Dissect your own writing style. What do you do most often? What do you want to take away from other writers (tag them if you want)? What is something you want to break out of?
@eternasci / unprompted.
HI SYNNIE!! I WANTED TO ANSWER THIS FOR THE LONGEST TIME ( and i also looked at your analysis and that is *chef's kiss* i'll be using a format similar to that though i can't guarantee the length :'D )
ironically, tumblr roleplay is actually one of the reasons i began pursuing writing professionally; beginning of my writing journey on here began back in our lord and savior year 2014 :'D i was writing oc x canon short stories ( we called them oneshots teehee) back on quizilla and even did do a stint of rp thru the shitty messaging. lucky for me, almost all traces of my writing before 2021 have been deleted so i will never have to go through the cringe of other people reading my shitty characters and writing back then :) but let me actually answer the questions here!!
WRITING STYLE
this was pointed out to me by one of my writing professors and something i've come to realize more and more, but i don't describe human bodies. i don't like to either ( i have some suspicions on the root of this too ), but perhaps this is why i like tumblr rp so- we are able to use a faceclaim to represent a character; there's no need give a physical description if a picture can do it for you. for me, if there is description, it's going to be more intentional as is the action itself.
to connect with that point, my writing tends to lean more towards exploring character interiority: how the action of the other muse or even just the presence of the other muse will affect their opinions, their perception. i'm most comfortable with beginning from the interior before branching out into the character's exterior/actual interaction in the moment. this might be the reason why sometimes it feels like my replies are drawn out.
i used to wish i could write metaphorically and lyrically the way say, oc.ean v.uong does. however, i've learned that while i can admire that style, it's not one that comes easily for me. my writing tends to be more on the literal side. if a metaphor or a simile slips in, it was unintentional but it feels right. i think figurative language comes in for me when it comes to describing emotions or sensations my characters might be feeling ( ex. one & two ). i don't like to simply state emotions or intangible concepts; there's only so many ways to state a character is in love, but there are a thousand ways to describe a character in love ( ex. one & two ).
these days and my dear lenlen also pointed this out!! but i also tend to use...parentheses generously ^^' of course this draws out mixed reactions from my readers. here, i assume it's okay, but in my prose when it happens, my critique partners tell me to get rid of it :'D i personally love using both parentheses and the strikeout as it lets me play around with thoughts that my muses perhaps don't want to admit to themselves.
i like to think i've managed to weed out some bad habits that tend to be rampant among tumblr writing. when referring to characters, i will only use either their name or their pronouns. unless it adds to the voice of the muse itself, i'll never use epithets ( 'the female', 'the japanese', etc. ) as they really aren't used in say, published writing. when i was younger, i also used to have a bad habit of using 'she looked'/ eye direction. sometimes i do end up writing those things but i manage to catch myself and cut those sentences out. unless it's a significant action, i always usually assume the reader knows the general eye direction ^^'
CHARACTER VOICE.
one thing i know my mutuals and my critique partners tend to tell me about my writing is that my characters are well-developed, each having their own distinct voices. i do notice that my style/how my response is written does differ depending on which muse i'm writing. below are trends in my writing of certain muses:
annie: lots of imagery and metaphorical language involving water and aquatic life. since she is the mad girl, the idea of 'madness' and 'being good' comes up a lot too. tone is a tad more innocent and there does tend to be a bit more metaphorical language as well; to process her trauma, it's easier on her to think metaphorically or about her childhood than to think literally and to be in the moment.
ga-ram: sentences are shorter, less flowy as they are quite curt. responses of them will also be on the shorter side as they don't usually have as much to say in comparison to some of my other muses. also since they devoted like the last 10 years of their life to helping judge kang, unfortunately, they will think of him and make comparisons.
nell: her replies end up on the longer side, mostly because when she talks, she talks a lot. to reflect her never-ending train of thought and her anxiety, the narration in her replies and her dialogue especially tends to consist of long sentences with lots of dashes and interruptions.
suki: i think i've said this before, but the use of dramatic (and situational) irony comes out the most here. because she's quite set in her ways, but also has a tendency to (majorly) misinterpret a situation, i've found that breaking the fourth wall on occasion helps to contribute to the humor and the light heartedness of her threads. you'll see a lot of declarative sentences and exclamation points here.
patrick: unfortunately, he is a man of literature and therefore, has a tendency to ramble. literally- his responses are almost always like 500+ words. his narration is much more formal, much more...sophisticated? i guess just think of british english ( or at least my best interpretation of it ^^' ) also more metaphorical language here in comparison to the others and plenty of allusions to greek and roman myths since he's well read in both.
OTHER WRITERS.
i'll just start off with saying that i don't think i'd be nearly as good of writer if not for my writing partners. one of the best things about roleplay is that writers here aren't in competition with one another; they have to collaborate if they want to be fulfilled here. that being said here's my list of tumblr writers i would say i learned something from:
cyan ( @bloodxhound ) is one of the first people on this hell*site that i like to think really challenged my writing. there's an elegance and a rhythm to her prose (her word choice specifically) that reads so well...reading her stuff made me want to expand the vocabulary in my own writing, going beyond what is used colloquially in american english.
lenlen ( @ptternminds )'s writing always gives me BRAIN FOOD so you have anyone to blame for me going off the deep end when it comes to character interiority, they're the culprit :3 okay but seriously, their character metas and headcanons go HARD and the fact that they're able to incorporate that kind of analysis of both their own muse and of their partner is incredible. it makes want to figure out how to interpret and incorporate the other muse into my replies.
lynnie ( @geaesaekki ) has a different writing style from mine and i appreciate that. rather than showing everything, it's sometimes more effective to simply tell the reader what they need to know. whereas my writing can get roundabout, lynnie's writing style is more direct, straight to the point. it makes her writing accessible to her partners and that directness is actually something i'm trying to work on here ^^'
WEAKNESSES.
honestly, i feel pretty confident in my writing style on here ( my prose is a very different story ); it's not perfect, but it's mine. That being said, i have a tendency to take too long to get to the action of my threads or even to the main point. because i prefer to show most things rather than tell, it can bog down the pace of my writing and also the speed at which i get my writing done :'D
this goes hand in hand with point one, but i also have a bad habit of overexplaining my character's interiority out of fear of not giving enough context. this is something i've also noticed in my prose ( though i do manage to cut it out of my drafts ^^' ) and am working on. trusting the reader more to pick up the details i want them to.
i also think i might need to get more comfy with describing bodies/physical description? it certainly would make writing sensual scenes a bit easier ^^' as of right now, writing appearances, etc. has always been something i've turned off by. but who knows if that'll change one day.
