tfcrp roleplaying tips - dialogue hello people! here's a little project that will hopefully help you with your writing and roleplaying skills. now, i say that this is for tfcrp, but it could easily be modified to fit almost any roleplay. dialogue is a tricky thing. it has to sound natural and work within a context, and that can be hard to do. i recommend always having a clear idea of 1. your character's personality and how they interact with others and 2. what your characters wants out of the dialogue. the first one is pretty self-explanatory and i'm not going to go into it-- i could talk about character development for hours, but there are so many resources that can help you with that. the second point i mean is that your character always has a goal in mind-- whether it's just getting to know the other cat, getting the other cat to go away because they're mad, getting the other cat to give them something-- there is always an underlying goal in mind. write with that at the forefront so you can move the rp along. that brings me to my third point! DIALOGUE SHOULD ALWAYS MOVE THE RP ALONG AND GIVE THE OTHER PLAYER SOMETHING TO GO OFF OF. no one wants to respond to "mmh" or "yes" or even just a really simple answer to the question character a just asked. it's not fun and it creates so much work for the other person to do-- their first conversation starter basically failed, so now they have to think up a whole new topic. the easiest way to do that is to have your character ask questions. this is actually just a great life tip-- people (and cats) like to talk about themselves. and questions are such an easy way to do that! have your cat answer the first question, and then ask something in return. have them point out something and ask the other cat to comment on it. have them notice something that the other cat is doing and ask more about it. heck, you could even get your cat to asked about the other character's scars! it's such an easy way to keep a rp moving because it gives the other player something tangible to respond to, instead of having to come up with an entire new thing. the second way you can keep a rp moving with dialogue is by including lots of different information (be really detailed! that's what makes this one work) that the other cat can comment on. maybe they mention their favorite prey, a fighting move they know, the last person they got in an argument with-- there are billions of options, just make it specific enough or general enough that the other cat can either 1. relate and share an experience of their own 2. ask questions or 3. make a connection and talk about something related. ok there's probably more but this is getting really long and you get the idea. add to rps. don't make the other person do all the work. pretend it's a real conversation and provide opportunities to jump on conversation topics-- even if the other player doesn't take all of them, there will probably be at least one that the other cat can make a connection with, and then you're good.
take everything here with a grain of salt. also, a ton of this is opinion. there are also so many other ways to develop as a rper, so don't feel like the options i give are the only ones! also my last project seemed like it ended up being useful so here's another one that's been bugging me. not proofread at all lmao expect typos. i wrote this in like 15 minutes, so it's not that good. also feel free to add stuff in the comments! i am certainly not an authority and i love to hear what you guys think!
