RP Tips

[TheAUKid]

Well, P wrote a few good tips for RPs and RPing but the thread's locked so I'll start my own thread, right here, in GIW! (cheap pop)

I think we can all improve. All we have strengths and weaknesses and as a relatively new player to 'the game', there's a lot I can personally improve on so I'd like this to be a place where we can share ideas and thoughts etc...

I have a few tips myself and then I have a few questions!

Now, this is kinda like poker. There's probably never going to be a single rule that will hold for true for every scenario, so you have to allow for variation.

So here's one that comes to mind...

I think an RP should generally have a beginning, a middle and an end. Once in a while you might find yourself with an RP that only has a beginning and an end or an RP that only has a middle, who knows? But whether you're writing a short email like my last RP or a full length story like Boolz's, there's still a way of doing it. Beginning/middle/end is a basic rule of good story telling.

Normally I like to take the RP full circle and relate the very end to the very beginning. I can't say I always achieve that but I try.


I'll probably think of more in time!

Now, I kinda need help with dialogue. I think I'm having trouble differentiating between characters. Rob has done an awesome job with Old Lady Levene – I was truly inspired but when I write my stuff, I find everybody sounding the same.

How can I get better at this?

[Prolapsed Wrecked 'em]

have the second character, someone aside from Everknight that is, actually be someone else in real life. In my situation, Dr Torres is my wife and whenever I am about to post something, she reads it and puts in her own two cents to what the Doctor would say. That way, it doesn't sound like the same person talking to themselves.

[Red Bull Icon]

Yeah Dragon's right about the secondary character part. Most don't have someone to proof read their stuff though. You could get by with simply basing them off someone else.

And conflict, conflict, conflict. Any good story is about conflict. Wheather it's man vrs man, man vrs nature, man vrs human nature or what ever you need conflict. That is never more true when writing a second character. I've told Travis in PM that I think he's had moments, rare moments, of making OLL sound so much like Travis it was almost like he was talking with himself. A simple opposing view, or even differing motivations, can be all it takes to make that a lot less noticable.

Also the secondary character hopefully complements the primary character. Maybe they're the missing piece for the primary. They're cool headed and cautious where the primary is hot tempered. Or they're a bit refined to the primarys lack of refinment. (brain fart)

Also to help keep them seperate play with the speech patterns. Do you write like people talk for your character? (fuckin', ax, horse pucky!, goin', tree-fitty...) Then try not doing that for the other character. (Fucking, ask, bullshit, going, three fifty...) Nicknames are a great way of do that I think. I tried, kept forgetting, with the Tobias character to have him call everyone 'bud' or 'chief' ect... ect...

And maybe the biggest tip I can give on secondary characters is don't treat them like a secondary character. Give them all the respect and effort you gave your primary. Hopefully you thought about motives, goals, hopes, and fears when creating the first... do that with the second. Maybe not as thourough, leave some wiggle room, but have somthing as a frame work for the secondary to stand on their own and run.

[chassiefear]

I agree with Joe on the fact that he has his wife put her opinions in with his post. I do the same with my husband. He actually is the owner/creator of Jarek Magnum, Chass's guy. So if I need to, I just ask my husband what he would say/do.

[>V<]

Doubtlessly he'd do or say the corniest shit you could think of.

BOOYAH!

['The Cyclone' JK]

Having a Comic Releif character never hurts either. that was half the Basis for creating Paul for my stable, JK is generally level headed, occasionally angry, but always thinks shit through, Jasmine was always the carefull one, wondering if JK was realy thinking something through, or if he was just following a gut feeling, Paul was added to bring a bit of Humor into the RP's, and now they are ever so more entertaining.

[EZRA]

The speech pattern shit is MONEY when it comes to creating characters. I doubt anyone was confused when I was writing as WAR & PEACE, and Xavier. Everyone was different. Look at Hiroshima's old shit. Everyone was different.

The different nationalities for WAR & PEACE helped alot. Ezekiel was all laid back so he'd be calling everyone 'bro' or 'dude' where as Marek was Japanese and spoke really broken Engrish.

I can't say much that hasn't already been said. Try and watch whoever your pic base for the 2nd person is on youtube (if your 2nd person acts like them) or find footage of someone similar to your 2nd person and watch them so you can get a better focus of their dialogue and things like that. If you don't have pic bases for your extras, create some. Then follow previously said 'helpful tips'.

[TheAUKid]

Thanks for the help, people.

There’s a lot of sound advice here and I tried to use some of it in my latest RP in which I took a real risk in facing my weakness head on! Hopefully I did an okay job coz if not, I could be your EX GIW.com Champ next week.

[The Crimson Ghost!]

The best advice is for you to be Hiroshima.

ALL HAIL!

['The Cyclone' JK]

You would say that, Hiro