Post by Sayum on Aug 24, 2010 14:53:33 GMT -5
001. Character Thoughts & Words
When your character speaks, they don't speak in monotone. When writing what your character says, add something to it. For example...
Don't write out speech like this:
"I'm having a bad day," said Riley.
Instead, add some flare to it,
Riley glanced up at her with half closed eyes, his body slumping against the wall in defeat. "I'm having a bad day," he mumbled.
The same applies to when a character is thinking. Sometimes they have mental eye rolls, and often times, they also express something on the outside despite the words only being in their head.
For example:
‘I'm having a bad day.’ Riley thought.
Instead, show something extra to express this.
‘I'm having a bad day.’ Riley thought as he collapsed onto his bed, his clothes drenched from the rainfall that followed him home.
002. Character Perfection
So, we all want our characters to be amazing. We all want to have our characters just embrace perfection a little too tightly. No, I don't. Some people seem to, but I certainly don't. A character without flaws is like snowstorm without snow. Yes, that's right. There is no snowstorm without snow. Just as, there is no character without flaws. If your character is without flaws, you might as well play a super powered rock. In fact, that would be unique so it might even be cooler.
So, when is your character -too- perfect? Well, everyone has a weakness. No one knows what other people are thinking. No one knows who another person is until they get to know them.
Starting with weaknesses. Let's say we have Max. Max has maximum power, maximum good looks, and... maximum popularity. Max is, well, perfect. His eyes are a clear blue, his face is without a scar, his hair is perfect as soon as he gets out of bed. In fact, he doesn't even shower because, he just smells AMAZING no matter what happens to him. Max annoys other characters with flaws, because they feel they need to punch him, but, their fist would do no good against Max's force field like skin, or his fast reflexes and even faster ability to escape all danger before he even knows it's there.
So, we have Cole who is clumsy, silly and not powerful at all. Cole isn't like Max at all. If he gets attacked, he falls over. But, here's the catch. Cole has this cute face that makes anyone feel sorry for him. Unlike with Max, who is cool and respected, Cole is just simply cute. Now, Cole is way more interesting to both work with, and to manage around other characters. Cole walks up to a pretty girl and fumbles over his words. The girl has something to react to to this aside from expected adoration. She might giggle at him, but she warms up to him fast.
Now, said girl then runs into Max, who thinks HEY I'm better than Cole. I'm perfect. Everyone loves perfect *throws in random wind and hair toss*. Said girl would be afraid of Max. I know I would. His perfection might be blinding. Cole would run and hide and the girl would follow. See who wins?
OK silly story aside, seriously. Perfect characters are annoying.
No one knows what other people are thinking. This is the type of thing perfect characters often have. Mind reading. No matter if they ACTUALLY have this ability, they SEEM to have it. They know what everyone around them is thinking, somehow. Oh, but they dont know EXACTLY what is on their mind. But, they can, however, SENSE exactly who this person is.
For example, Max walks up to Cole. He glances him over once, and has analyzed that Cole is weak spirited, but still gets along with everyone, and he is no threat to anyone. Max analyzes this, and passes by. What was Cole doing? He was simply sitting down on a bench. Max is so good.
NOW to the person RPing Cole, can you imagine how annoyed they are? They couldn't EXPRESS Cole, because, hey, the owner of Max did it all for them. Cole is then left miserable because, well, Max stole his identity.
Perfect characters suck the fun out of everything. Everyone needs to make mistakes, have many flaws, or a few very strong ones and everyone needs to allow other characters to develop without giving them away.
003. Formatting
The best way to format an RP? Is to space things out. If you leave all the text jumbled together it will get annoying very quickly for readers. How do you do this? Simple.
Description Paragraph
(insert space here)
"talkingTalkingtalking"
(insert space here)
"moretalking"
So, it looks like this:
Max was walking to the park one day, his hands pressed in his pockets, the moonlight elegantly showing every feathering of his hair as a light breeze swirled around him. Max loved the night, after all, it was in his nature. It made him darker, more mysterious. Max loved feeling that way. Everyone else seemed to love it, as well.
"What a nice night, huh?" Cole sputtered beside him. He was a little out of breath, clearly from running.
"Yeah, sure," Max said with his usual dark charm hovering in his words.
So...spacing! It helps the eyes of viewers!
When your character speaks, they don't speak in monotone. When writing what your character says, add something to it. For example...
Don't write out speech like this:
"I'm having a bad day," said Riley.
Instead, add some flare to it,
Riley glanced up at her with half closed eyes, his body slumping against the wall in defeat. "I'm having a bad day," he mumbled.
The same applies to when a character is thinking. Sometimes they have mental eye rolls, and often times, they also express something on the outside despite the words only being in their head.
For example:
‘I'm having a bad day.’ Riley thought.
Instead, show something extra to express this.
‘I'm having a bad day.’ Riley thought as he collapsed onto his bed, his clothes drenched from the rainfall that followed him home.
002. Character Perfection
So, we all want our characters to be amazing. We all want to have our characters just embrace perfection a little too tightly. No, I don't. Some people seem to, but I certainly don't. A character without flaws is like snowstorm without snow. Yes, that's right. There is no snowstorm without snow. Just as, there is no character without flaws. If your character is without flaws, you might as well play a super powered rock. In fact, that would be unique so it might even be cooler.
So, when is your character -too- perfect? Well, everyone has a weakness. No one knows what other people are thinking. No one knows who another person is until they get to know them.
Starting with weaknesses. Let's say we have Max. Max has maximum power, maximum good looks, and... maximum popularity. Max is, well, perfect. His eyes are a clear blue, his face is without a scar, his hair is perfect as soon as he gets out of bed. In fact, he doesn't even shower because, he just smells AMAZING no matter what happens to him. Max annoys other characters with flaws, because they feel they need to punch him, but, their fist would do no good against Max's force field like skin, or his fast reflexes and even faster ability to escape all danger before he even knows it's there.
So, we have Cole who is clumsy, silly and not powerful at all. Cole isn't like Max at all. If he gets attacked, he falls over. But, here's the catch. Cole has this cute face that makes anyone feel sorry for him. Unlike with Max, who is cool and respected, Cole is just simply cute. Now, Cole is way more interesting to both work with, and to manage around other characters. Cole walks up to a pretty girl and fumbles over his words. The girl has something to react to to this aside from expected adoration. She might giggle at him, but she warms up to him fast.
Now, said girl then runs into Max, who thinks HEY I'm better than Cole. I'm perfect. Everyone loves perfect *throws in random wind and hair toss*. Said girl would be afraid of Max. I know I would. His perfection might be blinding. Cole would run and hide and the girl would follow. See who wins?
OK silly story aside, seriously. Perfect characters are annoying.
No one knows what other people are thinking. This is the type of thing perfect characters often have. Mind reading. No matter if they ACTUALLY have this ability, they SEEM to have it. They know what everyone around them is thinking, somehow. Oh, but they dont know EXACTLY what is on their mind. But, they can, however, SENSE exactly who this person is.
For example, Max walks up to Cole. He glances him over once, and has analyzed that Cole is weak spirited, but still gets along with everyone, and he is no threat to anyone. Max analyzes this, and passes by. What was Cole doing? He was simply sitting down on a bench. Max is so good.
NOW to the person RPing Cole, can you imagine how annoyed they are? They couldn't EXPRESS Cole, because, hey, the owner of Max did it all for them. Cole is then left miserable because, well, Max stole his identity.
Perfect characters suck the fun out of everything. Everyone needs to make mistakes, have many flaws, or a few very strong ones and everyone needs to allow other characters to develop without giving them away.
003. Formatting
The best way to format an RP? Is to space things out. If you leave all the text jumbled together it will get annoying very quickly for readers. How do you do this? Simple.
Description Paragraph
(insert space here)
"talkingTalkingtalking"
(insert space here)
"moretalking"
So, it looks like this:
Max was walking to the park one day, his hands pressed in his pockets, the moonlight elegantly showing every feathering of his hair as a light breeze swirled around him. Max loved the night, after all, it was in his nature. It made him darker, more mysterious. Max loved feeling that way. Everyone else seemed to love it, as well.
"What a nice night, huh?" Cole sputtered beside him. He was a little out of breath, clearly from running.
"Yeah, sure," Max said with his usual dark charm hovering in his words.
So...spacing! It helps the eyes of viewers!