Can You Call Yourself an Advanced Writer if You Only Write Female Characters? -Closed-

[meyerlemontree]

I've been wondering this for years. I see people who claim to have such high standards and want people of the same caliber to write with, but then they only write female main characters and sometimes only these select pre made female main characters. At what point does being unable or unwilling to tackle writing from a different perspective finally justify not being able to consider yourself an advanced writer?

This is not a call out post, I struggle with the exact opposite some times in only wanting to write male characters. But I can do both and strive to de decent at both. I get having a wheel house but come on. At some point refusing to write a whole segment of the gender population has to have an impact on your writing skills.

Thoughts?

[Ammokkx]

free/casual/advanced are arbitrary segmentations made to give people a rough shot of what to expect from you, and people often use them as stand-ins for "short/medium/long posts"

Advanced only means what you want it to mean, with the footnote that pretty much everyone will agree that one-liners aren't exactly advanced-level writing.

RPing is also a form of self-expression, so I'm hardly surprised some people would only want to tackle one type of character or theme.

[meyerlemontree]

free/casual/advanced are arbitrary segmentations made to give people a rough shot of what to expect from you, and people often use them as stand-ins for "short/medium/long posts"

Advanced only means what you want it to mean, with the footnote that pretty much everyone will agree that one-liners aren't exactly advanced-level writing.

RPing is also a form of self-expression, so I'm hardly surprised some people would only want to tackle one type of character or theme.

@Ammokkx

You know what, that's fair on both counts. I really appreciate your insight.

[Carlyle]

"Can you call yourself an advanced writer if you don't write nonbinary characters?"
"Can you call yourself an advanced writer if you only write fantasy roleplays?"

etc etc.

Writing a specific genre, gender, etc. has no impact on whether or not you're an advanced roleplayer. What makes an advanced roleplayer, at least in regards to RPG, is the quality of your writing, not what you RP.

[meyerlemontree]

"Can you call yourself an advanced writer if you don't write nonbinary characters?"
"Can you call yourself an advanced writer if you only write fantasy roleplays?"

etc etc.

Writing a specific genre, gender, etc. has no impact on whether or not you're an advanced roleplayer. What makes an advanced roleplayer, at least in regards to RPG, is the quality of your writing, not what you RP.

@Kuro

Also valid. Thank you for your insight!

[BangoSkank]

I do think shoehorning yourself limits your growth, but not like a brick wall more like a bottleneck.

If you only write as a specific sort of woman, or a specific sort of man, or only office romances, or only high school drama, or only dragon slaying muscle monster big dick/vagoo hero person, you're only experiencing a small slice of storytelling.

Halflings are the exception.

Advanced isn't all that big a hurdle. Someone in Advanced who can write women in fantasy incredibly well may be unable to write men or women in a science fiction setting. Or they may be able to write men/women in any setting "well" but they may all be gender/setting flipped versions of the exact same character they always write. However well they may write their one singular character that can get boring quick...but somewhere in the middle it becomes a more subjective quality/quantity question.

[Sugar and Spite]

We all have what we like to write, and what we don't like to write. Why judge someone for it, or tell them they don't fit into a certain category because of it?

To my understanding, Free, Casual, and Advanced have always been terms we used for how much you write - and as some people have said how much attention each section pays attention to grammar.

[BangoSkank]

Precisely, and there is a lot of interplay between the different levels.

Hence the whole "High Casual" and "Elite High Casual Mk. III" jokes. A lot of folks who can write at an "Advanced" level but prefer to stay in Casual or Free because the lower standards generate lower stress and therefore have a lot more participants.

Being an Advanced writer is great, but if you only put together a post a few times a year you may be more Advanced but are you as much a writer as someone who posts in Casual or Free on a weekly basis? And what does it really matter.

[swift]

When people say they cant write a particular sex, what they mean is they would prefer not to, and that really is ok.

[Dark Cloud]

@meyerlemontree Woah I think this question is a little close minded, but I'll throw my hat into the ring. I used to be in higher writing level roleplays but without a computer I am currently unable to push out high quality writing.

I am however completely comfortable playing as a female character in some circumstances but I am able to identify more with male characters since it's easier because I am male.

[DELETED jdl3932]

I essentially agree with all of the above, and will echo what Bango said in that playing or writing one specific type of thing too often does bottleneck your ability to grow as a writer. Because at the end of the day any spins on the matter you do don't change the fact that you're still writing the same old character archetype, but with a different coat of paint.

And you can only repaint and repackage something so many times before it becomes an old worn out mess.

As for perspectives, that is not what makes you an advanced writer, nor even a writer. Many people have perspectives, from which branch opinions that conflict with other perspectives and opinions held by other people, and a lot of them don't even bother to creatively write for various reasons. No, what makes one an advanced writer is not necessarily perspective I think, but whether or not you can actually competently write about whatever it is you have in mind to write.

Granted, being able to approach a story from a multitude of different perspectives does help, but again being able to hold and understand more than one perspective at a time does not mean you can automatically write worth a shit.

[meyerlemontree]

Thank you all for the perspectives. It has given me a lot to think about and I appreciate that.

[spicykvnt]

Being an "advanced writer" (in a roleplay setting) is also more than the characters that you play.

It's in the story that you craft with what you are given by a GM, it's how well you can develop chemistry with other writers that translates onto the page and creates something cohesive. It's writing about your setting, creating good prose, could even be foreshadowing, using themes throughout your posts.

Writing and roleplaying - whether casual/high casual/advanced is so much more than the character that you're playing, but how you give character to everything else as well.

[mickilennial]

And you can only repaint and repackage something so many times before it becomes an old worn out mess.

ZAVAZggg

[DELETED jdl3932]

That and tired. Not that it matters really. What's said is said, what's done is done.

[Andreyich]

Meanwhile only writing dudes makes your a God-tier writer 😎

[BrokenPromise]

Writing from a bunch of different perspectives is great, and absolutely something everyone should do when they start out. It's a great way to find out what you truly enjoy playing, what works for you, what makes you stick with an RP the longest. I'll play both sexes, but there are certain types of characters I won't touch because I don't like writing exclusively from their point of view. Wouldn't you rather RP with someone who's writing a character they can play for years and years VS something they won't be as interested in a few weeks down the line?

[Darth Cognus]

Pour your all into a single personality that's convincing and different from your own, and I'd say you're pretty advanced even if you play nothing else. Particularly if the split is distinct...

[Ammokkx]

i sorta feel bad for the OP when people are freshly coming in to dunk on him when his mind's already changed

but at the same time

with that title, what could you even expect to happen

[Darth Cognus]

Eh, we're just spitballing possibilities at this point. I couldn't resist, myself. It's not the way of forum threads to just end when the OP is satisfied...