Post by Morse on May 1, 2012 20:44:48 GMT -5
Not everyone understands the way to make a 'really good post' every time. It can be a somewhat daunting task to write gold each time you have to do it, especially if you don't know what to write. So, here is a easy formula so that your post can be recognized as a good post every single time.
Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Spoken Words
Thoughts - Things your character is thinking. Everyone has their own thoughts, and so does your character. Maybe they wonder why somebody did something, or why a certain object is placed where it is. Something or someone is somewhere and the character notices it. So in there heads, certain things cross their minds, and listing such is a very good thing for a post. You don't have to state it directly. Not everything has to be "That'll be a fun thing to do', Carl thought". You can narrate it as well, just say throughout the normal text of the post that the character is thinking something.
Feelings - Feelings covers both mental and physical. Did the character do something recently that made them feel physical pain? Perhaps a sudden cramp, maybe they feel the heat or cold of a room, and this reminds them of something. Then there is also mental feelings. Do they dislike the look of someone, do they have a chill run up there spine. Do they like where they are? Does this location make them happy. Do they find something someone said funny. Feelings should always be said because everyone has an impression of where they are and who they are around at all times.
Actions - At every given moment, every person in the world, is doing an action. Your characters are no exception. They are breathing, scratching an itch, twitching, shaking, shifting their weight, sitting down, standing up, walking, hopping, taking a drink, coughing, sneezing, blinking, moving their hair, wiggling their toes, smelling the air. So in your post, your character should be doing something, and will be doing something. It's up to you to display that.
Spoken Words - Spoken words is the most obvious of things, but it's more important then you may realize. It is what your character says, and people are talkative beings. But it's extremely important as it is the most obvious thing that the person that goes after you has to work off of. You spoken words will allow for the next person to 'think, feel, act, and say'. That's what it's extremely important to say something. Now you do not 'always' have to speak in every post, but if you do not, give a very good reason why they don't. Even muttering things under their breathe counts. This is item is extremely important as it if someone stops talking it can throw off an entire thread.
Following this formula is a very good way to write posts. You do not have to do it in this order, you can put it in any order you want. But its important to have these thing. And you don't have to do just the bare minimum to achieve this. Build on the thought or the feeling or the action. Maybe the character twitched, and now you describe why the character twitches, and maybe an event in the past when they twitched a lot, and then when why that action stuck in their head, and then how they felt about that event. If you wrote a sentence for each one of those, suddenly you have sentences right there alone, but you could write so much more then that since that is only really going off of one part of the 4 things.
It is encouraged to write large posts too, because the more there is, the better it is, and the more developed your character becomes, and it encourages other people to write more as well.
If you do these things, you'll wind up writing good and good sized posts every time, and you'll feel better for having done it.
Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Spoken Words
Thoughts - Things your character is thinking. Everyone has their own thoughts, and so does your character. Maybe they wonder why somebody did something, or why a certain object is placed where it is. Something or someone is somewhere and the character notices it. So in there heads, certain things cross their minds, and listing such is a very good thing for a post. You don't have to state it directly. Not everything has to be "That'll be a fun thing to do', Carl thought". You can narrate it as well, just say throughout the normal text of the post that the character is thinking something.
Feelings - Feelings covers both mental and physical. Did the character do something recently that made them feel physical pain? Perhaps a sudden cramp, maybe they feel the heat or cold of a room, and this reminds them of something. Then there is also mental feelings. Do they dislike the look of someone, do they have a chill run up there spine. Do they like where they are? Does this location make them happy. Do they find something someone said funny. Feelings should always be said because everyone has an impression of where they are and who they are around at all times.
Actions - At every given moment, every person in the world, is doing an action. Your characters are no exception. They are breathing, scratching an itch, twitching, shaking, shifting their weight, sitting down, standing up, walking, hopping, taking a drink, coughing, sneezing, blinking, moving their hair, wiggling their toes, smelling the air. So in your post, your character should be doing something, and will be doing something. It's up to you to display that.
Spoken Words - Spoken words is the most obvious of things, but it's more important then you may realize. It is what your character says, and people are talkative beings. But it's extremely important as it is the most obvious thing that the person that goes after you has to work off of. You spoken words will allow for the next person to 'think, feel, act, and say'. That's what it's extremely important to say something. Now you do not 'always' have to speak in every post, but if you do not, give a very good reason why they don't. Even muttering things under their breathe counts. This is item is extremely important as it if someone stops talking it can throw off an entire thread.
Following this formula is a very good way to write posts. You do not have to do it in this order, you can put it in any order you want. But its important to have these thing. And you don't have to do just the bare minimum to achieve this. Build on the thought or the feeling or the action. Maybe the character twitched, and now you describe why the character twitches, and maybe an event in the past when they twitched a lot, and then when why that action stuck in their head, and then how they felt about that event. If you wrote a sentence for each one of those, suddenly you have sentences right there alone, but you could write so much more then that since that is only really going off of one part of the 4 things.
It is encouraged to write large posts too, because the more there is, the better it is, and the more developed your character becomes, and it encourages other people to write more as well.
If you do these things, you'll wind up writing good and good sized posts every time, and you'll feel better for having done it.