A question for the community Part III: Judgment Day

[SimplePride]

The last two alliterations of this "series" had to do with OCs (One of which no longer exists) but, this time, I ask a question as regards to myself, or more importantly, how I RP

The most common complaint I get is that I RP too short, i.e my responses are too short. While I do believe that using 300 words when 3 would do is a bad idea, I would still like help on making my responses more detailed and engaging.

How do I go about this? How do I make my responses/RPs more engaging?

I think I got the OCs down pat, but, what is the best way to represent them in matches?

Although my rookie year will end this month (Halloween, to be exact) I'm still very much learning about what is expected here.

Any tips or general guidelines would be appreciated.

As always,

WE ARE FTR!

[SimplePride]

Edited due to grammatical error.

[Lunaspark]

Well, as far as post length goes? You shouldn't try to make every post into an essay, and at the same time not every post works being just a few lines. It's all about finding the proper balance between the two, and figuring out what posts need to be what length, and that'll mostly come with experience.

If you'd like a specific example, here's a recent post from you in our thread:

Firebrand managed to knock over the bigger Christine, and, even though she was proud of herself for knocking over a bigger opponent, she could not rest on her small victories.

She decided to try and ground the bigger opponent for a while, She went down to where Christine had fallen and locked Christine’s head in a headscissors, hoping to at the very least slow her opponent down.

Firebrand wasn’t planning on making her opponent submit, she felt as though she hadn’t done enough for that to happen, though she wouldn’t complain if she did.

It's not a bad post at all, but here's a way I think it could be better:

When you have a character perform a move, don't just say something like 'she went to Christina and locked her in a headscissors.' Say how she's locking Christina in the headscissors. Is she dropping down behind her and snapping her legs around Christina as she tries to sit up? Or is she taking a seat near her, grabbing Christina by the hair, and forcefully jerking her head in-between her thighs? Does Firebrand look confident as she's applying the hold, or does she look more worried that Christina is going to find a way to slip out before she can lock in it on her? Is she leaning back on her hands as she applies the move, or is she more relaxed lying against the mat?

It's simple, little things like that you can use to lengthen your posts and give a better idea of what your character is doing, y'know?

[SimplePride]

Well, as far as post length goes? You shouldn't try to make every post into an essay, and at the same time not every post works being just a few lines. It's all about finding the proper balance between the two, and figuring out what posts need to be what length, and that'll mostly come with experience.

If you'd like a specific example, here's a recent post from you in our thread:

Firebrand managed to knock over the bigger Christine, and, even though she was proud of herself for knocking over a bigger opponent, she could not rest on her small victories.

She decided to try and ground the bigger opponent for a while, She went down to where Christine had fallen and locked Christine’s head in a headscissors, hoping to at the very least slow her opponent down.

Firebrand wasn’t planning on making her opponent submit, she felt as though she hadn’t done enough for that to happen, though she wouldn’t complain if she did.

It's not a bad post at all, but here's a way I think it could be better:

When you have a character perform a move, don't just say something like 'she went to Christina and locked her in a headscissors.' Say how she's locking Christina in the headscissors. Is she dropping down behind her and snapping her legs around Christina as she tries to sit up? Or is she taking a seat near her, grabbing Christina by the hair, and forcefully jerking her head in-between her thighs? Does Firebrand look confident as she's applying the hold, or does she look more worried that Christina is going to find a way to slip out before she can lock in it on her? Is she leaning back on her hands as she applies the move, or is she more relaxed lying against the mat?

It's simple, little things like that you can use to lengthen your posts and give a better idea of what your character is doing, y'know?

I was told by another RPer on another site that the best way to RP is to describe the action like you are describing it to a blind man. Is that what I should be shooting for?