Elle Joyner
Fracturer of Fairytales
It's easy, in roleplaying especially, to fall into that as a habit. It just makes for a more interesting read if you show the reader what they're feeling, rather than just flat out telling it and it certainly will bulk up your posts, but in a -good- way. I think our minds tell us the longer a post the better it is, but in the end a bunch of nonsense is a bunch of nonsense, and no one wants to read that. What you should shoot for is -quality- more than quantity. If you can do -both-... great... but you can say a LOT in a little, too.
Think of it like body building... You can take a bunch of steroids and drink nothing but protein shakes until you look like Arnold in his good days... but if you take your time, really create the shape you want, eat healthy and exercise daily, you'll not only look great, but you'll FEEL great on the inside.
If you write a bunch of adjectives that may or may not fit the scene/character/setting, jam in some clever prose, sure... your post'll be longer but in the end folks are probably gonna skim through it for the important stuff. But if you take your time, REALLY work on the scene you -want- to tell, add in only what needs to be there and get behind your characterization, people will actually enjoy reading what you've written.
And I cannot stress enough, because I'm horrified at how little I see it done... proof reading. Before you even -think- about hitting "Post Reply" you should read through your post not once, but several times...spelling, grammar, repetitive words, awkward structuring - these can all be glaring bumps in what otherwise might be a smooth road. If you have dialogue, say it outloud - if it sounds awkward to you, it's going to read awkward. How do real people talk? That's how dialogue should go... If your descriptions don't make you visualize something pertaining to the character/scene/plot, then rewrite them until they do. If you've got squiggly red lines all over your post, right click that spell check, baby. Are your 'your, you're, there, their, they're' words all in line ? Is your tense or perspective consistent? Then click away. If not... Take the time to fix it. Your RP partner will thank you and in the end you'll be much happier with the post and your writing in general.
Will mistakes happen? Will something slip by? Sure. That's life - and we aren't all paid professional editors... but as long as you make the effort to put out your absolute best, you will not regret it.
Think of it like body building... You can take a bunch of steroids and drink nothing but protein shakes until you look like Arnold in his good days... but if you take your time, really create the shape you want, eat healthy and exercise daily, you'll not only look great, but you'll FEEL great on the inside.
If you write a bunch of adjectives that may or may not fit the scene/character/setting, jam in some clever prose, sure... your post'll be longer but in the end folks are probably gonna skim through it for the important stuff. But if you take your time, REALLY work on the scene you -want- to tell, add in only what needs to be there and get behind your characterization, people will actually enjoy reading what you've written.
And I cannot stress enough, because I'm horrified at how little I see it done... proof reading. Before you even -think- about hitting "Post Reply" you should read through your post not once, but several times...spelling, grammar, repetitive words, awkward structuring - these can all be glaring bumps in what otherwise might be a smooth road. If you have dialogue, say it outloud - if it sounds awkward to you, it's going to read awkward. How do real people talk? That's how dialogue should go... If your descriptions don't make you visualize something pertaining to the character/scene/plot, then rewrite them until they do. If you've got squiggly red lines all over your post, right click that spell check, baby. Are your 'your, you're, there, their, they're' words all in line ? Is your tense or perspective consistent? Then click away. If not... Take the time to fix it. Your RP partner will thank you and in the end you'll be much happier with the post and your writing in general.
Will mistakes happen? Will something slip by? Sure. That's life - and we aren't all paid professional editors... but as long as you make the effort to put out your absolute best, you will not regret it.
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it SHOULD take time to write a post. Posts that are churned out like a Matel assembly lines making Barbies... they're sloppy, ugly things that are, more often than not, virtually impossible to respond to in more than a few powerless words. You end up writing things that don't have anything to do with the storyline or your character just to fill a post, and in the end it reads like prattle.
