LEARN TO JOINT POST.
I swear to Blarzigord, I cannot stress how much engaging in JPing can not only prolong the life of a RP, but also greatly increase your interest in the RP. Joint posting is basically what RPing was all meant to be about- players writing a story together. I've made some of my best friends though this means, and written some unforgettable stories. Writing alone is never a good idea if done for too long in a RP. You'll end up feeling isolated, and drop out a lost faster. And besides- JPing itself is an incredibey fun experience, where you get to learn about the other person and even more about your own character through their feedback.
Ahhh here's where I have to disagree! xD Joint posting is a relatively new concept on PC, though not a lot of people can remember the days of yore.
I can, because I am about 63 years old.
*clears throat* *starts speaking in old person voice*
While I have participated in JPs, I think there's a time and a place for them. JPs tie people up, limits other characters from interacting with them while they're in the JP (and before you say that it doesn't and other people could JP with you, if there are more than two people in a JP, WHAT'S THE POINT YOU COULD ALL JUST POST IN THE RP), are soooo slow to write unless the fates align, and too many of them slows down the pace of an RP to a craaaaaaawl. I think they're fine for quick interactions between two players, like a battle or a conversation after two players end up bumping into each other, which was the original use for them. But I fail to see the point in orchestrating an entire meeting and scene within a single JP after which the characters retire somewhere and aren't accessible to more interaction without MORE out of character planning. It is the prevalence of too many JPs that leaves anyone not participating in JPs feeling isolated because all the other characters are suspended in JP purgatory and nobody spontaneously begins an interaction anymore.
I've made some really great friends and had some really great experiences before JPing became such a fad. Speaking of which, the only RP I've ever participated in that successfully finished had basically no JPs, and almost all of my recent JP-heavy RPs have died much earlier, with myself being able to make much fewer posts in them before their agonizing deaths.
Being able to interject yourself into someone else's conversation or stumble across other character's fight scenes until they were huge exciting messes was half the fun in RPing, and it simply doesn't happen anymore.
*end old person voice*