I like plots. As a role player, I am highly motivated by strong stories, site admins who know how to direct the plot of their story (usually told in story arcs) and I love to create character plots between my character and other characters in the role play.
This only works for me if the people I role play with learn to do it well, too. That's my motivation for doing this. Please keep reading below the cut if you want to learn how to develop a strong character with strong ties to the site's plot and to other characters in it.
First Things First: Know Your Character
There is nothing more crucial to plotting than to know your character. I highly recommend using your character blog with a specific tag for characterization. I always use "chara" and put a tag link somewhere in my navigation so that other members of the role play can catch up as they join (since they'd have to scroll pretty far back on the dash in order to get to this).
I'm going to give you a few critical first steps to getting to know your character, things I believe you should do before attempting to create plots with other characters.
Re-read your character's bio. Whether you've written the bio yourself or you've chosen a pre-made character, re-read your character's bio. You may be reminded of something you'd forgotten, or you may wish to tweak something in the bio. The bio should be a brief snapshot of your character. It's the best place for you to start.
Determine your character's motivations. Everybody has to be motivated by something. I've played with a lot of role players who don't understand the way that motivation works. Motivation is a crucial part of building a character. My character Puck is highly motivated by small, hard candies. He likes the sweets and they remind him of being alive (even though he's not technically dead). Please note that it is preferable to make your character motivated by something other than sex unless there is a distinct historical reason for a sexual motivation. (Example, I have a character who is a cat shifter -- tomcats are known for their love-em and leave-em type of personality.)
Think about what your character enjoys doing. If your character is an introvert type-B personality, you're not going to find them going sky-diving except under extreme duress. You may, however, find them in the library quietly studying or collating information. This is something to consider when you're reaching out to other people to suggest plots. Don't break character just to fit a plot! You might want to write these hobbies down, because they will be useful for you to build as part of your headcanon.
Next, Brainstorm!
Have some ideas in mind. There's nothing worse than going to post a plot page on a forum or even on your role play blog and just dropping "these are friends, these are enemies, and these are lovers." While this is the most common form of plotting that I've seen, it's not enough. You want to generate interest in your character, not be passed over as just another plot page in a long list of plot pages. Come on!
You have ideas. If you didn't have ideas, you wouldn't have a character and you wouldn't be a role player. Use those ideas and put them into concrete form. Try doing the following:
List threads you'd be interested in doing. This is typically what I do. I toss out half a dozen or so thread ideas and put them onto a plot page, which I then share with the group I'm playing in. You have ideas that interest you: Don't be ashamed of them! List them. I bullet-point mine.
Explore your character's comfort zone. There's nothing like putting your character outside of his or her comfort zone to find out what they're really made of! My character Del is terrified of males in general, and she's very shy about interacting with them. An example of a thread I could do to take her outside of her comfort zone would be to have her in a relatively peaceful interaction with a male. Or I could toss her at the site's male werewolf and see what happens. You learn a great deal about your character this way.
Put yourself outside of your comfort zone. Many role players enjoy playing romantic or smut plots. This is understandable, but why not try something different than what you're used to? So you like romance, because it's wish fulfillment. But how about you break your character's heart, shattering it into a million pieces with a difficult breakup or the death of a loved one? Get messy. Put some grit into your plots.
Don't be afraid to fight! Plotting fight threads can be a lot of fun, just make sure that you know the rules of engagement before you get started fighting! Don't ever touch your rp partner's character without their permission, always be sure to take at least one in three hits, and be willing to be the one to lose the fight, or even die.
Put yourself on the line. It's scary. Some plots aren't going to get picked up and if you're the one reaching out, some plots may wind up being rejected. Don't be afraid! Put yourself on the line and rest assured that there's a good chance that somebody is going to be excited for your plots. Be fearless!
Finally, Post It!
Nobody knows what your ideas are unless you post them. I highly recommend posting a plot page on your character blog or in the appropriate place on a forum RP. Don't be afraid to go out on a limb and do something different from what you see around you. Chances are that at some point you're going to see those plot pages that want you to fill in details for friends, enemies and lovers. Those are okay, and there's nothing wrong with them, but if you're going to use them, make sure that you give specific information about what you want in each category!
Friends/Enemies/Lovers doesn't work well for highly plot-driven sites, either. Just so that you know, if you're working with a plot driven site, you're going to need to contribute plots rather than only relationships. Relationships will form naturally out of your plots.
Make sure you tag your plot page appropriately, and if it begins to trend in your role play, maybe suggest a tracked tag for plot pages for your RP!
