I don't know if this will help anyone, but I want to share my opinion
I think it’s pretty common for people to feel intimidated by this RP mostly because of the amazing writers and the clique-y atmosphere. Not gonna lie, I kept putting off joining this roleplay for a month before I finally did. And despite my worries, I’m actually glad that I did.
Just as the admins said, it’s natural that an older rp would form cliques, but I personally never had problems with that. Pretty much in every roleplay, immediately after I get accepted, I message a few people that are on dash that seem quite interesting, and I don’t just wait around for them to come to me.
What’s also important is to not come empty handed. Before joining a roleplay, I focus mostly on making a plot page (because isn’t that the whole point of roleplaying?)
I’ve been here for one day and I already have 4 starters to write and I’m plotting with over 10 people and that’s simply because I don’t sit around and wait, and if someone messages me for plotting, I don’t just go “I’m up for whatever”. I read through the other muse’s backstory, I check their plots, I suggest some plots from my own plots page or even come up with a plot on the spot.
A few people have complimented my character’s backstory and I think that’s also why people are more drawn towards my character, and trust me, I did not write it in thirty-some minutes, it actually took me a couple of days. I rewrote it a couple of times before I got it to be the way I wanted it to be, and even now I feel like it could be better.
The point is, although people say roleplay is just for fun and should never feel like work, it actually is work. Just like with anything in life, you don’t get everything you want if you just sit there. I rewrite my replies, I take days to write a good backstory, I bug my rp partners over and over again just to get that perfect plot. To me, roleplaying is hard work, but it’s honestly worth it. I’m not a native english speaker, I live on the other side of the world, and when I’m awake almost nobody else ever is, but I still manage to have a lot of threads and a lot of plots, and I talk to many people, and that’s simply because I try.
If you want to just have fun and not put in any work, then sure there are many roleplays where it’s more laid back, but if you want to get better at writing, I would highly suggest you joining this roleplay. Yes, amazing writers are intimidating, but these people are the ones you’d want to roleplay with. If I never rped with great writers, I would have never started writing extra af paras (2,000 words for a mute muse like are you okay Ivy) and I would have never stepped out of that horrible writing style they taught me in English classes.
(I feel like I lost my point somewhere along the way because short attention span, but hopefully my message gets through. tl;dr - Join YF and actually put in effort if you want to become a better writer and have a great time here!!!)
OH MY GOD I GOT SPOILED IN THE BEST WAY OMG THIS EPISODE MIGHT JUST SET EVERYTHING ON THE RIGHT TRACK OMG ELEMENTARY PLEASE BE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU ARE DOING