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pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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She waited for the lie to reveal itself. For his hands to stray further, for his lips to lower to hers, for his eyes to betray desires he had insisted he no longer held for her.

She watched him and waited for this, but the world simply paused and stood still, refusing to meet her expectations.
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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I've always understood that this is a hard time of year for some folks. Being one of them now feels weird.

A bit sad, I guess? Like a creeping feeling that sneaks up on you when you don't expect it, or little memories hiding in corners that you don't expect to find.

Just taking things one day at a time and all that.
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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this isnt an @ at anyone but work related but:

i am so sick of people treating triggers and dislikes as same thing. like, just because i dislike a concept or reading/seeing/witnessing it, does not mean it is a trigger and i will likely not add it to my tw’s - i will just try my best not to interact with said content. i am kind of sick of people treating them both the same way or even undermine the word trigger this way.


A friend of mine used to say, 'It's okay to have squicks. It's not okay to get upset with other people for not sharing your squicks.'
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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To echo and -- the point of roleplay is to write what YOU find fun.

Not what other people say is fun. Not what other people believe should be fun for you.

Write what you, yourself, enjoy writing. Even if other people don't get it.

You're not writing for them.
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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It wasn't a sensation she'd equate to Beautiflies or Butterfrees.

No, she recognized this as the vertigo of staring down a cliff: wondering at the short-lived thrill that came with falling, followed by the shuddering revulsion of knowing the collision that inevitably came after.
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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Unless a site has an insane amount of workload, I don't think hiring additional staff is all that necessary. For new sites, the community is likely gonna start out small, so there wouldn't be too much modding to do.

I'd say focus on setting up the site skin, lore, mechanics, etc. first, then pitch the concept to a longtime RP friend asking them if they'd like to be a co-admin. That's what I did at least.
Seconding this advice! I have definitely experienced the issue of “too many cooks in the kitchen” with overstuffed staff in roleplay communities as well. Person A pitches an idea, Persons B, C and D all have input, suddenly the idea is bogged down in red tape until everyone is satisfied… months pass, until the idea wriggles its way into the universe, or the excitement dies and the idea dies with it.

I have also seen issues arise when a staff member whom has a shakier grasp of lore acts without oversight and suddenly plot holes start creeping into your wider site narrative. Always better to have few staff you trust than too many people with keys to the kingdom!

It helps I think to know who has what role. A staff who deals with day to day mod requests might look different than one who oversees events and engagement opportunities, for example. I like what has to say about that.
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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This wasn't always the case, but Jigglypuff. Idk why, but I love that dramatic little pink puff. What a star.

(Somehow I'm on a Pokémon forum and I literally have never used it, though.)

ETA: Umbreon is also bae. And Sunkern has become a new favorite due to shenanigans.
last edit on Nov 23, 2022 1:49:26 GMT by scarlet
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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Oh man. I have so many.

-I like connecting my sentences together so that they flow. I don't know how else to explain it, but it's important to me that they build on one another and have a pleasing rhythm. It's the thing I try to look for most when I'm editing: does this sentence feel out of place? Does it belong with all the others, or does it sound like it's sticking out?

-Long paragraph followed by separate, standalone sentence is my bread-and-butter.

-I love semicolons, colons, and emdashes. Especially semicolons. God. Why do I love semicolons so much. I try to ration myself, lmao.

-Sentence fragments that build on a previous statement for dramatic emphasis.

-I love, love, love a good anaphora moment.

-"Perhaps" has entered my vocabulary a lot with my current girl. She's also indirect as hell, which is honestly fun, because I get to bounce a lot of questions back to other characters. Also lets me do a lot of calculating internal dialogue, which then gives more weight to the words she ultimately says aloud. (Hopefully.)
pronounsshe/her
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scarlet
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Sensory language is a powerful tool. How are you using all the senses? What can you smell, taste, see, hear, touch?

What time is it? Daytime? Nighttime? Are you in an urban setting where the streetlamps have all turned on at night? Are you in the countryside where you can see all the morning dew glittering at sunrise?

Are there other people in the area? If so, what are they doing? Is there traffic? Is there animal or plant life?

Are you indoors? How well-lit is it? What's the personality of the décor? What's the view outside the window?

When your character takes actions, they are engaging with the world described above. You don't have to describe the answer to every question, but knowing it can help inform your writing with anchoring details. You can actually set the 'scene' in as few as two sentences to get an image across. You can do a lot with a little!

A helpful method I've found for writing in-depth descriptions -- such as people, rooms, or objects, or clothing -- is to begin with a broad description, then zoom in with details. So in a room, for example, I might start with a broad descriptor ("It was a quaint little living room.") then describing the way it looks in a more detailed way ("A patched, faded couch sat beneath the light of an open window, while beside it sat a wooden bookshelf filled to bursting with well-thumbed novels.").

Reading helps, as mentioned above. I've actually found poetry very inspirational from a descriptive-writing perspective, as well as reading screenplays, which have to describe settings and costumes in great detail.