Role Playing Lessons

So its October now. How crazy is that?

The other night Kat was like "You haven't posted in a while" and I was like "I know". And here's the reason: I joined a role play board.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept here's the the wiki article on what we do there.

Now, the last time I was really involved in a RP was sophomore years of high school and again in college. The first one was a Harry Potter based RP, and then the second was a reoccurrence of the same characters found there with the same person (Dany). I learned a lot from these two games, and I am learning more things from joining this new board (a super powered original world called Weekend Warriors, check it out its kind of awesome) so I have decided to write about the lessons I've learned from role playing.

01. Always say 'yes'.
This is a rule from improv actually, but its very important when you're writing with someone else. You always say yes to whatever they said in the last post. You might have been expecting something completely different, you might have no idea where you're going now, but if you say yes interesting things will happen.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: You're sitting there, and you get this feeling at the back of your mind that there's something insane that you want to throw into your novel. A tuna suddenly jumping into the boat of your main character, someone asks someone else to move in with them -- say yes. Go with it. What's the worst that can happen? You can always come back to that point and change it later, but if you say yes, you might suddenly have a better novel. So say yes!

02. Develop voices early.
Writing in third person makes voices harder to deal with. In first person you can get all sorts of things out easily, but in third, its easy to become detached. My favorite use of third person is in Harry Potter. J.K.R. has Harry's voice down so well, and it comes out in tiny word choices, the way that things are described and small choices. Writing in third person on an RP board has reminded me of this intensely, in part because I have six characters, and two pairs who are somewhat similar in nature (Bex/Lucy and Deliah/Charlotte). I'm not sure when it happened, but I have a sense when I'm writing any of these characters that sometimes I'm doing it wrong. Bex doesn't ever say "gonna" nor does she generally swear (as opposed to Lucy, who always says gonna, and if she doesn't swear three times in a post, then somethings really fucking wrong). Developing their voices early differentiated them incredibly and instinct takes over when writing them now.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: If you've got a strong sense of a character, then you should have their voice. It is important to be able to differentiate your characters in the way they sound because only in that way are they separate and you can keep things consistent.

03. Description matters. 

When I go back and re-read some of my old RP, I am always amazed that anyone understood me because there is a lack of description of what things look like. There are other problems with re-reading RP (hello dialogue being weird and conversations not making sense), but one of the major things I have discovered and am working on, is an increase in description. Thoughts are all well and good, but I want people to know what I'm seeing.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Writing for me involves seeing the scene like a movie, but not everyone will see if the same way, and sometimes, when I return, the movie has gotten really weird. There's no harm in over describing. You can always edit it out.



04. Remain as open as possible. 
Okay, so this is more a lesson about living then writing. My first experience RPing was extremely cliquey. I wrote with two people in total, and it ended terribly because I wasn't writing with the mods (still bitter that they deleted all of our threads because we started writing some stuff on LJ instead of on the board even though it wasn't related to Hogwarts -.- MOVING ON). Anyways, coming into a new board, I wanted to write with as many people as possible and its improved my writing seeing what other people do.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Always check in with other options, always see what other people are doing, and if you like it, steal it. Well, learn how to do it yourself. I do not suggest you plagiarize.


05. Think about how other people think. 
When you're juggling between characters its always interesting to see how people think. Two people can have wildly different views on what happens in a scene, and that's okay, because that's what normal people do. Writing with other people can open your eyes up to this whole new world.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Figure out the moment when the character becomes a separate person. This is the moment when the character does something that you would never, ever do in a million years. Remember that feeling. Its very useful.

06. Facets of yourself. 
When I started RPing, all my characters were the same. I had a tendency to Mary-Sue them, and to have all the answers and to try and make them always be right. Real people aren't like that, and RP characters aren't like that. Letting them be wrong was a huge struggle for me, now its a delightful thing that opens up plots that otherwise wouldn't happen. The problem was, the characters were all me with a different name and face. I am a method author -- when I write I take my own experiences in order to describe emotions especially -- but in the end, the reactions have to be something different. So only facets of you go into the characters, making them different.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Write someone completely different from you in some way and see what similarities you have. Is it emotionally resonating with you, or is it some other facet of yourself in your characters? Make sure your characters are all different in some way.


07. Share. 
Novels aren't supposed to see the light of day until they are done. Short stories should be worked on. The 500 words of a post, they can be shared quickly and you get instant feedback in the form of the next post. Someone is there interacting with you and interested because they are involved. No worrying about whether they want to read or not cause they always want to read!

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Sharing is good for your writing. Not parts of your novel, but sharing samples and small bits you write, it helps you see where you stand and it helps you always strive to put out something worth reading.


08. Write. A lot. 
I have written over 200,000 words in the last two months. That is definitely a lot. I've been pushing the amount I write daily and usually I get in about ten posts a day, which is about 5000 words daily (give or take). I'm doing really well at pushing it, and I know I can, but it helps to have someone waiting eagerly on the other end. It pushes you to write more.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Set goals, meet them, and push further. I used to think a 3000 word day was a good day, now 5000 words is a typical day. I, for one, am looking forward to NaNoWriMo.


09. Action creates reaction.
Another theater rule I stole: always move the scene forward. Threads can get buried in reaction if you're not careful. Always push the scene forward to see what happens. Writing to a thread where nothing has happened is one of the hardest things you can do. Always do action so there is something to react to, and hope your partner will add to the forward momentum.

How to apply it to writing by yourself: Always push the scene forward. It keeps people reading, it keeps you interested. Lots of thought and reaction is not interesting to read.


10. Do what's good for you.


This one's pretty much as is. Do what's good for you, do what you need to do. If RPing doesn't do it for you, then don't RP. Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to do.