Very Long Apping Guide Part 2
Link to Part 1
Writing - The Canon
Finally! On to the actual writing of the app. If you are new to the apping process, or have had difficulty with apping in camp before. Please read this part and the following section as well. This will contain pretty much everything I try to hit on when I beta people.
The canon is not particularly tricky. There are things you can do to it to MAKE it tricky for yourself. My wife is notorious for spending hours constructing a good canon, but that's because she's anal about throwing jokes in and conveying as much of the character as possible. The canon does not have to be hilarious on its own, though keeping it reasonably lighthearted tends to be a good idea. If you can't do that? Just make sure it has all the important information and is succinct. Don't get distracted with unimportant details, or rattle on about things that don't matter for the app.
In general, you can construct your canon however you want provided it can be read and comprehended easily. In order to best do this I tend to suggest dividing it into two paragraphs, each with a specific purpose.
Paragraph One - General- What might be 'general' depends on who you are apping. In most cases this means an overall look at the series. If you are apping a little known series or a very oddball one that requires some explanation, you'll want to mention that. People apping from Air Gear, for example, pretty much always need to explain that A-T is short for Air Treck, and that Air Treck are crazy futuristic roller blades. If they are part of the main cast, they may need to mention what Stormriders are (delinquent punks that ride A-T like gang members) and that Kogarasumaru is the team of Stormriders the story follows. Or else perhaps they need to mention what a "King" is in the context of the story. Or if they are from Behemoth, need to mention that Behemoth was a gigantic Stormrider group that once opposed Kogarasumaru. Basically? WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY depends ENTIRELY on two points: A) Who you are apping and B) What the voters need to know to understand your character and follow your app.
For example! When I apped Kira Sakuya I didn't mention in his canon that he is Lucifer, the Lord of Hell. This is a very important thing to his character! But it isn't relevant to his app or understanding his character immediately, because frankly Kira doesn't act on that information very often. I did mention, however, that he is an evil sprit trapped in a sword, and that he is thousands of years old, and that he is fond of humans despite being 'evil', and that he obsessively protects a single angel throughout millennia . This is because that disassociation from humanity would be obvious in his app, his age is semi-apparent in the way he looks at the world, and the reason he came to camp was to follow a particular human, and on the way he makes comments to suggest that the Director herself is fond of the humans she has trapped. Thus every bit of information I included is relevant to not only the character himself, but what he says in the app.
Basically, build the first paragraph to be information that is not so much on the character's personality, or on specific traits, but about their world, their situation, their past, their friends, whatever is relevant to who they are, or else something that will be appearing in the app and may need explanation.
Paragraph Two - Personality and Specific Traits- Paragraph two is where you get into the more technical things that define your character. What sort of person are they? How do they treat others? How do they talk? Do they have any hobbies or bad habits? Fears? Dreams? What things are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to make sure that character is perceived as they are? In Kira's app I mention like, four times in the second paragraph that he is a jerk who abuses his friends and everyone else but deep down is the type who loves his friends and looks out for them at any cost to himself. I said this in a VARIETY OF WAYS and at different levels, but said it a LOT because that is... basically everything Kira is. It's so important to his character that it is worth reiterating. Second to that are details like the fact that he smokes, considers himself a monster, and is a delinquent.
A couple of points that you ALWAYS want to hit in this paragraph is how does your character act or treat others. Are they nice? Abusive? Loud? Insecure? Do they have any speech traits like stuttering or sing-songing? Your app consists of your character TALKING for several hundred words, so the canon should give us an idea of what to expect, and something to match the app up to.
Additions- Other things that may get added into your app are notes such as spoilers. I recommend against having spoilers in your app if you can in any way avoid it, but if you can't, you want a separate sentence at the top warning if the canon or app or both contain spoilers.
Another note would be things such as where you are taking your character from in canon. If your character undergoes a large personality change, if they die, if someone close to them dies, people familiar with the canon may want to know if you are taking the character from before or after that point. A note at the end such as "Soandso is taken from after volume 7." will do. People who aren't familiar with the canon don't really need to know what happens in volume seven.
Another thing would be if you had to get permission for something in the app, such as referencing a character that isn't yours. "All characters in this app mentioned with their player's permission." is common.
Final Look- Finally! One whole canon. It isn't as much work as it might sound here, but telling people to rewrite their canons is frequent, so keep these things in mind to save yourself time. Overall you want your canon to be quick, to the point, ideally under 300 words, and never more than 350. It needs to follow along a logical train of thought, and not simply be a lot of random facts that in no way fit together. "Along with Lisa’s love for animals, she is also always the kind and caring type toward anyone she meets." is much better than "Lisa has fifteen pets and smiles a lot at strangers."
Writing - The App
So, finally! The big part. The sample part of your app, The App, the bringer of angst and confusion and fear. This is the main part that is going to be judged by your peers and man does that suck!
Before I go on to the actual writing of, some points to keep in mind!
Most People Hate Apping- there are a SELECT FEW that love it. But personally I have apped 20 times and I still hate sitting down to do it. We hate it for various reasons. Some fear rejection! Others don't like doing the work, there are those who disagree with the app process, or have been burnt in the past and have difficulty facing that again. As much as CFUD is JUST A GAME, people do get invested in it, and it can hurt. But, KEEP IN MIND:
Lots Of People Go Out- Not every single player who has been around for a while is good at apping. Getting in once or twice or five times does not guarantee you will get in the next time. It is ALWAYS work. I think those who don't play in camp may get the impression that camp is elitist because the apping process is so hard. But it is hard for everyone. No one is being specifically kept out. We very much LOVE getting new blood, and yes, the apping process is among the most difficult in RPs out there. But that's because people who in play camp want to be able to enjoyably play with anyone without worrying about playing with someone who represents their character badly. Thus the apping process is a bit demanding but it is equally demanding for everyone. There are no short cuts or easy-in's for people who have been here a long time, beyond simply that of experience.
Reapping Is Good- I think reapps tend to get judged a little lighter than first time apps. Obviously the reapp still needs to... be a better app than the one that went out! But a LOT of people claim they will reapp and never do. Most voters do in fact appreciate seeing people try again. If the app shows signs of taking into consideration things that were mentioned during the first app round, you will likely do better.
Okay? Basically, YES it can be stressful. If you want an easy in, look for a different RP. I don't mean to be brutal, but that's just how it is. There are lots and lots of RPs where you only need an app to pass the approval of two or three people, or where you don't need to apply at all. If you want to play in a place as massive as Camp, there is probably something that really attracted you to it. And for many? It's the quality of the players. And the reason we have so many quality players is because yes, apping is something of a bitch. But! Not the impossible to overcome sort of bitch many seem to fear it is. Apping is very much a process, which is what my entire point of this guide has been. Seeing how it works, why things are the way they are, and how to work with it.
So with all of that in mind! Let's write the app.
The Start-
Your Process- There isn't really a 1-2-3 step for writing the app itself. Different things work for different people. I write one sentence at a time, over the space of several hours, and tend to do very little rewriting. If I do need to rewrite I probably trash the entire thing and start all over again. Some people write in ideas and go and fill in the voice later, or leave open blocks for "joke here" and "somethingsomething here". Some people come up with the jokes first, or the punchline first and just write to those points. Basically, write in whatever way works for you.
App Formulas- there are many many app formulas, any and all of which you are welcome to use or discard as they suit you. I cannot tell you about all of them here simply because they tend to change depending on the person writing them. I have tried to provide as much information as I can toward what does and doesn't work in apps, what common approaches are, and what you should try to accomplish in your app. Hopefully with this you can begin to build your own style and approach toward writing your app. But when in doubt, the '3 idea/joke' formula is perhaps the one I see referred to the most.
3 Idea Formula- Exactly what it sounds like. Basically, having an app that centers entirely on one concept is risky. Most people have three paragraphs revolving around three ideas. Three jokes if they decided to go that route. This could be something such as A) zomibes B) lake C) mess hall, and just have your character address each of these points in an interesting and humorous way unique to their character. Or perhaps it something more fluid such as A) Character arrives B) Character examines the area C) Character devises plan for escape. Really, WHAT the three things are doesn't matter nearly so much as what your character has to say about them.
The problem with the 3 Idea Formula is that it is likely to lead to choppy apps. Keep in mind your app needs to read as a smooth thought process of your character, so we can see easily how they get from point A to B to C. Choose your three ideas to fit this, or write your app so that it works believably. Don't just have the character jump from one idea to another with no discernible connection. Even hyperactive ADD characters change topics because something was there to catch their interest.
If you want to see the 3 Ideas Formula in action, just go to any early app round (which is where the strongest apps tend to be found) and read the apps there. Force yourself to study what was written. What does each paragraph do? What is the subject that the character is discussing first? Second? How does the character move from the first subject to the second? In a good app, where subject A ends and B starts you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't looking for it, because it was just such a logical process for the character that it feels like a whole.
Finally! Calling it the '3 Ideas Formula' does not mean you can only have three ideas. If your app is short, throw in a fourth. As long as it all follows fluidly, you shouldn't have a problem. If it doesn't, your app may seem too busy and over worked by throwing in too many different types of content.
First Draft- I suggest doing your first draft all at once. Some people tweak an app over the course of weeks, this may work for you, you may have weeks. But chances are your first draft will be the hardest and will need a lot of work. They tend to be better just... gotten out. Accept that it will not perfect and beautiful and that no one but you need look at it. Chances are while you are forcing yourself against your will to just DO THIS you will stumble across some good ideas, good lines, and a start to what will be your final draft.
Second Draft- By the time you are done with your first draft, you will probably know a lot of what is wrong with it. The really obvious problems tend to be really obvious. Stuff like character voice feeling off, or large gaps where they should maybe be a joke that you can't quite place your finger on, or the fact that none of the ideas or paragraphs fit together. Rework it until you feel like the app is comprehensive, and where it is 'finished' in the sense that it is a single and complete app. Once you have that, it's probably time for betas.
Getting Beta'd-
The Ideal Beta- is someone who likes you enough to look at your app quickly and is close enough with you to be honest if your app sucks. Unless you are kerbox, I am not your ideal beta. Most people aren't. A lot of betas either won't get to you quickly, or will be too nice. Those people are for later. When you are on your second draft what you basically need is someone to tell you if this thing sucks and needs to be started over or not. Tweaking your grammar and word use is useless if the app itself is just really boring, or impossible to follow, or has too much canon reliance. What you want is to be able to show your draft to someone and have them look it over quickly and give you a solid opinion on whether or not this can be fixed up to be a shining wonderful app or if it needs to be started over or heavily reworked. This person does not need to be a player, and can be canon blind or not, but should probably be someone who has experience with roleplay and has a decent idea of What Camp Is Like.
If this person looks at your app and thinks it still needs A Lot Of Work, find out why it isn't working for them, and go back to the drawing board. If they think it is workable, find out what problems they DO have with it, fix them, look it over yourself again, figure out how you feel, tweak it more, THEN send it away to other betas.
Rewriting- Learn to suck it up and rewrite your app. This is a key point in any form of writing and it applies to apping as well. If you do not completely put away what you have already done and start from a blank slate, you will suffer from looking at what you already have, and will try to rearrange it like puzzle pieces, rather than simply painting a new and better picture.
Rewriting is not the end of the world, and your work will almost always be better for it. What you wrote before is not lost, nor was it a waste of time. From the first draft you gained knowledge, practice, experience. But sometimes your original idea is not salvageable. Sometimes all of those paragraphs you wrote really DO suck, and you aren't going to fix them just by going in and editing a sentence here or there. I'm glad you put hours of work into that draft! I really am! But if it is just bad (and sometimes things are just bad!), if this draft will not get you in and if there is nothing more from it worth keeping than a few lines here or there? Redo it. Open a new text file and start ALL OVER. After you have a completely new draft you can go back to the old one and see what you can save. IT'S COOL. I think one of the main reasons I've gotten a rep as a mildly terrifying beta is because I'm one of the few people to come out and say that this app will not get in, it has all of these problems, I suggest you start all over keeping this and this and that in mind. But you know what? You have to make your own choice to rewrite. If you just don't feel that this app is a good representation of your character, if your beta's don't seem to think it will do well? Accept the fact that maybe you should just start over. Don't be discouraged. Just do it.
That said!
Rewriting Is Not Always Necessary- Try and look at your work objectively. Is the voice good? Does it read fluidly? Pay attention to that nagging SENSE in the back of your mind that this isn't REALLY how that character sounds. Show it to your betas. Learn to feel them out. If they are just suggesting you tweak parts of your app that aren't that funny or don't read well, don't freak out and redo the whole thing and give them a new first draft. Tweaking is OKAY if the overall subject matter/voice/jokes/whatever of your app are good. Or perhaps you only need to rewrite one paragraph. If you have a decent portion of your app that people seem to think is good, or that you feel especially confident about? Keep it! Apps are... a build. Most people won't write a good draft all at once, and will go back over it several times, cutting it up, rearranging, rewording. Learn to do what is necessary. If you need to rewrite, then rewrite. If you just need to fix this ONE thing, then just fix that ONE thing.
More Betas!- Once you are past the second draft stage, and have probably reworked it several times, you are likely approaching the polishing stage. Now is the time to send your app out to all of those people who gave you their email addresses in the Beta Offers post. Keep in mind that many betas will take a while to get back to you, perhaps even until the last day or so (I am one of these!). This is why it's important to do the brunt of your work yourself, with a friend or two who you can get feedback from quickly. These later stage betas are primarily going to help you spot problems with your app, things that might not go well in a CFUD app, voice issues, or inconsistencies between the canon and the app, or flow trouble. Etc. The type of stuff you can typically fix with a bit of tweaking. If a final stage beta is telling you to rewrite your app, that tends to suck a little more.
How many betas is too much? How many or few you want to use is up to you. When I'm nervous of an app I've been known to show mine up to five or so people. If I'm confident I won't show it to anyone other than my wife. Keep in mind that everyone is reading your app from a different place. They have different understanding, senses of humor, pet peeves and opinions. You can't and won't please everyone. One person may love a joke another just doesn’t get. It's cool. Make your own choices, you aren't going to hurt anyone's feelings. In the end it's your character and your app. Things to keep an eye out for are when people tell you the character feels inconsistent in some way, either in voice, or between the app and the canon, or if someone who has read your series feels you are being OOC in some way. Those are the types of things you probably want to be clear with everyone before submitting.
Finally!
So your app has cleared however many betas it needs to for you to feel it has a good chance. What does it look like?
Ideally it will be a show of who your character is, how they are, what they do, why they do it. It should be voicey, IC, humorous, easily readable. The character you describe in the canon should match the one you show in the app. It is probably somewhere between 500 and 700 words all together, and is not noticeably weighed down with emphatic formattings. You feel this is a good representation of the character, that these are all things he or she would say and do in this situation, and that it is interesting to you and hopefully has been to your betas as well. It is, if not hilarious, definitely geared in the direction of funny, and fits well as an app for a zombie camp crack RP.
Wait until the app window opens and send it in. Put your app in a text file and attach it to the email. Copying it directly into the email content tends to mess with the formatting when the mods post it.
Up to Vote
So your app is up to vote! Now what?
Well, if it is doing well, you sit around and wait. You are probably going to be refreshing the page obsessively. Most of us do. Keep an eye on the comments, people will often offer critique of your app, both to say what they liked or didn't like. Take everything with a grain of salt, like all critique. Don't discard it irrationally or obsess over it.
If your app isn't doing well and it looks like you may go out, pay more attention to those comments. It may grate to take advice from the people shooting down all your hard work, but most of our voters have valuable info on how to do better, or at least can tell you what they personally felt about the app, which gives you further information in how to do better next time (whether reapping this character or trying for another).
You are invited to comment anonymously to the voters. Many who vote out and don't give reasons right away will offer to give reasons if they are requested. And if people don't offer to give reasons it generally doesn't hurt to ask anyway, so long as you are polite about it. Identify which app is yours and ask for any concrit they may have for you.
Be obsessively polite. When you are anonymous normal courtesy doesn't cut it, because there is this huge internet phenomena with people being assholes as soon as they don't have to rest their reputation on their words. As such, anonymous comments can easily be read as insulting or defensive or arrogant. Do non-anonymous people sometimes jump on a perfectly polite mouse due to these issues? Yes, it happens. But you can only account for yourself, not for anyone else. Thus do your best to thank people for their help, listen to their suggestions, and if you disagree with a point don't make it an argument, just show your point of view if it is really necessary. Take the information you are given, do what you will with it, but don't complain, insult, fight, defend, or anything else. Your app should be able to stand on it's own, that is what everyone faces. People who are giving you concrit are doing it so that your app can stand on its own better next time.
Periodically what you say may result in a vote or two switching, which may make a difference in the long run, but only if you were borderline to begin with. Additionally, some voters will vote out or abstain early on, but may mention that if you are borderline to poke them and they will reread your app and reconsider. Since they have offered that, feel free to take them up on it, but don't go around asking the same of other voters.
Keep in mind that the people who vote on you now are the ones you will be playing with later. Honestly, the relationship between voters and appers is certainly not always perfect, but do your best to be reasonable and respectful of those on the other side, since it is a game and voting is a stupid thing to judge people on or make enemies over.
Once You're In-
Make your journal if you haven't, upload your icons if you haven't. Set up your journal in general. People like to place their app in their journal so it can be found later, others do a stats and permissions meme that gives people a general idea of your character's traits. Have your character join campersfuckoff and campfuckudie, and introduce yourself OOCly and your character ICly. Have fun! You won the game!
Tips and Tricks and Helpful Links
The Tips and Tricks-
These are actually mostly things I use for creative writing, but they apply well to ICly playing a character and writing an app.
Listen to the Voice- If your character has a voice actor, really LISTEN to them, pay attention to where inflections are, how they sound words, what sounds they make, where they pause and when they speak quickly. Pay attention, and then hear it when you write your app. If you can't hear them saying something, you may have a problem.
Transcribe Dialog- If you are finding a character particularly tricky to write, write out their dialog. I don't mean reread it from the book or manga. I mean sit down and put everything they say on paper or in text, like a script. Look at how they structure their sentences, what exclamations they use, do they talk in long paragraphs or short dialogs? Do they use conjunctions or not? Do they frequently say names, or leave out subjects? Do they use adjectives often or not? I did this when I was apping Ticky and found that despite his fancy appearance, Ticky sticks to simple and direct sentences and uses middle level words instead of high, and frequently drops into something less refined and slangy when surprised or annoyed.
Create a Canon Dump- This can be anything from taking extensive notes of your canon, or compiling a list of YouTube links, or pulling out manga pages that your character is present in. Basically create something that you can go to at any time to find information on your character. If you are losing their voice, you don't have to reread the entire manga, just reread their pages out of context and pay attention to what they say and how they say it and what they look like as they are saying it. Small doses like this can give you more insightful looks at character, along with being short enough to refresh you on their voice and personality.
Fangirl With People- Find someone who loves your canon and talk to them about it a lot! This is fun and encountering other people's opinions on your character will likely help you formulate many of your own, and think about things you've never thought about before. It will also likely keep you ENERGIZED if you are having trouble with the process, and losing the sense of fun the middle of the work of trying to put together a good app.
The Helpful Links-
General-
Camp Fuck You Die's User Info - The Go To Place for all of the rules, along with application dates, general information, contact info for the mods, lists of taken characters, and links to spin off communities.
Campers Fuck Off - CFUD's OOC journal. By going to the tags list you can find announced app dates and beta offers posts, you can also post here even if you aren't a member of camp and need help with something camp related.
CFUD Network's Friends Page - A complete friends list of every character in camp and every journal related to camp. Also keeps track of every character ever in camp for any canon.
Apps-
Camp Fuck You Vote - Where all the voting rounds are placed.
CFUD App Archive" - Every voting round ever, with links to each batch, a list of the character and series and the percentage the vote got, all tagged by series. Excellent for app research.
CFAppritry - An in progress archive of all apps organized by series and character.
Icons-
Iconing in Photoshop Guide - A guide to making icons in photoshop, covers everything from how to crop an image to how to run automated batch files on all of your icons.
Cleaning Icons in Photoshop - A guide to cleaning icons in photoshop, as well as some pattern use.
Colored Icons in Photoshop - A guide to making that colorized icons using layers that you will see used fairly frequently in CFUD.
Colored Icons with Backgrounds and Layering for Effects in Photoshop - An extensive guide on how I made andredallover's icons, covering colored layers, using patterns for backgrounds, and additional layers to create nifty effects.
The End
That's it! So it was really long, for which I apologize. But the idea was that I wanted a completely comprehensive app guide. Lately I hear we are elitist, and there are complaints that apping is too hard, but honestly? I want new people in camp. I want them to feel welcome and like this is possible, like you don't have to have been in game two years already to come play now, and like you don't need to be personal friends with a player to have a chance of apping effectively, and this was the best way I knew how to approach that. This is everything I know of apping, this is everything I look at when I beta people, this is the very best information I can think to offer and I hope the fact that it's insanely long doesn't stop anyone interested in joining from using this information to the best of their ability.
Please feel free to point anyone you think may want to app in this direction, if it might be useful to them.
Regardless if whether you are looking to join camp for the first time, or are apping your ninth character, I wish you luck, and hope this has helped o/
Writing - The Canon
Finally! On to the actual writing of the app. If you are new to the apping process, or have had difficulty with apping in camp before. Please read this part and the following section as well. This will contain pretty much everything I try to hit on when I beta people.
The canon is not particularly tricky. There are things you can do to it to MAKE it tricky for yourself. My wife is notorious for spending hours constructing a good canon, but that's because she's anal about throwing jokes in and conveying as much of the character as possible. The canon does not have to be hilarious on its own, though keeping it reasonably lighthearted tends to be a good idea. If you can't do that? Just make sure it has all the important information and is succinct. Don't get distracted with unimportant details, or rattle on about things that don't matter for the app.
In general, you can construct your canon however you want provided it can be read and comprehended easily. In order to best do this I tend to suggest dividing it into two paragraphs, each with a specific purpose.
Paragraph One - General- What might be 'general' depends on who you are apping. In most cases this means an overall look at the series. If you are apping a little known series or a very oddball one that requires some explanation, you'll want to mention that. People apping from Air Gear, for example, pretty much always need to explain that A-T is short for Air Treck, and that Air Treck are crazy futuristic roller blades. If they are part of the main cast, they may need to mention what Stormriders are (delinquent punks that ride A-T like gang members) and that Kogarasumaru is the team of Stormriders the story follows. Or else perhaps they need to mention what a "King" is in the context of the story. Or if they are from Behemoth, need to mention that Behemoth was a gigantic Stormrider group that once opposed Kogarasumaru. Basically? WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY depends ENTIRELY on two points: A) Who you are apping and B) What the voters need to know to understand your character and follow your app.
For example! When I apped Kira Sakuya I didn't mention in his canon that he is Lucifer, the Lord of Hell. This is a very important thing to his character! But it isn't relevant to his app or understanding his character immediately, because frankly Kira doesn't act on that information very often. I did mention, however, that he is an evil sprit trapped in a sword, and that he is thousands of years old, and that he is fond of humans despite being 'evil', and that he obsessively protects a single angel throughout millennia . This is because that disassociation from humanity would be obvious in his app, his age is semi-apparent in the way he looks at the world, and the reason he came to camp was to follow a particular human, and on the way he makes comments to suggest that the Director herself is fond of the humans she has trapped. Thus every bit of information I included is relevant to not only the character himself, but what he says in the app.
Basically, build the first paragraph to be information that is not so much on the character's personality, or on specific traits, but about their world, their situation, their past, their friends, whatever is relevant to who they are, or else something that will be appearing in the app and may need explanation.
Paragraph Two - Personality and Specific Traits- Paragraph two is where you get into the more technical things that define your character. What sort of person are they? How do they treat others? How do they talk? Do they have any hobbies or bad habits? Fears? Dreams? What things are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to make sure that character is perceived as they are? In Kira's app I mention like, four times in the second paragraph that he is a jerk who abuses his friends and everyone else but deep down is the type who loves his friends and looks out for them at any cost to himself. I said this in a VARIETY OF WAYS and at different levels, but said it a LOT because that is... basically everything Kira is. It's so important to his character that it is worth reiterating. Second to that are details like the fact that he smokes, considers himself a monster, and is a delinquent.
A couple of points that you ALWAYS want to hit in this paragraph is how does your character act or treat others. Are they nice? Abusive? Loud? Insecure? Do they have any speech traits like stuttering or sing-songing? Your app consists of your character TALKING for several hundred words, so the canon should give us an idea of what to expect, and something to match the app up to.
Additions- Other things that may get added into your app are notes such as spoilers. I recommend against having spoilers in your app if you can in any way avoid it, but if you can't, you want a separate sentence at the top warning if the canon or app or both contain spoilers.
Another note would be things such as where you are taking your character from in canon. If your character undergoes a large personality change, if they die, if someone close to them dies, people familiar with the canon may want to know if you are taking the character from before or after that point. A note at the end such as "Soandso is taken from after volume 7." will do. People who aren't familiar with the canon don't really need to know what happens in volume seven.
Another thing would be if you had to get permission for something in the app, such as referencing a character that isn't yours. "All characters in this app mentioned with their player's permission." is common.
Final Look- Finally! One whole canon. It isn't as much work as it might sound here, but telling people to rewrite their canons is frequent, so keep these things in mind to save yourself time. Overall you want your canon to be quick, to the point, ideally under 300 words, and never more than 350. It needs to follow along a logical train of thought, and not simply be a lot of random facts that in no way fit together. "Along with Lisa’s love for animals, she is also always the kind and caring type toward anyone she meets." is much better than "Lisa has fifteen pets and smiles a lot at strangers."
Writing - The App
So, finally! The big part. The sample part of your app, The App, the bringer of angst and confusion and fear. This is the main part that is going to be judged by your peers and man does that suck!
Before I go on to the actual writing of, some points to keep in mind!
Most People Hate Apping- there are a SELECT FEW that love it. But personally I have apped 20 times and I still hate sitting down to do it. We hate it for various reasons. Some fear rejection! Others don't like doing the work, there are those who disagree with the app process, or have been burnt in the past and have difficulty facing that again. As much as CFUD is JUST A GAME, people do get invested in it, and it can hurt. But, KEEP IN MIND:
Lots Of People Go Out- Not every single player who has been around for a while is good at apping. Getting in once or twice or five times does not guarantee you will get in the next time. It is ALWAYS work. I think those who don't play in camp may get the impression that camp is elitist because the apping process is so hard. But it is hard for everyone. No one is being specifically kept out. We very much LOVE getting new blood, and yes, the apping process is among the most difficult in RPs out there. But that's because people who in play camp want to be able to enjoyably play with anyone without worrying about playing with someone who represents their character badly. Thus the apping process is a bit demanding but it is equally demanding for everyone. There are no short cuts or easy-in's for people who have been here a long time, beyond simply that of experience.
Reapping Is Good- I think reapps tend to get judged a little lighter than first time apps. Obviously the reapp still needs to... be a better app than the one that went out! But a LOT of people claim they will reapp and never do. Most voters do in fact appreciate seeing people try again. If the app shows signs of taking into consideration things that were mentioned during the first app round, you will likely do better.
Okay? Basically, YES it can be stressful. If you want an easy in, look for a different RP. I don't mean to be brutal, but that's just how it is. There are lots and lots of RPs where you only need an app to pass the approval of two or three people, or where you don't need to apply at all. If you want to play in a place as massive as Camp, there is probably something that really attracted you to it. And for many? It's the quality of the players. And the reason we have so many quality players is because yes, apping is something of a bitch. But! Not the impossible to overcome sort of bitch many seem to fear it is. Apping is very much a process, which is what my entire point of this guide has been. Seeing how it works, why things are the way they are, and how to work with it.
So with all of that in mind! Let's write the app.
The Start-
Your Process- There isn't really a 1-2-3 step for writing the app itself. Different things work for different people. I write one sentence at a time, over the space of several hours, and tend to do very little rewriting. If I do need to rewrite I probably trash the entire thing and start all over again. Some people write in ideas and go and fill in the voice later, or leave open blocks for "joke here" and "somethingsomething here". Some people come up with the jokes first, or the punchline first and just write to those points. Basically, write in whatever way works for you.
App Formulas- there are many many app formulas, any and all of which you are welcome to use or discard as they suit you. I cannot tell you about all of them here simply because they tend to change depending on the person writing them. I have tried to provide as much information as I can toward what does and doesn't work in apps, what common approaches are, and what you should try to accomplish in your app. Hopefully with this you can begin to build your own style and approach toward writing your app. But when in doubt, the '3 idea/joke' formula is perhaps the one I see referred to the most.
3 Idea Formula- Exactly what it sounds like. Basically, having an app that centers entirely on one concept is risky. Most people have three paragraphs revolving around three ideas. Three jokes if they decided to go that route. This could be something such as A) zomibes B) lake C) mess hall, and just have your character address each of these points in an interesting and humorous way unique to their character. Or perhaps it something more fluid such as A) Character arrives B) Character examines the area C) Character devises plan for escape. Really, WHAT the three things are doesn't matter nearly so much as what your character has to say about them.
The problem with the 3 Idea Formula is that it is likely to lead to choppy apps. Keep in mind your app needs to read as a smooth thought process of your character, so we can see easily how they get from point A to B to C. Choose your three ideas to fit this, or write your app so that it works believably. Don't just have the character jump from one idea to another with no discernible connection. Even hyperactive ADD characters change topics because something was there to catch their interest.
If you want to see the 3 Ideas Formula in action, just go to any early app round (which is where the strongest apps tend to be found) and read the apps there. Force yourself to study what was written. What does each paragraph do? What is the subject that the character is discussing first? Second? How does the character move from the first subject to the second? In a good app, where subject A ends and B starts you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't looking for it, because it was just such a logical process for the character that it feels like a whole.
Finally! Calling it the '3 Ideas Formula' does not mean you can only have three ideas. If your app is short, throw in a fourth. As long as it all follows fluidly, you shouldn't have a problem. If it doesn't, your app may seem too busy and over worked by throwing in too many different types of content.
First Draft- I suggest doing your first draft all at once. Some people tweak an app over the course of weeks, this may work for you, you may have weeks. But chances are your first draft will be the hardest and will need a lot of work. They tend to be better just... gotten out. Accept that it will not perfect and beautiful and that no one but you need look at it. Chances are while you are forcing yourself against your will to just DO THIS you will stumble across some good ideas, good lines, and a start to what will be your final draft.
Second Draft- By the time you are done with your first draft, you will probably know a lot of what is wrong with it. The really obvious problems tend to be really obvious. Stuff like character voice feeling off, or large gaps where they should maybe be a joke that you can't quite place your finger on, or the fact that none of the ideas or paragraphs fit together. Rework it until you feel like the app is comprehensive, and where it is 'finished' in the sense that it is a single and complete app. Once you have that, it's probably time for betas.
Getting Beta'd-
The Ideal Beta- is someone who likes you enough to look at your app quickly and is close enough with you to be honest if your app sucks. Unless you are kerbox, I am not your ideal beta. Most people aren't. A lot of betas either won't get to you quickly, or will be too nice. Those people are for later. When you are on your second draft what you basically need is someone to tell you if this thing sucks and needs to be started over or not. Tweaking your grammar and word use is useless if the app itself is just really boring, or impossible to follow, or has too much canon reliance. What you want is to be able to show your draft to someone and have them look it over quickly and give you a solid opinion on whether or not this can be fixed up to be a shining wonderful app or if it needs to be started over or heavily reworked. This person does not need to be a player, and can be canon blind or not, but should probably be someone who has experience with roleplay and has a decent idea of What Camp Is Like.
If this person looks at your app and thinks it still needs A Lot Of Work, find out why it isn't working for them, and go back to the drawing board. If they think it is workable, find out what problems they DO have with it, fix them, look it over yourself again, figure out how you feel, tweak it more, THEN send it away to other betas.
Rewriting- Learn to suck it up and rewrite your app. This is a key point in any form of writing and it applies to apping as well. If you do not completely put away what you have already done and start from a blank slate, you will suffer from looking at what you already have, and will try to rearrange it like puzzle pieces, rather than simply painting a new and better picture.
Rewriting is not the end of the world, and your work will almost always be better for it. What you wrote before is not lost, nor was it a waste of time. From the first draft you gained knowledge, practice, experience. But sometimes your original idea is not salvageable. Sometimes all of those paragraphs you wrote really DO suck, and you aren't going to fix them just by going in and editing a sentence here or there. I'm glad you put hours of work into that draft! I really am! But if it is just bad (and sometimes things are just bad!), if this draft will not get you in and if there is nothing more from it worth keeping than a few lines here or there? Redo it. Open a new text file and start ALL OVER. After you have a completely new draft you can go back to the old one and see what you can save. IT'S COOL. I think one of the main reasons I've gotten a rep as a mildly terrifying beta is because I'm one of the few people to come out and say that this app will not get in, it has all of these problems, I suggest you start all over keeping this and this and that in mind. But you know what? You have to make your own choice to rewrite. If you just don't feel that this app is a good representation of your character, if your beta's don't seem to think it will do well? Accept the fact that maybe you should just start over. Don't be discouraged. Just do it.
That said!
Rewriting Is Not Always Necessary- Try and look at your work objectively. Is the voice good? Does it read fluidly? Pay attention to that nagging SENSE in the back of your mind that this isn't REALLY how that character sounds. Show it to your betas. Learn to feel them out. If they are just suggesting you tweak parts of your app that aren't that funny or don't read well, don't freak out and redo the whole thing and give them a new first draft. Tweaking is OKAY if the overall subject matter/voice/jokes/whatever of your app are good. Or perhaps you only need to rewrite one paragraph. If you have a decent portion of your app that people seem to think is good, or that you feel especially confident about? Keep it! Apps are... a build. Most people won't write a good draft all at once, and will go back over it several times, cutting it up, rearranging, rewording. Learn to do what is necessary. If you need to rewrite, then rewrite. If you just need to fix this ONE thing, then just fix that ONE thing.
More Betas!- Once you are past the second draft stage, and have probably reworked it several times, you are likely approaching the polishing stage. Now is the time to send your app out to all of those people who gave you their email addresses in the Beta Offers post. Keep in mind that many betas will take a while to get back to you, perhaps even until the last day or so (I am one of these!). This is why it's important to do the brunt of your work yourself, with a friend or two who you can get feedback from quickly. These later stage betas are primarily going to help you spot problems with your app, things that might not go well in a CFUD app, voice issues, or inconsistencies between the canon and the app, or flow trouble. Etc. The type of stuff you can typically fix with a bit of tweaking. If a final stage beta is telling you to rewrite your app, that tends to suck a little more.
How many betas is too much? How many or few you want to use is up to you. When I'm nervous of an app I've been known to show mine up to five or so people. If I'm confident I won't show it to anyone other than my wife. Keep in mind that everyone is reading your app from a different place. They have different understanding, senses of humor, pet peeves and opinions. You can't and won't please everyone. One person may love a joke another just doesn’t get. It's cool. Make your own choices, you aren't going to hurt anyone's feelings. In the end it's your character and your app. Things to keep an eye out for are when people tell you the character feels inconsistent in some way, either in voice, or between the app and the canon, or if someone who has read your series feels you are being OOC in some way. Those are the types of things you probably want to be clear with everyone before submitting.
Finally!
So your app has cleared however many betas it needs to for you to feel it has a good chance. What does it look like?
Ideally it will be a show of who your character is, how they are, what they do, why they do it. It should be voicey, IC, humorous, easily readable. The character you describe in the canon should match the one you show in the app. It is probably somewhere between 500 and 700 words all together, and is not noticeably weighed down with emphatic formattings. You feel this is a good representation of the character, that these are all things he or she would say and do in this situation, and that it is interesting to you and hopefully has been to your betas as well. It is, if not hilarious, definitely geared in the direction of funny, and fits well as an app for a zombie camp crack RP.
Wait until the app window opens and send it in. Put your app in a text file and attach it to the email. Copying it directly into the email content tends to mess with the formatting when the mods post it.
Up to Vote
So your app is up to vote! Now what?
Well, if it is doing well, you sit around and wait. You are probably going to be refreshing the page obsessively. Most of us do. Keep an eye on the comments, people will often offer critique of your app, both to say what they liked or didn't like. Take everything with a grain of salt, like all critique. Don't discard it irrationally or obsess over it.
If your app isn't doing well and it looks like you may go out, pay more attention to those comments. It may grate to take advice from the people shooting down all your hard work, but most of our voters have valuable info on how to do better, or at least can tell you what they personally felt about the app, which gives you further information in how to do better next time (whether reapping this character or trying for another).
You are invited to comment anonymously to the voters. Many who vote out and don't give reasons right away will offer to give reasons if they are requested. And if people don't offer to give reasons it generally doesn't hurt to ask anyway, so long as you are polite about it. Identify which app is yours and ask for any concrit they may have for you.
Be obsessively polite. When you are anonymous normal courtesy doesn't cut it, because there is this huge internet phenomena with people being assholes as soon as they don't have to rest their reputation on their words. As such, anonymous comments can easily be read as insulting or defensive or arrogant. Do non-anonymous people sometimes jump on a perfectly polite mouse due to these issues? Yes, it happens. But you can only account for yourself, not for anyone else. Thus do your best to thank people for their help, listen to their suggestions, and if you disagree with a point don't make it an argument, just show your point of view if it is really necessary. Take the information you are given, do what you will with it, but don't complain, insult, fight, defend, or anything else. Your app should be able to stand on it's own, that is what everyone faces. People who are giving you concrit are doing it so that your app can stand on its own better next time.
Periodically what you say may result in a vote or two switching, which may make a difference in the long run, but only if you were borderline to begin with. Additionally, some voters will vote out or abstain early on, but may mention that if you are borderline to poke them and they will reread your app and reconsider. Since they have offered that, feel free to take them up on it, but don't go around asking the same of other voters.
Keep in mind that the people who vote on you now are the ones you will be playing with later. Honestly, the relationship between voters and appers is certainly not always perfect, but do your best to be reasonable and respectful of those on the other side, since it is a game and voting is a stupid thing to judge people on or make enemies over.
Once You're In-
Make your journal if you haven't, upload your icons if you haven't. Set up your journal in general. People like to place their app in their journal so it can be found later, others do a stats and permissions meme that gives people a general idea of your character's traits. Have your character join campersfuckoff and campfuckudie, and introduce yourself OOCly and your character ICly. Have fun! You won the game!
Tips and Tricks and Helpful Links
The Tips and Tricks-
These are actually mostly things I use for creative writing, but they apply well to ICly playing a character and writing an app.
Listen to the Voice- If your character has a voice actor, really LISTEN to them, pay attention to where inflections are, how they sound words, what sounds they make, where they pause and when they speak quickly. Pay attention, and then hear it when you write your app. If you can't hear them saying something, you may have a problem.
Transcribe Dialog- If you are finding a character particularly tricky to write, write out their dialog. I don't mean reread it from the book or manga. I mean sit down and put everything they say on paper or in text, like a script. Look at how they structure their sentences, what exclamations they use, do they talk in long paragraphs or short dialogs? Do they use conjunctions or not? Do they frequently say names, or leave out subjects? Do they use adjectives often or not? I did this when I was apping Ticky and found that despite his fancy appearance, Ticky sticks to simple and direct sentences and uses middle level words instead of high, and frequently drops into something less refined and slangy when surprised or annoyed.
Create a Canon Dump- This can be anything from taking extensive notes of your canon, or compiling a list of YouTube links, or pulling out manga pages that your character is present in. Basically create something that you can go to at any time to find information on your character. If you are losing their voice, you don't have to reread the entire manga, just reread their pages out of context and pay attention to what they say and how they say it and what they look like as they are saying it. Small doses like this can give you more insightful looks at character, along with being short enough to refresh you on their voice and personality.
Fangirl With People- Find someone who loves your canon and talk to them about it a lot! This is fun and encountering other people's opinions on your character will likely help you formulate many of your own, and think about things you've never thought about before. It will also likely keep you ENERGIZED if you are having trouble with the process, and losing the sense of fun the middle of the work of trying to put together a good app.
The Helpful Links-
General-
Camp Fuck You Die's User Info - The Go To Place for all of the rules, along with application dates, general information, contact info for the mods, lists of taken characters, and links to spin off communities.
Campers Fuck Off - CFUD's OOC journal. By going to the tags list you can find announced app dates and beta offers posts, you can also post here even if you aren't a member of camp and need help with something camp related.
CFUD Network's Friends Page - A complete friends list of every character in camp and every journal related to camp. Also keeps track of every character ever in camp for any canon.
Apps-
Camp Fuck You Vote - Where all the voting rounds are placed.
CFUD App Archive" - Every voting round ever, with links to each batch, a list of the character and series and the percentage the vote got, all tagged by series. Excellent for app research.
CFAppritry - An in progress archive of all apps organized by series and character.
Icons-
Iconing in Photoshop Guide - A guide to making icons in photoshop, covers everything from how to crop an image to how to run automated batch files on all of your icons.
Cleaning Icons in Photoshop - A guide to cleaning icons in photoshop, as well as some pattern use.
Colored Icons in Photoshop - A guide to making that colorized icons using layers that you will see used fairly frequently in CFUD.
Colored Icons with Backgrounds and Layering for Effects in Photoshop - An extensive guide on how I made andredallover's icons, covering colored layers, using patterns for backgrounds, and additional layers to create nifty effects.
The End
That's it! So it was really long, for which I apologize. But the idea was that I wanted a completely comprehensive app guide. Lately I hear we are elitist, and there are complaints that apping is too hard, but honestly? I want new people in camp. I want them to feel welcome and like this is possible, like you don't have to have been in game two years already to come play now, and like you don't need to be personal friends with a player to have a chance of apping effectively, and this was the best way I knew how to approach that. This is everything I know of apping, this is everything I look at when I beta people, this is the very best information I can think to offer and I hope the fact that it's insanely long doesn't stop anyone interested in joining from using this information to the best of their ability.
Please feel free to point anyone you think may want to app in this direction, if it might be useful to them.
Regardless if whether you are looking to join camp for the first time, or are apping your ninth character, I wish you luck, and hope this has helped o/