Fall Stamps

fall stamps 🍂

by Adam Rice

This is a weird question, but do you have advice on starting an ask blog for a character? Like how to get noticed and how to interact with other ask blogs? Is there specific etiquette? (Besides obviously not being a jerk) Asking you because of your great Narinder ask blog.

not weird at all, don't worry! i'm always happy to help however i can

also i might not be the best person to talk about this, the narinder askblog is only my third askblog, im still fairly new on this scene

MAKING A NEW BLOG

well, starting the blog is the easiest part, right? gather a few pictures that you like and personalize the way you like it best, the way that you think that fits the character!

for the intro post (and i really reccomend you having one, because not only it helps with making your blog look better and more organized, but also gives character and sets your boundaries), theres a few things that you can keep in mind

something that settles a personality for your character right at the top (could be a phrase, something they canonically said, maybe a picture? you name it!)

an about me section (what is the purpose of this blog? is it a roleplay blog, an askblog exclusively? who is this character? who are YOU?)

if your character is surrounded by sensitive topics or if you think that your blog could be surrounded by sensitive themes (gore, sexual themes, suicide themes, any phobias, etc.) it's good to have a few warnings in mind and put those on there for people to be aware

other than this, have fun personalizing it, maybe add a few extras, maybe songs, pictures, blinkies, anything! (i'll leave some useful resources at the bottom of this post *wink*)

now, of course, the hard part

INTERACTING AND PROPER ROLEPLAYING ETIQUETTE

this is something i personally love talking about because some younger/newbie roleplayers might not know, but there is in fact a roleplaying etiquette, but we're focusing on askblogs here, let's stay in our path and we'll get there eventually

i think my most asked question when it comes to this is how to be noticed by your community and how to interact with another bloggers

of course, the main part of being noticed is interacting! you have to understand that you can't build a flock out of just one bird, i know that this can be hard but shoot the bloggers you like an ask! send them dms, reblog posts, send asks, this is tumblr! our main feature IS sending asks!! this isnt twitter guys, come on, reblogging and sending asks is what makes we different than other social medias

if you're nervous about sending people an ask right away, you can send them a dm first, asking them if they are open to asks with other roleplayers, if theyre avaliable, theres no shame in this and i pinkie promise you that no one will hate you for this, no one is going to be mad at you

just remember, keep it respectful, keep your cool and dont push any boundaries

speaking of boundaries, we have to talk about

ROLEPLAYING ETIQUETTE

above all and everything that i say here, the MOST important part of roleplaying etiquette is that you HAVE to COMMUNICATE with your roleplaying partner

talk about your boundaries, what you do not enjoy doing in roleplay, the things you are open for, and listen to what they have to say too, this is not character AI where you can do anything for your own entertainment, we're dealing with people here, which is 100x more fun but also you gotta remember to keep it respectful

some basic grounds to stand on are:

Talk about your boundaries, and listen to your rp partner too (especially before doing anything that involves sensitive topics)

Talk about the theme of your roleplay, what you wish to do and what you want to avoid

Don't control someone else's characters for the sake of your lore (again, talk about it beforehand so you can know what works for both of you)

If we're talking about roleplay blogs, don't do anything major before talking to the parties that are involved and the parts that will be affected

Respect the other party's decision, as much as you want to be respected

Overall? Communicate and don't be a jerk

i think that summs it all up pretty well, but overall, if you guys have any questions i am more than glad to help!!

(psst, there's some resources under the cut! have fun!!)

How to make gradient text here

For blinkies and dividers!

More blinkies (and make your own blinkies easily)

HUGE pinterest folder full of graphic resources, dividers, icons, etc

Helpful unicode symbols for copypaste

Emojipedia, since sometimes emojis don't work well on tumblr

I'll update here once I find more, if anyone wants, I can make a full post only talking about resources for askblogs! (and you might as well want to talk to more experienced bloggers about this too! take care, have fun, bye!)

Tips on how to turn a 3 sentence writing prompt into a full-fledged (long) story?

The first question to ask yourself is, what kind of prompt do you have?

Generally writing prompts fall into three categories: a situation (usually the inciting incident), a single word or theme, or a piece of essential text (either an opening line, or keywords to include somewhere in your story). 

Once you have your prompt, you can begin fleshing it out into a working story. Some ways to do this are:

Brainstorm related words and concepts

If you’ve been given a very broad theme, write it down in the middle of a blank piece of paper and spend some time coming up with things that are in some way related. You might discover that the prompt can be interpreted in a range of ways. For example, a recent prompt for the HG Wells Short Story Contest was “Fool”. Fool can be a type of person, a dishonest act (“fool me once”), a tarot card, or a British dessert. 

Ask questions

Write a list of questions about your prompt. 

An example of a situational prompt might be, “A man runs into an old friend at his local bar. This is a bit strange, since his friend died five years ago.” Questions you might ask yourself about this prompt could be: Who is this man? How did his friend die? Does the friend know he’s dead? Why are they meeting on this particular day? How did they feel about each other? Is the friend a ghost? Vampire? Zombie? Time traveller? Estranged twin? Resurrection? Trauma-induced hallucination? Can anyone else see the dead friend, or just the main character? Is the friend here to stay, or is he on the clock? What are they going to do next?

By making a list of unknown factors, you’ll start discovering a range of directions you can take your story.

Play “And then what happened?”

Once you have a sense of who your story’s about and what set their journey into motion, it’s just a matter of figuring out what happens next.

If you get stuck, you can go back to your mindmap technique and brainstorm potential plot points. For example, the first major plot point in your situational prompt is that your main character unexpectedly runs into his dead friend. What happens next?

Maybe the friend wants the protagonist’s help taking revenge on his killer. Or he wants to reconnect with an old flame. Or he wants to experience the thrills of life he didn’t get to have while he was alive. Or maybe he faked his own death and he needs the protagonist’s help solving a delicate case for the interplanetary spy network. Or maybe he’s just really, really hungry…

Then, once you choose the next plot point, you can do this again for the next, and the next, and the next. Before you know it, you have an entire story mapped out from beginning to end.

Where can you find writing prompts?

Ready to put your creative wheels in motion? The internet is flush with writing prompts, so you don’t have to look very far for inspiration.

Sometimes contests or literary journals put out submission calls with specific prompts attached. This can be a good way to challenge yourself, and maybe make some money in the process (or at least get some exposure for your work). Scribophile has a great weekly roundup of open calls, many with targeted themes.

We also have a ton of writing prompts around our reading room, including drawing inspiration from your favourite books, some chilly writing prompts for winter, and a list of fun situational prompts to kickstart your creativity. Enjoy! 

Want to know more? Read the post in full at the link below.

novlr.org

How do I turn a writing prompt into a story? - Novlr

Got a writing prompt but don't know how to turn it into a longer piece of fiction? Here are some tips to help you go from prompt to draft!

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