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Post by Elizabeth [Dawn] Saunders on Oct 8, 2007 14:08:08 GMT -5
Role play help
Well, firstly I'd like to say that if you have problems writing quite long posts, I wouldn't be staying here. This is a serious role play site, not a one line site where you can write two words and that's it. This site you actually need to put time and effort into your posts. And also, this is not a sentence
Melody walked into the room.
Defiantly not. If you think you will get away with that on this site think again, also I know I might seem a bit rude by the way I am writing this but I'm just getting straight to the point. If you want to be a part of this site you need to add detail and description to every sentence. What was Melody doing as she walked into the room, other than walking? Was she thinking about something? Playing with her hair? Feeling any emotions at the time? Add that to your sentence to make it more descriptive.
Melody walked into the room as she ran her fingers through her brown hair trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming, how could her best friend do something like that to her?
That's more like the sentences we want on this site, descriptive sentences with some meaning behind them. It still may not be the longest sentence but it is still good quality. Secondly in posts, please do not use sentence fragments.
Melody walked into the room. She ran her fingers through her brown hair. She tried to hold back the tears she knew were coming. How could her best friend do something like that to her?
Again, defiantly not going to work. Those four sentences are sentence fragments, in other words it's pieces of a sentence, those four sentences can really make one giant sentence! Crazy isn't it? If you make sentence fragments like these it kind of shows a bit of laziness or writer's block. Yes, we all get writer's block at times but wait a while until you get your muse back, it's a whole lot easier to reply to something that was well thought out then to something that was wrote in a rush because you couldn't think of anything to write.
Run on sentences! Use commas, periods, etc.
Melody walked into the room she ran her fingers through her hair trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming how could someone do this to her?
No! Not good, not good at all.
Next on the list is grammar! One of the key things when role playing. Trust me when I say this, I will be all over the grammar on this site. I have some weird kind of grammar fetish thing, one of my pet peeves is when people don't use proper grammar and punctuation, it just bugs me for some reason. First, after your done a sentence you put a period. Yes, I'm sure you all know that but for some reason I know many people that don't put them after a sentence. Or, you use a comma. When using a comma though, please don't completely change subjects, try to make it have something to do with the first part of your sentence. Also, after a sentence or comma you leave a space. Not to mention that when role playing and your character talks, using an exclamation point at the end of the statement on use one exclamation point.
"I hate you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
No!
"I hate you!"
Yes! You only need one exclamation point, same goes for question marks. You don't need fifty, one will suffice.
I know a lot of this isn't new to all of you, but I've seen a lot of these mistakes on other sites and just thought I'd add them to the list.
Lastly on our role play tour I'd like to add spell check to the list of many things to remember, which I'm sure all of you will remember these helpful little tips on role playing, which most of you already knew most likely. One of the many things people always say on RP sites is too use spell check,yet most of the people still don't seem to. Please use spell check for every post, it makes it a whole lot easier for those people replying because then they can understand what you wrote.
Application Help
Okay, onto the application. First off let's start with what we are looking for in the application. Detail, detail, detail. It could take a few modifications to get in but the Admins just want to make sure that you know what you're doing. We aren't trying to be rude. You need to think your character through before you can actually start your application. You need to ask yourself a lot of questions about your character, about their personality, their appearance, and so on.
How does your character act? Why do they act that way? Did something happen in their past to make them the way they are today?
You really need to think things through before you even start on your character application. You defiantly can't just start writing from no where and hope to get accepted.
So let's see... let's start with appearance as this seems to be the most mary-sueish part of everyone's application. If mary-sueish is even a word, but it is now. In appearance please explain what your character looks like, obviously, but not just the colour of their hair and the colour of their eyes. Add description and detail, as I have said many times before. Sure, your character can have blonde hair, but what kind of blonde? Sandy blonde? Dirty blonde? Bleach blonde? How long is their hair? Is it naturally curly or straight?
Are your character's eyes full of life or are they dull? Do they sparkle in the light or when they are in a good mood? And so on... you can't just say that they have blonde hair and blue eyes. Yeah, so do a lot of people but what makes them so different from the rest? What is their body like? Are they skinny? A bit chubby? Does it come naturally or do they have to work for their body? What's their skin tone like? Do they have a good complexion? Does your character wear make up? Those are just a bunch of questions you can ask yourself while making your appearance.
So... moving onto the thing I don't want to see in any appearance.
Everyone says [insert name here] is very beautiful.
Please, don't do that. There is a lot of things wrong with that statment, we like to let the other characters on this site decide whether or not they think someone is pretty or not. Not to mention that not everyone is going to think that about your character, it's not logical. Beauty is in the beholders eyes, a quote from a friend of mine on another site. If you are going to say they are pretty or beautiful please put it like this
[insert name here] thinks she is quite beautiful.
Or something along those lines.
Personality! One thing that I notice about personality on other sites is that people say that their character hates all Gryffindor's or Slytherin's and by the time they start posting all of a sudden their personality has changed. If you write your character is a certain way, please keep your character that way. Also, don't say that they are friends with everyone. Big no no, as that is also mary-sueish in the same way as the appearance example.
Melody tries to be friends with everyone she meets, for she is a very friendly girl.
This is what we on this site would rather see.
Not to mention that not everyone is going to like you. Try to add as many characteristics as possible to your personality, the more the better. Please though, no listing. For example
Melody is brave, smart, courageous, sarcastic, bold, outgoing, etc.
Doesn't work that way. A good example would be
Melody is a very outspoken girl, she says anything that comes to mind even when she doesn't mean to, it just seems to slip out. Although being outspoken has it's advatages, it also has it's disadvantages, as she can get into quite some trouble for saying something that she didn't mean to.
Well people that's all for now. I will be writing more soon!
Well, firstly I'd like to say that if you have problems writing quite long posts, I wouldn't be staying here. This is a serious role play site, not a one line site where you can write two words and that's it. This site you actually need to put time and effort into your posts. And also, this is not a sentence
Melody walked into the room.
Defiantly not. If you think you will get away with that on this site think again, also I know I might seem a bit rude by the way I am writing this but I'm just getting straight to the point. If you want to be a part of this site you need to add detail and description to every sentence. What was Melody doing as she walked into the room, other than walking? Was she thinking about something? Playing with her hair? Feeling any emotions at the time? Add that to your sentence to make it more descriptive.
Melody walked into the room as she ran her fingers through her brown hair trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming, how could her best friend do something like that to her?
That's more like the sentences we want on this site, descriptive sentences with some meaning behind them. It still may not be the longest sentence but it is still good quality. Secondly in posts, please do not use sentence fragments.
Melody walked into the room. She ran her fingers through her brown hair. She tried to hold back the tears she knew were coming. How could her best friend do something like that to her?
Again, defiantly not going to work. Those four sentences are sentence fragments, in other words it's pieces of a sentence, those four sentences can really make one giant sentence! Crazy isn't it? If you make sentence fragments like these it kind of shows a bit of laziness or writer's block. Yes, we all get writer's block at times but wait a while until you get your muse back, it's a whole lot easier to reply to something that was well thought out then to something that was wrote in a rush because you couldn't think of anything to write.
Run on sentences! Use commas, periods, etc.
Melody walked into the room she ran her fingers through her hair trying to hold back the tears she knew were coming how could someone do this to her?
No! Not good, not good at all.
Next on the list is grammar! One of the key things when role playing. Trust me when I say this, I will be all over the grammar on this site. I have some weird kind of grammar fetish thing, one of my pet peeves is when people don't use proper grammar and punctuation, it just bugs me for some reason. First, after your done a sentence you put a period. Yes, I'm sure you all know that but for some reason I know many people that don't put them after a sentence. Or, you use a comma. When using a comma though, please don't completely change subjects, try to make it have something to do with the first part of your sentence. Also, after a sentence or comma you leave a space. Not to mention that when role playing and your character talks, using an exclamation point at the end of the statement on use one exclamation point.
"I hate you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
No!
"I hate you!"
Yes! You only need one exclamation point, same goes for question marks. You don't need fifty, one will suffice.
I know a lot of this isn't new to all of you, but I've seen a lot of these mistakes on other sites and just thought I'd add them to the list.
Lastly on our role play tour I'd like to add spell check to the list of many things to remember, which I'm sure all of you will remember these helpful little tips on role playing, which most of you already knew most likely. One of the many things people always say on RP sites is too use spell check,yet most of the people still don't seem to. Please use spell check for every post, it makes it a whole lot easier for those people replying because then they can understand what you wrote.
Application Help
Okay, onto the application. First off let's start with what we are looking for in the application. Detail, detail, detail. It could take a few modifications to get in but the Admins just want to make sure that you know what you're doing. We aren't trying to be rude. You need to think your character through before you can actually start your application. You need to ask yourself a lot of questions about your character, about their personality, their appearance, and so on.
How does your character act? Why do they act that way? Did something happen in their past to make them the way they are today?
You really need to think things through before you even start on your character application. You defiantly can't just start writing from no where and hope to get accepted.
So let's see... let's start with appearance as this seems to be the most mary-sueish part of everyone's application. If mary-sueish is even a word, but it is now. In appearance please explain what your character looks like, obviously, but not just the colour of their hair and the colour of their eyes. Add description and detail, as I have said many times before. Sure, your character can have blonde hair, but what kind of blonde? Sandy blonde? Dirty blonde? Bleach blonde? How long is their hair? Is it naturally curly or straight?
Are your character's eyes full of life or are they dull? Do they sparkle in the light or when they are in a good mood? And so on... you can't just say that they have blonde hair and blue eyes. Yeah, so do a lot of people but what makes them so different from the rest? What is their body like? Are they skinny? A bit chubby? Does it come naturally or do they have to work for their body? What's their skin tone like? Do they have a good complexion? Does your character wear make up? Those are just a bunch of questions you can ask yourself while making your appearance.
So... moving onto the thing I don't want to see in any appearance.
Everyone says [insert name here] is very beautiful.
Please, don't do that. There is a lot of things wrong with that statment, we like to let the other characters on this site decide whether or not they think someone is pretty or not. Not to mention that not everyone is going to think that about your character, it's not logical. Beauty is in the beholders eyes, a quote from a friend of mine on another site. If you are going to say they are pretty or beautiful please put it like this
[insert name here] thinks she is quite beautiful.
Or something along those lines.
Personality! One thing that I notice about personality on other sites is that people say that their character hates all Gryffindor's or Slytherin's and by the time they start posting all of a sudden their personality has changed. If you write your character is a certain way, please keep your character that way. Also, don't say that they are friends with everyone. Big no no, as that is also mary-sueish in the same way as the appearance example.
Melody tries to be friends with everyone she meets, for she is a very friendly girl.
This is what we on this site would rather see.
Not to mention that not everyone is going to like you. Try to add as many characteristics as possible to your personality, the more the better. Please though, no listing. For example
Melody is brave, smart, courageous, sarcastic, bold, outgoing, etc.
Doesn't work that way. A good example would be
Melody is a very outspoken girl, she says anything that comes to mind even when she doesn't mean to, it just seems to slip out. Although being outspoken has it's advatages, it also has it's disadvantages, as she can get into quite some trouble for saying something that she didn't mean to.
Well people that's all for now. I will be writing more soon!
Credit goes to Melody Monte for writing this.
