BrokenPromise

How to write conversations/speech?

Oh you obviously mix it up. Nothing in writing is black and white or set in stone. But if you're going to have a character join a conversation, or there are otherwise no good "hints" to let the reader know who's speaking, it doesn't hurt to have the speaker mentioned first instead of after. A few examples:

Bob scratched the back of his neck "Damn these flies are horrible!"

Tina ran a finger along her collar bones. "I know what we could do for fun..."

Fred patted Joseph on the back. "She'l be back soon."

Sophie clapped her hands together. "Wonderful! We start our journey now!"

It's less important if there are only two characters in a particular scene. But if you have three or more, you need to work much harder to make sure everything is being said by the correct people.

How to write conversations/speech?

@tsukune I don't think it's hard to balance at all. You can almost never say too little. But that's my style. I like bullet dialog and people to not quite know what some of my characters are thinking. Something that hasn't quite been touched on in this topic is character gestures. You can give insight into a character's thoughts by how they twitch their lips, brow, and arms.

Veronica's eyes wondered over to Isylte. "Wait, what the heck do they feed the women around here!?" The pyromancer scowled and pointed a quivering finger at the ranger. "How did you get so tall?"

The battle maiden was crouched on one knee on top of the table, her bow drawn and two arrows notched, aimed for Veronica. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Should I be asking you if you've been drinking enough milk?” Isylte calmly asked, remaining crouched.

Veronica folded her arms. "I...I don't like milk." She scrunched up her nose. "It tastes nasty."
“Well, the only way to get big and strong is to eat the breadcrusts and drink milk,” Isylte said speaking as though Veronica were a child.

@Vilageidiotx

Nah, nothing wrong with giving the reader help. I've actually had an extremely nitpicky guy tell me that he read some of my dialog to his friends in the wrong voice because of where the hints were placed. So I usually have my character gestures in front of the dialog instead of behind it.

...But ditto on myspace colors. Some methods of informing the reader are just counterproductive.

How to write conversations/speech?

@Buddha

I personally feel that in any written scene, it ruins the drama if you know what two characters are thinking at all times. I even think that a writer should be careful not to write too much about what ONE character is thinking. an example:

Jon: "I'm going to go kiss Rebecca, because I think she likes me."

Rebecca: "Hello Jon, you wanted to see me-"

Jon: *kisses Rebecca*

VS

Jon: "I'm going to go see Rebecca, I have something to give her."

Rebecca: "Hello Jon, you wanted to see me-"

Jon: *kisses Rebecca*

In the first example, Jon spoils his own story. There's no dramatic tension, he does what he set out to do. In the second example, we are held in anticipation as we wait for Jon to give Rebecca whatever it is he wants to give her. And we are surprised when it turns out to not be an object, but a kiss. There's an extra level of excitement when we don't know if Rebecca even wants to be kissed or not, and watching her reaction unfold is more interesting when we aren't really sure EXACTLY what her thoughts are leading up to this point.

The only time I see the first version being a better option than the second is if Jon's plan goes wrong. Maybe he screws up the kiss, or Rebecca actually loathes him. But if these were two different roleplayers, the second option is almost always better because of it's flexibility. It certainly isn't a bad option if things go south after the kiss.

Just recently I wrote a scene where a valiant ranger (Isylte) escorted my thief slash pyromancer (Veronica) to one of her hideouts. Veronica had helped save a village, so Isylte fet she owed her a ride home. Once they get there, Veronica got extremely comfortable with Isylte and invited her to do things like eat some of her food, stay and talk, etc. Isylte's player did a good job of letting us see her thoughts without revealing exactly what she planned to do next. The ranger wasn't very trusting, and was in the company of an unsavory thief. You didn't know if she was going to draw steel, run away, or continue to entertain Veronica. In the end, Veronica revealed that she's actually has few friends and just wants Isylte to be one. Had I narrated every thought that entered Veronica's head, the scene would have lost it's tension. We'd have all known Isylte's caution was misplaced.

I do not feel that hiding my character's thoughts makes them less important. Many times I feel it makes them more interesting to other players. Veronica has some mental problems and by not narrating her thoughts, she keeps her unpredictable nature. Her teacher on the other hand, I narrate his thoughts a lot. Reading his thoughts gives a better look at what veronica is doing and how she is viewed by a friend who knows her. But I only do that if he's in a scene alone with Veronica, or the other player isn't doing much thought narrating.

How to write conversations/speech?

The less artsy fartsy you are with your writing, the easier it is to read. I'm not sure I'd use anything from classic literature in an RP, regardless of how much I love Alice in wonderland. <3

I very seldom narrate my characters thoughts, usually because the other participants are narrating thoughts like mad and the scenes are more dramatic when you only get to read one side of the story at a time. But when I do, I'm less likely to write:

"I bet I could jump to that ledge over there"

and more likely to write:

She thought about jumping to the ledge. (or he, w/e)

Greetings, can someone point me in the direction of the Discord?

"Discord chat for Guild members, no account needed. discord.gg/dyxhc4c Feelings are messy and we haven't hired cleanup crew yet. "

^

Found that. Not sure if that's what you're looking for

Ohai! Look what just appeared!

Welcome to the forum Rain!

(A day old user welcoming a 3 year old user, INCREDIBLE!)

I also like your face, but feel it belongs between two sesame seed buns, BBQ sauce, onions, relish, pickles, side of carrots, and some cider.

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

It's getting real!

Rainbow Bubblegum Souffle

NO! What would your anime inspired RP be if the magic girls couldn't run around with toast in their mouths? That's like eating cherry pie without ice cream!

Alright, so I'm not sure what the rest of the stat system is for then. Are they just modifiers for the dice rolls?

Rainbow Bubblegum Souffle

You mentioned character death. Is this more like a game in which everyone is pitched against each other trying to knock out other players? Or is it more about telling an interesting story where the death of some characters are required to maintain the theme. Basically, if I make a character, will they die if I make a bad dice roll, regardless of how "important" they are? Or are dice rolls mainly in place to resolve disputes, like if person X is stronger than Y?

Which of these 'popular' lablels do you associate with?

Honestly, I got bored of using google after Brexiter. If I had to guess though, I'd say it's probably a label for people who feel that some "racist" comments have some truth behind them. Chinese people are on average taller than Japaneses people. However, some Japanese people are taller than Chinese people.