tsukune

How to write conversations/speech?

@Buddha Slice of life-y kind of stories, huh? Well, some people say that stories of this genre can be dull and boring if it's not done well, yeah.

Back and forth conversations - that would be quite similar to how we write in Chinese and Japanese. Maybe a few descriptions here and there to show some movements, change of scene, or character thoughts, but mostly just conversations between characters (but we don't indent like how you illustrated in the second style).

Yes - as I've said, that's the conventional way of speech writing in most types English prose (and well, you were asking how I typically write dialogues, which I thought it's easier to show a sample than me trying to do a fail description, lol). I'm curious to see other forms too, though I'd most probably not adopt the other formats because I'm too used to the standard novel style than the others would probably feel weird to me.

How to write conversations/speech?

@Buddha Hmm, so something more like writing playscripts or scripts in general? I have learned to write movie scripts in my writing module in college - while not exactly the same, but there are some similarities here and there. (I won't go into details about movie scripting here since it's not the main point of this thread.)

Ah I see, Dutch literature. I've never read English literature books written in the second form before; for Chinese and Japanese, the style of writing speeches is little bit different, which again I won't elaborate too much here.

This is just a sample of a recent collab I did with another player in one of the RPs I'm active in for illustration purpose:

[+]

Haruka looked up at from the tablet to Aislin. Missing? "I'm... sorry to hear that." Then he shook his head. "I have never seen her after that day in the cafe, when she left together with some African-American man." There was no way anyone who was in the cafe on that day would be able to forget that man... not with such a loud and flashy entrance.

Aislin pursed her lips, flicking the screen. "Was it this guy?" The image was much fuzzier as it was taken from the security tape, but it showed the definition of an African man sitting with a drink, head turned to show his faded mohawk.

Haruka stared at the screen, unblinking. "That's him! This... Where did you get this from?" He frowned at Aislin. "Who are you? What's going on?"

Not sure if this helps, but that's how I'd usually write, I guess.

How to write conversations/speech?

@Buddha Oh, I wasn't aware that the second style exists in classical literature - I took literature as a subject in middle and high school where the texts I have to study are classics, but I've never come across the second style at all, lol. I'll just take your word for it since I don't know how the books in Netherlands are like.

Also, personally I don't italicize my speeches just to differentiate them from descriptions, because anyone who knows how to read should be able to tell them apart easily. I reserve the use for italics for either emphasis (sometimes when people talk you have the tendency to emphasize certain words to get your point across to others), or if it's to denote the speech is spoken in a different language (i.e. the character is not speaking English, but the dialogue is still written in English so the readers can understand what the speech is about).

_{Nowadays I avoid - or just refuse - to color code character speeches altogether. It's simply a pain in the ass.}

When it comes to writing, since it is text-based - which is visual - so depending on the situation, the paragraph size, indentation, etc. can feel iffy to the writer at times (especially for those who like things to look neat and proper, or at least visually pleasing). However, I feel that in character speeches and dialogues, the sound is more important than the looks - I mean, dialogues are supposed to be spoken text, just in visual form. I'd pay more attention to the sound rather than how it looks to me.

Current Repeat Song For Rp Inspiration

Video game soundtracks. Well, the RPs I'm active in now require me to write a lot of action scenes - and video games are full of action scenes, so why not? XD

Well, I just like listening to soundtracks in general - including anime and movies. Or music that has no lyrics. I find sung lyrics rather distracting, and ambiance of pure music helps me to visualize the scenarios much better.

How to write conversations/speech?

The first style is something akin to standard writing format in most types of prose - be it for school compositions, short stories or novels, even writing story outlines for movie and TV productions. And yes, you're correct to say that usually only one speaker per paragraph for clarity of who is speaking at each time, to avoid confusion.

I have never seen or heard about the second style, and I do agree with you that it's just awkward. Not only does it break the reading flow, it's just not something you'd ever see in standard writing (mentioned in my paragraph above). I'd suggest you stick with the first one.

As I'm not a native English speaker, sometimes writing dialogue/character speeches is quite a challenge for me - in terms of making it sound natural as if they are spoken out loud, even if it's actually in written form. One way for me to minimize awkward speeches would be for me to read out loud what I have written in my dialogue, to physically feel how the speeches sound like, the rhythm of the spoken syllables, etc. Researching about slang is also helpful - even in English, there are difference between how an English (someone from UK) would speak and say certain things compared to an American.

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

@tsukune You can generally be a happy person. I wouldn't say they're good descriptions but they're descriptions none the less.

@Buddha

A happy person =/= a happy-go-lucky person. The former is an emotion that makes the person feel that way which is specific to a particular situation, while the latter is a quality in the person's personality/belief that drives them to be happy about the things around them or situations they are in. (I think you're trying to mean an optimistic/positive person who is generally happy about things.)

Words like "happy, sad, angry", etc. are descriptive terms (and they are some of the most basic, generic ones), but they are useless to describe a character's personality. Personality is not how the character feels towards certain things, but distinctive characteristics and qualities that define who they are, which includes their personal beliefs and values that drive them forward in their life, and also affect how they view the world and people around them.

<Snipped quote by tsukune>

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. It was like they were explicitly trying to fit into every bad player stereotype. They also wanted to do a "revealed in RP" history.

@Mercurial

I can understand if they choose to reveal more details about the character's backstory in the IC rather than vomiting out chunks of purple prose in the CS, but at least have a paragraph or two to give the general idea of the character's origin; i.e. where they were born, the kind of family and place they grew up in, and some major key events that happened in their life which shaped them into the character they have become before the beginning of the IC timeline, etc. Those are important to help the other players to understand your character's personality better, such as why your character would react in certain ways towards certain things because of past experiences or trauma, yeah.

Regarding stereotypes, there's nothing wrong with stereotypes. Just like with cliches and tropes, stereotypes are there because each and every single person have their own opinions towards certain things and people, and it's natural for us to judge others as this is greatly affected by personal beliefs and values - vice versa, we would start to act in certain ways to try and conform to some social rules in order to fit in, whether intentional or not. However, people should understand that stereotypes is only a small part of a person's personality, and does not completely define who they are. A person's personality is more complicated than shoving them into a stereotype category and thinking that it can explain all about your character. That's just lazy and pure bullshit.

Anyway... sounds like this player you're talking about is a troll. XD

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

<Snipped quote by Chaotic Chao>

I once met someone who asked to write the personality out in single word adjectives i.e. "happy, angry, sad" because he openly admitted he would likely deviate from the personality in the RP and so didn't want to write out a solid paragraph.

I mean, if you're deviating from your character's personality outside of authentic character development, then you're doing it wrong.

@Mercurial

...Hang on.

"Happy, angry, sad" are emotions a person would go through depending on the situation they are in. They are not personality traits.

Did that person even understand what "personality" actually means?

:/

Baybridge™: Era of the Old/New Gods™ [COMPLETED]

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Haruka Takashiro, & Daphne "Holly" Hope.

@Estylwen

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Fate/Zero OST - Nervous

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Greencrest Heights, White Coast_

"Uuugghh..." Haruka moaned, and clutched his head. This was another reason why he would normally take great care to control himself when drinking: not only did he want to avoid troubling his family with his drunken state (even though Shizuka once commented that he was so much easier to deal with than the likes of Cindy), the hangover part was what he hated most.

...It felt like he had rammed his own skull against a steel wall.

He got up from the couch slowly, then he realized someone had put a sheet over him while he was asleep. Has Shizu come back?

"Take it easy."

He turned his head around to see the willowy figure of Holly - in her usual office suit - walking towards him with a glass of water, which she placed on the short table before him. "Drink some water first. You okay?"

"I'm... fine," he mumbled, looking down to hide the disappointed expression on his face from her, then stretched out a hand for the glass of water and took a long swig from it. "Well, I guess it's better for you to see me like this than Shizu or Aunt Akemi, because they will skin me alive, literally."

Holly merely shook her head and sat down beside Haruka. "...Do you want to talk to me about it instead?"

Haruka gave her a sideways glance, but didn't reply. Holly let out a sigh. "This is the first time I've ever seen you so drunk. Something must have happened to you last night." Haruka's eyes widened when the auburn-haired lady stretched out an open palm before him.

"Mind explaining about the number on this napkin to me? Who does it belong to?"

Haruka regarded Holly for a moment; finally he reclined back on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. "I guess all of us should stop playing this stupid game of hide and seek, and just be honest with each other," he began in a tired voice as he picked the napkin off Holly's hand. "...That was from someone who claimed to be from a cult called 'Polaris'."

He then stared at Holly in the eye, his brows furrowed at the frozen expression on her face. "Before I go on, can you tell me more about 'Polaris'? In fact, everything you and Shizu know about them."

Holly swept her front bangs off her eyes and let out a long sigh, before she started off, "It's an underworld cult that originated from China during the 1950s; not only are they ruling over the Chinese government from the shadows, they also have the whole of Asia in their hands, just like how the Founding Family has Europe and North America under their control." She closed her eyes briefly. "...Shizuka has been using the suspension as a smokescreen to gather more intelligence - and he suspects that they are working together towards world domination. To achieve that, it seems like they have been working on a certain machine... which is probably why they set up the hostage situation in order to get DOVE and RAVEN to hand Dr. Cross and the Mannequin over to them."

Haruka listened intently; the scattered pieces were starting to fit together and formed a clearer picture in his mind. Some of the things he had been seeing on the news about the Black Hound was making more sense to him. "A... machine?"

Holly shook her head again. "We still don't know what kind of machine it is, nor do we know where this machine is being made and kept. All we know is: the Family seems to be in an urgent need for top scientists around the world to work on it, so it's likely to be some extremely dangerous device. If we don't find it and destroy it fast, this is going to be much much worse than the Verthaven Disaster and the Prague incident."

Haruka clenched his fists; the mention of that incident flooded his mind with the horrible memories from seven years ago, making his head throb again. "...Then what about Polaris? How are they related to the Founding Family?"

Holly was silent for a moment before she replied slowly, "For one, they probably have a mutual goal with the Family - sharing their resources with each other is a win-win for both sides." She paused for a second, before continuing in a grim tone, "The other reason has something to do with Shizuka's trips to Asia - either they are wary about his success in gathering most of the Asian Metahuman organizations to RAVEN's side, or they plan to use him to spread their evil influence beyond Asia to the West. In fact, Shizuka's presence was the catalyst that complicated all this."

She grabbed Haruka's shoulder, her green eyes bored into the young man's darker ones with such intensity that made Haruka feel the dread churning harder inside of him. "Your mother, Asami, is a member of Polaris. She went into hiding after she saw Shizuka representing RAVEN at the Asian Metahuman Summit; eventually Polaris connected the dots themselves to find out the truth behind the superpowers that you two have."

"So it is true..." Haruka buried his face into his hand. "...That Shizu and I are not natural Metahumans. That our own mother subjected us to some kind of 'ritual' or human experiment, or whatever the heck it is..."

Holly was sympathetic about how all this had to turn out for the two boys, but she chose to cross her arms before her and looked at Haruka expectantly - that it was now his turn to start telling her his story. It was the only thing she could do now to help them.

"...I went out last night to, well, look for Jennifer," Haruka began. "It's about her past, her time as 'Missy Baroness' during the seven-year gap after the Verthaven ‌incident... but she wasn't in the cafe she's working at. I was about to leave when this tall Chinese lady came in, and I offered to help her with her drink order. She insisted to treat me to a drink for my kindness, and pressured me to stay, saying that she's looking for Shizu."

He flattened the balled-up napkin on the table. "She introduced herself as 'Xing Huo', a Fire Spirit in Polaris."

Holly narrowed her eyes. This was really the worst possible development that both herself and Shizuka had feared. "One of the 'Wu Xing'," she muttered. "...What did she want from you?"

"At first she said she was looking for Shizu because he had something important to them in his possession," Haruka replied, then he turned his head to look at Holly. "Then... she said Polaris wanted us to go back and reunite with them, that they are our 'real' family."

Holly couldn't help but frown. That didn't make any sense - Polaris should be aware that Shizuka was against both them and the Family. Even if the twins' powers were probably originated through a 'ritual' from Polaris as mentioned in Asami's diary, they should be seen as betrayers to the cult. Why would they want to welcome traitors back into their ranks? Also, why did one of the seven leaders had to personally come all the way to Baybridge, to the Family's turf, just to bring the twin boys back 'home'?

What is Polaris' true goal?

"But you don't get drunk over coffee..." Holly commented dryly. There was obviously more to Haruka's little adventure last night.

"Tea, actually," Haruka corrected her automatically before he went on. "After I left the cafe, I bumped into someone - Aislin. She was looking for me because she thought I might have some clues to help her find her missing friend. She seemed like a private investigator of sorts who worked for some company that she claimed to have ties with the big shots. I thought I could try to test if she had heard about Polaris or the Family---"

"---But you ended up getting her involved," Holly finished his sentence for him. She pinched the bridge of her nose with a hand. "How much did she charge you for offering her service?"

"She said she would give me a discount for the bits of information I provided about her missing friend, so it's a few thousands..."

Holly suddenly stood up and sighed, raking a hand through her red hair. "I'll pay that fee for you - but I'll need to meet her face to face first. Can you contact her and arrange a meeting?"

"I have her number..." Haruka looked up at the serious expression on Holly's face, uncertain. "Are you going to stop her or...?"

"No," Holly replied as she picked up Haruka's empty glass and walked towards the kitchen. "...I just need a talk with her, that's all."

Baybridge™: Era of the Old/New Gods™ [COMPLETED]

<Snipped quote by tsukune>

I hope you're proud of yourself you cock strangling degenerate.

@Mr Allen J

My job isn't to entertain you. I'm here to irritate you and stoke your inner gay... and let you entertain me instead.

EDIT: Oh wow. I got the 777th post with this bull. Oh well.

Baybridge™: Era of the Old/New Gods™ [COMPLETED]

@tsukune sometimes you make me want to shoot myself

@Mr Allen J

Good, because that is my intention all this while.