#specifically to resolve long-held arguments/plot threads

[farsight-the-char]

For Marvel/DC comic fans this is just becoming an official/major writer.

Being in a long-term fandom really makes me wish we had like, Fandom Supreme Courts, just so that every time the same stupid discourse rears its ugly head for the umpteenth time in ten years, we can just be like, “Actually this argument was settled in the 2006 Fandom Supreme Court ruling in the case of AngelPotter vs. Xx_goth1c-r0se_xX, so everbody can shut up about it now.” Imagine the wank reduction.

[jebazzled]

So you want to write a want ad.

Surprise! JB coming you today not with unsolicited opinions on apps, but with unsolicited opinions on want ads.

Want ads: love filling them, hate writing them, mixed experiences being part of them. Let's talk about want ads: the responsibilities of writing them, and how to write them in a way that gets people to bite.

WANT ADS: RESPONSIBILITIES

I am a firm believer that when you post a want ad, you have a number of responsibilities to the person who takes your ad:

When you approve a character for your want ad, you owe it to the writer to plot with them.

You owe it to the writer to thread regularly with them.

If you know that you are highly territorial and don’t want characters who are tightly plotted with yours to be tightly plotted with anyone else, you should not be making want ads.

Let's go over what I mean with each of these.

When you approve a character for your want ad, you owe it to the writer to plot with them. When someone writes a character for your want ad, they are often writing a custom character, from scratch, often for a specific plot. This may or may not be a character the writer can reuse elsewhere. They put in a lot of effort for something that you said you wanted, and you owe it to them to come through with the plot you asked for.

This means that you should be proactively plotting with this character, not waiting for the writer to message you asking what you want to do. This means that you should not leave the writer on read. This means that you should be thinking about making this plot enjoyable for both you and the other writer.

You owe it to the writer to thread regularly with them. Again: this person wrote a custom character for you, and is now doing the work of building other plots for this character. You asked for this character, you asked for this plot. Someone may have joined the site for this plot. You owe it to the writer to give them the plot you asked for.

If you do not have the time to regularly contribute to one or more threads at a time with this person, you should not be writing a want ad.

If you know that you are highly territorial and don’t want characters who are tightly plotted with yours to be tightly plotted with anyone else, you should not be making want ads. It is unfair to expect plot exclusivity from other people unless you have made that expectation clear from the get-go. Often, want ad-takers are new members looking for a want ad & plot as a way to get started on a site. If you are not comfortable with the taker of your want ad plotting extensively with anyone else, you should only request want ads from people you are close to and comfortable with.

If certain common plots make you uncomfortable (e.g. : if your ad is for finals and you are uncomfortable with the requested character having romantic history with other characters onsite) you should say so in the ad.

"What if I don't like the way the character turned out?"

The most common reason I hear for people not actively plotting or threading with characters written for their want ads is because they don't like how the character turned out or don't like writing with the member who took the ad.

These are both stupid reasons you can head off earlier than when a character is accepted.

When someone shows interest in taking your want ad, proactively communicate with them. Being in touch with the writer while they initially write the character means you will be able to better communicate what you are looking for and what you are excited about.

If you do not like the way the character turned out or do not want to write with the member taking the ad, you should let staff know before or while the app is under review. Many sites ask for member input on applications submitted for want ads.

If you are unwilling to communicate with another writer or with staff to resolve an issue surrounding a want ad, you should not be writing a want ad.

I understand and agree that confrontation, whether on a small or large scale, can be frightening and anxiety-inducing. I promise you that the "confrontation" of telling staff a certain member makes you uncomfortable and you don't want to write with them, or telling a writer that you don't think their character is quite right for your request, will have much less fallout than you giving every indication that there is no problem, and then completely ignoring this character and writer. (I know this from experience.)

If you are unwilling to potentially take on this confrontation - and 9 times out of 10 it isn't even that bad - you should only request characters from people who you trust to pull off the character in a way that makes you happy.

If there are only a handful of people you would actually be excited to write this character with: you should not be writing a want ad. If you would only thread with this character if they are written by one of your friends, ask one of your friends to write them. Want ads cast a wide net. If you are not comfortable with a wide net, ask your friends to write the character. And if none of your friends will write the character: you need to find a way to write your character without the wanted one.

(This is a great argument in favor of never making a character rely upon another played character to make sense: you never know when a request will go unfilled, when someone will ghost, or when muse will die.)

WANT ADS THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT

Still want to write a want ad? Alright. Let's get to it.

A good want ad is both specific enough to be intriguing and vague enough to give plenty of room for development. A good want ad sets the requested character up for a compelling plot without isolating them from other stories onsite. A good want ad is exciting to write for.

Let's look at some premises for want ads, and how to make them more compelling.

4-5 coworkers for Susie Creamcheese, a type-A 30-something.

BETTER:

Parks & Rec-inspired 4-5 coworkers for Susie Creamcheese, a type-A 30-something.

Why is this better? Giving the group an easily-referenced dynamic helps potential takers get a sense of the personalities at play. They almost certainly won't pull the characters wholesale, just overall types - e.g. a himbo, a dark horse, a straight man (the comedy archetype), a square, a nervous optimist. The vibe is specific but the details are wide open.

Twin brother and sister who held Sally Pumpernickel hostage in their treehouse for three weeks. In the first week Sally tried to escape, but in week two she developed a crush on the twin brother. He tried to get the twin sister to let Sally out of the treehouse, so she took Sally to a different treehouse and told Sally that she had a vision about the brother being an elk shapeshifter.

BETTER:

Twin brother and sister with a dark history - they held Sally Pumpernickel hostage in their treehouse for three weeks two years ago. Sally has feelings for the brother, who may or may not be a shapeshifter.

Why is this better? The original idea was WAY too specific, with every beat of the plot planned out. Asking someone to take on cowriting a story you've already outlined in your head is an unfair proposition, as it allows them very little room to develop their own character. If you need tight control over every single beat of a plot you should probably just write it as original fiction!

Little brother needed for Mary (played by X) - also is boyfriend to Kathy (played by Y), and best friend to Peggy (played by Z). The big complication? He is framed for the attempted murder of Peter (played by Y), who was Mary's boyfriend.

BETTER:

Little brother needed for Mary - this character has been framed for the attempted murder of her boyfriend as well.

Why is this better?

This less complicated request is better for a number of reasons:

Keeps the two most important parts of the request (the sibling role & the attempted murder)

Allows the writer more control over their character's other relationships

Doesn't lock the writer into a closed-group plot situation

What do I mean by a "closed-group plot situation?" In my experience, plots with this tangled sort of quality often lead to a cliquey dynamic. This itself isn't inherently a bad thing - sites are communities, and any community develops close groups - but it does mean that it can be difficult for a new member to feel included with the clique, or to be able to plot outside of the clique if all their character's connections are with the same handful of members. It also means that if the clique has a falling out, members might have a hard time setting their characters up elsewhere on site.

Older sister needed for Sadie Sourdough. Sister raised Sadie in the middle of a desert after their parents went missing. Sadie idolizes her and cares about her a lot but also resents her for getting sick, which meant Sadie had to leave her job abroad.

BETTER: 

Sadie Sourdough's older sister, Sandy - Sandy raised Sadie in the middle of a desert after their parents went missing. When Sadie left to work abroad, Sandy was proud, but also relieved, as this meant she could pursue her dream of underwater basketweaving - but when she caught the Water Sickness, Sadie had to come take care of her, and now their roles are reversed.

Why is this better? The function of the character is the same, but this ad focuses on the requested character, which both gives a writer more to work with and keeps the plot from being entirely self-serving. Remember, rp is a game for two or more - nothing you do can be all about you!

WANT ADS: FILLING THEM

As long as I have you here: let's talk about filling want ads. Quick and dirty tips! 

DON’T only post in the want ad onsite; reach out to the poster individually! Talking to them about what you have in mind and getting a sense for how it compares with what they're looking for will help you determine whether this want ad is for you or if you'd like to go in a different direction, and will save you the effort of writing a whole character just for the plot not to take off.

DO think of other potential plots and points of connection for your character. While you might be writing them for a specific plot, you should have ideas for plots and opportunities outside that plot. You never know when a writing partner will ghost, drop a character, or lose their muse for a plot, and your character should make just as much sense without the person who requested them as they do when you are writing with that person.

DO have fun! This is your character, and you get to decide how to write them. Don't feel like every single thing about your character needs to be determined by the person whose request you're filling. RP writing is improv - you don't get to control everyone else's writing and characters - and if the person whose request you're filling wants to be super controlling of every element of that character, perhaps it is a red flag!

IN CONCLUSION,

Want ads are not something to be taken lightly: you're asking someone to put in a lot of effort for a plot you want! Hopefully this tutorial has given you some food for though in your approach to writing and filling want ads. Happy roleplaying, and best of luck with all your character requests!

[missroserose]

Wednesday Reading Meme: Atmospheria Edition

Hello, tumblr!  I used to post these over on Dreamwidth, but for the past two and a half years, I’ve been reading almost exclusively fanfiction, with only occasional forays into book-land.  I’ve thought occasionally about writing about the fic I was reading, but frankly, most of it was short-ish works intended for easy gratification.  (Not that I'm knocking easy gratification!  But a 3500-word story about a captive Dean Winchester watching an evil version of himself and Castiel have sex is...entertaining, certainly, just maybe not in a way that lends itself to a lot of deeper analysis.) (Well, other than perhaps a judicious use of the "this better not awaken anything in me" meme.  Ahem.) That said! I've read a lot of fanfiction over the past few years, and plan to continue.  So I think I'm going to add a Fanfiction Spotlight slot to the Wednesday Reading Meme format.  Chances are there'll have been something I've read in any given week that feels like it deserves attention.  And in the meantime, I’ve been reading Actual Paper Books lately, largely as a way to wean myself of the doomscrolling habit...and since I’m low-key boycotting Goodreads these days, I figure I’ll try writing about them here.

So without further ado...

What I've recently finished reading The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern.  I'd previously read The Night Circus on a long-ass plane flight, and it turned out to be almost the perfect book for it—pure escapism so heavily drenched in dreamy poetic atmosphere that I could sink into it like a hot bath, and forget for much of the six-hour flight time that I was crammed into a tiny coach seat.  Sea is definitely in that same vein, but this time around I found the thinness and uncertainty of the plot to be rather more frustrating, in a way that overpowered the richness of the atmosphere.   There was still plenty there to enjoy, including a portal fantasy to any bibliophile's world of pure wish-fulfillment, and some meditations on love and change, and one quote in particular on the nature of love that's stuck with me...but I don't think the whole thing hangs together as well as it promised, at the start.  And while (as a fellow author) I completely understand that things change as you write them, when you reach a point in a story where it feels like the author has as little idea as you do what happens next, I find it a little demoralizing. Morpho Eugenia, by A.S. Byatt.  Now that I think about it, this novella makes for an interesting comparison to Sea, because it's similarly atmospheric, albeit less in the dreamy-imaginative-lovers-and-poets vein than the neo-Victorian highly-organized-and-tightly-laced-household-full-of-dark-undercurrents style.  It also does absolutely nothing surprising, plot-wise; it's 180 pages long and I think I'd identified most of the major themes and guessed the major arcs/big plot reveal by page fifteen.  That's not necessarily a fault in and of itself—there's something comforting about a story that does exactly what you expect, and it does a good job threading the needle of ladling on the foreshadowing without (quite) hitting you over the head with what's going on.  But frankly, the narrative stumbles somewhat in its slavish devotion to form.   As an example:  our protagonist is an entolomologist and atheist, penniless in the wake of a shipwreck that robbed him of his specimens and research, who finds himself living on the largesse of a wealthy family whose patriarch has an interest in natural philosophy.  So there are, of course, extensive passages on the nature and habits of various insects (meant to be excerpts from his work), on the potential space for the existence of God in natural selection (meant to be arguments from the patriarch), and even an extensive semi-allegorical insectoid fairy tale (written by another character entirely), which...certainly is all in keeping with the Victorian style, but none of which really feels particularly necessary to the story, here in this age where encyclopedias are a thing and anyone reading a neo-Victorian novella probably has at least a passing familiarity with the Deist arguments being held in the wake of Darwin's publication of On the Origin of Species.  Some cynical part of me wonders if Byatt was trying to write a whole novel, only to discover that the main thrust of her story was nowhere near substantial enough to support one, and even with all the padding she only managed to reach novella length. What I'm currently reading Technically I haven't started it, but The Conjugial Angel is the other Byatt novella in the collection I picked up, so I'm probably going to power through that just so I won't feel guilty about tossing the book on the "to be donated" pile.  If it's anything like Morpho Eugenia, I expect to feel thoroughly "meh" about it, but hey!  Maybe I'll be surprised! What I plan to read next I have two specific recommended-by-friends books in my queue.  The first is Aleksander Solzhenitsyn's One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, which I'm rather looking forward to despite my somewhat uneven relationship with Russian literature.  It was recommended to me by @coffeeandchemicals, and the bits and pieces of Solzhenitsyn I've encountered in the wild make me suspect I'll find his perspective interesting.  And even if I end up hating it, well...it's short. The second is Margo Lanagan's book Tender Morsels, which I know very little about other than it's a dark fairy tale.  But it was sent by @introvertia, who's become quite dear to me, and the theme of it (the jacket cover promises an Edenic tale of three women turned out of their personal Heaven and having to deal with the harsh realities of the outside world) certainly feels appropriate to 2020. Fanfiction Spotlight I was particularly taken with the premise of @zoemathemata's Supernatural/Supernatural RPF story "Folie a Deux".  Sam and Dean Winchester are held captive in Lofty Pines Mental Institution for unknown reasons, slowly being brainwashed into thinking that they're two run-of-the-mill dudes named Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki...or are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki two men suffering from the delusion that they're supernatural-creature hunter brothers named Sam and Dean Winchester?  And if they're brothers, how do they square that with the fact that they can't seem to keep their hands off each other...? It's a clever idea, with the sort of meta-analytical flavor that's very in keeping with the show itself, and zoemathemata makes full use of the opportunity to break down the many inconsistencies and flaws that any long-running serialized story accumulates but that we, the audience, overlook for the sake of the Plot of the Week.  My one personal complaint about it is that it ends too soon—the most immediate plot threads are resolved but there's a distinct sense that this is the beginning rather than the ending.  The author says in the comments that they didn't continue it in part because they couldn't decide which was the reality—and I totally get not wanting to spend months or years writing a novel-length fic out of what's supposed to be a quick bit of fun—but there's just so much you could do with this idea.  Even without picking sides, it could be a Total Recall-style ambiguously-themed case fic, or a "Frame of Mind"-esque dark psychological thriller, or any number of other options...

What can I say?  I have a weakness for unreliable narrators.