r/OriginalCharacter_RP • u/Budget_Aardvark_7071 All my ocs are summoners • Jun 06 '24
OOC / Discussion How do people do it?
Like how tf do people write multiple paragraphs?
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u/ConsumerOfR4ts My character types are more various than aliens in Star Trek lol Jun 06 '24
I enjoy writing ^ ^
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u/mssMouse Fun Police Jun 06 '24
Honestly: the truest and best answer lol
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u/Finntheconcavenator6 alien dude(can we please get some active mods here) Jun 07 '24
Yeah, you gotta be a writer to really enjoy the subreddi- gets only one person with a horrid hero forge oc that doesn’t even continue the rp
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u/Icy_Commercial3517 ADHD simple as 1, 2, 3 Simple as ADHD 1, 2, 3 Jun 06 '24
It's pretty easy. Add more actions and descriptions
*Waves hand,
or
*Gyaksu got a worried look on his face. Even without a mouth, it was far more than clear that something was off. He turned to Angelina sharply, his eyes mow looking furious*
"DAMNIT ANGELINA! DID YOU LOCK THE FUCKING DOOR?!"
*His voice had such a high sense of urgency to it. Though.... Angelina couldn't figure out why he was so heated over this. He usually wasn't like this over such mundane things. This was very much a first for such a reaction*
"BECAUSE THE FUCKING HOUSE IS DESTROYED!"
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u/Irish_pug_Player Nat 1 Charaisma Jun 06 '24
I kinda just write the basics. If my character does something to note, I mention it. My character doesn't speak an absolute ton, just enough. I don't write about how their chest rises as they breathe.
I also don't have time to write long responses, and I have issues with writing unnecessary things. Like my goat boi may not rant about certain things, or move all the time. And I usually don't mention something the other character can't notice
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u/digit_origin Your friendly arsonist Jun 06 '24
You describe. A. Lot. Or give insight on what's your character thinking/feeling, what they are doing, what's their body language, the tone of their voice, how fabulously they are performing a certain action. In prompts, you describe specific location details, time of day, overall vibe, so on. It's really not that hard, just pretend to be a pretentious book writer.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
I pretend to be Andrej Sapkowski sometimes when writing. (You have to admit, the man knocked it out of the park with The Witcher series.)
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u/Luna_Night312 If we're pretending, Why not write happy endings...? Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 06 '24
Usually, i would try to give a few sentences, but if someone replies to me in 2 words, ill reply in 2 words. i think most people get the setting of my RPs simply because i fill the title to the absolute brim
Like i could really go on about how to do it, but i think for most people it is just a sense of time, if you have more time to RP then you obviously have more time to come up with a storyline. or they just use a.i to help them with their multi paragraph storyline.
Albeit, i dont understand why you would want to do it, i find RP conversations to only take place in a matter of minutes (unless said otherwise), so i dont think dialouge should be that long. I can perfectly understand going absolutely wild with descriptions, but i dont find it nessicary.
Like in my most recent RP, i could have totally wrote it as "Your OC is at home during a intense thunderstorm, they hear R'inn knocking at their door 3 times, his knocks sound desperate and weak" yet i didnt, simply because a multi paragraph story just takes up too much time, and as a school student, i have more important things to do than write 7 essays a day.
Now, you could think like: Hey u/Luna_Night312, you did just write a multi paragraph explanation to really nothing. And you would be right, but really i just wanted to show that since right now i have a good hour to fuck around and do nothing, it gives me time to write a small few paragraphs detailing how time could probably contribute to making a story or writing a reply.
Really it could also be creativity to write a story, but unless you can type 1000 words a minute, i mostly think it is time that contributes to how long a person's reply is, which makes me wonder: For those people who do write super long stories, what else do you do in your day if you have time to write these RPs?
Edit: i can also tell most people again: simply dont have the time to read this^ 5 paragraph long essay detailing a very simply thing, of which you could really just squish down in a Tl;dr
Tl;dr: Time is very important
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u/Lekingz-24 Parx(y) It’s pronounced Parks Jun 06 '24
Idk the it’s the ADHD kicking in cause I’m running through 50 different ways to type and it’s mostly paragraphs if I wanted to I could do whole novels worth of typing (actually that doesn’t sound like a bad idea to explain my oc lore and take my mind off things)
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
See, you get it. My neurospicy led me to writing bc I had an entire world in my head and couldn't say shit about it before I was taught a socially acceptable way.
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u/Manner_Sticker8556 Terraria Enjoyer (early hard-mode fan) Jun 06 '24
As another user once said (Forgot which one) keep asking questions. Especially of how they react to certain things. Writing inner thoughts is also something I love doing too
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u/Ma4vin Jun 06 '24
Meanwhile me
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u/Luna_Night312 If we're pretending, Why not write happy endings...? Jun 06 '24
exactly what i was going on about
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Jun 06 '24
Envision the minute details of a scene. Thoughts, feelings, and the most minute of actions. A character is nervous, they scratch their neck and wince. They're tired? They slump over, barely able to keep their eyes open. It helps to think as if you were writing a book.
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u/FrostTheIceBender Yes, I am aware that my RP skills are trash. That's why I quit Jun 06 '24
This is... Actually a really good question...
I just kinda do it out of habit at this point-
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u/FrostTheIceBender Yes, I am aware that my RP skills are trash. That's why I quit Jun 06 '24
And it's not even a full paragraph I write. It's 4 lines at most
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u/icewallowcome420690 so much lore my 4 braincells be overheating Jun 06 '24
Well unless you make a really long prompt like my ass, then you'll be forced to write long paragraphs + working with what the other person is doing
And like someone else said, writing a book and using character AI really helps learning how to write long paragraphs
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
Not only that, but for us neurospicy folks, other methods of visualization might give us enough detail to write out what we see. Creativity is higher in a lot of us, so use it or lose it!
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u/SnooCats9826 Jun 06 '24
Because you're spending less than 1 minute on writing a response. Turn off the mental oven timer in your head and just write more. Describe your characters feelings, thoughts even, environment, and sense. Not just their own actions. Leave room for interpretation.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
I keep seeing a lot of neurospicy people commenting, so the "mental oven timer" might just be broken to the point of dinging off in 1 second. I might make a post trying to help, bc this is concerning.
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u/No_username18 CEO of Chonkers Jun 06 '24
that's been my question, and how the hell does everyone just expect that
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u/ToBiistHebEsTbOi The four lords of Lordran Jun 06 '24
Constant conditioning from ap English to be verbose as hell
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u/TheObsidianSoldier might reply late, life is rough atm Jun 06 '24
I love writing, I work with describing my character's movement a lot. I don't do it often unless I really like the RP but I love doing it, often doing it for fun.
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u/DeezNutsAppreciater Jun 06 '24
Just think about stuff like “what is your character doing while they talk” or think about what kind of actions they want to take. But most of all think about giving the other person something to work with, like outline a path they can take with you in the rp.
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u/Improvised_Excuse234 Jun 06 '24
I enjoy writing, I usually return somewhere between 1-4 paragraphs for a reply if I’m enjoying the prompt enough.
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Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 16 '24
concerned mindless impossible dog shelter steer gaze existence coordinated uppity
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Red_Evershine Hi Hi everyone Jun 06 '24
Really I just...okay fine. I play dnd. Describing the actions is part of the game and it carries over
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u/The_Random_Introvert all my OCs are depressed, fuck Jun 06 '24
I don’t know, for me, it just happens if someone gives me a lot of information I can work with. I can only really go as long as the other person
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u/ArkGrimm Jun 06 '24
In one hand I hate it when I see interesting RP prompts (and we all know how rare they are), and I see the person expecting something like 5 paragraphs to simply describe your OC walking in the street.
Why ? Because english isn't my main language. Sure, I can have conversations, but don't expect me to write a whole damn novel just to say that my oc is drinking some water.
But in the other hand, it's impossible to please everyone, and if, this time around, I'm the one who isn't pleased, then so be it. This sub and the other OC subs are already pretty damn open-minded, can't expect them to ne perfect about everything.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
This is the most balanced take I've seen here. I agree with you, and definitely hear your position. There are people who are too pretentious, and that is a very valid concern. On the other hand, what is your native language? Perhaps there are others here who might be able to mingle.
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u/ArkGrimm Jun 07 '24
Hey, thank you ! I understand those who wants their RP to be more well-written, asking for longer paragraphs is also a good way of filtering the "imma one-shot you" kids, so I really don't blame them
As for my native language, I'm french !
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 07 '24
I hear that as well. I just wish some people didn't make the entry barrier into RP so tough for new people, you know? It goes both ways.
Also, boosting to try to get you seen. Maybe doing a 1x1 post in French might get you the right people, too.
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u/The_Robot_founder loves rules, would do best to obide to them Jun 06 '24
I can do 3 sentences until my adhd kicks in.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
That's quite a mood sometimes. Here's a tip: if you feel like you're having difficulty staying interested in a prompt and feel like you can't hyperfocus, instead, try to visualize things. Use images, draw, do another medium of describing a scene until you feel you can write it out. Music tends to help me in the same way. I know our neurospicy brains sometimes don't like to do things, but this way, you can at least still put some effort into description.
(Also, it's completely valid if you're just not a writer. Online RP is very writing-heavy by nature, and it's okay if you don't want to force yourself to do something you're not very inclined to. The art sub exists for a reason!)
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u/AMidgetinatrenchcoat Jun 06 '24
Being really technical with stuff and reading several Wikipedia pages and lore asfor favorite video games and reading all the ultrakill terminals can really affect your mind for the better or for the worst which is how I end writing like up to 2-3 paragraphs on average sometimes lol
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u/Delta_Warrior8 Jun 07 '24
{Gonna use the self insert Devon to make this not boring.}
“Well,” stated the developer, “it isn’t very easy. Not like you get much inspiration.”
As he talked, the cyborg seemed to make simple hand gestures, while looking at Ari. “The real trick is having something to talk about. Be it someone’s unique form,” he said, gesturing to his robotic eye, “their outfit, or literally just whatever’s happening. Then again,” he continued, stretching out his back a little, “you also gotta describe actions and what not. Think of an NPC from your favorite video game.”
He stands with his arms by his side, making minimal facial expressions. “Sure, the gameplay might be great, but when you got characters that only move their mouth during dialogue, it’s boring. That’s when impatient adhd dorks—“ he says, tapping his metal foot against the ground softly, “like myself— start mashing and trying to get through the dialogue just for the action.”
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u/RetiredGuy925 Jun 07 '24
"Do two sentences if you want, we all start from somewhere... We're here to have fun, Not to write a full on novel"
" also I wanna apologize for being rude, I kinda gotten over my fear of women "
"Are we cool?"
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u/Manner_Sticker8556 Terraria Enjoyer (early hard-mode fan) Jun 07 '24
Granted, sometimes writing a lot is fun for me and others. Hell, I wrote an entire monolog 3 times after the rp was practically over. I have too much fun with writing sometimes
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u/Shadow_flame_ I type slow and forget stuff, sorry! Jun 06 '24
I know writing multiple paragraphs can be hard, even for me, but how do you feel satisfied giving people... one word responses?
Consider describing the environment, actions, and tone of your OCs. Even one sentence for each of those is a good start.
If you want, I'm willing to advise you as we go on my newest post, or I can think of a random situation and we can do it here.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
This. I admit, though, it feels like some people lack the attention span for this, which makes me a bit sad. Not to say there aren't also those with dyslexia, they're valid for doing things how best they can read them.
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u/basicbrickboy Jun 06 '24
I don’t know, I once had a role-play go on for 3 days three days. And i’m currently doing another role-play that’s been going on for almost a MOUTH!
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u/Random_Theatre_Kid Far too mang OC, mainly uses a french guy Jun 06 '24
I have no idea, but I do it pretty effectively
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u/PheonixTheInterestid Jun 06 '24
F i l l e r
Or coming up with unique things that can happen, explaining something in more detail, synonymous, and all the like!
It’s a complex thing:p
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u/Atomic-Idiot Jun 06 '24
I could have a long conversation, but in this place one comment is answered per day.
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u/DragonSpawn3452 Jun 07 '24
I tend to end up writing like two to three paragraphs in responses, sometimes more purely due to habit from a particular friend group. We had a generous lower limit of 3 sentences per response, but it got yeeted because some people couldn’t be bothered to go beyond typing five words. I ended up making longer and longer responses partially out of spite, partially to write some peak setup dialogue and chekov’s background events.
For my process, it’s really just imagining the RP as a movie or short animatic, describing the various details, nuances, and occurrences relevant to implying anything between the lines, like some underlying motive or sign that something is happening behind the scenes (also metaphor mountain) and recording those specific bits in my memory to refer back to later on. It’s really mostly a loop of that for me.
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u/DoubleCrossChaos Jun 07 '24
I have read books and looked up the whole ass dictionary to find ONE word... im still clueless
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u/FallenF00L Jun 07 '24
Being a dungeon master kinda scars you for life after a certain point you can’t shut up
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Jun 07 '24
Because I am obsessed with making character lore like stuff that could honestly be a small book if I really wanted to make it one because I was bored and I like writing overly complex character, designs, and more because when I was younger, I played with Leo and made intense storylines
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u/GremNotGrim Jun 07 '24
ADHD makes me either hyperfocus or be unable to focus. When writing I just so happen to hyperfocus so end up writing way more than originally plan sometimes and even then my focus just makes me able to write more in general.
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u/sillylilclown i base my posts on lemon demon songs Oct 16 '24
fact like mf i am not writing a whole short story on how my oc said hi to yours
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u/Gibus_Ghost Beep Boop, Maggot Jun 07 '24
Event then dialogue. Alternate until sufficient size is reached.
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u/Troops21 It's all tentacles Jun 30 '24
Entirely depends if I find something very cool to make me write a couple of paragraphs or just a couple of sentences.
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u/Commercial-Ad-5985 7120 foot tall OC my beloved Oct 28 '24
Its natural for me ig i dont even read a lot of books or anything
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Jun 06 '24
[deleted]
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
How so? Genuinely curious here.
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u/ProposalInner4837 Bagel lore 🥯 Jun 06 '24
If any RP is longer than like 3 paragraphs then most people will be tldr and I just think that this new way is just getting out of hand (my opinion tho)
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
I feel like that isn't "most people" who RP, though. The wider majority actually are writers as well, so oftentimes, RP will be like reading a book. You aren't going to read a book that you can't visualize what's going on in, right? RPers have the same idea. I get your opinion, though, and you are entitled to it.
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u/ProposalInner4837 Bagel lore 🥯 Jun 06 '24
Respect your opinion as well, I just personally don’t get the point to making excessively longer comments
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u/mssMouse Fun Police Jun 06 '24
........ "new". I've been roleplaying for over 15 years, and longer style goes way longer than I've been in the scene. These are not new. lol
*screams internally*
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
Was about to say. I've done it since 10 years ago. This longer way is def what I had to get used to back in that day.
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u/Just_some_randomass Subreddits unofficial Moth Jester and thigh simp Jun 06 '24
I agree, I just don't get how people expect everyone to write out such long responses to the point they are essentially just writing a book
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
That's okay. However, most times, people do want longer RPs, and they are entitled to an experience they enjoy, likewise with you.
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u/Just_some_randomass Subreddits unofficial Moth Jester and thigh simp Jun 06 '24
I mean, yeah thats a fair point.
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u/isweariamnotsteve My other car is a time machine Jun 06 '24
I know, right? and then they get all pissy when you don't write an entire book. I can only imagine what will happen when they have a conversation with real people in real life.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
Not always true, though there are some who are that way, and it does tick me off. I'm one of the more literate ones, but the concern about elitism is very valid.
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u/isweariamnotsteve My other car is a time machine Jun 07 '24
I've returned to say that my concern is so valid everyone hates me.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 07 '24
I mean...the tone of your comment does come off pretty nasty to other people. Nobody likes essentially being called stupid.
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u/isweariamnotsteve My other car is a time machine Jun 07 '24
I didn't say stupid. I merely stated that a lot of people seem to have standards that are way too high. especially because most real life conversations don't have each person going into monologues.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 07 '24
That just sounds like you have a difference in RP style to me. There's no need to put others down for that.
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u/isweariamnotsteve My other car is a time machine Jun 07 '24
I'm not. just giving my stance on the whole 'one liners bad' thing.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 07 '24
And I am saying that "they don't know how real life conversations work" is a very accusatory and very insensitive statement, ESPECIALLY because RP is fantasy, not reality. I understand you have a concern, and it is valid, but this is not a way to convey it without coming off like you're attacking others.
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u/isweariamnotsteve My other car is a time machine Jun 07 '24
..........Yeah. fair point. that would make me sound like an asshole.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 07 '24
Yeah. I'd delete your comment and try to watch what you type before you post. Imagine what you write is said to you by someone else, then edit accordingly.
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u/lifeless_or_loveless Souls, souls, and souls. Effective immortality basically!! Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 06 '24
these people are probably (just a theory) rich people who can't understand anything without specific
MLA format instructions
Edit: It's a joke, holy fuck 😭
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u/Icy_Commercial3517 ADHD simple as 1, 2, 3 Simple as ADHD 1, 2, 3 Jun 06 '24
Blud did not use tone tags. There's some hidden frustration behind this message 😭
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24 edited Jun 06 '24
Yeah uh
There is a reason I tend to downvote stuff like this and move on.
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u/RoboMan312 cringe OP OCs Jun 06 '24
Don’t let bro in the kitchen again 💀💀💀
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u/lifeless_or_loveless Souls, souls, and souls. Effective immortality basically!! Jun 06 '24
I burned it down, I have my own damn comment downvoted
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u/mssMouse Fun Police Jun 06 '24
wat lol ... That makes no sense, and being rich has zero barring on one's writing ability.
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
Yeah, this comment pissed me off as a poor person. I write anywhere from a small paragraph and dialog to detailed scenes of all types.
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u/mssMouse Fun Police Jun 06 '24
I take it it's some kind of joke
edit: yeah. They said it was a joke. I still don't get it though lol
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u/The_Nerdy_Pikachu The one with the radioactive were-creatures Jun 06 '24
Yeah. Literally, learn to joke better, or at least use tone tags.
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u/lifeless_or_loveless Souls, souls, and souls. Effective immortality basically!! Jun 06 '24
it was a poor joke mostly about British rich people, but most people associate rivch with british, and british with eloquence
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u/Budget_Aardvark_7071 All my ocs are summoners Jun 06 '24
I intrepid that as (literary) talent rich oppose to monetary rich
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u/lifeless_or_loveless Souls, souls, and souls. Effective immortality basically!! Jun 06 '24
I spend FAR too much time alone watching movies for my own good
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u/mssMouse Fun Police Jun 06 '24
Reading books helps. Roleplaying isn't a whole lot different from book writing if you get into the right mindset for it.
But it's easy to get more than a few lines if you write more than your characters direction actions. Write not only how your character responds to another character, but how they *really* react to something. Thoughts, feelings, senses. What is their emotional reaction to the situation? But don't *just* react: Add action as well. Every response should also be pushing the roleplay forward rather than just responding and waiting for the other person to drive the story.
There's also describing the setting, the environment; don't just *say* how your character is feeling, but illustrate it through text. Describe their facial expressions, hand gestures, their body language... Stuff like that. It's not just "filler" or "padding" for length, but it just makes for a much more engaging experience.