Writing tips

[Karem-Knight]

Guys, I'm curious; how has my Two-Face been of late? I REALLY want to do my best with him this season, I just want your honest opinion of what you all think.

 

[Green Lantern]

Word. If you want a dummy, use GL. Hell, it's not that hard to insult the dude.

Go jumprope with rattlesnakes Byrd

 

[Mr. Marko]

I figured I'd revive this thread, since it was really a cool idea and I just found it. I'm really wanting to set the stage and location in my posts better to give a better environment, but I was looking for some tips.

For example: Forge sat down in the rec room and flicked on the TV. It was nice to be home.

I would just like some pointers on how to flesh out the environment and really make it come to life.

 

[wiegeabo]

I figured I'd revive this thread, since it was really a cool idea and I just found it. I'm really wanting to set the stage and location in my posts better to give a better environment, but I was looking for some tips.

For example: Forge sat down in the rec room and flicked on the TV. It was nice to be home.

I would just like some pointers on how to flesh out the environment and really make it come to life.

Describe some of the things in the rec room. If they're typical stuff, then just call them typical or normal. Like:

"It was a typical looking rec room, with the obligatory tables, couch, and large tv." Maybe a couple of other things.

Or, since it's in a place like the X-Mansion, you can play off how unusual 'normal' things are. "In a place as strange as the X-Mansion can be, the rec room was surprisingly...normal." Then add descriptions.


Also, point out stuff that catches your character's eye. Like food or bottles left laying around (since teenagers, mutant or otherwise, are not known for being clean). Talk aobut what your character sees or feels or smells. "The room was warm from the sunlight radiating in from the windows. Forge could still smell the faint traces of food, most likely coming from the dirty plates left on one of the gaming tables. But he ignored it as he sat down and leaned back into the soft cushions of the couch."

And a little humor doesn't hurt either. "But he ignored it as he sat down and leaned back into the soft cushions of the couch. He pressed the power button on the remote and nearly jumped from his seat at the sounds of wailing guitar and guttural yelling that blasted out of the speakers."

 

[Batman]

Also remember that when in doubt, wieg is always right.

Always.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Actually, I'd somewhat disagree--people's imagination can be pretty strong. If you just say "rec room," if they know what that is then it will already put up a good mental image. If there's something different about the rec room, then you can describe it.

 

[Batman]

But it's the frikkin' X-Mansion's rec room. If it wasn't different, there would be hell to pay.

 

[Spike_x1]

I'm usually a minimalist in my writing, so as long as the reader knows that it's a rec room and knows of the items within the room that are pertinent to the story points of the post, then I honestly couldn't give a rat's ass if there's dust on the coffee table, unused footstools, a bookcase with a few spaces lacking books, or whatever other useless details that some writers like to include in their descriptions of settings surrounding their character. Really, that kind of writing is what makes me skip whole paragraphs of some RP posts, and I don't enjoy doing that, but it's hard to read something when I don't give a s**t about what's being written.

 

[Byrd Man]

I'm usually a minimalist in my writing, so as long as the reader knows that it's a rec room and knows of the items within the room that are pertinent to the story points of the post, then I honestly couldn't give a rat's ass if there's dust on the coffee table, unused footstools, a bookcase with a few spaces lacking books, or whatever other useless details that some writers like to include in their descriptions of settings surrounding their character. Really, that kind of writing is what makes me skip whole paragraphs of some RP posts, and I don't enjoy doing that, but it's hard to read something when I don't give a s**t about what's being written.

Seconded. Applaud this man!

 

[wiegeabo]

Except the question was how to be more descriptive.

Therefore, you both fail.

 

[Byrd Man]

No, wieg. It's always good to be descriptive. But sometimes being too descriptive is a bad thing. I understand the importance of painting a picture with words, but most people in the RPGs have a pretty healthy imagination, so they usually don't need that much help with picturing things.