Post by pomegranate.august on Sept 5, 2008 16:51:33 GMT -8
What you need to know:
First of all, this is like a play, or a story. You are not yourself, don't post like yourself. You are a character. Pretend this character is real, a real true person (or horse) with feelings, emotions, a history, a brain, and everything a normal person would have. It if helps, imagine if you were sitting there talking to this person, what would it be like? That's how your character is supposed to be.
Basic Posting:
To start a new thread.
If you want to start a new thread, and hope people will post there, make sure's it's not what we call newbish. Meaning, make sure it has depth, meaning, but is not a sob story. Don't start a post by saying how desperately lonely your character is, and how much he/she wants love in his/her life. That just annoys people, and it makes you sound desperate. Try to think of something interesting. You can say that they're lonely, or sad, or depressed, but don't make that the big topic of your post. Give people something to work with, otherwise they'll never reply.
Entering a thread.
If you want to enter a thread that has either been started already, or needs a reply, then make sure your character has some reason to be there. Don't just say ‘Joe walked in and saw two people talking and decided to join them', one, it's noobish, and two, why was Joe there? What does Joe want to talk tot them? Eh? Give Joe a reason to be there. For example: ‘Joe walked into the room, searching for a drinking fountain. He saw one in the corner and quickly got a drink. Refreshed, he looked around, spotting the couple talking quietly. Another sweep the room told him that there were no others there. Bored, and curious, he walked over to them...' Now, granted, that's not a very descriptive post, but it's better than the first, do you agree? Once you've given him a reason to be there, then you can approach the people or person.
Maintaining a thread.
So, you're successfully in a conversation with another person in a thread. Good job. Now you have to keep it going. One of the worst things you can do is reply to a question and not give your partner anything to work with. Example: Lydia: What's your name? Joe: Joe. Do you see the problem? Lydia doesn't really know what to post now...so she might wait weeks to post, because she doesn't know what to say! The better thing to do would be: Lydia: What's your name? Joe: Joe, what's yours? Lydia: I'm Lydia, pleased to meet you Joe. See? It doesn't always have to end with a question, but at least now Joe can say Pleased to meet you to, or something like it, and the conversation can get started. Do not leave the person with nothing to reply with. You'll find yourself in an inactive thread really fast. Don't just have your character stand there either, have them at some point go sit down, or make a hand motion, or brush their hair back, or something! Don't just have them standing there the entire time. If your eating and talking, have them be eating when they're not saying anything. Make them do something
Making your posts longer:
This is something people struggle with a lot. So, here's some tips:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Why?
5 senses
Climate
Thoughts
Yes, the commonly used terms, but extremely helpful in posting. To further explain, we'll go further in depth.
Who?
Who's character?
What's his/her history like? Don't post their whole history, but post maybe a pain or two from the past. Post their appearance, hair, eye, build, etc...
What? What are they doing? Are the walking, standing reading, what?
When? What time of day is it? What season is it?
Where? Where are they? Are they in a room? Describe the room, are they in the hall, describe the hall.
How? How did they get there? Did they walk, run, skip, hop, gallop?
Why? Why are they doing what they're doing? Why are they where they are? Why are they sad? Happy? Bored?
5 senses: Use their senses, what are they smelling? What are they seeing? What are they tasting, if they're tasting anything? What are they hearing? What are they touching?
Climate: What's the weather like around them? Is it raining, is it sunny, is it night? What?
Thoughts/Emotions: What are they feeling at the moment? This is perhaps the most important. What are their emotions? What's going on inside of them?
Remember, start new paragraphs. This can make longer posts as well, paragraphs! And most important of all: DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL!! Use every descriptive word you know and use every detail you can think of. This will help a lot, I promise. but don't grab for the thesaurus and start looking up each word. That leads to this.
And lastly, remember it is quality and not quantity that counts.
Concept copyright Neverland 2006, used with permission.
First of all, this is like a play, or a story. You are not yourself, don't post like yourself. You are a character. Pretend this character is real, a real true person (or horse) with feelings, emotions, a history, a brain, and everything a normal person would have. It if helps, imagine if you were sitting there talking to this person, what would it be like? That's how your character is supposed to be.
Basic Posting:
To start a new thread.
If you want to start a new thread, and hope people will post there, make sure's it's not what we call newbish. Meaning, make sure it has depth, meaning, but is not a sob story. Don't start a post by saying how desperately lonely your character is, and how much he/she wants love in his/her life. That just annoys people, and it makes you sound desperate. Try to think of something interesting. You can say that they're lonely, or sad, or depressed, but don't make that the big topic of your post. Give people something to work with, otherwise they'll never reply.
Entering a thread.
If you want to enter a thread that has either been started already, or needs a reply, then make sure your character has some reason to be there. Don't just say ‘Joe walked in and saw two people talking and decided to join them', one, it's noobish, and two, why was Joe there? What does Joe want to talk tot them? Eh? Give Joe a reason to be there. For example: ‘Joe walked into the room, searching for a drinking fountain. He saw one in the corner and quickly got a drink. Refreshed, he looked around, spotting the couple talking quietly. Another sweep the room told him that there were no others there. Bored, and curious, he walked over to them...' Now, granted, that's not a very descriptive post, but it's better than the first, do you agree? Once you've given him a reason to be there, then you can approach the people or person.
Maintaining a thread.
So, you're successfully in a conversation with another person in a thread. Good job. Now you have to keep it going. One of the worst things you can do is reply to a question and not give your partner anything to work with. Example: Lydia: What's your name? Joe: Joe. Do you see the problem? Lydia doesn't really know what to post now...so she might wait weeks to post, because she doesn't know what to say! The better thing to do would be: Lydia: What's your name? Joe: Joe, what's yours? Lydia: I'm Lydia, pleased to meet you Joe. See? It doesn't always have to end with a question, but at least now Joe can say Pleased to meet you to, or something like it, and the conversation can get started. Do not leave the person with nothing to reply with. You'll find yourself in an inactive thread really fast. Don't just have your character stand there either, have them at some point go sit down, or make a hand motion, or brush their hair back, or something! Don't just have them standing there the entire time. If your eating and talking, have them be eating when they're not saying anything. Make them do something
Making your posts longer:
This is something people struggle with a lot. So, here's some tips:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Why?
5 senses
Climate
Thoughts
Yes, the commonly used terms, but extremely helpful in posting. To further explain, we'll go further in depth.
Who?
Who's character?
What's his/her history like? Don't post their whole history, but post maybe a pain or two from the past. Post their appearance, hair, eye, build, etc...
What? What are they doing? Are the walking, standing reading, what?
When? What time of day is it? What season is it?
Where? Where are they? Are they in a room? Describe the room, are they in the hall, describe the hall.
How? How did they get there? Did they walk, run, skip, hop, gallop?
Why? Why are they doing what they're doing? Why are they where they are? Why are they sad? Happy? Bored?
5 senses: Use their senses, what are they smelling? What are they seeing? What are they tasting, if they're tasting anything? What are they hearing? What are they touching?
Climate: What's the weather like around them? Is it raining, is it sunny, is it night? What?
Thoughts/Emotions: What are they feeling at the moment? This is perhaps the most important. What are their emotions? What's going on inside of them?
Remember, start new paragraphs. This can make longer posts as well, paragraphs! And most important of all: DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL!! Use every descriptive word you know and use every detail you can think of. This will help a lot, I promise. but don't grab for the thesaurus and start looking up each word. That leads to this.
And lastly, remember it is quality and not quantity that counts.
Concept copyright Neverland 2006, used with permission.