RP Help

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Eurus on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

Well, for starters, *puts on special teacher cap*

You should try to elaborate on the actions that your character makes. The actions the character makes is also based on the actions of the person you are RPing with. Say, if someone grabbed your hand to shake it, you shake their hand back. Simple and easy. But, say, if someone grabbed your hand and broke your arm, that's not very easy pain to ignore.

As the writer, your job is to depict what is happening to the character through words. With that in mind, You are to describe the emotion, the feeling, the inward reaction and the outward reaction to what another character has typed. Just sitting on the emotion and the outward reaction, it's simple but can be all you really need. But what really also plays a factor here is sentence structure.

*pulls out chalk board*

Try using this simple method:

Emotional reaction -> outward reaction -> (what I like to refer to as)'Aftermath' of your reaction.

The emotional reaction would be how the character felt about what had happened to them. It can work either before or after your reaction.

the outward reaction would be the physical reaction for what had happened to them. Like if someone blew on your eyes, you'd blink because it irritated them.

And ah - the 'Aftermath'. Simply describing the effect your action might hold on another, or the effect it had upon yourself depending on the situation.

Example:

'Joe was shocked that Jill had slammed the door on his face, raising a hand that was balled into a fist to pound on the door, hopefully getting her to come back and open the door to hear him out.'

*points up to chalk*

The 'Aftermath' can also fit in another sentence if you believe the sentence is getting too long and/or you don't believe it flows right.

Joe's emotional reaction was shock, his outward reaction was banging on the door, the effect he hoped it had was to get her to come back to listen to what he had to say.

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Forgoil on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

Another piece of advice to help you on your way; grammar and punctuation really are key to a good post. Some of you posts in the past were just an extremely long run-on sentences; by using good grammer in you posts; it not only makes it look better, but makes it so that the replier can understand what you are trying to convey.

There are three types of sentences; Independent clauses, Dependent clauses, and phrases.

Independent clauses have both a subject and a verb in them.

ex. Sen walked to the store

Sen is the subject and walked is the verb.

Dependent Clauses have the same thing as independent clauses, except that they have one word in front of them that connects them to the previous sentence. These words are "for", "and", "nor", "but", "or", "yet", and "since".

A phrase is the one kind of sentence that you want to stay away from. It either lacks a subject or a verb, or both of them.

How the Different Types of Sentences Connect

The are four ways that the kinds of sentences that I listed above connect together.

1. Independent clause ; independent clause

Example. Sen walked into Diagon Alley; there she saw an object that caught her fancy.

2. Independent clause, Dependent clause

Example. Sen was amused by the cute kitten, but the kitten paid Sen no mind.

3. Dependent Clause, Independent Clause

Example. Since the beginning of time, all that mankind has ever known is pain.

(I am not showing the fourth way since that isn't necessary for this lesson.)

Well; sorry to make this a full blown English lesson, but I think that this will help. Try to organize your work so that people can understand, observe the basic rules of grammar and punctuation, and remember to check your spelling.

Class Dimissed

(Next class; prepositional phrases and transition words )

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Aidana on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

Okay, if you're like me and deplore grammar, here's some quick tips. (See how many mistakes were in that sentence?) Or, if you just don't want to listen to Forgoil's grammar rant. (Never begin a sentence with "Or, And, But, etc." But I do. That last sentence wasn't even a sentence, it was a *thinks* dependant clause? I'm not sure, Forgoil might know.)

Here's some quick tips:

1. Actually capitalize the first letter of your sentence, and have a ending punctuation mark. I don't think I need to give examples of this.

2. When having a word like "can't" or "don't", please put the apostraphe in. It shows emission of words or letters.

3. If you're writing paragraphs, either indent or put a space between them.

4. Don't go crazy with commas like I do. No, really, I do. (Like that.)

5. Please stick to one tense, either present or past. I prefer past tense, it's much easier to write.

6. Even though I do, please don't begin sentences with conjunctions. I'm trying to get away from it, but it's not really working.

7. PLEASE use the right version of a word!!!! If you're talking about "writing", don't say "righting". Know the difference between "your" and "you're". Same thing with "there", "their", "they're". Please don't get them mixed up.

8. No leet speak, actually write out the word. "You" instead of "U" and so on.

That's basically all I can think of right now for grammar. Just write how you think it would be written in a book or something like that. It doesn't bother me if you use a preposition at the ends of sentences, but I'm sure it drives Forgoil crazy. Those are basically all the rules I use when writing (other than a few rules about pronouns and such), and if you've read my writing you know how many mistakes there are in it. Yet somehow I seem to get away with these things...

Edit: Oh, here's a big one: Spelling. There is a spell check function that you can use before posting. You dould do that, or go to one of the many online dictionaries if you're not sure about how to spell something. I'm horrible at spelling, so I do this quite often.

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Forgoil on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

Transition Words

Transition words help the writer show that something critical is happening. They create a tense break in the sentence and can lead off in any direction from there. Some transition words include "however", "although", "rather", "in turn", and others like them.

Example. As the two blades clashed together with the harsh sounds of combat; all seemed well for Arthedain; however, it was not to be for within minutes Arthedain lay slain on the ground.

And remember; when ever you use a transition word that isn't at the beginning of a sentence; one must always but a semi colon in front of it and a comma behind. When at the beginning of the sentence, simply just put a comma after the transition word.

Class dismissed

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Aidana on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

I thought of some more tips. Those other ones were for better grammar, these are making you a better writer:

1. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I will. Use imagery in your writing. Describe the place where you are. It sets the scene.

2. Talk about your character's thoughts and feelings. It makes them more of a real person than fictional.

3. About the above rule, please don't do this.

Aidana relaxed in the overstuffed armchair next to the fire in the Common Room. Her eyes were far away, as if she was deep in thought. After a certain incident, she had sworn to get revenge. She slightly smiled at the thought. Forgoil Halifirien would not escape her wrath, oh no. She just needed to find out his one true weakness.

" I need to find out his one true weakness," she said to herself.

Yeah, that's such a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory thing to do. Please don't do that.

That's pretty much it for me. The fact that I don't do half the stuff I said, is NOT THE POINT! Yes, that does make me a hypocrite.

[Mercy Rosenburg]

Note (OOC): The original author of this piece is Teagan on Magical Horizons. The original thread is here.

Another thing you could do to improve your role playing is word choice. When you repeat a word several times (ex. thought), the text becomes tiring to read. It's a lack of entertainment. Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite web sites:

thesaurus.reference.com/

Also, try to view things from a different perspective. Describe things as they aren't often depicted as and use every little detail possible, but be sure to do so artistically.

This example isn't too great because I'm having writing difficulties at the moment.

What the professor said creeped Ella out. She raised one eyebrow.

The professor's words caused Ella's insides to tighten, her lungs to become immobile, and her movements to be of no interest. It was as if arctic water flooded through her veins spreading their bitter atonement to every course of her pulsating structure. The charms instructor had emanated words of great concern, and had caused extreme displeasure upon her student. Slowly, Ella's tender functions continued their never ending tasks once more, and fluid gently wormed throughout her pudgy figure as time moved on. She calmed her surprised expression into one of settle confusion before quietly raising one of her dull, brown eyebrows at the professor's answer. The drenched chocolate colored eyes on her face cooled and mellowed themselves into a comfortable ginger shade.

...Then, of course, you'd go on about what was said and what your character thought of it. Once your reply is written, you should read over them. I find it easier to use "Preview" and view it with a colored background in most instances.