The Basics
The most basic requirement for writing a good thread or post is proper understanding of the English language. You will not succeed on NationStates unless you can adequately make use of proper spelling, capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, etc, so pay attention in school, kids. The following is an example of a post that you should avoid making at all costs: "o yea, well i declair war on u so post loses plz"
I can't even begin to tell you how terrible that example is, but yet I continue to see posts on I.I. that are of that "quality". If you want anyone to take you seriously on NationStates, take the extra effort to make sure your post is legible and is properly written. Your browser has a spellchecker built in, and it's a great help even to someone like me who may be unsure of how a word is spelled from time to time, or if I accidentally misspell a word because I'm typing too fast then I can easily see the mistake and correct it. Here is a short list of 'must have' things (in no particular order) that you should not forget.
1. Capitalization at the beginning of every sentence, as well as capitalization of proper nouns (example: Automagfreek). Also don't forget to capitalize a person's title (example: President Smith).
2. Proper use of punctuation, including commas when needed (see what I did there?). Sentences end with periods, and contractions (example: that's = that is) should not be forgotten.
3. Spelling, spelling, spelling. Nothing will earn you scorn from the RP community like chronic misspelling. Again, use your spellchecker and PLEASE, remember your homophones:
- Your = A form of the possessive case of you. Example: Take your time when writing your post.
- You're = A contracted form of "you are". Example: You're going to read this whole thread and learn from it.
- There = Refers to a place. Example: Let's go over there.
- Their = Possessive. Example: Our sailors lost their lives.
- They're = A contracted form of "they are". Example: They're going to deploy soldiers to the battlefield.
This is a short list of homophones, but these are the most frequently misused ones. There is nothing that grinds my gears more than the "your/you're" error.
4. Do not, ever, EVER, use smilies in ANY "in character" post. Smilies are nothing more than a giant billboard that advertises noobishness.
5. Do not use 'text speak' under any circumstances, though this fits under spelling. The following are not acceptable: 'u', 'thx', 'plz', 'lol'... you get the point.
Writing Your Post
Ok, now you understand the basic tools that you'll need in order to write... so now what? When drafting a post, the most important thing to consider is: what am I writing about? What message am I trying to convey to people? If you don't know, then perhaps you shouldn't make a post. If you're making your own thread, you need to decide what it's going to be about. Are you declaring war on someone? Requesting financial assistance? Forming an alliance? Let's start with one example and build upon it:
You decide to declare war on Automagfreek. Now, do you post a simple one line sentence announcing that you're declaring war? NO. You need to have a reason to do so, right? Well, that reason needs to be properly illustrated to your readers. Adding back story to explain how your leaders arrived at this decision is crucial to constructing a good thread. Back story could include a meeting of the high ranking officials in your nation, where they discuss what they plan to do. If you decide to do this, then adding dialogue between characters will help make your story better come to life. The more details you include the better.
The method I use for writing posts is simple: I picture the scenario in my head just the way I want it, and in the above example there is a meeting of officials gathered to discuss war preparations. So here's what I do:
- I decide who is going to be at the meeting. I also decide what they are going to be doing... are they sitting, are they smoking a cigarette, are they pacing about the room? These details really help to paint a picture in the reader's mind about what's going on.
- I imagine what a discussion would be be like given the circumstances. Is there tension in the room? Are those in attendance confident, scared, or reserved? I use as many details as I can to illustrate my point, such as someone wiping sweat from their brow and loosening their collar. These are signs of tension that indicate your character is under stress, and these details help bring a character to life.
- I imagine the scene this is taking place in. Is it inside a bunker, or a fancy conference room? Are there armed guards present, or servants moving about? Again, this is another useful layer of detail that can really capture the imagination of a reader.
- I imagine how the whole scene will play out, and this means constructing a time line. There is always a beginning, middle, and end to every story, and your story should progress as such.
Simple enough, right? Unfortunately these are skills which, aside from experienced roleplayers, are rarely employed by new players. Take the time and really put yourself in the scene and try as best as you can to describe what it is you see. You don't have to be a genius military strategist to make a kick ass battlefield post. The smell of gun powder, the roar of artillery, the screams of the wounded, the sights of carnage and destruction... describing these things makes a mediocre post into an epic one.
If you're going to take the time to participate here on International Incidents and post, why not make the effort to produce posts of quality? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain in terms of respect and roleplay opportunities by crafting good threads and posts.
Keeping Our Standards High
All too often I see horrible, one line threads get filled with tons of horrible, one line replies. This needs to STOP and STOP immediately. I don't know why people are attracted to shit threads like bugs to a light bulb, but such is our reality here on II. If you see a terrible thread, then you need to do either one of two things:
- Post links to the sticky threads at the top of the forum, or threads such as this one. After doing so, your job is done, no need to post further. And if another player has done this, there is no reason for YOU to post either, because I've seen threads with a dozen replies all saying "Yeah, read the stickies you noob!" This is uncalled for, and it is spam (which will get you a warning from the mods).
- DO NOT POST AT ALL. Giving crappy threads attention only breeds more crappy threads and posts, and it pushes good threads down the forum where they are less likely to be seen. This is unfair to a player who takes the time to write a quality story.
Also, it is very important to keep out of character (OOC) discussions out of in character (IC) threads!. It's very frustrating when a thread becomes derailed with OOC discussion, and this often leads to the death of many RP's that started out with potential. It really doesn't take much effort to create a new OOC thread for a particular roleplay and place it at the top or bottom of the opening post, so why not make this a habit? Nobody wants to see something they've put time and energy into become ruined by others who could not show common courtesy by not derailing an IC thread.
In closing, I would like to state that this is not a comprehensive thread. There is no magical guide that will give you all the answers to writing a good RP, because that is a skill that you must develop over time. It's really not that difficult, provided you follow my advice above and make an honest effort to produce quality writing. However, I will continue to add onto this guide as new suggestions come up, and I welcome input from the community.
