Bef's Posting Tricks (guide to help your word count)

[♕BEFERA]

Hey everyone! So I decided that I should write out some tips and tricks I've learned over the years in order to meet word counts and help get your muse flowing in your posts. I urge everyone to try utilizing some of these if they're ever stuck! Sometimes I forget these exist so this is actually for me too. xD

With this stuff being said though, if you're feeling like crap or you just have no interest in posting, don't! RPing should NEVER feel like work, and if it does feel like work, you shouldn't do it. RPing is all about having fun and plotting and developing your characters. It shouldn't be a game of who has the best looking post or who has the highest word count. Your writing is special and unique to YOU and only YOU are the judge of your own skill and however you choose to present your writing.

I hope this helps some people, if not everyone! Enjoy! :D

Now, on to the tips:

Descriptions, Descriptions, Descriptions
Descriptiveness can REALLY boost your word count, and it can give the person who's replying to you a much better idea of the scenario. Being descriptive, even if it seems tedious and meaningless, helps everything about RPing. When we RP, or when we write any sort of descriptive fiction or otherwise, we paint a picture. When you read, you see the picture in your mind. Being able to paint that picture for someone else is the key to being a good RPer. You bring the reader into your realm.

How do you be more descriptive? Check out these options:

1. Talk about your character. - What color is their pelt? Do they have markings? Is anything affecting your character's coat, like sweat due to heat or wetness due to rain? How long/what color is their mane and tail? What do their eyes look like? Are they heavy in stature, lean, muscular? Do they have a particular expression on their face? Get creative with your sentence structure and how you set up your character's appearance to the other character(s) they're with. Sneak in descriptions of your character into other sentences. Talk about your character's eye color when they change the direction of their gaze. Talk about their mane as it moves in he wind.

2. Talk about their surroundings. - The setting of your thread is very important, as where we are plays one of the biggest parts in how we react to situations. Is your character comfortable in this place? Is it daytime or nighttime? Where is the sun in the sky? Are there shadows being cast by the characters? What is the land itself like? Are there trees, a leafy canopy overhead? Are these characters meeting in a wide, open expanse of land like a field or a desert? How long is the grass? Is the ground dry or wet, soft and loamy or hard like a rock? What's the weather like? Is the sky overhead clear and blue, or is there a storm approaching? Don't be afraid to change the weather in your posts. If you start the post and you say that a storm is headed your way, you can make it rain or make thunder and lightning crash in the clouds above your character at any time. If it's winter time, you can make snow fall. You're the master, bro. Do your thing.

3. Talk about the other character. - One of the best ways to get your muse flowing is to have your character analyze the other character. It won't be much that the other player can respond to, but it'll help you meet the word count in a creative and interesting way. How is the other character standing before yours? Are they looking at your character in any particular way? What do they look like exactly? Are they taller or shorter than your character? Check out the other character's profile and play off of their physical appearance. Show how your character is reacting to seeing this other horse. Are they surprised at their appearance? Do they find them boring/average?

Subtle Movements & Their Reactions
Our characters are usually never just standing there. Horses in real life oftentimes have subtle movements, even when they're relaxed, that show their personalities and, in the case of our characters, inner thoughts and emotions toward the situation at hand. Don't be afraid to allow your character to pause and react physically to something another character has done, and don't be afraid to let them walk around or move their bodies in certain ways in front of other characters. Think about conversations you have with other people every day. You're rarely ever just standing there, hands at your sides, staring at them. You're reacting to everything they do all the time. Your characters are too.

Check out these ways you can show subtle movement:

1. Breathing - Breathing is a huge indicator of feeling. When we react to something, we often change our breathing pattern. If your character is surprised by something, maybe they'll breathe in really quickly. If they're annoyed, they might exhale in an long, aggravated sigh. If your character isn't talking as a reaction, use their breathing as a reaction instead.

2. Weight Shifting - Horses often shift their weight off of one of their hind legs. If a horse is standing around lazily, you'll notice that they'll usually have one of their hind hooves pointed down at the ground and that the leg will be raised a bit. This is them putting some of their weight on their other leg. Use this to get another sentence or two in your posts when you're just about to reach the word count minimum and are having trouble.

3. Tails - Tails are always important with animals that use them for more than just balance. Tails can be thrashed out, tucked between legs, twitched in anticipation or annoyance, etc. Use your character's tail to show how they're feeling. Are they casually swatting at flies? Are they angrily thrashing at their own flanks, ready to strike at this other character?

4. Eye Movement - Our eyes are one of the most expressive parts about us, and since we're playing horses that lack many human facial features, their eyes tell a lot about how they're thinking or feeling. Be expressive with eyes. Squint them, glare, change where your character is looking in response to what the other character does.

5. Change of Position - If a character is laying down or sitting or standing or whatever, you're free to allow them to change position at any point in your thread.

Recalling The Past
Sometimes our characters are burdened by their past and need to talk it out with themselves in their own heads. If you're low on muse or you've run out of things to say, sometimes it's okay to have your character recall something that has happened to them that might be weighing on their mind. Be careful with this technique, though. Posts that take up most of their count having the character monologue in their head about their family or friends who have nothing to do with the thread, get annoying and above all, are impossible to reply to.

NPC Events
NPCs are always allowed as long as they are temporary and agreed upon by all parties in the thread. If your characters have run out of things to say, bring in an NPC creature from the land around them, or talk about some unnamed NPC horses doing something off in the distance. Get creative! Did a vulture swoop down and try to feat on a particularly smelly horse? Did one of your characters just kill something and are other animals trying to get in on the feast?