Kail's Classroom Tutorials 1

[Kailolu]

Hello my Darlings, and welcome to Kail's Classroom Session! Today's topic is; How to post.

Now, before we begin, let's take a look at RPG. What does it stand for? R (Role) P (Playing) G(Game). There's hundreds of different kinds, some you may be familiar with is a game called Skyrim, or Runescape. Those are actually games where you can physically see your character either on a computer or on a console. You click buttons and get to watch them do the things you desire. I personally love making them fall off cliffs, or be eaten by giant rats. Other Role-Plays can be things like iScribble. It's basically a website where you can "create" your own room, which is essentially a blank canvas and a chat box, and draw with other people from around the world. You can draw your character interacting with others, change their expressions, clothes, poses, etc. Sadly, the moderators have banned Role-Playing from public rooms, but private rooms are available for Role-Playing. Now the kind of Role-Playing we'll be discussing today is Literary Role-Playing. This is a very popular kind of Role-Play for those who enjoy creative writing. This is basically a Role-Play where you can create a story with other members through writing. A perfect example of Literary Role Playing is our lovely site, Spectrum. Now, Literary Role Playing might not be your thing. Perhaps you like to fight wizards and dragons in video game RPG's, or maybe you like to express your creativity through drawing RPGs. Whatever you decide to do, it can expand your knowledge and awareness of Role-Pay, possibly lead you to fabulous careers, and definitely make you new friends.

Alright, children, let's get started! Personally, I think the best way to learn is to teach visually, rather then explaining. Throughout this lesson, we''ll make up a character and name him Tad. We'll abuse and use him during this class. So, let's take a look at a few post examples;

Post Example 1: Tad woke up. Again. His jaw was rigid with irritation, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep and his face sour. With the baby crying all night and his mother nowhere to be found, the 23 year old man was forced to care for the screaming brat until he could figure out what to do. Jerking the blue comforter off for the ump-teenth time, he clambered out of bed and lumbered down the hall. Why did this have to happen to him? Why couldn't that damn woman take the baby with her? It wasn't a planned pregnancy, and neither of them wanted the baby anyway. Tad was planning on leaving his girlfriend, until she dropped off the face of the earth like another dead skin molecule the human race was.

Excellent! Let's dissect this and point out what makes a good post. In the above paragraph, note how it isn't a skeleton thread. (A skeleton thread is a post with no description or thought; it is merely actions.) Even though there isn't much, it still gives you an idea, or a picture of what's going on, what it looks like. "His jaw was rigid with irritation, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep and his face sour." We've all seen that one person who just looks terribly because he/she's been up every hour of the night. This sentence helps the reader "see" what the character looks like. It helps with a visual image. Now, take a look at the post again and see how it isn't all action. There's points where it seems to wander from the actually thread. Like this here; "Why did this have to happen to him? Why couldn't that damn woman take the baby with her? It wasn't a planned pregnancy, and neither of them wanted the baby anyway." These three sentences really have no connection with what Tad is doing. Instead it's going into his mind, his subconscious. It gives our reader a hint into the past, or an interesting fact that can aid him/her in future posting. Now this can be good rambling it can be bad rambling. The sentences I selected were a good example. A bad example would be when a writer would carry paragraph after paragraph about things that aren't related to the actualy thread. This can bore the reader, and worse; give your Role-Playing buddy nothing to reply to. Here's an example of bad rambling, avoid this wherever you can;

Post Example 2: Tad woke up. Again. He was far too tired for dealing with a baby. Last night, he had gone out to the bar with his friends after he hired a baby sitter to watch Mr.Pinky-Drool-Face. Him and his friend Sam got wasted. Tad had to drag Sam back to his apartment, and there they managed to stay awake and play Xbox for who knows how long. Sam had gotten pissed because Tad beat his high score on Halo 3. He made it through a level in less then 15 minutes, Sam's record was 20. Sam, in drunk fury, had jumped onto Tad and began beating him with a pillow. The two wrestled before passing out in various locations of the house. Sam fell asleep on the dining room table, and Tad fell asleep in the sink after trying to give himself a mini shower. Tad walked down the hall to take care of the baby before going into the kitchen and kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.

This is a No No post! We don't like these at all! Let's dissect this baby and you'll see what I'm talking about. If we took out the part, starting with, " Last night, he had gone out to the bar with his friends after he hired a baby sitter to watch Mr.Pinky-Drool-Face." and ending with, "Sam fell asleep on the dining room table, and Tad fell asleep in the sink after trying to give himself a mini shower." All we have for our Role-Play buddy to reply to is, "Tad walked down the hall to take care of the baby before going into the kitchen and kissing his girlfriend on the cheek." That's only one sentence to reply to! Which doesn't make anyone happy, because they have nothing to go off of. Sure the post is lengthy and entertaining, but it isn't enough to make a good post.

THIS LESSON IS INCOMPLETE!!!
Even though it isn't finished, feel free to post questions below for help for things I haven't covered yet.
Last Update: 5/24/12

[Accalia]

"Let's dissect this baby."

*falls over laughing*

Nobody uses 'baby' as slang for 'thing' or 'post' in my area, so my first image when I read that is the literal meaning. Possibly not aided by the fact that last night on the school trip we were served half a chicken each for dinner, and naturally me and my friends are such geeks that we decided to make it a Biology lesson.... It was entertaining, but nobody ate a whole lot.... *falls over laughing again*

I'm hyper. Ignore me. SUGARRRR RUSH!

[KaiNaium]

Accalia, THIS ^^^ is why I've missed you.

Haha! Sorry, Kailolou, you can delete this spam post or leave it here or I don't care I just decided Accalia should know.

[Forte]

Thank you, Kailolu! I always have trouble with adding depth to my posts. Thoughts and feelings. I tend to make "skeleton posts". I never knew what they were called until now.

Now I just need to be better at...not doing that. Lol.

<3