FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
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One x One The Edge of Living
- Thread starter FloatingAroundSpace
- Start date
HeyGayzelle
Member
@FloatingAroundSpace
So I have a slightly more fleshed out version of those character profiles from earlier posted up, though it still needs work. I went with a more generic bio section instead of personality features. I appreciate the relatively extensive profiles on your end since they provide a pretty broad picture of the kind of people that exist in this world, but I find that getting too invested in my own interpretation of a character's identity before it's had any outlet for interaction can be a dangerous habit for me, personally. The direction that a more extensive profile provides can be very helpful, but I'm also a bit of a believer in using RP as a venue to have certain aspects of a character's identity "come to life" spontaneously by having moments of interaction inform their creation.
On that same note, that's sort of why I've omitted sexuality and gender labels at this point. I'm definitely not the type of person who's going to assume that literally every character cleanly fits into some heteronormative standard and chances are some of my characters will be queer, but for a similar reasons that I mentioned above, I find that invoking a particular label too early on can sometimes feel more limiting than helpful. Sexuality and gender are definitely topics that I consider and I think that I can address thoughtfully in-character, but I prefer to give it more thought after I have a more holistic sense of what a given character is like. Also there's the fact that the speculative nature of SF/Fantasy settings can often affect sexuality and gender in universe-specific ways. For example, Samuel Delany's Aye, and Gomorrah explores questions of gender and sexual non-conformity by having a caste of androgynous space-laborers who are neutered before puberty to resist the radiation of space. Naturally, I understand why gender identity is important to mention since that informs the prose. But as far as sexuality goes, I generally find that I address those details more authentically when I leave it relatively open early on unless I am writing characters specifically as a pair or couple.
That being said, I'm not really evasive at all about addressing LGBTQ topics in the context of an RP, so please don't interpret this as a lack of interest or thought in the subject matter. It's actually a subject that hits rather close to home for me. And one of the consequences of that is that I feel keenly aware of contemporary sexual orientation and gender identity categories as these hyper-abstract social constructions that probably wouldn't translate cleanly into a hypothetical future society that may be one or two paradigm shifts removed from the modern day regarding how they look at sexuality in general. But the question of what that paradigm might be poses this enormous question that is way too difficult to address in a 1x1 RP. I am very much down to have a sexually and gender diverse cast of characters, but in some sense, I personally find that it can be helpful to step away from modern-day assumptions wherein terms like "straight" and "gay" are sometimes treated as these rigid demarcation lines that separate two ontologically distinct classes of people.
So I have a slightly more fleshed out version of those character profiles from earlier posted up, though it still needs work. I went with a more generic bio section instead of personality features. I appreciate the relatively extensive profiles on your end since they provide a pretty broad picture of the kind of people that exist in this world, but I find that getting too invested in my own interpretation of a character's identity before it's had any outlet for interaction can be a dangerous habit for me, personally. The direction that a more extensive profile provides can be very helpful, but I'm also a bit of a believer in using RP as a venue to have certain aspects of a character's identity "come to life" spontaneously by having moments of interaction inform their creation.
On that same note, that's sort of why I've omitted sexuality and gender labels at this point. I'm definitely not the type of person who's going to assume that literally every character cleanly fits into some heteronormative standard and chances are some of my characters will be queer, but for a similar reasons that I mentioned above, I find that invoking a particular label too early on can sometimes feel more limiting than helpful. Sexuality and gender are definitely topics that I consider and I think that I can address thoughtfully in-character, but I prefer to give it more thought after I have a more holistic sense of what a given character is like. Also there's the fact that the speculative nature of SF/Fantasy settings can often affect sexuality and gender in universe-specific ways. For example, Samuel Delany's Aye, and Gomorrah explores questions of gender and sexual non-conformity by having a caste of androgynous space-laborers who are neutered before puberty to resist the radiation of space. Naturally, I understand why gender identity is important to mention since that informs the prose. But as far as sexuality goes, I generally find that I address those details more authentically when I leave it relatively open early on unless I am writing characters specifically as a pair or couple.
That being said, I'm not really evasive at all about addressing LGBTQ topics in the context of an RP, so please don't interpret this as a lack of interest or thought in the subject matter. It's actually a subject that hits rather close to home for me. And one of the consequences of that is that I feel keenly aware of contemporary sexual orientation and gender identity categories as these hyper-abstract social constructions that probably wouldn't translate cleanly into a hypothetical future society that may be one or two paradigm shifts removed from the modern day regarding how they look at sexuality in general. But the question of what that paradigm might be poses this enormous question that is way too difficult to address in a 1x1 RP. I am very much down to have a sexually and gender diverse cast of characters, but in some sense, I personally find that it can be helpful to step away from modern-day assumptions wherein terms like "straight" and "gay" are sometimes treated as these rigid demarcation lines that separate two ontologically distinct classes of people.
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FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
@HeyGayzelle
The CS are mostly for my own benefit so I don't end up omitting information that I put into another's bio unless it is pertinent to the plot. Usually, I forgo bios for the reason that I'd prefer characters to discover each other through interactions and maybe hints here and there. You can do layouts however you want; I honestly don't have major preference unless I need clarification.
On the note of gender/sexuality, it's been something that I've used not so much for any LGBT+ broadcasting reasons, like slapping on a sticker of "inclusion" so much as for my own peace of mind. I tend to put them there simply because there are no other outlets for me to see people that are queer, what with mainstream media being so saturated with the classic stories of heterosexual-white-cis-heavily implied Christian love stories and triangles and the whole shabang. My foray into the LGBT+ community and ultimately my own sexuality and gender was done very recently and in an environment that was not conducive to doing so in an open manner, so RPing is usually how I have my "conversations" on them or at least interactions and a sense of normalcy, that these people do exist in some vein somewhere and can live their lives.
Gender is really just for pronouns for me, so I can clarify any that may not be the normal she/he. I don't predict sexuality/gender cropping up in this RP very much outside of romance that may/may not happen so it's just my usual CS and the way things are usually set up in all my RPs. Sexuality/gender are not huge parts of my characters and I do my best not to make it a focus unless the situation calls for it in the form of trauma or bullying. Even then, I tend to keep it sparse, since that is a sensitive subject.
Personally, I see a need for terms in modern day (at least for now) for the simple reason that mainstream society still has a great big problem with anything deviating from the "norm", so to speak so we have to characterize it somehow. I understand many people not wanting labels and I agree, they can be stifling and I would love to live in a world where someone can love whoever they want and no one raises an eyebrow at it. I mean, that's the goal and dream for everyone who's been told that what they feel isn't "right" or that they are this or that. The SJW who do that sort of gate-keeping thing, where you have to be this or that, that your label has to be this, are eternally frustrating to me because of the simple reason that life is fluid and so are humans. It's a very new field and part of our lives that no one's really explored before, so a lot of things assumptions are floating around and a lot of people are still grasping what they are, what these terms mean, and what humans are really like in terms of sexuality and gender identity. Hell, I never heard the word "gay" or "homosexual" until I was in high school because of where and who I lived with. I think I heard the term bisexual when Lady GaGa was just breaking onto the scene but never really grasped the concept all that well.
I use the blanket term "queer" when speaking about anyone who is not cis gender or heterosexual, by the way. LGBT+ is also a term I use. I know a lot of people (or at least a sizeable amount) don't like queer so I can always use a different term.
The CS are mostly for my own benefit so I don't end up omitting information that I put into another's bio unless it is pertinent to the plot. Usually, I forgo bios for the reason that I'd prefer characters to discover each other through interactions and maybe hints here and there. You can do layouts however you want; I honestly don't have major preference unless I need clarification.
On the note of gender/sexuality, it's been something that I've used not so much for any LGBT+ broadcasting reasons, like slapping on a sticker of "inclusion" so much as for my own peace of mind. I tend to put them there simply because there are no other outlets for me to see people that are queer, what with mainstream media being so saturated with the classic stories of heterosexual-white-cis-heavily implied Christian love stories and triangles and the whole shabang. My foray into the LGBT+ community and ultimately my own sexuality and gender was done very recently and in an environment that was not conducive to doing so in an open manner, so RPing is usually how I have my "conversations" on them or at least interactions and a sense of normalcy, that these people do exist in some vein somewhere and can live their lives.
Gender is really just for pronouns for me, so I can clarify any that may not be the normal she/he. I don't predict sexuality/gender cropping up in this RP very much outside of romance that may/may not happen so it's just my usual CS and the way things are usually set up in all my RPs. Sexuality/gender are not huge parts of my characters and I do my best not to make it a focus unless the situation calls for it in the form of trauma or bullying. Even then, I tend to keep it sparse, since that is a sensitive subject.
Personally, I see a need for terms in modern day (at least for now) for the simple reason that mainstream society still has a great big problem with anything deviating from the "norm", so to speak so we have to characterize it somehow. I understand many people not wanting labels and I agree, they can be stifling and I would love to live in a world where someone can love whoever they want and no one raises an eyebrow at it. I mean, that's the goal and dream for everyone who's been told that what they feel isn't "right" or that they are this or that. The SJW who do that sort of gate-keeping thing, where you have to be this or that, that your label has to be this, are eternally frustrating to me because of the simple reason that life is fluid and so are humans. It's a very new field and part of our lives that no one's really explored before, so a lot of things assumptions are floating around and a lot of people are still grasping what they are, what these terms mean, and what humans are really like in terms of sexuality and gender identity. Hell, I never heard the word "gay" or "homosexual" until I was in high school because of where and who I lived with. I think I heard the term bisexual when Lady GaGa was just breaking onto the scene but never really grasped the concept all that well.
I use the blanket term "queer" when speaking about anyone who is not cis gender or heterosexual, by the way. LGBT+ is also a term I use. I know a lot of people (or at least a sizeable amount) don't like queer so I can always use a different term.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Oh yeah, I totally agree with the need to utilize the terms in a modern context, as they are a very important way of calling attention towards the experiences of people that tend to be overlooked. And in that sense, this also ties into contemporary fiction-world wherein stories about those dominant perspectives typically overshadow others. Still, the underlying social dynamics that created the need for these specific labels are very much grounded in response to 20th-21st century discourse about sexuality. I just figured I'd bring it up because the question of what the social conversation about gender and sexuality would look like in the 22nd or 23rd century what have you is this enormous question that would probably take a ton of thought and foresight to unpack with care. Frankly, it's the sort of topic that would fare better as the big question of a given work and not just being one aspect of the world.
But you know, like I said, I'm very big on having LGBT/queer (frankly, I'm fine with either term) perspectives represented within fiction, so I'm totally on board with doing that here. I am totally cool with having it be a significant element of a character's life experience, or just a relatively innocuous characteristic that is present, but doesn't tie heavily into their role in the story. LGBT representation in fiction is sort of a topic of interest for me and I occasionally might have a bit to say, but I actually am pretty easygoing about this topic. It's not like I'll get upset at anyone who has a different opinion or point of view so long as they're approaching the topic with sincerity and respect.
But speaking of the RP, would you be interested in starting off with a "prologue" scene of sorts where we can establish some atmosphere/scenery/characters without being immediately concerned with seamlessly tying it into the next scene?
But you know, like I said, I'm very big on having LGBT/queer (frankly, I'm fine with either term) perspectives represented within fiction, so I'm totally on board with doing that here. I am totally cool with having it be a significant element of a character's life experience, or just a relatively innocuous characteristic that is present, but doesn't tie heavily into their role in the story. LGBT representation in fiction is sort of a topic of interest for me and I occasionally might have a bit to say, but I actually am pretty easygoing about this topic. It's not like I'll get upset at anyone who has a different opinion or point of view so long as they're approaching the topic with sincerity and respect.
But speaking of the RP, would you be interested in starting off with a "prologue" scene of sorts where we can establish some atmosphere/scenery/characters without being immediately concerned with seamlessly tying it into the next scene?
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FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Yeah, I was assuming that since this was an RP, we didn't have to examine or create any social structures at the moment, since our main focus is on people's reactions to the Other and the frightening equality and peacefulness they were then faced with.
I have a few characters I plan on introducing later, if that's fine with you, unless you want me to put all of them up at this point? I could do a prologue of my current characters, something about them going about their daily routines and do some rough background in the form of flashbacks and memories.
I have a few characters I plan on introducing later, if that's fine with you, unless you want me to put all of them up at this point? I could do a prologue of my current characters, something about them going about their daily routines and do some rough background in the form of flashbacks and memories.
HeyGayzelle
Member
I would be fine if you wanted to make incremental additions and changes to the character sheets over time. I don't see any particular need to begin with all of that set in stone since there really isn't any way to focus on all of them within a short span of time. It's not like I anticipate the story moving so fast that it outpaces our ability to put out new characters as needed.
I don't know if the prologue needs to take the form of a quasi-historical synopsis or something. If we wanted to, we could have sort of a low-key scene where two characters sort of make small talk somewhere in the city or slums. If it manages to segue smoothly into the rest of the story, great, but if not, we'll at least have gotten a little bit of experience finding our feet with the writing style and scenery and such.
I don't know if the prologue needs to take the form of a quasi-historical synopsis or something. If we wanted to, we could have sort of a low-key scene where two characters sort of make small talk somewhere in the city or slums. If it manages to segue smoothly into the rest of the story, great, but if not, we'll at least have gotten a little bit of experience finding our feet with the writing style and scenery and such.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Alright, that sort of falls into a "daily routine" sort of post, where the characters just go about their day how they usually do, with the surroundings and where they live.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Yeah, you're right. I noticed that in the original post, but wasn't sure whether you meant that you intended to essentially put out a self-contained intro post for a character, or whether we were going to have a short in-character exchange with two of our characters. I was thinking more of the latter and I didn't know whether that's what you also had in mind.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Either or works for me. I could start with a character going through their daily routine and then meeting up with yours to have a conversation about what's going on in the world.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Sounds good. Maybe something like an early nighttime scene in the outer rim slums might lend itself to some good foreshadowing at least since we can have this desolate post-apoc atmosphere juxtaposed with the image of the city in the background.
I'm pretty confident that I have enough direction to do this, but I might experiment a little bit in the beginning as I try to zero in on the style that I want to commit to. Feel free to let me know if anything I write contradicts any of the ideas you have for the setting or characters.
Also on that note, I do a lot of multitasking and while I'm confident I can commit to this, I might sometimes wait until I can find a clear-headed moment to continue an exchange.
I'm pretty confident that I have enough direction to do this, but I might experiment a little bit in the beginning as I try to zero in on the style that I want to commit to. Feel free to let me know if anything I write contradicts any of the ideas you have for the setting or characters.
Also on that note, I do a lot of multitasking and while I'm confident I can commit to this, I might sometimes wait until I can find a clear-headed moment to continue an exchange.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Yeah, maybe some of the guards talking amongst themselves as they wind down for the night or exchange shifts or something.
I have quite a few RPs going on as well, so I just go to whichever one I feel like may flow the best. Right now, I'm going to go eat something and then get back to throw something up.
I have quite a few RPs going on as well, so I just go to whichever one I feel like may flow the best. Right now, I'm going to go eat something and then get back to throw something up.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Okay, well no rush or anything. I believe I should be comfortable jumping into just about any scene like that. I understand that some aspects of this RP might benefit from giving it some time, so no sweat if you find yourself occupied with some other RP that's flowing a bit better at the moment.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Alright so I threw something up. Hopefully open-ended enough for you to jump in.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Cool, I think I should be able to jump into this. I'm going to wait until I have more of a free moment to make a response, but I'm pretty confident I'll have something up today at the very least.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Got a post up and just decided to draft out a new character specifically for this scene since I didn't have any particularly strong ideas for using the characters I put out earlier. Feel free to ask me if there are any other details you would like for the purpose of direction.
Name: Alexei Yevdokimov
Age: 38
Occupation: Guard
I dig the writing style of the first post, but I might have trouble reciprocating longer posts with regularity if I'm busy with something else. For me, those posts can require a longer period of uninterrupted focus and often all I can get are numerous small moments. I do think your style is really suitable for painting an evocative picture of the technology without getting tied up in its specific mechanical or functional details though and that's a cue I'll probably try to follow. But yeah, I find that post lengths tend to shorten a bit once we're exchanging dialog. I don't get hung up on strict word counts or anything personally, but I'll do what I can to keep it substantial.
Also just going to note that I've mostly done RPs in third-person present tense on this site until this point. I totally agree that the more "novelistic" tone of third-person past tense is more suitable for this RP, but I might make a tense mistake here or there since it's just kind of an instinctual, heuristic thing for me at this point.
Name: Alexei Yevdokimov
Age: 38
Occupation: Guard
I dig the writing style of the first post, but I might have trouble reciprocating longer posts with regularity if I'm busy with something else. For me, those posts can require a longer period of uninterrupted focus and often all I can get are numerous small moments. I do think your style is really suitable for painting an evocative picture of the technology without getting tied up in its specific mechanical or functional details though and that's a cue I'll probably try to follow. But yeah, I find that post lengths tend to shorten a bit once we're exchanging dialog. I don't get hung up on strict word counts or anything personally, but I'll do what I can to keep it substantial.
Also just going to note that I've mostly done RPs in third-person present tense on this site until this point. I totally agree that the more "novelistic" tone of third-person past tense is more suitable for this RP, but I might make a tense mistake here or there since it's just kind of an instinctual, heuristic thing for me at this point.
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FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Yeah, no I get it. After the first post, things go way downhill for me in terms of length. There may be some that are longer than others if it contains thoughts and a lot of decision making but usually, my first post is the longest and most tend to be shorter. So long as there's something to respond to, I won't throw a fit. If there are several one-liners in a row not in a dialogue scene or an action scene, I will get somewhat bored.
Alright, noted! I won't be too big on that unless I get very confused over actions.
I'll probably throw up a post by tonight.
Alright, noted! I won't be too big on that unless I get very confused over actions.
I'll probably throw up a post by tonight.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Cool, I'll keep an eye out. And yeah, I believe that I have a pretty good eye for striking a compromise between brevity and content when I need to. Moments of sparser dialog provide a good opportunity to flesh out scenery elements and provide other points of interest beyond just what the characters are literally saying. And just as a general rule, I try to pretty much never skimp out on something significant like transitioning to a new scene or introducing a new character.
Glad to see that things are coming along though. I'm interested to see where we can go with this idea.
Glad to see that things are coming along though. I'm interested to see where we can go with this idea.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Just to clarify Alexei came in from the city?
HeyGayzelle
Member
Edit: Actually I misinterpreted this, he came in from the slums.
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FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
I'm assuming that guards even off duty are "expected" to keep the peace and are allowed to use some form of force when things appear to go awry.
HeyGayzelle
Member
Yeah, I would imagine that they would be permitted to in practice just because they would often have little oversight. But just in case there was any ambiguity on my part though, Alexei is also a guard. I can roll with it if need be, but I might not have my post up until tomorrow.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Alright, just wanted to be sure I wasn't assuming things. I couldn't tell if you were implying that there were guards that went around the city that were separate from those who were stationed at the wall, or they all did the same jobs just at different times.
HeyGayzelle
Member
I can go with either interpretation. I figured that at the very least, some task force from the inner areas makes their way through the slums at least on occasion, even if it's not the same organization that these two characters are from. Maybe authority figures from the inner areas come through for arrests and such with some degree of regularity, but perhaps they're not even nominally obligated to regard outer rim dwellers as having the same rights as full citizens.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
That makes sense, yeah. Just to scare the kiddies every now and then.
FloatingAroundSpace
Three Thousand Club
Alright, so something about my updating schedule; I do my best to aim for at least once per day. I can't give you any concrete answers besides that; sometimes I take a day to respond, sometimes I get hit with inspiration and take like fifteen minutes. It all depends. There's no pressure on my end for you to throw up x amount of posts in so long so don't worry if my speed is somewhat... alarming.
