75 posts
bits
she/he/they/the bag
I love myself but I hate the way I am
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Post by sable on Oct 15, 2020 14:55:27 GMT
I'm actually thinking of quitting PB since I'm already dropping one avenue of RP -- obviously I'm not super confident about it. I "enjoy" RP, but I don't know if it's because I've been doing it for so long, I just gravitate towards it whenever I have a creative block. So I wanted to discuss because I'm interested in what other people see as inherently different between RP and creative writing. What's the difference between sitting down to write a RP post vs. sitting down to write a chapter of a web serial, novel, fanfic, or other writing project? (Mostly concerning the "free-form" stage of writing... I don't think most people edit/revise their posts.)
RP has that social dimension, but creative writing can just as easily involve other people from writing groups to shopping around for editors, beta readers, publishers...
I've always come into RP looking to improvise, not looking for specific plots, and just thinking on the fly through the lens of a character -- that's always how I've differentiated it from just writing. But I've seen a lot of people bemoan not being able to write certain plots, stuff I would just expect to write on my own, so I'm curious towards that approach. What's the benefit of RP-ing something you already know will/should happen between two characters instead of just writing it?
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Post by Anonymous Rambler on Oct 15, 2020 15:24:16 GMT
The chief difference, in my experience and view, is that conventional writing aims to tell a story, whereas in roleplaying, the aim is to experience a story.
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amorphous blob
912 posts
bits
they/them
crush me til i die
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Post by ulla on Oct 15, 2020 15:36:45 GMT
this is a super interesting discussion topic that i feel like i could really ramble about for ages and really not say anything coherent LOL. i think it's something that is really different for everyone because everyone is going to have slightly different relationships with writing and what they seek.
for me, personally, i prefer rp over independent creative writing because it's easier, for me. i REALLY wish that i was good at independent creative writing because i love to write and tell stories and seek catharsis through character development and all of it, but i'm also someone who really struggles with the herculean task of telling a story by myself. rp breaks up the daunting length of a chapter into bite sized pieces that i have an easier time parsing vs getting locked in choice paralysis because i have such a hard time paving the road one brick at a time if i know i'm responsible for every single one.
also in the case of plots that a partner and i have already hashed out, while it absolutely does remove some of the spontaneity of what's going to occur since we've already discussed the broad strokes of the plot, there are still a lot of micro interactions / descriptions / musings that my rp partners have that i wouldn't have been able to come up with on my own. to this day there is still nothing more magical to me in rp than getting a ping in the server bc my rp partner is yelling at me for how i wrote something and made them feel or vice versa.
idk i think... i receive a lot of emotional catharsis through rp that i've never achieved with independent writing, myself. again, i acknowledge that this is most likely a fault of my own in never being truly successful with writing independently, and i'm sure that if i really really committed myself to it i would, but right now i'm content with rp.
this was a vomit of thoughts. i might come back later and post something else after i've organized my feelings a bit more on this? but this is an interesting discussion. i think everyone interfaces with creative writing differently and it's natural to have a preference of one over the other simply because of what you feel in regards to it.
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75 posts
bits
she/he/they/the bag
I love myself but I hate the way I am
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Post by sable on Oct 15, 2020 19:51:47 GMT
Oh don't worry Ulla, I've never completed a writing project myself. I'm just worried I've started using it as an excuse. I'm starting to see things a little differently though, rp not as writing but as a separate thing entirely that also sort of counts as practice (we tend to crank out a lot of material lol)
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Post by SPIROLE on Oct 15, 2020 22:46:22 GMT
Discounting the obvious social aspect of a collaborative story writing experience, since creative writing is chiefly done by yourself (even with editors, other readers, etc.), RP also lets you be more selective in who you're writing.
I'm sure you could make a cool excerpt only revolving around a single character, but typically you need a setting and cast of characters. For myself, I consider myself a very weak writer when I expand past certain character archetypes. This can create a weak cast which can hurt world building, much like how popular manga authors are criticized for writing weak characters they never touch upon or break.
RP lets me focus on my one character and how they interact in a predetermined setting with an established set of characters. I can focus solely on my own characterization and how to adapt to the many tools presented before me. If I think another character is written 'badly' or I don't agree with, it's not my responsibility, and I can go forward in taking sole ownership of my own direction.
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25 posts
bits
he/she
snowflakes flutter & the north wind blows.
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Post by claire on Oct 16, 2020 0:58:50 GMT
whether I prefer independent writing or rp really changes every time the wind changes direction -- 'the grass will be greener on the other side of the fence' is a principle I've always found holds true. as a writer I have always focused on rapidly shifting, surreal plots and prose, which seems simultaneously too much to satisfactorily cram into a post-by-post setting and too overwhelming when working by myself (with the dreaded empty document).
I absolutely agree with everyone who's contributed to the thread so far -- with anon, there's a certain sense of movement and active experience which accompanies writing with a partner, as opposed to independent writing where the prospect of pausing or abandoning the work without the continued motion of everyone rping around you always lingers (not 100% sure if this is what you meant though!), with ulla because I've never quite been as emotionally involved with my independent projects the same way I am with some rp, with spirole because there's a lot to be said about being responsible for essentially a small part of the greater story (your character), especially for someone like me who likes experimentation but doesn't necessarily want to run the risk of ruining the story at large once they need to account for setting, etc. sable's most recent post, that they've begun to see rping as a separate practice, might be tied in with this last one: every post is a fragment of a fragment of a "chapter" and when each written interaction is this minor, it never really seems to add up.
in the end I feel like I am echoing everyone else's points, but this is still a very interesting topic I'd love to follow up with! (0u0)
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praise the cats!
587 posts
bits
he/him
accidentally fell in love with hawks and i now can't get out please send help.
Summer Bingo Completionist
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Post by utter hawks trash. on Oct 16, 2020 1:59:42 GMT
hi i’m here to say that i absolutely fucking prefer independent writing - fanfics specifically - to rp. within a community.
i’ve been writing my fanfics for a pretty long time but i never rlly got into them until i joined a fandom community and started chatting n shit w other ppl.
rping was,,, honestly a lot for me. having to constantly have other ppl reading my work because we were going back and forth and stuff did not go well during my depressive episodes and had me incapable of making any reply, which of course built up to guilt abt never replying
whereas with independent writing there’s far more self control i can have w how much i take on and the expectations i get. i can get beta readers and feedback and sometimes i get compliments instead of the wham bam we just here to ride and get through this fucking plot that is often rp
and bear in mind u don’t have to necessarily complete writing projects!! i know ppl w over 50 wips. i’m ppl w way too many wips that i’ll probably never finish. that’s ok, sometimes it’s just nice to be able to share snippets w other ppl, and other ppl will excite w u over the concepts that u come up w.
rlly that’s my biggest thing abt independent writing / fan fiction especially - concepts. i love creating concepts, i adore exploring them - but i often find w rp that i’m long term committing to a concept i don’t know if has any real long term potential and i usually find out that yeah this ain’t a long term concept whoops but guess what i’m committed rip. whereas w independent writing i feel more freedom to pick up concepts and leave them at the door when i run out of ideas for them
also ig in addition sometimes rp threads don’t seem to have any end slash it’s rlly difficult to find that end and it can be exhausting when this happens over and over, so it’s a little easier to get to a definitive end if ur writing independent pieces n stuff, since u can control if this is a long term commit or just a short term, and u can always swap at any time
independent writing isn’t for everyone tho and that’s understandable. i didn’t do it rlly until i got rlly into dabihawks and found ppl to share my excitement w that would,,, y know share my excitement w OTL. if u don’t have smthing like that, independent writing seems a lot more daunting to me tbh |
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75 posts
bits
she/he/they/the bag
I love myself but I hate the way I am
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Post by sable on Oct 21, 2020 18:13:46 GMT
I think it's an interesting point that RP lets you be selective. I think if I have anything else to add, is to double down on why people have predetermined plots for RP, like "I want to RP a love triangle," why they long to RP it instead of write it. Is it an aversion to taking on a writing project, or does RP have its own benefits?
It's weird because this is all very subjective, and I'm stubborn as fuck and just want to make a final decision...!
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Post by Jenesis on Oct 21, 2020 19:48:19 GMT
I think it's an interesting point that RP lets you be selective. I think if I have anything else to add, is to double down on why people have predetermined plots for RP, like "I want to RP a love triangle," why they long to RP it instead of write it. Is it an aversion to taking on a writing project, or does RP have its own benefits? It's weird because this is all very subjective, and I'm stubborn as fuck and just want to make a final decision...!
In my case, it's a few things, in order: 1) I don't have the discipline to write giant walls of text nor the patience to read them. (In fact I avoid RP sites with high word counts/in which prominent members tend to write lengthy posts for this reason.) Having to do a lower proportional share of the writing helps. Chopping up the work into discrete pieces helps. 2) It's fun to work collaboratively with someone who also sees themself as part of the story, as opposed to pestering friends or beta readers to give you ideas for your work just because. The other person is incentivized to come up with ideas for how the story should go, which most likely I wouldn't have thought of myself, which I'm then forced to think of how my character would best react. Even if the broad overarching plot is the same, we'll have two+ versions of the way we think it "should" go, which can turn the story in unexpected directions. It happens to be the case that I prefer RPs with a lot of random mod-generated elements (like tabletop D&D, but with less crunchy combat), as opposed to pure social writing, but the above can still apply to pure socials. 2a) Being on an rp site means you don't have to come up with characters who you think your primary character will have fun interactions with because other people have already written them. With self-directed writing it's easy to fall into the trap of writing secondary characters whose sole purpose is to motivate the hero in some way (unless you have lots of love to spare for fleshing out all the secondary characters). And, ngl, there is a selfish ego-boost in someone else telling you that you have a cool character that they'd like to plot with. 3) I get to tell stories with characters who I'd have no chance of authentically writing, and vice versa. If I want to have a bitter cynic interact with a sappy optimist, for example, I'd rather find someone who enjoys writing from the optimist's perspective than to hope that my cynical ass does their characterization justice. |
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phantom of the black parade
3,000 posts
bits
she / her pronouns
silver and gold won't save my rotting soul
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Post by Kuroya on Oct 21, 2020 20:11:00 GMT
I think it's an interesting point that RP lets you be selective. I think if I have anything else to add, is to double down on why people have predetermined plots for RP, like "I want to RP a love triangle," why they long to RP it instead of write it. Is it an aversion to taking on a writing project, or does RP have its own benefits? It's weird because this is all very subjective, and I'm stubborn as fuck and just want to make a final decision...!
i know i've said it in another post elsewhere (i think in the rp confessions somewhere) but like... i know for me, i don't really like independent writing projects because i just struggle when i'm carrying the entirety of the impetus and characterization on me and me alone (since imo for rp, at most i'm only responsible for maybe three-quarters of everything and that's assuming that i'm the loremaster staff who crafted the original universe and all that). there's a decided drop in quality (i tend to rush through plots too fast on my own and i have strengths and weaknesses with different character archetypes) but i also just.... generally get more enjoyment out of collaborating with someone for writing than i do solo and rping scratches that collaboration itch better than a writing project even if i'm working with someone else, i've found. |
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