Application Tips

[solo_sword]

Every app period (yep, it's that time again) we get quite a few applications. We accept many and reject a few, yes. Let's get one thing clear straight off the bat: we don't look for reasons to reject your app, we look for reasons to accept it. Sometimes there are glaring errors or issues that prevent us from doing so, or maybe your application

Comments

[solo_sword]

This is a really hard question to answer as it is such a subjective thing and I will not be give any public critiques, especially on other people's past writing samples. That's not the purpose of this. (As such, all I did was skim enough to see the scenario so I can't critique it here. The below comments are not commentary on your app personally. If you want specifics there, E-mail me privately.)

But as for what we look for in character voice, I can say from that generally, the problem most people fall into is that the samples can be a bit generic. It's a simple meeting between two people wherein nothing much happens. This can work fine for some, but IMO it trips up most people. Even the sample reads just fine, that character could be just any random person who shows up in Fandom. The hard part is making the character you're apping stand out. The writing sample's purpose really is to tell us something about this person so we want to read more of them and about them.

One of the things they teach in acting class is that you have to raise the stakes a little, have something happening so you don't get bored watching. It's more entertaining and more telling to watch two people in trouble or in an argument than it is to watch them sitting around. Same thing applies. I wholly advise putting some sort of easy, everyday conflict in there to show how they respond to it, as that tends to be how you see more of the character (especially when you don't know the canon). It doesn't have to be anything dramatic, you don't need to have them fighting monster or anything. But an argument with a roommate, an invasion of something weetiny, a reaction to meeting their big brother/sister when they're stuck being a dog for the day, whatever. The plus of Fandom is that you have a ton of situations you can use to get your point across better and show us how your character would react, which is usually the best way to show us more of them.

So maybe a little tl;dr there, but hopefully it helps.

[psycho_jackass]

Good to know, thanks.