Scenes

Scenes

Interaction is broken down into scenes. Think of it as a TV show where you have a scene to shoot. Be very clear where you are on the ship, or away team etc. Continuity can get tricky. Denote the setting clearly like this:

===place===
{place}
+++place+++

Also, update your setting if the scene involves truly great motion and a scene change would occur. The mission post may start in the transporter room, but wind up on the planet surface.

When writing the introduction to a scene, you should aim for two to six sentences. A good response is typically a sentence or two, up to eight. Don’t overwrite or write ahead of people, let the scene unfold. That means you don't write a couple of sentences, tag someone, and then write more. If you don't like the direction, be calm, breathe and try to resolve it in civil conversation.

The focus of an introduction is establishing the environment. All other posts feed off of the ones that came before. You need to read what came before. Occasionally, it may be after, if you have tag in the middle of a post - but there shouldn't BE tags left in the middle. No one should be written around. Keep up with your tags! Decide how your character would respond, and write your part.

To do that, you may find it helpful to answer the following questions:

• What are you here to do?
  What does it look like where you are?
  What’s happening?
  What can you respond to in the situation?

It’s important to give responding players something to interact with so that they can help move the plot of the scene along. Essentially, you are creating a writing prompt, or hook, for other players. Don’t worry about writing down every little detail. Focus on the important bits and let everything fall into place. It’s important to include what your character is doing, thinking, and/or feeling.

Overwriting can happen from time to time, where something is described to death, or bogged in the minutiae. It’s better to describe a badass using his actions than a super long description and breakdown of ability. We got to know Worf over a long period of time. If he had been presented at first with his whole bio and skill set, he would have been a 2-dimensional trope. “Show, don't tell” is the rule.

Finally, saving a post saves the whole post with your changes. Post puts it into a final approval mode for me to see and look over. Always click Save. I use a word doc for my long posts I do by myself, but that's a bad way to go if you have many partners.

Make sure any people in the post are listed in the authors field, and you have signed off at the bottom once you are finished with the post. Signing off means you are ready for it to be posted with no edits needed from you. When someone signs off, their words are set in stone, though your scene may continue without them.