Post by deebie on Oct 28, 2007 20:17:58 GMT -5
.::Deebie::.
~* ((Hmm… Hopefully this is the right place to put this…))
Okay you guys, I’m positive that I’m not the only one around here who has taken into note that the 60 word rule is hardly being met. This, I imagine, is probably extremely frustrating for Kaede and the other mods, so I’ve decided to help. So, this leads us back to the subject question: is the 60 word rule too much? Absolutely not. I’ve decided that I’ll share some of my Role-Playing tips with you guys to help you get your posts equal to or above 60 words; if you keep this advice in mind, you will most likely find yourself surpassing 60 words easily. ((Of course, I haven’t roleplayed on this site yet so none of you know how I roleplay, but that’ll change once I get those darn profiles done! XD I’m so lazy…))
Anyways, getting down to business. I’m going to say off the top of the bat that there is a big difference between writing a worthy 60+ words, or writing something bland where extra was simply scribbled on to make it to the 60 word mark. In order to make your stuff flow, you will have to get in touch with your character; enter their scenery and tell everyone their story. When I say “story”, I don’t mean their life story, I’m simply talking about what is around them and what is influencing their mood. A key goal for any roleplayer is to make their character 3-dimensional; make them human, not half a human, not a quarter of a human, but human. And this paragraph all comes down to this: description.
Description is something that gives others knowledge of your character and their surroundings. It is easy to enter the world of your character if you know what is there, correct? Now, I’m not just going to tell you guys “be descriptive” and end this discussion. I’m going to give you some tips of my own. The majority of my own writing and Role-Playing is based off of a rule of description that I have created and use, so I will share it with you.
With each post, try to include the “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How”. Also throw in the five senses: Sight, Scent, Touch, Sound, and Taste. This is what I am implying:
Who - who is doing it? (your character, obviously)
What - what are they doing? (in terms of actions; glaring, picking up a stick, etc.)
When - when are they doing it? (time of day, time of the moment)
Where- where are they doing it? (their location)
Why - why are they doing it? (digging deeper into the character to distribute their cause of action)
How - how are they doing it? (a very important step, especially in a fighting scene)
Now, using these 6 things can be abused very easily, so I will try to tell you how to avoid doing so. But for now, I am going to write a few paragraphs then break them down in explanation of how the factors are being used. Before I do that, though, there’s one really important thing that we need to discuss.
This thing is character creation. Something that there is a direct lack in within character creation is coherence. What I generally mean by that is a lot of stuff is contradicting. In order to properly roleplay a ‘genius’ character, or a ‘orphan character that everyone hated’, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Everyone needs to understand just how much a character’s past should influence their personality, and mostly in a subconscious manner. I will be making comments on this as I do the paragraphs to explain my means of description.
Now this passage will feature two of my characters, Henji and Hiyayaka, from the Seiun organization. Here I will be pointing out the use of the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How tactics, but I will be mostly trying to pinpoint character effects. As you read through the paragraphs and overviews, think thoroughly on how you can imply these tactics which I use into your own style of Role-Playing.
Moonlight trickled brightly through the canopies of trees, its streams of brilliance dancing as leaves trembled. The hush of the breeze blew upon the ears of a lone figure, pushing its chill against his covered flesh, though none the less inflicting an effect upon his warmth. His footsteps fell soft on the ground on that colder summer night until there was a cease in his gait as he paused, proceeding to stare down at a small puddle of a pond before him. Ripples bounded on its surface, an affect of the evening’s winds, though the scenery sure didn’t aid the blonde male’s rather angst mood.
[Paragraph 1 Overview:
This is obviously an opening paragraph- it describes the scenery and the mood of the moment, so it gives one an area to imply a story into.
Currently, all we know about this character’s being is that he is male and he is blonde. Telling by the way he walks and the clear statement of the word “angst” and how the scenery affected it, he seems depressed.
The element “Who” was used by centering the paragraph around this mysterious blonde male; “What” implies his key actions- he stares into his reflection on the water’s surface, which implies that he is possibly questioning himself and his confidence; “When” occurs with both the time of the day and the timing of his actions that lead up to staring at his reflection; “Where” is answered clearly by the scenery ; “Why” has not necessarily been answered yet, since we know very little about the character at the moment ; “How” is shown by the pace of his actions.
Hopefully, you could all pinpoint the uses of the senses in this paragraph on your own, so we‘ll move on to the next paragraph.]
Slowly young Henji sunk to his knees, his oddly formatted eyes staring at his reflection, the thing capturing his attention most being his own gaze. In a hushed fashion he leaned closer to the water in an attempt to capture a better look at himself, and he did. He stared into his own optics, the objects which were the center of his drear; the way they seemed fixated to look down all the time were the indication of his clan.
[Paragraph 2 Overview:
Now this section gives us a lot more insight on the character himself. The story is now being told, not prepared.
Who - Henji (we now know his name)
What - He is staring at his own reflection, centering his attention on his eyes, which indicates that he sees a problem with them since his mood has already been confirmed to be more depressed-like.
When - Same time of night. There is a definite chain of pace in his movements.
Where - Same place as previously described.
Why - We now get a slight insight on his intentions; he seems upset with the way his eyes are formatted, and he apparently has arrived at the spot to question himself.
How - His actions are described to be slow and done gingerly. Adding his eyes as a variable, the way his eyes are seem to be an indication of his clan, as clearly stated]
The adolescent shinobi scoffed with hope to turn his frustration into anger, to hold back oncoming moisture that was developing at the edge of his eyes. Thoughts of regret flooding his mind as he pondered if it had been correct of him to join the Seiun organization, to follow under Reichou, so long ago. Those eyes of his, he hated them with a fiery passion, and if he had the boldness to claw them out then perhaps he would. It was because of them that his father always saw him as different; the hypocrite.
[Paragraph 3 Overview:
All right, with this paragraph we are given much more insight, and it obviously focuses more around the “Why” factor. However, there is one specific question in the passage that isn’t answered at all: who is Reichou? This mentioned character is described very vaguely here, yet it still passes on an understanding that he is, indeed, superior to Henji. It’s all right to not answer EVERY question presented, just as long as it is answerable somewhere else or will be answered sometime later (or at least, that’s how I see it).
Who - Still Henji
What - He tried to convert his frustration into anger, but failed and began to cry instead. He is questioning himself and is remembering the reason why he is in the Seiun organization.
When - Same time of night. His crying happens slightly after he tried to make himself angry at his father, but instead he felt sorrow.
Where - Same place as previously described.
Why - Now we understand why his eyes bother him; apparently, his father withheld a certain dislike for them.
How - He begins to cry after he tries to stimulate anger but fails.
Hopefully my tactics are growing increasingly obvious, so this is the final paragraph overview. Despite that, I am going to include the remainder of the passage for example purposes, and to show what can be done with a relatively simple situation while using the five senses along with my technique. Perhaps I‘ll fill out more paragraph overviews later on, just to make sure my tactics are more understood. In the mean time, try to pinpoint how I used the stated techniques in these next few paragraphs to catch a better understanding of it.]
The tears which now flowed down his cheeks he was almost as oblivious to as he was another presence. Two light blue eyes stared down upon him harshly, impatience teeming within their expression as the figure of his partner grew close enough to be acknowledgeable. He stood with his arms crossed, his posture straight and domineering, while his expression was as melancholy as his cold heart.
“What are you doing?” he questioned with a fierce tongue, his deep voice accusing his partner of wrong, “Don’t let your guard down. If there were a hunter-nin in this perimeter you’d be dead.” Hiyayaka’s eyes seemed to narrow a little bit more with every harsh word he spoke to Henji.
Henji heard out his partner’s words as he looked down in shame, and though he would have normally apologized to Hiyayaka no words found their way to his voice. Despite it being humiliating to be found crying in the presence of his partner, whom in which he greatly respected, Henji could not force his tears to halt, and in a sense he did not want to. It had been awhile since he had cried, and perhaps if he allowed the salty liquid to continue to flow his sorrows would fall out with them.
[Comment: It is clearly stated in this specific part of the paragraph that Henji has not cried in a long time, giving the reader the impression that his current attitude is very against his usual demeanor.]
Hiyayaka’s stance portrayed itself steadfastly as his actions seemed along the lines of waiting. His ears listened out for a response from Henji, even a pitiful squeak would do as one, but nothing came. A sensation which felt like a bite to the heart soon haunted Hiyayaka, one that he had no idea of what to do about, so the ninja resulted to staring and waiting for awhile before his tolerance ran short for his unwelcome emotion. He began to saunter towards his partner, his mind hesitating although there was no falter in his steps or being. Once he got close enough he abruptly rose a hand balled into a fist, and while only slightly holding back, he struck Henji in the back of the head, causing the victim in the situation to fall forward a bit.
[Comment: Hiyayaka is obviously a relatively cold character. However, his hesitant nature indicates that he did not strike Henji because he didn’t care about the situation, it is just that he was unsure how to react. Those who have more heartless characters (much like Hiyayaka) I do believe need to understand that they will respond to many situations differently than others would. For me, it brings up the subject of a “reject” character distributing affectionate emotions when their companions are at a point of sorrow; it is unlikely. Point of the matter, if one has never been shown affection, then how would they know the effect of it to therefore pass it onto others? The theme of this comment is this: be careful with your characters!]
Out of sheer reaction Henji had his hands tend to his now aching cranium, resting them upon it while applying a degree of pressure. He trembled naturally due to the impact upon his head as a few whimpers found their way past his now clenched teeth. Much to Hiyayaka’s aggravation though, he said nothing.
“I am no exception from your dangers. Do not grow too comfortable around me, I will hurt you if you do not redeem your guard,” the colder one threatened harshly.
Okay, we’ll stop there. After the third paragraph overview, hopefully you were able to notice the tactic I used as I described it earlier in the rest of the passage (more specifically, how it was used to portray the demeanor of the second character, Hiyayaka). Now, I understand that in this passage I used two characters while most people only roleplay one. Well, if there is demand for it, I will write something similar but only including a single character if that will help with the point.
Now, here’s a much simpler version (one that you’d rather avoid) of the situation. As you read through it, remember the passage you just read and recall all the elements used. Although most of them are used in this shorter version, they are not used to their full potential; also take note at how this passage lacks a degree of mood that the previous one provided. ((Remember when I said that I’d include the rest of the passage mostly for an example of what one could turn a relatively simple situation into? Well, here’s an example of the simple version.))
Henji stood in the moonlight and stared at his reflection in small pond, feeling sort of depressed. He was questioning if whether he joined the Seiun Organization so long ago was the right decision or not; if only his father had accepted him for who he was. He fell on his knees and began to cry in spite of the way his eyes looked, oblivious to the fact that he was under Hiyayaka’s gaze.
“What are you doing?” Hiyayaka questioned harshly, “Don’t let your guard down. If there were a hunter-nin in this perimeter you’d be dead.”
Henji had the intention to apologize to his partner, but he couldn’t manage to. He continued to cry.
Hiyayaka experienced an emotion alien to him, so instead of dealing with it he walked over to Henji and punched him in the back of the head. As Henji held his head, Hiyayaka told him coldly, “I am no exception from your dangers. Do not grow too comfortable around me, I will hurt you if you do not redeem your guard.”
It gets the point across, but not in the best way possible; the passage is obviously very vague, and it hardly keeps in mind the rules of description which I use. In addition, there is less understanding regarding the character. My “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” technique is mainly present to render a character and their demeanor; that is basically the foundation of Role-Playing, is it not? The way I see it, Role-Playing isn’t about “getting the point across”, it’s about having the point understood and stimulated well through the emotions of the character. After all, no one knows your character quite like you do, so it is up to you to inform others about them in the best way possible.
By doing that, getting in-touch with your creation and trying to experience what they experience through their eyes, you will, easily, surpass the 60 Word Rule, and perhaps even master the art of Role-Playing.
How my techniques can be abused, though, is by using them to drag something out longer than it has to. It’s great to write something long and descriptive that is good to read and that implies an amount of useful information. However, don’t make it to the point where it’s tedious.
But, like all things, this can be abused. What I mean by “getting in-touch with your creation and trying to experience what they experience through their eyes”, more specifically, is to see it through THEIR eyes and not your own (too many people stray from their character‘s demeanor by reacting as they themselves would in a situation their character is faced in). Unless your character is entirely based off of you, then you need to grasp their personality well, and recall their past and previous exposures so it can influence the way they respond to things. Human beings, and generally all living things, learn by what they are being and have been exposed to. For example, my character Hiyayaka obviously has never truly witnessed sympathy since he does not know how to distribute it (in other words, he has never experienced one inflict sympathy upon him, so naturally he does not know how to forward such an emotion). Instead, he results to striking Henji, thinking that will solve the problem. Now, it’s not that Hiyayaka doesn’t care about Henji’s dilemma, it’s just that he is uneducated on how to properly react to such a situation. Point of the matter here is that in order for other people to know your character, you most certainly have to know them yourself. Make yourself them in order to get into their moment, but do not make them into yourself. Does that make sense at all?
The core focus of Role-Playing is knowing and presenting your character well, and once you do, and have a useful technique to distribute their demeanor, then there ya go. You should have absolutely no problem surpassing word requirements (especially one as tiny as sixty words) once you find a tactic that works for you (and not to mention everyone around you).
Something BIG to remember is that NO ONE knows your character like you do! All the information they know about them is what you provide them with, so provide them well!
I know it sounds silly, and that everyone “knows” that they know their character best, but I honestly do believe that people subconsciously forget the fact that the people they roleplay with do not know their (your) character in a most in-depth manner. I admit to it myself, it is hard to fathom that others do not know my character as keenly as I do (purely in a more subconscious manner). That is why I stress their design so much, so I can forward what I know about my own characters to others. To me, understanding one another’s characters is the absolute foundation of Role-Playing.
For now, I’m concluding this… If I think of more things, or just simply have to update this, I will. I’m certain that this won’t be all I write here. Anyways, I hope that helped at least a little bit.
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Let’s move on to some grammar stuff (just for the heck of it)…
“Alot” is not a word; it never was, and probably never will be. “A” and “Lot” are two different words.
“It’s” is not in terms of possession. It stands for “it is”. Apostrophes (’) are used to replace a missing letter between words as well as to show possession. That is why the word “It’s” is understandably trifling. However, “its” is the proper one, in this situation, that describes possession. “It’s” stands for “it is”.
Okay, moving onto ‘there’, ‘their’, and ‘they’re’. Based on my rule of Apostrophes which I stated in the previous paragraph, “They’re” clearly represents “they are”. “Their” is possessive, while “There” describes the existence of a given subject.
“Alright” is also, according to my English Teacher, not a word. Supposedly, not typing “All Right” as two words is grammatically incorrect, and I am driven to believe her.
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