nan-does-a-teach

Here to teach you how to roleplay better! My personal opinion is however influencing my "teachings", I'm not some professional, well educated teacher. I'm just giving out tips since I've been told I'm rather good at this sort of thing

[nan-does-a-teach]

Hey you, you're finally awake.. Sorry i had to. Anyway, hi hello welcome to my blog, well side blog, I made this to help friends and others learn more about my personal roleplaying style and preference and to help any who come across it become a better roleplayer (by my personal standards).

If you agree with these posts and/or felt like you learned something, maybe give them a reblog so someone else can maybe see and learn and reblog!

That.. That's it. Trust me the "lessons" are a *lot* bigger lmao.

[nan-does-a-teach]

So you want to be creepy.

Tension Tension Tension and even more tension! Draw things out and be as patient as you can, even if you really want a big scary thing to happen.  Feel free to *over* describe something, even if it’s something ordinary- hell especially if it’s something ordinary. It creates suspicion and thus tension! You want your character to go crazy? *Don’t do it all at once* People don’t just go “insane” at the flip of a coin, usually there’s already things in place that are putting mental stress on them. Give them scenario after scenario where they feel inadequate, helpless, *stressed*, and then when the big snap comes it feels more organic, maybe it happens over something minor. Afterall when you’re already angry it’s often the tiniest things that finally have you blowing up. Back on the subject of being creepy, go listen to creepy music as you write, or watch things on creepypastas or better yet the SCP foundation between replies. Get yourself in that creepy Mood:tm:. Over describe and focus heavily on feelings- in writing it can be hard to get the creepiness to work if you’re just “this creepy thing happens” because then the reader is just like “oh that’s interesting” they aren’t really invested. Instead build up to the creepy thing with your character and background, be dramatic with your wording if need be.  Ex: There’s nothing wrong.. there’s absolutely nothing wrong.. and yet I still feel like my skin is *crawling*. I keep looking over my shoulder expecting to see something, or glancing around and listening, expecting to *hear something*.. but there’s just silence... on and on.. and on.. I felt like it was going to drive me mad. add in pauses in your writing as well, it’s important. Go into detail about how the character is feeling physically- pulse racing, hands shaking, arms are steady- there’s vomit on his sweater already, it’s moms spaghetti- bUT THE SPAGHETTI IS A HORRIBLE FACE EATING MONSTER. Lmao Also feel free to break the tension and then build it back up more than once, so when the thing actually happens their guard might be a bit lower- am I trying to help writers or movie makers here? Who knows Ex: “It’s nothing” I repeat to myself, aloud this time, the sound seeming to echo.. but that was probably just my imagination. I don’t even know why I’m getting so worked up, it’s ridiculou- a loud crash from behind me distracted me from my thoughts and I turn to find.. ah just a cat, must have knocked the lid off that trashcan. I turn back and see another person walking along with me.. it brings me comfort to know I’m not alone, I deepen my breaths and continue walking, occasionally glancing to the girl who’s going along at a bit of a slow pace, her head down.. maybe she was on her phone? Soon enough I pull level with her and look to her again- then freeze dead in my tracks.. her eyes were opened wide, so wide.. too wide.. and her mouth.. it was dripping blood from several punctures in her lips.. the string was still loosely in those holes, but cut loose. My blood ran cold as she looked up to me and I felt like I was staring into an endless abyss. I knew in that moment, that I was meaningless to this creature, that I was tiny.. and that the girl it wore had been tiny too. What would it do in my body, I wondered. Would it shamble around like it does with her until it met it’s next target? I got carried away there but yeah, annywayy- applying this to roleplay with another person can be complicated and can take some time and patience, but if it’s something you and your partner both want to explore then it can definitely be done.

[nan-does-a-teach]

So you want to fluff

So you and your partner have two great characters and you want them to have a good time together, maybe for romantic reasons, maybe just to bond and grow their friendship more... but what do you have them do? This can vary a lot, you may find inspiration just about anywhere for this- maybe in posts on tumblr! Maybe in how you interact with your own friends or s/o’s. Or maybe, just maybe.. from CLICHES! *Gasp* How unoriginal! Except it isn’t. First of all, cliches are cliche for a reason, that reason being- because people love them! Second of all it’s completely original, you wanna know why? Because even if something has been done, it hasn’t been done by these characters! Or by these characters since they’ve had all this development! Implying that yes you can 100% revist cute fluffy moments, maybe even having characters remeniece on the first time it happened. If you want your characters to hold each other close and dance slowly to quiet music, then by god you do it! If you want them the share a kiss in the heat of the moment and either go with it or question it later, then you do it!! Cliches are good! And so fun to explore!  You can also look to anime for certain scenarios really, person A trips and falls on senpai and now senpai is holding them! And they get all excited and blushy! If you think it’s cute then *go for it*!  Have them go on cliche dates to the movies or amusement park, or whatever! Even if they’re friends! And yes friends of the same gender can act a lil gay and still just be friends! Or they can go from friends to lovers! That’s up to y’all! Basically just be as cute and fluffy as you and your partner want to be and have no shame in that. Roleplay is about having fun, about creating worlds and exploring those worlds. If Marvel can reboot the same movie 5079504754 times then you can rehash an old cliche or even an old rp.

[nan-does-a-teach]

Characters

“Nana I’m worried my characters are all the same, or just sound like me even if that’s not what I meant to do! How do I write better characters?”  Now child.. this is something I ask myself every flipping time I make a new character *sigh* the eternal struggle if you will. Let me start by saying that it is not a bad thing to have your characters act and be like you. After All, you’re a real person! So if your characters feel like you then at least they feel like a real person! I’ve made thousands upon thousands of characters, and almost all of them could be related back to me in some way. I mean just look at the Sanders sides, they’re all Thomas.. *LITERALLY* and yet each of them have just little things to set them apart and make them feel like completely different and well fleshed out people and thus characters.  There’s no perfect formula to this, remember that! This is just my own words on the matter, as it is with this entire blog.  So. You’ve got your basic character Annoyingly Handsome ANGSTY Buisnessman (oh wait it’s Dark) Now how do you flesh him out? Well that’s simple, question everything.  Why is he angsty? Answer: because all of his friends are dead or insane and he’s fueled by little else but hatred for the one who caused it all. Question: Why the businessman aesthetic? Answer: Because he means business. Obviously. Basically why is your character the way that they are, when you know that then everything else about them will feel more natural and come to you more naturally. Think of what kind of character you want to make, what sort of roleplays you want to be a part of. If you like fluff roleplays then make a fluffy and soft character so it’s easier to get into said roleplays- like a gardener who’s very passionate about flowers and a pacifist and so on and so forth. Why did they become interested in flowers? Maybe they just thought they were pretty, and then learning about them they found them interesting. Maybe someone special to them liked flowers and gardening or taught them to garden so it means something special to them. If you like angsty roleplays then make an angsty character! Or better yet if you like a healthy dose of both and torturing your friends with Feelings:tm: then make that lovely happy go lucky gardener have Backstory:tm:. Example: The gardener was taught to garden by their mother, said mother passed away recently due to some illness and so even while they love gardening it’s also a stark reminder every single day of that pain and loss. They continue to love it because of what it means to them, but sometimes.. they just can’t help but to water the plants with their tears in memory of her.  You almost never want to tip too far one way or another, if you make a character solely about angst and being closed off and Angsty:tm: then you likely won’t have people get as well attached to said character, then the Angst you have planned out perfectly won’t have as big of an impact. Every tough guy needs a soft side. On the flip side of that coin if it’s always fluff then things might start to feel a bit dull, an easy way to spice that up is some angst- but if you aren’t feeling angst then throw in some New Trait! Suddenly gardener-chan wants to go on an adventure with Love Interest-kun and all these she-nan-igans keep happening but they still have fun and it’s still fluffy. ah but that’s getting a bit into scenario creation- which I’ll save for another post. Basically, every trait should have a reason for your character. Even if the reason is just so you can have the type of roleplay that you prefer. Everyone has a reason for being the way they are. Maybe your character is naturally anxious and withdrawn- but *why*? Is it a past trauma? Bad childhood? Bullying? Mental illness or disorder? The reasoning you choose can affect everything else about your character. For example if they’re socially anxious due to a mental disorder then that’s affected their whole life up to that point, it affects the way they dress, the way they walk, the way they talk. If it’s due to a past trauma.. say they just got out of a bad relationship and their confidence is just low, well then they might just be anxious about new people- or specifically people of the gender that they dated last. Why? Because they may be afraid to get close to a new someone and possibly have a repeat of that bad relationship. Every trait has a reason, every trait serves a purpose in your writing.  That being said, you should thoroughly practice about not taking your character too seriously, when you’re out of character feel free to call your angsty character “teen drama” or something silly, the more relaxed you are with your characters the more flexible you’ll be to how they act and how they evolve through your rp story. It shows a lot, trust me- I’m almost never serious about my characters when I’m just talking about them. I call the cute ones puppies or bottoms jokingly, and I call the more serious ones- well sometimes I just cuss them out lmao, it depends on the character because yes I’ve made some specifically horrible characters.  If you really want to build a world around and with your partner then have a little bit of these “teachings” show in even the most minor of characters, you may surprise yourself and create and entirely new character that your partner loves and they suddenly go from a minor character to main cast. Be flexible, be relaxed, be *curious* about your own characters deepest thoughts and secrets, and also the random shit they might say just because, be curious of their favourite colour just because! Just have fun with it, because that’s what roleplay is for, to have fun and to get away from real life for a bit, and for some people to bash out their issues in a safe way- but if you do use it to help with your issues also remember to not *only* use rp for that or people may not want to rp with you, because it isn’t fun to only do a certain type of angst, and it isn’t fun if both your character/s and your partners character/s  don’t get plenty of spotlight. 

[nan-does-a-teach]

Length

“Help me Nana! I can’t figure out how to make my replies longer without it feeling off, or I just have trouble thinking up ways to make it longer. Or-” gasp- “I’m nervous I’ll somehow make it too long!”  Well my child, let me start of by saying I *highly* doubt you can make a reply *too* long. However if you’re worried, then you should always ask your roleplay partner if it’s alright or ask their general preference! Now let’s crack them knuckles and get that knawledge. How do you make a reply feel more full? How do you help convey your character more? The answer is... (drum roll please).. movements, thoughts, and environment.  You can add a lot of depth to your character by describing the way they move, what they’re thinking during times of interest, and (if you’re leading the roleplay) what the environment around you and your partners characters looks like, feels like, smells like. Say your character is a nervous wreck of a person, yes you can imply that in dialogue with stuttering and the like- but it’s really easy to *over* stutter to the point that it just looks way too fake and like.. gaudy.. in a sense?  Bad example: He waves “H-Hi.. I-I’m N-Name-k-kun” Good example: He gives a short wave and then hunches his shoulders and wrings his hands together “H-Hi.. I’m.. uh.. n-name..kun.. nice to meet you?” as he speaks he glance to and from Character-2, afterwards chewing his lip. Look at that, there’s already more meat to the reply, and it *feels* more like a person- which of course is the real goal. Also, on the matter of stuttering you should note that stuttering isn’t something that always happens at the start of a word and it isn’t happening constantly. Sometimes “stuttering” is forgetting a word and repeating it or even saying it wrong first and then repeating it, or it can come in the middle of words more. Those who stutter due to anxiety are likely to draw out the pauses between their words more and say “Uhh” as filler a lot as well, so keep that in mind! “Well okay but how do I figure out how to add all that extra stuff?” That is an excellent question me pretending to be someone else asking questions that perfectly fit this thread! Think about your character as if they were a real person, how would they react to things in certain situations? Think about *yourself* in those situations, what would you be doing, how would you be moving, where would you be looking? Or avoiding looking perhaps? How would you feel, and how would your feelings affect you? If you can’t think of movement input then consider another physical input. Example: He gives a wave, his heart racing so fast with anxiety and nerves that he felt his voice give out and quiver as he spoke  “H-Hi.. I’m.. uh.. n-name..kun.. nice to meet you?” it was.. cringe worthy, though he did his best not to outwardly show that, and hoped against hope that the other person wouldn’t see it. This is still a rather *physical* response in pointing out the racing heart and such, while mixing in a heavy dose of emotional response. If you want less emotion and more physical, then think of how anxiety affects you personally. Maybe your thoughts blank out or scatter a bit and you think of what you say but forget to say one part of it because your brain is rushing ahead just trying to get it out. Maybe you feel like your blood is ice in your veins, *describe that feeling* (though obviously not too much if it affects you to the point that it’s harmful for you)  How do I mingle in character thoughts without interrupting the flow of my reply? What are potatoes made of? Ignoring the second, iRRELEVANT, question. That is a bit harder to answer, there is no perfect way to go about any of this, you have to try and you *have* to make mistakes and learn. If you want to make the thoughts obvious as thoughts you can always italicize them and add a he/she/they think/s before or after the thought. Just think over your response and what’s around it and make a personal call for it. How do I learn to better describe an area? How do I describe an area at all? Well to answer the second question first, you can always look up rooms that fit the idea in your mind and then go about sharing and describing them! As for the first one, there’s actually a writing exercise on that where you set a timer and then once it starts you look around the room and describe it as you see it first, so if you need practice then do that! If you still aren’t sure how to start then or are worried about going overboard by describing all the little details, then try to describe the layout first. Example: the room was rather small and overflowing with objects, there was a long table covered in crafts and a desk covered in various odds and ends. Clothes and rugs hide the hardwood floor mostly from view and the bed sat on the ground. Posters dotted the walls and lights lined along them near the ceiling, the only two windows in the room had blackout curtains. Overall it was a hot mess. Welcome to my room lmao. You don’t suddenly know exactly what it looks like but you’ve got a good enough feel for it that you should be able to build off of it, and then if another character decides to check out a specific area you can launch into a description of specifically that. Ex: Character 1 looks over the desk curiously.  He/She/They would see it’s an absolute mess with various notebooks and an art case, as well as a tub of clay, some strange ball- they may recall seeing it on tv years ago and remember it was called a “fushigi” ball. There was a treasure chest latched shut and a shoe box, a wicker basket full of yarn, and a hairbrush- as well as plenty of other odds and ends. Here I described quite a lot on my (actual real life art table lmao) and gave you a good idea of how messy it is. If you really read into it I probably also told you quite a bit about me, but even if you don’t it will subtly affect what you think of me. Always keep your character in mind when describing their space. Are they mess? Are they organized? Did they clean before the other character came over? Are they a messy cleaner, or do they get down on hands and knees with a toothbrush and go ham wild? What sort of things do they have laying out, why would this character have that? Even if you never get to explaining *why* a character has something, you should always have a reason ready in case it’s questioned, and because it makes *you* question it. Maybe they just thought it was neat- that implies they’re a bit impulsive (especially if it’s an item they bought) impulsive enough to just take or buy whatever it is for no other reason than to have it. Bird brain it.

[nan-does-a-teach]

Style

Well let’s get the big and obvious stuff out of the way and talk about roleplay style. In other words, the way you format your roleplays. I know you probably want to  have your own style of roleplay and show it off in different ways, but unless you’re doing a different style for a specific character or reason, I suggest you go with a typical story look. That means that this is action “and this is dialogue.” Bad Example: *A-kun waved at B-kun with a cheerful* hey what’s up! *and then did a little jig.* Example: A-kun waved at B-kun with a cheerful “hey what’s up!” and then did a little jig.  Just a silly little example but straightforward as possible. The reason I feel the need to point this out is because I’ve seen a lot of different people use asterisks (which in discord italicizes things) around their actions and they just sort of leave dialogue outside those asterisks (**these bad boys**) which both looks a little odd when you’re doing a proper roleplay and also removes your ability to actually put emphasis on things by italicizing them- or even if it doesn’t italicize them *this still brings attention to what’s being said*  However if you’re just joking around with a roleplay or doing a short little thing with friends or what not then the asterisks are still fine, I do this “OOC” all the time with friends and sometimes lead into proper roleplays where we eventually change styles to match. I’ve also seen people put their actions in parenthesis, whiich also isn’t the way to go as parenthesis can be used for side notes, or what have you, in roleplay without distracting too much from the original sentence. Bad Example: (B-kun yootled around like a centipede and then shouted) HO YEEEEE (before promptly perishing like this hard to read style should)  Good example: B-kun wiggled about (think of an excited puppy) and gave out *the* happiest little “YEE-HAW!” Also Good:  B-kun wiggled about, think of an excited puppy, and gave out *the* happiest little “YEE-HAW!” it just looks and flows more naturally this way and is easier on the eyes for reading, especially for longer replies (which if you ask me is almost always preferable and more enticing). What are the exceptions to these rules you might ask. Well that’s debatable. I myself have broken these “rules” for the purpose of displaying a more mechanical or robotic feeling for inorganic critters and creatures. Example: [Bingiplier boots up and looks around curiously] [{Where the f*ck am I? Whomst the f*ck are you?}]  I did it this way to sort of emulate code, but even that I try to use sparingly if possible. If a whole character speaks that way then obviously it can’t be helped, but if you have a robotic character you like to play often but you don’t like using this *all* the time you can also just have “system commands” in brackets and such. Ex: [Rebooting Unit Designation: Bingiplier] “Wah sahhh my dudes?” he tosses up a peace sign like a dork and pokes out his tongue almost cutely. Wink. Don’t be afraid to show your personality in the /flavor text/ as I’ve done throughout the examples, just don’t do it in a way that distracts the eyes and makes it hard to read your roleplays.