Roleplay Challenges Help and Tricks

[XIII]

Good morning, afternoon, or evening, fellow Iwakuans!

I hope the trials of the week haven't done you too dirty (it's been one hell of a week for me,) and I hope you a nice and happy relaxing weekend!

As I was sitting here working earlier, I just happened to think about the roleplays I've done, past and present. There's always that ONE thing that I simply cannot do. Well, in my case, it's quite a few. For example, I have a super hard time staying attentive to roleplays where I play men. I wish I could play them better (we could all use more partners,) and it makes me a bit standoff-ish when it comes to those roleplays. I enjoy playing men, but it's just hard for me. Another one is smut. I don't mind reading it, and I don't mind imagining it, but it's always been a weakness of mine.

How do I describe that...?

What the hell are they doing....?

Do legs even contort in that position....?

Oh Odin, I hope no one is reading this..... aside from my partner......

That's terrible. Please just stop writing.

These are just a few of the things that pass through my head while I'm writing those unrated scenes.


So, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. So I want to know what everyone's weakness is when it comes to writing. Is this something you want to improve on? If so, when? It took me years before I was comfortable enough to write smut.

And to all my fellow captains (that's all of you by the way,) if you have advice on how to do something, how to get in the mood for a scene, or exercises you've found helps, feel free to share it here. I'd love to see what the community comes up with!

 

[Reliance]

This is a great topic of conversation! I like thinking about and approaching the meta of this fantastic game we all play and share, the practices and habits that make for a more successful game for the players involved

One thing I see in a lot of roleplay posts is a tendency for posts that get larger and spend more time reacting to previous events than pushing the story forward. With multiple players this might mean paragraphs and paragraphs of rehashing instead of new content that future players can react to, and if this happens across rounds then further replies tend to effectively be going further back in time to address what their character did rather than what they are doing

Effective coordination of dialogue snippets and action blocks in the OOC threads is the best way I've found to get ahead of this but works best when active posters are actively asking for input and when pending posters are actively giving it even when unasked

 

[Nemopedia]

To combat my own thoughts of self-doubt I sit myself down and write everything in one go and then hit post. No proofreading, no editing, no questioning myself. Only write and post. Regrets can follow later but I will not allow myself to delete or to edit unless it is very glaring. Usually I don't reread until much, much, later, when it is too late to edit anyway. Does wonders to my output and since I haven't heard (any) complaints yet I guess my partners don't mind me giving them a raw first draft either.

 

[XIII]

@Nemopedia Oh gosh, you sound like me. Although, after I post, I find myself skimming it for spelling errors, then I end up reading it the whole way through, and sometimes I absolutely hate how I described something and I'll just go back in and edit it. I've only ever done that bit once or twice, though.

 

[firejay1]

I'm definitely in the same boat with smut. I've tried it a couple times, and it's just SO AWKWARD AND UNCOMFORTABLE as a writing weakness.

I also consider later descriptions and writing "smart" characters a weakness of mine. I'm fine when it comes to setting up a scene the very first time, but as things go along, I find that I have a lot of difficulty keeping track of and incorporating the setting in my writing. I get too character-focused. I've always admired people who can make you sort of feel tension and smells in the room they're describing. As for the smart characters well, I just never quite figured out how to write characters smarter than I am. So things like writing murder mysteries by figuring out clever ways to murder someone and get away with it? I struggle a LOT.

 

[Diana]

To combat my own thoughts of self-doubt I sit myself down and write everything in one go and then hit post. No proofreading, no editing, no questioning myself. Only write and post. Regrets can follow later but I will not allow myself to delete or to edit unless it is very glaring. Usually I don't reread until much, much, later, when it is too late to edit anyway. Does wonders to my output and since I haven't heard (any) complaints yet I guess my partners don't mind me giving them a raw first draft either.

this is how I write posts I just type it all out and GO~! I think the only times I ever like.. really take my time is when it's a really special moment or scene where I have to write *a lot* to set the stage of some momentous moment or plot thing.




I always struggle with actiony fight scenes, cause you have to keep the writing swift and punchy to express the urgency of the fight, but then you're also trying to describe what arms and legs and body parts and weapons are doing D: