THE ROWAN POST

As in: Is whatever you're doing instead - scrolling tiktok, watching TV, lurking on the feed - really that much more rewarding? Is procrastination doing anything for you? Is it making you happy?

Send an ask with one of the keywords below, and I'll send a keyword back. We'll each make a muse based on the keyword we get handed.

Lapsang souchong

Macha

Masala chai

Kashmiri chai

Sencha

Breakfast assam

Herbal mint

Darjeeling first flush

Jasmine silver needle

Sheng pu'er

Roselle bissap

Gyokuro

Genmaicha

Milky oolong

A la Turca

Earl Grey

Lady Grey

Black lizhi

Get real obnoxious and try to face rejection with an easy-going air - AKA: approach as many promising RPers as you can, write open starters, crawl the RP tags and send memes aplenty.

Be aggressively outgoing; so much so that when you've thrown your writing in ten to twenty people's faces, it doesn't matter if half of them doesn't respond.

Are you feeling blocked in our RP? You like the thread, you like the RP, but for one reason or another, you need a new direction?

Write "Course correction" in the comments of our thread, and I'll rewrite my last post, no questions asked, and try a new angle.

- Bill Cunningham

Roleplaying generates no monetary value.

Roleplaying is lust, exploration, desire, curiosity - a delighted what the hell is this, oh I loved that, what if we made some more, what if we make it worse, better, brighter, softer, darker, harder - hornier, angrier, more, more, more?

Roleplaying is excavating something dark, twisted, wonderful, new - it's offering it up, to the readers, writing partners, lurkers: look what I made, watch this and what if...?

Roleplaying is a gesture, a gift, a prompt; a hand offered at a party - wanna dance? Roleplaying is taking the no thank you with a smile and a polite dip of the head, hand returned behind your back, no worries. Roleplaying is the elated thrill, the beaming grin, when there's a oh yes - and then a few eager, clumsy steps on the dancing floor. The rush of pleasure when you find your rhythm.

Roleplaying is anger. Is resistance, queer liberation, anti-racist and anti-ableist action, it's watch me write it anyway, motherfucker. Is voluntary, is sitting down by the keys after dinner, bone-tired; is typing on the bus, subway, train - is a balm. A help. A tired, happy sigh - finally.

It's almost midsummer over here, and I think it's time for some magic summer prompts. Add REVERSE for role reversal.

[ SEVEN WILD FLOWERS ] Sender collects seven flowers to put under their pillow during midsummer in order to dream of their future beloved. They dream (to their surprise?) about receiver. The next morning the two of them are cleaning up last night's festivities, and sender - nervous! - blurts out that they've dreamed of receiver during the night.

[ WALK OF SILENCE ] Sender and receiver decide to do the Walk of Silence during midsummer eve, where they must circle the village in complete silence despite any faeries or spirits trying to make them laugh or scream - with the hope of finding a treasure at the end of their walk. What happens?

[ HERBS OF HEALING ] Sender is out collecting (magic) herbs and dew during midsummer's eve. Just as they're about to turn back, they stumble upon receiver in a glade, in dire need of healing.

[ WITCH'S BONFIRE ] Receiver is attending the midsummer bonfire meant to ward against witches in the village square, drinking wine and jumping across the flames with everyone else, when they realise that the sender is not in the crowd. Puzzled, they go to seek them out, and find sender crying and incapable of leaving their home - on account of being a witch.

Here's a prompt, challenge or encouragement for every day this December. You can queue some of them, and ignore others. They're designed to be done one each day, but you can pick and choose what suits you.

Write a winter holiday starter!

Find a winter themed meme and reblog it.

Muse headcanon prompt - what, if anything, do they celebrate? And how do they feel about it?

Change your blog theme to fit the season. If that feels overwhelming, just change your avatar picture.

Go through your mutuals and write up an ask that details everything you like about them, be it anonymously or not.

Write an open holiday starter that anyone can join and open the proverbial doors.

Make an effort to send out a few memes to your mutuals and followers, extra points if it’s holiday themed.

Muse headcanon prompt - what do they wear to the holiday office party?

Write holiday letters or postcards from the POV of your muse to another muse and post them on your blog. 

Write a starter where winter is the enemy - be it because of a violent blizzard or a terrible winter witch.

Muse headcanon prompt - if they went on a holiday vacation for the season, where would they go?

Clean up your muse bios and make them ready for the new year.

Find or make some winter themed moodboards and post them to your blog. 

Write a winter poem to the RPC and post it. Tag it with #RPCpoem, so we can all see them!

Take a break. We’re mid-december and things are getting stressful for a lot of us. Leave tumblr for a bit and carve out some time for IRL recovery today, even if it’s just 10 minutes by yourself in the bathroom.

Find a winter fairy tale and write a starter OR a headcanon based on that (from https://fairytalez.com/ for example). Doesn’t have to be fairy tale themed, just take some inspiration.

Make a pinterest board of your muse and their holiday celebration during winter. If they don’t celebrate, show us what they’re doing instead.

How would a winter holiday with your muse sound like? Make a playlist.

Search the open starter tag (or any RP tag you follow) and take the plunge. If there’s an open starter you like where the blog is open for newcomers, reply to it. If you find a blog you like, follow them. 

Send someone in the RPC a gift. For example: Write a little drabble, just one paragraph, of what your muse would give their muse. Or see if you can tip their blog, if you’ve got the finances to. Or just send them that picture or pin that made you think of them, even if you don’t dare to.

Muse headcanon prompt - this is usually a time for family, found or otherwise, which is either a good or a terrible time. How does it look for your muse and what is their relationship to their family like? 

Mistletoe time. Make a starter call for some winter kisses, see if anyone takes the bait. 

It’s time for another break! This time, try shutting down the internet and your computer a little earlier before bedtime. 

A holiday themed meme for all your fantasy muses. Add REVERSE for role reversal.

[ KINGS OF HOLLY & OAK ] Sender takes reciever to a midwinter celebration in honour of the Holly King. Once there, reciever and sender get roped into enacting the rebirth of summer by playing the part of each king - Holly and Oak - in a ceremony meant to revitalise the Oak King from his long slumber.

[ CURSE OF THE WINTER WITCH ] Sender is struck in the heart by the witch's ice and reciever tries to thaw them by any means neccesary.

[ THE WILD YULE HUNT ] Reciever attends the Wild Hunt as one of the hunters and sender is (either willingly or not) this year's prey.

[ ETERNAL WINTER'S SONG ] The sender has cast a spell to cloak the land in eternal winter; reciever comes to plead or fight with them in order to undo the spell.

[ BONFIRE WARD ] Sender and reciever have been traversing a deep, dark wood as the clock strikes midnight at midwinter. The veil is at its thinnest, and the undead walk. Now reciever and sender must huddle up and keep watch over their fire through-out the night - for if it's snuffed, untold horrors await.

When it comes to play-by-post or forum style RP, I see a lot of tips being aimed at how to improve your prose. But I'm not so sure that it's always in the flowery descriptions - in fact, for me, if almost always isn't. Let's talk about story beats and flow in RP scenes.

I'm borrowing some terminology from screenplay writing here. Let's give them a quick walk through before moving on, as quoted from Screencraft.

A story beat is a shift in the narrative. Story beats can be emotional turns, incidents or events, actions, and reactions, or realizations. They can even be small shifts in narrative tone or a character’s emotional arc. 

When we're talking about story beats in RP we're also talking about taking initiative. This is not a screenplay and you are not its sole author, and contrary to how it often is in a tabletop RPG, there's no game master. There's often a flat hierarchy among those that participate in text based RP (which is one of the reasons I like it so much). This also means that you share the responsibility of moving the story forward.

Story beats are what provide flow in an RP session and they directly tie into your joint sense of drama. When something should happen and what should happen in order to create the greatest amount of tension: letting the plot thicken.

Years of consuming media and stories give everyone an innate sense of drama but I find that because play by post often has a lot of time pass between every reply, writers lose sight of where they are in the flow and shift of the story.

So how do you improve your RP flow?

Aim for at least one story beat per reply. Push in a new direction - make the characters walk into another room, suddenly come to a realisation, throw out a line of dialogue, make it rain or bring in an NPC. Make something happen.

Take big swings. Of course checking in with your co-players is only polite if you're doing something major to their muse, but in general I find that people enjoy big swings and risks more than they get turned off by them. Don't be afraid - be brave.

Of those story beats, at least one should be external. In a novel, internal story beats do more for us as readers than they do for our co-players. I think internal monologue and thoughts are important, they help me connect to my muse and make it clear to the other person what mindspace said muse is in, but they don't actually move anything ahead. I encourage you to absolutely write paragraphs of internal thinking - but then make the consequence of that internal thinking result in external action. If someone is mulling over their fatal love for the other muse, the next thing in that reply should be to start crying or pulling them in for a kiss.

Play off of each other. I spend some time reading through muse bios simply because I try to figure out what the other player wants with their muse, what kind of game play they're trying to get out of it - and then I stake out my course in that direction. Character backstories are ripe with this kind of information. But more important than that, is to listen and read what the other person is writing in the scene - what kind of plot hooks did they lay down? Is there something you can pick up and keep spinning on, take in a new direction?

Reread your previous reply. If it's been a while, I like to reread what I wrote last time, because I don't always remember where I was going. The bridges and threads in a thread should not only be reactive to what the other player is putting down, it should also be consistent with what you've put down.

We all get worn down by life and often we turn to RP for rejuvenation. But more than once I've seen people on here that find themselves burnt out on the RP community itself. With nearly 20 years of role playing under my belt, I thought I'd share some of my favourite self-care tricks.

Block people. You don't have to explain yourself and 'weird vibes' is a legitimate reason. You deserve to feel safe and unbothered in your hobby space, and RP is based on consent. Just like with any recreational activity, you can withdraw your consent at any time and no is a complete sentence.

Turn off anon. This prevents anonymous harassment and gives you great insight into who to block or report if you get non-anonymous harassment.

Drop threads. I know RP etiquette suggests you need to tell your RP partner when and why, and sure, if they ask politely you can give it a go - just know that a pre-written variant of 'not feeling it' is good enough. In my humble opinion, I think dropping boring or vexing threads is everyone's prerogative and doesn't require explanation. Again, no is a complete sentence.

Talk it out. If you like the thread but things took a turn you didn't like, it's time to bring the RP into the workshop. Something like 'Hey I really like our RP so far but I'm losing my spark, can we talk about course correcting where the plot is going?'

Make clear rules and revise them frequently. I'd also advise against spending said rules excusing or explaining why you don't like or want a certain thing - I cannot stress enough how your preferences are not up for debate.

Get comfy chasing. A lot of RP is about inviting others to play over and over and over. Rejection is a part of it. See if you can't find some element of self-care in it - taking rejection well is a great skill to practice in such a low stake environment.

Notice and celebrate the good stuff, instead of digging holes about the bad. Tell your co-players how great they are. Marvel at all the hard work you put into your muses and graphics. Admire your own blog.

Stop. Take a break. Check in with yourself. Do you actually need to face something in IRL? Do you need to rest? A snickers? A walk? Don't bother with posts á la 'offline for the day' - leave your options open to reduce guilt or shame if you want to poke your head back in.