#lesson two

Lesson two: look the part

@taylorswift

yes!! i'm actually working on it right now alongside 2 other fics. i don't know if i'll post it for this month or next month because school started but i finished most of my work for now so i can continue writing it!<3

“Help me Nana! I can’t figure out how to make my replies longer without it feeling off, or I just have trouble thinking up ways to make it longer. Or-” gasp- “I’m nervous I’ll somehow make it too long!”  Well my child, let me start of by saying I *highly* doubt you can make a reply *too* long. However if you’re worried, then you should always ask your roleplay partner if it’s alright or ask their general preference! Now let’s crack them knuckles and get that knawledge. How do you make a reply feel more full? How do you help convey your character more? The answer is... (drum roll please).. movements, thoughts, and environment.  You can add a lot of depth to your character by describing the way they move, what they’re thinking during times of interest, and (if you’re leading the roleplay) what the environment around you and your partners characters looks like, feels like, smells like. Say your character is a nervous wreck of a person, yes you can imply that in dialogue with stuttering and the like- but it’s really easy to *over* stutter to the point that it just looks way too fake and like.. gaudy.. in a sense?  Bad example: He waves “H-Hi.. I-I’m N-Name-k-kun” Good example: He gives a short wave and then hunches his shoulders and wrings his hands together “H-Hi.. I’m.. uh.. n-name..kun.. nice to meet you?” as he speaks he glance to and from Character-2, afterwards chewing his lip. Look at that, there’s already more meat to the reply, and it *feels* more like a person- which of course is the real goal. Also, on the matter of stuttering you should note that stuttering isn’t something that always happens at the start of a word and it isn’t happening constantly. Sometimes “stuttering” is forgetting a word and repeating it or even saying it wrong first and then repeating it, or it can come in the middle of words more. Those who stutter due to anxiety are likely to draw out the pauses between their words more and say “Uhh” as filler a lot as well, so keep that in mind! “Well okay but how do I figure out how to add all that extra stuff?” That is an excellent question me pretending to be someone else asking questions that perfectly fit this thread! Think about your character as if they were a real person, how would they react to things in certain situations? Think about *yourself* in those situations, what would you be doing, how would you be moving, where would you be looking? Or avoiding looking perhaps? How would you feel, and how would your feelings affect you? If you can’t think of movement input then consider another physical input. Example: He gives a wave, his heart racing so fast with anxiety and nerves that he felt his voice give out and quiver as he spoke  “H-Hi.. I’m.. uh.. n-name..kun.. nice to meet you?” it was.. cringe worthy, though he did his best not to outwardly show that, and hoped against hope that the other person wouldn’t see it. This is still a rather *physical* response in pointing out the racing heart and such, while mixing in a heavy dose of emotional response. If you want less emotion and more physical, then think of how anxiety affects you personally. Maybe your thoughts blank out or scatter a bit and you think of what you say but forget to say one part of it because your brain is rushing ahead just trying to get it out. Maybe you feel like your blood is ice in your veins, *describe that feeling* (though obviously not too much if it affects you to the point that it’s harmful for you)  How do I mingle in character thoughts without interrupting the flow of my reply? What are potatoes made of? Ignoring the second, iRRELEVANT, question. That is a bit harder to answer, there is no perfect way to go about any of this, you have to try and you *have* to make mistakes and learn. If you want to make the thoughts obvious as thoughts you can always italicize them and add a he/she/they think/s before or after the thought. Just think over your response and what’s around it and make a personal call for it. How do I learn to better describe an area? How do I describe an area at all? Well to answer the second question first, you can always look up rooms that fit the idea in your mind and then go about sharing and describing them! As for the first one, there’s actually a writing exercise on that where you set a timer and then once it starts you look around the room and describe it as you see it first, so if you need practice then do that! If you still aren’t sure how to start then or are worried about going overboard by describing all the little details, then try to describe the layout first. Example: the room was rather small and overflowing with objects, there was a long table covered in crafts and a desk covered in various odds and ends. Clothes and rugs hide the hardwood floor mostly from view and the bed sat on the ground. Posters dotted the walls and lights lined along them near the ceiling, the only two windows in the room had blackout curtains. Overall it was a hot mess. Welcome to my room lmao. You don’t suddenly know exactly what it looks like but you’ve got a good enough feel for it that you should be able to build off of it, and then if another character decides to check out a specific area you can launch into a description of specifically that. Ex: Character 1 looks over the desk curiously.  He/She/They would see it’s an absolute mess with various notebooks and an art case, as well as a tub of clay, some strange ball- they may recall seeing it on tv years ago and remember it was called a “fushigi” ball. There was a treasure chest latched shut and a shoe box, a wicker basket full of yarn, and a hairbrush- as well as plenty of other odds and ends. Here I described quite a lot on my (actual real life art table lmao) and gave you a good idea of how messy it is. If you really read into it I probably also told you quite a bit about me, but even if you don’t it will subtly affect what you think of me. Always keep your character in mind when describing their space. Are they mess? Are they organized? Did they clean before the other character came over? Are they a messy cleaner, or do they get down on hands and knees with a toothbrush and go ham wild? What sort of things do they have laying out, why would this character have that? Even if you never get to explaining *why* a character has something, you should always have a reason ready in case it’s questioned, and because it makes *you* question it. Maybe they just thought it was neat- that implies they’re a bit impulsive (especially if it’s an item they bought) impulsive enough to just take or buy whatever it is for no other reason than to have it. Bird brain it.

By NITRO SWIMMING