Experiences How worried are you about your RP writing quality?

[Crayons]

Hello! Nice to meet you.

I've noticed that a lot of people seem worried about their RP writing quality and how its perceived by their partners, and it got me wondering how common this is. Mainly because it's never something I've personally been concerned about. Not, I hasten to add, because I am God's gift to RP writing, but it just never really crossed my mind as something to be anxious about. (I worry about a lot of things, but this happens to not be one of them. XD) I do get frustrated if there's something I want to express and can't find the words for it. :/

Use the poll to rate your worry level about their RPing quality. Not the actual quality just the level of worrying you do. One the results are in we can see how widespread this is. For science.

Thank you for participating! Feel free to share your stories and opinions with others and let the community support you!

 

[FoolsErin]

Dude, I worry way too much about how well I write. I’ve screwed up before, and it’s sort of left this lingering fear with me that makes me think way too much about what I’m writing.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I think it depends on what you value. I don’t really worry about my writing because the quality of writing isn’t something I focus on. As long as I can read it and your responding to my post I’m fine.

 

[Cold Ramen Noodles]

I used to worry a lot. Then I realized that in the end, role playing is a hobby and something that helps me to relax and have some fun on busy, serious days. So if someone doesn't like how I type, then I search for a partner who does like how I type.

 

[ashwynne]

I sit somewhere between sometimes and not worried at all. The only thing I ever really “worry” about is whether I’ve missed anything in my response or not provided enough for my partner to work with...and that hardly counts because those are things I check during a quick final read-through/edit before posting. As far as the actual quality of my posts though... when I’m finished with a response it means I’m happy with it, so there’s no reason to worry.

If I’m working with a partner that constantly makes me feel like my writing is inadequate/not good enough then I’ll simply drop the RP, not obsess over my writing. This is supposed to be for fun so unless someone is paying me, I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying to fit their stylistic mould.

 

[calypso]

Sometimes I can't help but worry about my posts, especially if I feel like my partner isn't as enthusiastic as I am. (That's to say most of the time they're amazing and I'm just being pessimistic!)

Now a days, I read my posts over and I make sure I hype myself up. I like my writing a lot, and I hope others do, but I'm more concerned about pleasing myself first, or at least I try to.

 

[JadeGreen17]

First let me say great concept for a thread.

Well RPs (at least the RPs that I've run) are:
-Written by more than one person often with vastly varied writing goals, writing styles and motivations for doing so.
-Often go off the rails. You can be planning or anticipating one route; then a player decides to do something completely different, and the story goes off in a direction you didn't prepare for.
-Almost never edited, planned or have early sections revised to retain continuity. They often suffer from a lot of what you would call early installment weirdness when they're starting out; where the players are still figuring out exactly what they want to happen and what direction and tone they want the overall story to be.

As such while they can make for great stories they almost always contain the same problems. And they're not really problems that can be easily mediated. Hence I've grown to accept that an RP will never read like an award-winning book. I have some basic standards for punctuation, character continuity and world building but past that I'm more in it just to have a good time and not really care about the chinks along the way.

 

[Onmyoji]

I wouldn't say I worry to the point it affects my communicating with others, but I definitely worry that my replies are lackluster, that they are not long enough, that I'm not in character etc etc etc

I've been suffering from a writer's block for years, mostly because of irl issues completely blocking down my creativity. I literally could not write or do anything else creative for a while because my mind just went poof - and nothing happened except for staring at blank papers for hours.

So after I got back to writing I'm always worried my writing is dead and has no passion anymore. I still could not regain the freedom in writing I used to have before I stopped, but I feel like roleplaying on the whole is THE reason I'm starting to get it back. Yes, I worry a lot about my writing, but that is the thing that keeps pushing me forward, because I know someone out there is waiting for my replies. I realise that all replies can not be perfect, some will always be written better than the others and it's just something I need to accept. As long as my rp partners and I are all happy with the rp, it's the way to go even if some replies are not perfectly written in my eyes.

 

[Idea]

It depends on how you define "worrying". I am not afraid or anxious per se, but it is something I think about quite often and which is on my mind pretty much all the time.

To me, a key aspect of a good RPing experience has always been being able to RP without regrets. I don't want to feel like when I RP I am just killing time, or worse, wasting my time. I want to be able to look back at my work and feel pride at a job well done. Furthermore, this also helps me cope with ghosting: Because in all of my posts, characters and ideas I strive to make them worthwhile on their own, even if the story ultimately never goes anywhere there's less frustration as I don't end up thinking it was pointless. So when I write, I strive towards doing so in the best way I can, and to improve myself as a writer (because even if I'm not especially concerned with it, I'm quite aware that I am lacking in many respects), which naturally implies that I think about whether things are good enough or where I can improve it a lot.

Another thing to consider is my sense of duty. I am, with full awareness, a pretty demanding partner, and I make no secret of it. I don't usually stick around with people who only seem to me to be doing things half-hartedly or who can't live up to the standards I request. However, I have found many wonderful, amazing partners despite that, who not only are committed to our roleplay but can also be friendly, passionate and curious. Whenever someone delivers me a great post, especially someone like that, I think it's only natural to want even more to give them something worthwhile in return. If there is a time when I'm afraid my stuff may not be good enough, that would be it. Nonetheless, for me it's less that I think they wouldn't like it, and more that I myself don't feel like it is good enough yet. It still contributes to my freezes though...

And yeah. I think I had more to say, but it's honestly slipping my mind right now...oh well.

 

[Nenawa]

I roleplay to have fun first and foremost, not to judge myself harshly over the quality of my writing. Now it is valuable to be able to take a look at my writing and see how I could have done things better or been more descriptive or portrayed things more clearly, but it's not very helpful to beat myself up over it or feel stressed or anxious about it when it's something that I should be enjoying instead! Nor would I want to spend too much time worrying about what my RP partner thinks of my work, because if we're both being mature and communicating openly then I'm happy to hear their thoughts and take them to heart. And if they're being all elitist or judgy about my writing instead, well, those are the kinds of RP partners I prefer not to have in the first place.

The important thing for me is to know that I'm making an honest effort to do a good job with my writing, and if that means I fall short of perfection much of the time, that's ok! Roleplay and writing aren't my job, they're something I do to express myself and be creative and have fun! And I'd much prefer to keep it that way rather than be my own worst critic all the time.

 

[SpectrumCrow]

I'm very very self conscious and nervous about my writing in general, and I don't wanna disappoint my partners! I wanna break out of this fear and that's part of why I wanted to join this website! I'm still pretty nervous about everything but I think I'll get there soon. I'm still pretty crippled by the fear though and it makes it very hard to reach out to people.

 

[Crayons]

Thanks everyone for your replies and votes so far!

It depends on how you define "worrying". I am not afraid or anxious per se, but it is something I think about quite often and which is on my mind pretty much all the time.

To me, a key aspect of a good RPing experience has always been being able to RP without regrets. I don't want to feel like when I RP I am just killing time, or worse, wasting my time. I want to be able to look back at my work and feel pride at a job well done.

To clarify: I'm specifically after worrying about RP quality because of what other players will think. Wanting to level-up your writing, improve and grow, and being dissatisfied because of that is a different matter. And it's also a good thing, as long as it doesn't turn you into a nervous wreck. However feel free to add your thoughts on such things as well, because it's all interesting stuff.

For me, there's a big gap between how I feel about my RP writing, and my writing-writing. In terms of RP I don't really worry about it at all, unless I feel as though I haven't been able to communicate what I want, or I have a massive case of writers' block and leave the person hanging while my brain rejects the idea of replying. But writing my own work for publication, completely on my own without collaborators, makes me really anxious and afraid of rejection. If I'm writing with another person then I feel fine about it. In many ways its really limiting and I feel like I rely on the other person/s too much for my self-esteem. It's a big hurdle and I hope to get over it one day. RP feels much safer to me because no one aside from you and your RP partners/friends are going to be reading it, and they play for the enjoyment of participating, not consuming.

 

[Wyn]

My input is along the lines of an answer I gave to another thread about "anxiety with being the first poster". I think writing is a craft, and something that everyone knows about most artists is that we HATE sharing our stuff with others. Artists, no matter the type of art you practice, are very peculiar about the things we create. It doesn't help that people on here seem to have extremely high standards for writing. When I roleplay with someone, I pretty much put my everything into it. I'm talking about an hour or possibly more to just post ONE large post. I review and edit my post according to my own standards but yeah, if someone posted an amazingly detailed starter post, I get very weird and try to match their style as best as I can without losing too much of mine. I don't have high standards myself, but I know when I spend a lot of time writing my post and then get the most vague 3 sentences in existence, I'm not impressed. I think we all mirror our own expectations onto ourselves and worry about us being enough. Like we do with everything else.

 

[Shuusuke]

I'm pretty cautious when I make a post for an RP, meaning things like re-reading it multiple times and reviewing the rest of the thread to make sure I didn't contradict anything and so on, but I attribute that almost completely to me wanting to feel satisfied about what I just wrote. I don't consider my writing perfect by any means, and I'm quite aware of my usual shortcomings, but I feel like I'm enough of a reason to worry about that. If other people have an issue with what I'm writing, I hope they bring it up in OOC, that's about it. I can't/won't lose sleep over something they don't bring up.

 

[silvercharizard]

Pretty damn worried honestly. I haven't had a partner stay past like 3 posts and one of my worries is that I'm a terrible writer

 

[Crayons]

I don't have high standards myself, but I know when I spend a lot of time writing my post and then get the most vague 3 sentences in existence, I'm not impressed. I think we all mirror our own expectations onto ourselves and worry about us being enough. Like we do with everything else.

You say "we all" but survey results suggest that most people don't. I'm glad that most people have chosen option 2 on the survey because that is the one I feel like we should all aim for. Not disregarding your partner's opinion completely, but taking it into consideration, and having a healthy confidence in your RP writing.

No one likes writing deep and meaningful posts with lots of detail and getting phoned-in responses. Time to dump those partners that don't contribute equally! (To whatever your preferred standard/style is)

 

[Crayons]

Pretty damn worried honestly. I haven't had a partner stay past like 3 posts and one of my worries is that I'm a terrible writer

This is usually because people are flaky rather than anything personal. Keep trying!

 

[Anarchin]

I'm constantly pretty worried about what I write. I wish I could break from this fear that I have that my posts may not live to the expectations of my partner.

Unfortunately however the fear continues to live to the point that I developed even fear of starting roleplaying. I'm hoping that in the future to manage to overcome my shyness and fear and actually get enough courage to start looking for role play partners get some amazing adventures written down.

 

[silvercharizard]

This is usually because people are flaky rather than anything personal. Keep trying!

I'm trying but I've been looking for 2 years overall and still nothing. It's really disheartening and makes me want to quit.

 

[nios]

I'm sorry if this is off topic but I just hate writing long character sheets- especially when it comes to the personality and biography/background section. My writing has never been strong enough in those areas and that has caused me to not be accepted into groups or I don't get the role I applied for, which just happened to me this morning. It's just so disappointing and feel so discouraged to join groups because my writing must be that bad. I often look at other people's sheet and upon doing that I know for a fact that my sheet is just terrible and I won't be accepted.
I'm not bashing on the group I was trying to join. The people are so nice and encouraging, but I feel like I was not good enough to be that role. My in-character roleplay writing isn't that bad. I know I can have room for improvement, but still.. What if groups asked people to include a paragraph or two about how they roleplay- like roleplay as your character.

 

[Nenawa]

N nios Just because other people spend a lot of time writing a long character sheet, have more practice with them, or have one already filled out from using their character in previous roleplays, that doesn't make you a weak writer!

I know from experience how disheartening it can be to not get accepted to a group, but all anyone can do is put their best work out there, let it speak for itself, and hope that it really captures the attention of those who are viewing it. And sometimes objectively speaking you might come up with a fine piece of writing which clearly shows that you would be wonderful for a role, yet you might still end up being overlooked or disregarded due to whatever personal biases or preferences those other people might have. That's not your fault though!

The important thing is that you put your writing out there and took a stab at it. And even when you write something that ends up resulting in a "failed" roleplay or application, that's still a chance for you to practice your writing skills and hone your craft. So please try not to let it discourage you too much! There'll be other groups and other roleplays too

 

[Crayons]

I'm sorry if this is off topic but I just hate writing long character sheets- especially when it comes to the personality and biography/background section. My writing has never been strong enough in those areas and that has caused me to not be accepted into groups or I don't get the role I applied for, which just happened to me this morning. It's just so disappointing and feel so discouraged to join groups because my writing must be that bad. I often look at other people's sheet and upon doing that I know for a fact that my sheet is just terrible and I won't be accepted.
I'm not bashing on the group I was trying to join. The people are so nice and encouraging, but I feel like I was not good enough to be that role. My in-character roleplay writing isn't that bad. I know I can have room for improvement, but still.. What if groups asked people to include a paragraph or two about how they roleplay- like roleplay as your character.

I totally get this. I really don't see why the "super long character sheet" is a thing. I spent about two years on another RP site where every RP expected a huge long character sheet in order to "make sure people were really invested in the RP" and then died either before the RP got started or after the first or second round of posting. It became a really frustrating experience, because you came out with an overly-developed character that you had boxed yourself into with no room to change and grow ... and didn't get any RP. Whereas by contrast, the site I mainly RP on now requires only super basic character profiles, with no obligation to write anything, and yet has led to some of the best RP I've had. I've been on there for over two years and still going.

The whole idea of character sheet approval is almost inevitably going to make you feel like you're not good enough or conversely that you're joining some kind of "elite" when really that's not what RPing is about. I understand why GMs use CSes, and I've used it myself before when recruiting for RPs. But I think extremely detailed sheets are pointless and even counter-productive.

 

[Zachy1993]

I worry all the time and it was made worse with an experience where I was told that my writing made this guy 'wanna claw his eyes out' end quote.
I already have very little faith in myself and that just made it worse.

Sometimes I'm sooo jealous of other writers and I put myself down too from comparing myself to them so much.

 

[Stale Biscuit]

Used to worry a lot about my writing when I first started out. Always wondered if it was good enough, did I add enough detail here, did I explain my character's action thoroughly, am I being to forceful? Constantly second guessed myself, sometime I felt that rping was a little too draining. Eventually I came to realize that this is a hobby and not a career, so I could be a little easy on myself. If my writing isn't compatible with someone else, I used to think it was because my writing was shitty, but sometimes your style just doesn't fit well with others. Whether it be because you write too much or you think they write to little or you/they just can't get invested in the way you/they tell a story, all of that's normal and it's okay. When I learned that, I started becoming more chill when it came to rping.

Today, I still worry a bit about what I'm writing because I'm seekin' to give my partner quality, but other than that I just post what I think is acceptable and move on. Now, I do get embarrassed when I miss a word or have some typos, but it ain't nothing a little read over can't fix. Just got to write what you want and have fun doing it.

 

[BackSet]

I don't worry too much. Sometimes my posts are bad. Sometimes they're good (I'd like to think they're oftentimes good). They use mostly proper grammar, the spelling is mostly correct, and at least 88% of the time they have substance.

But then sometimes I write like this:



Most of the time I'm good though. And I've been told I'm not terrible.