(Day 1) August 1st: Seasonal: what sort of changes does your character go through as seasons change? What are their go-to activities during each season? (i.e. do they garden during springtime, partake in snowball fights during winter, etc.) How does their attire/fur/appearance change by season?

• Jason's work doesn't change based on the seasons, however, he handles the cold better than the heat up to a certain point from his winters spent on the street. His mood has a way of souring around November/December due to events from growing up, and especially into the holidays because he doesn’t particularly have positive memories. It's safe to say though, like anyone else, he's more active in the warmer seasons than in the dead of winter.

(Day 2) August 2nd: Vices. What does your character do that other characters may find annoying? i.e: certain outlooks or attitudes on life? Ironic flirting? Do they chew with their mouth open? Smoke inside? Etc. Are they aware that these quirks are annoying or not?

• As far as vices go, addiction in some way or form has always followed Kei. Even after the curse wiped out his heavier afflictions from when he was younger, drinking has been a significant detriment in Jason’s life that has affected others. He also has a history of being cruel with his words as a form of retaliation and a type of coping mechanism. He likely is aware of the effect on people when he goes off, but hadn’t cared about the repercussions in the past. Closer to the present parts of his story, he’s gotten a more conscious handle on his habits and temper.

-/-

( Day 3) August 3rd: Paradigm: What would it take to push your character into a 180° personality shift? A calm character turned feral, an evil character turned hero, a being of chaos turned gentle, a non-confrontational character turned combative? Describe the hypothetical steps and scenarios it would take to stimulate that shift (no matter how drastic or implausible,) and lead into a hero-to-villain (or vice versa) arc in their own story

(Day 4) August 4th: Scars. List some significant scars that your character has, and tell us where they came from. If they don’t have any scars, is there a reason?

(Day 5) August 5th: Parents. Does your character know their parents? If not, then why? Describe your character's relationship with their parents if/when they knew them. Does your character have anyone that they consider a parent, despite not being blood related? Tell us about them!

(Day 6) August 6th: Erasure. Is there one event or happening your character would like to erase from their past? Why? How would their life be different now if that event could be erased?

(Day 7) August 7th: Sleep. What does your character’s bed or sleeping space look like when they wake up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, is your character all curled around a pillow or sprawled everywhere, etc? What is their go-to sleeping position? Does your character even need sleep or sleep at all? If they don't sleep, describe what they do in their down time/resting periods

It's likely we have all run into trouble when it comes to plotting with others and trying to find a core conflict that can affect both characters interactively. Sometimes the conflict is obvious between two characters, but when it isn't, it can be a little tricky to start off well after that first introduction occurs in roleplay. Especially when characters are vastly different in background or theme, finding the common ground to stick them together for a long-term story is important.

 Below is a list of prompts and ideas that can make the conversation easier, and potentially engage both parties in a thread. I've found that I use these five pretty regularly in some way shape or form to get ideas going.

1.) What is something your character wouldn't want to happen?

I mean the worst things they worry about. Make a list and dig deep into what their future worries are.

-What will ultimately get in your character's way and force them to change their normal course?
-What would come next after their worry comes true?
-How does that action intertwine with the other character?

2.)What does your character do normally that could go all wrong?

Focus on a task or physical thing that your character does. Make cause and effect their worst enemy.

-Have a spell misfire and hit something it shouldn't.
-Have the 'mercenary' character miss their kill. What happens because of it?
-Play with the butterfly effect.

3.) Make your character lose something important.

A thread based on finding something out means you can take your character anywhere. The situation is already abnormal enough to be put in a unique setting, and your character's searching could be interrupted at any time by another character. Finish it off by making sure the other character will have enough motivation to stick around.

-Do they want to help the cause?
-Are they also searching for the item?
-Do they have their own secret motive?
-Do they get stuck helping?

4.) Create an NPC. Make them opposites and give them a reason to dislike one another.

Put your misunderstood villains here, and there is a multitude of ways to do it. The main point here is that a story doesn't always have to be 1 on 1 alone. NPC's, especially re-occurring ones, can help you build out the world you're writing in and diversify what can happen.

-Think of who they could be chasing.
-Who is chasing after them?
-Who are they trying to avoid?
-What motivation do they have against this person?
-Are they trying to take something or vice versa?
-Are they family?

Give this NPC their own goals and reasons while you're at it.

5.) What does your character rely heavily on?

Take it away from them, or have the other character fill the void. Make the character you are writing with be their new solution to it. This leans into finding a symbiotic relationship with the other character (Just... don't lean too heavy so the other writer is doing the work).

-How would the two serve each other for the better if they stick together?
-Does it affect the other character in a good way or bad?
-How might that help them on their journey?

This also leans on the side of writing ships and relationships, but you might not be successful with just this conflict alone. That brings me to my final (and fairly obvious) note.

Now go combine them with each other.

Add an NPC that steals something from you.

Use a mishap as a reason the other character loses something. Now you owe it to them to help find it.

Let your character get lost and they're searching with who they were traveling with before.

I'm telling you what you already know, though. Few conflicts are just a single pinch point where one thing goes wrong. Layer them and add varying levels of conflict for the best results. Complexity is key to keeping one another engaged and keeping the questions coming for what will come next. Most novels have several minor conflicts that happen before the endgame, roleplay is no different.

Happy writing and I hope it makes sense. If anyone has something to add feel free to toss it in the comments.

(Here's my disclaimer that I'm not an expert and just a person) ----> x

1.

Head on over to your profile editing section. It can be found by clicking 'options' at the top of your page, or clicking here.

You will notice a new section on this page now, titled "Music embed here".

***Note, placing a general YouTube URL here will not work.

It still needs to be in the proper code format.***

2.

Once you have your embedded code, paste it into this text box. An example is shown below:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FKcDtEtT3wU?rel=0&amp;autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

***Note: the bolded portion is what you will change in order to switch the video that will play. The digits FKcDtEtT3w are unique to the video, so those may be replaced in order to efficiently change this.***

Secondly, The portion that states ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=1 after your URL is necessary in order to have videos autoplay. Make sure autoplay=1 if you want your video to immediately play upon visiting your page, or autoplay=0 if you do not want it to.

3.

If your code for embedding was done correctly, the end result should be something similar to the image above.

4.

What if you don't want your profile section/video section to show?

If you want to hide this portion of your page, place this code within your CSS section alongside any other codes that hide portions of your page:

/* Hides about section */

.section-member-about{ display:none !Important; }

This will effectively hide the YouTube embed box from your page- but, remember that this also means your page visitors will have to mute the tab and/or turn off sound if they do not want to listen. They also cannot click on the video if they wanted to replay it, all the same. Food for thought!

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

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Collaborators: 

Seth Shimura

Kei

Contest Entry: Valentine's Day 2017

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