince myself it's okay to try and search for potentially the right people even if it takes time. It took me time to find those who've lasted with me a while.
As to the possible questions to ask myself, for the why bother part, I will think on those more. I have a horrible habit of letting my past experiences, plus hearing not good luck for my friends when they've tried to find rp, has made me leery of testing the waters again. But if I hadn't tested them to begin with, I wouldn't have the friends I do now.
Don't worry about the long post, you are perfectly fine. ^-^
Mm, thank you for reading my words. *bows*
I find that it's very relaxing to do small 'one-shot' RPs occasionally, so that I have a good experience here and there even if some of the long-term stories I'm playing aren't going well. For instance, the Summer Soiree and the Trick or Treat! Those are almost always fun.
It's probably good to think about your muses, I guess! I don't always think about mine too much, hahaha, it's just myself and my characters. If you work it out, that's good! If you can't yet, don't give up, just take a rest or something. Creativity really can take time sometimes.
You can probably do it, and if you get discouraged there's a community at your back, right???
I find that it's very relaxing to do small 'one-shot' RPs occasionally, so that I have a good experience here and there even if some of the long-term stories I'm playing aren't going well. For instance, the Summer Soiree and the Trick or Treat! Those are almost always fun.
It's probably good to think about your muses, I guess! I don't always think about mine too much, hahaha, it's just myself and my characters. If you work it out, that's good! If you can't yet, don't give up, just take a rest or something. Creativity really can take time sometimes.
You can probably do it, and if you get discouraged there's a community at your back, right???
@Shinyrainbowlithogra: I always do read what someone sends to me. Often I do not reply right away, due to rl at times. But I always make certain to reply asap.
Yes. Creativity does take time for me for certain. And I sometimes over worry about minor things, aside from what I listed in the topic. Apparently I have a lot of habits that I need to have broken. Eh-heheh...-anime sweat-
I do think about my muses a lot. Be it creating new ones or revamping them. I try to not put up a muse, unless I have them over half finished. I try to make them interesting, but not overly so. In the sense that I want people to want to take interest, but not go: Well there's too much to this muse. That and I found lately part of my issue has been: I create muses, but then don't have thoughts for plot to offer if I were to post a LFRP post. Thus I try to also come up with things to give plot ideas to others.
That is true, I do have a good community to help for certain. ^-^
Yes. Creativity does take time for me for certain. And I sometimes over worry about minor things, aside from what I listed in the topic. Apparently I have a lot of habits that I need to have broken. Eh-heheh...-anime sweat-
I do think about my muses a lot. Be it creating new ones or revamping them. I try to not put up a muse, unless I have them over half finished. I try to make them interesting, but not overly so. In the sense that I want people to want to take interest, but not go: Well there's too much to this muse. That and I found lately part of my issue has been: I create muses, but then don't have thoughts for plot to offer if I were to post a LFRP post. Thus I try to also come up with things to give plot ideas to others.
That is true, I do have a good community to help for certain. ^-^
Hi Winter
From what you've said in your opening post, you may also be suffering from a little bug called "Burn Out"
Burn out is a big deal, and often times we find ourselves getting burned out from our beloved hobbies due to bad experiences, overexposure, repetition, stress and anxiety from unrelated areas in our life, and even just from normal day to day struggling. I think what you're experiencing when it comes to not being able to come up with deeper, more meaningful or larger ideas can be related to burn out brought on by the struggles and strains of the world around you, as well as the unfortunate situations you found yourself in with RP partners who may have been inconsiderate, perhaps vanished without saying anything, or even did things in RP that broke your trust in that RP partner.
I often compare RP partner searching to be as difficult as finding new friends out in the world. It can be very difficult and overwhelming. You have to put your trust in someone new, and sometimes you come out of the other end with no new friend and some bruising. It's rough, and online is no different from doing these things in person.
However, I suggest finding a way to express your creativity through other means to help build back your inspiration and motivation. Motivation doesn't build itself, and sometimes it's a lot of hard work just to be motivated to do anything.
Sometimes it helps to find new movies to watch, new books to read, new games to play, or new music to listen to. Find ways to express your creativity, share it with the world. However, remember to not push and force yourself to do everything. You can't force yourself to be creative, you can't brute force your way out of burn out by adding heavier doses of the things that burnt you out in the first place. Just be kind to yourself, give yourself some time and space to try new things.
Maybe even try reaching out into a genre that has nothing to do with your strongly preferred genres. You may find new areas that excite you and suddenly catch your motivation off guard and reignite it. I wish you the best of luck though, but know that slumps will always come and go. It's totally normal.
From what you've said in your opening post, you may also be suffering from a little bug called "Burn Out"
Burn out is a big deal, and often times we find ourselves getting burned out from our beloved hobbies due to bad experiences, overexposure, repetition, stress and anxiety from unrelated areas in our life, and even just from normal day to day struggling. I think what you're experiencing when it comes to not being able to come up with deeper, more meaningful or larger ideas can be related to burn out brought on by the struggles and strains of the world around you, as well as the unfortunate situations you found yourself in with RP partners who may have been inconsiderate, perhaps vanished without saying anything, or even did things in RP that broke your trust in that RP partner.
I often compare RP partner searching to be as difficult as finding new friends out in the world. It can be very difficult and overwhelming. You have to put your trust in someone new, and sometimes you come out of the other end with no new friend and some bruising. It's rough, and online is no different from doing these things in person.
However, I suggest finding a way to express your creativity through other means to help build back your inspiration and motivation. Motivation doesn't build itself, and sometimes it's a lot of hard work just to be motivated to do anything.
Sometimes it helps to find new movies to watch, new books to read, new games to play, or new music to listen to. Find ways to express your creativity, share it with the world. However, remember to not push and force yourself to do everything. You can't force yourself to be creative, you can't brute force your way out of burn out by adding heavier doses of the things that burnt you out in the first place. Just be kind to yourself, give yourself some time and space to try new things.
Maybe even try reaching out into a genre that has nothing to do with your strongly preferred genres. You may find new areas that excite you and suddenly catch your motivation off guard and reignite it.
I wish you the best of luck though, but know that slumps will always come and go. It's totally normal.
@Hadeslicious
Hiya! Thank you so much for responding, and putting a name to the issue I most likely am going through!
Indeed now that I've gone over what you said, I DO feel like a lot of it has to do with me being burnt out for various reasons.
Slightly off topic: So I recently accidentally deleted a lot of my music, saved on a USB, that I had saved over YEARS, and I started to get them again. Well. In doing so, I found songs by my favorite bands that I didn't know they had. They've been there the whole time, just never dawned on me till I looked up the track listings of albums.
Reason I brought it up, is when you said try something outside of what I'm used to, I thought of that even if it's not related. Again I know, off topic. Thanks for baring with me. Eh-heheh....
But I should try and find things to help me get going again. Heck I had been working on a minor Underworld OC, after reading a non canon book for Underworld, which basically was a different beginning to how the series supposedly started. I had lots of thoughts for that muse, and kept going and going...but then I just ended up slowing down and now it's like: Okay out of all the "junk" in my head, where is the "key" for the "ignition" to start up the motivation and inspiration of my brain again?
I guess I never fully considered the possibilty of burning out myself. I know it's been mentioned to me that I might be, but I thought: Nah, not me! I can still go!
And now after reading your input, I'm finally admitting it.
Hi I'm Winter, and I have Burn Out in the Creating Muse(s) department. LOL!
But that's okay! As my friend Gena likes to tease me: If I put together all my muses I've created, be it they are fully done or not, from over time, I'd probably have a huge book or filing cabinet of them.
Edit: Oops, missed a part you said. Indeed it is hard to find and trust new partners for rp. But if I don't give people a chance, then I'll never know what I'm missing. It's how I got to know people and get the rp's I had and do have to begin with.
Hiya! Thank you so much for responding, and putting a name to the issue I most likely am going through!
Indeed now that I've gone over what you said, I DO feel like a lot of it has to do with me being burnt out for various reasons.
Slightly off topic: So I recently accidentally deleted a lot of my music, saved on a USB, that I had saved over YEARS, and I started to get them again. Well. In doing so, I found songs by my favorite bands that I didn't know they had. They've been there the whole time, just never dawned on me till I looked up the track listings of albums.
Reason I brought it up, is when you said try something outside of what I'm used to, I thought of that even if it's not related. Again I know, off topic. Thanks for baring with me. Eh-heheh....
But I should try and find things to help me get going again. Heck I had been working on a minor Underworld OC, after reading a non canon book for Underworld, which basically was a different beginning to how the series supposedly started. I had lots of thoughts for that muse, and kept going and going...but then I just ended up slowing down and now it's like: Okay out of all the "junk" in my head, where is the "key" for the "ignition" to start up the motivation and inspiration of my brain again?
I guess I never fully considered the possibilty of burning out myself. I know it's been mentioned to me that I might be, but I thought: Nah, not me! I can still go!
And now after reading your input, I'm finally admitting it.
Hi I'm Winter, and I have Burn Out in the Creating Muse(s) department. LOL!
But that's okay! As my friend Gena likes to tease me: If I put together all my muses I've created, be it they are fully done or not, from over time, I'd probably have a huge book or filing cabinet of them.
Edit: Oops, missed a part you said. Indeed it is hard to find and trust new partners for rp. But if I don't give people a chance, then I'll never know what I'm missing. It's how I got to know people and get the rp's I had and do have to begin with.
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