Chit-Chat: General Roleplay Discussion Thread "the RPD" (archived)

[Nagi]

Books have thinking characters, right? A character could give a mental opinion about something, or think through his actions, it's not just described feeling there.

@GP, I have never read a book with italics used for thought, but there may be some differences in Dutch and English writing conventions. Same thing with the indents thing, I have never seen that.

When it comes to reading JP's, I'd like a paragraph (and preferably a whole post, but that may be too unreasonable) to written from one perspective. I don't like it when you can hear multiple thoughts in the same paragraph, and there is no real perspective you read from. I don't know how reasonable that is to expect from people, though.

oh no, that's not what i meant! the keyword there was 'describe' - i'd write my character's thoughts in a third-person perspective.

this i think is actually very interesting. in English books, are italics really used to indicate thought, like gimmepie mentioned? it seems strange to me, but it could be because i have just been exposed to the exact same books and way of writing that MorallyIncorrect has. i do remember reading English novels before and being surprised at some ways of formatting certain things, but sadly right now it's been too long for me to remember what exactly was so different ( ´ ▽ ` )ゞ

 

[moon]

What do people feel about writing in 1st perspective? As far as I know nearly everyone here write their posts in 3rd person, but I would love to see a roleplay where everything is done in 1st perspective; that way describing what a person is thinking and any emotions involved can be described in a more natural way.

I don't see it as a permanent thing, as 3rd person is probably better suited for most rps (especially ones which include heavy action), but it would interesting imo.

I think Gelius writes in 1st person but I haven't seen many others.

I like to experiment sometimes! In two recent posts in Crossroads, where I didn't write as my main character but as Kurt and Bugsy respectively, I used 2nd perspective! It's really cozy, I think. But I only did it for fun intermissions, I don't think a whole RP from 2nd perspective would make much sense to anyone haha.

The reason 3rd works best in roleplays is that there are many different characters. In a solo writing, a novel or fic, 1st person can work well. And usually is coupled with present tense for extra dramatic flair, I've noticed! But if everyone wrote in 1st person in a RP, there wouldn't at all be as smooth a flow when you read through the whole thing.

 

[Nakuzami]

What do people feel about writing in 1st perspective? As far as I know nearly everyone here write their posts in 3rd person, but I would love to see a roleplay where everything is done in 1st perspective; that way describing what a person is thinking and any emotions involved can be described in a more natural way.

I don't see it as a permanent thing, as 3rd person is probably better suited for most rps (especially ones which include heavy action), but it would interesting imo.

this i think is actually very interesting. in English books, are italics really used to indicate thought, like gimmepie mentioned? it seems strange to me, but it could be because i have just been exposed to the exact same books and way of writing that MorallyIncorrect has. i do remember reading English novels before and being surprised at some ways of formatting certain things, but sadly right now it's been too long for me to remember what exactly was so different ( ´ ▽ ` )ゞ

I used to write in first person a lot
but then I realized that I preferred third person, haha

I also used to bold dialogue and even color it, and put thoughts in italics and whatnot. I don't really do any of those things anymore as my writing has shifted more towards how one would write a novel, at least in format.

as far as the thoughts in italics in novels thing goes . . . I don't recall seeing that. I only read English novels, soooo yeah. Books in first person obviously have no need for that, and a lot of times a writer will have it go

words words words, character thought.​

but it's possible that some novels have done it, and perhaps I've even seen it done but have forgotten. that's quite likely, actually. quite likely . . . darn my memory.

one thing I noticed when I read a British novel, Faeries Wars, was that the author placed dialogue between apostrophes rather than quotation marks.

'So it was like this'
instead of
"Being like this"​

 

[moon]

Mm, I read British Harry Potter and Rowling did apostrophes instead of quotation marks.

In Swedish, we often use a "speech dash" instead. Like:

- Hi! she said.
- Oh wow, it's you, he said, obviously not too impressed.
- Yeah, what's your problem? she asked, now annoyed. I thought you'd be happy.

And so on. Confused yet? ;)

 

[Ray Maverick]

What do people feel about writing in 1st perspective? As far as I know nearly everyone here write their posts in 3rd person, but I would love to see a roleplay where everything is done in 1st perspective; that way describing what a person is thinking and any emotions involved can be described in a more natural way.

I don't see it as a permanent thing, as 3rd person is probably better suited for most rps (especially ones which include heavy action), but it would interesting imo.

Writing as a player in an RP in first person can be fun, but for the readers of that RP (and the other players too), I think it can get rather confusing, even unfair. Confusing because, the perspective of the RP isn't constant and universally accepted - the one who uses the first person feels like the protagonist to third party readers, while the others may feel like just characters in that person's life, if someone reads the RP like a book for enjoyment. I think that harms the storytelling. And, it's unfair to the other players. Usually, protagonists use the "I". Since we're all protagonists in the RPs we participate in (or at least we should be), then I believe it's best if we all stick either with first or third person, for the sake of continuity and fairness.

That goes for RPs I personally GM, though. If you're in an RP with me, and you want to definitely write in first person, I won't mind.

 

[Foxrally]

Mm, I read British Harry Potter and Rowling did apostrophes instead of quotation marks.

In Swedish, we often use a "speech dash" instead. Like:

- Hi! she said.
- Oh wow, it's you, he said, obviously not too impressed.
- Yeah, what's your problem? she asked, now annoyed. I thought you'd be happy.

And so on. Confused yet? ;)

Afaik it's the same in France too. French books also use that for dialogue. Although I prefer quotation marks over apostrophes.

 

[gimmepie]

Mm, I read British Harry Potter and Rowling did apostrophes instead of quotation marks.

In Swedish, we often use a "speech dash" instead. Like:

- Hi! she said.
- Oh wow, it's you, he said, obviously not too impressed.
- Yeah, what's your problem? she asked, now annoyed. I thought you'd be happy.

And so on. Confused yet? ;)

That method would actually work quite nicely in an RP.
It reminds me of script-writing.

 

[JukeboxTheGhoul]

I've noticed in what I've recently been reading, they do not put "She/he" said. They only put:
- Hi!
- Oh wow, it's you.
- Yeah, what's your problem?
And you follow along as it's implied that a new character new line, and some things a character just wouldn't say and etcetera and that allows you to find out who is talking, and if they explicitly need an action they do this.
- You shouldn't look in there.
- Why not?
(Character) opened the book proudly.
- It's a secret!

This comes from the British Writer, Tom Rob Smith. Really I think it just depends on writer style/choice instead of nationality.

 

[Ice1]

I've seen that in books too, and as far as I know it's only used in one on one dialogue. It puts a bit of speed to the conversation, and I think it can be used in a good way. If you have two characters arguing and the focus is on what they say, it can be a good way to convey that. Or just in simple conversations, like small talk. It can be argued that what happens around the characters isn't so important and therefor doesn't really have to be described. It's also really good to convey awkwardness, if you keep the sentences short. I think this branches more into general writing, though, and I don't know if we want to encroach on that area.

When doing a JP, would you be fine with someone else writing their characters actions from your characters perspective? I notice myself preferring this, because I like to keep a consistent perspective, but I can totally imagine people not really feelin alright with this.

 

[Satan.EXE]

Returning to PC! It's been a long fucking time but I've been longing the creative writing.

(Hey everyone, it's Dusk. But I go by Satan/Satanael now)

 

[gimmepie]

Returning to PC! It's been a long fucking time but I've been longing the creative writing.

(Hey everyone, it's Dusk. But I go by Satan/Satanael now)

Oh cool

Welcome back again :D

 

[Satan.EXE]

Oh cool

Welcome back again :D

Hell yeah.

I know it's bad when I start fantasizing about RPing here for most of a day.

I don't know, it's pretty intoxicating and addictive. Gods know I'll never be able to leave this place for good.

 

[gimmepie]

Hell yeah.

I know it's bad when I start fantasizing about RPing here for most of a day.

I don't know, it's pretty intoxicating and addictive. Gods know I'll never be able to leave this place for good.

I think we all realised after about the third time you left with no intention of coming back :P

 

[Jay]

Returning to PC! It's been a long ****ing time but I've been longing the creative writing.

(Hey everyone, it's Dusk. But I go by Satan/Satanael now)

Dusk? I think I recognize that name from AGES ago. I read some thread about past lives or something made by somebody with that username. Something-kin, I think. Not entirely sure. It was a while ago.

I've only recently came back myself so none of this might make any sense to you. XD Just wondering if you were that guy out of curiosity? It would be cool to see another person from my original days on PC is all. ^^

 

[Satan.EXE]

That would be me, I think. Though that was shortly before I left I think.

 

[GreenFlame]

Hi everyone. So what's it like here :)? I've never really checked out RPC properly before.

 

[Ice1]

Hi everyone. So what's it like here :)? I've never really checked out RPC properly before.

Ya know, you're normal regular cult. We're doing human sacrifices, don't know if you're up for it?

 

[GreenFlame]

Ya know, you're normal regular cult. We're doing human sacrifices, don't know if you're up for it?

Sign me up! But you obviously don't mean sacrificing me...right?

 

[moon]

Sign me up! But you obviously don't mean sacrificing me...right?

Welcome! Don't mind him, he's always morally incorrect. ba dum tits

This place is busy and chatty if you join active roleplays, but it can also be calm and relaxed if you just don't feel like writing very often. It is what you make of it :3 think you'll dare to join a RP and see what the RPC can be for you? ;)

 

[Ice1]

Welcome! Don't mind him, he's always morally incorrect. ba dum tits

I'm ice cold about it That joke is going to be funnier in a couple of weeks

@GreenFlame this DCC is mainly used to discuss general roleplay topics, such as writing styles, how we make characters and such. It's also a great place to ask questions.