[quote=@Sovereign]
[center]
[H3]Roleplay Guidance[/H3][/center][hr]


The purpose of this is to help people write better when two of their own characters/assets are speaking/operating in the same post, but it works just as well as a reference source when two players are working on a collaborated post. 

[hider=Dialouge & Conflict]

[b]CONFLICT[/b]
Dialogue is about demonstrating character through conflict, either internal or external. Remember that, and your job becomes easier.  Conflict isn’t always something bad that’s happening. It can be something as terrific as winning a million bucks in a lottery or falling in love or discovering your character is going to have a baby. However, conflict always portends change. And dialogue always gives you a window to see into the way that characters feel about that change, or at least the way they want each other to think they feel, which may not be the same thing.


[b]WRITING DIALOG[/b]
Here are a few recommendations about writing convincing dialogue. None of them are cast in stone, but until you’re comfortable enough with the rules to know how to break them, you’ll work better if you keep them in mind. 

[list][*][b]Avoid phonetic spelling and accents.[/b] Dialogue of the following sort—“Ah reckon ah don’ haff ta go dowan tuh th’ rivuh tuhday, ‘cawse we gots awl th’ feeush we gwine need”—gives the reader a headache and makes you look like a moron. With dialect, less is definitely more. “I reckon I don’t have t’ go down t’ the river today, ’cause we got all the fish we gonna need,” is much more readable and still suggests a particular character. That said, too much is too much.[/list]

[list][*][b]Keep to the conflict. [/b]If there is no conflict for the two characters in a piece of dialogue, then the dialogue has no place in your story. The conflict can be internal (he’s lying to her; she doesn’t like him; she's embarrassed by her friend's behavior, etc) or external (raptors are trying to eat them; an object has triggered a problem they need to solve). But it has to be there. Dialogue illuminates character faster than any amount of exposition, but only if you give your characters something interesting to talk about, and something that moves your story forward. And that means conflict. [/list]

[list][*][b]Don’t let characters “speechify.”[/b] What worked in a Shakespeare monologue does not work in a dialogue between two people. Fictional dialogue is about give and take, meant to sound realistic but sharpened by the fact that each character needs something, and by the fact that their needs do not mesh. You won’t get two-page speeches if you remember this. 

A note on that: I fall into this trap, usually when responding to a long post. [/list]

[list][*][b]Remember that people breathe while speaking.[/b] Read your dialogue out loud, in your normal, conversational tone of voice. If you run out of air part of the way through a sentence, rework it. Add punctuation, break it up, rip out the flowery stuff. [/list]

[list][*][b]Avoid “talking heads.”[/b] Have characters do something while they speak. [/list]


[b]THREE KINDS OF DIALOG[/b]
Swith's rule on orphaned dialog is simple: I don't read the post. Your dialog is bad and you should feel bad. *winks* It's monotonous to read something where we have to keep track of who spoke first. The writer has an idea of emotional response, but they don't weave it in. RP is not script-writing, either.


[u]SCRIPT WRITING[/u]

[list]LISA: [enters from stage right] Jesus, you startled me. I wasn’t expecting you here.

JOHN: It’s been a real day for expectations. Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for an hour. You didn’t leave a note or—

LISA: [cross to stage left] I wasn’t planning on going anywhere—

JOHN: I can see that. Where’s your coat? [/list]


[u]ORPHANED DIALOG[/u]
This is the schmutz that kills posts and paints the writer as unimaginative. If someone were to ask me to judge a post on quality for a contest, orphan dialog would have the post disqualified as the puerile garbage that it is.

[list]"Jesus, you startled me. I wasn’t expecting you here," Lisa said.

"It’s been a real day for expectations. Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for an hour. You didn’t leave a note or—," John said.

"I wasn’t planning on going anywhere—"

"I can see that. Where’s your coat?"

"I left the house in a hurry. I… um… my mother…"

"The hospital reached you? God, I’m sorry. That’s why—"

"The hospital?"

"They called me when they couldn’t get you."

"I don’t understand."

"Your mother. You said —"

"I ran out to buy some flowers for her. She’s been so down."

"For three hours you’ve been buying flowers?"

"And then I drove around. I’ve had… a lot on my mind. But I’m fine now. Fine."

"You didn’t go by the hospital?"

"No. Look, I’m freezing. Let’s go inside. Why did the hospital call? Does the doctor need my signature for more tests?"

"We have to go to the hospital."

"I’ve had a terrible—"

"We have to go to the hospital. Now. The rest of your family is already there."

"Oh. Oh, God. Mom’s all right, isn’t she? Oh, Christ, she isn’t. I’m being punished… she’s dead."[/list]

Did you read all of that? I'd wager the answer is "no".


[u]EMBODIED DIALOG[/u]
This is what fleshes out the scene. It allows you to create conflicts which the characters then play off of as the conversation progresses. (When crafting posts 

[list]Lisa had just gotten out of the car and was heading around the corner of the garage when she ran into Brian. “Jesus, you startled me. I wasn’t expecting you here.” His face looked sort of pale and pinched. He’s found out, she thought. I finally broke it off, but I was too late.

He said, “It’s been a real day for expectations. Where were you? I’ve been waiting here for an hour. You didn’t leave a note or—“

“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere—” Which sounded like bullshit when she said it, and she knew it. She was wearing a navy dress with a fitted waist and a low neckline, which had been a gift from Kevin. Heels. Hose. Make-up. The last time Brian had seen her in make-up when they weren’t on their way to church or a restaurant had been right after the second baby was born. Eight years ago? Yeah. About that.

He raised an eyebrow. “I can see that.” Pure sarcasm. For a moment his face lost the pinched look, and she saw suspicion in his eyes. “Where’s your coat?”

“I left the house in a hurry. I… um… my mother …”

The pinched look was back around his eyes, and she stopped, suddenly frightened. He knew she hadn’t been visiting her mother in the hospital. Maybe he’d hired a detective to follow her. The sound of her heart pounding roared in her ears. If he really knew, she would lose everything. The boys. Brian. Her home. Her friends.

But he was saying, “The hospital reached you? God, I’m sorry. That’s why—“

Now the scared feeling was worse. Different. But worse. “The hospital?”

“They called me when they couldn’t get you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your mother. You said —“

The lie came easily, easier than the lies that had preceded it over the last three months, pouring out of her mouth without any effort on her part. She shivered and rubbed her arms and said, “I ran out to buy some flowers for her. She’s been so down.” Breast cancer and a modified mastectomy at fifty-eight. Mom was in the hospital doing chemo, and she was coming through it like a trooper, but she really had been down. Not that Lisa had done much to cheer her up. She’d had her mind on… other things. No more of that, though.

The suspicion was back in his eyes. “For three hours you’ve been buying flowers?”

“And then I drove around. I’ve had… a lot on my mind. But I’m fine now. Fine.”

He looked a little sick. “You didn’t go by the hospital?”

“No.” She’d been saving that for when she could look her mother in the eye again. No, mom, I’m not cheating on my husband. I’m not cheating on my family. I’m a good wife. A good mother. Now she could do that. “Look, I’m freezing. Let’s go inside. Why did the hospital call? Does the doctor need to talk to me about more tests?”

He was shaking his head—no, no, no—and his eyes were as bleak as the day. “We have to go to the hospital.”

Her mother was being demanding again. She couldn’t face that right now. Not after the scene with Kevin. That had been ugly. Ugly. Never again, she promised herself. “I’ve had a terrible—“

He cut her off. “We have to go to the hospital. Now. The rest of your family is already there.”

Everything shifted. He hadn’t come home because he knew about the affair. He hadn’t come home because the hospital had been trying to reach her about another of her mother’s demanding snits. Everything she did to make things right, she had done too late. “Oh. Oh, God. Mom’s all right, isn’t she?” But the look on his face told her what she already knew. “Oh, Christ, she isn’t. I’m being punished… she’s dead.” [/list]



[center][h2]BONUS NOTE IS BONUS[/h2][/center]
[b]REPEATED WORDS ARE REPEATED[/b]
Proof a post before submitting it. How many times do you use the same word to describe the same action? Try to not use the same verb twice in the same short post. The shorter the post, the more the repeated words stick out. They become fodder for the "drinking game". 

[b]BAD[/b]
[list]Max ran to the store. He bought a power cable. Then he ran back home and ran up the stairs. He ran to his laptop to see if it was running.[/list]

[b]GOOD[/b]
[list]Max hurried to the store and purchased a new power cable for his laptop. Once home, he took the stairs two at a time, hoping the battery hadn't died on his laptop while he was gone.[/list][/left][/hider]

[hider=Post Blocking][center][b][h2]On Post Blocking[/h2][/b][/center]
[left]
[b][i]What is a post block?[/i][/b]

Post blocks are times when a group of players role-playing a scene are stopped from posting because a minority (usually one, sometimes two) of players is not posting and thus the rest have to wait for them to post. Post blocks result in the need to time-skip, manipulate other player's characters to get the story moving, and general nastiness and unnecessary bureaucratic paperwork for the OP and CoOPs when it comes time to get the RP moving again. In short, they're not fun for anyone. 

Post blocks are usually identified after a prolonged, unexpected period of player absence (not posting for two or three days without any heads-up that the player will be unavailable, for instance). Otherwise, players who state that they cannot post usually have characters parked (that is, removed from the scene and stored safely for the player to pick up later) or can ask other players to manipulate their characters for them to avoid the block. Blocking occurs when players do not give a heads-up, resulting in the others being unable to respond and/or park or manipulate the character for fear of angering or misunderstanding the player's intentions.

[b][i]How does one avoid post blocking?[/i][/b]

It's quite simple, really! Just follow a few simple tips:

[list][*]Check the OOC thread (the one you're reading this post on right now) for regular updates from other players.
[*]Read the IC thread regularly so you don't fall behind on the plot.
[*]If you're afraid you missed anything, don't hesitate to drop a "What did I miss?" post in the OOC thread so that players can fill you in.
[*]Post regularly and at a reasonable pace for all your characters to ensure none of them get stuck and force other players to stop posting.[/list]

[b][i]What's "regularly"? How do I know what a reasonable posting schedule looks like?[/i][/b]

Regular posting is hard to fully define since everyone has a different schedule and some people tend to put more time into individual posts than others do. As a good rule-of-thumb, regular posts should happen at least every-other-day if not once-a-day. Anything less than that will cause players to grind to a halt as they wait for a character to catch up and result in necessary time-skipping to make sure the PL time frame keeps up with RL time, which is necessary for certain events and to make the setting easier to understand and relate to.

[b][i]Most importantly, what are the consequences of post blocking?[/i][/b]

Post blocking is a serious offense in RPs as it stops other players from roleplaying and seriously hampers motivation and ability to keep the roleplay moving. If a character or characters are post blocking for a sufficient amount of time, prompting a time-skip, their characters will suffer the consequences of whatever they were doing. If they were in danger or in a situation where a time-skip would put them in danger, killing them off is not out-of-the question. 

Please, try and keep up with all your characters, and assets. If you cannot, I will be happy to let you shelve a few while you work things out. And if you don't do that, they'll be more than happy to take them off your hands and reassign them to daisy-pushing duty. And no one wants that. 
[/left]
[/hider]

[hider=Objective]

[center][b][h2]Objective?[/h2][/b][/center]

An objective can be a motivator, but it should also be something that enables a character to take action. A main objective isn't something that can be solved by chatting. It should be a conflict that challenges the character to overcome something (personal flaw, adversary,  etc) to achieve that goal (save the princess, convert the atheists into Christians, drop the ring into a volcano.)  

Frodo's primary objective was pretty obvious: get the ring to Elrond, go home. The objective changed once he realized the situation, and so he surged on to bring the ring to its doom. Along the way, he struggled with his perception of other people changing, the loss of Gandalf, and the loss of his childhood friends once he set off on his own with Sam. 

Sam's primary objective was likewise to surrounding the ring. He pledged to accompany his beloved Frodo to support him on his quest and, at one point, shouldered the burden in his stead. But Sam's secondary objective changed throughout the story. First he wanted to see the Elves. Once he had, he picked up a new objective. An undercurrent throughout the story is his love for his friends and his undying desire to protect his Mr. Frodo. That love was not an objective. It was what motivated him to complete his objectives.

"Make friends" is not an objective unless the goal is difficult to obtain. 

"Protecting/Providing for family" are motivations and not objectives that support the story unless there's a challenge there - unless those people are constantly in harm's way or unless the failure to provide means the family is compromised. Bran's objective to provide for his family was met when the Luxans handed him a large sum of money, for example. Tora is a mundane running with gods and abhumans; these beings can more easily protect her in a pinch thus she's robbed of the need for this objective.

Can personal challenges be an objective? Yes and no. They can also be a hindrance. 

Can an objective be simple? Yes, provided it's not too large for the player to handle.

Part of the reason players get bored or state "there's nothing to do" is because they either choose too broad an objective or they choose weak, easily obtained objectives for their characters. There's no challenge in sitting around all day bantering back and forth. Without an active objective, players are at a loss for what to actually write. It becomes "What do you want to do?", which is answered by "Dunno." 

Players lose interest in other people's stories, bailing on them, because their characters don't have strong objectives to weave into the story. Neither player or character is motivated. 

Let your characters' objectives help define them as people, fleshing them out, and use those objectives as motivation to participate in stories.

tl:dr
If you find yourself sitting around with nothing to do...
If you can't think of anything to write...
If you find that the only thing your character does is talk about light things while shopping or eating or over coffee...
If other players tend to avoid interacting with your characters...

...chances are high that your character lacks solid objectives ergo you, yourself, are not motivated enough to help your character meet their goals. 



A final question that came up:  "Does my character/nation have to invest every moment of game time on their objectives?"

Nope.

Objectives are always in the back of the mind, but sometimes characters need to put aside their own goals/stories for sake of the greater good. Their goals will continue to motivate them in some fashion, if those goals are solid to begin with.[/left][/hider]

[/quote]

[color=ed1c24][b]CEASE AND DESIST.[/b][/color]


Your post is infringing on our intellectual property.

The following articles were copied here without permission. The original articles, which are our exclusive intellectual property, can be found at:

Dialog and Conflict
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=27513912#p27513912]Mentor Note on Dialog[/url]", republished by Cerillium with my permission. 
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=23560649#p23560649]Mentor Note on Dialog[/url]", original post, with attributions to Holly Lisle, the presenter at the writer's workshop.

Post Blocking
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=27513912#p27513912]On Post Blocking[/url]", by Highfort. Republished by Cerillium with author's permission. 
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=24069313#p24069313]On Post Blocking[/url]", original post by Highfort.

Objective
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=27513912#p27513912]Character Objectives[/url]", republished with my permission. 
"[url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=26032588#p26032588]Untitled Post Regarding Character Objectives[/url]", original post by me.

This post is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”). I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from this site. I request that you immediately cease any further posting of infringing material.

I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that rights of the authors and the Personification Life franchise are being infringed. Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate, and I have the authority to act on behalf of the owner/s of the copyright(s) involved.

Thank you,

NS member: Swith Witherward
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