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I've a bad habit of not saving any of my old writing. I have some very old samples, but i'm not really sure what they contain :P


I will try to find something. Although I am unable to private message anybody, so i'm not sure what the best way to send it to you would be.
 
How much would you like to see? Would writing outside of roleplays be acceptable? I found some samples of both, so what and how much you want to see is up to you, although i'd feel bad just dumping a ton of text in your thread here.
 
@TucanSam RP is definitely better for relevance. Just give me sample of a non-intro RP that you think displays your abilities to your advantage; I don't mind about length either way. ^^
 
Alright, I'll post it here.

This is probably the best I could find. Some context: My character was a ghost that was stranded between worlds and was slowly being consumed towards the afterlife. My partner moved into my characters former apartment which had been empty since her murder, and the thumping, which is explained in the next post, is my partners' characters heart. It's pretty short, and the intro was a lot more detailed about her current physical condition and what the place she is in is like. But oh well.


Thump, Thump.





A deep bass noise reverberated through deep, sending ripples of sensation across what was left of Anne's body. This was not the first time that she had heard it, the noise had seemed to come and go for the majority of her time in this place, though she had never been able to figure out where it had come from. A drum perhaps? Exaggerated droplets of water? As loud as it was, there seemed to be no point of origin, no cause or reason. Just the slow, steady rhythmic pounding.





Thump, Thump.





Anne rolled her eyes in deep frustration. The sensation that reverberated over her head and neck may have felt good under different circumstances; sort of a forced massage. But here and now? It was just annoying. A reminder of how she was trapped, motionless, helpless in this void. If she'd been able to feel it, she was sure that it would be giving her a headache right now. At least the pulses were short, and for the first time she was glad that most of her body had disappeared.





Thump, Thump.


Annoyance began to turn to rage as her nerves began to fray. What was the point of this? Was her existence itself not torture enough? Was a lack of body, of spatial awareness and sensation not harsh enough punishment for what she had done in her life? Whatever she had been, whatever she had done, Anne was sure it could not have been bad enough to endure this hell. Though most memories of her past had long since been erased, she remembered leading a quiet, solitary lifestyle. Keeping to herself. Enjoying her own company.


Thump, Thump.


This wasn't right.


Thump, Thump.


Rage slowly became hopelessness. When this noise had appeared it had served to break the quiet stillness of the void. It's brief appearance and sudden departure were both cause for joy and despair. Something else was out there, she often thought to herself. Maybe the dark void around her wasn't so empty after all. Maybe there was something else out there, something alive. Maybe there was hope for her after all.


Thump, Thump.


But with most of her body now destroyed, that hope was extinguished and this annoying beat only served as a taunting reminder of the time she had lost. With each beat she felt a little more of herself disappear, with each beat the darkness seemed to get darker. This was the end, and Anne could do nothing about it.


Thump, Thump.





No, not nothing. This may be the end. Her first life and now her second may have come to a senseless, quick end. But Anne had never been a quitter. She had never given up or backed down without making her mind clear. So if she was going to go down, she was damn well going to make sure that whatever was out there knew she wasn't happy about the situation.





Thump, Thump.





The void swallowed any sound, except for that damned drum beat. Even if it hadn't, with no lungs and no throat to make sound anything she did would be pointless regardless. But this was her outlet, the only one she had left; the only way for her to express her rage, her grief, her guilt and her frustration. Anne began to curse, as loud and as long as she could, unleashing every dark and deplorable phrase she had ever heard or seen.





Thump, Thump
 
@TucanSam Thanks! Woo, it was scary. Also impressive since it seems like a challenging thing to describe, a non-corporeal ghost.


So what type of RP would you be interested in discussing?
 
I don't have a particular craving at the moment, so it would really depend on what you were up for and whether or not it was something I was also interested in. Although I am usually open to most and am willing to try new things if it peaks my interest. I can say that my strength lies in Sci-Fi, Medieval Fantasy or Medieval Historical/Alternate historical. If that helps. I'll look at your plots on the front page later if you want and see if any of those peak my interest.


That being said, I can say that original world and universes are my favorite, and world building is my biggest strength. Though if we are going with something already established, Arthurian Legend is one of my favorite things to do as well, be it historically accurate or changed to suit my whims.


I could also provide some ideas I have been working on for solo projects of mine, although i'm not entirely sure how well they would translate into a roleplay.


i'm rambling. I apologize. My head is not as organized as I'd like.
 
That all sounds great, especially Sci fi, or historical either alternate or not.


I don't have all my plots up yet, but take a look and feel free to request more information and toss out ideas. @TucanSam
 
I haven't done a Sci-Fi in a long while, and the only existing story Idea I have is quite old and, looking back on it, has a lot of wholes in it I would have to plug and revise. But I could throw it out there if you are interested. Or we could think of something else. Hmm.


As for the plot on the front page of your "Animates" idea, my image of artificial life tends to run darker. In my mind they are usually created for a purpose and, either fulfilling that purpose or having fulfilled it already, are then treated more as slaves than humans. My plots generally have a lot of conflict in them when I'm left to my own devices though. A story I was working through with someone else that didn't work out centered around the idea of Artificial Intelligence being created, but after a certain incident the world grew wary of it and banned its research. An obsessed scientist refused to give up their life long ambition though, and continued research in secret, finally completing the artificial intelligence but being killed in an accident, or something similar. That's all I have off the top of my head. I'm not sure how deep down the rabbithole you prefer to go when it comes to science fiction though.


I haven't read anything historical in a long while to be inspired by any specific time or place. Historical inevitably leads back to Medieval, and thus to Arthur in my mind usually haha. It would depend on the time period though. The age of industry has always fascinated me (alogn with steampunk as an idea I suppose) and of course everybody loves the age of sail. I don't think it would be hard to come up with something in any of those time periods. I admit I don't know much about specific time periods.


I do feel that, thinking over it now, I should tell you that my personal writing has taken on a much simpler format than it has in the past. The writers who have held the most sway over me tend to keep their descriptions simpler and leave more to the readers imagination, and my own style has sort of morphed to mirror that notion. Not that it makes my posts any shorter, but that along with my switch to the first person style for most of my personal stories, tends to make my writing a little different than others (though i almost always write in third person for roleplays. It makes people more comfortable). If that's an issue to you, or something you simply flat out don't think you will enjoy, that's fine to say. I can endeavor to be more thorough and detailed with my posts, or if you simply think it is a deal breaker than that is alright as well.


And that post is far longer than I expected it to be. Sorry!
 
@TucanSam No apologies, I like long posts! ;D


In regards to the detail level (I'll respond to the rest, about specific plots and genres, later) I hear where you're coming from. I often struggle with what makes good writing in RP vs what makes good writing in real life, and how they are unfortunately two different things. Obviously I want my RP writing to work toward strengthening my IRL writing, which is a difficult thing to accomplish. Going for detailed writing standards seems to be the best way to find good writers and maintain fulfilling, workable RPs, in my opinion. I have found ways around this, though. One of my favorite ways is in Google docs or similar collaborative writing pads. Check out my "write a book" thread to learn more about that.


I've got to agree that in strictly good writing, less is just...so often more. I hate that RP reinforces (or created) my overly-detailed habits. xD . Like, in a book, it would be insane to not have back-and-forth one line dialogue between characters. Insane. Also it would be insane to describe things to the extent that they are in detailed RP. >.<


Anyway I think we can make it work, and even if we can't, I would very much like to try it in either case. (For example, you say that your posting length isn't compromised despite lessening detail. How do you do that?? Tell me your ways.)


You could also always throw more samples at me.
 
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It's an odd balancing act really. You are limited in a roleplay when it comes to dialogue, since anything you say you have to inevitably wait for a response from your partner. You can't have the quick back and forth that you can when you control all of the characters involved unless, well, you don't do something relying solely on your partners reaction. I've had success and failure with this in the past. But getting too hung up on it usually doesn't help one way or the other.


This post got really long. I don't often get to discuss writing theory with anyone. So I'm going to spoiler it once again so that noone has to see a giant wall of text if they don't want to.

The only reason I mentioned it is because i try to the best of my ability to make my roleplay writing as reminiscent of my real writing as possible. Sometimes post length does suffer a bit, and I do find my replies going down to one or two paragraphs rather than several of them. But the key when looking at a posts length isn't necessarily how long it is, but whether or not that reply served its purpose and advanced the story. Each post should serve to move the story forward in some way and also be enjoyable to read. I confess I've only had maybe one or two partner that I meshed with really well, but in those writings we both understood what we were doing, where we were going and each post felt like it served a purpose. There was very little filler, and some of the posts were maybe a paragraph and then one line of text. The key was that, after every post no matter what the length, the other person was always left the option to respond somehow, to do something in response to what just happened. There will always be moments and times where there just isn't that much going on at any given moment in a story, and it feels to me like trying to pad those moments with more detail in order to make them longer really only hurts the reply and the story more than helps it. But it also relies on each writer and their ability. Some can pull this off, and do more with less. Others just aren't there yet.


Which is why, for instance, when you asked me for a sample (Which I really do not save very much of my writing) I struggled to find something that i felt told much about my own style. I have a problem when it comes to roleplaying. I tend to write down to my partners. It's never intentional, but if I feel that my partner is not as good as I am, I simply do not put as much effort into my replies, my characters or my worlds as I can. I don't feel the desire to commit myself to the story and create something passionate when I know that I will be the one carrying the story, characters and plot all on my own. If a partner does not challenge me, or make me feel that i need to keep up with post quality, the roleplay doesn't grab my interest and it becomes more just an exercise in writing than an enjoyable experience or something I get really hooked on. Probably part of the reason I don't hold on to many plots specifically for roleplays, and definitely the reason I don't hold onto any characters. I don't want to put a lot of effort into something and then feel the passion flow away from me when I realize I'm basically writing a book, but because i have a partner who is not on my own level, I'm writing a book but only controlling half of it while trying to still make it exciting and memorable.


Of course, this affects the quality of my posts. When I first started roleplaying, I found myself going over replies I had written, re-writing and then going back and rewriting them again. For stuff I really enjoyed, this was fine. I wanted to make something good, something my partner would enjoy and would make them want to reply with the same energy, enthusiasm and quality. When I find a story or plot, or book even, that I truly enjoy, it consumes my thought process in quiet moments. My mind wanders back to it and I crave it. Most of the time though, that isn't the case with things. So I've gotten into the habit of writing and sending. In a roleplay this isn't as much of an issue, because honestly I don't often care what te other persont hinks of my post. I am confident enough to know that without rewriting my reply will hold up decently enough on its own (though I can say they would all benefit deeply from a rewrite if I cared to). But, again, it depends on the story and the partner. Some I give more effort to than others. I can usually tell from their intro what I am getting into.


This has really rambled. You shouldn't have asked me about writing theory. But i will touch on something you said at the end of your post, asking how I can keep post length high without going into a lot of detail. The answer is, it depends. I said above that my posts usually depend on my partner, and it's true that it does. It also depends on what is happening around the character, what is happening in the story and the type of character that you are playing. When it comes to detail, I really truly do find that simpler is better. An imagination can draw things in your mind on its own far better than any writer can describe it. For example:


If I write something like "Paintings of past battles hung on the walls, memories of a time long past" versus


"Painting of past battles hung on the wall depicting great battles of men and beast in an epic struggle of survival. Great flashes of iron and steel matched the expressions of the knights as they rode their steeds into battle" (complete rubbish i made of the top of my head, not very detailed. But you kind of get what I am pushing at I hope.)


Do you really get that much more out of the second than the first? You get more detail, and it makes it sound a little more cinematic I suppose. but if the setting is medieval, and you know how they used to fight and what great battles would have looked like, does your mind not automatically imagine something far greater than what is written? Can you not close your eyes and imagine an amazing picture of a great battle without having to be told what it is that you should be seeing?


This is the strength of the more simple style in my eyes. You can create a scene, describe some of the comepletely necessary set pieces, and then let the reader fill in the rest of it with their own minds. The experience will then be uniquely tailored to each person and, while the story will be the same, what they experience won't be. I find this actually helps in roleplays as well, since each person is not burdened with the scene the other person created. You might both see different scenes, but where one person might imagine a fantasy painting with a dragon, the other might not. And then you have the freedom to comment on that picture, and the other person will have to adapt to what you saw and react to it that way.


As for post length, because I do keep getting distracted, there are a few different ways of going about trying not to sacrifice length. In first person, this is very easy. You can express the persons thoughts, their feelings, what they are thinking and planning. In third person it is a bit more difficult. You are trying to not pad the experience with useless information, while still trying to make it longer than a half paragraph. Once you set up a scene you do not have a ton of control over what happens to the things inside of it unless your character interacts with it. The one thing you have absolute control over, though, is your character. Their facial expressions. Their thoughts, if you want to go that way and describe what they re thinking. You can pause between dialogue with movements, with reactions. They never have to stand still and talk. They can say something, move, do something, fidget, and then complete their sentence. After their done talking, they can reflect on what they said briefly, contemplate what they may say next, search the other persons face for a response. And of course, if you control more than one character at a time (as most roleplayers should at points in a roleplay) it makes the effort all the easier. Again, it depends on the circumstances, and there is no golden rule to it that I follow. But probably the closest thing that I can think of is: You don't control just your characters mind. You control their body as well. And most people do not stand motionless and static when they are talking. Try to make your emotions exhibit themselves physically as well if that is in line with your characters personality.





That's a good way to start practicing, I think. And then everyone will learn their own style on their own. But, again, I do need to emphasize that if you follow this style, not every post will be very long. But if you do it well, it shouldn't matter to your partner because that post will be good enough that it doesn't need to be very long.
 
@TucanSam No worries, I enjoy talking writing theory! It's fun to hear the thought process that goes into how people do things. I have nothing profound to say in response at this time. xD


What do you think about using google docs?


Either way I'm looking forward to writing with you.


Regarding plots, I (pretty much) finished putting up what plots/intros I had available. I would love to hear your sci-fi idea. For animates, yes I can go darker. Although for me the draw is more the interpersonal character development, the humanity revealed between characters. Strangely, that it what I like most about robots. ^^


Anyway I'm not too fussed so if you feel like being decisive, go for it. xD
 
The fantasy one about the ring has my interest. as does the post apocalyptic one in the jungle as well. I guess it depends on whether or not you want to work off of something you already have or create something new.
 
That one probably interested me the most as well. And I think I've finally unlocked private messaging now. Would you rather most the conversation to that instead?
 
  • I read through it. didn't seem like there was a ton of detail on everything, since it felt like just a short synopsis. I guess my biggest questions are about the world around them etc.
  • There seems to be some sort of war going on between two factions, and somehow this family came into possession of a magical artifact but they need somebody powerful to wield it?
  • I think it mentioned it would consume the wearer in some fashion?
  • What exactly does the ring do then?
  • What constitutes someone strong enough to wield it?
  • Is it just physical strength, or does it take someone with magical talent of their own to wield it?
  • Are mages a thing in the world?
  • What are the two factions in this world and why are they at war?
  • It almost seemed as if they were being attacked because of the ring?
  • i'd like to know more about the mythology and religious ideals of this world as well. Is magic considered rare? Where do they think it comes from?
  • It sounded as if their kingdom is weaker compared to the one attacking. Has the war been going on for long then?


I think that's most of the ones off the top of my head.
 
@SeverusX Such as?


@TucanSam

The short answer to your questions is that all of it is left open-ended for your input and mutual brainstorming.


The long answer, responded point by point:

  • I read through it. didn't seem like there was a ton of detail on everything, since it felt like just a short synopsis. I guess my biggest questions are about the world around them etc.
  • Basically just a coastal village in the dark ages


  • There seems to be some sort of war going on between two factions, and somehow this family came into possession of a magical artifact but they need somebody powerful to wield it?
  • Yes. Not necessarily a war but certainly an attack. The ring would empower any wearer, but the stronger the wearer, the stronger the outcome.


  • I think it mentioned it would consume the wearer in some fashion?
  • What exactly does the ring do then?
  • What constitutes someone strong enough to wield it?
  • Is it just physical strength, or does it take someone with magical talent of their own to wield it?


More on all of that later, but probably not to the magical talent.

  • Are mages a thing in the world?
  • They could be.


  • What are the two factions in this world and why are they at war?
  • It almost seemed as if they were being attacked because of the ring?
  • Addressed earlier


  • i'd like to know more about the mythology and religious ideals of this world as well. Is magic considered rare? Where do they think it comes from?
  • It sounded as if their kingdom is weaker compared to the one attacking. Has the war been going on for long then?
  • World build with me! I am fine with leaving it relatively alternative history based, magic is rare to people in the sense of "magic is just science we don't understand yet," and there was a lot of science not understood at that time. There could also be real magic too though, i.e. The ring.


Random Drabble on ring I wrote somewhere else which may answer some questions:


left it vague to allow co-plotting, but the general initial idea is that once someone puts on the ring, it takes them over gradually until they are no longer themselves. Perhaps there is a spirit who eats these souls and imbues the worn bodies with magical powers such as increased strength, longer life, anything really. Perhaps what is thought to be a benevolent spirit and a ring created for people in troubled times is actually a dark being. Or maybe it isn't, and maybe every great hero has worn this ring. Anyone noble, courageous, or extraordinarily gifted might be suspected of having worn it.
 
If the answers are mainly we can brainstorm then I don't think I have any questions that can't be answered by a thinking session.
 
I think you asked earlier, but I never answered. I've only used google docs once, so I don't really know what I am doing when it comes to them. But I don't mind using them at all. I usually use gmail regardless so it isn't that far out of my comfort zone.
 
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