Post by ICW Owner Jax Millinux on Feb 19, 2010 0:19:35 GMT -5
I notice that some of you may be looking for help on building up your roleplaying skills and techniques. Well, over the years, I have acquired many tips and tricks in this area. I will share what I know with everyone else. Most of it is common knowledge, but you all can use it to further better yourselves and reach whom you want to be as an RPer. I am one of the owners here and it's my job to give you all the tools I possibly can to help you guys out so without further words, let me share my tips with you.
1. Build up each and every roleplay you do accordingly:
Everyone has their own style of roleplaying, but it all starts with the same basic form no matter which way you take your roleplay. A roleplay has many simple parts and put together, you can create a masterpiece if you really spend some effort on everything. It's important to have very descriptive words, scenery, and some kind of plot within your roleplay. These are a few key elements to learn. Here is the basic form of structure of an RP....
* AN OPENING - This is where you start with your setting, scene, and surrounding. This is key to introduce your character within. You really need to draw in the reader and this is wear you start to suck them into your roleplay. It's about immersion. Who wants to read a roleplay that is boring and just the same old thing over and over? No one does. You must make sure you are being descriptive so that your readers can picture everything clearly. This is a very important step and it can make or break the rest of your roleplay if not done properly.
* A SET-UP - This is where you start introducing possible supporting characters within your roleplay. I don't recommend starting off a roleplay with supporting characters unless you REALLY know what you are doing and really understand all the elements of your roleplay. This is very important to learn. You don't necassarily have to have a strong set of supporting characters as long as you make it count. The setup isn't all about the supporting characterization though. It's also about keeping your readers reading further. Now that you've got them paying attention to reading it, you can use this time to tell them what is going on in the roleplay. Pave the way onto the events...
* THE EVENTS - The main even of the roleplay that you are writing. It could be an activity or something similar. Eitherway, this is your chance to really add the body of the roleplay. This is a key part of any roleplay. If you have no extension into the roleplay, you don't have a very good roleplay to work with and it's just going to look too short and very effortless. If this part isn't done properly, you can lose your readers interest and we do not want that do we? So make sure your character is spending time doing something that will keep the players reading further into your roleplay so that you can wrap it up.
* THE WRAP UP - This is where you start ending your roleplay. Do not finish it too quick because it will look rushed and will hurt your roleplay overall. Take your time and end it at a steady pace. Do NOT drag your roleplay out in an unnecessary fashion. I have seen this done a thousand times. Where people just add fluff on just for the sake of making it longer. Length of a roleplay isn't important. What is important is the quality and your ending should do your roleplay justice and get to the pay off.
* PAY OFF TIME - This is the very end of your roleplay. Don't mistake the wrap up for the ending of your roleplay because it is not. The pay off is indeed the end of your roleplay and make sure it gives off some closure to the roleplay you've done. Give off some kind of ending whether it be an emotional end, a happy one, an agressive one, and so fourth. Also, a tip.. Do not just leave off with a "To be continued". It leaves you looking a little lazy on your part. The ending should be a pay off for your readers. They should reward them with a good ending like any story you get through to the end. Lastly, the final words of any roleplay are commonly "The scene fades". You don't have to use this, but end with something of the such.
That my friends is how you correctly structure a roleplay. Use this template well and you will surely get ahead.
2. Pick your setting well:
Do not go with the same old thing everytime. We've seen locker rooms millions of times. Do something different and shake things up. Here are some typical ideas for settings....
* IN THE RING - This is the most popular most likely to deliver your roleplay. This is your typical roleplay, but you can do so much with it if you choose to. You place your wrestler into a ring during an house show and your trash talk your opponent of the week. This is just like what you'd see on WWE. Every wrestler uses this to really "psyche" out their opponent. In efedding it is a little bit different in ring promos can be quite boring for a veteran wrestler that has surely done it dozens of times and most fed-heads do not enjoy them that much.
* THE INTERVIEW PROMO - This is where your character is interviewed by a interviewer to ask your character all sorts of questions about the match at hand. Not much more to it than that. Rookies use these all the time. Veterans however, they will use these for event segments and nothing more. This can be done right and used well if the efforts are great, but just know it's been there and done that to death.
* CHARACTER DEVELOPEMENT - This method is most liked by veterans of roleplaying. It can really open your creativity level and addiction quite alot. You can do absolutely anything that your mind comes to. Go anywhere, and have your character in any situation that tells a story of what your character is all about. The thing is that it won't have much to do with your match and is only meant to develope your wrestler as being realistic. There can be mention of your match and that will turn it a little bit past character developement. This is probably the best route for anyone wanting to really better themselves, BUT take note that if you are just starting out.. It will be a hard at first, but it will get easier as you go. Once you get used to this way of roleplaying, it starts to get really fun and enjoyable.
3. Important rules of roleplaying!
No matter how you roleplay, there is a few guidelines that are just smart to follow and they are.....
* SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION: This can only help your roleplays. Please make sure to double check all your spelling in roleplays beacause it can bring a reader out of a roleplay if it's riddled with typos and incorrect punctuation. Most people can catch spelling errors and typos as they write and, but it never hurts to go back and make sure.
WRONG WAY - cum monday ima beat you ass in that ring.
RIGHT WAY - Come this monday, I'm going to beat your ass in that ring.
* ACT THE AGE OF THE PART - If your wrestlers is like 25 or so on, you need to act like such. For example, do not go around like a 12 year old kid and call everyone a "pussy" or a "dick". Adults do not talk like this so please be mature. So don't be a moron and really think your roleplays out.
* PARAGRAPH FORMS ARE YOUR FRIEND - Do not jumble up all your words and make a one paragraph story. People will not read a big wall of text and it doesn't make you look very good at all. If you really want to put effort into your roleplays, write it out in multiple paragraphs and it will definately help you improve.
* DONT MAKE ROLEPLAYS LONG FOR THE SAKE OF BEING LONG - Do not ever feel like you need to push yourself to write up a 10k - 11k roleplay every time. It will get boring and really bring your roleplay down alot. We don't want to see roleplays being dragged out too long. Just make your roleplays long enough to be interesting and entertaining. Just make sure you have plenty of quality in it. Show me that you've taken the time to sit down for a little bit of time and really think about it. The average roleplay is 3k - 6k with good quality. Don't make an 11k or 1k roleplay.
* BE DESCRIPTIVE, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT! - Being descriptive is a paramount step in roleplaying. Tell me, what is your character wearing? How is he acting? What is he doing? What is he thinking? Whats going on around him? What is some things near him? These and plenty of other questions are valid and are important parts to really crafting a quality roleplay. By the time you are done, the reader should be able to get a clear visualization of what is going on with it all.
4. How to beat your worst enemy, Writers block!
So your typing up your roleplay and you can't think of what you should do or say. Your mind is just completely shutting off and you don't know what you are going to do. You have found yourself with a good old case of writers block. What do you do now? Well for one thing, writers block in a block of your mental abilities that prevent your from putting out a quality roleplay. The cause? Well it could be a combination of different things. It could be something greatly affecting your train of thought such as a tragedy, loss, or something of the same. The block can also come from something good strangely. Maybe your life has changed by grazing lots of money or maybe your physical appearance has changed. Eitherway, there is plenty of reasons why you could have some form of writers block.
What drives a writer comes from what is within him. When your mental status changes, so does what you do so your work is most likely to take a hit. A problem with alot of roleplayers I notice is that they just lose interest in it. They run out of motivation and inspiration to write. What we do at ICW is we like to inspire you. We like to make sure that we are doing to best for everyone on an individual level. Do we as owners get writers block? Oh yeah, ofcourse we do. We are only human. What can we do to make things better and get rid of nasty writers block?
A tip, only write when you feel like writing. Don't force yourself to write because it will just set you in a bad mojo when writing and you won't accomplish what you really wanted to set out to do. If your in ICW, we expect you to roleplay, but we want you to have fun doing it so please write when you really have the inspiration to do so. If your booked each week, you must roleplay and sometimes that is a hard thing to do. If you must write, there is a way to get some inspiration. It involves leaving the comfort of your room and your computer chair..
What am I talking about? Have I lost you now? I mean your best inspirations come from living life. So go out and get inspired in life. Go outside and really look at what you've been given. Yeah some of us do this to get away from reality, but there is always inspiration somewhere in life. The next thing is to do some reading.. Yes.. Read books. ALOT of writers get inspiration from reading.
Lastly, stop overthinking when your write your roleplays. Write down your best ideas down and use them later when you get the chance to strike some roleplaying gold. Overall guys, writers block can get you in a shitty mood, but there are ways to get out of it.
5. LAST RULES
* DO NOT USE YOUR OPPONENT - Would you want to be used in your opponents roleplay? Someone who doesn't know your character best? Someone who may mis-use your character? It's just not a wise thing. I have however seen people use their opponents in roleplays WITH THEIR PERMISSION that is and it was tastefully done. So it can be done if you ask for permission and do it right.
* STAY WITHIN REALITY - No dying and coming back to life, no robbing banks, no flying like superman, no raising the dead to do your bidding, no going around killing people, no becoming the president, ect... Get the point? Stay within the realm of what is real. You have alot to work with in the real world so don't go weirdo on me and try and become batman in your roleplays.
* PROOF READ EVERYTHING! - A tastefully and correctly written roleplay will get you far. That is all I really need to say about this one. Really if you want to show alot of improvement. Write a roleplay and leave it there for a few hours or so. Come back to it and think.. Think of what you could do better and re-write it accordingly. Re-write it until it is the best it can be. Then post it up.
OVERALL!!!! - I hope this all helped you out and I hope it helps you guys become better roleplayers in the end. I will work with anyone individually that wants help. ICW believes in doing everything we can to listen and help our roster with their skills and so on. We want to build you guys for a stronger outlook on all this. So remember these tips and lasty, have fun with what you do.
~ Shawn Ablaze, Co-owner of ICW
I used roughkut to help me give you guys the best tips. Just wanted to let you know where I got some of my information.
1. Build up each and every roleplay you do accordingly:
Everyone has their own style of roleplaying, but it all starts with the same basic form no matter which way you take your roleplay. A roleplay has many simple parts and put together, you can create a masterpiece if you really spend some effort on everything. It's important to have very descriptive words, scenery, and some kind of plot within your roleplay. These are a few key elements to learn. Here is the basic form of structure of an RP....
* AN OPENING - This is where you start with your setting, scene, and surrounding. This is key to introduce your character within. You really need to draw in the reader and this is wear you start to suck them into your roleplay. It's about immersion. Who wants to read a roleplay that is boring and just the same old thing over and over? No one does. You must make sure you are being descriptive so that your readers can picture everything clearly. This is a very important step and it can make or break the rest of your roleplay if not done properly.
* A SET-UP - This is where you start introducing possible supporting characters within your roleplay. I don't recommend starting off a roleplay with supporting characters unless you REALLY know what you are doing and really understand all the elements of your roleplay. This is very important to learn. You don't necassarily have to have a strong set of supporting characters as long as you make it count. The setup isn't all about the supporting characterization though. It's also about keeping your readers reading further. Now that you've got them paying attention to reading it, you can use this time to tell them what is going on in the roleplay. Pave the way onto the events...
* THE EVENTS - The main even of the roleplay that you are writing. It could be an activity or something similar. Eitherway, this is your chance to really add the body of the roleplay. This is a key part of any roleplay. If you have no extension into the roleplay, you don't have a very good roleplay to work with and it's just going to look too short and very effortless. If this part isn't done properly, you can lose your readers interest and we do not want that do we? So make sure your character is spending time doing something that will keep the players reading further into your roleplay so that you can wrap it up.
* THE WRAP UP - This is where you start ending your roleplay. Do not finish it too quick because it will look rushed and will hurt your roleplay overall. Take your time and end it at a steady pace. Do NOT drag your roleplay out in an unnecessary fashion. I have seen this done a thousand times. Where people just add fluff on just for the sake of making it longer. Length of a roleplay isn't important. What is important is the quality and your ending should do your roleplay justice and get to the pay off.
* PAY OFF TIME - This is the very end of your roleplay. Don't mistake the wrap up for the ending of your roleplay because it is not. The pay off is indeed the end of your roleplay and make sure it gives off some closure to the roleplay you've done. Give off some kind of ending whether it be an emotional end, a happy one, an agressive one, and so fourth. Also, a tip.. Do not just leave off with a "To be continued". It leaves you looking a little lazy on your part. The ending should be a pay off for your readers. They should reward them with a good ending like any story you get through to the end. Lastly, the final words of any roleplay are commonly "The scene fades". You don't have to use this, but end with something of the such.
That my friends is how you correctly structure a roleplay. Use this template well and you will surely get ahead.
2. Pick your setting well:
Do not go with the same old thing everytime. We've seen locker rooms millions of times. Do something different and shake things up. Here are some typical ideas for settings....
* IN THE RING - This is the most popular most likely to deliver your roleplay. This is your typical roleplay, but you can do so much with it if you choose to. You place your wrestler into a ring during an house show and your trash talk your opponent of the week. This is just like what you'd see on WWE. Every wrestler uses this to really "psyche" out their opponent. In efedding it is a little bit different in ring promos can be quite boring for a veteran wrestler that has surely done it dozens of times and most fed-heads do not enjoy them that much.
* THE INTERVIEW PROMO - This is where your character is interviewed by a interviewer to ask your character all sorts of questions about the match at hand. Not much more to it than that. Rookies use these all the time. Veterans however, they will use these for event segments and nothing more. This can be done right and used well if the efforts are great, but just know it's been there and done that to death.
* CHARACTER DEVELOPEMENT - This method is most liked by veterans of roleplaying. It can really open your creativity level and addiction quite alot. You can do absolutely anything that your mind comes to. Go anywhere, and have your character in any situation that tells a story of what your character is all about. The thing is that it won't have much to do with your match and is only meant to develope your wrestler as being realistic. There can be mention of your match and that will turn it a little bit past character developement. This is probably the best route for anyone wanting to really better themselves, BUT take note that if you are just starting out.. It will be a hard at first, but it will get easier as you go. Once you get used to this way of roleplaying, it starts to get really fun and enjoyable.
3. Important rules of roleplaying!
No matter how you roleplay, there is a few guidelines that are just smart to follow and they are.....
* SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION: This can only help your roleplays. Please make sure to double check all your spelling in roleplays beacause it can bring a reader out of a roleplay if it's riddled with typos and incorrect punctuation. Most people can catch spelling errors and typos as they write and, but it never hurts to go back and make sure.
WRONG WAY - cum monday ima beat you ass in that ring.
RIGHT WAY - Come this monday, I'm going to beat your ass in that ring.
* ACT THE AGE OF THE PART - If your wrestlers is like 25 or so on, you need to act like such. For example, do not go around like a 12 year old kid and call everyone a "pussy" or a "dick". Adults do not talk like this so please be mature. So don't be a moron and really think your roleplays out.
* PARAGRAPH FORMS ARE YOUR FRIEND - Do not jumble up all your words and make a one paragraph story. People will not read a big wall of text and it doesn't make you look very good at all. If you really want to put effort into your roleplays, write it out in multiple paragraphs and it will definately help you improve.
* DONT MAKE ROLEPLAYS LONG FOR THE SAKE OF BEING LONG - Do not ever feel like you need to push yourself to write up a 10k - 11k roleplay every time. It will get boring and really bring your roleplay down alot. We don't want to see roleplays being dragged out too long. Just make your roleplays long enough to be interesting and entertaining. Just make sure you have plenty of quality in it. Show me that you've taken the time to sit down for a little bit of time and really think about it. The average roleplay is 3k - 6k with good quality. Don't make an 11k or 1k roleplay.
* BE DESCRIPTIVE, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT! - Being descriptive is a paramount step in roleplaying. Tell me, what is your character wearing? How is he acting? What is he doing? What is he thinking? Whats going on around him? What is some things near him? These and plenty of other questions are valid and are important parts to really crafting a quality roleplay. By the time you are done, the reader should be able to get a clear visualization of what is going on with it all.
4. How to beat your worst enemy, Writers block!
So your typing up your roleplay and you can't think of what you should do or say. Your mind is just completely shutting off and you don't know what you are going to do. You have found yourself with a good old case of writers block. What do you do now? Well for one thing, writers block in a block of your mental abilities that prevent your from putting out a quality roleplay. The cause? Well it could be a combination of different things. It could be something greatly affecting your train of thought such as a tragedy, loss, or something of the same. The block can also come from something good strangely. Maybe your life has changed by grazing lots of money or maybe your physical appearance has changed. Eitherway, there is plenty of reasons why you could have some form of writers block.
What drives a writer comes from what is within him. When your mental status changes, so does what you do so your work is most likely to take a hit. A problem with alot of roleplayers I notice is that they just lose interest in it. They run out of motivation and inspiration to write. What we do at ICW is we like to inspire you. We like to make sure that we are doing to best for everyone on an individual level. Do we as owners get writers block? Oh yeah, ofcourse we do. We are only human. What can we do to make things better and get rid of nasty writers block?
A tip, only write when you feel like writing. Don't force yourself to write because it will just set you in a bad mojo when writing and you won't accomplish what you really wanted to set out to do. If your in ICW, we expect you to roleplay, but we want you to have fun doing it so please write when you really have the inspiration to do so. If your booked each week, you must roleplay and sometimes that is a hard thing to do. If you must write, there is a way to get some inspiration. It involves leaving the comfort of your room and your computer chair..
What am I talking about? Have I lost you now? I mean your best inspirations come from living life. So go out and get inspired in life. Go outside and really look at what you've been given. Yeah some of us do this to get away from reality, but there is always inspiration somewhere in life. The next thing is to do some reading.. Yes.. Read books. ALOT of writers get inspiration from reading.
Lastly, stop overthinking when your write your roleplays. Write down your best ideas down and use them later when you get the chance to strike some roleplaying gold. Overall guys, writers block can get you in a shitty mood, but there are ways to get out of it.
5. LAST RULES
* DO NOT USE YOUR OPPONENT - Would you want to be used in your opponents roleplay? Someone who doesn't know your character best? Someone who may mis-use your character? It's just not a wise thing. I have however seen people use their opponents in roleplays WITH THEIR PERMISSION that is and it was tastefully done. So it can be done if you ask for permission and do it right.
* STAY WITHIN REALITY - No dying and coming back to life, no robbing banks, no flying like superman, no raising the dead to do your bidding, no going around killing people, no becoming the president, ect... Get the point? Stay within the realm of what is real. You have alot to work with in the real world so don't go weirdo on me and try and become batman in your roleplays.
* PROOF READ EVERYTHING! - A tastefully and correctly written roleplay will get you far. That is all I really need to say about this one. Really if you want to show alot of improvement. Write a roleplay and leave it there for a few hours or so. Come back to it and think.. Think of what you could do better and re-write it accordingly. Re-write it until it is the best it can be. Then post it up.
OVERALL!!!! - I hope this all helped you out and I hope it helps you guys become better roleplayers in the end. I will work with anyone individually that wants help. ICW believes in doing everything we can to listen and help our roster with their skills and so on. We want to build you guys for a stronger outlook on all this. So remember these tips and lasty, have fun with what you do.
~ Shawn Ablaze, Co-owner of ICW
I used roughkut to help me give you guys the best tips. Just wanted to let you know where I got some of my information.