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| How to Complete a Successful Application; By December, Esq. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 5 2009, 10:50 PM (12 Views) | |
| Lachesis | Jun 5 2009, 10:50 PM Post #1 |
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How to complete a successful application. As told by December, Esq.* *Disclaimer! This is my personal opinion and it is meant to help you. If you follow all of the advice and your character is still rejected, I’m sorry. Maybe you should find another board which more suits your needs. Good day. In this tutorial I shall teach you how to successfully fill out an application for text-base roleplaying games. I wish you luck and remember that this is all based upon opinion unless otherwise stated. It is not a free-ride into an RP, but a bit of an extra hand. Also, I will note that this is a standard application for a “modern day” RP. That is, it is not tailored to Harry Potter or Star Wars or anything like that, but is just a basic overview. Thank you. BASICS The Name Think carefully before choosing a name for your character—this name will reflect your character throughout the days of your RP. Some things to keep in mind:
+ Behind the Name—first names by ethnicity + Behind the Surname—last names by ethnicity + Seventh Sanctum—random name generator The Age Make sure that your age coordinates with what the rules allow. For example, if it is a high school board that allows no younger or older people, the general age range is 14-18. Also, professors generally are no younger than 25. If in doubt, ask the administrators what ages they allow if it is not stated in the rules. (If it is stated in the rules, no doubt the admins will not be too pleased that you didn’t check there first.) APPEARANCE The Hair Firstly, stay with what would best match your character’s personality. If your character is a timid, shy bookworm, chances are he/she will not have bright purple spiky hair. If your character is a punk, the chances of bizarre hair will increase exponentially. However, you might have a punk who doesn’t feel like she needs colorful hair because it’s what is on the inside that counts, so she would have perhaps more subdued hair. Eye Color This one depends a lot on what sort of RP you’re on. Most “real life” or “high school” RPs use normal-colored eyes. This includes brown, green, hazel, blue, grey. Please remember:
The Skin Tone Keep it appropriate. If your character is of Caucasian ancestry, chances are pretty darn good that he or she will be Caucasian. Same with any other race or ethnicity. Also, not everyone has a tan. (And, contrary to prior belief, not everyone in California has a tan, either.) Not all tans look perfect, either, especially the ones done at home with a spray can or at a tanning salon. Sometimes tans form on people because they burn and the burn turns into a tan. The Height and Weight This one is a personal pet peeve of mine. Why? Because everyone is 5’10 and 120 pounds. Seriously, folks, variety is great. Which is why I’m attaching a little chart that I like to use. It applies to both men and women, too. Please, let’s mix it up a bit and stop with the tall anorexics. Height and weight chart: located here. The General Appearance If the RP site you are on did not break down the other parts of the appearance, you would include them here generally in paragraph form. However, I have noticed that more boards would rather you describe the hair/height/etc separately. But just do as the application says. Okay, so you have already described the eyes, the hair, the height, the weight and the skin tone. What more can you possibly talk about? There is plenty of stuff; it just depends upon how much you know about your character before you start. Here are some things to think about when making your character’s overall appearance:
PERSONALITY Likes/Loves In order to get the most out of this, you have to know your character ahead of time. If you absolutely know what your character likes, go ahead and list it. Just please, keep in mind that you don’t want to be too cliché. (Ie: “Likes: boys, clothing, sex, boys, sex, sex, did I mention sex?”) There’s a pretty good chance that your character is not quite that shallow—not like there’s anything wrong with liking those things, but perhaps your character likes more than just that. What does your character truly like? For what would your character fall head-over-heals? What does he/she like that he/she would never tell anyone in the world? When in doubt, you can always list random stuff and it doesn’t even have to be completely coherent. For instance, many of my characters like peanut butter. Why? No reason. I love peanut butter and it’s a fun thing to connect the characters to myself. Besides, a random like (as long as you remember it when you RP) can cause some serious fun later. Just don’t overdo it—try to have fun, but don’t get too silly. Think about the things you like and the things you don’t like. You like some serious things and some silly things; you like some “shallow” things and some “deep” things. For example, check out this character: +Dancing + Boys + Music + Peanut butter + Dogs + History homework (though she’ll never let on to others) You can always go back and add more or change them later. (Though the admin may require that you ask him/her first.) Dislikes/Hates This is very similar to the likes/loves. Your character will have dislikes/hates on many different levels. So perhaps your character is afraid of spiders and tourniquets (for no real reason) but fears dying (maybe for a reason and maybe not for a reason). I personally like giving my characters dislikes/fears because it can cause some strange happenings later in the RP. Just keep in mind that the fears you give your character will significantly impact his/her personality. Has your character always feared spiders? How afraid of spiders is he/she? Can he/she be in the same room as a spider or will he/she run out? General Personality This, much like the general appearance in the “appearance” section, is to catch everything that your character missed from the likes/dislikes and so forth. Please remember:
So now you’re wondering about what you should be writing your personality. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
+ The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test + The Original Fiction Mary-Sue Litmus Test + The Writer’s Mary Sue Test Okay, now I have to ask one last thing about you of the personality: Please please please don’t write crap. I once saw this application which had three and a half million replies, so I decided to check it out. Everyone praised this application and when I looked at it, I saw why: it had size negative infinity font, block quotes and was four years long. >_< However, it was absolutely painful to read. The entire thing was a walking contradiction, but it made no sense since the person just rambled everywhere and didn’t even attempt to justify why it said A at the beginning, B in the middle, and D at the end. It was bizarre. HISTORY Family Your character has a family or had one at one point in time or another. Who were his/her parents? Did he/she have any siblings? Remember that the way in which your character was brought up will definitely influence the personality. Was the family close? Did they not care about the kids? Special Possessions/Weapons Sometimes applications will have this section; sometimes they won’t. This basically is just what your character has received from some place or another over the years. Maybe it has its own history. General History Your character has been through a lot over the course of his/her life, whether you realize it or not. Just remember that a character who has had a traumatic past will carry some of that over into his/her personality. However that doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she will be angsty or bitchy or anything of that nature. Honestly, I’m getting tired of writing this thing, so I’ll make this as short and sweet as possible: your character’s history does not have to be dramatic. The parents didn’t have to die for your character to be a great, well-rounded character. There are plenty of people who have had “boring” histories who turned out to be great, interesting people. So why can this not happen to your character? So if you’re on a site that requires a 3000-word history, have some fun with it. Recall word for word the conversation your character had in first grade with the teacher over a bad grade. And if anyone protests, just say that it influenced your character in one way or another.;) This documentation © December, Esq of RPG-D. Please do not distribute without the copyright or I’ll remove your spleen. Thank you and have a fantastic day.
Edited by Lachesis, Jun 5 2009, 11:13 PM.
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