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Open Thread Ideas


Rune
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Open starters are usually what I do if I'm uncertain about approaching someone for role-play. It's bad, because that uncertainty has come about due to unfriendly reactions from people when I have approached them, so for me, open starters are a way of breaking the ice without actually 'bothering' someone, but sometimes inspiration from those starters don't come as easily as I'd want them to. So I've found this works best -

 

- I would say get to know your character really well, even if it's just by writing parts of their background, or writing solos. - Read the background information of other people's characters on the board as that may give you ideas on where to start with them.

- Don't force it. I've spent many times looking for ideas to begin a solo for a character and the reason why I have difficulties is because I've not done the first two points, but once I've given myself time to think about the character's background, those ideas come quite easily.

 

Finally, don't feel bad if someone doesn't respond right away. You can only get better by writing. (One thing that to avoid though, are starters where the character is in a place where it's not easy for another writer to respond to it, over-dramatic starters (I see a lot of that from writers on twitter where you have to 'save' a character and the way it's written isn't usually very good, and the people who write them have a tendency to be repetitive with them.)

 

 

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I also write a lot of thread starters, mostly to interact with people/characters I wouldn't ordinarily get to write with (if I can write with them, I generally will). My favourite I've written involved a character in a village high street stealing from somebody, with a disclaimer that if anybody confronted her on it, she would attack them, just so anybody who went into it like that didn't get annoyed when she did so. It has now progressed into a plot where another character intends to help teach her how to get around on the streets with new means of 'borrowing' things.

 

My tips for creating open starters:

- look at your character's hobbies / likes / dislikes / skills and pick something that you don't ordinarily get to write. Set them up in a place where a lot of people might come across them, and make it open enough that anybody could either join them, watch them, anything - you want to appeal to as many characters as possible.

- try something to do with your character's job if there's a lot of foot traffic, so shopkeepers, vendors, law enforcement, tour guides, and much much more who can interact with the general public - make something intriguing or even just simple, and appeal to as many different types of characters as you can.

- open up a word generator and keep generating more words until one or more inspire you. You'll get fresh ideas for writing and might write something you wouldn't normally, and it can develop your character further. Even if nobody replies to that, you might learn something new about your character to recycle later.

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13 hours ago, webs said:

My favourite I've written involved a character in a village high street stealing from somebody, with a disclaimer that if anybody confronted her on it, she would attack them, just so anybody who went into it like that didn't get annoyed when she did so. It has now progressed into a plot where another character intends to help teach her how to get around on the streets with new means of 'borrowing' things.

 

This sounds like a great starter thread! It lets others see a part of your character plus it gives them options in how to reply.  Often, an open can go up from a new player when other active players are a bit swamped, and rather than try and suggest something to a specific character (after being told it was the best way to get a thread) they still post an open. Although they are usually not as well thought out as your example and the character in question is one of those 'keeps to themselves -stay the hell away from me aura- ' types and the open is set in the middle of nowhere where nobody is likely to be at the time it is set. 

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37 minutes ago, Dusty said:

 

This sounds like a great starter thread! It lets others see a part of your character plus it gives them options in how to reply.  Often, an open can go up from a new player when other active players are a bit swamped, and rather than try and suggest something to a specific character (after being told it was the best way to get a thread) they still post an open. Although they are usually not as well thought out as your example and the character in question is one of those 'keeps to themselves -stay the hell away from me aura- ' types and the open is set in the middle of nowhere where nobody is likely to be at the time it is set. 

Thanks! I agree. #1 rule of writing an open thread that you want replies from at least one character from a diverse group: make sure it's somewhere plenty of people will be at. Sure, you can try to write in a small place, or else make it very hard to access, but you're less likely to get a response if all the people who could respond are busy. 

 

For the types of character who want to be loners or struggle with company, my tips:

- if they have a passion, set something up where they can interact with another and can focus on that passion. It might open them up to somebody else and pave the way for future threads.

- don't force them into the spotlight too much, and keep it accurate to the character. They're not going to prance around in a multi-coloured outfit to get giggles, but the good old toilet roll on their shoe can get some.

- seriously: work threads, they HAVE to interact if it's the occupations I listed. 

- don't lay on the hatred of others too much. You're not writing a thread per each moment they live. Have open threads where they feel less like hiding away from the world and set them where company might be appreciated or not too bothersome. Most times you won't get a response if your character seems too hostile or bland. Spice it up, make it interesting for you and a wide range of characters.

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I personally like opens and starters that immediately have a sense of drama or action or just something fun to write. Like being hit by a car or your character hitting someone with their car (though granted this might not work on a site with all humans who are super squishy and easily killed lol). 

 

Threads that have a built in sense of urgency or just interest are always the best ones for me. I might come off like an ass half the time because I flat out refuse to do normal meet and greets now. My muse is too fickle to force myself to do a thread where nothing is going to happen.

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29 minutes ago, Samantha said:

I personally like opens and starters that immediately have a sense of drama or action or just something fun to write. Like being hit by a car or your character hitting someone with their car (though granted this might not work on a site with all humans who are super squishy and easily killed lol). 

 

I get what you mean about adding some drops of drama/ action into it. Meet and greets are generally as fun as getting a tooth pulled, so I like your thinking on spicing it up xD  Now that's definitely a step up from the old clumsy bump straight into someone and spill a s***load of stuff all over them or the place they are in lol  I hope the character didn't end up in a long coma afterward.

I know it's a way for strangers to meet, but I really don't get the appeal of introducing a character as a clumsy oaf if they aren't really clumsy as a rule. It just makes me think of TV advertisements "Should have gone to Specsavers!"

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49 minutes ago, Dusty said:

I hope the character didn't end up in a long coma afterward.

 

 

The time I did a thread like this my werewolf was hit by a car and the passerby that picked her up, put her in his car and drove her someplace safe to shift ended up being a werelion and that turned into a relationship that came with all kinds of plots - so it worked out well :P

 

I gave the idea to one of my members not too long ago and it seemed to work out well for them too lol

 

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Meet and greets are generally as fun as getting a tooth pulled, so I like your thinking on spicing it up xD

 

That's why I won't do them anymore, at least not just straight ones. Like one of them I did ended up with my vampire feeding on another character who didn't want to be fed on. That character is now dating my vampire's girlfriend (polyamorous relationship) and I can't wait until they meet and that blows up, lmao. I've just found that when you add in something exciting, whether a good thing or a bad thing, it leads to more plots. I mean, I'll thread with anyone who wants to thread with me, but I just make sure we plan *something* so it isn't just a straight up meet and greet. 

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The most important thing in an open thread, I think, is a reason to interact. If someone posts an open thread with their character sitting at a table in a coffee shop obviously working on a computer, why would anyone interrupt them? It's certainly not something I would ever dream of doing in real life. I think a lot of opens end up like that, with limited reasons to interact, and that's a shame :-(

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One of the things I enjoy doing is not giving everything away in the first post. Unfortunately, this means that the first post is bland and no one wants to join, so I'm trying to figure out how to better approach this. Heck, if someone were to give me a coffee shop open post, I would not want to join in myself, so I can't blame them.

 

I'm always looking for open thread ideas. It's important when writing an open thread to be willing to drag your character out of his comfort zone. Make him vulnerable, let him make mistakes, let him be human. Maybe he had a bad day and starts screaming at the first person he comes across. Maybe he says something stupid. Maybe he judges someone too quickly.

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