- Invitation Status
- Not accepting invites at this time
- Posting Speed
- 1-3 posts per week
- Slow As Molasses
- Online Availability
- 10AM - 10PM Daily
- Writing Levels
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Female
- Genres
- Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy, Thriller, Space Exploration, Slice of Life
ONE LINE OF INSPIRATION: MAKE IT COUNT!
Let's face it. One liners have a shitty reputation. With good reason! When someone posts a One Liner roleplay post on the forums, it's usually lazy. Dull. Uninspired. Lacking content. How are you supposed to even reply to a one liner and continue the roleplay or build a story from that?
If you are a One Liner poster and have a chronic problem of people dropping out of your roleplays, this is probably your problem. Those single lines, though fast and easy, are lacking INTEREST. Something to keep your roleplay partner on the edge of their seat and dying to come back for more. And unless you're playing smut with an addict to cybering, or you're posting within minutes of each other to keep the back and forth going fast... your partner is probably going to get bored really quick and drop the roleplay.
OKAY DIANA, I GET IT. BUT YOU TITLED THIS THREAD "MAKING IT COUNT". WHAT GIVES?
I am so glad you asked! 8D
Writing one line of text does NOT mean it's a crappy post. You can absolutely write a single line of text and make it interesting. Thus, here are your guiding tips.
First of all, don't be an asshole about Punctuation, Capital Letters, and Spell Checking. You're doing writing based roleplaying. Use the skills you were taught. It MATTERS.
Why? Because punctuation tells a reader when to start. When to stop. Whether or not a sentence is a statement or question. If it was screamed or if it trails off. It can make a sentence sound really rushed, or it can pace it out nice and easy. The entire tone of your post can change based solely on the punctuation. Use it!
Second, when it comes to writing a single line of text and making it count it's all about the vocabulary.
To make a sentence interesting, make use of descriptive words. Use powerful words. Saying something like "It smelled good." doesn't sound as interesting as "It smelled fantastic." and sounds even MORE interesting when you say "It smelled like a meadow right after a morning shower."
SOME BIG ONE LINER MISTAKES:
- Writing only dialogue as a post. Not only is that boring, you're forcing your partner to do all the work of creating the scene and doing the actions.
- Not even posting a real sentence. If you're posting four or five words as your roleplay post, why are you even roleplaying?
- Posting a one liner that doesn't even progress the scene. "Jeb stares at the floor." Okay... what is your partner going to do with that? How is that supposed to be interesting?
This exercise is going to be two parts!
Write one single line full of interest.
ONE LINE! Make use of punctuation, description, tone, and vocabulary. Don't trudge in to run-on sentence territory just to make it long and cram more words in there. It's not the length of the sentence, it's the impact!
Example 1: "There's no reason to become alarmed, we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight, but is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?"
Example 2: A tiny voice in the back of her mind screamed the words, You are not the only one, with a shrill so mind-quaking that it left her entire body in shivers.
Each of these sentences are only one line. Yet both manage to draw out imagery and set a scene.
Write a short paragraph NO LONGER than 10 sentences, but meaningful!
Many people think that to combat One Liners is to write really long posts - but those are just as boring if the words you write don't MEAN something. Now that you see how ONE line can be meaningful, now try to do this in 10 sentences. No longer, no shorter. 10 sentences.