Life Advice

[Panda Hermit 98]

Hiya one and all, I've been asking myself a lot of questions lately, second guessing, overthinking, and in general, being very unsure of myself in regards to life and especially SWRP.

Last night, I was talking to FTL and Xor and Shalken and Arc (and the rest) and it made me think a lot about certain things that I really want to get your guy's opinions on. I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense, my brain is racking itself left and right trying to figure out what to write, so it's probably gonna be a little confusing.

1. The personal thing...do you guys like me?

I know that's a simple question, but as a guy whom feels one thing and knows another, I always feel the need for my friends to occasionally reaffirm what they think of me, because otherwise I get these thoughts in my head that they secretly hate me and hat being with me and shit like that, it's not nice.

2. Why do you guys like to write?

This is kinda open ended, why do guys write? Recently, I've been wondering why I like writing here and I haven't really come up with an answer, I just kinda like it, but that feels unsatisfying to me. With that in mind, I wanna hear why you guys like writing, or write here at all, even if it's just a simple as 'because I enjoy it' (though I'll probably ask what it is you enjoy :'D)

3. What is your muse, inspiration, or prompt?

I create characters based on my emotional states: My most in depth character, Abigail, I created her originally because I like really kinky stuff and that aesthetic (I'll not say more in case this post breaches the TOS), and she was originally my controlling and domineering nature made virtual flesh, wanting a position of power so she could enjoy the rush of controlling people and slaves (this changed with time as the RP did it's thing, she's pretty different now).

My other characters were the same, created from my different emotions: my Jedi came from my perception that the site destroyed hopeful characters, and my desire to fly in the face of that, my Hutt Cartel member spawned from Abigail's original muse, and my WIP indie came from my anger and desire for retribution at seeing evil characters inflict cruel and painful punishments and deaths on characters I was fond of.

With that in mind, I'm told this isn't healthy, and it's also sabotaged them because if I don't feel those emotions, then I don't write for them, so what inspires you guys for your characters, what muse sparked the idea, what helps you create their personality, to make someone that is potentially, the polar opposite of yourself, and keep interest in that kind of character that you probably wouldn't like irl? That last part ties into my last question.

4. How do you guys distance yourself from the story and the characters whilst retaining the knowledge and drive to write for them?

I am the kind of person that gets waaaay too into the RP. I can't help but think of characters as real people to me, and treat them as such. It's what helps me get into my character's heads, but at the same time, it also leaves me open to the kind of overblown reactions that drives me to create those kinds of characters above. I know it's not real, and that the characters are just characters at the end of the day, but in my mind, distancing myself from them is the same as not caring about the character anymore or closing myself off from the RP, so it feels like I wouldn't be able to write anymore for the character.

With that in mind, how do you guys distance yourself, how do you guys still retain that level of detachment from characters and the story while still being able to fully write for them as if you know them inside and out. I know that since you create the character, you should, logically know how they think, but my mind just can't keep their personality consistent, it's either how the react or how I react, and as you could imagine, that creates problems.


Thank you for reading this all the way, if you did, I know it's a bit of a slog. Sorry if this weirds you out or confuses you or just annoys you, I don't mean to do anything bad, I just can't help but ask these questions for my own sake.

 

[Padmé]

Well, given that I have been absent from the game I should probably not answer, but I shall like to speak to question number one. Take it with a grain of the proverbial salt, or toss it if you will.

Essentially, life is more than "who likes you." What I find matters the most is to cherish and to be "that" person who goes the extra mile to make folks feel loved and appreciated. Start with your family, immediate neighbors/school. If someone "does not like you" and you have done everything in your heart to make amends but still not enough - that is a sure sign they are not good/healthy friendship for you. It is okay to move on. My two cents.

Cheers!

 

[Darasuum]

1: Yes (simple as that)

2: I like stories. Stories are great in the form of books, movies, games, etc. So while I really enjoy taking them in just as an observer I also love to participate in them. Everybody likes to do something akin to this. Sports fans like watching their teams play but also sometimes like to play the sport themselves. In Star wars specifically there are so many options that it isn't just one set thing and the possibilities are so large. I can't really get burnt out on SWRP, but sometimes just writing creativity in general and that's probably because I'm too busy immersing myself in some other thing like video games or binge watching a series.

3: EVERYTHING IS A MUSE!!! seriously though I watch a lot of tv , used to read a lot of books, and play a lot of video games. I can cherry pick aspects of characters, situations and stories because I say to myself "hey that looks like a cool character flaw" or "my gosh that character is gorgeous" etc. But I have to pace myself sometimes otherwise I'll binge watch a whole series and then will have to wait several months before the next season to come out to be inspired by that character/actor

4: Probably the hardest thing of all. I used to be terrible at it and be biased as all hell. But I've been annoyed by other people who have been biased and "too close" to their roleplays and characters. I tell myself "I don't want to be like them" and take a step back. I have a mantra "Do I really care?" i ask myself and then I wait a second "No I don't really care" because it's still just a game. It's not my whole life, there are going to be better things in life than some dope blue eyed evil lizard I came up with while watching Supernatural. SWRP is so much more than just one character and like I said earlier the whole point of the open roleplay environment is you can come up with endless possabilities and if you are no longer inspired by one character, make a new one. so you shouldn't be getting hung up on one character whether it be lacking a motivation to continue to write as them or the fact that they are as good as dead, because there is so much oportunity for good story tell. The only down side to switching characters is the credit transfer which was only introduced this TL. But that should not matter if your more focused on just good roleplaying.

 

[vamp]

1. Of course, dude! You're one of my closest friends!

2. It's a great outlet. It feels nice being able to just take the things you feel and channel them into words. There's something wonderful about writing and being able to weave intricate stories together. As for why I write on SWRP, I do it because I love Star Wars, and this is the best roleplaying site I've ever seen. The SW universe is huge and ever expanding, which leaves you with a lot of room when it comes to storytelling, and interacting with other people's characters makes it even more interesting.

3. Mostly other characters, whether they're from books, movies, or TV shows. I see a character I like, and I add or remove from it. I tweak the character and make it fit more into the mold I prefer while keeping some things like appearance and some personality traits, and I adapt them to the SW universe. Sometimes my PCs are completely fabricated. Other times they're heavily influenced by other characters. OZ fits the former, while Malthazar fits the latter.

4. I get really invested in characters, but rather than treating them like people, I treat them like projects. I think and realize that that's all they are: they're fictional interpretations of people, thrown into another universe. They're figments of my imagination that I tell stories about. Once I realized that, I became less hurt when losing PCs. I do get attached to some though, especially if they've stuck around for a while (like Mal).

 

[Black Noise]

1. Who cares?
Honestly, who cares if people like you? If you self worth hinges on the approval of others then your will be a constant rollercoaster of misery. Learn to live without people’s approval man and you’ll become a more complete person.

2. It relaxes me.

3. Music, almost exclusively.

4. Sacrifice your characters. Get them into situations where they will likely die. I once let a character of 2 years writing die because I refused to let another character live. We both died and that was that. I accepted it and moved on. This is a collective, collaborative experience. Not a book or story you tell over a period of time to fully expand on your own ideas. If you want that, write your own novel. This site exists to interact with other writers and build unique experiences. Sometimes another writer’s experience if your character’s end, and that’s ok. It’s how it goes sometimes.

Just let it go.


Apologizes if I seem overtly callous. But you have to be honest and frank with yourself about these things. If you ‘care too much’ then step away until you can separate what this is from reality. Otherwise you’ll be miserable.

 

[The Captain]

1. I do like you, actually!

2. It quiets the voices in my head. I wish I was joking about that, but I have all sorts of ideas and concepts and made-up people swirling around between my ears, and writing them down releases some of creative pressure. Basically this is my overactive mind's release valve.

3. I play it by ear. Sometimes I get it from real philosophies, cultures, religions, people. Sometimes I get inspiration from other fictional material. And sometimes I just make it up as I go, I'm a very mixed bag.

4. I tend to get attached to my characters the longer they stick around and the more connections they make. I'll admit more than one character death has left me salty, but I always get over it by trying to remember that these are fake characters in a fake world, the stakes here are no greater than how much entertainment I get out of a character and their exploits. But even then its still hard to lose a character you've painstakingly created.

 

[Herrith]

1. I enjoy your company. We're both slightly insane, after all.

2. I've always loved reading. Writing was a way to turn characters of my own loose into a certain universe (i.e. Star Wars and Halo) and see how it would go. I also enjoy entering AU and looking at "What if this happened over this".

3. I spend so much time thinking about characters and stories, and 99.9% of the time I never put it into play. So I use that as a guide for writing, and trying to remember stuff I thought up but forgot. My inspiration is creating characters that I feel are all a part of me, which makes them significantly easier to write, but as you said, at a cost of getting really hooked into the story, which is a blessing and a curse. (Herrith, which I derive my name from, I bet you never would have guessed is that bit of me I feel would happen if I utterly didn't care about rules or stuff. She's entirely wild, and some others like Harker or Don are the more reserved versions. Logically, I enjoy writing Herrith and Kate most cause they're, frankly, fun as hell to write as and create ridiculous situations with.

4. In the end, to be honest, I really don't. I can leave SWRP for a while (and this happened for a looong time after I stopped writing Halo stuff), and ideas keep swirling wherever I go. "Wow, this'd be a pretty cool thing to fit into a story with this character." I'm always thinking, and it's sometimes not good, mostly cause I lack the drive or the bit of imagination to fit it all into a singular, coherent path. I have to agree with Cap on his part as well. The longer they're here (I had Herrith last TL too, as some terrified souls may remember), the more I want to keep them. I don't know, it's weird.
My advice? You lose a character, there's always a million more swirling around in your head. So no sweat. Even then, you could always make a similar character, too, with some different quirks. (Like a crazier version of Herrith, but maybe a Rodian instead or something; I did a similar thing with Harker and Don, Don's more of a grizzled and experienced soldier, but he lost some humanity along the way. Stuff like that.) In the end, even if a character dies, I can MAKE MY OWN STORIES WITH THAT CHARACTER AHAHA!

Alright, that's all from me. You're a cool guy, I enjoy the darker side of stories, too. I just don't show it a whole lot, cause I'm surrounded by a bunch of light-minded individuals and characters that I can't help but joke around with. It's great fun using Herrith to mock other characters without risk of being punched. Well, without risk of a hard punch, that is.

Adios!

 

[anzat17]

1 most definitely!

2 I'm between semesters at college and it's a good way to keep up on my writing skills. Also I love rping especially with star wars.
3 Alot of it comes from manga actually. As far as making stories goes that is. I'm not really like you where I can jump inside my characters head, sometimes it can take a little while to come up with a realistic IC response, for me anyways.
4 I'm not sure really how to answer that. But I guess I will say you're probably incredibly empathetic and that is a wonderful trait to have :)