Do you do or answer greeter posts? What do you think makes a good greater posts? Who do you feel does pretty alright ones?
Hello friend, this has been sitting in my inbox forever and I didn't want to answer it while I was on hiatus because it seemed unfair when I wasn't doing drafts or anything else. But today is housecleaning day for the archive and I'd like to have this for the records!
That's right, it's time for another Tips with Shink!
Greeters
Good one, nonny!
To answer your first question, no I don't write greeters. I definitely prefer plotted prose threads (I know that must come as a surprise since I suck at actually responding to them) and I'm generally pretty far behind on my drafts anyway, so it feels kind of irresponsible to start a whole bunch of threads with people I've never interacted with before. I've considered it in the past, but I'm just too slow of a writer to be able to do it with any sort of consistency.
Likewise, it's very rare that I reply to them as well. I find that a lot of times, people who write them do not read about/rules pages (referring to Alistair as king in a greeter is the best way to get me uninterested) and the interaction is very shallow. I have been known to reply to greeters from people I've RPed with in the past and greeters that strike my eye as having potential for actual plot/character development, but again, these are few and far between. That's not the fault of the people who write them, it's just the format in general.
As for who I think writes good greeters? Reticentxguardian, Jay (dirgeofnevarra, deeproadsandhighseas), I'm at a loss actually since I don't usually reply to them.
So right off the bat, maybe I'm not the right person to ask. Or maybe I am, since I'm so selective. Idek. I'm gonna answer it anyway, and I will find a way to put bullets in there somewhere because this is a Shink thing and that's how we do.
How to Write a Good Interesting Greeter:
First of all, stop thinking of greeters as something different from other interactions. A greeter RP is STILL a RP. The only difference is that only one person is around to plot the starter. Your greeter should have all the elements of a normal RP:
intrigue
setting
plot
potential for character development
meaningful dialogue
Ideally, your greeter RP will serve as a tease for a plotted RP. Your partner will get a taste of your writing, see what your character is like and you'll gain a new partner.
Now, I understand that sometimes it can be difficult to do, and you might not know how these two characters might interact. In that case, I would read that person's rules (you should read them anyway lmfao) to see if they are open to AUs. Sometimes they'll have a verses page on their blog. If they have any verses in common with you, or ones that you're decently familiar with, go with that. That's what AUs are for, in my honest opinion.
Read the character's about page. Always read it. Read it twice if you can. Look for anything in there that you can work with. Look for things that character has in common with yours. Look for times when they might have almost run into each other. For example, Fenris: he ends up in Kirkwall during DA2, obviously, but before that he spent three years on the run from Danarius. Who knows where else he might have gone? I believe David Gaider wrote a short story about him in Denerim. What if the Warden had recruited him? Bam, you have a Warden/Fenris greeter. You're welcome.
"But Shink," you say, "Thirty people followed me and I need to write greeters for all of them! If I write a para for each of them, I'll never be done!"
Now you understand why I don't do them.
Honestly, I don't think it's necessary to write a greeter for everyone who follows you. Choose a few (or a lot, whatever suits you) characters you really want to interact with and write greeters for them, send hello messages to everyone else. Because if you spread yourself thin, you're going to lose style and quality in the process and you won't have any time for plotted RPs.
Oh, and one other thing: not everyone answers or enjoys this format of this style of RP. If someone doesn't reply to your greeter or if the interaction gets dropped, don't take it personally and please don't post passive-aggressive stuff about it, because if there's one surefire way to make sure someone won't RP with you in the future, it's guilting them for not RPing with you. Take it in stride and move on to the next one. You can always reuse the starter again later.
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So that's basically it. As I mentioned, I might not be the best person to ask about this, and this is all my humble opinion on the matter, so feel free to take all of this with a grain of salt.
Tune in next time (hopefully on the new bloge) for Tips With Shink!
