#adminadvice

[phanficsanonymous]

Any tips for oneshots? I kind of want to make a oneshot phandom fic but I can't seem to just leave things be. I wasn't sure if you knew of any good oneshot tips or prompts or something.

Remember when writing oneshots: the whole story isn’t supposed to fit, it’s a small part of a bigger picture, so don’t stress on ending it in a way that solves every problem and touches on every detail of the story. If you’re having difficulty choosing a plot, use a song lyric or a quote as inspiration. That can also be how you end or start your fic. For example, Ed Sheeran‘s song Perfect. I can use the lyric, “you look perfect tonight,” and base a whole oneshot around these few words. It can be the beginning of a conversation or the end. I hope this helped!

-Ari

[steinfeldofrph]

hi sofia! do you have any tips on running a gossip blog? as in how not to make it biased etc etc

yes i do!

don’t talk about the same group of people - look i know it’s really tempting to talk about the same people, especially when they cause drama and you’ve got plots with them but you people are not the only people in the rp. talking about the same people is a sure fire way for your gossip blog to become cliche and literally no one will use it and soon after cliche’s can form which leads to bubble rping and well... people leave.

ask your members to send in things that have happened - you’re not omnipresent, you can’t be on the dash 24/7 and even if you have multiple admins in different timezones, you’re bound to miss things. so ask your members to send in things, what they’ve plotted, past connections. this works out well in two ways 1) you have more things to talk about and 2) people get involved

send anons in yourself if you have to - this may sound stupid, i know, i know but honestly, if the situation calls for it, do it. send anons about youself, things you see in the dash etc etc. this might help get the ball rolling in members sending in gossip

don’t be mean unnecessarily - a gossip blog is to create drama but it can easily make people feel as if they are being targeted. don’t insult one person constantly and don’t use derogatory terms/language etc etc

give members the chance to back out - some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of a gossip blog. that’s not your decision to make. if a member comes to you and says “hi guys, i’m not comfortable with my character being talked on the blog could i ask for them to not be mentioned?” you shut up, listen and don’t mention them.

have some guidelines somewhere - self explanatory but you’ve got to draw the line and say what is and isn’t allowed. 

do games like fmk, truth or dare etc etc - that’s a good way of creating opinions and drama and if your confessions are dying up/you’re talking about the same people, this is a good idea!

that’s probably it for now but feel free to message me for more help on a specific aspect

[phanficsanonymous]

any tips for writing slow burn? I've been trying but failing haha

My advice is to make a plot line before hand. If your final goal is the tooth rotting fluffy stuff, what trials and tribulations are dip and pip going to go through before they finally get there? Then, write the scene around each of those events on your plot line, and soon enough, you have the basis for a lot of your chapters. You can also make a running list of things you want to be sure you include, whether it’s a funny pun or a foreshadowing moment to keep in mind as you write your scenes.

[phanficsanonymous]

May I comment on the 'how to start' advice? In certain writing circles the need for a "hook" has been often discussed because it can sometimes throw the reader and writer for a loop. For example, of you start in the middle of fast paced action but the rest of your story is going to be rather slow, it tells the reader "oh this story will have a lot of fast paced action" but then they have to read through a bunch of slow stuff before getting to it again. (1/2)

(2/2) The beginning should match the pace so it doesn't always have to be fast or the most eye-catching hook. Imo the "hook" should be your summary, not your first paragraph.

[phanficsanonymous]

Any tips on starting a story? I have a plot down but I don’t know how to start (it’s a high school au)

A hook is definitely something that you need! Beginnings are the first impression someone gets of how things could go. But definitely what you need is something that will get your reader interested and wanting to read more! Sometimes starting off with say a flashback or memory is a great, but if it doesn’t fit the theme of your story or in the end doesn’t have an impact to the plot or tie in somehow, I wouldn’t recommend going down this route.  Some writers choose to start their stories in the middle of an action. So say your story would revolve around a basketball game and that game will impact the rest of the story, you could start your fic in an action which could be the winning or losing shot.

-alex

[stelenarph]

So as an admin, I'm having some issues. There is someone who drops characters all the time and picks and I want them to stop but don't know how to say something without upsetting them?

Hm yes I’ve seen this happen.

The best thing you can do is possibly say something like this: “Hey I noticed you’re picking up characters’ fairly quickly and while as an admin I love to see that! However, can we ask that you try to familiarise yourself with the character before dropping as we want to give people a chance to play characters.”

They may need to understand that if they are losing muse quickly, a new roleplay needs to be searched for... 

[stelenarph]

Hey Sofia! How do you deal with hate as an admin?

Right okay! First of all sorry if you’re getting hated on, I know how annoying and frustrating that feels. 

First of all, DO NOT PUBLISH IT. Just don’t. You know you’re getting hate as an admin and as a group but potential members do not and they don’t need to. 

Before You get into the next part, consider the hate. Are they trying to help or are they just being trolls. If they seem like they are trying to help, go to a couple of rph’s and ask for advice/opinion/review on your rpg and see if they have any thoughts which match the hate. If they’re being trolls then read on.

Second of all: What is the hate on? If it’s about the plot itself, read on. Anything to do with the rpg, plot, admins (unless co and you can see the problem), then just delete and move on. If it’s continuous, then block and move on. I know there is a temptation to reply but PLEASE keep the main drama free. It doesn’t scare anyone away and no-one knows about the hate…

If the hate is about a certain character or OOC then talk with the mun and explain to them what the situation is and try to reason with them. If they refuse to acknowledge they are the problematic person, then don’t be afraid to kick them out. Again, Consider if they are TRULY problematic or is someone trying to start fights. 

I hope this helps and for specific advice, or more specific examples, send me message!

[cecerph]

how long is it okay to wait before you open your roleplay after accepting some characters (but not all that you need)? is two weeks too much?

It honestly depends on how many characters you have. Usually, I would have a set number of applications and once I reach it, I would accept and open the roleplay days later. Sometimes, if the wait after sending in an application is extremely long, roleplayers tend to loose interest and may forget about the roleplay. But if the roleplay begins with too little characters, it tends to get inactive extremely fast. So if it’s two weeks after accepting applications, then I would suggest maybe you shorten the waiting time to about one week. But if it is two weeks after posting the bios then it should be fine, so long as you have a decent number of players to begin with. I hope that helped!