Internal Monologue

[Snickerdoodle 51]

People using characters' internal monologues without the narrative stating it's clear in their expression, tone, or body language (or without having an ability like the Potterverse's Legilimency) is one of my pet peeves. And even with special abilities, there are limits, restrictions, downsides, etc. A legilimens, for example, must be making direct eye contact and, unless they are an expert, the character can feel the legilimens poking around in their head in a way. They might suddenly recall a memory out of the blue or something. Also, there are different levels of the skill. The very basic being emotion-sensing. Like, they can only sense the emotion the person is feeling right that second. As an admin, I'm always wary of accepting characters with that kind of ability and I usually have to already know them well enough to know they'll be fair about it. As a player, I'm always wary of playing with them unless I know and trust them or we have an open line of communication so we can work out what's going to happen.

 

If an entire board allowed the use of OOC knowledge, I would run so far and so fast in the opposite direction. That's just.. ugh.

[HotPinkUnicornMess 51]

If I can't physically see it, touch it or smell it, then my character doesn't. Even if I were to play an empath or a mind reader I would never just use any inner monologue or thoughts from another character, with my character IC. 

I would always approach the other player out of character and discuss it first. I've had so many instances where mind-reader characters just rip whatever is in text or someone else, I would nor could ever do so. 

This topic also reminded me of another hot chat-rp topic: thought sniping. 

[Gothic 307]

If I'm replying to a thread where the character would know something. I will add it in. Something like, "fred was related to todd." to help explain things although admittedly it could be easily said in an IM or PM to the member to explain things. I like it, in small doses, and it is a habit I have found that a lot of RPers get into. It can be good and effective. Basically, I like some internal dialogue although I always try to have more actions/speak than inner monologue.

 

What I less fond of is a massive post filled with it and no actions/words to actually respond to. Although I am happy to respond to it. Admittedly too much speech is also frustrating because either my character has to be quiet throughout (and is assumed to not have walked off halfway through,etc)  or there is post splicing, which starts the other person doing it, then the posts can get pretty random and choppy. 

[Dun 68]

I'm not big on internal monologues or stating characters' thoughts outright, but I don't automatically dislike or avoid anyone for that. I understand some folks really enjoy it within the context of play-by-post RPGs, and I think they should totally have their fun, even though I don't really see any objective benefit or value in it (especially when thinking about suspense, pacing, and 'good' storytelling). I'll try to work with them, even though a big part of my enjoyment of this type of storytelling is the mystery and discovery of it all. If you're spoon-feeding me information, I'm probably not really going to enjoy writing with you much, but different strokes for different folks; We can all have fun doing things that we enjoy, if we're respectful and courteous.

 

I'd have to draw the line at using OOC information to manipulate the course of a thread or plot, and that might stem from using internal thoughts in exposition to alter a character's behavior in a way that doesn't make sense, based on the info they actually have. I don't experience a lot of related issues, myself, since I don't give much info away in exposition knowing this could happen, but that would peeve me. Creating a rule to put it out there that you permit that? No way, my dudes! It's one thing to not care if people are doing it, but I wouldn't advertise being pro-metagaming.

 

Of course writing with less internal monologuing and the like can guard you against that nonsense (AY FOR TOOLS YOU CAN USE), but people should figure out how to RP well and courteously. That means learning to utilize characters in a reasonable way, not as metagaming mind-readers. You can enjoy the internal thought explorations and monologuing without stepping on toes!

[Eleutherian 17]

I think inner monologue is great for the purposes of letting your writing partner see a glimpse into the headspace of your character -- I've always found this to be a great way for me, as the writing partner, to make decisions on how I want my character to carry the following post. Unless something in the exposition is an action that can be visibly seen (ie. such as indicating character A could not hide their awkward impressions of the situation -- and therefore, you, as character B, would then be able to see/sense they are being awkward or that they feel awkward), I never respond to anyone's inner monologue. I usually try to keep my character's reactions focused on the dialogue and any clues as to the dialogue's delivery. And if I have a question on something, or would like to react to something specific, then I just ask the person I'm writing with.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Eleutherian

[Somniac 207]

Ultimately, we're playing a game with other people who are here to write stories we enjoy on one level or another. Sometimes that means showing more of our hand than we might if we were writing stand-alone fiction.

 

I tend to write more action than thought, but I'm trying to work on that. It's a different medium.

[Keaton 133]

On 4/7/2019 at 5:48 AM, Spirit Caller said:

I've been on some boards that have a rule where anything you write in your character's internal monologue is fair game for the other character to react to under the justification of "it was in your body language."

 

Personally, I think this is just encouraging weak writing skills. There's a reason writers are constantly harping on "show not tell" -- It makes for a more engaging reading experience. If it's in the body language, write the body language. This is also great because it leaves open miscues and misinterpreting said body language, which can create interesting tension or conflict. That said, I think it's especially easy to fall into that tell-not-show trap in RP, though, because you might be rushed to reply, or just trying to make sure your partner has all the info they need.

 

Getting that balance right can be a challenge -- I've played multiple characters from first person, and internal monologue-type narrative was exceptionally important for them for obvious reasons. But just flatly stating everything in internal monologue or narrative tends to feel a bit phoned in to me.

[Deacon Frost 196]

On the board I was on it turned people into 5 words or less posters.

I'd give them a 300 word post, and get

 

She nods "okay" 

 

as the entire post in response. Because otherwise they'd "give something away" it was like all of the characters were cardboard cut outs. 

[Keaton 133]

@Spirit CallerI presume you're on that board anymore lol

 

And like, I know and have known plenty of people for whom RP isn't really about writing, but rather just quick character interaction. To each their own. It's just not an environment I'd prefer to be in, for reasons exactly like you mentioned.

[Deacon Frost 196]

No, I'm not on that board anymore. I stayed for a good friend. I left when I couldn't handle it anymore. 

[Squid 5]

Having a rule that states characters can essentially read the mind of other characters is kind of ridiculous. I know a lot of people, myself included, develop characters as they go, and without free use of internal monologues to help me decide how a character would work out a problem, and then come to their decision, it would be pretty hard to allow a character to grow. If other people could hear some of MY internal monologues, i'd be in some trouble... haha! 😂

[Deacon Frost 196]

Not gonna lie... character growth on this board was pretty damned rare 

[Squid 5]

That's such a shame, that makes RPing become stale really quickly.

[Morrigan 1,826]

I actually stopped including internal speech in most RPs that I do because of meta gaming. I take great pride in portraying my characters mannerisms as they are specific and not EVERYTHING that they do is written on their face or in their body language. I have a good fair few of good liars and some others that were raised to always put their good face toward the camera.

 

I most certainly wouldn't join an RP like that, especially since internal dialogue is often a means to fluff but sometimes a means to show character growth.

[Let-make-nice 39]

On 4/7/2019 at 7:48 AM, Spirit Caller said:

the person they were playing with had a weird habit of rewriting her character's internal monologue from their character's perspective and then using it to make their character seem BETTER than my friends.

 

I have seen this before - this, and the DREADED CLARIFICATION POST.  Neither are cool - oneupmanship is unfun, passive-aggressive meta isn't either.  I would tend to think that is indicative of ooc tension leaking into the thread though internal monologue, and as a result I would *urge* your friend to talk to their RP partner asap. 

 

Of course some people can't handle those questions but if they can't take the heat, they probably shouldn't dish it out either. 😛

 

And I agree with a lot of the things that people sait up there about how internal monologue can be fun to write and fun to read, and is part of a writing process. I use it a lot too, but when I reply, I make sure to delete anything that is not "reactable" (not a word, don't care) so that I don't break any etiquette rules. Seeing as I do that, I expect my partners to do the same. End of.