Post by Kuma on Jul 18, 2017 4:24:43 GMT
Your character needs to have a voice, one apart from his or her dialogue. Everybody in the world thinks and thought is quite fast in comparison to action. And like anybody our characters also qualify as people, well most of them, so knowing the inner process that dictates their actions is really important to create impact and help them develop. Saying that a character does an action isn’t the same as doing it after explaining why did he do it. Of course this shouldn’t be overused as always the “Middle Road” is the proper way to go, reserving this for crucial moments enhances its effect. This doesn’t just include thoughts but also actions, gestures and tics a characters has and help define his personality, modus operandi and morals.
For example, let’s examine the same action with 3 levels of complexity
“Seiji hits him on the open wound”
“Looking at the bleeding wound he caused, Seiji used a spear-hand strike it to force it open and weaken his enemy”
“Looking at the bleeding wound he caused, Seiji used a spear-hand strike it to force it open and weaken his enemy”
“The sight of blood was the reward Seiji got after connecting his blow. Such was the pressure of it when it spurted out that it sprayed him on the face. Seiji liked a droplet from his lips and smiled, his eyes filling with sinister intent. Knowing what do, he plunged his sharpened fingernails in a lunging motion deep into the wound, aiming to open it even more so his opponent would get weaker from the blood loss.”
The three examples cover the same basic action, but the level of description and the actions involved on it give the same action different context and relevance. The first one only allows us to know the barebones of the situation, the second one gives us a little bit more to work with and the last one paints the picture of a sadistic individual with certain characterization, only by adding a couple of lines and expanding his thoughts and gestures. This isn’t just for show, but also to help your fellow players as the richer is your description the more material you give them to work with.
Let’s check an appropriate response to each example. (In the same style as its matching number)
“The attack hits the wound and causes it to open and increase the flow of blood”
“The fingers plunge into the wound causing it to burst open, letting out a crimson river”
“The fingers plunge into the wound causing it to burst open, letting out a crimson river”
“The pain in the arm is almost too intense for Yoshi, but his opponent's face and the unsettling way he licked the blood from his lip were the really culprits of his lack of reaction. The fear and shock managed to overcome his reflexes and the follow up of Seiji’s cruel offensive hit its intended mark. Sharp fingernails, more like animal claws than human nails, pierced into the exposed muscle, ripping the flesh and almost touching the bone. A crimson firework exploded upon impact, with a scarlet mist floating away, leaving Yoshi paralyzed with fear”
I might be exaggerating with some of these examples, but the point stands. Richer descriptions and intertwined characterizations with actions make the posts better and allow replies to the post to be better as well. Because if one tries to answer the first attack example with the third reaction example it would look weird, as if the one replying is inventing stuff that isn’t there. While using the first reaction example to reply to the third attack example would be disrespectful to the one writing the attack, as he left ideas and concepts for the one who follows up to play with.
It might take longer, but the quality and variety cannot be underestimated if you want to keep a story being interesting and engaging.