Thoughts on RP

[unfeathered]

I've been role-playing like mad (I've had up to five threads going at certain points!) for the last day and a half and I just realised I have got so much faster at it. Because, I think, I'm finally starting to trust my characters. My muses have got a hell of a lot stronger (well, Spike was always strong but even the Master had been wavering a bit lately) and I'm finally getting the confidence to just go with my gut responses and trust that they'll be in character.


I still sit there after posting sometimes going, 'What the hell did I just write?' and 'Will anyone reading that think it's in character?' but I'm doing it. I'm doing a lot less of sitting around drafting a response, then scrapping it and drafting a different one, then going back to the first one etc. etc.

It's a nice feeling, and actually, one that manifested in that Angel/Jack fic, too, where I just sat and wrote the thing. Yes, I did a lot of editing to it, but I didn't have to change anything pivotal. It was mostly just wording and making some bits stronger.


Anyway. I've finished two of those threads now (two very different but both amazingly good fun threads, one with Becky, one with Mecca) and I'm off to watch a bit of telly. And to think about which characters I might want to RP tomorrow... *g*

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Have you recovered from your week of performances then?

[unfeathered]

I... seem to have done! *g*

I had a two-hour nap yesterday afternoon (we all did - me, Jack and Andy) after which I felt amazing, and I didn't seem to need one today, though I'm pretty tired now. :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

naps are good! How many performances does Braintree do a year?

[unfeathered]

Two shows, six performances of each. Every six months. Next one's in October - Fiddler on the Roof. And rehearsals start on 7 May, so I have two and a half weeks off. Which feels about right. :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

that is so weird. Morris Park Players (the community theater my son's involved in) is doing Fiddler this fall too!

So wait- you have 5 months of rehearsals?

[unfeathered]

I think it's going the rounds. Shows do that. Another local group did it here and several of us went to see it to get an idea of what it'd be like!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

it's a great musical, but one of those that you really need a strong lead. My kids are bummed they can't try out for it, but my daughter's bat mitzvah is one of the performance dates and that takes precedence.

[unfeathered]

Oh, that's a shame!

Yeah, the version we saw, the lead guy was - okay, but not fantastic. But it was very watchable.

I have no idea who will play what in our group. We seem to have a few people who just do every show no matter what but a lot more people who pick and choose carefully, so there's quite a few people I don't even know yet!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

with the groups here you have to try out and make it, there's no one who just gets in. Except for Art, a guy who has been in every single performance they've ever done and really doesn't have a clue what to do anymore, but loves acting and just being there and helping so they always find something for him to do (usually without lines though)

[unfeathered]

Yeah, we only audition for speaking parts. The chorus tends to whittle itself down to a manageable size during the first few rehearsals anyway. *g*

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

ah, so people decide it's just not worth the ammount of time spent rehearsing and whatnot?

[unfeathered]

Yeah. Or they just don't like the show enough to bother if they don't have a main part.

We had far too big a chorus for Godspell at the start of rehearsals, but it ended up just nice. We had a cast of 28 (10 principals and 18 chorus) in the end.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Were you in the chorus?

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

I am SO glad you're having fun and getting into the swing of things.

[unfeathered]

I have had a fantastic day and a half - following another fantastic one with the guys and the show. Both of which I think have helped ease me down and stop me feeling too depressed that the show's all over now.

(Oh, and you know you've been RPing too much when you automatically type inverted commas at the start of your post... *g*)

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

When I start putting quotes around my own speech -- yeah.

And I'm REALLY glad it helped -- and I had a brilliant time too. And tomorrow? The Meeting Of The Jacks (Aka: Morgyn and mine). I'm looking forward to that one.

[unfeathered]

Oh, really? Now that will be something to see!

It's great that we've got so many people around at the moment. Though it does mean there's so much choice of who to put each of your characters with, and I'm not good at making decisions. I may end up sticking up open threads!

(Well, except for Jack. He's promised to Lis next.)

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

Opens are good for solving that problem, and getting some random interaction and unexpected results going on. And Lis's characters with your Jack will be awesome, too!

[unfeathered]

Oh, yes, I love the randomness of opens. They're just a bit annoying because you don't know when anyone might come and play with you and your character's sort of all tied up there, and then someone comes along just as you're going out and...

Yeah. Unpredictability is both good and bad. :-)

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

*laughs* If I have characters in less than four places at once, unless something OMG MASSIVE is happening in one of them and I happen to be interacting with someone they're very close to/unguarded with? I'm GOLD. But, um. I've played 80 characters in games before, and occasionally done 25 threads at once. Those days are *long* gone, but my ability to screw myself up in RP and not care is out there.

[unfeathered]

Yeah, I know, and I have actually had Spike and the Master in three threads each at once a couple of times.

But I'm finding when a character's new and still finding out a lot of stuff, it's too confusing for me to have them in more than one thread at once.

Or you end up playing with someone like Jamie and are spending the whole thread wondering if this time he's actually going to let your character know who his parents are and you can't really take them into a new thread until you know because they might be all "OMG!" about it (as Jack is going to be)... *g*

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Funny, I was kind of just talking to donutsweeper about just writing without thinking about it and letting the characters take a story and run with it and that's pretty much what you seem to be talking about, too.

And not related to that, yay for you having fun and RPing and for the muses getting stronger. That's awesome ♥

[unfeathered]

Hee, that is funny!

And yes, my muses are getting stronger. It's very comforting. :-)

[baffledking.livejournal.com]

That's the speed! Just trust that it's right-it's your character, your instincts are deadon.

And it's more fun without worrying.

[unfeathered]

Tbh, Jack and Ten are both a lot easier now they're slightly AU and I know I don't have to worry about them feeling right, so much, if that makes any sense. Same with Lucy, I guess. The other three (Master, Spike, Buffy) I seem to know better, in my gut, so they've always been easier.

Anyway. Let me just say it again, one more time. I had a fantastic time with Jamie/Jack. That was hilarious. (And I so hadn't thought of the fact that my Jack was at that particular stage in his life where he might have been Jamie's dad! That was brilliant!)

[baffledking.livejournal.com]

That was *hysterical*. I had a lot of fun with that.

[morgynleri]

Congrats on the faster RPing! *grins*

It's been fun playing Jack off your Master... *giggles, and pets her chaos!Jack* It's making him think about how he interacts with his Master. More. Hee.

And trusting the characters and gut instinct = very good.

[unfeathered]

Yep, Jack/Master has been great. And very, very helpful in finding my Master muse again. So thank you for that. Still have no idea where he's going from here, but I have more confidence that I'll know when he gets there!

[morgynleri]

Speaking of that thread, I'm going to label it finished. Which will leave me with one unfinished thread, and a bunch of characters to figure out what I'm doing with...

Though I know where chaos!Jack is heading next, at least. *giggles madly*

[unfeathered]

Yeah, it's finished. I have several threads I need to go and label finished at some point too.

And I know where your Jack is going next. Becky told me - up there somewhere. *points up at comments* :-)

[sistercarrion.livejournal.com]

*pokes head above parapet*
I've been getting really into reading all your (collective your) RPing fun, and more and more I've been wanting to dip my toes in. I'm slightly terrified by the process though, as I've never done it before, but it looks like hella' fun. I'm reading as much as I can get with background, the OOC comm. etc, and I think I've got a character I'd feel happy playing with.

Any advice for newcomers??

[unfeathered]

Yay, another one! And I totally sympathise - I'd never done it before Whoville and was totally terrified, but Whoville really is a great place to start because everyone is so incredibly friendly. (Not that I've ventured anywhere else yet, so I can't really compare!)

As for advice - just take the plunge. I signed Becky up for my first thread in case I needed to ask lots of stuff, but in reality I didn't and it just went really smoothly - and got me hooked! I still do quite a lot of talking behind the scenes (usually via email) because I'm a talkative person and I like squeeing and discussing things I've discovered as I'm going.

Oh, and I got Becky to look over my first few character profiles too in case I'd forgotten anything.

I'm very happy to hand-hold if you want to play with me first, though I'm sure everyone else would be too. :-)

Who's your character????

[sistercarrion.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask Becky via e-mail to look over the profile anyhoo, so that's cool.

I was wanting to play John Hart in some capacity. He's been pretty vocal in my head recently, and I feel quite comfortable with his patterns. There's a time loop John that Becky's playing isn't there? Are there any more I should be aware of? I'm debating playing him just prior to KKBB, or just after ATM. What do you reckon?

[unfeathered]

I reckon that sounds good - and your John is fantastic, so YAY!

There aren't any others of him apart from Becky's.

And yeah, somewhere around KKBB sounds great. You could always go for before and then you've got the option to send him home and come back after when you want a change?

[sistercarrion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was leaning more towards just before KKBB, but post time loop, and Jack leaving him behind. Think it gives me a little more flexibility with the character to explore. I'm going to have to *ahem* restrain him in a little though, at least at the beginning ;)

Right, think I'm going to go for it. I'll have a play around with the profile, and read some more past threads when I get a chance today. I'll drop Becky a line later too, to ask some advice etc I think.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated :)

[unfeathered]

Yay!!!! I look forward to playing with him! :-)

[sistercarrion.livejournal.com]

Well, he's all there now *quivers with teh fear*
http://capnjohnhart.insanejournal.com/

I think for the first post, I'm going to try for an open thread. It'll be a up bit later on anyway. For now, housework definately calls!

[unfeathered]

That looks great! :-)

And don't be scared! You'll be fine, I'm sure, with such a strong muse! :-)