#5:
"The Cluster **** of Destiny!"

Through some untold, unforeseen circumstance, 99.99% of all writers, in 99.99% of all RPs, find themselves in a Cluster **** of Destiny. This is when 4-8 characters immediately cross paths and find common ground in a quest to save the day from evil. And all of this happens inside of 4-8 posts.
The misconception here is that this is any sort of start to a credible story someone would want to keep reading—let alone was the best way to set up your cast and plot.

You can almost picture several cliche, archetype characters accidentally colliding at a crossroads. And while helping each other gather their loose belongings off the ground, discover that they are all in fact on a fabled quest to achieve similar goals, and decide to travel together immediately, never leaving one another's side for the next 200-300 pages...

Weakest IC launch humanly possible without actively trying to bomb it. Play your cards with a little more finesse and calculation, your stories and characters will go down on you for it.*


#4:
"That was awesome!!... Right? .....Guys?"

Assumptions have no place in role play, ever, for any reason. When approaching another writer's character or scene, touch base, open a line of direct communication.

We're in an RP that's just started. I kick off with a post depicting my character at a small restaurant at a corner table nursing a black coffee. He seems a little on edge and keeps checking his surroundings as well as the time piece on his left wrist. I end with a cliff hangar; nothing is revealed or resolved.

You assume I'm waiting for someone and decide it's going to be*YOU. This is going to be SO GREAT!
You enter the small establishment, approach me calmly and sit down across from me, spitting out something like, "You're early."

What you couldn't have known without asking was that I'm an assassin, and I'm waiting on my mark. You've now destroyed that plan all together and forced this awkward, ugly exchange that hinders everything. Of course we*"can"*salvage the scene and work on the fly. I'll sacrifice the intro I planned specifically for my character for specific reasons so you can make a flat transition into the IC without exploring and setting up your character at all. We're off to a fantastic start! Even though you could have just said, "Hey, I got this idea. What if..."


#3:
"Mary Sue... Who Are You?"

A lot of people actually don't know what a*"Mary Sue"*is, or how they can be used effectively in a story (it doesn't happen very often, because it's very hard to pull off).

I've heard people say a Mary Sue is an annoying female character. A female character played by a teenage girl (usually a bad writer). I've even heard it referenced as a character someone uses over and over in different projects.

A Mary Sue can be any gender, played by anyone. It is a seemingly perfect character, usually created by an insecure or otherwise escapist writer. They generally have no weaknesses, or if they do, they can and usually are channeled into strengths when it matters most, because a Mary Sue cannot fail.

They boast an impossible range of skills, strengths, knowledge, and means. They are often teenage girls, and their level of skill and wisdom is preposterous for their age. The primary trait of the Mary Sue is the ability to learn, even master any skill or feat in a remarkably fast amount of time. They adapt instantaneously to every situation thrown their way, almost always taking point and coming out on top.

So how do you use one? Subtlety.

Don't use this extreme blueprint. Furthermore, don't make the character a primary cast member, but a secondary or supporting role. Ideally, though, the Mary Sue is a Villain with drastic, deep flaws and weaknesses that emerge over the course of his or her journey. This method presents a perfect antagonist force that slowly reveals itself to in fact be flawed and imperfect, sometimes the things you thought were strengths ending up being weaknesses.


#2:
"Stories Work Themselves Out!"

-_- No. No, they don't.
A good story requires premeditation, thought, some complexity and careful structure. How can multiple writers attacking a plot from multiple angles with their own motives ensure the final product has reached it's full potential?

Communication at every stage of the project. Leave nothing to chance or in the wind (within reason). Discuss, mull over, and finalize every decision going forward. Great story telling is a complex creature, and it doesn't happen by chance.


#1:
"Longer Is Better!"

This is the number one misconception in all of role playing and has divided the upper class for as long as I can remember. Only after years of reading and writing roleplays from a critical perspective does it become evident why longer is in fact NOT better, but worse.

Let's break this down piece by piece and examine the anatomy:

• I usually don't have 20 minutes to read one or more epic posts depicting your character entering town from a dusty old country road. How then could I—in good conscience—ask that of my co-writers every time I submit a post? Do this long enough and take it seriously enough, you start to consider things like this.

• Long posts bore the shit out of people. We usually don't get through them, especially if you color code all of your dialog, allowing your cowriter a to skim everything but the dialog (Double Rookie Move. It's like Kryptonite to my refined senses). It makes a choppy, cumbersome read that dispels any interest in the plot within a few posts. Pace and structure is everything—it's make or break.

They also murder your dialog and scene flow. Post length should always vary depending on the circumstance at hand. When 5 characters are in an intense conversation and the writers are spewing 8 paragraphs of filler each, I stopped reading on page 1. And what are we really writing for? Narcissistic gratification, or to tell great stories the world can appreciate? Something every writer should ask themselves before they get involved in someone's baby.


•*"Nice tan, bro!"
Finally, the limelight is intoxicating. Long posts actually force writers to hog the limelight, often loading submissions with filler just to meet length requirements. I found myself doing it all the time in the early days. Long posts can even compromise character development, giving far too much insight into characters far too soon. How you reveal things and when is so important to a character's growth and the reader's experience.



5 RP Misconceptions debunked. Something for everyone to consider or disregard as nonsensical heresy.