Writer's Block Daily

Yeah, we do seem to be crowding this thread.

Maybe we could chat on the actual Character Development Thread discussion page. It's over here.

RE the nomads on page twenty-one: Actually the disputes were about who would assimilate the nomads. Basically it was between two countries where the highest concentrations of nomads traveled through, and one decided to assimilate the nomads to gain a large amount of undeveloped land and/or take the nomads under their protection, while the other thought that was a bad idea.

No, it's not a very pure sentiment on either side.

Writing the beginning of a scene with a character waiting for his Fate Worse than Death, and he can't confide in anyone his last secret before it happens. Attempting to make it a major downer when I know the guy is gonna be fine is hard.

300 words, currently.

edited 24th Apr '11 9:16:39 PM by Dec

Dakka is now Scottish. And probably in need of a different name...

Now that I know that Vince's powers are chemical in nature, I suddenly have the urge to write about him preparing dinner using the power of chemistry. What am I gonna need... chemistry courtesy of Gerbs, Food Porn, Reality Warping... yeah, I think I got it.

edited 25th Apr '11 7:02:03 AM by CrystalGlacia

So...am I doing it right?

If not, I apologize in advance.

What, the Character Development Thread?

Exactly.

Oh, you're doing fine. The objective is to learn about your characters and/or practice writing, so if you're doing either of those, you're on the right track!

And I keep getting this Foe Yay vibe from the Magician/Ozmond in regard to Cyrus. It's creepy, but if that's in character for him, then go for it.

these character castles and stuff go way too fast for me to participate. WAY too fast or else I would get in one.

I am very pleased with this one-off character I just inserted into my latest work. In addition to having just the right amount of personality to justify his actions (and how he got into the mess he did), he also (in a very natural way) manages to give our heroes some information which will be extremely necessary to them about two or three chapters from now.

OH GOD

TWO-AND-A-HALF THOUSAND WORDS IN ONE SITTING

MY BRAIN IT HURTS SO MUCH

(On the plus side, yay I got two-and-a-half thousand words down, and it only took me three hours of intense brain-melting! Hurrah!)

Hm. I'm quite at awe how rapidly our Carnival is going. In a matter of three days, has the thread picked up 450+ posts. Much of these posts, I notice, have just the bare-bones sentence needed to make it like the character is doing something:

Which might become unhealthy for one's writing habits. I put having significant content in posts in the guidelines, in the hopes people would have something more like this:

I do not consider myself splitting hairs about this regard. I think if it were possible to slow the pace down (so you won't find yourself refreshing every couple of seconds), I would prefer to liken it to a game of Poker. Or a game of chess. Each post is like watching another player's turn in a high-tense place — make every second count.

In case this analogy is not clear enough for you, let me elaborate in the practical aspects. We refresh the page to see what the other is going to do. But for what? To merely confirm that they've made a hit on a ghostly foe? To make mere small talk that fiction writing would gloss over, without second thought? I find it unsatisfying, waiting for the story to get its move-on in this manner.

The way many people post in Character Threads, it is like reading a web serial, where they post a paragraph a day. You have to wait so long until the next paragraph.. where instead, they can post a whole chapter in a week— and you can catch all the intensity in one sitting. Ja? (Read this paragraph again, to make it clear.)

So I might add another guideline, to both help slow the rapid pace down, and to encourage more depth in writing. To elevate the Character Thread beyond casual roleplay:

• Post at least a few full paragraphs. Did you react to the other characters in the scene? Did you act out and flesh out your character at all? “A few full paragraphs” means exactly that: at least 2-3 full paragraphs, or at least 12-15 sentences. Paragraphs are at least five sentences.
• Put significant action in your post. This can mean you might introduce a new element that advances the plot, have your character take an action that the other players can’t ignore, or that sets up something for later. You might simply characterize your character(s), be it by delving into his/her thoughts, or having them take seemingly trivial actions that reveal aspects of the character underneath. You might explore the relationships between the characters, be it between your own characters or with those of another player. These are all examples of significant action.

In short, more depth per post, immersion and story can be intensified faster this way, and this can help curb the rapidity.

edited 25th Apr '11 5:22:38 PM by QQQQQ

In that case, I'm dropping.

While I think that Q's example tends to be far more prosey and elaborate than needed, the point stands. You ain't in the RP fora. You don't have to whip out a masterpiece, but put some thought into what you're writing.

The more time I spend on these character development threads, the less time I have for actual writing. Sorry.

Well, at least I know I could write fully if I put some effort to it. The only problem is that I do better with writing slow solo scenes (like the example QQQQQ gave) and the post I linked to in the Critque thread. It's hard writing a full paragraph.

To see why, play a drinking game. Every time I use the word "looked", or "turned", take a shot. Die from drowning.

@QQQQQ: The reason why what you think is suppose to be happening isn't happening because you hadn't been really in a thread for awhile, letting newer people like Crystal Galatica and I run the show. Both of us are younger and less inexperienced than you. To get people to really write, you need to get an old regular to run the show.

However, I am content with what we have right now. All we have to do is to just put a little more effort into it, make the battle system more fluid, find a way to discourge ninjas, and enforce the latter. One of the reasons why some of us are lacking because of the fear of ninjas.

Maybe encourge Ninja Editing, since writing is suppose to be revised?

edited 25th Apr '11 5:37:21 PM by chihuahua0

Part of it, I think, is the action; we're interacting with other's creations in a high-speed scenario. To me, anything longer than one or two sentences feels like pointless padding in the middle of an action scene.

For me, part of it is my writing style. I put more focus on quick, short descriptions of actions rather than looks into the characters heads and behind their actions.

The irony of short posting is that I find you spend more time refreshing for a response than typing the post out. With good posts like I've shown above, you can type something you can become proud of. You worry less about when the other person is going to react; rather you wonder how the others will act if they do. So you can come back to the thread after a break, and smile at what will happen. Great setups create great payoffs. Just as planned!

I think this can also resolve time zone differences, in a way. You won't feel like you're missing out in the action, if you're in Australia and I'm In Bruges. It becomes like an internet chess game, played out in intervals.

edited 25th Apr '11 5:38:40 PM by QQQQQ

These threads will give problems to characters who are neither introspective nor wordy, of which the characters I need to develop are neither. Having wordy or introspective characters make them develop more quickly, yes, but having characters that are neither is not a bad thing. It's just impossible to develop them as that when you're forcing them into shapes they're not.

No, you can have characters who are neither. Just gotta know how to say something.

It's a writing exercise. I mean, I could link to beautiful rps, (but I won't, cause it's NSFW) to show you what I mean.

Every character thinks. Every character feels. Every character smells. Every character tastes. No matter how cut off from the world they are.

It's not for everyone. Tis why I avoid the character threads. My writing skills are simply too shabby. It's why I write graphic novel scripts, which lets me write the specific in the image in my head, without having to make it sound pretty.

edited 25th Apr '11 5:41:41 PM by MrAHR

Also, it's a lot easier to write long, meaningful posts if you're causing the action than just reacting to it and waiting to see how your that affected the plot. (Which, unfortunately, is what I've been doing as this is my first Character thread and I'm pretty much just along for the ride.)

Well, I've been in other R Ps, and have characters who were originally not meant to be introspective at all been forced into being it with word limits (and STILL they often went under). And, either way, I absolutely cannot write, as I've proven that on the critique thread. As I said, I'm out.

This is where I'm trying to provoke you to get better at. In Character Threads, the intention is to put your character in a shared place, and watch them grow deeper as they find situations outside of their comfort zone. Does your fighter have a deep heart in him? Can your Carlian guard learn to open up to humans, and share his past experiences? This is Character Development. As unfamiliar and unknown as you actually experience it — compared to what you originally thought was "development."

edited 25th Apr '11 5:44:55 PM by QQQQQ

Also, QQQQQ, can we please have a discussion thread for Character Carnival? I know OOC-chatter is discourage, and you say that it draws us out of the story. However, do you prefer us blabbling off in one thread, or putting Swiss cheese all over the main thread, while derailing this thread? People like to chatter. It's a part of doing a collab story.

EDIT: Mary is at home in the thread. My goal is to figure out what person she exactly is. She's an author, she's curious, she's proactive, she's protective of her carnival...she's growing as I go along.

edited 25th Apr '11 5:46:02 PM by chihuahua0