Holy heck i feel inadequate

[Rockerman403]

Yeah yeah i know. The initial response to the title is "Well come now, there are pills for that!" That, however, is not what i'm getting at. My struggle is that i have come across what seems to be some incredibly talented and well spoken roleplayers on this website. Nothing makes me happier in fact. My problem comes in that I fall in between the two categories of roleplayers that we've established here. I'm not quite the casual as i can, with a well built world and enough interest, easily respond with three or so paragraph.

However, I am not even close to being on the level of those I have attempted to roleplay with in the past who are replying with literally 7-10 paragraphs for damn near every response. I respect and admire that, do not get me wrong. I have read through some of those responses and they are certainly all on topic and relevant. Yet, when i myself try to respond in kind, i have troubles keeping things relevant, on topic, and interesting for more than 3 paragraphs when it comes to more simple situations. The question i pose is this. Until I have worked my way up to that level, what would you folks recommend i do for roleplaying?

I scan through both interest checks and actually roleplays for both Casual and advanced, and do not find i fit with either well. Most Casuals either are not of my handful of themes,(which is certainly no ones fault. I do not expect everyone to cater to me by any stretch!) or simply cannot hold my interest. In the sake of discovering new things and not being a hermit, i do try to get out of my comfort zone of themes to roleplay. However most that i would look into, as i said just do not interest me for a number of reasons. They either may not be in depth enough, serious, well thought out, anything.

So with that i then take a stab at Advanced. And by golly do they usually have everything interesting to me. World are built so fantastically, lore is incredibly rich and in depth, characters feel alive. I can then create a character and assist in world building for these characters. The problem comes when i move to actual RP and i am then completely boned as I cannot for the life of my respond with a post that is longer than my 25 inch monitor is wide.

I simply ask if anyone else either is in my boat or has recommendations as to how i can work towards bringing myself to that level. As i always wish to improve and better myself as a writer. excuse my if this whole bit is jumbled, it's currently one in the morning and im tired as balls.

Thank you for any and all criticism and help. -The Real OG

[Ellri]

though some RPs in advanced use such lengths, not all do. In the RP we're running there, we generally don't care how much someone writes in a post (within reason), but rather what they do with it. Also, Aftermath (our RP) uses collabs heavily, which naturally tends towards far longer posts.

Give it time, and you will learn to write more too, @Rockerman403. Especially if you find the right GM that doesn't mind having someone around who posts shorter than the rest do.

• Tip #1: Find a GM that will let you participate even if you can't post the same lengths as all others can.
• Tip #2: Collabs with people who typically write longer. Though a 30-para collab can seem massive, remember that only half of that comes from each player, and that it is helped along by the other participant.
• Tip #3: Take your time. While some advanced RPs can have posts thrown in pretty quickly, most move at a slower pace than casual. Not all can throw up a long post in an hour. Some might write the post over several days, if not longer. Most reasonable GMs accept that posts may not come as quickly from all players.
• Tip #4: Have fun and make sure your character has sufficient depth. We've seen in the past how some characters sort of "overrule" their players in what they will/won't do. Those types of characters can easily let you churn out more than you otherwise would.

any questions?

[Ruby]

For the feeling of inadequacy: "There's no shame in being beaten by a master."

Quite frankly, it sounds like you need a writer's workshop. Or, in this case, Roleplayer's workshop. (I'm planning on holding one of these on the Guild Discord in the near future, I don't know if any are done on the Guild itself.) But short of that, you need to find a RP mentor. Someone that will take you through their Advanced posts, so you can see what they did step-by-step, so you can understand how their posts get to be however long, as well as analyze your posts and offer critiques and suggestions.

And if you don't read a lot, read more.

[Rockerman403]

I mean thats the thing. Im not sitting here floating my own boat. Ive definitely got experience under my belt when it comes to multi para posting. I used to be abel to consistently post probably a good 3 or so paragraph response without trailing off the subject matter. But i still cant even comprehend how people make those massive ones that are as rich with content as they are and how they stay on topic lol

[The Elvenqueen]

I mean thats the thing. Im not sitting here floating my own boat. Ive definitely got experience under my belt when it comes to multi para posting. I used to be abel to consistently post probably a good 3 or so paragraph response without trailing off the subject matter. But i still cant even comprehend how people make those massive ones that are as rich with content as they are and how they stay on topic lol

@Rockerman403

Honestly, as someone whose own post length varies dramatically depending on each RP, the best thing I can say to possibly help you out here is: stop trying to overthink it.
Not every advanced roleplay is 7-10 paragraphs of posting, every post. As I said it varies depending on the roleplay. Depending on not only how into the roleplay I am, but also on what is actually happening. Recently some of my more recent posts for a certain roleplay dropped down from our usual 7-11 paras, right back down to 2-3 paras, just because there was less to say in each post without getting too far ahead of each other

I would suggest starting out with a 1x1 in this area, find yourself a partner that doesn't mind fluctuating post lengths for a while till you can get back into it, you aren't going to improve and get back to that level if you don't keep trying :D (or heck, find a partner that doesn't care about post length so much as post quality, because really that's what should be important)

[Gowi]

I used to write single sentences as entire posts.

A relative quote that I think is key to remember in any artform and medium is this— “if you have the ability to work with people smarter than you, always try to be the least smartest person in the room and surround yourself with talent, because iron sharpens iron.”

Replace the words “smarter” and “smartest” with your choice (“talented”, “experienced”, etc.) and you will realize what you want to do and achieve it. It took me some time to meet my peers but RPing with them made me absorb their creative philosophies and ideals for the better of my artistic ambitions. I’ve written with minimalists, old school descriptive writers, and everything in-between. Even when I started writing on this site I ended up trying advanced level RPs and after some time in these projects I began to pick up on new word choices, more descriptive text, and imaginative designs; but what really happened was I pushed myself to be better and to meet what my peers were doing.

Find a group, perhaps people you admire (hence the mentor point Ruby mentioned), and have fun.

[Dio]

I'm not the OP here, but reading some of the advice has already helped me a lot. I have a lot of the same feelings as you do @Rockerman403, so don't think you're alone there.

I've tried a lot of what the people here are saying and what has helped me the most in the past were 1x1 role-plays where my partner and I were able to freely write and grow alongside one another. Even if most of those rps failed, failing is something I'd rather do than not trying.

The second is reading. Reading a lot. I like to read in my spare time, reading anything helps, books, fan fiction, whatever I can get my hands on. It helps my mind flow and helps give me ideas into what I have to color my writings with.

[Dion]

Protip: continue assuming you are inadequate, even when you are adequate. It will motivate you to strive towards bettering your writing regardless of your skill.

[ArenaSnow]

Don't use the other person as an example. Know their limits and desires, and ensure you're compatible, but at the end of the day - do what you do, don't base your content off of what other people do.

Reading multiple types of media can be very useful, as is writing short stories independently of roleplaying. For me, at least.

I have similar problems myself, so I can't give you the knockout tip. I'd suggest trying to find an optimal "high casual" roleplay as that seems to be the best fit for what you describe (might take a while to find one that hits your interest) or invest in a 1x1 roleplay with someone who is "fitting" enough; I'm sure there's one out there.

[Ruby]

I mean thats the thing. Im not sitting here floating my own boat. Ive definitely got experience under my belt when it comes to multi para posting. I used to be abel to consistently post probably a good 3 or so paragraph response without trailing off the subject matter. But i still cant even comprehend how people make those massive ones that are as rich with content as they are and how they stay on topic lol

@Rockerman403

Again, everything in my prior post still holds true.

[Rockerman403]

I'm not the OP here, but reading some of the advice has already helped me a lot. I have a lot of the same feelings as you do @Rockerman403, so don't think you're alone there.

I've tried a lot of what the people here are saying and what has helped me the most in the past were 1x1 role-plays where my partner and I were able to freely write and grow alongside one another. Even if most of those rps failed, failing is something I'd rather do than not trying.

The second is reading. Reading a lot. I like to read in my spare time, reading anything helps, books, fan fiction, whatever I can get my hands on. It helps my mind flow and helps give me ideas into what I have to color my writings with.

@Denny

oh most definitely dude. While my interest in reading has been a bit lackluster in the last few years, i had spent so damn much time reading younger was ridiculous. Its what inspired me to start rping. But hey! To everyone, so much help and its very appreciated. I plan to take this advice and run with it and see where it gets me ^_^