#i'm coming up with new interesting plot threads on the fly

[carbonateddelusion]

mmmm.... this is a very Eris song

the entirety of Bored Game is very sapphic but this sums up how Eris feels about a certain someone very well

[bluemooncove]

funny uppercase p with a line on it

Get random plot ideas (Relating back to some of your muses unless you specify otherwise)

(Actually this letters name is Er with tick. Fake letter fan here)

First off Ran I wanna say that I'm not sure if it's new or if I just don't remember the design but I really like the way you have laid out your muse list on it. This blog is only dedicated to one guild but I like how you not only manage to separate them by guilds but by parties :D Now onwards.

She has not appeared yet on this blog but I would actually like to see Mika paired up with Paladin. They are both Paladins and, on top of that, while Mika is from Heaven Paladin comes from the other place. I think that the two of them could make great foils and their opposing natures could serve as a way to explore what their holy oaths mean to them. Perhaps the two are entrusted with safekeeping a relic of Auri to a far off temple. Maybe they start out uncomfortable with each other but are waylaid by brigands and forced to work together.

Just a small additional note on this one but I also think given where they're from she and Abel could probably have an interesting conversation.

Okay this one may sound strange but I think could be fun: Mizu gets mistaken for a guild member and winds up dragged off for some guild activities. With everyone completely unaware that her protests about not being an adventurer are genuine and not some kind of high concept joke.

A thread set in the past featuring Sleuth and pre-adventurer Khloe. It'd have a bit of a cat and mouse plot where she's investigating some of the trail of chaos left in Khloe's wake while Khloe is continuing to attempt to fly under the radar. Maybe Khloe passes herself off as an adventurer and they wind up teaming up without Sleuth being aware of Khloe's true nature :O

Someway, somehow, Cocoa has wound up in Elbeth and in the position of a guild apprentice. She's paired with Sentinel and Dusk Witch for some kinda quest/training. It goes wrong and now they're stuck together making the long trek back to the guild hall.

Joon and Byakuren take a lovely vacation to a tropical fantasy world and have a fun filled adventure together!

[sanversandfriends]

Sanvers fans know her from her amazing contributions of art and fic to the Big Bang, but @morganastorm24 is also a multi-talented writer and artist for multiple ships in the DC universe. She also has love of everything Lois Lane. In honor of the Planet's star reporter, we've asked her to share a glimpse into her writing process. Thanks, Morgana!

Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started writing fic? Have you written for other fandoms? What are your favorite tropes?  

I've been writing for as long as I can remember - even longer according to my mum. I've always loved creating stories and would sit with my teddies and toy horses, reading them stories (even before I could read, because that's what pictures are for, right? Telling a thousand words and all that). For my 6th or 7th birthday, I apparently asked for a "really nice writing set and an even nicer book to write in". I was given a ring binder with plastic pockets, a notebook and a pencil case full of stationery. I still have that ring binder to this day, though it's not filled with all my random childish scribbles like it once was. 

I started writing fanfiction not long after Star Wars: Attack of the Clones came out. That's the earliest fanfic I can remember writing, anyway. I wrote Anakin and Padme's adventures after they got married, and then when rumours started flying about what was going to happen in Episode 3, I wrote my very first "fix it fic" by finding a way to keep Padme alive (as I couldn't bear the thought of my favourite character dying). Most of those very early fics never left the pages of the notebooks they were scrawled in and nobody else ever saw them (thank god!), but it wasn't until I started reading fanfiction online that I realised I could actually do that too - share my ideas with the world. I dabbled a little in fanfic for the tv show Casualty (a British medical drama), had more success with Doctor Who, wrote some more Star Wars, then Merlin and eventually (and most recently) Supergirl (with a dash of other DC). 

What were your inspirations for this particular story? What was it about this/these ships that grabbed you?

This fic was born of a single image - namely Chyler first revealing that she was going to wear a black and blue super suit and become Supergirl for one episode. That image alone was enough to get my mind racing with possibilities and ideas of how it might come to pass. I have to be honest and say I stopped watching the show after the Crisis stuff, so I've never actually seen her episode as Supergirl, but maybe that's a good thing? At least this way I know that my version of her is different and unique.

I am and always will be a huge Sanvers stan, but there's something so appealing about AgentCorp as well, and the show really dropped the ball when they wouldn't let Alex and Lena be together. They're an interesting and dynamic pairing - they share interests, are both huge science nerds and yet so completely different that its great fun writing them both together.

As for Lois and Kara - that one literally came out of nowhere and took me by surprise. I'd never intended for it to happen, and yet now that it has, I'm wondering why I never thought of it sooner!

Has the time spent away from your story changed your outlook or approach to any of the storylines or themes? Have you had any new inspirations or breakthroughs/revelations in the meantime? 

Absolutely. I got to a point with the fic where it had grown stale, and I was constantly hitting up against a wall with no idea how to get around it, or to power through it. So, I walked away from the fic and decided to focus on other WIPs and new creations instead. Coming back to it now, I've been able to see everything with fresh eyes, and I can see not only where I was going wrong before, but also a way to fix it. Changing the villain, adding characters, getting rid of redundant plot threads and adding more relevant pieces has really helped to get this work to a place where finally, I can see the finish line and I know I'm going to make it. That's a huge relief, considering where I was 2 years ago when I first started writing it.

Any advice for new or aspiring fic writers?

Never give up. No matter how hard it might be, just put words on a page. It doesn't matter how rubbish they are, as my BFF always says, "You can't edit a blank page." Let yourself suck, let yourself write horrendously. It's all good practice. Even if those words never leave your notebook or the document on your computer, they've taught you something, they've helped you to improve, so be proud of them.

Writing is also a bit like a painting. Not even Da Vinci or Van Gogh sat at his easel and created a masterpiece on his first try. There's the initial sketches to plan out the idea. That's your plot or summary. Then you add basic blocks of colours. That's your first draft. From then on, you work away slowly, adding details, shading, contouring...those are your second, third, fourth drafts. Keep revising and editing as much as you need - there's no right or wrong number of times you should be doing it. Because each time you do, you're adding more detail to your masterpiece. And what you end up with is a work of art.

One final piece of advice... writing is not a solo event. All those times a writer is depicted sitting along, tapping away at a keyboard or scribbling in a notebook, it's so misleading. Get yourself a writing buddy. DKGwrites and I are best friends, we met through fanfiction (and I'm eternally grateful for that everyday). We have regular writing sessions together, and ok it's 90% messing around, distracting one another, talking utter nonsense or throwing random videos and links to each other, but that 10% when we do actually behave and get down to the task at hand, it's so much more fun writing together than it ever is when we try to write alone. Silliness aside, we help one another, bounce ideas off one another, motivate and encourage one another, and it's the best thing ever. So find yourself a writing buddy, and have a blast!

If you were going to promote this fic with a single line, what would it be? 

What if Supergirl was a badass redhead called Alex Danvers?

We'll have more about her artwork in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, check out her work on A03!

[fluxrspar]

Wanted Plots (Sep-Oct)

whoa heyyyyyyyy it's been a hot second since i've done one of these apparently :joy:

I've got some prompts I'm interested in picking up on Selena this board! So, better late to post than never or something? I need my Fruit Ninja.

Old

fwuit ninja — sword +1

i'mma be honest part of the reason i want to do it so bad is cuz i'm proud of myself for making a prompt that got voted in :crylaugh: IC-WISE THO I think Selena would be one of the folks interested in cleaning up after all the mess is made; because like, wasteful. Could be made to participate in the games though if it is promised that she and whoever she's playing with will clean it all up afterwards. taken by: katarina ( @ephemeralove )

i'm a healer, but... — gauntlet +1

I think Selena is neat for the fact that she's a mage/staff user but is built like a physical fighter GWAHAHA (i saw this especially when working on her stats meta—get that hp growth gurl!!—but it's also partially a HC thing dw bout it:sparkles:) As such, she wouldn't be too disheartened if she had to fight without her tomes/any other conventional weapons! We need to be brutal? Whatever it takes :stare: taken by: ena ( @spinnerofhope )

investigating foul magic — reason +1

FAKE BOOK READER ALERT I actually have no familiarity with Dorian Gray haha I just think the prompt is neat! I think the idea of someone no longer being the person you devoted yourself to would also be really interesting for Selena to interact with as a third-party, even if her only prior experience with the topic is in a platonic sense. Also, as someone with a degree of experience with magic, she'd want to lend her skill to resolving the mystery and fixing the situation however she can. taken by: linhardt ( @warpaway )

caring for the helpless — faith +1

Selena doesn't expect herself to be a parent anytime soon (or possibly ever? Don't worry about it), but she still thinks being able to work with/care for kids is an important skill to have! Maybe not like this. She still wants to try though!!! taken by: tethys ( @stepsahead )

New

control yourself (or don't) — faith +1

TIL sacred stones has the berserk staff :joy: Selena may or may not have a faint familiarity with it, but the moment she realizes how dangerous it is, she's going to step in and try to control its magic. Whether she or her partner ends up getting berserk'd doesn't really matter to me, though you might want to be lightning-proof if it's Selena :crylaugh: taken by: ephraim ( @heliacalrisings )

children...... — any +1

I'm imagining Selena to be interacting with the babified muse, and in this instance, I'm mostly interested in this prompt for people Selena has already interacted with before (though they need not be complete interactions; just enough that she can recognize them and have a sense of who they are in modern-day)! Selena as the babified also works, but your muse ought to be prepared for a child who is not too much different from how she is at present :joy: Mostly looking at a contrast between who you are now and who you used to be. taken by: m!alear ( @alyration )

Aside from the ones I've listed above, she's also interested in the old authority and old any+ prompts (with a vague sense of comparing customer service to knighthood), the heavy armor prompt (with an idea of the unrelenting cold and what it can do to people), and both flying prompts (with no proper ideas right now), but I'd ask anyone who asks for those to have an idea beforehand or be prepared to hash something out, 'cause I don't have enough formulated to come up with a proper thread call for them fdnsjkfn

Oh, and of course! I'm always down to thread non-mission board stuff, just hmu! DMs are preferred for easier tracking, but pings in plotting work; and for the dash-bound, I'm also cool with IMs for the same reason as DMs! Thank you all kindly :saluting_face::sparkles:

[laslow]

OOC-- Housekeeping + Wanted Plots

Timezoney, ToA! There's a couple things happening over in SamMuse Town today :)

Page Updates

All three of my muses now have rules on their blogs! The info is basically the same across all three, but Lazzy and Leo do have a couple things specific to my portrayals.

Laslow

Leo

Neph

Please ignore the sad state of both Lazzy and Neph's pages; I'm currently fistfighting with support on earning javascript rights (again....they never replied last time I submitted requests sob)

Wanted Plots!

I'm not looking to take on too much this month. I've got quite the backlog + very full inboxes I want to clear out in the near future. (And as for my backlog, thank you to all my thread partners for being so patient with me. The first five months of 2024 have been very up and down for me and my writing mood has never been so unpredictable.)

Lazzy:

Brace yourselves for the arrival of the Garreg Mach Chronicle, the monastery’s brand new tabloid, premiering post-Ethereal Ball. Coincidence? Probably not! They do however have one problem needing solved before they can launch: a lack of proper news-worthy stories. Grab your parchment and pens and maybe a friend and get after them ‘scoops’! (He can totally flutter his eyelashes to find out the proper scoop....right?)

Leo:

Right, so, about those monsters! It turns out they might be smarter than you are, because you can’t just walk up to them and start swinging, and they also look to have little interest in your cute traps and snares. You’re going to have to get creative about it, before the hunters become the hunted. [Grants Any Skill +1]

Nephenee: (She is Serios Knight and can do any task this month)

If there’s one thing the incredibly rich are known to enjoy, it’s their exotic imports. This mysterious benefactor of yours is no different; your task for the day is to shuttle some rare creatures from port to the stables. They’re perfectly docile, supposedly, but whispers are quick to spread. Those from Magvel recognize Gargoyles and Deathgoyles when they see them, but you don’t have to come from afar to know that whiplike tails and talons that can tear through flesh with ease might just spell trouble. Aaanyway, be sure not to harm a hair on these exorbitantly expensive beasts’ heads! [Grants Flying +1]

Right, so, about those monsters! It turns out they might be smarter than you are, because you can’t just walk up to them and start swinging, and they also look to have little interest in your cute traps and snares. You’re going to have to get creative about it, before the hunters become the hunted. [Grants Any Skill +1] (Duessel)

And that's all! Please DM or ping me in Discord, or message me here on tumblr :) Thank you friends!!

[writingonesdreams]

Happy WBW, Dreams! What sort of spiritual/belief system(s) exist in your world for Tears of Iron? God(s), nature, spirits, etc? - @duskforged

Spiritual/belief system in Tears of Iron

Interesting question. Let's see:

There are no gods and no religions in Tears of Iron. People who have magic don't believe in any other supernatural than the one they can see and research directly. (There is enough of it as it is).

Since natural elements, landscapes and places have their own wild natural magical energy called magicae, that you have to understand and address correctly to use in elemental magic, people worship nature and really personify it. Gardens, rivers, little ponds to specific beaches or parks etc - they are treated as if they had their own personalities, names, moods.

It's common to talk to flowers, trees, animals, insects, anything. They are part of nature, pure and magical in a humanely uncorrupted way.

It's believed animals become spirits after their deaths and join up in the flow of magical energy in the air that runs through the universe. There are even instances where you can see this happen, giant ghostly silver whales swimming through the sky, antilopes running through snow forests, wolves and lions and fish at the beach. The Flying Islands are very popular spirit place for its concentration of wild magic.

I'm not sure if to include werewolves and other kind of Shifters in this universe. But if I did, it would go really well with the spirit animals. People would turn into spirit animals themselves after death and those that would be born with the ability to shapeshift would actually be those, who were particularly happy/powerful magical spirits and retained that connection even in their new human lives. Werewolves and co would be therefore very respected. They wouldn't have to hide and they would never be seen as monsters.

And I guess that would make people believe in reincarnation very widely. Not proven and not plot relevant, but it would go with the "everything is connected" theme.

People believe and worship and pray to the universe. To that vast flow of energy that binds everything together. Believing good and bad things come back, because life isn't fair, but the universe is and every action, energy, even every thought makes little ripples in the net of the magic that spreads over the cosmos and comes back. In unusual forms, not always from the direction expected or deserved, but it always comes back, one way another.

Though there are different schools of thought that think about this. One says that because of the universe and magic that connects everything, every person's life has value in the grand scheme of things, whether they achieve big things or get acknowledged for it or not. It values order, universality theory that at the core everyone is the same and should seek similar things from life. And that if you are happy or not depends on your mindset, and how you choose to look at things, cause doing things in order and how they are supposed to go is the best. Leads to perfection, impact and fulfillment.

The other considers this approach to be lazy, encouraging inaction and stagnation, and instead admires chaos as source of creativity and energy. This second school says the magical connection of the universe doesn't necessary make meaning, but underlines the importance and power of coincidence. You can never know what the winds of chance will bring or where your actions will lead, that's why you have to take chances, be spontaneous and impulsive, get out there and try things out. Cause you may never know, maybe your big meaning or life changing event waits just around the corner. It also encourages lack of planning, breaking traditions, doing new things and making mistakes as something crucial to creating your own meaning in life.

Thanks for the question, this made me think and come up with some new possible threads to follow^^

[talkfantasytome]

Part of my attempt to re-post answers I've given, without the context of specific links to posts based on this feedback and advice.

Anon Asks: I found something that says the map in ACOSF is foreshadowing for E\ain because the compass looks like the Cauldron, there are roses and vines around the map where it could have been something like flames if it was meant to be about Nesta, there are flower petals among the stars (proving Nesta belongs in the Night Court), and Koschei's castle and lake are added to the map.

So, I'm actually going to start off by complimenting the person that came up with that theory. While I disagree with it, it's definitely very interesting and may not be entirely wrong. It's also not a theory that proves E\ain's book would be next, just that E\ain was heavily considered in making the map, which is likely the foundation of the map they'll use for all three of these books.

However, that is A LOT of focus on E\ain. And, I'm sorry, but I can't imagine they would make the map to be all about E\ain when she'll be one main character of six in this set of three novels. Yes, they redid the map, as they redid a number of things for ACOSF. But that map is not solely about E\ain.

I'll explain why I disagree, based on the summary of points:

- The compass: remember the lore Rhys said? That some great goddess created Prythian/their world with the Cauldron. And in Tamlin's house there was, like, a stained glass window or something with a design that looked like the Cauldron was pouring out Prythian...like, the liquid being poured from it created Prythian. The Cauldron is an incredibly important object in their world, and you absolutely should not forget about it, of course. But, like, also, of course there would be a reference to it on the map. It's not solely a direct reference to Nesta and E\ain becoming Fae. It's a reference to the object that supposedly created their world. And, sorry, that takes the cake to two Fae, even two powerful ones like them.

- Roses and Vines: this series is called 'A Court of THORNS and ROSES', which you can find on vines. The maps always had vines on them. What they did when they redid the map was make it a lot more artistic. Let's remember the old map:

This is pretty plan, especially in comparison to the new one. The new one they decided to make more artistic. In the new map, the roses are a reference to the actual name of the series, the book that started it all. And then, you have representations of each court in the map. In the four corners, a symbol for the seasonal courts - interesting that, for Spring, they picked a ROSE specifically...don't tell me that the roses mean E\ain, and then just skip the fact that the Spring Court symbol was a rose when it could have been any flower. And then, in the center of the map, to represent the Solar Courts, you see a moon, a sun, and then at the bottom a sun covered with cloud, that could easily represent Dawn.

To help, here's a large image of the new map. Open it in a new tab, and you should be able to see the full size version:

- Flower petals at the top: those aren't flower petals. 👀 Do what I suggested, open the full image, and zoom it in. You'll see that they aren't flower petals at all. They're faeries. That concept of little, winged creatures that look almost like butterflies. I'm sure you can guess why they'd put faeries there. 🙂 They're not floating down, but flying around the sky.

- Koschei's castle: Cassian and Az literally go to where Koschei is. Of course it gets added to the map. So you know where exactly they were in that scene.

They don't redo maps or make additions to tell us what's to come. In fact, maps typically like to avoid giving us information that we don't get in that book. The old map I shared is the ACOMAF map. The ACOTAR map didn't include the extra detail about Velaris, the Night Court mountains, Court of Nightmares, or the Prison. It also added in the Weaver's Cottage and Adriana. All places Feyre goes to in ACOMAF. And the ACOWAR map added in the Forest House in the Autumn Court - a location Feyre passes through - and the Dawn Court Palace. I'd also note that the Faerie Realms on the continent also become expanded in each map. There's nothing in ACOTAR, ACOMAF adds Vallahan, and ACOWAR adds Montaserre. Because those get mentioned in those books. But, they're not that important.

In conclusion, no, the map is not attempting to foreshadow anything with the additional locations. Those added locations solely tell us the locations that will be prevalent or come into play in this book. The symbolism is clearly very symbolic of Prythian, possibly to remind us that that's the main land, still, since the map is expanding. And this map is not going to be created to focus solely on one character like that. That's making one character, a character that has yet to be an MC or even get solid development, the center of attention.

Again, this a very interesting theory! And I'm not going to say that it's definitely wrong. I'm also very certain E\ain's book will be about Koschei. That's why I'm positive she'll get book 6, because Koschei is going to be the final plot. Sarah wouldn't build him up in book 4 as an overarching thread, then have that plot come to a head in book 5, and then have book 6 be something else. So, yes, that will happen. And maybe the map is trying to tie things together to let us know about that, but it doesn't change which book would be E\ain's.

However, I don't believe the map is foretelling that. I think it's all coincidence that it seems tied to E\ain, which is most likely just because she will have her own book and a very large plot that is also the overarching plot. But, I'm guessing that the map is doing what it always does, telling us what has happened.

The anon also included two other links with posts that are unrelated, but essentially saying or assuming that book 5 will be E\ain's. I'm not going to post those answers again, as I feel like I already have answered them and shared my thoughts and beliefs on that and how E\ain's journey will be a lot more on-page than it has been, which is why I can't imagine she's book 5. 🙂

[sapphirescales]

hey! i was wondering if you had any advice for anyone who has just joined the community? how to get interactions and stuff like that? i've just joined and i'm not really sure what to do or how to set myself up

hey there! i’m working off the assumption that you know some basics. i’ve been in the rp for years now so a lot of this is borne from my own experience roleplaying here and what i wish people told me way back. it’s a lil harsh but i hope you’ll find this helpful

anyways, here’s a crash course:

ic =/= ooc: what this means is that, before you start roleplaying, remember that things that happen in-character are not supposed to be a reflection of out of character feelings. so, for example, if someone’s muse absolutely hates your muse, that doesn’t mean that the writer hates you. just because you, personally, hate a muse doesn’t mean that your muse should either. your personal assumptions about another character are unrelated and shouldn’t be reflected in what your muse assumes about another character. for example, you might personally think that iro.nman is overrated but your character might idolise him or aspire to be like him or be completely neutral; it’s not the same thing.

standard roleplay etiquette: read through all of someone’s available pages before you follow them; if someone’s taken the time to write up all those pages, take the time to read them. even if you think you’re a Veteran Roleplayer, who has seen every variation that you can about someone’s pages, read them. don’t reblog their out of character posts / headcanons / graphics unless it’s marked as okay to reblog. during interactions try not to godmod or metagame your partners ( if you don’t know what that is, a quick google search will help you out ). sometimes, certain blogs might cool with you following them but aren’t open to interacting with your character for various reasons ( for e.g. if your muse is someone who is dead in their canon and they want to keep that a fixed point, they might not be open to interacting with your character, especially if they have set headcanons already ) or they might not be okay with you following them at all – that’s okay, there’s plenty of other fish in the sea. people come and go in the rp community fairly often. keep your head up.

writing samples: if you’re really new to the rpc, and you’ve never written with anyone before, people might not write with you simply because they have no idea how you write. it’s nerve-wracking but start with some posts that show off your understanding and insight for your character; write some drabbles, do some character-development related things. that will help you for when you actually do start writing as well, because you’ll have developed your muse a little bit more!

get some pages set up: your navigation page isn’t all that important. if you’re playing a canon muse, neither is your bio page necessarily. what is important, and what will tell people the things they need to know about your blog and characterisation, is a rules page and also a verses page. even if your verses page is very basic, and isn’t very detailed or super pretty, that’s okay! get the information out there about what you’re willing & open to write, establish your boundaries and show people you’ve put some thought into your character.

work hard on your character: roleplay is a hobby and i’m fairly certain that this is an unpopular opinion but if your character is underdeveloped – if their personality seems to change for no discernable reason between each person you thread, and your writing style is in constant flux, it makes it really difficult to understand and for people to want to know your character. you don’t have to have someone completely fully fledged out, but work on them, on understanding and exploring them and making them have depth and people will get more interested.

try not to ask for interactions specifically based on ships: ships are wonderful and fun and really great but it can be really disheartening ( especially for female muses ) if you come to them specifically for the sake of writing to ship. it’s happened to me so many times and it’s both a sign that sb hasn’t read my rules and that they don’t really care about my muse, they just want to focus on shallow writing. not everyone is interested in writing ships, and some people might not necessarily be interested in writing ships with you. that’s okay! ships will happen naturally and hugely dependent on writing chemistry; it’ll happen in time.

don’t impose your backstory on other people: this applies to all types of characters, but the ones i see it happening with the most are original characters. if your character’s backstory assumes that somebody else’s muse has done something to / for your muse before you’ve even interacted, you’re probably better of writing fanfiction. many people – including myself – consider this a form of godmodding. 

stick to your guns: when you’re first starting out, it’s really easy to get sucked into doing threads that you personally feel like don’t go with your characterisation or isn’t headed where you want it to. feel free to drop them. stick to your character, and your interpretation. for example, when i was in the te//en wo//lf fandom, i was writing peter, and a lot of people were just looking for A Token Uncle to drag them, and not really interested in writing actual plots with me. it’s okay to want to write other threads; make your wishlist known.

roleplay is give and take: this is related to the one before but basically, don’t be selfish when you write, and don’t let others be selfish when they write with you. good threads that are enjoyable and memorable for both parties are threads where both partners ( or more, if you’re doing multi-player threads ) get to explore their characters and really build a character dynamic together. 

mix things up sometimes: it’s okay to want character consistency but try to mix things up when you’re writing threads with people; no one wants to have sixteen of the same kind of threads, especially from one person. try and mix things up and put a different spin to them! it’ll be fun for you and fun for your writing partner, too.

don’t steal things from other people: whether that means headcanons, verses or the exact way they’ve done their theme. i’ve even known people to go through duplicates’ blogs and basically reblog all their non-rp posts from the source. i’ve seen all kinds of stuff stolen and i’m here to tell you that people will notice. they always notice, whether it takes 5 mins or 50 years, people will notice. don’t do it.

focus less on your follow count: some ppl will have thousands of followers and only write with two people; others will have much less and write with most of them. the number of followers you have doesn’t matter; we’re all here writing because we have a character that we love very very much, whether that character is someone we’ve created or someone already existing in media. your follow count is not reflective of the quality of your writing; the quality of your interactions reflects that. so focus on building your character and character dynamics.

ugly truth #1 – the muse you play will reflect the interactions and attention you get: i’ve been in about five to six different fandoms since 2009, and i’ve noticed one thing – if you play a canon character, you’re more likely to get followers v quickly compared to original characters, regardless of if they’re fandom or fandomless ocs. if your muse is a cis man, you’re more likely to gain followers very quickly compared to if you’re playing trans man, women, trans women or enby folks. if you play a white person, you’re more likely to gain followers compared to if you write a person of colour, especially black muses. if you play a muse that does not ship sexually with men ( e.g. a lesbian muse or an ace muse ), you’re less likely to get followers very quickly. it’s an ugly truth, but don’t be discouraged. there WILL be people who write with you, you DON’T have to change your character in any way to make them more palatable. keep loving your muse and people will love them in return, i promise.

ugly truth #2 – aesthetics matter: they’re not reflective of quality of writing but they are used, in this rpc as a whole, as a way to measure the amount of time and dedication you put into your character. you don’t have to go and code a theme from scratch or create your own psds – although some people do, and if you can / like to, good for you! – but try and set up a nice, clean theme with clear links that isn’t one of the preset themes on this website. it’ll help so, so much with getting interactions, even if your theme is really really plain. it’s unfortunate that aesthetics do matter but no community is perfect.

ugly truth #3 – the rpc isn’t pretty: there’s always really disgusting people lurking around. there’s callout posts flying back and forth to the point you don’t know who to believe. whilst one person says one thing is okay, someone else says it’s not. there’s other petty drama, vagues everywhere. it’s pretty nervewracking and hugely intimidating. it’s likely that you’ll get involved. it’s very likely that someone could call you out for something you’ve written that they find is a problem. the rpc isn’t pretty – but neither is real life, and because we’re a community of people, Real Life Issues ( like racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, islamophobia, anti-semitism, ethnocentricism, etc etc ) often get carried over to the online community. it’s not a pretty reality, but it is a reality that you’ll have to deal with, just like you would have to in real life. if someone points out that you really messed up, it doesn’t matter how long ago you did that thing, find out how to apologise sincerely for the hurt you’ve caused, and apologise properly. if you’ve overstepped your bounds, apologise properly. if someone is throwing baseless accusations, defend yourself clearly and calmly and the people who matter will know and understand. if you see something someone else has said or done or written, which is offensive, talk to them first ( and, yes, this means if you’re white and you see a mutual doing a racist thing, you should definitely go and talk to them ). the rpc isn’t pretty at all, but it’s our community – and now it’s yours, too. you have a social responsibility to make the community safe. 

the energy you put out is the energy you’ll receive: you’ve just joined the community but the community is huge and no one will necessarily go out to receive you. there’s no easy way to get interactions, but i firmly believe that the amount of time and effort you put out is what you’ll get in return. don’t just sit around waiting for other people to interact with you; make an effort. if they ask for compliments or constructive feedback, send something in. if they reblog memes and their blog is open to memes from non-mutuals, send something in. make starter calls, make open posts. ask for constructive feedback – maybe it’s something in your interpretation or the way you write that might put some people off ( and if it’s legitimate, think about it, and if it’s not or it’s something nitpicky, move on and find new people to follow ). i understand that it’s hugely nerve wracking – i’ve got anxiety as well, and i’m always nervous when following new people. in facti’m pretty guilty of this particular thing myself, even after all these years. but roleplaying isn’t like fic-writing; it’s necessary to interact with others. and, just like in real life, sometimes you just have to make the effort first and not keep track of how many times you’ve done it, and focus on the fact that you’ve got a ton of new friends and writing partners.

treat others how you want to be treated!!!