Strats for the Developing Roleplayer: A hopefully helpful guide.

Hello and good evening members of the site. I've been sitting on this idea of writing a small guide for beginning roleplayers, that may be an aid to even moderate roleplayers. To start, I've roleplayed over a decade now, and I would like to think(without ego) that I've experienced most of what RP in relation to this fetish offers. I would just like to say now that not everything listed here is relevant to each and every individual. Essentially everything from here on out are things I've learned and have applied to my roleplay career, to a mostly positive effect.  Furthermore, I would like to give a special mentions to a user here named DoubleIntegral, an individual who wrote a lengthy sort of "How To" for inflation writing. Points they make are some I will be touching on in this guide. I don't want to make this first post too long, so I'll be keeping it relatively short and sweet in terms of the number of topics I will discuss. With that said, here's a rough break down of the contents of this post:

1: Basic nice-to-know/common sense.

2. First impressions, getting to know your partner.

3. Writing/Story making tips.

Basics

Online Roleplaying at it its base is an interactive story being formed by two(or more) individuals. It's a text based adventure for you and your partner, and in the end, you get what you put into it. Depending on people's involvement, some roleplay scenarios can last thirty minutes, a couple hours, or even a couple days of multiple sessions. On the subject of time, I'd like to bring up one major point many overlook: Time.

Not to be confused with continuity within the RP, I'm more talking about being aware of your time. Always make sure you have time for your sessions, or at the very least, pace your sessions so you can finish in a timely manner for yourself and/or for your partner. I mention this because I've experienced sessions in which my partner had to leave roughly around the climax of our story, a place where you really do not want to leave you partner hanging.

Nextly, and perhaps most obviously, Grammar and Spelling. I can't emphasize enough how important is it to write smooth and flowing sentences, that easily transition into one another. Consider this: In a fetish that is virtually all fantasy, how important is to have a strong sense of imagery? In roleplaying, how well you describe something can mean the world to your partner. Now consider a sentence fragment or two, as well as a few mispelled words. Even if it's unintentional, our minds will linger just long enough on things like that, and it will divert the focus on the action that's taking place in our heads. This is only made worse if you yourself catch, say, a misspelled word, and post again noting the correction (i.e.: in first post saying "woth" and catching the mistake, immediately posting worth* afterward). At that point more attention is being drawn to mostly irrelevant and innocent mistake. In all honesty, some might not even notice the error, or will just understand you anyways. Just take your time and make sure what you're giving to your partner can be understood and worked with.

To finish off this topic, I'd like to express with all my being that Effort is also paramount. Many writers will tell you it takes a great deal of motivation to write just about anything. In their world, their efforts pay off when they receive feedback from their readers, especially when it is positive feedback. Negative feedback, on the other hand, might hurt a writer's motivation in the future. Applying this to roleplaying, you're "feedback" is your partner's next post. Positive feedback would be a post that roughly matches your's in length and in content, negative would be a post that comes (way or just)short of the length of your post, while also lacking is content.

An easy example of this would be if your partner gave you a paragraph sized post, yet in return you gave them only a sentence. It's understandable when starting out that some are not as savvy with writing, but learning should always be a constant. As a rule of thumb, put in an honest effort in to match your partner in terms of post length and content. While I'll be expanding on this in the next session, let your partner know what you comfortable with and what your capable of. This way they won't be guessing at your potential and whether or not you're holding back or being lazy.

First Impressions

Woo! Meeting people online and stuff! As many roleplayers the world around will attest to, finding a partner can be a task and a half, let alone finding a partner that is willing to do things you specifically like. While I can't really offer any advice on finding that partner, I can give advice on how to retain partners. As the name of this section suggests, making yourself looking good the first time can mean all the difference between you and the rest. I know we as users of the internet can become accustomed to having our anonymity, safely posting from behind a username, but it pays to consider anyone you talk to is still a human. As such, when you post that first message to a potential partner, regard it as if you were meeting that individual in person. You wouldn't go up a girl/guy walking down the street, giving you a humble look, and say "hey, you want bang?". 

In an odd sense, roleplaying with someone can be equated to being in a relationship. You are both together to enjoy something you both find fun. That relationship should demand an unspoken amount of respect. Furthermore, you are trusting each other with the others fantasies, something that should be considered with weight. Besides, without the other, the fun can't take place. In cases of sites like this one, where people post their general interests, it goes a long way if you take the minute or two to review a partner's profile before messaging them. It shows that you've put in effort to wanting to know them, and roleplay with them. A good two sentences of introducing yourself, being formal and polite, can immediately set you aside from the pack. Even if it doesn't, it still puts you somewhere ahead of the game.

Up next is something I like to call Twenty Questions. While it's different from the game, it still has a distinct purpose. Once you and your partner have gone through the formalities, it's time to find out what each other likes, specifically. During this time I would have to say there is no amount questions that's too much. Learn as much as you feel you need to know, and be prepared to be as equally open about your likings. This has a multi-purposed effect, 1) Answers will tell you most of what you need to know to accomodate your partner's likes, 2) Less second-guessing yourself mid-roleplay, 3) knowing what to avoid(dislikes and taboos). Five or ten minutes spent questioning before a session is far more worth the one or two minutes that break the action deep into the roleplay.

Don't sell yourself short, and don't boast your capabilites. Keeping true to what you can and cannot do makes you reliable. Some would say that while the first roleplay is the most important, I've heard from many that they look more forward to future roleplay sessions beyond the first once they've gotten used to their partner. Less questions are exchanged, scenarios are more quickly set up, and each individual has grown to use the others fetish in more unique(or creatively passionate) ways. In short, be consistent, and always be learning. Be flexible, be adaptable, and don't be afraid put a spin on things, whether for your sake or their's.

Writing/Story Making Tips

While there are a nigh infinite number ways to go about making a story, I feel that certain things can really make or break a good story, or in this case a good roleplay. First things first, be creative. If you're here reading this, chances are you've been exposed to inflation all around the internet, for years. You know how certain stories play out, how big characters get, and how they get big. When it comes to roleplaying, you should have in mind at least this: Have fun. I've told countless people over the years one thing: there's only so many ways to blow up a balloon. No story is new, but every story is different. How you make it different is up to how well you interact with you partner, based on what you know of them, and what they know of you. If you plan on roleplaying for years to come, nothing beats a fresh spin on an old plot. Mix up the formula. Haven't done something a certain way, go for it. Keep on the level with your partner and see how far into the sunset you can ride.

Up next, again another obvious one, be descriptive. Pick up a thesaurus and look at all the usual words you'd used to describe something, whether a person(in terms of how they look), a place, or thing, and find words similar to them. Broaden your vocabulary, give it some versatility. Give yourself an arsenal of which to make your scenario more believable, and more real. Yet, there is a happy medium where going into detail and leaving a little mystery find a harmony. What I mean is this: Don't labor yourself over every small thing, just focus on what matters, and don't worry about leaving out some details. Within that scope, describe only so much so that it leaves some room for your partner to guess and fill in the blanks for themselves. You need not spoon feed everything to them. When you offer open-endedness, the mind subconsciously wants to know more, because there is security in knowing concrete facts.

Conclusion (For Now?)

Well...this certainly took longer than I expected. Looking over it, I'm happy with what I wrote, and I feel it covers the general bases. At this point I can only hope that people find it some way useful, and don't immediately turn on me, saying "everyone already knows this stuff." I would be inclined to believe different, as I frequent more than a few inflation RP chats, and still see people doing one-liner roleplay. While there isn't anything necessarily wrong with that, I feel that people would have more wholesome roleplay experiences if they had access to material that could give them an idea of what to do more.

Finally, as I am no master of roleplay, if there is anything that certain officianados or veterans think I missed, please feel free to make a note of it and I will make an edit to that regard.

Thank you for reading, happy roleplaying.