These days, everything revolves around practicality and mobility, whether you're travelling to an unfamiliar country or trying to fix your computer. Pocket guides are invaluable, with distilled topics that avoid the roundabout most larger books tend to be. Below are some tips to improve your P2MV experience, for yourself and people that RP with you.
I. Grammar & SpellingOh how predictable, right? Gestapo Officer Esternial reporting in for duty.
The most important part of one's post is the grammar, as it's the first people will look at as soon as they stumble upon your post, before deciding to delve deeper. Fantastic as your post maybe be content-wise, if the frame supposed to keep it up fails the post itself won't have a leg to stand on from the get-go. Try finding a spell-checker, as it may definitely help.
II. Expand your vocabularyThe pen is mightier than the sword, and any good author had an arsenal of lethal words at its disposal. The verbose verbiage of the vox scriptoris is an essential part to make your post as colorful and diverse as possible. Avoid adverbs and adjectives ending with 'ly' and instead opt for different words with their own unique tone. Each synonym has its own deviations that suit it better for a particular situation, so try and educate yourself when to use which word. The word 'said' is often used in dialogue, and substituting it with other verbs like 'claim' or 'declare' can add a different tone to your entire sentence and make it less bland and sterile.
Don't go to the extreme either, because words that are unfamiliar might confuse the reader. The trick it to find the balance between simple and complex. If you feel like you're using a potentially complex word, try and explain it with some textual context.
III. Long versus shortShort posts tend to be a usual sight in this forum, yet it sometimes increases the pace of an RP to an unmanageable level. Like the previous topic, one has to find balance between both ends of the spectrum. When trying to depict a fast-paced and energetic scene, one can use short sentences; while long sentences make a scene appear longer, often combined with the internal reflection of characters, and helps create a detailed image of the surroundings. Passive sentences also lengthen your sentence, but should generally be avoided. Having the noun acted on results in a less powerful image in lieu of the noun itself doing the acting. Use active sentence as much as possible.
IV. CharacterizationPeople are flesh and blood, so if you're writing as one you should convince everyone - including yourself - that its a creature of flesh and blood. While a rough outline may be good enough for the average RP, adding tiny details and quirks may provide more opportunities for
yourself during the RP. Most people complain that they don't know what to post, but this can be avoided by giving your character his personal motivations, emotions, opinions and behavior. Maybe your character is an idealist, striving for peace despite being stuck as a soldier in a corrupt military, constantly facing inner struggle as he tries to seek salvation in women and alcohol. Put yourself in their place, try to see what they see and think what they're thinking.
Know that you can base your character on pre-existing ones, but don't be afraid to draw onto your own creativity for this. Copying characters whole should be avoided at all times.
Here's a link that might prove useful. Thanks to Euroslavia.
Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:29 pm
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