Writing in the TPverse
Anyone who has kept track of how I write, particularly when it comes to forum RP games such as Title Pending or The Clans has probably noticed that over the years the way in which I write posts or even just view the post-making process has changed. Partly, this is due to my maturation both as a writer and as a human being; its also due to an effort to alter my writing habits in these sorts of things. As it became obvious that TP would never be the same size as tC and that the post rate would be slower than what is normal for that more heavily trafficked game, I began to shift my writing from short, one-a-day posts, to more well plotted out and choreographed posts. Simple design issues such as consistent character wardrobe and hair color, personalities that evolved naturally over the progress of time, and even a more accurate description of Tokyo all became part of my writing process.
During my late days in tC, the Advent subplot was an infamous plot-line in which I used the multiversal aspects of BfC (Battle for Continuity) to explore a world incredibly dissimilar to tC, but populated by versions of the tC characters. At times I even played around relationships, basing them not on how they were being RPed but on how they were in real life. It was somewhat inevitable that Advent would be not only too ambitious, but also too mean spirited to be anything but occasionally well written slander in tC's general direction. In the end, very little good would come from Advent--although, some of my modern writing process took its first test runs in the development phase of Advent.
During Advent it became usual for me to write out entire posts well ahead of when I posted them, writing them entirely self contained within notebooks I kept handy. Since then, I've actually gone in the other direction. While sometimes a scene or dialog might will be carefully written out, usually a much trimmed down script is what I come up with. The flows of a battle. The relative locations of characters. Things I need to research when I begin to actually write. Maybe a list of attacks and weapons, a sketched out wardrobe, or things of that nature. A 1000 word post or longer might only be a few lines in my notebook, but those lines are all I really need to come up with a proper post.
I tend to base my posts around a main character, with all the action in a post being relative to them. Asimov, Renee, Kikuchi...Many threads basically have them as the only really active characters. However, with the sheer breadth of characters I've created in TP, I've begun to explore the rest of the cast, fleshing out previously minor characters...Mizuho, Sia, Chie, Noah. And sometimes, I take a preexisting character and revamp them, taking them and giving them a bit of Azzie-style polist...Chihiro, Emi.
In a way, I play the TPverse like a comic book universe. Certain characters have individual titles under their names and multiple plotlines extending over many threads. A few team titles (the Hero Corps, Secret Society) play with the concept of an ensemble cast. Occasionally I'll write up a double-sized One Shot designed either to seed plotlines or introduce characters and situations for further exploration. And finally we have Crossover Events, involving multiple characters, plotlines, and authors.
Although there have been several minor crossovers during the course of TP the upcoming Continuity Crisis will be the first major event that effects every character that TP has ever had. Its taken me years of posts, and plotting, and foreshadowing to finally get things to where I could see the plot playing through. I look forward to what playing an event of that scope would be like...and, the ever-so-important aftermath. Because, when all is accounted for, the Crisis is only the set-up for a new way to play in the TPverse. Relationships changed, new characters coming forward, and old ones moving into the background, new plots that could only be explored in a post-Crisis TPverse.
1 post to go in the Mahou Shoujo War.
During my late days in tC, the Advent subplot was an infamous plot-line in which I used the multiversal aspects of BfC (Battle for Continuity) to explore a world incredibly dissimilar to tC, but populated by versions of the tC characters. At times I even played around relationships, basing them not on how they were being RPed but on how they were in real life. It was somewhat inevitable that Advent would be not only too ambitious, but also too mean spirited to be anything but occasionally well written slander in tC's general direction. In the end, very little good would come from Advent--although, some of my modern writing process took its first test runs in the development phase of Advent.
During Advent it became usual for me to write out entire posts well ahead of when I posted them, writing them entirely self contained within notebooks I kept handy. Since then, I've actually gone in the other direction. While sometimes a scene or dialog might will be carefully written out, usually a much trimmed down script is what I come up with. The flows of a battle. The relative locations of characters. Things I need to research when I begin to actually write. Maybe a list of attacks and weapons, a sketched out wardrobe, or things of that nature. A 1000 word post or longer might only be a few lines in my notebook, but those lines are all I really need to come up with a proper post.
I tend to base my posts around a main character, with all the action in a post being relative to them. Asimov, Renee, Kikuchi...Many threads basically have them as the only really active characters. However, with the sheer breadth of characters I've created in TP, I've begun to explore the rest of the cast, fleshing out previously minor characters...Mizuho, Sia, Chie, Noah. And sometimes, I take a preexisting character and revamp them, taking them and giving them a bit of Azzie-style polist...Chihiro, Emi.
In a way, I play the TPverse like a comic book universe. Certain characters have individual titles under their names and multiple plotlines extending over many threads. A few team titles (the Hero Corps, Secret Society) play with the concept of an ensemble cast. Occasionally I'll write up a double-sized One Shot designed either to seed plotlines or introduce characters and situations for further exploration. And finally we have Crossover Events, involving multiple characters, plotlines, and authors.
Although there have been several minor crossovers during the course of TP the upcoming Continuity Crisis will be the first major event that effects every character that TP has ever had. Its taken me years of posts, and plotting, and foreshadowing to finally get things to where I could see the plot playing through. I look forward to what playing an event of that scope would be like...and, the ever-so-important aftermath. Because, when all is accounted for, the Crisis is only the set-up for a new way to play in the TPverse. Relationships changed, new characters coming forward, and old ones moving into the background, new plots that could only be explored in a post-Crisis TPverse.
1 post to go in the Mahou Shoujo War.