- Writing Levels
- Adaptable
- Genres
- I'm wary of magic with lots of rules.
I think most of us can agree that making character sheets is a central allure of RP. I am a lazy RPer, but that doesn't mean I don't like looking at beautifully crafted and beautifully written sheets, like this one from Pearls of Persia, the epic WaRP (wide area... RP?):
Tora certainly paints an imposing picture, right? The first paragraph tells me about their general appearance, and the second hints at something underneath and sinister.
I find that after such an amazing introduction is written, it's commonly never brought up again. This problem is not exclusively found in RP, and I'm definitely not accusing Applos here of doing that. It's something I've noticed myself doing, and seen in books at the caliber of Of Mice and Men, where the main characters are described just once in the beginning. Eventually, the character just becomes a hazy beige blob from which dialog emits, and sometimes an arm shoots out with a sword.
There are many ways to memorize things, and we've all memorized things for school. They all share one thing in common: repetition. Why is that such detailed and beautiful imagery is usually only said once and we have to flip back to remind ourselves? Try to constantly work reminders of your character's appearance into every post. There's a balancing act here, since you don't want to keep writing about his bottomless gossamer eyes, but the teeth stand out to me as important. Does she always bare her devilish fangs when smiling, or does she only use them to intimidate, and hides them with friends?
A personal example - I have a character who has undergone human kintsugi - golden joinery - where injuries they have sustained in battle are repaired with a gold alloy. I try to write about these veins of gold whenever he takes his armour off. Not on every post, but at least when he takes the armour off for the first time in any scene. Otherwise, the image that I have in my mind may not transfer to my partner or the reader.
Article: Appearance
For a woman of Dein, Tóra is not all that remarkable. The crown of her head reaches a little shy of six feet and she has the solid sturdy build typical of those who hail from the frozen wastes of the north. Likewise, Tóra adorns herself in the style of her homelands. Her hair and clothes are often adorned with beads and the trinkets of strange gods, an axe is rarely far from her hands and she bares the tattoos so important and prized by denizens of Dien.
Those who have spent time amongst the north folk and are keen of eye might notice that Tóra actually has curiously few of these almost sacred markings. Likewise there are a few other curiosities that the observant may notice about this northerner. Her ears for example are almost inhumanely tapered to a point. Her cuspid teeth are devilishly pointed and almost fang like. And in the dark of night, her eyes will shine bright in the light of the moon.
Tora certainly paints an imposing picture, right? The first paragraph tells me about their general appearance, and the second hints at something underneath and sinister.
I find that after such an amazing introduction is written, it's commonly never brought up again. This problem is not exclusively found in RP, and I'm definitely not accusing Applos here of doing that. It's something I've noticed myself doing, and seen in books at the caliber of Of Mice and Men, where the main characters are described just once in the beginning. Eventually, the character just becomes a hazy beige blob from which dialog emits, and sometimes an arm shoots out with a sword.
There are many ways to memorize things, and we've all memorized things for school. They all share one thing in common: repetition. Why is that such detailed and beautiful imagery is usually only said once and we have to flip back to remind ourselves? Try to constantly work reminders of your character's appearance into every post. There's a balancing act here, since you don't want to keep writing about his bottomless gossamer eyes, but the teeth stand out to me as important. Does she always bare her devilish fangs when smiling, or does she only use them to intimidate, and hides them with friends?
A personal example - I have a character who has undergone human kintsugi - golden joinery - where injuries they have sustained in battle are repaired with a gold alloy. I try to write about these veins of gold whenever he takes his armour off. Not on every post, but at least when he takes the armour off for the first time in any scene. Otherwise, the image that I have in my mind may not transfer to my partner or the reader.
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