Getting Better
If you're looking to improve, you can do it yourself quite easily. Re-read your posts thoroughly, and try to edit them to perfection. Eventually, you'll stop making some of your original mistakes, and you'll get better. You can also team up with someone else looking to help out or improve. Other sets of eyes are good at seeing what your eyes miss, which can be a surprising amount. Ask around in Roleplay Related looking for critique on a particular post, or, if you want continuous help from someone, ask to have a thread with an established roleplayer and request for a sort of help session with them. Have a thread together and have the other person point out any of your mistakes to you. Improvement is an important part of roleplaying. A lot of us are here for fun, but improvement never hurt anyone, and there are some people that are looking to eventually write professionally.
Sometimes you'll know that you want to get better, but you're at a loss as to what exactly you need to improve. Here are a few points that you might consider.
- Slow down. Sometimes, we just write too fast. You've got a dozen threads to reply to and you've got to do them today, right? Those days, your post quality will probably suffer. It's important to remember to slow down now and again -- reread your post before you post it. Don't skimp on the spellcheck. Those little things are worth it, especially to the people who read the post.
- Experiment. People are very much creatures of habit. We get comfortable doing something and forget that there are other possibilities. Write in a style you've never considered. Try using a ton of short sentences instead of a ton of long, complex sentences. Consider the styles of writers like Hemingway or Faulkner or even your fellow roleplayers -- everyone has a different personal style, but that doens't mean you can't learn from others!
- Imagery. How effective is your imagery? Can a reader visualize the scene from what you give. What are you leaving up to their imagination? Emphasize what might be important. Consider metaphors, but don't overuse them.
A lot of people consider a diverse vocabulary to be a sign of sophisticated writing, but it's important to remember that vocabulary doesn't mean just wielding a thesaurus. You should understand the meanings and correct usage of the word. Just because something is considered a synonym to something else doesn't mean it's as easy as swapping out one word for another. Many words have very similar meanings but are used for different circumstances. Build your vocabulary, but don't get carried away with big words just because you think they're impressive! There are plenty of equally impressive, shorter words. Many dictionaries are available online as a resource, including:
- Dictionary.com is obviously a dictionary. It's also where 'Souls gets it's word of the day from for it's WotD Game. It also contains a thesaurus. Use sparingly!
- Google.com has become a favorite. Did you know that Google automatically defines words for you if you query "define: word"?
Occasionally, if we write a ton all the time, we get burned out and our brains shut off. This is most noticable as an immediate and short-term side-effect of writing say, six or seven posts in a night. After a while, you just can't really think straight and it's hard to put words together. This is obviously because your brain is tired, stressed, and doesn't want to write anymore. But like any stress, when this kind of stress happens over a long period of time, it has some bad effects on the brain. It can induce writer's block or a complete burn-out, a period which may stretch over months where you just don't feel up to writing at all. It's a pretty sucky period. When you get into these hard-to-escape periods where you just can't write, here some techniques to relax yourself back into it include:
- Read a book. Sometimes, reading another perspective, different from the typical roleplaying one, can work wonders. Read something completely different, like Harry Potter, or if you think reading something wolf-themed will help, these are some good books: Julie's Wolf Pack, Julie, and Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George ; Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause; The Wolf King, Night of the Wolf, or The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt; Bitten, Stolen, or Haunted by Kelley Armstrong; and Call of the Wild or White Fang by Jack London.
- Go outside! Real life! Highest resolution graphics! Pay attention to your surroundings and try and find some interesting stuff. Since 'Souls has territories that can be found almost everywhere, including heavy urban areas and suburbia, you'll probably be able to find places that you can go back and describe from your posts!
- Read old posts, either your old posts or someone else's old posts. Don't pay attention to how "bad" your old posts seem, just try to capture some of your old energy back from your writing. Additionally, re-reading your characters' past may inspire plans for his or her future.
Those are some suggestions for inspiration, but the key thing is rest. Try and write, but don't try to push yourself into it... it's really tough when you lose inspiration, but the entire world is full of things from which you can draw inspiration. Don't freak out over activity either -- you're allowed breaks. Your character is allowed breaks. Maybe you'll be dropped from the ranks a while, but we'll always be here when you feel up to coming back. :)
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