Ok...getting to work.

[Ru the Boatswain]

I have joined another RP site. They have a minimum post length rule. I (as most already know) do not post exceedingly long posts.

I am asking for someone to volunteer to teach me how to lengthen my posts and keep them interesting. After someone steps forward we can discuss what to do.

Thank you,
Ruukil

 

[Regret]

How long is the length requirement?

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

We ask that IC posts be of reasonable and respectable length; preferably 2 paragraphs minimum [6-10 sentences per paragraph] in each post. We understand at times this is not possible, but please try to make the story a good one. We will do whatever it takes to keep the writing at a high level. The RPC reserves the right to request a post be added to if it is too short.

thar ya go.

EDIT: I dislike simple sentiences

 

[Kit]

Simple, basic advice;

1. Character thoughts. Think as if you were the character, how you'd think in that exact same situation. Then write it out. Insight to your characters character ahoy!
2. Description. Go from, "He dodged the blade" to, "Throwing himself to the side, the blade flashed past his skin, barely missing him." Or even better, up the ante, "With a yell, that was closer to an animalistic cry than words, he threw himself aside. He could feel the displaced air hit him, as the sharpened steel passed mere centimetres from his body."
3. What's going on around you? The world doesn't just stop when the fighting starts, or the coversation gets going. Don't forget, your character has (or might have) five senses. Use them. He might be focussed solely on the other RP'er, so possibly include a, "So intent was he on memorizing the other man's unconscious actions and the way he intoned certain words, he completely missed the argument on the other side of the bar, or the barmaid subtly trying to catch his eye to warn him of..." Or, he could notice all of this. This is a really good way to add realism, and bulk to what could end up as a very brief post. After all, one line of dialogue could become a paragraph, or even two.


There are more ways to add bulk, but those are some of the better one.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Thank you kupo, that was very helpful.

 

[Regret]

Simple, basic advice;

1. Character thoughts. Think as if you were the character, how you'd think in that exact same situation. Then write it out. Insight to your characters character ahoy!
2. Description. Go from, "He dodged the blade" to, "Throwing himself to the side, the blade flashed past his skin, barely missing him." Or even better, up the ante, "With a yell, that was closer to an animalistic cry than words, he threw himself aside. He could feel the displaced air hit him, as the sharpened steel passed mere centimetres from his body."
3. What's going on around you? The world doesn't just stop when the fighting starts, or the coversation gets going. Don't forget, your character has (or might have) five senses. Use them. He might be focussed solely on the other RP'er, so possibly include a, "So intent was he on memorizing the other man's unconscious actions and the way he intoned certain words, he completely missed the argument on the other side of the bar, or the barmaid subtly trying to catch his eye to warn him of..." Or, he could notice all of this. This is a really good way to add realism, and bulk to what could end up as a very brief post. After all, one line of dialogue could become a paragraph, or even two.


There are more ways to add bulk, but those are some of the better one.

You said mostly what I was gonna say. ;_;

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

You said mostly what I was gonna say. ;_;

thats a lie.

 

[Kit]

Thank you kupo, that was very helpful.

No problem. Bac wrote a big thingy on this very topic (somewhere in the rules section) and it was the first thing I read when I came here. It appears to have stuck.

You said mostly what I was gonna say. ;_;

Great minds think alike, old bean.:CHappy:

 

[Lara]

Build the setting around the character and use that in future posts. Saying "He's by a waterfall." can go much further. Build that up then in a future post if your finding yourself at a lack of something you can always reflect back on something subtle you put into a paragraph.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Read this -

Once you have established the basic information of the thread, it’s time to start the thread itself. The first post of the thread must be the post that sets the scene, the story and the excitement. It must describe where the post is taking place and why whatever is happening is happening. Think of it like the first few pages of a book; either the beginning hooks someone or it doesn’t. You need to make sure that people who read the first post will be excited by it and will want to join the thread if they can. One of the keys to this is good description and detail. You need to explain all of the details so that when people begin to post they are aware of what is happening. Here is a suggested guideline that you should use when writing your first post:

Where is it?
What is it like there?
What does it feel like?
Where are the characters?
What are they doing?
Why are they doing it?
What are they feeling?
Why are they feeling it?
Anything else you wish to add.
​

Many times, the first post in a thread can be boring and will end up deterring people from joining the role-play. This is the type of post you want to avoid. Here is an example of a more boring and unexciting post:

Tatooine, the planet of limitless sand. The day was hot and laborious to travel through. The suns themselves seemed to bore into the skins of those who dared enter its malicious rays. Jhun sat in a cantina, staring out of the think duraglass window. He was tired from his journeys, as he had traveled kilometers through the unforgiving dunes of the sand planet and had no choice but to rest.
​

While that post is fairly well written, it lacks the small details that can really set the stage for a great role-play. All the role-player would need to do is add in those details to really make people want to join. Here is an example of a more detailed post:

Tatooine, the planet of limitless sand, or so many travelers had said. It was thought to have been one of the oldest planets in known space. Because it orbited two suns, it was covered in deserts and rocky formations. The days were so brightly lit that the planet, to those from a distance in space, would appear to be a third star if looked at from the right angle. It was how Tatooine was originally discovered. Explorers believed it to be a star so they moved in closer to study it only to be amazed when they found that it was actually a planet.

Very little of the planet was habitable to Humans outside the northern areas of the northern hemisphere, and one could only stay in the other regions of the planet for so long before succumbing to the violent temperatures and massive sandstorms. Only one percent of the planet was covered in surface water, though fossil records did indicate that the planet was once covered in large oceans that dried up, leaving many geographical features that were well known to the planet’s inhabitants.

Numerous different sentient species from all across the galaxy made up the inhabitants of the planet. Most of the non-Humans tended to stay in cantinas where they could go to the bar or gamble, as the inhabitants of the planet loved to gamble. The majority of the gambling was on swoop racers, one of the most dangerous games on the planet. It was a testament to the fact that the planet had long been controlled by the vile Hutts.

On the surface of the desert world, the suns scorched down upon the planet with a ferocious intensity. The day was hot and laborious to travel through, and even the locals who were used to the extreme heat felt exhausted. The suns themselves seemed to bore into the skin of those who dared enter into its malicious rays, not caring for the silent torment that came with it. Even so, very few ventured out into the midday suns on such a day unless they had to. Needless to say, very few found a reason to make themselves go outside.

One such person was Jhun, an eighteen year old man sitting at a booth in the back of the local cantina. Jhun had a relatively muscular build, mostly from working with heavy equipment for most of his life. He had short, combed back brown hair and stood at nearly two meters in height. He was well respected in Anchorhead as a man of character, though he did not tend to interact with people unless he knew them well or felt that they needed help. He preferred to keep to himself, probably a result of spending so much time working on the moisture vaporators on his family’s moisture farm a few kilometers from the settlement.
​

That post could go on for some time, though you should be able to get the idea of where it should be going. It is a far more interesting post than the one presented before it and will surely make the thread more compelling for the members that are thinking about joining it.

2.3 How to Post in a Role-Play

You don’t always have to actually create a role-play thread in order to role-play. Instead, you could simply join a role-play that someone else has started. Once you have decided that you’re going to join one, you need to know what to post first. Much like making the initial post of a thread, you need to know what you hope to achieve from your post and your role in the story. A suggested guideline as to the layout of your first post in a role-play is as follows:

How did you get there?
Why are you there?
Who else is there?
What do they feel like?
Where are they?
What are they doing?
Why are they doing it?
What are they feeling?
Anything else you wish to add.
​

Many times, an initial post by a role-player can be boring and people might simply ignore it and continue on with their excitement. Here is an example of a more boring and unexciting post:

Ussej had just landed in the spaceport of Mos Eisley. He went to get a drink as his ship was being refueled. He was ultimately heading to Naboo to finish some business, but he had to make a brief stop for essentials. The temperatures felt hot and as he stepped into the cantina he immediately noticed Jhun sitting by the window, keeping a relative distance. He was baking alive in his travelers clothes. Tatooine was certainly not the ideal place to stop. He stepped up to the bar, leaning over it to place his order.
​

The post is okay, but just okay. To make a post like this better and more interesting, more detail and description needs to be added. Remember, detail and description is key to a free-form role-play. Here is an example of a more detailed post:

The sleek silver starship curved into the landing port and landed softly in the main bay of the Mos Eisley spaceport. Moments later, Ussej stepped out of the vessel and briskly headed towards the local cantina while the dock workers quickly began to refuel his vessel. He was ultimately headed to Naboo to speak with an informant about confidential information regarding the security of the Republic and to pick up a bounty on a rogue mercenary that the Jedi Council had requested him to capture. He would, of course, give the money he collected to charity as he held no attachments or personal possessions of wealth as a member of the order. In the end, he was only in the desert wastes for the essentials.

The day was sweltering hot and he constantly was forced to wipe the sweat off of his brow. He had heard brutal stories of the heat of Tatooine’s twin suns, though he had never imagined it would have been quite so unbearable. Some of the heat was replaced by cool air as he stepped into the cantina. As he looked around, he immediately noticed Jhun, an old mercenary friend of his, sitting against the duraglass window in the corner of the bar. Ussej kept a relative distance, as he and Jhun had a falling out years earlier that resulted in high tensions between the two of them.

Even with the cool air flowing from the ventilation systems, Ussej could still feel the heat penetrating through the thin cantina walls. He was baking alive in his traveler’s clothes and already they were soaked with sweat, so he felt nothing less than disgusting as he walked up the bar to place his quick order.
​

Clearly this post is better than the first, and it’s that small detail about what the character is feeling and what he’s doing in the role-play that really helps set the scene for other role-players and other characters. Never forget that detail and description are, again, two of the greatest keys to a fun and exciting role-play.

 

[Regret]

Read this -

That is the epitome of tl;dr.

 

[Kit]

That was the thingy I was talking about! Reading that, and I think an RP between Kelly, Bac and... I can't remember who it was. It may have been Kurt...

But yeah, it was those three, on a ship, where Kelly's Char was badly injured/preggers by Darth... Calamity... Bac's guy. Anyhow, that really helped. Because it was a brilliant example of brilliant RP'ing, and really pointed me in the right direction.

In fact, most of the stuff with Kelly and/or Bac tends to be good rp. Though that's true of pretty much all of the proper Vet's.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

It was the thread Genesis.

EDIT: Here it is: http://www.thestarwarsrp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4040

 

[Kit]

Yeah, that was definitely the badger, so to speak. Really cool, even though I was missing most of the backstory.

Suffice to say, it become cooler (and a lot less confusing) once I'd discovered that there was more than one page in the story board... Heh...

 

[Matt]

What a stupid rule, you will just get 2 paragraph posts constantly filled with boring crap.

 

[Ols]

What a stupid rule, you will just get 2 paragraph posts constantly filled with boring crap.

Only if they're poor RPers. If they're all able to write 2 paragraphs of good stuff it would make for good RPing I expect, but the odds of everyone being that good are pretty daym low.

 

[Lavi]

When I read the long thing that Bac put up when I first came, I thought you had to include something about that... Haha.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

They seem to do alright. I get bored reading the posts sometimes.