The first step to roleplaying, of course, is creating or adopting a character. While adopting a character lets you pick a ready-made character, which is great if you're not sure what you want, it can also be inhibiting to you sometimes if you feel the need to stick with the character and aren't quite sure what to do with it. On the other hand, creating a character means you can do whatever you like with it. Nobody can tell you what's wrong or what's right- even if it goes "out of character", hey, you play the character! You get to choose what's out of character! This is also a viable option if you are creative and have big ideas.

Think of characters as ingredients to soup. Bland ingredients = plain and boring soup. Spicy and flavorful ingredients = exciting and new. The more ingredients that clash together, the more "fun" the site becomes! (In real life, you don't want a soup that clashes, ha, but you know what I mean, I do believe.) Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new. Don't be the person who says 'ugh, I suck at playing this kind of character. No way I'll play it!' Why not try it? Just do your best, and you'll find yourself doing better than you expected.

Creating a character, however, means you should stick to this character. Creating a character and account, and then dumping the character later, probably means you haven't put in all the necessary thought, or that you ran out of plot ideas! [More on plots later!] Well, how do you prevent this? First off, don't run yourself dry. Often you're super-excited to play a character when you first make it, and occasionally you over post. Eventually, you just feel you *have* to post rather than want to, and then quite quickly your muse deteriorates and you enjoy yourself less and less. So, while it's tempting to post everywhere, take a breath and relax. You'll have plenty of time for posting in the future! Another way to produce muse, rather than kill it, is to think about your character; flaws, faults, flaunts, what's good and what's bad. Where do you want this character to go? What ideas do you have? When you don't have any replies to write but you're itching to post, rather than whipping out an open thread or replying to one, go type down ideas on a word document of your current plans. One day it might be handy to go back to this and see how you've progressed or what you've forgotten.

Okay, this is awesome, you're thinking... but looking at this enormous list, there's so much to accomplish! I want to do it now! Hold up, hold up. The more impatient you are, the more difficult it will be to follow through on your plans and the less enjoyable it becomes. Nobody likes it when they are left waiting weeks for a reply because someone has so many threads (although overwhelming yourself is understandable) and neither do people particularly enjoy 5-minute posts full of typing errors and grammatical flaws. Take your time, and more people will want to post with you, rather than the other way around.

Speaking of posting, it's an excellent ideas to run your posts through a spellchecker- especially on battle posts, where this can detract from your mark. Also, don't worry to much about quantity- this comes with time and practice. Think about flow instead!

Onwards to planning.

Be willing to explore your horizons and plan everything and anything. Sticking to one 'circle' tends to become boring, and if everyone did this, then nothing would ever happen. Understandably, you might feel that someone else's writing is too good or not good enough- but give people a chance. Roleplay is about having fun and exploring our creativity, not having shitshows with each other.

However, it's okay to pre-plan to. This is your choice as a writer, not anyone else's. Just avoid doing it *all* the time.

Speaking of planning and roleplaying in general, be careful not to let in character actions muddle up with the out-of-character actions. Just because someone beats up your character in the game, doesn't mean they have a feud against your in real life. Don't take it personally! (Only real asses actually would do this ic because of ooc drama, and admins will deal with that if you're being picked on!)

Alright, if you got to the bottom of this congratulations, because I practically fell asleep while reading over this. This was terrible and crammed and squished, mainly because I was feeling lazy but wanted to do something productive other than homework. Nonetheless, I hope this helped you out a smidge here and there!

My last tip: DON'T BE AFRAID TO CAUSE DRAMA!
^{As long as it's in-character, not out-of-character! ;D}


* A lot of this is opinion and from my experience as a roleplayer. You can have your own opinions and beliefs too!