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Toph’s Family

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muse things send a prompt for some character facts.

SELF + HEALTH

how do they see themselves?

how do they want to be seen by others?

what is their life motto?

would they rather lead or follow?

what motivates them?

are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue?

do they have any pet peeves?

what do they most regret?

what achievement are they most proud of?

what would they like to improve on?

do they have any scars?

do they have a disability?

do they have any allergies or food intolerances?

do they have any long-term illnesses or injuries?

PERSONALITY

describe their personality in one word.

their predominant emotion?

someone wrongs them. do they respond with revenge or forgiveness?

do they make snap judgments or take time to consider?

are they a glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of person?

do they express themselves through words or deeds?

how often do they lie?

do they listen to their head or their heart while making a decision?

HABITS

how organized/disorganized are they?

do they have any routines?

talk about their mannerisms.

is there an item they take with them wherever they go?

good habits and bad habits.

THOUGHTS

their views on formal education vs self-education?

what are their thoughts on animals?

how much do they care what people think about them?

do they enjoy being the center of attention? why or why not?

how do they feel about learning?

which do they value more: creativity or practicality?

thoughts on material possessions?

would they rather win an argument or avoid conflict?

views on people in general?

what qualities do they admire in other people?

how do they feel about fun?

what do they want written on their tombstone?

what would an ideal day, in their mind, be like?

thoughts on privacy? (are they private or are they “tmi”?)

thoughts on superstitions or the occult? (do they believe, not believe, etc.)

what are their religious views?

WHAT IF’S

if they could go anywhere, where would they go?

if they could change anything, what would they choose?

if they could only bring two things with them, what what they be?

if they could go back in time and undo one of their own actions, which would it be?

if they could contact one person for help, who would it be?

if they could save one person, who would it be?

if they had good news, who would hear it first?

if they were leaving, who get the first goodbye?

LAST TIMES

when was the last time they cried?

when was the last time they smiled?

when was the last time they laughed?

when was the last time they felt brave?

when was the last time they felt scared?

THE PAST

where did they grow up?

how would they describe their family?

what was their childhood like?

what did they want to be when they grew up?

as a child, what were they most likely to be found doing?

the worst thing that has ever happened to them.

the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to them.

the best thing that has ever happened to them.

which memory stands out most clearly?

THE FUTURE

biggest and smallest short term goal?

biggest and smallest long term goal?

where do they see themselves 5 years from today?

do they believe in happy endings?

are they afraid of dying? why or why not?

TOUGH STUFF

do they have any phobias?

do they get nightmares?

what kind of person are they?

would they let someone take the blame for something they did?

what are they insecure about?

what is one way to earn their trust?

what is one way to lose their trust?

one thing they would hate anyone to know about them.

they have to pick one: to be loved, to be feared, or to be admired.

have they ever been bullied or teased?

FUN STUFF

what is their character archetype?

what are they confident about?

talk about their moral alignment.

describe them in three words.

describe their aesthetic.

what will make them laugh?

what makes them feel safe?

favorite color and the reason for it.

favorite book genre?

favorite movie genre?

favorite type of muse?

if they could have a superpower, what would they choose?

do they have a role model?

what is their personal kryptonite?

how do they entertain themselves?

flawlessbeautyqueens

Mandip Gill photographed by Amit Bhimji for Institute Magazine (2017)

daddystrangetm

TIPS FOR WRITING STARTERS*

1) Ask yourself “Do I need this part?”

One thing that can really weigh down a starter is information that isn’t vital to the scene; key word being scene not the plot entirely. That in depth character analysis might be great writing, but a writing partner can’t really reply to meta. It’s not something their muse can interact with or use to further the scene. I know sometimes our writing gets away with us, and I have often times taken parts out of replies and then later expanded on it in another separate post because it was more suited there The same thing can be said for backstory; while I am always a fan of backstory, I’ve noticed a trend where people try to summarize their entire plot in the first starter, both for their partner and for any one outside reading it. It’s always good to set up SOMETHING in a starter, but keep it focused on that specific scene. A partner cannot reply to just meta and backstory, you need to give them something to respond to.

2) “No really, do you really need this part?”

I cannot stress this enough; your starter needs to set the scene… so it really needs to be focused on that scene. If your starter involves one or two ( or more ) scene changes before you even reach the part where your partner’s muse comes into play; than odds are, you need to step back and focus on what really matters. Ask yourself what the purpose of this interaction is, what is it your muse wants from mine specifically. Are they an obstacle? A goal? Scene direction and focus is very important in both starters and replies.

3) ALWAYS CUT 10% BEFORE FINISHING

This is actually something I learned in a writing class and have heard echoed by authors and filmmakers, and various other content producers for years. While ten percent is the arbitrary number, what that’ll look like will vary from starter to starter. What this does is force you to focus on what actually is important to your scene, and help you remove anything that might be nice writing but doesn’t contribute anything.

4) Establish, thoughts, action

A starter should always be equal parts establishing information, what your muse wants, and an action to react to. It doesn’t need to be in that order, and there might be times where you need to outweigh one over the other due to the unusual nature of the scene; but 90% of the time, regardless if it’s a short para, proper para, or novella, you should always keep these three balanced.

Establish what is vital information for your partner to know right off the bat, you can always flesh things out in replies later both in character speech and in narration; give your partner some idea of what’s going on in their head. How they feel about the situation, what they want. This doesn’t need to be expository, you can convey this easily by describing the others. If they are speaking pleasantly or angrily, if they view the location as a nice or bad place. Things like that help make these things feel more organic. And of course, actions. This covers things such as speech, physical actions or anything in your reply that’s observable to the other writer for their muse to respond to.

5) Remember you do not have to establish everything

While it’s important to give your partner something to work with, do not get carried away or think the sole responsibility of fleshing it out rests on you. Let your partner’s reply add more to the world, add in details and give it colour. It’s way to easy to accidentally god mod in starters by setting the scene as if you are expecting a certain response. Leave some of it to them. Its your shared scene, you both are responsible for giving it life.

6) Watch out for accidental god modding

When we think of godmodding, we often imagine someone writing out our character’s actions or feelings or outright telling us what to do. The thing is, it’s easy to do it accidentally in more subversive ways. If you write a starter that’s clearly angled for a certain type of response or end goal, plotted or not. It can make your partner feel trapped, like their just going through the motions of your fantasy, and not your shared one.

If you haven’t plotted, ask questions like “is it okay if I say this?” if referring to their muse or past events that would involve them both. If you have plotted, than try to stick firmly to what was already discussed. Don’t embellish beyond that. You can allow things to grow naturally in the scene and continue to discuss things ooc with your partner as the thread continues. Adding things without discussing them first, and they aren’t strictly locked to your own muse, that’s another way of godmodding without realizing it. You are eliminating your partner’s ability to decide and choose things for themselves.

6) Communicate

Regardless if you plotted or not, it’s okay to admit it if you are stuck. Sometimes some scenes are fun to plot but don’t lend themselves to writing as a thread as easily. Sometimes you need to talk a little more to get creative juices flowing. Do not be afraid to reach out.

7) Accept that not all starters will be knockouts.

Sometimes, a starter just won’t take. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. It doesn’t mean their rude for not answering. Sometimes things in that set up, just don’t click. Sometimes you can fix this by taking a new approach, but sometimes you’ve gotta cut your losses and try again. It’s going to happen, and accepting that this isn’t a reflection on you can be the biggest challenge yet.

8) BE FLEXIBLE

Roleplaying is a mix of writer’s craft and drama/improv; the writer’s craft part is obvious but there are key stage rules that apply as well due to the back and forth nature of RP. Sometimes you’ll set a scene, and your partner might see a starter and take it in a direction you weren’t thinking of when you wrote it. That’s okay ( as long as it’s within both of your comfort zones ). The rule of improv is Yes, and… meaning, if you expected your partner to say x but the end up saying y, don’t go ic or ooc and say no it’s x. This isn’t so much about writing starters as it is accepting that once you’ve written it, you have to let it go. It’s someone else’s to be creative with. It might not go the way you want it to, but that’s not a bad things inherently.

9) ACCEPT FEEDBACK AND GROW.

Let your craft develop by opening yourself up to notes and suggestions. You’ll become bored with writing if unchallenged and your partners will become bored of the same thing constantly. This doesn’t mean pull a Madonna and rebrand yourself a million times, but let yourself grow.

writingquestionsanswered

Hi! So I have trouble coming up with ideas for how to flesh out my characters and the plot. My characters are very 2D and I never know what should happen next. Do you have any advice for how to get the creative juices flowing?

Fleshing Out Flat Characters

If you haven’t already, take a spin through my character section. The best way to flesh out your character is to figure out the following:

their three best personality traits

their best talents/skills

their worst flaws

what others think of them

what they think of themselves

the internal flaw that holds them back and must change

how this flaw affects their daily life

what caused this flaw to exist

the big life lesson they must learn before they can change

what their life has been like so far

who their family and friends are

what their normal/daily life is like when the story starts

Once I have all of this figured out, I love to cast my characters. I have two rules for casting: 1) All of the above has to be figured out first, as well as appearance (preferably), 2) Try to avoid using actors/models you’re really familiar with. Faceclaim lists/sites are helpful.

Casting is a great way to round out your characters in your mind, because just as with reading a book when you’ve already seen the movie, your brain tends to create an amalgam of the movie actor and what you personally imagine as you read. The same happens here. Your brain has probably already created an image of this character, so the actor/model will meld with that to create a really solid version in your head. It will be much easier to imagine them talking, moving, and reacting.

Good luck! :)

justmiz

Tips on writing good starters.

In the roleplay scene, it can be hard to handle the task of writing a starter or a greeter for someone else. Especially when your partners have different preferences, and you just aren’t sure if you can handle it. When you have a lot of starters to do all at once —— it can be quite daunting. So, with my years of roleplay experience — I gathered a few of my own tips that help myself when writing starters ( although, now I need to get over the obstacle of laziness ). I figured, hey — maybe someone else can get help from this.

1. Consider aspects of their muse. It sounds lame, but you need to kind of look at someone’s muse ( whether you know them well or not, canon or OC ) and figure out answers to questions such as “what kind of first impression do they give off?” and “how would they react to a stranger walking up to them?”. It’s best here to avoid topics that you feel may grow REPETITIVE. To you and your muse, a topic such as “who/what are you” or “why are you here” may be new, but to your partner it may not be. Try to avoid something as bland and repetitive, and try to find a new edge that makes a conversation or greeter all the more exciting that kind of grabs your partner’s attention more so than a thought like “oh another starter like this??”.

2. Think of how the starter will carry onward in a thread. Some people like shorter things, while others like to expand more. You want to try to fit a starter with your partner in this sense length wise, but all in all we should all agree we’d want a starter that could get your muses somewhere. Whether it’s knowing each other better, or developing a whole new plot on the fly — it all matters on the topic. Whether it’s a one-liner, single-para, multi-para, etc., it’s your responsibility as the one writing the starter to get something going, not your partner you’re writing the starter for. Avoid starters that makes them step up and get things going — or something too vague that no one knows what’s going on. Be clear, be interesting, and find something that can expand longer than just 2 or 3 replies. So you may write something like “hey, im lost. can you tell me where i am?” which could be quickly solved by your partner responding with directions or something — instead, aim for something more like “you’re lost too?? lets try sticking together to find our way back!” which will allow the muses to have potential bonding. Bland example, but it’s an example nevertheless.

3. Grab your partner’s attention. Try to write a starter that you feel will excite your partner ( but make sure you’re excited for it, too ). If you check out their blog // wishlist // etc., you may get a better idea of what they’re looking for in new roleplays. It can help avoid the problems in the two tips above, as well as giving off a good first impression as a roleplay partner that you’re excited, too! If you read their rules and see they enjoy plotting, you could always hit them up! But always pay mind to rules concerning everything.

That’s about all I have, since other posts cover other basics here!

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- ̗̀ △ ▽— SONG + CONNECTIONS MASTERLIST

hey guys ! no one requested this, but i used to do this thing where my wanted connections would be based off of songs ( usually an album ), so i thought it would be a cool idea to make a little masterlist out of it ! here are TEN songs from my morning playlist i thought would make fun connections ! feel free to copy and paste the whole desc into your wcs or use your own interpretation of them !

like/reblog if you’ve found this helpful or you’re using it ! also i’d appreciate it if y’all didn’t copy my descs into your own masterlist, thanks !

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