What do you look for in a writing partner?

[Guest]

One of the great unsung virtues in any RP thread I have seen in is chemistry between writers. As anyone who has played sports (or watched them) knows, it is not always the team with the most talent that wins. Nothing makes a story more interesting or flow better than a smooth flow between posts and the ability to trust each other to use your precious character in their own flow. Now, everyone here should know by now what I am talking about, esprit de corps, the teamwork that makes a team of average players into something amazing.

However, we all can not cooperate with all writers' ideas and styles equally. The addition of a few pet peeves will ruin cooperation, or inadequate perception of character actions and there meanings will destroy the intent of the author. Thus, we as a forum should address a few questions.

-- What do you look for in a writer?

-- What is your own style of writing?

-- How do you read others' posts to gain information to about the character?

-- What is the best way to you have found to 'godmode' others' characters in order to progress plot and scene action?

-- What level of personal interaction and regular conversation with the other authors do you have? What level would you want?

[Guest]

- Personally, I look for a writer who is willing to be humorous in their writing. I have met and worked with too many other writers who simply take their work too seriously. It has been to long to pinpoint particular things I liked in other writers, but I do know what I look for to help compensate for my own weaknesses. On is the ability to portray romance, which is outside of my natural personality. I always feel cheesy attempting such things. I also look for someone who can take over writing female characters realistically. It's another thing I have never been able to portray these things to my own satisfaction.

I do look for the ability for the other writer to improvise off of my own themes into their own spiral. I enjoy side plots that are interesting that I do not have to drive with the main thread, and their simple ability to not imitate my own initial posts for introduction, whether or not it is my thread. It simply drives me crazy. On the other hand, it becomes a balancing act for the other writer to not break the fourth wall. Maintaining immersion is important for me. Finally, I love the willingness to break conventional rules through sublime skill. I remember creating a gnome who invented nigh-invincible robo-chickens with lasers shooting from their eyes and the strength of ten men. Of course, they worked, but horribly erratically with no real control at all. I hate the simple approach that god-like abilities are impossible to convey to an ordinary reader. The ability to surpass these limitations is something I love.



- I write character driven stories. I rarely plan out plot extensively and the ability to create detail extensive back stories and environments come easily to me. I do have the tendency to get side-tracked and write confusing posts. I usually have dry and sarcastic wit and dark humor for my characters, and absolutely create characters and posts related to how I am feeling at the moment which cause variation in skill of writing of different characters. I also tend to be more of a pessimist in writing, with odd positive spins on things. I do have the ability to write very intellectually in order to write a supporting character outside of my normal range. It does give those characters a lack of emotional depth at a certain extent. I also tend to make many, many characters to fit a given story but, also try to rework my favorites.


- This is one of the more difficult for me to answer. Firstly, I try to grasp the style of the writer in order to understand how they write. Secondly, I then try and isolate important details of the posts that are put in their deliberately as revealing instead of the foundations of the post. Finally, I use my personal experience reading from professional authors to extrapolate plot points and destinations.


- I have not found a good way to write another writer's character into my own posts without extensive prior discussion. I believe that this is necessary for things like extended conversations in posts and simple large scale actions in order to keep extraneous posting low, and continuity high.


- I rarely just talk to another writer while writing a post. I almost never know how their life is going. Anonymity is both a blessing and a curse in this case.. How many times have we been too busy or to emotionally involved with something else to simply write? Then how many of those time have you been on the receiving end of such events and become simply irritated? I would like to have more conversations with those I am writing with. It is easier for me to interact with people I know well.

[Kalon Ordona II]

-- What do you look for in a writer?
When I'm looking for a writing partner, the #1 qualification is maturity. Not necessarily mature as a writer, but mature as a person. Otherwise it's just no fun to work with them. #2 is intelligence. I like give-and-take, not just give-and-give. I look for writers who can contribute as much as I do. If they contribute more than I do, so much the better, because it'll cause me to rise to the occasion. #3 is imagination. I like clichés and I like exploring new things. The best writers I like to work with are those who are comfortable with and adept at wielding both.

-- What is your own style of writing?
I'm a world-builder. Setting is very important to me. I also consider myself a multiplier element, which is one thing I love about role-playing. If I hear someone's idea or concept that appeals to me, my brain automatically starts spinning an entire world out of it. I have to rein in that part of myself a bit when I'm not in the GM position, which I do tend to be in a lot. I do enjoy having someone else be the GM, though, because I get to feed off their ideas instead of having to come up with all of them on my own.

My style of writing, I hope, is descriptive and poetic. That's what I strive toward, at least. I like writing about characters as much as about setting, though. After all, the setting is just the background (a very awesome, epic, über background), and it can greatly enhance the show, but the characters are the ones in the spotlight, and without them the setting is meaningless. Since setting is so pervasive in my writing, though, most of my characters are set up to be able to display different things about the world and culture.

-- How do you read others' posts to gain information to about the character?
I cross-reference between their posts and the character sheet to get a feel for the character. Each new post helps define that character for me. I look for description, dialogue, and mannerisms to be added to the image I have of them from the profile. The more things a character interacts with, the better I can predict what they'll do in other situations. Not that I'd actually control them, but it does help to set up interesting scenarios and have them say something here or there if they're talking to a character of mine.

-- What is the best way to you have found to 'godmode' others' characters in order to progress plot and scene action?
Powerplaying? I mainly stick with general actions like walking or saying neutral phrases. I like to think I could write another person's character well, but I don't like to risk it, because I know how I'd feel if someone got my character wrong. One solution to this, I've found, is to have a second character of yours or an NPC around to dialogue with. If you're going to take over someone else's character for a part in a post, though, and you need to have them do something out of the ordinary, the best thing to write is what you think they would do, but make sure they look good in the process. If you do that, the other writer will probably forgive you any minor slips you might make.

-- What level of personal interaction and regular conversation with the other authors do you have? What level would you want?
I like to have as much as possible, because the better I know the other writer, the better I know their characters. Normally, though, I don't have all that much. I try to be as active as possible in RP OOC threads, even if I don't use chat rooms very often.

[Gadreille]

-- What do you look for in a writer?
I look for compatibility. I want the person to be understanding, communicative, creative...If the person is being selfish or not working with me, I really have very little interest in continuing to role play with them.

-- What is your own style of writing?
I tend to write short, terse posts. I'm working on adding a bit more "flower" to my writing, but I was trained to be more of a technical writer, condensing as much detail as possible into few words...its evident in my writing.

-- How do you read others' posts to gain information to about the character?
I usually start by reading the post, referencing the character sheet when necessary. It's hard for me to look at a list of stats and truly comprehend them without first having some context to put them in.

-- What is the best way to you have found to 'godmode' others' characters in order to progress plot and scene action?
Talk to the person beforehand, gaining permission to use their character to advance the plot or even writing the scene together, paragraph by paragraph.

-- What level of personal interaction and regular conversation with the other authors do you have? What level would you want?.
I like to be able to pm the person regularly, as well as chat, OOC talk, and even adding them to my facebook to ask a question here or there. I have that with a few people, not everyone though.

[Nation]

I look for someone who takes writing seriously, but knows when to have fun. I look for someone that is willing to expand their psyche as well as their writing prowess. I want someone who is willing to RP a genre they have never tried before or a genre they may have tried and disliked.

That's pretty much it.

[Digital Muse]

I have to agree, there Nation. Exploring is (or should be) what writing is all about.

[Fate Flyer]

Personally, I look for a writer who is willing to be humorous in their writing. I have met and worked with too many other writers who simply take their work too seriously.

I could not agree more. I really enjoy reading even just slight humor to help alleviate tension in otherwise serious writing. I'm actually currently reading the Star Wars Legacy of the Force series, and the books are written by three different people. I'm almost done with the series, and after coming this far, I've come to learn the writing styles somewhat of each author, and one in particular always adds some really great lighthearted humor here and there, and I feel it gives some great personality to the characters in addition to staying true to the nature of humans and their interactions.




I'm just going to go through this vaguely, as I've not much time before I have to leave for work.

-- What do you look for in a writer?

Almost absentmindedly, I look for people who understand grammar overall. I find it incredibly distracting to role-play with someone who has very poor grammar skills, and that takes away from enjoying the story for me. Secondly, I just tend to gravitate toward people whose writing seems to flow naturally and doesn't read like it was forced. As Elric mentioned, humor can be important.

-- What is your own style of writing?

I enjoy establishing the setting and fleshing it out a bit more in role-plays than most people tend to do. I like to write descriptions, not for detail's sake, but as a way of painting a better picture in the minds of the readers, yet doing so without boring them. I don't write near as much dialogue as a lot of role-players I've seen, and I'm not really a fan of role-plays that are almost all completely conversations between characters.

-- How do you read others' posts to gain information to about the character?

Pretty much exactly the same as what has already been said. :]

-- What is the best way to you have found to 'godmode' others' characters in order to progress plot and scene action?

I think this question was written poorly, because I don't really understand it and it doesn't make complete sense lol. I believe it is asking how do I get others' characters moving in order to continue moving forward with the plot. I think the easiest way for this is the most straightforward of all -- simply discuss where you want to take the story with the other role-players in the OoC thread. I don't ever resort to taking control of other people's characters, as that is not something that should ever happen, but I may make subtle suggestions for changing location or time periods.

-- What level of personal interaction and regular conversation with the other authors do you have? What level would you want?

I usually tend to communicate very frequently with the other people I'm role-playing with inside the OoC thread for the RP. I like to talk and converse about what is happening often, as role-plays are indeed joint stories that need to be collaborated between all parties involved. If there was no discussion going on, I'd probably feel like we weren't going to be working together and just doing our own things.

[Moon Ray]

This thread is a little aged by now, but it seems appropriate since I'm new to FoG. The culture is a little different here than what I'm used to. And I'm not referring to the so-called "elitism."

______________________________________________

-- What do you look for in a writer?
More than anything? Confidence. It's relatively easy to find people with basic writing skills, who are decent people, who like to have fun, who have lots of ideas, who don't want to let you down with their posts. But I really like to play with a writer who is completely unashamed of trying their own thing, right in the middle of your rp. They don't ask permission and they don't make apologies because they have a GFI they just know you'll love. A confident partner speeds things up, keeps it interesting, and makes it easier for everyone else to be confident with their own ideas and writing.

Plus I don't have to worry too much with a confident writing partner that I'm going to steamroll them with my own ideas.

-- What is your own style of writing?
I try to employ different styles depending on the mood I'm trying to set. Genre and setting will change the way I write drastically. But I do tend toward the absurd. I like things that are impossible and funny, and it shows up in what I write. (Hence my repeated failure at scary stories.)

I favor opinionated, strong-willed characters. I like to surprise people with plot twists. I drop herrings like a fishmonger with a hole in his basket. I disapprove of devices without properly laid foundation.

...Mischievous, I suppose, would be an appropriate adjective for my writing. I carry a large wooden spoon at all times, just so I can stir the pot.

-- How do you read others' posts to gain information to about the character?
Dialogue is the best way to find clues. Most of the basic info is in the char sheet, and there's rarely any new information in the author's IC descriptions of their char. Narration tends to be the voice of the author, even when describing characters' actions. Internal monologues give a hint to some personality. But dialogue (especially the way they talk) tells you how a char will behave better than anything. You can usually tell right then, a char's maturity level, level of confidence, even how much of their author they are carrying.

I'm not sure why that's true. But I see chars who will kick over chairs or sulk moodily in front of a fire, but as soon as they start interacting their writer can't bare to offend anyone and they become so polite and conciliatory. Right then, I always feel like I know if a char will stick to his biography or reflect his writer's thoughts.

-- What is the best way to you have found to 'godmode' others' characters in order to progress plot and scene action?
It always depends on the people I'm playing with. And how well I know the character. In some cases I have no qualms about holding entire conversations or choreographing scenes without another author's input. (Although, that occasionally leads to apologies and edits.) Other times it seems best to just ignore someone else's char. Just because I don't comment on it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Retroactive events and convos can be posted up later, as it's entirely possible that my narrative has tunnel vision. Lord knows my chars can be self-obsessed.

-- What level of personal interaction and regular conversation with the other authors do you have? What level would you want?
I like speaking to authors. I like discussing rps and a good OOC brainstorm can bring all sorts of fun to a game. I've even had games within games, like challenging players to write their next post to include three apparently random items, or denying a player the use of a character's name. Talking OOC can help inspire everyone, as you ask questions and share your fav parts. And certainly it's helpful to hit a writer up for clarification when necessary.

But I don't like hashing out a post with a player to the point that I know what they're going to write. I don't like planning out plot lines in detail, or even identifying events which need to take place. I absolutely hate gaming on rails. It always makes me just want to throw a wrench in the gears.

One of my favorite writing games is tandem storytelling. And the best partner I ever met for that was a person whose only interaction I had ever had with was through the game. I was forever learning new ways to read and interpret my own writing. He would identify things I had not even noticed I'd written and run with them. It wasn't forceful, just a fun experience because of the occasional disconnect between brain and pen. If we had talked it out, outside of the game, we would have been on the same page and missed some fun opportunities.

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