Hello and welcome to the guild! I may not be the best person to answer this as it's been a while since I've bunked down and started roleplay back here, but typically a roleplay will start with an interest check to gauge... well... interest and recruiting people. 

After that, the roleplay is moved over to the respective roleplay section (Free, Casual, and Advanced) determined by the GM of the roleplay. If I recall correctly, each roleplay thread has three sections linked to it for IC, OOC, and Characters. This is where plot, character sheets, and all that other fun stuff would be discussed.

Aside from that, each group and 1x1 has different rules and regulations. If you want to start your own roleplay, you can start interest checks as well.

[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/150081-a-new-users-guide-to-the-guild/ooc]A New User's Guide to the Guild[/url] should tell you other things you might need to know as well as what I said above in more detail. Hope this answered your question. I wish you best of luck on your search and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask around!

(As a side note, socially awkward is totally fine.)